I just read an entertaining and interesting story that was published about 16 years ago in Willamette Week, an indie newspaper in Portland, OR. This article was published shortly after 9/11 and the sweeping new government surveillance powers that came as a result. In particular, the article discussed a rather disturbing investigative technique used by

In the last week, we learned about a set of nasty computer chip bugs, dubbed Meltdown and Spectre. Unlike most of the bugs we discuss here, these bugs are in hardware, not software. This makes them impossible to truly fix without replacing the chip. In most cases, since the Computer Processing Unit (CPU) itself isn’t

The holiday season is upon us, and that means people will be scrambling to find the best presents for their friends, family and loved ones. Geeky gadgets are always popular, but not just for the recipients! The Internet of Things (IoT) has been a major boon for hackers and marketers, as well. So let me

It’s been a pretty bad week for Apple software, both for their macOS computer software and their iOS smartphone and tablet software. But today I’m going to focus on a truly horrendous software bug that somehow slipped through Apple’s normally stellar quality control process. This one screw up could allow someone to quickly and easily

[Update 2019-04-07: While Quad9 is still a good option, you should check out Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 service which will come with a new free VPN service called Warp.] Evading malware can be difficult these days. The bad guys are very clever and surfing the Internet involves several complicated technologies. Software is rife with bugs and traps

Thanksgiving is almost upon us here in the US. I felt it was a good opportunity to say thanks to some of the wonderful organizations out there working very hard to improve our security, protect our privacy, and defend our rights. If you believe in a cause but don’t have the time to get directly

Your primary portal to the Internet is your web browser. Choosing the right browser to increase your security and privacy can be hard to do, but in this article I will walk you through it and give you my personal recommendations. Furthermore, browser plugins can both help and hurt your browsing safety - I'll help

Every application you install on your smartphone comes with a set of permissions – a list of things it would like to access. This includes things like your camera, microphone, location, contact list, photos, calendar and more. While these functions allow your apps to do amazing things, they can also compromise your privacy. These permissions

With all the news of the Reaper malware that’s infecting Russia and Ukraine, and reminders of the disaster of last year’s Miria botnet, it’s a good time to review basic home network hygiene and best practices for securing the Internet of Things (IoT). What is the Internet of Things (IoT)? The Internet of Things, or

Full disclosure: I’m an Apple user and have been for decades. But one of the reasons I’ve been such an ardent Apple fan is that I’ve always felt like they had my back. I’m not sure how much of this is altruistic – but you can argue that the actual reasons might be more compelling