Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast

We all love to beat up on Facebook over user privacy, but the real granddaddy of them all is Google. Google is everywhere. And they almost surely know way more about you than any other company on the planet. In addition to all the "G" apps and services that you know about, Google also owns Android, Chrome browser, Waze, Nest and YouTube. It's extremely hard to avoid using Google. But there are alternatives that will respect your privacy - and today I'll give you a long list of viable options. And with international Data Privacy Day happening this week (Jan 28th), it's a great time to take back control of your data.

In other news: Some malicious Chrome extensions have been scraping Facebook data, a man working for ADT has been caught spying on women using the security cameras he helped to install, Google seems to be dragging their heels on updating their iOS app privacy labels, Malwarebytes says they've been hacked by the same group behind the SolarWinds hacks, WhatsApp has upset many of their users with a new privacy ultimatum, and I'll delve into the national security implications of the recent US Capitol breach.

Further Info

Listener survey: https://bit.ly/Firewalls-survey-2021 Patron survey: http://bit.ly/Firewalls-patron-survey-2021 My Data Privacy Day Checklist: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/data-privacy-day-checklist/ Google Alternatives: https://restoreprivacy.com/google-alternatives/Restore Privacy tools: https://restoreprivacy.com/privacy-tools/  No More Google: https://nomoregoogle.com/ Just Get My Data: https://justgetmydata.com/Just Delete Me: https://justdeleteme.xyz/

So I want to switch to a new, privacy-respecting email service. How do I even do that? What happens to all the email I have now? What about my calendar and contacts? Am I going to have to change my email address every time I change email providers? In part 2 of my interview with Fastmail's COO Helen Horstmann-Allen, we'll answer these questions and also address the thorny issue of privileged access by law enforcement.

Helen Horstmann-Allen is the Chief Operating Officer at Fastmail where she provides overall business strategy and product direction for Fastmail and its suite of products. Before Fastmail, she ran her company, Pobox, an email forwarding service, for 20 years before Fastmail acquired it in 2015. Helen graduated from the Wharton School of Business and currently serves on several nonprofit boards in the Philadelphia area.

Further Info

2021 Listener Survey: http://bit.ly/Firewalls-survey-2021 New Year’s Resolutions 2021: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/new-years-resolutions-2021/ No More Google: https://nomoregoogle.com/ Sign up for Fastmail (referral link): https://ref.fm/u18721448

What could I learn about you if I read all your emails? Like, all of them. Since you started sending email. Beyond private conversations, I would also likely know every web site you have a relationship or account with, every online purchase you've made, every club or organization you've been a part of, and all the appointments you've made. I can also make a pretty comprehensive list of everyone you know. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. If I analyze the content of your emails, I could almost certainly determine your political leanings, sexual preferences, religion, income, location(s), and more. So why don't we put more thought into choosing our email provider? In part one of my interview with Fastmail's COO, Helen Horstmann-Allen, we'll discuss how email privacy really works and why it's so crucially important.

Helen Horstmann-Allen is the Chief Operating Officer at FastMail where she provides overall business strategy and product direction for Fastmail and its suite of products. Before Fastmail, she ran her company, Pobox, an email forwarding service, for 20 years before Fastmail acquired it in 2015. Helen graduated from the Wharton School of Business and currently serves on several nonprofit boards in the Philadelphia area.

Further Info

CONTEST LINK!! http://bit.ly/Firewalls-200 New Year's Resolutions 2021: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/new-years-resolutions-2021/ No More Google: https://nomoregoogle.com/Sign up for Fastmail (referral link): https://ref.fm/u18721448 Arnold’s take: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz3zFsTp2Pk

The Russian SVR has had backdoor access to hundreds if not thousands of government and corporate networks for nearly nine months. And if not for private security firm FireEye, we might never have known. The SolarWinds supply chain hack may be the biggest, most consequential cybersecurity event ever. And it will literally be years before we understand the full impacts. However, from what we know so far, this was not an "attack" or "act of war" ... it was straight-up espionage, which is widely accepted as normal during peacetime. The US does this all the time, as do all modern nations. And yet, espionage and infiltration are the first steps in any actual attack. It's a fine line. We'll discuss it today.

In other news: Adobe Flash is finally dead - it's time to remove it; Facebook is being sued by almost all 50 states and the Federal Trade Commission; butt-flap pajamas flooded internet ads; GoDaddy plays a cruel Christmas prank on its employees; Microsoft, McAfee and many others have joined forces to fight ransomware; and Signal messenger was NOT hacked by Cellebrite.

Further Info

CONTEST LINK!! http://bit.ly/Firewalls-200  Follow me on Facebook!! https://bit.ly/Firewalls-FacebookFollow me on YouTube!! https://bit.ly/Firewalls-YouTubeNew Year's Resolutions 2021: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/new-years-resolutions-2021/ Uninstall Adobe Flash:Windows: https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-windows.htmlMac: https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-mac-os.html

The dumpster fire that was 2020 is almost behind us, and it's time to look forward to a brighter future in 2021! By a stroke of fortuitous coincidence, this is also my 200th podcast! To celebrate these two important milestones, we have a world-renowned security guru for our guest, Bruce Schneier, and I'll be giving away over $1800 worth of great stuff to help you improve your privacy and security in 2021! And if all of that weren't enough, I'll also be sharing with you several top-notch to-do list ideas for your 2021 New Year's resolutions - not just from myself, but from several top industry experts! It's an amazing star-studded, prize-riddled, info-packed podcast!

Special Guest Appearances By:

Bruce Schneier (Chief of Security Architecture at Inrupt)Dr Ann Cavoukian (Executive Director at Global Privacy & Security by Design Centre)Dr Andy Yen (CEO/Co-Founder ProtonMail)Cory Doctorow (author & activist)David Ruiz (Malwarebytes)Helen Horstmann-Allen (COO Fastmail)Beah Burger-Lenehan (Director, Product at DuckDuckGo)Marshall Erwin (Chief Security Officer, Mozilla)Todd Weaver (Founder/CEO Purism)Rich Stokes (Founder/CEO Winston Privacy)

Further Info:

CONTEST LINK!! http://bit.ly/Firewalls-200Contest info: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/new-years-2021-giveaway/New Year's Resolutions 2021: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/new-years-resolutions-2021/Inrupt: https://inrupt.com/solidSolid Project: https://solidproject.org/Follow me on Facebook!! https://bit.ly/Firewalls-FacebookFollow me on YouTube!! https://bit.ly/Firewalls-YouTube

I've painstakingly scoured the last 50 episodes to select the best of the best, the cream of the crop, the top tips for the year 2020! If you're already a subscriber, this will be a great refresher - and maybe give you a chance to do some of those things you had meant to do but somehow never got around to doing it! And if you're a new subscriber, then you can catch up on some of what you missed! This would also be a great episode to share with friends and family who you feel might also benefit from improving their cyber security and data privacy! Enjoy! And Happy Holidays!!

Further Info

Don't miss the HUGE 200th episode next week! https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/200th-podcast-a-brighter-future/Follow me on Facebook!! https://bit.ly/Firewalls-Facebook Follow me on YouTube!! https://bit.ly/Firewalls-YouTube

One today's show, Ben Moskowitz from Consumer Reports will tell us about an extremely useful tool they've created to help you improve your personal security and privacy, customized to your particular needs, called the Security Scanner. Just answer a few simple questions and it will give you a checklist of specific ways to be more secure, ranked by time, effort and cost.

Consumer Reports is also pioneering a comprehensive, open-source program that will allow consumers, manufacturers, advocacy organizations, and more to formally evaluate the privacy and security aspects of products and services. This will allow buyers to compare products more accurately and give manufacturers incentives to make better products.

Benjamin Moskowitz is the Director of Consumer Reports’ Digital Lab, a major initiative to expand CR’s work on privacy, digital security, and emerging concerns in digital consumer protection. Previously, he served as Director of Development for Innovation for the International Rescue Committee, where he secured more than $29 million in funding as a founding member of the Airbel Center—a research and development unit that designs, tests, and scales life-changing solutions for refugees and people affected by conflict.

Further Info

Consumer Reports Security Planner: https://securityplanner.consumerreports.org/ The Digital Standard: https://thedigitalstandard.org/ Virtual screening of Coded Bias: https://action.consumerreports.org/coded_bias Contribute! https://digital-lab.consumerreports.org/ Become a CR Member: https://www.consumerreports.org/membership Privacy Front & Center study: https://thedigitalstandard.org/downloads/CR_PrivacyFrontAndCenter_102020_vf.pdf Best & Worst Gift Guide 2020: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/best-worst-gifts-2020/ Follow me on Facebook!! https://bit.ly/Firewalls-Facebook Follow me on YouTube!! https://bit.ly/Firewalls-YouTubeRequest book for review: https://form.jotform.com/203127587895064

Are consumers really concerned about security and privacy in the products they buy? And if so, how could manufacturers capitalize on these attributes to sell more of their products? Consumer Reports has recently published an important, comprehensive study of consumer attitudes towards privacy and security, including the historical evolution of these feelings. The result is a roadmap which companies can use to better serve this fast-growing market. Today we'll discuss this study and its implications with Ben Moskowitz from CR's Digital Lab.

Benjamin Moskowitz is the Director of Consumer Reports' Digital Lab, a major initiative to expand CR’s work on privacy, digital security, and emerging concerns in digital consumer protection. Previously, he served as Director of Development for Innovation for the International Rescue Committee, where he secured more than $29 million in funding as a founding member of the Airbel Center—a research and development unit that designs, tests, and scales life-changing solutions for refugees and people affected by conflict.

Further Info:

Privacy Front & Center study: https://thedigitalstandard.org/downloads/CR_PrivacyFrontAndCenter_102020_vf.pdfConsumer Reports Security Planner: https://securityplanner.consumerreports.org/The Digital Standard: https://thedigitalstandard.org/Virtual screening of Coded Bias: https://action.consumerreports.org/coded_biasContribute! https://digital-lab.consumerreports.org/Become a CR Member: https://www.consumerreports.org/membershipMy new YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0aUElaV7hDubXSpDJkiSrARequest book for review: https://form.jotform.com/203127587895064

Looking for fun gifts that won't also be gifts to hackers and data miners? In today's show, I'll list off the top products and services from my annual Naughty & Nice gifts guide! Every year, I review several popular gifts and give you my recommendations on which ones to buy and which ones to avoid like the plague (or the pandemic?).

In other news: Spotify has been hacked and you should change your password; Google is looking to add end-to-end encryption to its new Android RCS messaging system; an important new IoT security bill is waiting for the President's signature; 27.7M Texans' driver's license info has been stolen; the IRS and the US military have been doing an end run around the US Constitution to obtain location information on thousands of people including US citizens without a warrant; Apple lowers its App Store commission to 15% for the vast majority of developers; Apple has responded to the blow back concerning its security validation on macOS Big Sur; and now is the time to download and enable your state's COVID-19 tracing app.

Further Info:

Best & Worst Gifts for 2020: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/best-worst-gifts-2020/ COVID-tracing app story, Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/18/coronavirus-app-exposure-alerts/Setting up a Pi-Hole server: https://www.smarthomebeginner.com/pi-hole-setup-guide/

So, what can we do about these dark patterns? Are there technical solutions to this problem? Or will this require regulations? Or perhaps we just need to train our engineers and consumers better? In part 2 of my interview with Dr. Colin Gray of Purdue University, we talk about some possible solutions to the dark patterns problem, as well as tips and tricks for avoiding them. Colin also shares several interesting resources for further study.

Colin M. Gray is an Assistant Professor at Purdue University in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology. He is program lead for an undergraduate major and graduate concentration in UX Design. He holds a PhD in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University Bloomington, a MEd in Educational Technology from University of South Carolina, and a MA in Graphic Design from Savannah College of Art & Design. He has worked as an art director, contract designer, and trainer, and his involvement in design work informs his research on design activity and how design capability is learned. His research focuses on the ways in which the pedagogy and practice of designers informs the development of design ability, particularly in relation to ethics, design knowledge, and professional identity formation.

Further Info:

Colin’s home page: https://colingray.me Dark Patterns: https://darkpatterns.uxp2.com Dark Patterns (Brignull): https://darkpatterns.org/ Give Thanks: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/give-thanks-donate/ Rachel Maddow’s plea: https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/rachel-maddow-says-her-partner-has-covid-19-one-point-n1248375COVID-19 risk assessment tool: https://covid19risk.biosci.gatech.edu/ Facebook’s Social Contagion experiment: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/06/30/facebook-only-got-permission-to-do-research-on-users-after-emotion-manipulation-study/Evil By Design: https://www.amazon.com/Evil-Design-Interaction-Lead-Temptation/dp/1118422147 Design Justice: https://design-justice.pubpub.org/ Data Feminism: https://data-feminism.mitpress.mit.edu/ Michael Sandel’s Justice course: http://justiceharvard.org/justicecourse/