Computer Security Theater

Article:  Hudgins, Victoria. “Forgetting Something? Firms' BYOD Policies May Need Updating in Remote Work Era.” Legaltech News. Law.com, November 17, 2020. https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2020/11/17/law-firms-are-allowing-more-flexibility-byod-policy-adjustments-should-follow/?slreturn=20210031180621 .  This article details how extended work from home in the Covid era has lead many law firms to reconsider their BYOD policies.  Among the changes brought on by extended work from home are: more people able to work from home instead of just a select few people logging in on their personal networks people logging on computers shared by other users people using remote access full time vs only when traveling between offices More people logging in remotely creates security issues because the new people logging in remotely may not have been trained in how to use remote access securely.  People logging in from their home networks creates security issues because the home netw...

Article: Belam, Martin. “Joe Biden's Peloton Bike May Pose Cybersecurity Risk, Experts Warn.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, January 21, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/21/joe-biden-peloton-fitness-bike-cybersecurity-risk / This article gives an overview of the cyber security challenges posed by Joe Biden's Peloton bike (Jill Biden has one too but hers isn't mentioned).  For those that aren't aware, Pelotons are fancy exercise bikes that allow users to join virtual bike groups and communicate with "fellow" bikers over cameras and video systems.  As mentioned in the article, the camera and microphone in the Peloton bike represent security issues due to the chance of someone hacking the bikes and seeing or hearing something they weren't supposed to.  According to a computer security expert quoted in the article, the only way to make the bike totally secure would be removing the internet adapter, camera, and microphone.  Apparently,...

  Article:   Bushwick, Sophie. “Giant U.S. Computer Security Breach Exploited Very Common Software,” December 15, 2020. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/giant-u-s-computer-security-breach-exploited-very-common-software/ This article provides an overview of the Solar Winds hack and explains what the software is and how infiltrating it allowed the hackers access to so many different computer systems.  In short, Solar Winds is a network management software used by many companies and government agencies to help keep their computer networks running.  Like most software providers, Solar Winds sends out periodic software updates to keep its subscribers up to date.  At some point last year, hackers were able to get into Solar Winds' system and create a corrupt software patch that was then dispatched to Solar Winds' subscribers as part of an update.  Once that corrupted update was installed on the subscribers' computers, the hackers were able to access the...

This blog chronicles the musings and observations related to computer security and information technology of a college student studying those subjects at Metropolitan State University.