Security
Digital protection systems
The latest Avast Safe Tech Report is a good reminder on pushing older relatives harder about securing their digital lives. 83% of Australians say they've warned older family about unsafe online behaviour but only 49% changed their habits. That's still a pretty good result! Yet with 53% of Aussies also saying older relatives have been hit by a serious online threat, this is an important reminder to hit them again if they're still putting themselves at risk!
Norton Genie is a new tool for checking if something you've been sent is a scam. Screenshot a text message, email, or other suspicious info and it will examine the details and let you know if it's a scam or not.
Well now Norton has brought Dan Levy into the team to help promote the free app to the masses. We need more friendly tools like this, so it's a clever promo push.
Commonwealth Bank has significantly reduced incidents of abusive transactions (where money is sent to someone to send them a threatening message) over recent years. Now it's sharing its machine learning code via GitHub to help other financial institutions do the same. Nice one, CBA.
It's safest to assume you're about to be scammed online these days. For the less technical, it's hard to keep up with all the types of attacks you need to be wary of and what to watch out for.
Norton's "Phictionary" is a nice way to get an overview of what's what out there. Well worth a look and a share with family members you're worried about.
The future of trust and security
Sponsored by IBM. Trust and security have been a big challenge throughout the pandemic, but the events of 2022 have tested these ideas like never before.
💡 Weekly: Is anyone *not* getting hacked out there?
News rounded up from Google, USB 4, Medibank, Spotify exclusive pods, positive social apps for teens, and AI bias issues in the jobs market.
💡 Byteside Weekly: Optus says 'yes, we were hacked'
No bigger news than the Optus hack this week, but there's still plenty more to explore in this week's round up.
Scam involving fake QR codes found on parking meters
Several instances of scams using QR codes have been discovered in Texas. Always double-check before you check-in with a QR code.
Google kicks app with 5.8M downloads for stealing Facebook logins
Photo editors, horoscopes, and fitness apps amongst the genres found to be intercepting Facebook login data across nine apps.
First devil babies in 3,000 years
Digital ID creeping toward online verification systems, a ridesharing co-op launches in New York, HP buys HyperX plus more news from Compux.
Japan's lunar transformer is the cutest space mission yet
Japan sending a cute transforming ball bot to the moon, Have I Been Pwned going open source, a Google privacy mess and lots more.
The Disinformation Dozen
Our top tech, science and digital culture news for Monday, May 17. Includes news from the ASD, eBay, Twitter Blue, FF XIV, and lots more.
The little helicopter that could
The ACCC lets rural presses work together against the tech giants, AFP tackles local scammers, the Martian helicopter rules, and loads more.
YubiKey 5C NFC kills the last excuse for not getting serious about security
The Yubikey 5C NFC is the ideal combo that lets your added peace of mind work with practically every modern device.
Wyze Cam Outdoor review: great little unit with just one glaring problem
Small, easy to use and affordable, the Wyze Cam Outdoor will make a lot of people perfectly happy at a great price.
LastPass' changes make Bitwarden the best free password manager
LastPass kills cross-device access for free users, as Bitwarden looms as a ready-made replacement for security-savvy users on a budget.
Cryptocurrency criminals are making themselves easier to catch
Dumb things with crypto? Never! A report finds that 55% of crypto money laundering schemes take place on just 270 blockchain addresses.
What's up? Millions flee WhatsApp amid updated terms
A poorly communicated update from secure messaging service WhatsApp sees millions abandon the service in favour of competitors.
Spams, scams and monolithic weirdness
This week we cover all our bases, with technology, games and weird digital culture debates all popping up in the final show for 2020.
Finally the government is trying to do something real to stop spam calls
The Australian Government has a new code to try to tackle spam calls which robbed Australians of approximately $36 million in 2020.
