My screen, it's full of ads

from here

The Christmas season is a time for visiting family and, by extension, using strange WiFi. So you might have been tempted to go searching for VPN apps (like I did) and you may have discovered (like I did) that the results were so full of paid results that there were no organic search results anywhere on the screen.

You'd think Google would have some sort of limit that prevents a screen full of ads being displayed, but I guess we can't expect that much from an ad company.

Phishers don't stand a chance against human apathy

found on Meme Generator

I know there are other avenues besides email for social engineering attacks to take place, but usually those are called things like vishing or smishing or some other derivative of phishing. Pure phishing is going to become less and less lucrative as email falls further and further out of favour.

Money sure doesn't go as far as it used to

from here

Once upon a time a bit was 1/8th of a dollar (it seems like more than just a coincidence that it's also 1/8th of a byte) and 2 bits was a 25 cents. I imagine it must be slightly confusing to seniors when they encounter ransomware and the demand for hundreds of "bit coins" (although actual coins that were worth 1 bit haven't been in fashion within living memory, the term was still used in media within my lifetime).

Tech support cat is not amused

found on Meme Center

If a cat tells you not to install every toolbar you see, listen to that cat.

Also, give the cat lots of treats because it's a really good cat.

It is in the name, after all

from here

Getting accosted by security just before boarding a plane seems ridiculous to me, Security had their chance to find a problem with the guy at the security checkpoint. If someone has gotten past the checkpoint without a problem they shouldn't be subjected to additional checks. That seems like the TSA version of double jeopardy.

(And a big shout out to the brainiac who reports this image macro whenever they see it because they feel it's inherently a death threat)

Why not both?

found on Meme Guy

There's so much in updates these days, there could easily be both legitimate security updates and backdoors, and frankly even more than that.

Nothing Facebook does surprises me anymore

from here

Well, these are some pretty profound privacy violations on Facebook's part. Just remember Zuckerberg's maxim:

"They 'trust me'. Dumb fucks"

She stole his iPhone and his heart

found on Izismile

Definitely a different reaction to a stolen phone than what we're accustomed to seeing. I guess that's one of the perks of being beautiful, you can get away with more.

Never reuse password predictions

from here

It's that time of year again. Time for people to make predictions, and one of the predictions that seems to have the most staying power is the end of passwords. The prediction never comes true, though, and it probably never will.

It's probably not just for one laptop

found on Meme XYZ

What do you think? Does each display device have a different password or is it more likely that they're all the same? I suspect the latter.

But at least they say they're sorry

from here

Facebook basically proves they can't be entrusted with the sensitive information they ask for, time and time again.

Thanks to Paul Watson for drawing the connection.

You're teaching who what now?

found on Meme Generator

"Educational" malware has always been a questionable idea. People try to justify it under the banner of "think like an attacker", but if you look at how things went down with rootkits it's more like a way to make a problem worse (by putting knowledge in the hands of people who would misuse it) while cultivating a reputation of expertise that you can use to get people to pay you to help deal with the problem you made worse in the first place.

Gonna need some eye bleach

from here (image source)

This is actually supposed to be art, so I guess it's supposed to attract attention, but I think it goes a little overboard with the whole "standing out" aspect of things.

I wonder if it counts as going unseen if it makes people blind.

Algorithms speak louder than words

found on the Mozilla blog

If you're going to tell people you take their data (and the security/privacy thereof) seriously, you better be able to put your money where your mouth is. That means spending the time, effort, and money on using something better than MD5, which has been deprecated for 20 some odd years.

Oh, I'm sure they'll never trace that

from here

It's interesting to read about malware that is technically clever but operationally dumb.

Coming to a gaming system near you this Christmas season

found on imgflip

Yeah, I'm sure many parent's are going to be seeing this fac after their kids open all their presents.

Like picking on your schoolyard crush

from here

I know it sounds absurd, but think about what happened after they caught Sabu, or the Mirai botnet creators. It kinda makes me think the reason they're dragging Marcus through the courts is because they desperately want someone with his capabilities working for them.

Thankfully times have changed

found on imgflip

I don't think I've ever had spam from a can; but from what I hear I'm not sure which kind of spam is worse, the electronic or supposedly edible variety.

Or will we need even larger units?

from here

Honestly, I'm actually surprised that security vulnerabilities could be enough to get Google to shut down their social network. In spite of their old motto, I expected them to be as bad as Facebook and just keep marching along regardless of the consequences to users. I guess there's still a few shreds of that "Don't be evil" ethos left. Too bad they don't direct that energy at YouTube.

'Tis the season to protect your privacy in your secret santa posts

found on Imgur

From what I can gather, that trend where people post pictures of their bank and credit cards online has branched out into other items with sensitive information on them.

The look in their eyes says it all

from here (image source)

I've heard of cats and dogs wanting to join their humans in the washroom, but apparently that extends even to our avian friends.

The keyboard shortcut for privacy

found on Meme Base

There's copy, there's paste, there's even undo. Why shouldn't we have a shortcut for privacy too? We probably don't think of Alt-Tab being such a shortcut, but for all intents and purposes it kinda is.

Authorities and criminals rejoice

from here

Australia has apparently decided that catching a handful of terrorists is worth sacrificing the privacy and security of all it's citizens. It's impossible to build a backdoor that only good guys can use, because the computer can't tell who the good guys are.

And because Australia is part of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, it's not unreasonable to think similar legislation in Canada, the US, the UK, and New Zealand may now be a foregone conclusion.

You're gonna wish you stayed under

posted on Instagram by DankMemesGang

It's amazing how equating it with money can make people care about cryptography (or at least a handful of cryptographic techniques). Of course with the overall trend being not quite as positive these days, maybe fewer will care about it now. I know at least one colleague who recently dismantled his mining rig and sold off the video cards.

Maybe the ransomware help desk can help with that

from here (image source)

I would be super impressed if someone actually convinced ransomware crooks to accept these Chuck E Cheese tokens.

Sad-veillance

found on Acid Cow

That poor little pup seemingly waits all day for its human's return. Like the saddest episode of Futurama.

On the plus side, at least there's a second set of eyes on the door.

Filter? I don't even know her

from here

No explanation, just a lame pun about bayesian spam filtering that popped into my head.

They're sneaking ads into everything these days, part 2

found on Imgur, tweeted by Ryan Russell

It seems spammers keep finding new ways of reaching you. A couple days ago it was through your home surveillance system and now it's through your printer. What will they think of next?

Maybe we should just change our entire identities

from here

This could be for any breach, but right now there are dueling breaches of Marriott and Quora and I'm starting to wonder if breaches are accelerating.

How much can it really hold?

found on Imgur

The NSA's data centers can hold a lot, and it may not be possible to overload their capacity, but wouldn't you like to try accepting that challenge anyway?

Getting nabbed while napping

from here

What I find most amazing about this story of sleeping burglar is that if you Google it you'll find out that it's actually happened quite a few times. People need to take more naps and less valuables.

They're sneaking ads into everything these days

found on Piximus

It's certainly a novel approach. Can you imagine what happens when those front door surveillance cameras become ubiquitous? I could see this method of advertising (or at least a derivative of it) catching on.