Let’s talk about encryption

Why are politicians sometimes such idiots? The French recently voted to criminalise bosses of tech firms who refused to decrypt user data when requested. Don’t worry, it’s not law yet, and likely won’t ever be, but you have to ask yourself how hard it is to understand how encryption works. The whole point of encryption … Continue reading Let’s talk about encryption →

Snapchat phished, 10% of the world breached, good news for Apple, and more

Today’s instalment of doom and gloom from the cyber front-lines. So Snapchat, purveyor of self-destructing genital imagery, fell foul of phishing this week. Thankfully for the world’s teenagers, it wasn’t user data that was compromised (this time – remember the Snappening?) Instead some poor soul in their HR department was hit with the now hackneyed … Continue reading Snapchat phished, 10% of the world breached, good news for Apple, and more →

Roll up! Roll up! It’s a security round-up!

Apologies for the infrequency of recent updates. I’ve been busy – understanding the GDPR, doing some speaking engagements and (hush!) actually working for a living. So, without further ado, here’s what’s going on right now: Theresa May is trying to push the Snoopers Charter (aka the Investigatory Powers Bill) through Parliament despite plenty of expert … Continue reading Roll up! Roll up! It’s a security round-up! →

Why do we let large businesses behave so badly?

Virgin Media want me to let them use my home internet connection so they can provide free wi-fi to other Virgin customers who may be passing. Presumably, in time, they will also charge non-Virgin customers for the same privilege, so generating revenue from an infrastructure I paid them to install. The incentive for me is, … Continue reading Why do we let large businesses behave so badly? →

Not everyone is a fanboi

I’ve touched on this before. Too many businesses assume that all their customers are the same. At the heart of the assumption is an over-developed sense of their own importance. Most consumer-facing businesses have a fan-base, a core of devoted users of their products and services. These are their visible customers; they act as brand … Continue reading Not everyone is a fanboi →

IOS 7 – another BYOD nightmare

Here we go again. Despite greybeards (sorry, “industry veterans”) like me reminding everyone that they should wait for the x.1 release of any major version, the world, its dog and its mother-in-law all frantically stabbed at download buttons to get IOS 7 the moment it came out. People wasted hours, work ground to a halt, … Continue reading IOS 7 – another BYOD nightmare →