How to save money on your domain renewals
Here's a smart way to save money. Yesterday, Domain Listings sent me a letter asking me to renew an Internet domain. This domain is truly one of mine and I need to keep this domain alive. An Internet domain is your address on the Internet. CNN.com is CNN’s Internet domain, Amazon.com is Amazon’s and eBay.com is eBay’s. I have several. This list includes HowHacksHappen.com, CyberSafetyNet.net and CameronParkComputer.com. All are mine. I am writing about this letter because Domain Listings' renewal price is ridiculously high. Do not fall into their trap.
Internet domains typically renew for $18/year. Domain Listings is offering me a chance to renew at $228/year. Let me save you the math. This is a 12.67x markup. This ... Read More
Intellectual property is still relevant
Last week, I argued intellectual property was no longer relevant. This week, I argue the opposite. Despite the challenges posed by artificial intelligence, intellectual property (IP) rights continue to play a crucial role in fostering innovation and protecting creative works. In case you've already read, https://cybersafetynet.net/does-intellectual-property-still-exist-with-artificial-intelligence-generating-content-no/, fasten your seat belt. I am making the opposite argument here.
Human creativity remains central
While AI can generate content, human creativity and ingenuity are still at the core of innovation. Humans design, develop, and refine AI systems, making critical decisions about their architecture, training data, and application. The creative process often involves human-AI collaboration, where AI serves as a tool to augment human capabilities rather than replace them entirely. Therefore, traditional intellectual property protections remain relevant ... Read More
February 7, 2025Mark Anthony Germanos
Get ahead of the curve
Are you worried about keeping up with all the new tech at work? AI is changing how we do things fast. If you don't learn it now, you might fall behind and lose your job. But here's some good news. You can get ahead of the curve!
AI for Beginners is a book that can teach you all about artificial intelligence. It's written in easy words, so anyone can understand. You'll learn how to use artificial intelligence for research, writing and even making music. These are skills that can make you stand out at work.
Don't wait until it's too late to learn. Your job might depend on it soon. Start learning now with AI for Beginners at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DK41RWZS and become the artificial ... Read More
February 7, 2025Mark Anthony Germanos
Did you know your multifunction printer has its own backdoor WIFI?
Allen called me one day and said his printer was printing nonstop garbage. He wasn’t printing anything, but somebody was printing through WIFI. This print job was consuming his toner and paper. How did this happen?
I told Allen that in addition to joining your multi function printer to your office or home WIFI, you’ll find the printer broadcasts its own WIFI signal. You, or anybody close enough to the printer, can hop on that printer through that WIFI. A hacker could then cause mischief, including changing the printer’s IP addresses or printing large print jobs that consume paper and toner. I am showing you how to identify your printer’s WIFI, and how to secure it.
Assumptions
... Read More
February 7, 2025Mark Anthony Germanos
ChatGPT's Footer
In a recent ChatGPT session, I noticed the footer "Don't share sensitive info. Chats may be reviewed and used to train our models. Learn more." Not sure if they recently added it, or if our ChatGPT friends have put that there from the beginning. Regardless, I am writing about sharing sensitive information in AI prompts today. My example is of ChatGPT but I feel this advice applies to all AI interactions.
Why You Should Keep Personal Info Out of ChatGPT, and All AI Engines
When using ChatGPT or any AI engine, it's important to be careful about what information you share. You should avoid putting personal details or health information in your prompts. This helps protect your privacy and keeps sensitive data safe. ChatGPT uses the information ... Read More
February 7, 2025Mark Anthony Germanos
Insurance companies pay off ransomware
Fasten your seat belt. Ransomware may be poised to return as a top scourge for companies, as more and more of them pay up—actually their insurance companies pay up. They try to minimize the cost of recovery.
In this new RSA Conference 2019 Threatpost video, Josh Zelonis, senior analyst at Forrester Research, discusses the next great security threats to enterprises.
According to Zelonis, a new trend of victims paying off the ransoms could reverse the wane in ransomware attacks that has been seen in the last year or so. Here is a snippet from the interview:
Cheaper for insurance companies
Tara Seals: "Before we kick off our video interview here, you had mentioned that you’ve been seeing a trend of companies actually paying the ransomware when they ... Read More
February 7, 2025Mark Anthony Germanos
Ransomware Authors Agreed to $400,000
Officials in Jackson County, Georgia, paid $400,000 to cybercriminals last month. That was the extortion fee to get an encryption key for a ransomware infection and regain access to their IT systems. The County hired a cyber-security consultant to negotiate a ransom fee with the hacker group. Jackson County officials have not yet confirmed how hackers breached their network.
The infection forced most of the local government's IT systems offline, with the exception of its website and 911 emergency system.
"Everything we have is down," Sheriff Janis Mangum told StateScoop in an interview. "We are doing our bookings the way we used to do it before computers. We're operating by paper in terms of reports and arrest bookings. We've continued to function. It's just more ... Read More
February 7, 2025Mark Anthony Germanos
Traditional intellectual property thinking no longer applies
In the era of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence, the concept of intellectual property (IP) faces unprecedented challenges. As AI systems become increasingly capable of generating creative works and innovations, the traditional notions of IP become obsolete.
Here are three reasons why I think intellectual property no longer exists in its current form in the AI era:
Blurred lines of authorship and inventorship in intellectual property
AI systems can now create content and develop solutions that rival human-generated works. This capability blurs the lines between human and machine-generated content, creating significant challenges to traditional concepts of authorship and inventorship. When an AI system creates a piece of art or develops a new formula, determining ownership becomes complex. Is it the AI itself, the ... Read More
February 7, 2025Mark Anthony Germanos
Extortionists demand money even though no agreement made
Anyone who depends upon good public opinion can be vulnerable to orchestrated bad word-of-mouth, especially in the form of online reviews.
Podcasters are being targeted by extortionists who threaten to swamp their shows with negative reviews, according to Mark Asquith at Rebel Base Media. Asquith cites one recent case in which a scammer reached out to a podcaster on social media and offered to promote their show.
When the podcaster expressed interest, the scammer didn’t respond for several days. After that, the scammer sent a message informing the target that they’d been promoting the target’s podcast for the past few days. The scammer then demanded hundreds of dollars in payment for this supposed service. “No agreement had even been discussed, ... Read More
February 7, 2025Mark Anthony Germanos
New Cybersecurity best practices
In December 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published the “Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices (HICP): Managing Threats and Protecting Patients” publication. This new directive offers cybersecurity best practices that healthcare organizations of any size can implement. Originally posted by Fred Langston CISSP, CCSK at CI.Security.
I’ve been doing health industry cybersecurity for a long time, which has led to my involvement in helping to craft cybersecurity policy for the healthcare industry. One of my first experiences was back in 1996, when I was part of the working group that provided guidance on the proposed HIPAA Security Rule. That rule established certain standards for security moving forward. The resulting risk-based approach was meant to allow the vastly different types and sizes ... Read More
February 7, 2025Mark Anthony Germanos