Jul 23, 2019
Craig was on with Jim Polito. We talked about ransomware and what kind of hardware make the most sense for those who are not power-users. We talked about governments making money off of our personal information entrusted to them and then we also discussed a little bit about my Security Summer Summit.
These and more tech tips, news, and updates visit - CraigPeterson.com
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Transcript:
Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.
Airing date: 07/23/2019
The most secure hardware for the general public, Government agencies selling your private information for a profit, Ransomware and a little about my Security Summer Summit.
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Craig Peterson
Hello, everybody, Craig Peterson here. Glad to have you here. I so
appreciate you guys and your kind messages. Thanks to Danny to for
your kind message this morning, it does my heart good. I can't say
enough or thank you guys enough. You know what I do is hard, and
it's often negative. We're always dealing with the bad guys who are
trying to do to break in damage businesses. I'm trying to help
people understand the severity of the situation they're in, and
that is tough. It is a tough business. So when I hear helpful
little comments from people, I can't thank you enough. I really
can't. So, thanks to everybody.
Hey, a mutual friend of Jim and mine whose name is Jordan Levy, has been a journalist for quite a while 25 plus years on the radio, about the same amount of time as me, nailed with ransomware. If you are someone who maybe doesn't need the best, the latest, and the most fabulous computer, I had some great advice, and perhaps surprising things you can look for to save yourself a lot of money, and a lot of headaches. So, here we go with Jim.
Also, don't forget starting up in a little more than a week. You'll be getting emails on it probably a little later this week, my security summer summit, that will be a month of free security training, so keep an eye out for that. It will be throughout August and all on security. We're going to have a track for home users, one for business owners and C-governance type people and a track especially for the non-professional IT guy or gal, you know the employee that just fell into the role because they needed somebody to handle their IT in the business. They knew the most about computers and got stuck with the job. Here we go with Mr. Jim and keep an eye out for that email about my security summer summit.
Jim Polito
I don't know if he's a senior and I don't think he cares, but I'll
tell you what, he is a tech talk guru, our good friend, Mr. Craig,
Peterson. Craig. Good morning. Thanks so much for calling.
Craig Peterson
Hello. Are we there?
Jim Polito
That I sounded a little odd. Do I sound like a senior citizen? Is
that it?
Jim Polito
That might be it. What did she say? 55.
Craig Peterson
She said 55 is a senior citizen. Oh, then I've got decades to
go.
Jim Polito
Listen, Canadians don't age, even after they leave the country due
to being refrigerated for so long. They don't as they stay fresh. I
gotta bring something up about a mutual friend. Speaking of seniors
and senior citizens we have there's a guy that we both know who got
hit with ransomware. Obviously, he doesn't listen to this segment.
We're talking about our afternoon guy on WTG. Jordan Levy. Yeah.
Danny, you tell me he got whacked with ransomware. Right?
Completely and utterly? Yeah. So yeah, yeah, that's a shame.
Craig Peterson
I wasn't going to mention the name. But here's some must-have
advice for those more seasoned citizens listening.
Jim Polito
That makes them sound like they are going to be part of a cannibals
meal --seasoned.
Craig Peterson
Here's the essential advice I give to a lot of people. If you're
not Mr. or Mrs. Computer, I mean, you use the computer to do some
show prep maybe, you send an email back and forth or watch videos,
or you have some conversations with the grandkids and kids and
stuff, video conversations and that sort of thing then the way to
go is to get a Chromebook. It is something that is rarely talked
about because there's not a lot of money to be made in it. Many
companies make them. Chromebooks are designed to be anything from
cheap, under 100 bucks, or all-the-way up through very expensive
1500 to 2000 dollars. The beautiful thing about Chromebooks is they
are very safe. They update themselves automatically or attacked
frequently and require nothing for you to do except connect them to
your Wi-Fi network. Some even come with built-in cellular modems.
For Jordan, or other people out there who maybe don't need a
computer like they used to need, but still need to be able to do
email, web browsing, watch videos on YouTube, or talk to people,
then a Chromebook is hard to beat, and they're everywhere. In
reality, very few people need windows anymore. So for 100 bucks,
and the software is all free. Because you get the full Google suite
of word processor spreadsheet, everything now. It's a no brainer.
I'll let you in on a little secret that most people don't know
about Chromebooks. The secret is that security researchers working
in heavily infected environments, use Chromebooks.
This week picked up a new client. They needed help with a cyber compliance report. However, like almost every company we go into -- they were the victim of some pretty severe hacking, including keyloggers. We laid it all out in a 530-page report detailing a massive number of cyber problems.
Craig Peterson
But, that won't happen with a Chromebook.
Jim Polito
OK, so simple, secure, tell Jordan to get a Chromebook. For those
of you listening, have a look at it. It's going to be very similar
to what you're used to on the windows world. Tablets are great, I
love the iPad, but they're a lot more expensive.
Craig Peterson
The Chromebook does have trade-offs. I would probably spend two to
$300 on one, and not go for the super cheap one. You're going to be
happy with it.
Jim Polito
You know, we've got the possibility of a tax-free weekend coming
up. And that's when people will make a purchase. That's, you know,
a few hundred dollars and put it off. Until then, what happens
though, when you have that, and, you know, like you pull up a Word
document or things like that, it can open them up.
Craig Peterson
It does not have word on it. How many of those advanced features do
most people need? The same thing with like, if someone sends you an
Excel spreadsheet, you can still open it, you can edit it, you can
send them something back. But you're not going to have this
super-advanced features that Excel has, but you're also not paying
the Microsoft tax for their Microsoft Office. You can still send
them back and forth or open documents, do your show prep, share
them, and sharing becomes even more accessible because I know you
use Google Docs to create documents, right? Sharing with those is
incredible if you've never tried it. Now, of course, there are some
privacy concerns. But here's the bottom line, if you make a
document in Google Docs, or a spreadsheet, in Google Sheets, you
can share it with somebody else. And you can have 2-3-4 or five
people editing it at the same time.
Jim Polito
Yeah, like that. I like that. We're talking with Craig Peterson,
our tech talk guru. And at the end of this segment, we're going to
give you a phone number, and you can text my name and get other
information from Craig. And it is free but standard data, and text
rates apply. Alright, let's get to this because I don't want to run
out of time, I was under the impression that the registry of Motor
Vehicles could not sell my name and my address to third party
marketers. Now, I know that way back when, when I worked at a
healthcare company. I was marketing specifically to seniors. And I
wanted people over the age of 65, or people close to the age of 65.
And I bought that information from the registry of motor vehicles.
But this was a million years ago. I thought you couldn't do that
anymore, especially now with the new smart license. Well, I'm on
the RMV site right now. https://www.mass.gov/rmv-records-requests
It says right there that you can request personal record
information, the RMV records, a copy of most RMV record is
available to the general public, but privacy laws and regulations
limit access. So without delving into it, it looks like you can do
it.
Craig Peterson
In Florida's they are doing it already doing it, Jim, they've made
more than $77 million selling the records to bill collectors, data
brokers, marketing firms, insurance companies. Yeah. So it's, it's
a massive temptation for these government agencies.
Jim Polito
Wow. So they can get that information that so. So, wait a minute.
Are you telling me that the state is going to make money off of my
name, my address, and my demographic information?
Craig Peterson
Yeah, absolutely.
Jim Polito
Now, we have to know. We should probably get somebody from the RMV
involved in this to get all of the details. It's a little unclear
from the website, but some states are doing it like Florida, Ohio,
and other states.
Craig Peterson
Yeah, they're making a lot of money selling the information.
Additionally, there is no way to opt-out of it. You know, in New
Hampshire, before we got this new national ID card. It used to be
that you could tell the New Hampshire DMV that you did not want
them to retain your photo and you did not want them to keep your
security number, etc. You could even request that it not appear on
your driver's license, including your home address on your driver's
license. Now, of course, because of the new federal regulations,
New Hampshire had to get rid of those provisions.
Jim Polito
I love that idea!
Craig Peterson
Yes, it says it's another database for somebody to hack. And it's
another way for the government to track us. We know that the FBI
already has admitted that they have been scanning thousands of
records, excuse me millions of records, using DMV records they
gained access to from the states. The surveillance society not too
far away, frankly, you know, I look at maybe a criminal or someone
where they've taken their photograph as part of the sentencing.
They've taken the fingerprints and nowadays, their DNA. That's one
thing. However, you and I, as sovereign citizens of our society, we
should not have our information collected and used in these types
of ways to monitor us and track us. Look at what's happened right
now over in Hong Kong. They are pushing back against the Chinese
government. They don't have a truly cashless society. However, they
almost have a cashless society. They have something called an
octopus card. And they are being tracked. If someone shows up in an
area where there is a protest, the government looks at the records.
Plus, they have photos of everybody. They even know if you J-walk.
They compare the pictures of you with the ID cards on file and
cross-reference with the surveillance cameras that monitor the
streets. It is an extremely slippery slope, Jim.
Jim Polito
All right. Now, here's something that's not a slippery slope,
getting this kind of information into your hands. Getting it from
somebody who's not going to charge you and somebody who's not going
to hound you and try to sell you things. That is Craig Peterson.
Text my name, Jim, J-I-M, to this number
Craig Peterson
855-385-5553 and I'll send you also details about this my free
summer security summer summit we're doing. It is where we're
getting back to the brass tacks. The scary summer stuff. Text Jim,
to 855-385-5553
Jim Polito
All right, standard data and text rates apply. It's a great list.
Craig, thank you so much, my friend.
Craig Peterson
Hey, thanks. Take care, Jim.
Jim Polito
Take care. All right when we return a final word about
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