Jul 24, 2019
Craig is in the WGAN Morning News with Ken and Matt. This morning we talked about cybercriminals using social media to attack businesses, kids mental health and social media usage, and unified cryptocurrencies.
These and more tech tips, news, and updates visit - CraigPoeterson.com
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Transcript:
Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.
Airing date: 07/24/2019
Cybercriminals using social media to attack businesses, kids mental health and social media usage, and unified cryptocurrencies.
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Craig Peterson
Good morning, everybody, Craig Peterson here. I hope you're doing
well today and are enjoying listening no matter whether you're on
that gym treadmill, or one of those exercise bikes, walking, or
even in the car. Hey, I'd love to hear how you consume my podcast,
you can email me at Craig Peterson dot com. I know a lot of people
binge-listen on the weekend while they're out doing their chores on
Saturday, etc. Hello to everybody out there. This morning, I was on
with Ken and Matt, and little inside baseball for everybody with an
announcement about a new radio show starting up here in Maine in a
couple of weeks, it's going to be on the same stations as Ken and
Matt. So that's cool because I'll now be covering just tons of New
England when I add it in. That'll be a two-hour show on Saturday.
And I'm thinking about podcasting that as well. I don't know what
you guys think about that because there's so much stuff I want to
share. Is it better on the podcasts or YouTube? Let me know. I will
be kind of a simulcast is maybe the best way to put it as I don't
have enough hours in the day to take care of my customers and do
all of this as well. But do let me know.
Hey, this last week I picked up a new client. So a shout out to Rich and Sue, if you guys are listening. I love going in and helping these businesses. But again, here's somebody that wasn't sure about the state of their security but they did have inklings that something might not be quite right. They had an outsourced firm that was supposed to be taking care of their systems. But there were some issues, right? People usually know when something's not quite right.
We went and had a look. We started with a detailed cyber health assessment and produced a 530-page report. Now the systems are getting all cleaned up, and that's a very, good thing.
If you would are interested in finding out if your security is up to par, get cyber health assessment done for your business. Just contact me if it is something you would like to have done. We will install some software, on one of your machines and then do a poke around and check the security of that machine. Let us know be glad to help, me at Craig Peterson dot com.
Think of this like going to the doctor, right? You think something is not quite right, so you see a doctor. The doctor wants to run some tests, and then they can tell you what's going on. Sometimes they need some more extensive tests, maybe a CAT scan or an MRI. Well, that's what we do when it comes to computers and networks. An excellent place to start is with an assessment. We're not charging for this basic look into one machine, but it can reveal quite a bit but not as much as a Whole Network Scan ( similar to CAT Scan or MRI) which we also offer. Let us know if you need a little diagnosis. Just email me at Craig Peterson dot com. I'll be glad to do a cyber health assessment for you. Let's get into today's appearance with Ken and Matt. Here we go.
Matt Gagnon
He's back, ladies and gentlemen, Craig Peterson. Great American
joins the program every Wednesday at this time.
Ken Altschuler
You know he's not like the Americans or that cute Russian spy
Matt Gagnon
I don't know that, but I'm assuming as much for this segment.
Craig, how are you this morning?
Craig Peterson
I'm doing well. You know that I'm not one of the Americans because
that show is off the air now.
Ken Altschuler
True. Yeah.
Matt Gagnon
Although the actor who was the the the guy spy will appear in that
new Mr. Rogers movie, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, where
he'll turn up alongside Tom Hanks as a jaded magazine writer
assigned to profile Mr. Rogers. I believe he is living with or
married to Keri Russell. I think they're married.
Ken Altschuler
I think they are too. I didn't. But it wasn't like that. And don't
tell me because I haven't seen the rest of it.
Matt Gagnon
She's got a new show coming out. I forget which one it was.
Ken Altschuler
Keri Russell is in a movie? Isn't she going to be in Star Wars?
Craig Peterson
With six seasons of the American's, you realize it was the end of
an era. It was an excellent performance. However, I must say I was
so disappointed with the ending of it. By the way. Don't
Ken Altschuler
Don't Tell me, Don't tell me. I haven't seen it. Don't tell me.
Craig Peterson
It was just kind of a letdown. It's the ending you get when you
think the show is canceled, at the last minute sort of a thing.
Okay, guys, you have to wrap it all up.
Matt Gagnon
You know, you know, within minutes when Eric and I were talking
about the best last shows, it's in the ratings of the top 10 best
endings of TV shows. Did you know that? The American's? Yes, it
is.
Craig Peterson
Yeah, I was disappointed. It frankly was expected. I was
disappointed. You know, oh, wow. What are you going to do?
Matt Gagnon
What are we going to do about social media attacks by
cybercriminals on businesses, Mr. Peterson?
Craig Peterson
It is a very, big deal. I did a webinar for the FBI InfraGard
program talking about this specifically. We've got a huge problem
out there. And this problem is reaching into our businesses. I
don't know if you saw right now, but there is another warning out.
Did you see this about China? And hacking? Yeah. Last week we were
brought into a company to scan their network just last week, that
small business here locally. Hey, we don't have any secret stuff.
Why would they care? Right. Sure enough, there were keyloggers on
their CFOs machine. Keyloggers, which means that someone from the
outside was keeping track of everything typed. It means they got
passwords.
Additionally, we found a password cracker on the machine. It cracked all the passwords on their network on all of their devices. We've got an enormous problem, everybody. Here's is how Social media is playing into what is going on right now. We're still putting things up on social media, and we're even saying stuff on social media that lead the hackers to come after us. You know, we sit around and say why would anybody care about me, as I said, like this, I hear this all the time. I don't have anything top secret. Why would they care? Well, remember, this is an industry in Eastern Europe. It is an industry in Russia. It is the government in North Korea and China. So huge, huge industry, we're talking now 10s of billions of dollars, the last estimate from the FBI that I saw was over $12 billion. It is a vast industry. When we're putting things up on social media, you know, I'm not just talking about Facebook, or you know, the basic ones. I'm talking about LinkedIn, and I'm talking about putting it up on your website. I'm talking about right now this summer, right? The last couple of weeks of August, we're going to take some vacation. We are putting things out there on all these sites saying, Hey, we're going to go on vacation. Yeah, we're taking the kids are going here going there. We link into other people in the organization, making it easy for the bad guys to find all of this stuff about us. That's what I'm talking about right now. And that's what China is using right now. It is also what Iran is starting to use. Iran is using a blunt instrument by probing networks and sending out some of the nasty software that's been available for a long time. But this type of phishing. Spearphishing or direct attacks, it's happening every day.
We've got to be careful everybody about what we put up online. And frankly, if you want to keep up with your family. For instance, we all have iPhones, which I'm sure it comes as no surprise to Matt. But with the iPhones, you've got Imessage, which is encrypted end to end. We use this app to share family pictures, and we use that to share vacation information. You can use an email and make a private little email list that you use to send stuff back and forth. Because at least email unless they hack your email account. With an email, it is not out being posted on the public billboard in the town square for everybody to see.
Matt Gagnon
Excuse me we are talking to Craig Peterson is our tech guru he
joins us now as he always does on Wednesdays to go over what's
happening in the world of technology. Craig, my son, just went to a
baseball camp down in Cape Cod. I still haven't given him a phone
yet. I set him up and use a Facebook account, which he never really
uses. But I let him use it for this thing. He was sending me
messages back and forth while he was there. I guess my point to
this little quick mini-story is that he's now using social media,
should I be worried that he's now going to end up depressed and
suicidal, now? In this social media universe? Should I take it all
back?
Craig Peterson
You know, what I did with my granddaughter, who was living with us
for many years, is when it was kind of time that she was going to
be out at an event. They have these little watches that you can
give a kid, and it's highly controlled and allows you to track the
kid, and they can send messages they can call a half a dozen
members that you preset, so she can call mom or dad or whomever
they might need to reach out to, but it doesn't have social media.
That's what we did to solve that problem. Check with your phone
vendors see what they have. Now, your question is more specific
here. And that is about letting kids onto social media. And there
was a study that just came out of Montreal. And they studied 3800
kids from 2012 to 2018. Teens. These adolescents were in grade
seven to 11 in 31 different Montreal schools. What the team found
was, there was an increase in depressive symptoms when the
adolescents were on social media. It wasn't just depression when
they were active on social media and watching TV. They had
increased symptoms of depression, on platforms like Instagram,
where teens are more likely to compare their lives with others. Of
course, Instagram is way more popular than Facebook is right now.
These social media sites are kind of like echo chambers. They are a
reinforcing spiral. It is there's a great article I have up on my
website from the CBC talking about this. Because they're so
reinforcing, and because of the downward spiral, frankly, it's
particularly toxic. They found this was true for kids, of the ones
that they studied. So basically, middle school to high school-age
kids. They are there have been other studies that showed the same
thing in adults. However, the thing is that surprised me, and I
think it's going to surprise to both you guys they found that okay,
TV was kind of showing symptoms of depression and the kids.
However, video games did not contribute to depressive symptoms. It
is kind of interesting, because, you know, we've seen studies
before, I'm sure you guys have heard about them, where video games
are shown to be a problem, and the kids get depressed, etc. That
those playing video games are loners, etc. Nowadays, and Matt, this
is probably true of your video games, they are not socially
isolated, but connect with to other kids interactively. Today these
video games are interactive. And you're on there playing against
other players where whether it's one of these Super Mario Kart type
things or one of these military time games, man, you're playing
with other people nowadays. So the study found that video games did
not contribute to depression.
Ken Altschuler
As you know, our tech guru, is Craig Peterson joins us at 738?
Will, I be banking at Facebook or Google? Is it possible that I
will have a Facebook checkbook or go to them for a loan? Is that
going to happen?
Craig Peterson
Yeah, you're talking about the future here. Of course, we've had
some problems. Look at Hong Kong, now with their octopus card where
they track everything. In China, they use WeChat, which is their
social media. It's fascinating to look at and delve into it. Now
we've got Facebook saying, Hey, we're partnering with some credit
card companies, and we're going to release our virtual currency our
cryptocurrency, then, of course, this is one of President Trump's
famous tweets last week, where he said if Facebook wants to do that
they should become a bank. I am concerned about it. First of all, I
mentioned this when I was talking to you guys before. I love the
idea of a universal cryptocurrency. That's what Facebook's new
cryptocurrency would become, instantly, 2 billion people worldwide,
would be able to engage in commerce. That's the ultimate in
capitalism, right. Capitalism is this is the only form of
government that is not only just democratized but has brought
prosperity to countries and the world. It's a fantastic thing. Now
if you have people in the deepest, darkest corners of some country,
who can go online, and sell their services, sell their products
trade, even within their local community that they couldn't do
before. It is phenomenal. The other side, and what I'm starting to
get a little more worried about. It boils down to trust. Do you
trust Mark Zuckerberg? I don't. Okay. I don't trust him, nor should
you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I don't think he can be trusted to keep
it secret. I don't trust him doing this at all. Cryptocurrencies
aren't that stable yet. I don't trust the government, ultimately.
It's like what's happening in Hong Kong right now. Thank goodness,
they still have some cash. These protesters are going to these
protests are using in cash, as opposed to using cryptocurrencies
issued by the government that they track. It is a concern. Can I
agree with you? I agree with Matt to we can't t trust Facebook is
the bottom line. I don't know where cryptocurrencies are going to
go. However, only a big one like this is capable of being solidly
backed. Some other cryptocurrencies can do backed by gold, but only
to a degree. We'll see what happens here we'll see of Libra, which
is the main one that Facebook is proposing, actually comes to be
next year.
Ken Altshuler
All right. Craig Peterson is our tech guru. He joins us at this
time every single week, and today is no exception to that, Craig,
as always, thank you so much. And we will talk to you again next
week.
Craig Peterson
Gentlemen, take care. Bye. Bye. Thanks a lot.
Matt Gagnon
All right. We're gonna take a quick break here. When we come back
on the land.
Craig Peterson
Of course, we are working about that today and tomorrow working on
finalizing everything for my security summer summit. Keep an eye on
your email. If you're not on my email list yet, by all means, go to
Craig Peterson calm, you'll see it come up at the top of the
screen. Alright, everybody, take care. We'll be back this weekend
with more. Take care.
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