Today’s Tech Sightings: This Bag of Tricks May Help Stop a Locky Ransomware Infection Remember Locky? That’s the name of a recent malware that used email spam to trick computer users into opening fake attachments loaded with malicious code. The ransomware appeared a few months ago and locked California’s Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center out of […]
How to Stop Locky Ransomware; the Promise of Artificial Intelligence
Apple Warns of ‘Surveillance’ Future; New Ransomware Impossible to Crack
Today’s Tech Sightings: Even CEO Tim Cook is Suggesting Apple Could Be Forced to Build ‘Surveillance OS’ Apple CEO Tim Cook, in an in interview with Time, warned that the future could very well herald a scenario where the government can force tech companies to develop software to spy on their users. The comment comes […]
India’s Biometrics Raise Privacy Fears; Malware Slams Major Media Websites
Today’s Tech Sightings: India’s Billion-member Biometric Database Raises Privacy Fears Biometrics might prove to be one solution to cybersecurity intrusions, but it is a cause for concern, particularly in India. Citing national security interests, the country’s parliament is getting ready to pass a bill that would give government agencies access to the world’s largest biometrics […]
Bangladesh Cyber Heist Biggest on Record; Google AI Beats Human 4-1
Today’s Tech Sightings: Manila Man Gets $30 Million Cash From Cyber Heist; Bangladesh Central Bank Governor Quits Bangladesh’s central bank governor Atiur Rahman resigned Tuesday, succumbing to demands for accountability after the bank lost $81 million to cybercriminals. About $30 million of the money was delivered in cash to a Philippines casino operator in Manila. […]
Computer AI Trounces Go Champ; UN Slams UK Web Snooping
Today’s Tech Sightings: Computer 1, Human 0 as Google’s AI Wins First Game in Go Challenge And the battle is on. Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) program has soundly beaten professional South Korean Go master Lee Se-dol in their first face-off. Google’s DeepMind’s AlphaGo made a clean 5-0 sweep in the first round of the complicated […]
Giving Women in Tech Their Due; Wearable Mobility for the Blind
Today’s Tech Sightings: Why Have We Always Dissed Women in Tech? Decorated rocket scientist Yvonne Brill’s obit in 2013 focused more on her cooking and her family culture than on the propulsion system she invented to keep satellites in orbit. And that’s just one example that reflects what writer Richard Nieva calls “society’s tendency to […]
Google Joins UNICEF Against Zika; African Tech Goes Global
Today’s Tech Sightings: Google Combats Zika Virus With Expanded Search Results, Mapping Tool Partnering with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Google Thursday announced a grant of $1 million to help the agency fight the Zika virus in Brazil. Google is also launching new initiatives to enhance Zika search results and maps to provide more […]
Virtual Reality: the ‘Drug’ of the Future; Data Privacy Extinction
Today’s Tech Sightings: Game Devs on VR Future: ‘People Will Fall for It Like a Drug’ Virtual Reality continues its advance amid considerable hype, with promising applications in gaming and perhaps even therapy. Game developers project the technology will become mainstream in gaming. But one developer warns that it will be so immersive that “people […]
Hack-proofing Connected Cars; Cities of the Future
Today’s Tech Sightings: Three Years Until Connected Cars Are Cyberattack-proof? The world is becoming increasingly more connected with the proliferation of Internet of Things Devices and connected cars and appliances. That might be a boon for people seeking convenience, but it also opens all kinds of doors to hackers and cyber criminals only too eager […]