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It’s Not Signal’s Fault
Most Americans hadn’t heard of the messaging app Signal before a recent fiasco involving Yemen war plans and an Atlantic reporter. It...
Mike McCormick
Mar 281 min read
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Timing is Everything
Ten years ago today, I was awarded my first US patent. The invention was a technology to lift the fingerprint from a check at a bank...
Mike McCormick
Nov 12, 20231 min read
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Service Accounts: Our Achilles Heel
It hasn’t been noticed much by the public, but a recent data breach is causing buzz among cybersecurity professionals. The Okta breach...
Mike McCormick
Nov 8, 20232 min read
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So Long, Browser Padlock
On May 2nd Google announced they plan to remove the padlock icon, beloved or despised since Netscape days in the 1990s, from the Chrome...
Mike McCormick
May 9, 20232 min read
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TikTok: Worrying About the Wrong Risk
Recent media coverage and Congressional hearings, including testimony last week from TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, have raised concerns about...
Mike McCormick
Mar 29, 20232 min read
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Kick Russia Out of SWIFT?
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a chorus of voices across the political spectrum demanded President Biden cut off Russia from the...
Mike McCormick
Feb 26, 20222 min read
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Elizabeth Holmes: Wake-Up Call for Shady Cybersecurity Vendors
This week’s guilty verdict for disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes sent reverberations through Silicon Valley, where “fake it till...
Mike McCormick
Jan 6, 20222 min read
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Taliban’s Biometric Treasure Trove
The Taliban may now have access to massive databases of biometric data identifying Afghans who cooperated with the US military, voted in...
Mike McCormick
Sep 7, 20213 min read
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Biden Swings for the Fences
In response to recent incidents such as the SolarWinds hack and Colonial Pipeline ransomware, President Biden signed a sweeping executive...
Mike McCormick
May 19, 20214 min read
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Did Apple Slay Snoopy Apps?
Apple has finally released its controversial App Tracking Transparency privacy feature after months of delays, public threats from...
Mike McCormick
May 3, 20213 min read
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Cybersecurity and the Capitol Riot
Numerous congressional IT assets were compromised during the January 6 riot at the US Capitol. At least two members, including Nancy...
Mike McCormick
Jan 11, 20213 min read
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Popping Information Bubbles
News, opinion, and even science are increasingly exchanged within echo chambers that can distort objective facts. Emerging liberal and...
Mike McCormick
Dec 22, 20203 min read
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Four Cybersecurity Leaders for Biden
Cybersecurity will be one of Joe Biden’s top priorities when he becomes US president. I believe this will become clear to him when he...
Mike McCormick
Nov 16, 20203 min read
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Racist AI
It’s not just us; many of our Artificial Intelligence systems are racist too. This is particularly true in cybersecurity and law...
Mike McCormick
Jun 22, 20202 min read
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Domain Controllers: Protect Your Central Nervous System
When the NotPetya virus ravaged corporate networks worldwide, it was particularly devastating to global shipping company Maersk. Ports...
Mike McCormick
May 25, 20203 min read
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Smartphone Contact Tracing
Apple and Google are releasing their jointly developed Covid-19 contact tracing feature (wisely renamed “exposure notification”). Soon...
Mike McCormick
May 12, 20203 min read
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No Vaccine for Russian Disinformation
As Americans hunker down for a pandemic, conspiracy theories seem to spread faster than the virus: Covid-19 is caused by 5G networks....
Mike McCormick
Apr 20, 20203 min read
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RIP Windows 7
If you or someone you know still has a PC running Windows 7, you may have screen this warning screen. It’s not quite the dreaded Blue...
Mike McCormick
Jan 15, 20203 min read
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Iran Has Trained for Years for a Big US Cyberattack
I was on the front lines when Iran attacked American banks via the Internet. One by one, online banking services were knocked offline:...
Mike McCormick
Jan 7, 20202 min read
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False Flags: Did Russia Frame Ukraine?
Thanks to news coverage of President Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian president Zelensky, Americans are learning about a conspiracy...
Mike McCormick
Dec 3, 20193 min read
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