Poet Ponders the Digital

RFID chip pulled from new credit card (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Visalia Direct: Virtual Valley October 5, 2015 Deadline November 2015 Issue This summer, I had a credit card “cloned” while driving along the Interstate 76 Tollway. Because I check my credit card statements online after any trip, I noticed the fraudulent charges and cancelled the card. Credit cards remain one of the easiest targets for criminals and no easy solution seems likely. Two years ago, I had another credit card number stolen by a waiter. Local police informed me that such thefts remained the most common form of credit card fraud. In both instances, I did everything “right” and was still a victim of thieves. The waiter stealing card numbers asked to see my driver’s license before walking away from the table. He was writing down numbers, expiration dates and card verification values while standing behind a low wall. With these data, another criminal ran charges at a convenience store, listing charges as...

English: An HP LaserJet 4200 dtns printer (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Visalia Direct: Virtual Valley August 31, 2015 Deadline October 2015 Issue Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek hacked a Jeep in July of this year. Chrysler recalled 1.4 million vehicles to fix issues with the “Uconnect” network, which used cellular Internet connections to enable features like remote access. If you’ve wondered how OnStar and similar services, like Uconnect, unlock car doors, now you know. They use the Internet. Uber, the ride-scheduling app company, hired Miller and Valasek in August to work on security for Uber’s autonomous automobile project, since a self-driving car requires network and GPS access to function properly. Everything in an autonomous vehicle is computerized and this invites potential mischief. Uber hired hackers to identify security vulnerabilities. General Motors, Volkswagen and other car companies have been tested by hackers. The 2016 Corvette’s braking system has been hacke...

An illustration of an example IPv6 address (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Visalia Direct: Virtual Valley July 27, 2015 Deadline September 2015 Issue That convenient flashlight app knows where you are. So do your social media apps, your Web browser, your clock and many other apps on your phone, tablet and computer. And there’s not much you can do to hide. Many people don’t understand how their devices offer the functionality we love and worry upon hearing our devices and software track us constantly. And much of that information remains behind on our devices, or stored elsewhere beyond our control, because we agree to that in return for features, convenience and cheap (or free) apps. When you download an application or operating system, you agree to various terms and conditions. For example, to use Adobe Creative Cloud or Microsoft Office365, you agree that your computer will connect to corporate servers weekly and verify your subscription is paid. Adobe and Microsoft servers ...

Visalia Direct: Virtual Valley March 2007 Issue February 11, 2007 Wireless Conveniences… and Risks “Join open network Tom’s Place?” The dialog box on my laptop’s screen was puzzling. Beyond the obvious problem that my name isn’t Tom, something unfamiliar and strange was happening. Why was my computer wanting to join Tom’s Place? Wasn’t my place good enough? Welcome to the convenience of wireless networking. I had turned on my laptop without first turning on my wireless router, so my laptop had automatically searched for any nearby wireless networks. The newest computer operating systems take it upon themselves to locate and join wireless networks, which is much better than the way things were only a few years ago. The downside of this automation had just revealed itself, though. Because I don’t know “Tom” (not the real name, of course), but assumed he must be one of my neighbors, I told my laptop “No” and suddenly another dialog appeared. Did I want to join the network “D...