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Welcome to the MSP Radio newsletter, catching you up on some stories you might have missed! Each week we'll pull a few stories from the podcasts, give you highlights and insights, and make it easy for you to catch up on the latest news and commentary.
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2009 makes a comeback
From Tuesday, March 10th's episode: ZDnet is reporting how poor IoT security is letting the Conflicker virus spread in 2020. The virus peaked in 2009, leveraging flaws in Windows XP and older, but remains active. In 2015 the number of impacted devices was at 400,000, but the new Unit 42 IoT Threat Report from Palo Alto Networks reports a resurgence, with infections now reported at 500,000.
The impact is significant in medical devices due to their use of outdated or unsupported version of Windows. Researchers note that nearly one in five Palo Alto Networks customers have detected Conflicker in the past two years.
Why do we care?
2009, the beginning of the Obama administration, the launch of Farmville, and the premiere of the Jersey Shore and Avatar. And Conflicker.
The rant about the age of medical tech is the obvious one, but I’m going to instead focus on the data showing a new network design is required. Flat networks are out, and trusting no device is the in.
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Take advantage of the best deal in consulting, and ask Dave Sobel a question and get a private video response. Check out the video to learn more!
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Google Tracks a Users Bike Past a Burglarized Home
From Tuesday, March 10th's episode: A story brought by a listener (and thank you, Alan!). Zachary McCoy was notified by Google’s legal investigations team that local police had demanded information related to his Google account. He had 7 days to respond. The story details the police investigation into a local burglar, where investigators used a geofence warrant to look for all people nearby. McCoy’s bike within range of the house – and within the geofence – made his information stand out.
The link for the original story.
Why do we care?
When sending me the story, Alan asked “what is in the Terms of Services agreement and the Google Privacy policy.“
He’s not wrong, although my interest was elsewhere too. I have two interests.
First, the broad net nature of the warrant. Casting such a wide net seems problematic to me. In an “innocent until proven guilty” principle of justice, this use of data can flip the script, requiring the user to defend themselves when they are innocent. That’s a problem.
Second, the lack of transparency, both in the request and it’s use. Google’s information to McCoy required significant action on his part, rather than enabling the process. Let’s remember, google is profiting off of the use of all this data, yet here it’s making the process onerous for the consumer. Second, the lack of visibility into how the data is used is problematic. Alan’s question about the privacy policy is focused here, and I’d like to see a lot more transparency to the user of where their data is going.
These are good principles to apply when thinking about these issues with customers – I’ve been beating on this drum, but this is high value consulting for companies collecting data.
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The Europeans move on Right to Repair
From Thursday, March 12th's episode: The European Commission has set out a plan to make the “right to repair” official, and additionally wants to restrict single use products, address premature obsolescened, and ban the destriction of unsold durable goods.
From the statement:
“Many products break down too easily, cannot be reused, repaired or recycled, or are made for single use only. There is a huge potential to be exploited both for businesses and consumers. With today’s plan we launch action to transform the way products are made and empower consumers to make sustainable choices for their own benefit and that of the environment.”
Why do we care?
Right to Repair has been discussed several times on this show, with the debate happening in the US at the state level. CompTIA recently released a statement backing off from their lobbying against Right to Repair legislation.
I’m pro Right to Repair, and I think it’s good for the industry and the environment.
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