Tech/Gear

There is a funny twist to the anti-FOMO craze. Now people are worried they may be missing out on the latest way to spend less time on their phones. You may have heard people talking about "bricking" their phones. Thankfully, they are not destroying them. A $59 product called Brick is getting attention because it lets you temporarily block distracting apps and websites, creating a physical barrier between you and […]

Somewhere in a marketing database, something you did years ago could still be helping a company decide what you might respond to next. Maybe you entered a sweepstakes or signed up for a business seminar. That kind of response can become valuable data.Federal court records show just how far that can go. In a case involving data broker Epsilon Data Management, employees had a name for people targeted by certain […]

You probably know to be suspicious of a strange pop-up or a random website asking you to download something. But what happens when the ad comes from a verified account belonging to a company you recognize? That is what made a recent malware campaign involving HBO Max so concerning.Researchers at Hudson Rock found that cybercriminals hijacked HBO Max's official, verified Reddit account and used it to push 108 distinct malicious […]

You leave a home empty while you travel, prepare it for sale or help an aging parent move. Then an unfamiliar car appears in the driveway. Someone gets inside. Before long, that person may even claim to have a lease. That kind of situation turned Flash Shelton into the man now known as the "Squatter Hunter." I recently sat down with Shelton on "The CyberGuy Report" podcast to talk about […]

If your dog starts barking the second you walk out the door, leaving home can come with a little extra guilt. That can happen whether you live in an apartment or a house. A pet camera can show you what is happening, but watching from your phone does little when your dog reacts to every sound outside or gets anxious when you are gone.WIM-Z wants to take a more active […]

Google's Threat Intelligence Group found experimental malware called PROMPTFLUX that could ask Gemini to rewrite its own code. One version was designed to do that every hour. Why would malware keep rewriting itself? To make it harder to recognize.Security software can look for known patterns in malicious code. If that code keeps changing, the malware becomes a moving target. That does not automatically make it invisible to current security tools, […]

Has this happened to you? You're at the airport, connected to the terminal Wi-Fi, VPN running and feeling good about your security. You board, put your phone in airplane mode, land a few hours later and switch airplane mode off. Your phone finds the hotel Wi-Fi. You open your email and start scrolling.What you probably didn't notice is the moment in between. For a few seconds, your phone may have […]

A deed can change hands without a burglar breaking a window or a scammer hacking a computer. Sometimes the first warning signs are sitting inside county records, bank accounts and email inboxes, waiting for someone to notice.A disturbing case out of South Carolina shows why families may want to put a few digital safeguards in place now. According to a local report, a daughter says her 75-year-old father, who had […]

If you have ever watched your arrival time creep later while sitting in traffic, flying over it sounds pretty appealing. Texas is now testing what that could look like. Earlier this month, the Texas Department of Transportation launched the first phase of Project Nexus, a three-year program focused on preparing next-generation aircraft for use in Texas skies.The Sept. 10 kickoff at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport included demonstrations from […]