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MakeUseOf: ” Why Backing Up Your Data Isn’t Enough How to Encrypt Local Backups Easily How to Encrypt Files for Cloud Backups What to Do After Encrypting Your Backups Backing up data is essential, but encrypting your files prevents unauthorized access. Encryption converts your files into unreadable data, ensuring that even if your backup is …
Wired [no paywall] – A DOGE operative has been tasked with using AI to propose rewrites to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s regulations—an effort sources are told will roll out across government…A young man with no government experience who has yet to even complete his undergraduate degree is working for Elon Musk’s so-called …
“The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funds crucial health research to address cancer, diabetes, dementia, and more. NIH funding also boosts the economy, returning >250% of the value invested. On Feb. 7th, 2025, the White House ordered across-the-board cuts to NIH funded research. This website shows how funding cuts reduce economic activity and employment nationwide.” …
IEEE – “Through clever usage of APIs, the Library Innovation Lab at Harvard Law School has created an archive of Data.gov, home to 311,000 public datasets In the three decades since Brewster Kahle spun up the nonprofit Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, it has scaled up to include government websites and datasets—many of which are essential …
Wired [unpaywalled] – Crossing into the United States has become increasingly dangerous for digital privacy. Here are a few steps you can take to minimize the risk of Customs and Border Protection accessing your data…That de facto border crackdown is set to become far more explicit if the Trump administration follows through on a plan …
PC Mag – “US government officials discussed war plans in a Signal chat, then blamed the leaks on the messaging app. But Signal and other encrypted apps are secure—as long as you use them correctly.Human error is often at the heart of a cybersecurity catastrophe. That’s why, in our private messaging app reviews, we note …
Wired – no paywall – DOGE Plans to Rebuild SSA Code Base in Months, Risking Benefits and System Collapse – “The so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is starting to put together a team to migrate the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) computer systems entirely off one of its oldest programming languages in a matter of …
Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 29, 2025 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the …
The “crime panic” was a myth. But an analysis by The Appeal shows the narrative helped local police buy facial recognition software, drones, license plate readers, social media surveillance tech, and more. “Retail theft has dominated headlines, earnings calls, and political rhetoric for the last few years. Television news shows loop seemingly endless clips of …
McSweeneys – “Early in President Trump’s first term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We called this list a collection of Trump’s cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes, and it felt urgent to track them, to ensure these horrors—happening almost daily—would not be forgotten. Now that Trump has …
Cyber Insider: “A Mozilla-led campaign is calling on major tech platforms to block surveillance firm ShadowDragon from scraping user data from over 200 websites — including Reddit, Tinder, Duolingo, and Etsy — to support U.S. government surveillance programs, especially those run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The controversy centers on ShadowDragon’s flagship tool, SocialNet, …
Follow up to The High Cost of Team Trump’s Sloppy OPSEC via Raw Story: “A new analysis suggests the widely condemned error triggered by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, who included a journalist in a group chat discussing top-secret war plans, may not be an isolated incident, leaving him open to potential national security risks. That’s …
