Monday, January 30, 2017

“Those who fail to secure are securing their future failure.”  Sounds philosophical as hell, doesn’t it?  I’m going to copyright that phrase and have T-shirts printed up.  (Colorado adopted this rule last year.)
New on LLRX – Cybersecurity For Lawyers: The Nitty Gritty
by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Jan 29, 2017
Via LLRX.com – Cybersecurity For Lawyers: The Nitty Gritty – Nicole Black reports that 26 states now require lawyers to stay abreast of changes in legal technology and advises colleagues on how to implement security procedures that will protect your law firm’s data and help to keep client data confidential and secure.


For my Computer Security students.  Will hacks try to add names to these databases? 
What It Takes To Truly Delete Data
In February of 2014, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the creation of IDNYC, a municipal identification card primarily designed to ease bureaucratic burdens for the city’s immigrant population.  When the card became available a year later, de Blasio described the program as “fraud-proof, secure and appealing to anyone.”
Now privacy advocates and progressives are worried that it also may be appealing to Donald Trump.  The president-elect has said he plans to deport up to three million undocumented immigrants, and immigrant advocates are concerned the database of immigrants may be a good place to start.  That combined with de Blasio’s vow that New York will remain a sanctuary city has brought renewed attention to the security of the database.  In December, a court barred the city from deleting the data to protect users’ identities and an ongoing lawsuit ensures that the records continue to be retained today.  But there’s an urgent question about the records, fundamental to understanding not just the fate of the data for IDNYC, but all consumer data in the hands of third parties, be they private companies or state departments: Can an entire dataset of important information really be deleted, just like that?


Is this also removing a tool for hackers or just making ‘used’ iPhones less valuable?
Used iPhones: Apple quietly kills tool to check lock status of secondhand devices
Apple has quietly removed a feature on iCloud that helped buyers remotely check the Activation Lock status of a used iPhone before buying it.
Until recently, buyers could go to iCloud.com and type in the IMEI or serial number of a device being sold online to check whether it was still locked by another Apple account.


For my geeks.  I can think of a few places in Colorado that would like this technology. 
Australian archaeological startup raises $679,000 to rebuild ancient sites in VR
Archaeology isn’t an easy job, but it becomes easier in virtual reality, where you can walk around ancient buildings as if they were still there.
Lithodomos VR, an Australian virtual reality archaeological startup, knows this and has raised $900,000 in Australian dollars ($679,000 U.S.) in a seed funding round.
Melbourne-based Lithodomos VR creates what it calls breathtaking, archaeologically accurate reconstructions of the ancient world in VR for use in the tourism, education, and entertainment industries.
   The company’s free app, Ancient World in VR, is available on Google Play now, and it has a paid app, Ancient Jerusalem in VR (Google Play, App Store).


For my researching students.  A technique to use when you encounter a website that may eventually want to disappear or that might be disappeared by governments.
Saving web pages for archiving on the Wayback Machine
by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Jan 29, 2017
Via the managing editor, TV News Archive/Internet Archive: “I want to remind folks — though I’m sure many here are well versed in this — that it’s possible to save web pages to be archived on the Wayback Machine: https://archive.org/web/
1. You can download a handy chrome extension that will allow you to save from your browser: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/wayback%20machine
2. Or if you go to the Wayback site: https://archive.org/web/ and paste in a URL, there is a “save now” function.  I’m told the “save now is being used an average of 38/times/second.”

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