Privacy Files

The internet is a lot of things. It is informative...sometimes deceptive. It brings people together when they are separated by great physical distances. It makes shopping easier than at any other time in human history. But there is also a dark side. But is it as sinister as the media makes it out to be?

The dark web conjures up images of a deep recess within the web where anything goes. A place where so-called "red rooms"...

There are approximately 18 million students enrolled in degree-granting colleges and universities in the United States. Globally, that number balloons to 235 million students.

And as technology evolves, it finds its way into today's college campus life one way or another. But is it always for the betterment of students? Can college students maintain their privacy during a period in their life that seems so exposed?

In this epis...

***NOTE: The audio in the first eleven minutes might be a little challenging to listen to, but after that it improves. This was our first episode recorded outside of our Privacy Files studio. Recording remotely does introduce some additional recording challenges. In this episode, we were recording inside a convention center expo hall where we had to contend with a considerable amount of ambient noise from attendees walking the floo...

Globally, there are more than 50 million people creating original content for social media. Make no mistake about it. The influencer industry is huge. In many cases, being an influencer is like being a Hollywood celebrity. Strangers will often recognize influencers in public.

But life as a content creator is not all about money and fame. Living life in the public eye comes at the expense of personal privacy.

Over the last several y...

Since 2000, there have been more than two million marriages every year in the United States. In fact, the average cost of a wedding in America is approximately $25,000.

But what about the privacy cost? Planning a wedding often involves communicating with ten or more vendors. From photographers and caterers to musicians and cake bakeries, wedding planning requires providing your personal contact information to total strangers. On to...

To learn more about our guest Robert Kerbeck and to buy the book RUSE:

https://www.robertkerbeck.com/

To those in the world of corporate espionage, Robert Kerbeck is known as the best corporate spy there ever was. He perfected the art of social engineering, or "rusing" as Robert likes to call it, to gain access to sensitive internal information from some of the largest companies in the world.

Robert took "live a...

The Virtual Private Network (VPN) business is hot. What was once the domain of the corporate world is now a ubiquitous phenomenon. Today there are 1.5 billion VPN users worldwide--making this a nearly $50 billion global market.

In this episode of Privacy Files, we take a hard look at the world of VPNs. What's driving the growth in VPN adoption? Who's using VPNs, for what and why? Are all VPNs the same? What about free VPN s...

World Password Day is May 4, 2023. And with 80% of hacking-related breaches being linked to passwords, this Intel-conceived annual event, is an opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of strong passwords and fight back against bad actors. It's a great reminder to take inventory of your accounts and reassess all login credentials--especially financial accounts. Take an extra hard look at account passwords for checkin...

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) has been receiving a lot of press lately. There is so much data freely accessible online today that many experts say spy agencies like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) should focus their research efforts on OSINT sources first, long before employing covert techniques like wiretapping or reading an adversary's mail.

In other words, OSINT isn't just ...

Imagine a future where YOU own your data and not Big Tech. Imagine a future where you control what personal information you share, with whom and for how long.

Decentralized identity offers this future and the technology and standards are being developed today.

When available, decentralized identity will put an end to the practice of giant corporations storing your sensitive personal data--only for a hacker to come along and breach ...

Identity theft is big business for bad actors. In 2021, there were nearly 1.7 million reports of identity theft in the United States, translating into $56 billion in losses.

Credit card fraud is the second leading form of identity theft with nearly 400,000 cases being reported in the United States in 2021.

In 2023, worldwide payment card fraud losses are expected to exceed $35 billion.

In fact, global payment card losses from fraud...

Each year in the United States, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) processes approximately 160 million individual tax returns. Personal income taxes in America is anything but a simple process. In fact, there are literally more than 800 forms and schedules available to accommodate a wide variety of income reporting scenarios.

But with approximately 92% of all tax returns in the United States being filed electronically, just how saf...

In the United States, there are nearly 40,000 private detectives and investigators. Jobs for private detectives and investigators are expected to grow 13% through 2030.

Globally, the private investigation services market stands at $18.2 billion USD in 2022. In fact, private investigation services account for 20% of the entire global security services market.

So what's responsible for the growing demand for private detectives an...

In this episode of Privacy Files, we wrap up our two-part series on Smart Devices and Privacy.

We highlight another handful of popular smart devices and discuss the privacy and security implications of employing them in your home. From baby monitors and security systems (including Ring doorbell cameras) to smart cars and digital assistants, we give you the pros and cons and how to better protect yourself.

Then we step back a bit to...

Today, smart devices are practically everywhere. In fact, there are now 15.14 billion internet-connected devices worldwide. That number is expected to double by 2030.

In 2020, the number of Inernet-of-Things (IoT) devices surpassed the number of non-IoT devices. And there's no looking back. Worldwide, 127 devices are connected to the internet every second of the day. And by 2025, it is estimated that 152,200 devices will be con...

In this spellbinding episode of Privacy Files, Rich and Sarah peel the layers off of the Chinese Spy Balloon incident that occurred over the United States from January 28 to February 4 2023. While this incident may have been an attempt by the Chinese government to gather intelligence from American military installations, there are further concerns that the technology included in the balloon's payload could have been used to surveil...

The video game industry is the largest category within the entertainment industry, generating hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue annually. Estimates put the video game industry at five to ten times the box office revenue of the movie industry.

More than half of Gen X, Gen Y and Gen Z play video games. In fact, an astonishing 81% of Gen Z plays video games.

But just exactly how private is gaming?

According to one former FBI ...

In this episode of Privacy Files, Rich and Sarah observe Teen Tech Week by addressing some of the safety issues teenagers encounter while navigating the online world. The discussion was enhanced by welcoming a guest, the mother of a teenage daughter, to provide insight into the growing issues teens face online.

Teens spend hours and hours on their mobile devices every single day. However, when they encounter a risky situation onlin...

Nearly 1.2% of all emails sent are malicious in nature. That's approximately 3.4 billion phishing emails sent every single day.

In this episode of Privacy Files, we examine how the increase in remote work is raising the risk level for data breaches at companies around the world.

One growing threat is zero-click exploits. These are cyber attacks that don't even require the victim to click a link. This type of threat usually comes in...