The Actuator - January 11th
Had a great trip to Austin last week for the filming of the 50th episode of SolarWinds Lab. It's always great to see my team amd everyone else in the office. Being able to collaborate on ideas in person is a nice change of pace for remote workers such as myself. The only downside to last week was the fact that Austin was cold! Hey Texas, I visit you to get away from the cold, not to be reminded of it! Let's hope for warmer weather next week.
Anyway, here's a bunch of links I found on the Intertubz that you may find interesting. Enjoy!
Rumors of Cmd’s death have been greatly exaggerated
I think it is great to see Microsoft, and companies in general, finally take a stand to respond to such tactics. There is a lot of noise on the internet and in order to stand out, people will resort to "turning lies into page views" as a career choice. It's about time we all learn to recognize the trolls for what they are.
FTC filed a lawsuit against D-Link over failure to secure its IoT devices
Finally, we see someone take action against the manufacturers of insecure devices. Here's hoping we see similar actions taken against applications that are built insecure, too.
Bank robber reveals identity – by using his debit card during crime
I know, I know... if he was smart, he wouldn't be robbing a bank. But this is a special kind of dumb, IMO.
Copycat Hackers Are Holding More Than 1,000 Databases for Ransom
Because I thought it was time to remind you of two things: (1) don't pay the ransom and (2) don't use default security options for an internet-facing database.
Interesting study here, revealing that people are just as apt to be jerks online even when using their real names. Oh, yes, this makes sense. See above about the folks that aren't afraid to lie and use FUD in exchange for page views.
MIT Researchers: 2016 Didn’t Have More Famous Deaths Than Usual
Around mid-December, I was curious about this exact thing: are there more celebrity deaths than previous years, or are more just being reported? Similar to shark attacks being perceived as "on the rise" when it was just the reporting of them that had risen.
The center of North America is a town called Center, and it's totally a coincidence. Really.
Funny how sometimes things just work out like this, intended or not.
The view from my office for much of the next few weeks:
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