Ransomware Attacks Won’t Die--Just Multiply Ransomware has become such a hot topic with a seemingly new case every day that we thought we would pick up where we left off last week... The earliest examples of ransomware (i.e., people hacking into computers, encrypting files and demanding payment in return for decryption) was relatively small potatoes—a hundred dollars here or there in fairly isolated and localized incidents. It used to be your friend’s g [...]

We Predicted the Death of Ransomware in 2017. Oh, Time Machines. We first wrote about Ransomware attacks in Tech Essentials in 2017 – back when a Bitcoin was valued at $1800 (oh, the good old days). The crux of the article was that many victims were paying their ransom to the cyber perpetrators, but they did not have an easy way to track and reconcile who paid, and m [...]

Independence from Big Brother, Big Tech and Big Putin This time of year, Americans are obviously thinking about independence. And this year, independence will take on even greater importance because the lockdowns are over, and we are free again to travel to see our friends and family for the holiday. Every holiday season we all take some time to reflect on the true meaning of the holidays. For July 4th I think we should all pause and think about the true me [...]

No Mitsakes Were Made in This Week’s Artical “To Err Is To Be Human”—a great quotation coined, I believe, by Rodney Dangerfield, or maybe Alexander Pope. My mistake. To be human is great—you get to enjoy earthly pleasures like food and music in ways that machines will never be able to do (at least for now). Humans get to love and run through fields of sunflowers in slow motion with their soulmates—not something an Alexa can do (at least for now). Can your iPhone experience [...]

It Turns Out, Mars is Still Uninviting for Mere-Mortal Business Execs Last Thursday, RPost concluded the first ever business-tech conference held on Mars, Optimize! 2021 E-Sign E-Security. Due to limited spaceflight availability, RPost provided virtual Earth-links for attendees. Those RPost employees attending the conference on the Red Planet flew coach to pass the savings to our customers, the greatest in the Solar System. We’re not sure w [...]