Select Page

Week 1 Day 2: How a former Whitehouse Chief of Staff gave away his email password to the Russians. Why the FBI shouldn’t care, but you should care.

John Podesta should have cared more. When he fell for an obvious phishing scam and then wanted the FBI to investigate, he did more than embarrass himself; he may have influenced who the United States elected for president.

Read about John’s mistake and how he doubled-down on dumbness in the Washington Post, right here. Below the article, also see the comment thread I started early morning 12/24/2016.

I am trash-talking John Podesta, and with good reason. Former Whitehouse Chiefs of Staff should know better. John has it coming.

But John Podesta is a celebrity – what about the rest of us?

Maybe you bought a home security camera so you can keep an eye on your house from your cell phone. Here is the link I shared in the video about what happened in 2016 when somebody compromised thousands of cheap home security cameras and knocked popular journalist, Brian Krebs, off the internet.

Maybe you’re a small business owner. Poor security at Fazio Mechanical, a small HVAC company in Pennsylvania, started a chain of events that led to the Target breach, where overseas attackers stole 40 million customer credit card numbers. Read about it right here. You might also enjoy reading Bullseye Breach: Anatomy of an Electronic Break-In, a novel about how overseas attackers plundered fictional retailer, Bullseye Stores.

And here is a link to a blog post about how bad cybersecurity helped destroy the political career of former Minnesota US Senator, Norm Coleman.

Don’t be like John Podesta. Do be smart. Care about cybersecurity. Your own safety and the safety of others might depend on it.