The Lance J. Technoweb

All "cloud backup" services encrypt data using industry-leading encryption algorithms so that you can trust that your data is secure. Except that's not true.  Although these companies do encrypt your data, the vast majority of these services keep a copy of your encryption key, which they can secretly use at any time to look at all of your data. Sure, these companies likely want to do the right thing for reputational reasons, but the same could be said for Equifax and CapitalOne and Experian and hundreds of other finance and healthcare companies that each spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year on their computer systems.  Just taking a look at data theft throughout the industry and we have to ask ourselves: WHY should anyone have confidence in a backup service that has full access to all of my data? To put the nail in the coffin, all these services have legalese that makes it clear that they are not responsible for any data theft caused by their failures.  They si...

My Honeywell Vista 20p alarm system is fairly comprehensive, but I want one more feature: an alarm that lets me know when my sump pump isn't working properly. Here is how I added one for about $8 in special parts.   I'm afraid of a flood in my finished basement. I'm fortunate - my basement sump pump system is already redundant, with two independent pumps and two outflow pipes. The primary pump kicks in when the water level reaches 6 inches, and if that doesn't work, then the backup pump kicks in when the water level reaches 7 inches.  The backup pump should never kick in unless the primary pump is having a problem pumping.   But there is a problem with this setup: I might never know if my primary pump has failed, leaving me with no redundancy.  I want to be informed when I have one (or god forbid, two) pump failures. My goal is to have my Vista 20p alert me when the sump's water level is ever beyond the point where my primary pump should have kicked in, alertin...

Here is my strategy to stop your Facebook crapfest addiction! Enable Facebook's 2-factor authentication . Delete the Facebook App from your phone. Delete other Facebook properties, such as Instagram and FB Mesenger. Change your Facebook password to something long and complicated.  Write it down.  Clear your browser cookies on both your phone and any other computing devices. And that's it! Now it's a pain in the rear to log into Facebook.  If you find yourself trying to log into Facebook, just say "WTF am I doing" and stop.

Who is remotely controlling my iPhone??? This is a personal story that scared the hell out of me. On Monday I was awoken by my iPhone alarm telling me that it was time to get up to go to work.   I picked up the phone and looked at the day's calendar.  Ug.  I put it back down in its dock for a couple more Z's. Seconds later, I heard it clicking. I looked at my phone, and it looked like someone was typing on it!  Click.  Then a swipe.  And then more clicks.  One of my business apps was being operated, but NO ONE was touching my iPhone!  I was sure that a Hacker was remotely operating my iPhone, digging around for my private data! This was shocking.  My phone stores a lot of good stuff - my email, photos, finances, passwords and all sorts of other goodies.  If someone compromised my phone they could know  where  I am.  They could operate the cameras, the microphones - in short, they could know almost  everyth...

Which computer is more secure? "Mac!" says the dedicated Macintosh user. Or is it computers with the new Windows OS? Or are they both equally likely to have security problems? There is a lot of debate in the security industry regarding which platform is more secure. Many people assume that the Mac is so secure - perhaps because they have heard of people that have experienced security failures under Windows. Others say that the the Mac is just as insecure as Windows, if not more so. The LanceJ Security Test I propose the following simple test that can be used to measure which platform is more secure from the vantage point of the public. Buy a quantity of new, stock Windows 7 and Macintosh computers from a retailer. For example, buy 5 new Mac Minis and 5 new Windows 7 HP desktops from BestBuy. Distribute each of the sealed, boxed computers to a regular, randomly selected family. Give each of those families identical, stock internet access via, say, Comcast. Tell the fam...