Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast

Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast


Where & Why to Plant Your Flag

February 13, 2023

As a general rule, I would normally advise people to minimize the number of online accounts they have, including avoiding creating unnecessary accounts and closing accounts they no longer need. However, as a regular citizen, there are a handful of governmental accounts that exist for you already, whether you use them or not. And you should claim those accounts for yourself before bad guys do this on your behalf. Furthermore, as a home owner or modern consumer, you probably have several other accounts that you may never have claimed: utilities, financial institutions, medical portals, and more. Today I’ll tell you where and why to plant your flag.


In other news: Booking.com reservation data being used to scam customers; top background check service customers’ data leaked; Finnish psychotherapy extortion suspect arrested; FTC takes on telehealth data sharing; the ACLU lobbies court to restrict Google geofence warrant data; Anker admits to Eufy camera security bugs; fake, malicious Bitwarden ads deliver malware; maker of stalkerware fined and forced to notify victims; NIST proposes security protocols for low-power IoT devices. I also answer a listener question about IPv4 vs IPv6.


Article Links
  1. [Ars Technica] Mysterious leak of Booking.com reservation data is being used to scam customers https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/mysterious-leak-of-booking-com-reservation-data-is-being-used-to-scam-customers/
  2. [TechRadar] Top background check services hit by data breach https://www.techradar.com/news/top-background-check-services-hit-by-data-breach
  3. [Naked Security] Finnish psychotherapy extortion suspect arrested in France https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2023/02/06/finnish-psychotherapy-extortion-suspect-arrested-in-france/
  4. [The Markup] The FTC Is Taking on Telehealth’s Data Sharing Problem—​Starting with GoodRx – The Markup https://themarkup.org/pixel-hunt/2023/02/01/the-ftc-is-taking-on-telehealths-data-sharing-problem-starting-with-goodrx
  5. [Computerworld] ACLU, public defenders push back against Google giving police your mobile data https://www.computerworld.com/article/3686535/aclu-public-defenders-push-back-against-google-giving-police-your-mobile-data.html
  6. [9to5mac.com] Anker admits to lying about Eufy security camera encryption; describes future plans https://9to5mac.com/2023/02/01/eufy-security-camera-encryption/
  7. [PCWorld] Phony, malicious Bitwarden ads slip past Google’s watch https://www.pcworld.com/article/1487690/phony-bitwarden-ads-are-the-latest-to-slip-through-on-googles-watch.html
  8. [Electronic Frontier Foundation] Stalkerware Maker Fined $410k and Compelled to Notify Victims https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/02/stalkerware-maker-fined-410k-and-compelled-notify-victims
  9. [ZDNet] Tiny IoT devices are getting their own special encryption algorithms https://www.zdnet.com/article/tiny-iot-devices-are-getting-their-own-special-encryption-algorithms/

Further Info

Table of Contents

Use these timestamps to jump to a particular section of the show.


  • 0:02:29: News preview
  • 0:03:58: Booking.com users being targeted with convincing scams
  • 0:09:11: Top background check services hit by data breach
  • 0:12:16: Finnish psychotherapy extortion suspect arrested
  • 0:18:48: FTC Is Taking on Telehealth’s Data Sharing Problem
  • 0:23:23: ACLU pushes back against Google geofence warrants
  • 0:31:07: Anker admits to lying about Eufy security camera encryption
  • 0:37:38: Phony, malicious Bitwarden ads slip past Google
  • 0:41:05: Stalkerware Maker Fined $410k and Compelled to Notify Victims
  • 0:44:43: IoT devices are getting their own special encryption algorithms
  • 0:47:38: Dear Carey: IPv4 vs IPv6
  • 0:55:01: Tip of the Week: Plant Your Flag
  • 1:00:03: Wrap up

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