The trouble with Paris

Amira pinned only the most excellent restaurants and bakeries in Paris for us to check out. 

My office today: our apartment in Central Paris

We are loving our apartment (for the next few days) in Central Paris -- it's in a very cool neighborhood, and the apartment itself is fantastic -- fiber optic internet, too. This is why we're nomads.

Tapas in El Born

And vermouth. And cava. At the awesome bar and restaurant called El Xampanyet. 

We got our covid test done for entry into France tomorrow. Now it’s tapa time. 

A beautiful morning on La Rambla

Amira and I came to Barcelona on our honeymoon many years ago, before overtourism burdened this unique city, and the city felt just like this. The pandemic is still keeping the tourist always, and these feel like stolen days.

How Spain vets incoming travelers


Today was the first day that Spain allowed people from some countries who have been vaccinated to enter the without needing to enter on important business. 

The Spanish consulate website said you need two things to enter the country now. First, proof of vaccination. Second, to complete a form on the website for health and travel published by the Spanish government. The form asks all the standard Covid related health questions (have you been in contact with some poor bastard dying of COVID?, etc.), asked if you were vaccinated and also if you had a negative Covid test in the 72 hours before arrival. 

But when I actually entered the country, they didn’t ask to see proof of vaccination They only scanned the QR code on the app, then waved me in. 

You've heard the doom-and-gloom scenarios around cloud security. Here's why they may never come true!

We’ve all heard dire predictions about the future of cybersecurity trends, especially cloud security. IoT environments will expand the attack surface beyond control and encourage breaches. Hybrid offices will always pose a greater risk as cyber criminals exploit flex and remote work. Insecure APIs will open the door to attacks. Attackers will hijack employee accounts. Cloud resources will lack visibility. 

But what if these threats and risks are overblown? Here’s why all these dire predictions about cloud security might never come to pass.

The rise of video snooping as a service

Among the many important aspects of IoT security, live cameras are one of the most open to misuse. People have been video snooping, watching private cameras and doing other sketchy things around connected cameras for many years. But in recent months, the intensity and risk around video have risen.

Video has breached privacy, or even security, in recent months in three main ways: 

  1. Cyber criminals place hidden cameras in hotel rooms or home bedrooms. From there, they sell video clips or even live streams from those cameras online at scale.
  2. Attackers digitally break into a company that provides security video services. From there they gain admin access to the companies’ servers. They can snoop on the live feeds of schools, hospitals and even cybersecurity companies using their products and services.
  3. Threat actors exploit connected video cameras using insecure default configurations and other flaws.

It’s time to explore the potential for abuse (social engineering, blackmail, intelligence for sale and more). 

Here's how you can protect yourself against this new wave of video attacks!



Why you need to be intentional about encrypting cloud data

Cloud security and web application security demand technology and practices that protect applications and data hosted remotely. Good old-fashioned data encryption is chief among these. The reasons for encrypting cloud data, of course, are privacy, security and regulatory compliance — all standard for any successful enterprise. At the bottom of all this is the idea of being intentional about encryption, knowing the standards you need to meet and the specifics of your group’s needs. Make sure you’re seeing the whole picture with our guide.


Have you ever seen a hydrogen car get gas?

My son, Kevin, bought a hydrogen fuel cell electric Toyota Mirai, recently. He absolutely loves it. As a bonus, he found out that the one of the best hydrogen stations around is right around the corner from his house. 

Here's what it looks like to get gas at a hydrogen station: 

Why the food industry needs far better cybersecurity

The food industry faces an uncertain future. Restaurants and prepared-food companies, food manufacturers, farmers and producers that survived the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 are heading into a new world. Some of the competition has been removed, new players are entering the market and both tastes and consumer habits have changed. Take a look at our recipe for how food manufacturers can boost their internet of things (IoT) security in the midst of all those changes

New Mike's List: Down with the Twitter aristocracy! Plus: commie smartphones, glitching pants, military sarcasm radar and more!

One problem with Twitter is the existence of a blue-check aristocracy. Now Twitter plans to further separate users into paid and not paid social media classes. What the company really needs is a verification system that democratizes Twitter. 

Plus, the Russian smartphone customizing company Caviar is releasing a custom Huawei Mate 40 Pro and an iPhone 12 Limited Edition smartphone to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China. Workers of the world, unite behind this $25,000 gadget!

The clothing company Le Je is selling pants that look like a glitch in the Matrix. 

Rolls-Royce has come out with a car that is more than just a car — it's also a picnic basket. 

And DARPA, the US military research arm that brought us GPS, the graphical interface and the internet, is finally funding something useful — a sarcasm detector!

Read all about it in the latest edition of Mike's List!

Health care orgs also need to be immunized... against cyberattacks


Health care data security has always been a concern. But in the last year, health care and digital safety have become even more urgent topics in government, business and in the public at large. The reason is the sudden and enormous rise in attacks, both in number and impact. Where are those health care cyberattacks coming from? And, how can cybersecurity teams protect health care data? Here's what you need to know

How 5G will totally transform media and entertainment cyber security

Any discussion about how technology is changing entertainment should include 5G. The new wireless networking standard could completely transform the entertainment landscape—and with it media and entertainment cyber security.

And it's no mystery why: 5G can offer radically faster download speeds, vastly reduced latency, much higher network capacity and other benefits that could fuel an explosion in new applications, platforms, devices and possibilities for entertainment.