Hackers trivia

June 20, 2024

This week in 1997, a group of hackers cracked code written in Data Encryption Standard, which was designed to be impenetrable. Oops. How long did it take the hackers to crack? Was it … A.) Five days, B.) Five weeks, C.) Five months or D.) Five years?

C.) Five months. A group of hackers organized online to crack what was, at that point, the strongest legally exportable encryption software in the United States.

Tags: code, data, encryption, Group, hackers, online, software, states, trivia, United States

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Your smart speaker can detect smoke and carbon monoxide alarms – Here's how

Your Amazon, Google or Apple smart speaker has a lifesaving feature I bet you don’t know about: It can tell you if there’s smoke or carbon monoxide (CO) in your home.

The speaker can’t actually detect smoke or CO, but it can “listen” for devices that do. So, if your smoke or CO alarm goes off and you’re away from home, your smart speaker can ping your phone, saving your property, belongings and precious pets inside.

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�� He’s lucky he didn’t get boiled alive for a social media pic: A 21-year-old tourist at Yellowstone National Park got seven days in jail and a $1,500 fine for trying to sneak a close-up of the world’s largest geyser. He blew past all the warning signs and got within 15 feet of Steamboat Geyser’s steam vent. What a dope.

$100,000 set aside

By Minnesota lawmakers to buy Dorothy’s stolen ruby slippers. They could go for 100 times that at auction. The shoes were stolen in 2005 while on loan from their owner to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota (her hometown). After being recovered in 2018, they’ll be back up for sale at the end of the year.

Want your FB page back? Ask your local TV station for help. An Indianapolis man got his hacked Facebook account back after the local news investigated “shallow fakes.” That’s where scammers use your videos to pose as you on social. Might be a strat for you to try.

The “perfect meal” has three things: Caesar salad, fries and an ice-cold martini. Social media is calling it the “NYC happy meal.” I call it the “magic eraser,” guaranteed to delete the stress of the week. What’s your perfect food and bev combo? Reply and let me know!

🪄 You need a magic wand: The FCC says Adobe has predatory subscription billing practices. When you try to cancel Creative Cloud, Adobe charges you half of your leftover subscription, and they make it nearly impossible to cancel without calling. Caught in their web? The FCC put out a guide to help you dispute your charges.

Celebrity catfish: Kate Beckinsale just called out a scammer who used her identity to con an elderly man out of thousands. His kids reached out to the actress, begging her to prove that she wasn’t the one contacting him. He was convinced she proposed to him via text.

Cold case victim identified: A human skull discovered in 1983 has finally been identified, thanks to Facebook. In 1979, Maritza Gean Grimmet filed for divorce. Then, she disappeared. When investigators posted renderings of her on an FB group for missing women in 2023, her daughter immediately came forward. They’re still investigating the cause of death. I wonder where the husband’s hiding out …

🇷🇺 The new “cold war:” Russia has a new avenue for disinformation: AI chatbots. A recent study found 10 leading chatbots spouted Russian propaganda 32% of the time. Where are they getting the info? An American fugitive in Moscow, who published over 160 fake news sites for the Kremlin. Don’t trust AI for your news — especially election news.

It’s not just sketchy ATMs and gas pumps: Watch out for card skimmers at the grocery store, too. Two guys are wanted in Georgia for putting a fake PIN pad on a self-checkout lane in Kroger. Be smart: If the buttons on the PIN pad are off-center and hard to push, or if part of the pad feels loose, don’t use it.