Tech Time Warp: The biggest lesson from the Equifax data breach
As Cybersecurity Awareness Month winds down, it’s time to take a look at the final component of this year’s “See Yourself in Cyber” campaign: software updates. This year’s theme emphasizes the role of personal responsibility in protecting yourself online. Responding...
Tech Time Warp: FTC Takes First Action Against Phishing
“See Yourself in Cyber” is the theme of the 2022 Cybersecurity Awareness Month, encouraging computer users to recognize their own power to detect and protect themselves from cybercrime. Few of us can say that we’ve never been tripped up by...
Pioneers in Tech: The answer to the security question is “Fernando Corbáto”
This year’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month theme—“See Yourself in Cyber”—encourages computer users of all types to focus on the personal role they play in protecting themselves online. After all, if your go-to password is “password,” no mitigation measure will be effective.
Tech Time Warp: Multi-factor authentication is more secure, but who invented it?
The theme of this year’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month is “See Yourself in Cyber,” focusing on all the ways the human touch is needed for true cybersecurity. One focus for the month is multi-factor authentication (MFA), which keeps technology secure by...
Tech Time Warp: Cybersecurity Awareness Month turns 18
Cybersecurity is finally of age—as an awareness month, anyway. Oct. 1 marks the start of the 18th annual Cybersecurity Awareness Month organized by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA).
Tech Time Warp: District judge rules that computer code is protected by copyright
Sept. 22, 1986, marked a milestone in a protracted legal battle between Intel and NEC Corp. over copyright protection of computer code. As they fought for control of the microprocessor market, the two semiconductor companies—Intel American, and NEC Corp. Japanese—found...
Tech Time Warp: Fondness and appreciation for the floppy disk
The BBC recently reported Japanese digital minister Taro Kono had “declared war” on floppy disks. Approximately 1,900 Japanese government activities still require the use of floppy disks, along with CD-ROMs and other outdated technology. Kono vowed to seek regulatory updates...
Pioneers in Tech: Charles Simonyi, the brain behind Word and Excel
It’s estimated at least 1.2 billion people worldwide use Microsoft Office products. The tech pioneer behind the flagship Office programs Word and Excel is the fascinating Charles Simonyi, whose Microsoft success has enabled him to become the first repeat space...
Tech Time Warp: News leaks about Library of Congress plan to go digital
Nowadays, one expects major museums and institutions such as the Library of Congress (LOC) to have online catalogs and exhibitions. But it wasn’t that long ago that such an online presence was a groundbreaking proposition. This week’s Tech Time Warp...
Tech Time Warp: Linus Torvalds introduces Linux
They say hindsight is 20/20, which is why Linus Torvalds’ Aug. 25, 1991, message to a MINIX newsgroup is so humorous now: “I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) … it...
