December 5, 2023

Good morning, everyone!

This week’s critical vulnerabilities: Apple has fixed two more zero days in iOS 17.1.2 and a Safari update for older versions of macOS Google Chrome has released an update to fix a zero day (remember to close the browser and reopen, for the update to be installed) Zyxel has released patches to address 15 security issues in its NAS, firewall, and access point (AP) devices Did your "automatic" updates get installed? Patch All the Things!

Goodness, I read this story last week with horror. Important lessons in this one!

Short version, a 7yo boy was dared by friends to post a video to YouTube of his bare bottom, and he did it. Unfortunately for this family, Google has A.I.-powered systems that review the hundreds of hours of video that are uploaded to the service every minute, and this video was flagged as potential child exploitation. Since the child was using an iPad logged into his mother's Google account on YouTube, the mother's Google account was locked -- not just YouTube, but also Gmail, Drive, and every other online service with authentication tied to her Google account.

She lost access to her photos, documents and email, she said, meaning she couldn’t get messages about her work schedule, review her bank statements or “order a thickshake” via her McDonald’s app — which she logs into using her Google account.

She went through a rather arduous appeals process to have her account restored, only to be rejected repeatedly (despite having a paid account with Google, not a free account) and informed that her account, and all its data, would be deleted in 7 days. It was only after speaking with a NY Times reporter, who then contacted Google about the issue, that her account was restored. Wow.

Lessons learned?

• Be cautious about consolidating all your online accounts to a single point of access.
• Set up separate accounts for children (not just online accounts, but local accounts on PCs and laptops as well), with additional restrictions whenever possible.

Can you think of more? Email your ideas to me and I'll share in my next newsletter!

Remember, you can read past editions of this newsletter on our website, along with tons more information under the Resources tab.

Have a great week!

Glenda R. Snodgrass
grs@theneteffect.com
(251) 433-0196 x107
https://www.theneteffect.com
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