Your Wi-Fi was part of 2.7 billion records leaked
I bet you’ve never heard of Mars Hydro. It’s a company headquartered in Communist China that makes Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Their speciality? LED lights and hydroponics equipment.
Security researcher Jeremiah Fowler (I had him on the show about other breaches, and he’s a smart, standup guy) was digging around and found they had a massive 1.17TB database online for anyone to see. There was no encryption and no password required.
Sorry, clothed for the winter: An Oregon woman’s naked photos became town gossip after a prosecutor looked through her phone and shared them with the county sheriff. There was no warrant, no consent and no suspicion of a crime. She sued, but he’s got “qualified immunity,” a loophole that protects government officials unless a court has already ruled the exact same misconduct illegal. PSA: This is just one of many reasons not to store naked pics on your phone.
Winter bash goes viral
I love this and I know you will, too. An 87-year-old guy in Bucks County, Pennsylvania is having a party tonight. Doug Turner went door to door with handwritten invites. The winter celebration is from “4 p.m. until the cops arrive.” His neighbor shared their doorbell cam chat on TikTok. No strangers at the party, but after Doug said he liked the snail mail, letters flooding the PO Box his daughter set up. He’s planning to reply to each one with his special fountain pen.
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Swatting phone calls made by one teenager. Alan Filion from California charged up to $75 to send police to schools, businesses and even an unnamed former president. In one call, he said he was approaching a school with an AK-47, and the bomb squad showed up. When he targeted homes, Filion said the goal was to “get the cops to drag the victim and their families out of the house, cuff them and search the house for dead bodies.” He’s so lucky no one died.
😏 Didn’t take long: TikTok is back in the iPhone and Android app stores. The hiatus didn’t stop folks who used “sideloading” to install it from third-party sites (so dangerous!) or VPNs to fake their location. President Trump is set to make a decision about TT’s buyer before April 5.
2.7 billion records leaked: A Communist China company that sells smart hydroponics and grow lights proved what I’ve been saying for years. Security in Internet of Things (IoT) devices is a joke. You already know about the massive breach if you’re on my Current Alerts list. Read the full story for the best steps to protect your home network.
Remember the 'Charlie Bit My Finger' video?
You know, the toddler crying because his baby brother bit his finger. Almost 900 million views later, Charlie is 18 and says the clip helped him pay for law school. The 55-second clip has earned his family over $1 million. A big chunk of that came in 2021 when the video sold as an NFT for over $600,000.
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For a Toyota Corolla with 116,000 miles. Yes, the side mirrors are duct-taped, the license plate is bolted on with pliers, and there’s a minion painted on the hood. But mechanic Scotty Kilmer said in a viral TikTok he’d never get rid of an old Corolla. Under the ugly paint job is a 1.8L engine that’ll last forever. Here’s one for ya: Can a Toyota stretch? No, but a Mercedes-Benz.
🐋 Modern-day Jonah: I thought this was totally fake, but it’s not. A dad watched a giant whale swallow his son and caught the whole thing on video. Phew, the kid survived! The whale spat the son and his kayak out after a few seconds. The video is terrifying. One moment, he’s paddling, and the next, he’s completely gone.
Is AI making us dumber? Maybe. A Microsoft study found AI tools hurt our critical thinking skills. Some people are so dependent on AI responses, they stop questioning things. When faced with a real challenge (and no AI), they have a hard time analyzing and solving problems. I use AI as a starting place, not a common-sense replacement.