For Free Speech to Thrive Online, P2P Must Be Embraced

 

The most important lesson 2021 has taught us so far this year is that private companies are under no obligation to protect your freedom of speech.

While the Internet has created amazing ways for us to all communicate through social media, the fact of the matter is that people become too invested in platforms which are under someone else's control. For years we've seen increased cases of big tech showing bias towards political parties. This has all finally come to a head with the deplatforming of President Trump and even the suspension of hosting of Parler by Amazon because Parler refused to moderate content.

Currently this "big tech" bias seems to be against conservatives. However, liberals should be just as concerned about the consequences - if a conservative owned company gained popularity then suddenly started removing liberal content, liberals would and should be just as outraged.

Which Antivirus is Right for Me?

As a cyber security professional, something I'm asked a lot is "Which antivirus should I use?"

As with all cyber security questions, this really depends on multiple factors. In this case, we'll examine my recommendations for home usage. If you're a corporate user, you'll want to look into centrally managed solutions instead, which I'll probably cover in a future article.

People are often surprised at my answer to this question. It really depends on what you do with your computer, and how tech savvy you are, as well as your budget.

Personally, I actually just use the free Windows Security, but that's because I need performance over protection. So let's take a look at what solution is right for you.

Please note that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases using some of the links below. This compensation does not affect my recommendations.

Thousands of SonarQube Instances Publicly Exposed

The FBI recently released an alert that hackers are targeting SonarQube, software designed to scan source code for vulnerabilities. Specifically, hackers are targeting unsecure, default instances which have not been locked down and have a default username and password of admin/admin.

A search using Shodan reveals several thousand public facing SonarQube instances, most of which are hosted on Amazon on Microsoft Azure.

The FBI recommends changing default credentials, as well as changing the default port. An additional recommendation I would make would be to restrict SonarQube access to only authorized IP address spaces, or even better yet, don't make SonarQube publicly facing.

While it's wonderful to have more security tools available, be aware that hackers will also begin attacking those same security tools.

Ken Buckler is a Cyber Security professional. The opinions expressed in this article are his own, and do not reflect those of his employer or clients.