PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston The maker of the popular Claude large language model (LLM) — which became the number-one download from US app stores in February 2026 — recently announced a powerful service called Claude Mythos. The new LLM has reportedly discovered thousands of security holes in every major operating system and Web browser. […]

PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston I explained in my April 6, 2026, column that USB devices are becoming one of the most common ways hackers spread malware, using modified little gizmos that stroll past firewalls and are undetectable by security suites. At the end of that column, I promised to give you new information as […]

ISSUE 23.14 • 2026-04-06 PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston As if we didn’t already have enough malware to worry about, malicious hackers and state-sponsored cybercrime teams are turning ordinary-looking USB drives and cables into weapons that can infect or fry — within a single second — any computer or electronic component you plug them into. […]

PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston Most of the “smart” devices in your home or office are constantly uploading personal information about you to data brokers who sell your profile to all comers — but there are ways to prevent this leakage of your life to people who clearly don’t have your best interests at heart. […]

PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston Installing “agentic AI” such as Microsoft’s Copilot, OpenAI’s GPT Atlas, and other artificial-intelligence helpers is a big trend among businesses and individual computer users — but big problems come along with such bots. A white paper published by Kiteworks, a data-management firm, says 60 percent of companies using agentic AI […]

PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston Amazon’s Ring subsidiary set off alarm bells with a 2026 Super Bowl commercial showing its doorbell cameras scouring an entire neighborhood — raising fears of an authoritarian surveillance state. The aim of the 30-second ad was to promote Ring’s new “Search Party” feature. The program was designed to let anyone […]

PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston With copper hitting an all-time high of $14,527 per metric ton intraday on January 29, 2026 — almost triple its $5,058 price as recently as 2020 — vandals are increasingly tearing out entire runs of telecom wiring for metal they can sell to shady scrap dealers. In the US alone, […]

PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston The addition of artificial intelligence to everything — especially AI browsers — is big these days, but it opens huge security holes that may never be fixable. The problems affect every computer user, from individuals to corporations. The advisory firm Gartner announced in a December 2025 study that organizations “must […]

PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston Malware apps that infect “Internet of Things” devices (Wi-Fi routers, smart TVs, doorbell cameras, and the like) used to get erased whenever the gadget was unplugged, rebooted, or reset — but not anymore. Suddenly, state-sponsored hacker teams are now infecting IoT firmware with botnet apps that survive a loss of […]

ISSUE 23.02 • 2026-01-12 PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston One of the biggest frustrations of tech life is when your Internet service provider (ISP) goes down at random intervals — or there’s no ISP anywhere near your home or office. You may live or work in an urban area where your ISP stops delivering reliable […]

PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston As we enter 2026, it’s worth a minute to look back on some of the stories that made headlines this year. Many subjects of my articles have experienced important developments since publication that you might want to know about. No, the news isn’t all good. But it’s better to stay […]

PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston We’re all confronted with fake links, malicious websites, and attractive-looking malware that we really shouldn’t click on. But you can avoid most problems by using a free application that isolates anything you click or download by placing it into a secure area known as a “sandbox.” One of the best […]

PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston There are about 21 billion Wi-Fi–enabled devices in the world, according to an IMARC Group estimate. That’s more than 2½ per person alive today. In the US, households with Internet access now have an average of 18 connected devices: Wi-Fi routers, smart TVs, remote-controlled cameras, even refrigerators that report when […]

ISSUE 22.49 • 2025-12-08 PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston More than 60 percent of US households with Internet access get it from a cable ISP (Internet service provider). But most people are connecting via equipment that’s obsolete, unpatched, or insecure — and paying an unnecessary monthly fee to rent the hardware, to boot. Will this […]

PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston One great benefit of USB-C cables (defined in 2014) over the older USB-A standard (1996) is that you can push a C cable into any C-compatible port without squinting to see whether the end of the cable is “up” or “down.” But the reversibility of C cables is being ruined […]

PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston Thousands of Internet users are complaining about websites that offer expert answers to technical questions for $1 to $5 but quietly enroll customers in a “recurring service,” charging the users’ credit cards $20 to $60 a month. The state of New York has passed a law effective November 5, 2025, […]