Lessons learned in 2017
Ray Saitz takes a look back at Vista, Equifax, Wanna Cry, fake news
It’s a new year and time to reflect on the past and look forward to a potentially better future. Unfortunately, a look at the world of the internet during 2017 reveals a lot of lessons which were painfully learned.
One major concern that began in 2016 and gained momentum in the past year was the use of social media, notably Facebook and Twitter, to spread the new buzz word “fake news.” Much of the sensational and unsettling rumours and falsehoods that propagated over social media turned out to be “click bait” involving entrepreneurs in mostly Eastern Europe who discovered they could make lots of money by enticing people to come to their websites and view ads placed by Google. Google vowed to stop the process while social media tried to prevent the flood of fake stories, as well as those allegedly placed by Russian statesponsored operatives.
However, the actual takeaway from the “fake news” controversy was, apart from highlighting Donald Trump’s slim grasp of the truth, that many internet users don’t rely on traditional sources for their news, and too many of them appear to be pretty gullible. It also emphasized the importance of fact checkers such as Fact Check. org, The Washington Post (www.- washingtonpost.com/news/factchecker), and Facts Can (http:// factscan.ca) to verify what is actually real info.
Bad news arrived in many email inboxes in the form of the year’s most damaging online development, a malevolent ransomware program named Wanna Cry. It renders most files on a victim’s computer unreadable unless a ransom is paid. Needless to say, paying the ransom often gets no decryption key and provokes other malevolent types to distribute more ransomware. Wanna Cry was eventually stopped but not before bringing much of the British health care system to its knees. Since then numerous variants of Wanna Cry have been wreaking havoc on computer files around the world.
The lesson learned was to keep your Windows operating system updated, back up your files constantly, and don’t open unexpected attachments. I’ll deal with avoiding email scams, spam, and malware and how to backup of your important files in the next few columns.
Another dubious milestone was heralded by the company almost everyone loves to hate. Microsoft announced the “end of life” of the Vista operating system, which is an unfortunate extension of a human concept to a computer program. Hardly anyone was still using Vista but those that were got the grim news that the best route into the future was to buy another computer.
However, the ominous portent is that Windows 7, still used by about half of the Windows computers in the world, is destined to meet its end on January 14, 2020. An extension of its life is unlikely given Microsoft’s determination to eventually have Windows 10 as its single, and probably last, operating system. If Vista’s end was uncomfortable, Win 7’s demise may be somewhat apocalyptic.
As summer rolled into fall it seemed that internet bad news couldn’t get much worse than the Equifax information breech. Equifax let the financial and credit details of about half of the population of the United States and thousands of Canadians slip into the hands of hackers and identity thieves, but waited to tell anyone until after some Equifax execs sold many of their shares in the company (https://tinyurl.com/y94o7bfy).
People who thought they might be affected were advised to keep a close eye on their bank and credit card accounts and report any suspicious behaviour. You can download a free and very comprehensive annual credit report from Transunion Canada (https://ocs. transunion.ca/ocs/home), an Equifax competitor. Or you can request one from Equifax (www. equifax.ca) by mailing a form along with two copies of government issued identification.
If you’re curious to see what occupied your fellow Canadians during the past year, visit Google Trends (https://trends.google. com/trends/topcharts) where you can see a brilliant video and lists of the most popular searches of 2017. Perusing the lists is an eye-opener which may confirm how much you were, or were not, in the mainstream of current interests.
Get ready for 2018.
Ray Saitz, a Peterborough resident and teacher, writes a regular column on the Internet. He can be reached at rayser3@cogeco.ca