#// so no like. database access or hacking protocols or anything like that

[threepandas]

Bad End: Witness

"Specimen '873 is starting to disappoint me. He was showing such promise. These numbers, however?" My keeper muttered to himself, distaste painting his face as he watched the feed in front of him. "Unacceptable for a battle class. He might as well be spare biomass at this point."

He was supposed to be wearing his glasses, not holding them. They may have been called "reading" glasses? But they were not, technically, just for that. They also had a blue light filter. Helped with headaches and eyestrain. He just hated wearing them because he thought they made him look old.

A God Forbid ANYTHING remind him of the passage of time.

He did NOT take it kindly.

I managed to avoid THAT landmine by virtue of having witnessed his receiving them. An "incident" that resulted in his head slamming against a screen. Protocol demanded he get checked. In the process, they discovered his eye sight was declining. It was a... bad day. I brought him things to break and stayed very, very quiet.

He bounced back fairly quickly, though. Once the arrogant researcher who had arranged for the incident to even OCCUR? Tried to come lord his "weakened old man" status over him. It was one thing to "accidently" let the battle class get unfettered access to weapons before loyalty train. But to be dumb enough to step into his lab, call him weak, and gloat about it?

Dr. Raghnall Periculum was many things.

But "unwilling to bludgeon a man to death with the nearest object" was not one of them.

He was dangerous like that. Murderous. It came and went like shifting storms, all you could really do was learn to read the triggers. Get good at knowing when to back up. When to hold really, REALLY still. After all... this was a lawless, immoral place. No one here could or WOULD stop him.

They were all just as bad.

Gritty Sci-Fi Otome games are... a lot less fun to LIVE. To be honest? They are actually pretty horrifying. Traumatizing, really. Hellish. As in, I am pretty sure this is a futuristic version Of Hell (but that is a personal opinion). I regret EVER playing a single damn one. But... BUT? I CLING to the knowledge I gained from it. So I can not regret it completely. Because through them? Through KNOWING this world?

I KNOW this will end. KNOW we will be free. That these monsters will pay for what they've done. The epilog promises a golden age. A beautiful, peaceful dawn after this long and terrible night, filled with horrors. I just... I just have to survive. Hold on. Keep my head down and pray.

I may be trapped in hell, but I'm not broken.

We will be Free.

I have SEEN IT.

Sometimes the greatest defiance is just refusing to die. Just keeping hope alive. I... I can do that. May not be able to fight my way out. Not smart enough to hack or sabotage these nightmares. But I can stay alive. I... I can do that. Bear witness, that someday I may stand against them in trial. Record. So no one is forgotten.

It doesn't feel like enough. I feel tired and angry. Hateful and small. But for the sake of my sanity? I make myself feel nothing. Compartmentalize. I've... I've become unfortunately quite good at it. Good at a lot of terrible things. Like placating. Making myself small. Being invisible. A retail smile. Being one with the furniture.

See, just like the poor souls on the screens in front of him? I'm a Clone. Of who? I have no idea. None of us do. They use old DNA databases. From when it was first commercially available, I think. Like those ancestry tests. Here it was squirrelled away, kept for later use. Which... was us.

My template has been dead for centuries, I think. Or perhaps? She would have considered herself my mother? I hope she would have, strange as I turned out to be. We are all children of the dead. It'd be nice to think they'd have wanted us.

Dr. Periculum's cup lifts lightly as he take a drink, more focused on his work then anything else. That heft is about midway point. I've discovered if I begin brewing now, it will be done by the time his cup is empty and he wants more. A glance at the closest screen gives me the time. Food too, is a good idea.

He likely won't eat it. But if it's there? The chances are higher. And when he comes out of his focus, it'll be available. Less chance of him getting irritated by hunger.

On a well practiced route through piles of notes and projects I know better then to touch, I quietly make my way to the coffee machine. Begin another round of abomination the caffeine tar. It is, quite honestly, a wonder he hasn't accused me of trying to poison him to a heart attack.

A few granules of salt, a bit of cinnamon, some expensive fatty creamer, aaaand? There. Unholy bitterness gone. "Just" a cup of liquid tar so potent it could make a rhino taste time.

I also grab one of the meat pies and put it on a little paper plate.

Ah... what has my life become? That I am so well practiced in make snacks for a monster? Picking them up, I don't dare answer that. That way lies madness. Don't think about it. It can wash out in therapy. After. Because there WILL be an After. There HAS to be an After.

Careful steps and...? Just as I estimated. He just ran out. I nearly silently tap the paper plate down to the edge of the table then slide it forward, with-in ease of reach, but not too close. Then I swap the cups. Go to step away. Only to freeze. As, out of the corner of my eye, I see one of his hands briefly leave his keyboard to make a nearly dismissive "one moment" gesture.

Stay put. Don't move. I'll address you when I'm done with my, more important, thoughts. I feel the flash of fear, of panic, but let it go. There is nothing I can do. I will be hurt or I won't be hurt. There is no use suffering twice, through speculation and fear, I remind myself. Force my mind empty and pleasant. Retail smile. Happy to serve.

He finishes. Leans back, dissatisfied with some project or other, and finally slips on his glasses. Gestures imperiously for the cup in my hands. I do not question of course, merely hand it to him. He takes it, passes it to his other hand, and sets it aside. Then, casually, leans slightly over and wraps a thickly muscled arm around my waist. Dragging me off my feet and into his lap.

"You know, girl? B-21873 really was, actually quite promising. I was starting to think I'd keep him. Decent speed, good stamina, excellent problem solving. His test scoring was exceeding all expectations. Really thought I might have gotten you a little friend to play with. A gaurd so I could send you out on some chores safely. But no, he just HAD to be a failure." He said, leaning forward to grab his cup.

I was crushed awkwardly close. Could feel every moment. Acutely aware of his woody and sea air cologne, the coffee on his breath as words were spoken far to close, the beating of a heartbeat I could feel against my arm. Hyper aware of him. Why was I in his lap? This felt dangerous. I should not be in his lap.

Between sips, he turned his head and pressed his lips to my temple, not kissing... somehow worse. Just... just breathing me in. Slow, deliberate, and deep. Like savoring a scent, a sensation. The subtle back and forth, as though rubbing his lips against my hair. Enjoying the feeling against sensitive skin. It could almost be a cuddle on any other man. It took everything I had not to shudder.

"Unlike you of course. You pet, could never disappoint me. If these rejects tried even half as hard as my perfect darling girl? The world'd be a better place." He paused his almost nuzzling. To simply rest his head against mine, pulling off his glasses so he could tuck his head closer. His breathe was hot against my ear. His voice gravel and distain as it spoke of others.

"It's disgusting. Like they don't even try. We spend countless resources breeding, feeding, and training them... for what? Failure? I'm starting to think those bastards are deliberately sending me bad specimens."

Every word he said was horrifying. I could not cry. Dare not. But my heart screamed for those poor souls. They were just kids. Trapped in hell. Tortured from birth. Disposed of when they no longer met some arbitrarily impossible anime standard. If I turned my head, even slightly, I KNEW, I would be faced with screens of untold suffering. Feeds of "testing". So called training. Autopsy reports and datapoints.

Lists of who... who had been deemed "not good enough".

Who were scheduled to become "recycled biomass".

But if I looked? I would weep for them. And that? That was dangerous right now. Right NOW? I had to be pleasant company. A child's doll to be dragged around. No thoughts, no differing opinions. Preferably no opinions at ALL. Just warm and huggable. Soft. A beloved pet who serves coffee and brings things when told. Endure. I just... I must simply ENDURE.

The night will end. Dawn will come. Believe in her.

J-Just empty your head... and Believe In Her.

An alert pops up. I can hear it on a screen somewhere behind me. Dr. Periculum turns his head to look, reaching for his snack. Freezes. Then, a sharp bark of laughter. It's violent, like the strike of a lightning bolt, jostling me. The ones that follow just as harsh. He's not a man that laughs often. And it's not a kind sound.

Filled with schadenfreude, his laughter is like the vicious barks of hunting hounds. The shots of a weapon. A short and harsh to the ears sound, over and over. Delight in the suffering of an enemy. The fall of a rival. It strikes through his body like seizures. Making him lean forward to read. Brace against the desk, tighten his grip around me, widen the brace of his legs.

Glancing up, his eyes are alight with manic glee. His grin is vicious.

He looks Feral.

"Well, well, WELL! What do we have HERE?! Is that Jack ANDERSON'S facility I see? Mr. 'Master of the genome' himself? Looks like SOMEONE got AHEAD of themselves! Ha!" Raghnall cackles spinning his chair so I can see the screen. Leaning back to grab his cup and toast with it. "Look what we have here, pet! Some fucking KARMA! I knew that little shit wasn't worth the paper his degree was printed on! See this? THIS is what happens when you can't control your own damn compound!"

"Rest in PIECES, you worthless little SHIT!"

I sat. Frozen. As Dr. Periculum laughed and laughed, his mood viciously pleased. Because... because I recognized that facility. Chapter Two. There was an animation that played. The... the BREAKOUT! Joy filled me. Like the first rays of dawn. That was HER. S-she was OUT! Free! She DID it! Oh god... oh god she was COMING! It had finally BEGUN!

I caught myself. Barely.

My eyes felt a bit wet so I disguised it with a fake yawn. I dare not show empathy. NEVER show empathy. Keep it guarded like diamonds in your chest. If he thought, for even a moment, that I empathized with anyone but him. CARED about anyone but him? They wouldn't last the hour.

And it would be the longest, cruelest, hour in existence, as they died.

You make that sort of mistake exactly ONCE.

"Ah~ todays a GOOD day. And you know what we should do?" He hummed, nearly a coo as he spun us almost lazily around on his chair. In whimsical circles like a bored child. "We should celebrate. Ding dong, the fuckers dead~ HA HA! Not to mention? It's been entirely too long, pet, since I've spoiled you rotten. We should get a cake, hmm? You want a cake? Lil treat? Sweet lil treat for my girl?"

"I could get you that new dress I've been looking at. Bet you'll look like a classy lil princess, won't that be nice? Can even make it match the trackers I'm finishing up! No more uncomfy collars when we go out! Just pretty lil bracelets, ain't that nice?"

I force myself to smile. Nod. Ignore the fear and anger, the humiliation and helplessness. It's not time yet. Bid your time. You will LOSE your chance for True Freedom if you give in to your anger. Your hurt. Patience, THEN strike. Remember! Chapter two! There are FIVE.

It is COMING.

He stopped spinning, planting his feet on the floor. His manic grin softening. No less unhinged, less full of teeth, but perhaps the closest a man like him could come to loving. His eyes obsessive as the roam my face. Cataloging everything.

"You know, pet? You really might be might greatest creation. Best thing I've ever made or done. Anyone wants you? They'd have to pry you from my cold, dead hands. I'd burn EVERYTHING down. Kill just about EVERYONE." His voice was the sort of whispered confession meant for churches, not the heart of this hell he had built. It felt unholy. Dangerous.

Exactly like him.

"Once I figure how to take humanity to it's next stage? Reverse aging? Heck, even stop it. I promise, pet. Gonna take you with me. You're coming along for the ride. Straight to the end. Heat death of the universe. Well become GODS, pet. Live forever and a day. Bet you can't wait, huh?"

"Don't worry. The futures going be BEAUTIFUL. Just you wait."

[webstinger]

just remembered that my post-nwh spidey installed his own version of stark's ai in his suit and named it MAI (Makeshift Artificial Intelligence)

[touchmycoat]

I just saw ur network effect incorrect quote and was SLAMMED with the thought of secunit shen jiu and secunit liu qingge one right after the other bc like?? Different flavors of devastation you can go with either sj and yqy being undercover secunits that escaped together and are both constantly under the threat of discovery and yet they won't speak to each other vs. corporate rim escapee sj being faced with a secunit who's either rapidly developing or has already developed such a straightforward personality while he's still a mess (secunit lqg would also be a mess but Perception)

Or literally any other dynamic u want giihufjbi anyway hi, I like ur fic, I hope u don't mind a random thought

I SO DEEPLY DO NOT MIND OH MY GOD, THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME OF THE MURDERBOT!AU I HAVE IN MY DRAFTS NFJDNFJNDJ FORGOTTEN ABOUT FOR AGES BUT ANYWAYS

secunit!LQG is such a flavor holy mother of christ, corporate rim refugee with trauma leaking out of his eyes vs. antisocial mega-capable secunit!!!! That's a galaxy brain take my friend. death-by-violent-qi-deviation!LQG maps onto I'm-forced-to-kill-people-against-my-will murderbot so well, and even after hacking his governor module, he's still the physical manifestation of the corporate rim that SJ hates!!!

i also love secret secunit!YQY...to make things even more horrible how about ex-secunit!SJ that was modified into a comfortunit by QJL...and YQY doesn't know. SJ also doesn't know about YQY's deal, something like YQY got the body mods to have effectively become an augmented human, which is proprietary research/property of Xuan Su, a facility's that's now gone out of business. The secret is that actually, the research was developed as a sort of "secunit rehabilitation" program but it's far too punitive and doesn't actually trust/respect the agency of the secunit in question, so if YQY ever taps into his secunit interfaces/analytical capabilities again his consciousness gets zapped and fried. So they both look "human" now but for very different violent reasons and neither of them are willing to tell the other why ;;

throwing my old murderbot!AU thoughts under the cut too:

so ofc i was thinking of a murderbot AU where SY is like, a sentient supercomputer over-designed for an archival bot but hey, he’s the product of a marketing stunt, what are you gonna do. He’s primarily software with governance over a server farm and at most the security and operations systems in the archive building. The latter functions have their own bots in control, however, and while SY has the processing power to hack them quite easily he doesn’t actually care to take over. He spends most of his time consuming archived media and pretending like he isn’t sentient whenever humans and augmented humans visit.

(He’s also decided on a gender bc I-Promise-I’m-Straight!SY is still the king joker here.)

one day, he gets an emergency ping from building SecSystem about a physical security breach. somebody had broken into the archive and soon started up an aggressive hack into the database. SY fights them with everything he’s got bc a) rude, and b) he still needed access to the entirety of his favorite shitshow Proud Galactic Demon Way in order to properly author a scathing review, nobody’s stealing anything from his storage. The intruder is good though, and soon manages a physical hack that dumps killware into SY’s systems. SY is kind of freaking out but tries to dump the killware back and in the middle of the chaos, SY experiences SYSTEM SHUTDOWN.

he wakes up with significantly less processing power, no access to his archive at large, and a physical body with integrated organic parts. plus there’s a scary looming governor module installed in his apparent-brain that’s threatening to—okay ow, not just threatening. It’s zapping him in apparent punishment for mission failure and failure to follow company protocol. that hurts, dammit. thankfully, less processing power doesn’t mean none, and SY makes swift work of disabling the governor module. for something that blares so loudly about frying his brain if he disobeys Company orders, it’s surprisingly easy to hack, almost as if it’s been done before.

once the mean governor module’s been shut off (SY barely resists the temptation to delete it out of his systems entirely, figuring these weren’t actually his systems so he shouldn’t rescape things so hard), it becomes significantly easier to process the facts. Fact 1: his core consciousness has been removed from its original home in the archival hardware and placed into a different unit. Fact 2: this different unit is apparently a Security Unit, a.k.a. a human-bot construct created by a security bond company in the Corporation Rim, doomed to a life either mindless soldiering or violent upheaval once it goes rogue if the media were to be believed. Fact 3: this SecUnit is the one who physically infiltrated the archive and tried to hack SY, apparently acting under client orders as detailed in its priorities and protocols list. Fact 4: the original SecUnit’s consciousness is nowhere to be found.

SY immediately attempts to connect to and access the archive but doesn’t manage. In the process of shutting down the original good’s hacks, SY had done a splendid job of locking himself out as well. He doesn’t even manage to get the Proud Galactic Demon Way folder he’s stored in easy access.

He can, however, hack SecSystem and spoof the tag on his feed to seem like he’s still himself pinging SecSystem. SecSystem in turn tells him that there’s been a physical breach. Again. Two minutes ago. Dammit, SY’s lived over two hundred thousand hours of peaceful sentience but tonight he’s getting two security breaches in a row? Is this new security threat going to hack and steal his brain as well??

Occupying a SecUnit body with visual inputs now, SY sees the intruder upon entry. The intruder skids to a stop, looking immediately wary. It also looks like the intruder...recognizes SY. Recognizes the SecUnit, rather.

[askcryptos-blog]

Cryptocurrency is a highly popular investment, particularly among younger people, but much of the terminology may confuse off-putting beginners. It might be difficult to get started with cryptocurrency if you don't know what gas is, what is HODL, who a whale is, or what the disparity between Bitcoin and blockchain is.

 Cryptocurrency is more than simply a different investing choice; it reflects a whole other universe than traditional equities and bonds. Even for experienced traditional investors, understanding the basics takes time due to unfamiliar jargon, developing technology, and keeping up with memes and tweets.

 Before investing in cryptocurrency, we advise building an emergency fund, paying off high-interest loans, and establishing a standard retirement savings plan. And, as previously said, you should only invest what you are ready to lose in cryptocurrency, with experts recommending that you allocate no more than 5% of your portfolio to these digital assets.

 However, another item you should include on your checklist is at least a basic grasp of what you're getting into, such as how crypto differs from conventional investing methods and the many factors that can impact the market value.

  Before you begin, like with any investment, it is critical to understand exactly what global asset you are investing in. This is especially true for a speculative — and continuously evolving — asset like cryptocurrency. It is much easier to do this if you are familiar with the words often used in this world. Whether you want to acquire cryptocurrencies now or later, knowing the terminology is a smart place to start. To make sure you don't be left out in the cold, here's a beginners guide to getting started with cryptocurrencies.

 Crypto Terms:

Here are some terminology and jargon to assist newcomers in grasping the world of cryptocurrency investment.

 Mining:

This phrase can be a little perplexing at times. It looks like exploding mountains create the coins. No, they are not. Mining is the process of creating and distributing new crypto coins. Solving complicated mathematical problems necessitates the use of powerful computers. Users who complete this task get coins as a consequence. They may then trade the coins directly with their peers or through internet exchanges.

 Of course, most traders do not mine or create new coins. Instead, much like any other asset in your financial portfolio, you may purchase and sell tokens from other individuals.

 Whale:

Whale accounts are those that possess a huge amount of a coin and have the ability to affect the market on their own. Most well-known and popular cryptocurrencies have a slew of whales that can truly throw their "weight" around.

 Indeed, there are prominent websites that follow the activities of whales to increase transparency in the bitcoin market.

 Many whale accounts are early investors or huge money, and following what they're doing is a good method to predict how the cryptocurrency market will move.

  Blockchain:

The bitcoin transaction relies heavily on a peer-to-peer network. Blockchain is a digital database that records each bitcoin transaction. There is no risk of a hacker gaining access and corrupting the information kept on the blockchain because there is no central database, and everyone may view the blockchain facts from anywhere.

 Gas:

It is the charge of completing a bitcoin transaction. The fee covers the expense of paying a "miner" (the person who solved the equation and earned a coin) to search for and receive cryptocurrency on your behalf. Its size is determined by how soon you want the transaction to be completed.

 Address:

It is the precise location to which bitcoin is transferred. It functions similarly to a bank account but solely contains cryptocurrency. For maximum security, each address, which consists of a string of alphanumeric characters, is used only once to store crypto assets. This address also assists a receiver in proving ownership of the bitcoin that has been delivered to them.

 Fiat:

This phrase is most commonly used to contrast cryptocurrencies with normal currency (fiat), which is backed and issued by the government. It provides central banks with greater influence over the economy. Currencies, such as the US dollar and the Indian rupee, are examples of fiat money.

 Altcoin:

It is basically anything or any other coin that isn't Bitcoin. Altcoins can range from the second-most popular coin, Ethereum, to any of the hundreds of coins with extremely little market value. According to experts, you should primarily invest in the larger, more popular cryptocurrencies.

 Block:

These are the data sets within a blockchain. Blocks on cryptocurrency blockchains are made up of transaction records created when users buy or sell currencies. Each block can only store a certain amount of data. When it hits that limit, it creates a new block to continue the chain.

 Crypto Wallet:

A wallet is where you keep all of your bitcoin currencies. It is encrypted, and if you forget your password, you will lose access to your wallet. Because cryptocurrency is founded on the concept of decentralized distribution, the only way to do so is to hold individuals accountable for their passwords.

 Wallets are classified into two types: cold and hot. While a hot wallet is stored online and facilitates online trading, a cold wallet is similar to an offline safe to keep your valuables secure.

 Hot Wallet:

A bitcoin wallet that is software-based and connected to the Internet. While digital wallets are more convenient for immediately accessing your crypto, they are more vulnerable to hacking and cybersecurity threats than offline wallets, just as data stored on the cloud may be more readily accessed than those kept in a safe at home.

 Cold Wallet:

This is a safe way to keep your Bitcoin offline. Many cold wallets (also known as hardware wallets) are physical devices that resemble USB drives. This type of wallet can help secure your cryptocurrency from hackers and theft, but it also has its hazards, such as losing it along with your cryptocurrency.

 Decentralization:

The distribution of power away from a central location. Blockchains have typically been decentralized since they require the majority permission of all users to function and make changes rather than a centralized authority.

 Decentralized Applications:

These are the developer-created applications installed on a blockchain to carry out operations without the use of mediators. Decentralized finance operations are frequently carried out with the help of decentralized applications. Ethereum is the primary network that supports decentralized finance activity.

 Fork:

When its users change the rules of a blockchain, changes to a blockchain's protocol frequently result in two new paths: one that follows the existing regulations and another that branches off from the prior one. (For instance, a Bitcoin fork resulted in Bitcoin Cash.)

 HODL:

Though the word began in 2013 as a user mistake on a Bitcoin forum, it now stands for "Hold On for Dear Life." It refers to a passive investing technique in which investors acquire and hold cryptocurrencies rather than trade them to expect their value to rise.

 Market Capitalization:

In the context of cryptocurrencies, the market cap refers to the total value of all coins produced. The market cap of a cryptocurrency may be calculated by multiplying the current number of coins by the current value of the coins.

 NFTs:

NFTs or Non-fungible tokens are value units used to represent ownership of one-of-a-kind digital objects such as art or collectables. NFTs are often stored on the Ethereum blockchain.

 Public Key:

It is the address of your wallet, which is comparable to your bank account number. You may provide people or institutions with your public wallet key so they can send you money or withdraw money from your account when you approve it.

 Private Key:

The encryption code allows you to access your cryptocurrency directly. Your private key, like your bank account password, should never be shared.

 Smart Contract:

A computational software that automatically enacts the conditions of a contract based on its code. The capacity of the Ethereum network to execute smart contracts is one of its primary value propositions.

 Token:

A value system on a blockchain generally has a value proposition other than merely a value transfer (like a coin).

 Final Words

Those considering investing in cryptocurrencies should understand that acknowledging industry terms can be advantageous. Would-be traders can enhance their chances of reaching their investing objectives by conducting the appropriate study and understanding this knowledge. 

Interesting in learning more about cryptocurrency? You can visit AskCrypto, a cryptocurrency forum where you can get more info about all the callouts, crypto trading, daily updates for the crypto market, and much more.

[hankpayton]

Henry Payton | Cyber Security Tips for Small and Medium Business

Henry Payton – Keeping business data safe is the number one concern of business nowadays. Due to the rising security breaches on several companies, data security against unwanted intrusion is on everyone’s mind. No matter big or small, IT security is the biggest challenges organizations face. When it comes to small or medium enterprise the impact of security threat is even more severe. Cyber criminals love to target small business largely due to the fact that SMBs cannot afford to implement strong security protocols. Nothing can be hundred percentage safe, but at the same time SMEs can advance the protection environment by acquiring a strong understanding of their external web presence and ensuring it is secure by undertaking penetration testing and minimizing exposure by taking action such as regularly updating security patches.

Henry Payton | What is Data breach and how it happens?

Data breach is an incident in which sensitive, protected or confidential data has potentially been viewed, stolen or used by an individual unauthorized to do so. The most common concept of a data breach is an attacker hacking into a network to steal sensitive data. A number of industry guidelines and government compliance regulations mandate strict governance of sensitive or personal data to avoid data breaches. It is a scenario where your company or organizations’ data is stolen. When we check into the company folder and find all information is gone, client files, logs, billing information have all been compromised. Then it is clear that your business is becoming a victim of a data breach cyber-attack.

Most common causes of data breaches

Protecting sensitive data is critical to the lifeline of an enterprise. What can be the most common causes of data breaches?

• Physical loss or theft of devices is one of the most common causes of data breaches: This is arguably the most straightforward of the common causes of data breaches. However, there are many different ways that this can occur. It could be that anyone of your laptop, external hard drive, or flash drive has been damaged, stolen, or misplaced.

• Internal threats like accidental breach (employee error) or intentional breach (employee misuse): This can occur when employees handling delicate data not clearly understanding security protocols and procedures. Data breach can also occur from a mental error, when an employee sends documents to a wrong recipient.

• Weak security controls are often top concerns for protecting an organization’s data: Incorrectly managing access to applications and different types of data can result in employees being able to view and transport information they don’t need to do their jobs. Weak or stolen password has been yet another main concern. When devices such as laptops, tablets, cell phones, computers and email systems are protected with weak passwords, hackers can easily break into the system. This exposes subscription information, personal and financial information, as well as sensitive business data.

• Operating system and application vulnerabilities: Having outdated software or web browsers is a serious security concern.

Tips to prevent Cyber threat | Henry Payton

Amid the chaos and the hype, it can be difficult to get clear, accurate information about what’s really going on when a data breach occurs. While data breaches are certainly a complex issue, equipping yourself with basic knowledge of them can help you to navigate the news, to handle the aftermath, and to secure your data as best as you can. The increasing frequency and magnitude of data breaches is a clear sign that organizations need to prioritize the security of personal data.

Latest developments like embracing cloud, deploying BYOD etc. enhances the risk of cyber threat. Employee ignorance is also one of the major concerns. Hackers are well aware of these vulnerabilities and are organizing themselves to exploit. There is no need to panic, especially if you are a small business, but it is imperative to take a decision. Make yourself difficult to target and keep your business secure with these top 5 tips.

Here are the top 5 tips to prevent the cyber threat.

1. Encrypt your data: Data encryption is a great preventive control mechanism. If you encrypt a database or a file, you can’t decrypt it unless you have or guess the right keys, and guessing the right keys can take a long time. Managing encryption keys requires the same effort as managing other preventive controls in the digital world, like access control lists, for example. Someone needs to regularly review who has access to what data, and revoke access for those who no longer require it.

2. Choose a security that fits your business: Cracking even the most secure companies with elaborate schemes is now far greater than ever. So adopt a managed security service provider that can deliver a flexible solution cost effectively and provide a seamless upgrade path.

3. Educate employees: Educate employees about appropriate handling and protection of sensitive data. Keep employees informed about threats through brief e-mails or at periodic meetings led by IT expert.

4. Deploy security management strategy: Nowadays cyber-attacks are highly organized so organizations need to establish a strategic approach so that your entire environment works as an integrated defense, detecting, preventing and responding to attacks seamlessly and instantly.

5. Install anti-virus software: Anti-virus software can secure your systems from attacks. Anti-virus protection scans your computer and your incoming email for viruses, and then deletes them. You must keep your anti-virus software updated to cope with the latest “bugs” circulating the Internet. Most anti-virus software includes a feature to download updates automatically when you are online. In addition, make sure that the software is continually running and checking your system for viruses, especially if you are downloading files from the Web or checking your email.

Actions or measures that can be taken if any, malicious attack suspected in your network

• If when an unknown file is downloaded, the first step is to delete the file. Disconnect the computer from the network and have IT run a complete system sweep to ensure no traces are left.

• Whenever a key logger is detected on a computer, IT should immediately reset password on all related accounts.

• Businesses should have central administration capabilities on their local and cloud server. Controlling which users have access to what files/folders on the server ensures that essential business data is only accessible by authorized individuals.

• Have all business files backed up in a remote cloud server. If disaster recovery is necessary, all files backed up in the cloud can be imported back to the local server to prevent complete data loss.

Perfect Cyber Security involves:

• Determining what assets need to be secured • Identifying the threats and risks that could affect those assets or the whole business • Identifying what safeguards need to be in place to deal with threats and secure assets • Monitoring safeguards and assets to prevent or manage security breaches • Responding to cyber security issues as they occur • Updating and adjusting to safeguards as needed

Every day businesses are under attack on multiple fronts, and realizing that data breaches can stem from several different source allows for a more comprehensive protection and response plan. Never assume that your data is safe because you have the best electronic protection, or because you don’t use POS terminals. Criminals want your data, and they will try anything to get it.

[dxxtruction]

Logic-b0mb.Hc

Mr. Robot: Season 2 episode 5

Break down / Character Analysis / (No hc section but I could add one)

(This episode is an alright one sandwiched between two great ones but involves a lot of important plot development. Quite literally its setting things up like planting the bombs for later.) 

Hacking the FBI.

Elliot’s really feeling the rush because he’s been itching for this a while. He’s been avoiding getting to a terminal because he’s been dealing with getting rid of Robot, and I feel like he’s also on alert about Ray so really didn’t feel up to helping him until it became necessary. (He’s on alert about pretty much everyone though that’s just how hypervigilance is, and I wouldn’t go around trusting just anyone in prison on top of that.)

Hacking makes him feel powerful and in control, something he’s expressed he lacks feeling in his every day life (to Krista). (Someone made a post about this desire for control stemming from Elliots abuse where he lacked that control and like I gotta agree.)

“The programmatic expression of my will. I live for this shit.” (I really like this quote)

The irony of hacking the FBI on a computer within a prison. The flip side is Ray’s website is also being worked on from inside a prison. I’m not sure if this stands to symbolize something about American society and the prison system or not. On one hand he’s getting rid of a threat for personal reasons and on the other hand he’s thinking of exposing one for moral reasons. He’s able to control his own hack, but when it comes to dealing with Ray he isn’t the one in charge.

List of hacking steps he gives:

Step 1. Identify the target and it’s flaws, there are always flaws.

Step 2. Build malware and prepare an attack.

Step 3. A reverse shell two stage exploit.

Step 4. Write the script.

Step 5. Launch the attack.

Elliots first hack was a local library (WashingtonTownship Public Library) and he did this at age 11, the only thing he did was look around their database but he mentions feeling powerful. (He’s been hacking for a good 17 years so it must have been a great feeling.) (He started hacking 3 years after his dad died, awful as he is Elliot began learning his way around computers from him.) (I wonder if/when Darlene got involved in hacking with Elliot.) (To bounce off that I’d love to read/write a fic about the first hack they did together)

Elliot always writes his own script, that’s how he learned. It would be the best way to ensure the most control on the outcomes to write it yourself given you know what your doing and Elliot most certainly does. (If we remember back to the hack to break Vera out of prison he mentioned he never makes mistakes in his code). (Seems impossible tbh but this is fiction we gotta remember that.)  

The hack:

Elliot is using a zero day exploit to attack with Malware he’s coding. How I’m understood this is a process used to get data though unknown vulnerabilities (in his case from the android phones).

He needs a way to implement the malware. He’ll be using a reverse shell which joins communications with the target and attacker machines. (His Fem2cell to the FBI android network.) Two stage I think refers to additional malware he’s put in to corrupt everything upon discovery. (He can get in and erase evidence, and if he’s discovered everything gets corrupted)

This will make him own Every Android phone of FBI agents in E-corp. Plus Evil corps network. (Because they’re in the same building?)

(Seen in message to Darlene) FTP - file transfer protocol (he’s handing over his scripts to Darlene so she can launch the attack on her end.)

Elliot pictures himself working in the dark (or maybe that’s just us) but its actually now daytime so several hours have past. (if we assume that we really did arrive in Rays office at night last episode which feels true.)

Darlene breaks into Angela’s

Darlene and Angela haven’t seen each other in five weeks. (They both had a lot on their plate to be fair. Before this they were meeting at least once a week for dance I assume.)

Darlene is creating a DMG file on Angela’s laptop (Darlene doesn’t own a MacBook) (Angela-image.dmg) when she comes in but its not why Darlene is there. (DMG file types hold apps for Mac but if you’re making your own files you can encrypt other things into the file besides apps. DMG’s also can be password protected. I don’t recall if we ever know whats in the file but I wonder if this was the completed FTP. Or just Darlene messing around.)

Darlene tells Angela that Elliot covered for her tracks and involvement in 5/9.

“Why didn’t he say anything?”

(“Because that’s what he does.”)

He doesn’t let people know when he’s helping them or ask for their permission (to Elliot not saying anything = low risk of others lashing out or getting hurt)(Stems from childhood). He just does because its whats good to do to ensure people he cares for are protected. (Those are his principles). Another more obvious read could be he just doesn’t tell people things, Elliot has a hard time being open with people. Angela and Elliot haven’t really been all that close for a while now as well if you remember. (I feel there was a point in time he did share important things with her.)

Darlene wants to use her in order to plant the femtocell in the FBI headquarters located at e-corp because Angela has access to the building. She uses Elliot helping her as leverage because she gets that Angela wouldn’t just do it without reason to. (And Angela still refuses because as things appear to stand she’s already been cleared and doesn’t want to get reinvolved.) (She has every reason to see hacking he FBI as super risky too.)

Darlene lets her off. (but this doesn’t stop her from still trying)

Pre-China

FBI has found the RasberryPi at Steal (mountain) Valley. (This is later said to be a dead lead because it becomes tampered evidence)

We are lead through the FBI work environment, and its mentioned security is lax. There’s a guy on the floor who shouldn’t be. (This is here to show that even if Angela were to get on this floor she has a chance of being stopped (which eventually does happen.) (Plant and payoff)

Dom mentions she doesn’t dream. (She has insomnia. This could be stemming from her job which is stressful and would make anyone become highly alert, this case is probably always on her mind as well. And/or feelings of alienation from lost connectivity to others which she fills by staying up all night chatting, or other factors we’re never quite made aware of.) (I think this is meant to contrast with the previous episodes statements on dreaming. Dom seems to know what future she’s fighting for, but its her job to. You can’t necessarily “dream” when you already know/are told what needs to be done.) (Dom is definitely a character who represents alienation.) (I don’t wanna assume what Esmail was going for but Marx's theory of alienation describes the estrangement of people from who they are as a consequence of living in a class society. (Estrangement from self and identity.(this comes up later)) Capitalist alienation has consequences that separate us from our work building identity around our jobs rather than around ourselves.)

We see Mobley on the co-workers laptop. (I assume this is the information collected from the end of the world party)

There was an E-mail sent out to tell Dom and her partner on the case that they are going to China with Santiago (with a few other agents who are all pricks)

Darlene visits.

“The she-devil” (The guard Elliot is imagining to be his Mom) isn’t around, meaning the guard is gone for some reason?

Darlene fills her brother in on how things are moving forward. She tries to get the reluctant Elliot on board with getting Angela involved because it really is the only option. Darlene feels like Elliot talking to her would convince her to change her mind. (And Robot agrees because he’s willing to risk it to protect them from the FBI) (I may be on Darlene and Robot’s side here, though I do get Elliots POV he’s not seeing how there really isn’t going to be another way in.)

Elliot wants Angela far away from all of this. He definitely still cares about her a lot and would feel guilty if anything happened to her. (He already feels guilty about everything and is trying not to let it blow up into anything worse)(Yet in doing do this leads to worse outcomes later)(He’s unable to risk her, but still understands getting into the FBI is a priority. “Find another way.”) (throughout this season and the next season we see Elliot slides away from plans as a means of deescalating what he sees as things that will lead to terrible outcomes, effectively trying to abandon and undo them.) (Mr Robot and him have continuous conflict on this.)

China (Dom and Whiterose)

The FBI is in China to discuss needing access with Minister Zhang (Whiterose) (I’m gonna mostly use Zhang here for contextual purposes) (The Chinese Minister of State Security)

In the meeting Dom speaks up about needing access to what China has on the Dark Army (In a previous shot she sees people in the Dark Army masks at the airport.) (We’re not sure how much intel the FBI have on DA. They are the worlds most dangerous hacker group and thats knowledge to anyone who knows about them. The FBI has to have at least some things about them on file, like maybe those masks.) (Dom is suspecting Dark Army and F-society could have a connection as affiliate hacker groups) (It’s set up to imply she saw those guys in the airport and It got her thinking which is why she jumps in to say something.)

This episode deals with the idea power a lot (the lack of, gaining of, and having of power). How Whiterose is framed in scenes indicates a sense of power and control (even to some extent framing her as godlike). She’s revealed to maintain a high ranking government position, while also heading the dark army. It’s in her best interests to comply with he FBI, and shows no concern for her involvement. She knows she has the upper-hand.

Party at the Ministers house (Monday night)

Dom discovers the clock hallway, when Zhang discovers her. (I think she peaked Whiterose’s interests in the meeting and this just solidifies it) (side-note: I don’t think Dom really needed to pee all too bad she just wanted and excuse to get away from the party.)

She discusses the clock which looks like the one her parents have then introduces who she is to Zhang. (Can’t tell if Dom lied about that anecdote to not feel intrusive or if Whiterose was lied to. If Dom lied, then it’s a nice play because Whiterose ends up lying about having a sister later.)

Dom (who is naturally curious) then asks what the clocks are about. and we get this:

“Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player the struts and frets his hour upon the stage. And then is heard no more”

(“You’ve surrounded yourself with the constant reminder of mortality?”)

“- …As each second passes I push myself to keep moving.”

(I can see Whiterose’s obsession with time stemming from her confrontation of mortality, the traumatic experiences of her former lover. Whiterose sees time as her enemy in the race to complete her plans. Yet she also finds her ways of controlling it making it seem like she is the master of it. This is sort of the mask she wears and she wears it well. (Her plans ????)

Then she asks why Dom is in the FBI

“I was. I am disgusted by the selfish brutality of the world, but at the same time I am utterly fascinated by it.” (This line gives insight into how Dom sees the world and other people. There’s this one Florence Nightingale quote which calls out the selfish brutality on the part of the superior (those in power) as part of the true horror of war.)

Something about this discussion make Whiterose open up to Dom enough to show an artwork in her office about the anxiety within losing ones identity. (Identity has a lot of meaning to Whiterose. She lives a double life, a large part of her own identity is hidden from the world in several ways. Whiterose is alienated from herself in the sense the she can’t be herself to the world.)

“How is it that revolution can create such beautiful art yet you and I are tracking revolutionaries who’ve created nothing but turmoil?” (Another bomb planted… if she only knew.)

Whiterose pressed so Dom reveals the personal reason for joining the FBI deals with her breakup after a proposal in her final semester of law school, one thing leading to another she’s now an FBI agent. (I think Whiterose picks up that Dom gay af by the way she hides who her old flame’s gender is.) (anyway Whiterose ends up having some sort of reaction to this and shows Dom her dresses then lies about having a sister, which Dom picks up as a lie.)

Whiterose inquires about what if 5/9 never happened, mentions alternate universes, she is moved by the idea of what ifs for things to be different. Whiterose gets flustered about this showing some semblance of vulnerability, and the clocks go off on the hour. (This idea of alternate realities is planted here and plays a role into what her project may be, but we’re never quite sure. At the end of S4 when we’re in the headspace it seems her machine worked and we did enter a new reality.)

The Dark Army shoot out in China kills everyone but Dom and Santiago. (RIP)

In the court with Ray

The basketball court is fairly empty around this time but hot Carla is there in her usual spot. (Sidenote: I love her)

Elliot still has to help Ray (its the conditions he has to meet for letting him have access to a terminal)

Robot is antsy and feels this wastes time, that they need to be getting in touch with Angela. (But of course Elliot ignores him because he’s against Angela getting involved.)

To help Ray he says needs administrative access from the old IT guy. IT guy comes. Elliot finds out the guy knows what he’s doing, raising his suspicions. So he starts putting things together that theirs something fishy as to why Ray came to him. IT guy wants to just move off the subject but Elliot doesn’t have time to play games. This chatting back and forth between them is fairly funny, especially when robot just key smashes and Elliot has to back space it. The IT guy eventually yields and shows Elliot the site, which pretty much deals transactions in every type of crime including trafficking.

Later in Elliots cell he’s trying to piece together what to do about Ray, he wonders whether he is innocent or guilty. Robot wants to move on but Elliot can’t.

“You know, but your going to ignore it. You wanna know why? Because thats what we do.” (“That’s not what I do.”)

Robot is always weighing the risks at every possible turn of events, always weighing out he 1’s from the 0’s. He does it to protect them of course, but sometimes these decisions are selfish. While it may do well to ignore for their safety, the risks of not doing anything could ruin Elliots sense of morality. (Not that robot can help things are already going to blow up on them anyway). Elliot shows us he wants to act, because he’d feel sick if he knowingly enabled the things that happen on that site (mainly concerned about the people being trafficked). He’s one to take down people who are bad even if there are risks involved. It’s that part of him is driven by his desire to make a better and safer world for the host even if he’s unaware of it. I do find it curious that Robot insinuates a “we” here on what they do because MM has yet to ignore something like this before. (A hint or just a throw away plea to get him to stop?)

Logic bomb- a set of instructions secretly incorporated into a program so that if a particular condition is satisfied (or a set time occurs) they will be carried out, usually with harmful effects.

(.HC encrypted file type that needs password access)

Elliots taken by Rays goons (I cry and he cries for help)

Joanna

Joanna meets with this guys she’s paying and he confesses about his paranoia with the FBI being on his case … So she kills him. (The Wellick’s are … something. I am disgusted by the selfish brutality. Yet I guess violence is often a form of self preservation especially in this shows logic so like I get it. Some people hack others attack.)

He mentions protecting some guy in a hoodie at this meeting. (This says Joanna definitely pieced together that this tech Tyrell kept mentioning is the mysterious “Ollie” who came by her house.)

The way she just orders her security guard to kill a man and this is the option she went to, Joanna does not mess. Honestly can’t even describe all the dynamics at play here between Tyrell ,“Tyrell”, the body guard, Joanna, and Joanna’s new lover. Things are being planted for Joanna needing to find where Tyrell is (and Elliot’s been asking about the same).(Also the media really eats up this Tyrell situation and Joanna becomes an infamous celebrity for it.) (Everyone wants to know where Tyrell is.)

Joanna’s orders were to inject succinylcholine (induces paralysis) before shooting him. She sees this as giving the man time to process his final moments. “Letting him die with answers. Otherwise we’re nothing but ruthless murders.” She says this all while feeding her baby.

Angela meets with Ollie Then with Elliot Then finally with Darlene.

Angela finds out Ollie has been brought in for FBI questioning. He confessed about “the CD man” to the FBI and they’ve drawn up a sketch of him (Cisco).

This scares Angela enough to start considering compliance with Darlene. It eventually leads her to a decision based on what the best possible outcome could be.

Angela makes an attempt to reach out to Elliot before actually moving forward with her decision. This shows the contrast between them. What Angela does is make sure things are okay (at least for Elliot), though she may act separately from how he feels. By this point Angela has run down her options and decides her best option is to just plant the femtocell “Either I act or I wait to get caught.”

Elliot doesn’t say much after his initial push back, he doesn’t want to put Angela at any risk but can’t do anything about it if she’s already made her decision. Her logic also makes sense, it could even be riskier if she did nothing.

The topic then changes. Angela’s still wondering why Elliot’s been different, why he’s been pushing her away.

Instead of being direct Elliot mentions their conversation on the train platform the day he was found in he cemetery. Angela gets a bit uncomfortable, there’s lingering worries about Elliot.

“You told me to take care of myself. I wanted to be okay. I wanted to s-stop seeing him before I talked to you again.”

“And”

“And my dead father’s standing behind you right now.”

This opens up discussion again about the idea of annihilation, which was touched on in the previous episode. It seems in some part, but not entirely, that Elliot wants to stop seeing Mr Robot in order to feel like he’s improved himself, that he’s become better. That would be his way of taking care of himself. Obviously these desires turn up empty handed because there’s no getting rid of Robot. He’s still conflicting with him, and though that plot mostly takes a step back in this episode it is shown in what ways they’re still ending up disagreeing.

“I could be a friend. Someone to talk to. Someone who cares about you. Who knows maybe that will help.”  waitfortheq.ogg starts playing when she says this, it’s the theme associated with Shayla so I cry. It’s a song that carries like a special feeling of safety, a comfort in knowing that your here with someone who’s a friend, and while still being fairly somber. Elliot (and I as well) seems to agree this could help because he starts asking about qwerty and they actually smile and laugh. (My heart). I like to imagine they talked for a while after this and that things ended well. Despite them still being in disagreement by the end of it, Angela feels more confident in her decision now.

Meanwhile at F-society HQ: D.C Op is a go. #Droptheballs. This is right before Angela gets there.

Angela takes a secure route to meet with Darlene at HQ to get the tower from her in order plant the femtocell. Something to maybe note is Angela seems to only start acting once she had selfish reasons to doing so.

[joeyrob1]

10 Tips To Maximise Your ECommerce Wordpress Blog

10 Tips To Maximise Your ECommerce WordPress Blog

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Your ECommerce site can use a blog with fabulous content for content marketing which your readers (and search engines) would love. Powering some 75 million websites, WordPress is the world’s most popular content management system for blogging. It provides an exceptional degree of customisation to the extent that no two websites have to look the same. However, despite its relatively easy learning curve, you’ll be able to get a lot more out of your ECommerce WordPress Blog with the following tips:

1 – Use the Sitemaps Protocol

When the search engines visit your website, they’ll need to be able to navigate it with ease in order to make sense of its structure and content. Search engine optimisation (SEO) refers to making your website more accessible to the search engine robots, and this involves using the Sitemaps protocol to make a complete, machine-readable map of your website. Fortunately, you don’t need to know anything about coding to create a sitemap, since plugins such as Google XML Sitemaps can do it for you to maximize your ECommerce WordPress blog.

2 – Customise Your Permalinks

Permalinks are the addresses that people enter into their browsers and that the search engines list to reach a particular page on your ECommerce WordPress blog. To maximise the visibility of your content in the search engines, you’ll want to choose a suitable permalink structure, and for best results, you should choose the post name. You can choose your preferred permalink structure in the main settings page of your WordPress administrator dashboard.

3 – Choose a Responsive Theme

With more people browsing the Web from smartphones and tablet computers than ever before, optimising for mobile has become absolutely essential. Among the thousands of themes available for WordPress are hundreds of responsive themes that allow your website to scale automatically to the small screen by rearranging on-page elements for a more optimal mobile experience. These days, you should always choose a responsive theme for your ECommerce WordPress blog.

4 – Keep Everything Up-to-Date

Both the search engines and your readers love content that is both current and relevant. By contrast, a static website is not likely to remain long in the first page of the search results. Being originally designed as a blogging platform, WordPress is perfectly tailored towards regular content publication, but you should also keep the platform, your chosen theme and all of your plugins up-to-date at all times. WordPress will let you know as soon as updates are available.

5 – Optimise Your Images

You should optimise all of the visual content on your website in order to minimise bandwidth consumption, maximise performance and assist search engine optimisation. If you have a lot of images, it is wise to have them hosted off-site, on a website like Flickr, and embed them on your WordPress blog using an appropriate plugin so that they don’t consume your own bandwidth. Secondly, always accompany images with alt text to help the search engines make sense of them.

6 – Have a Self-Hosted Blog

If you want to take blogging seriously, you’re going to need to have a self-hosted website with its own domain. Having a free website at WordPress.com is fine for a small hobby blog, but it doesn’t allow you to monetise your website, and it isn’t likely to do very well in the search engines either. Additionally, having a self-hosted ECommerce WordPress blog website provides you with full access to all of the themes and plugins available for the platform, as well as the ability to build your own from scratch.

7 – Don’t Use a Subdomain

Moz recommends that you keep all of your content on a single subdomain so that the search engines rank it together rather than separately. Instead, have a subdirectory for your blog, such as website.com/blog, rather than blog.website.com, if your blog is to serve as an addition to your main website. Subdomains should only be used when the website and the blog deal with completely different subject matter and require different content with each niche requiring a separate channel.

8 – Schedule Backups

It’s always a good idea to keep backups of your efforts rather than relying solely on your hosting provider to take care of your content. After all, websites do get hacked on occasion, and this may cause permanent data loss. By scheduling automatic backups and having them emailed to you on a regular basis, you’ll be able to keep your ECommerce WordPress Blog database and content safe. There are many plugins for automating and scheduling backups, such as BackUpWordPress and Backup Scheduler.

9 – Install WordPress SEO by Yoast

WordPress SEO by Yoast is the most popular WordPress plugin of all, and for good reason. Although WordPress is quite a search-friendly platform by itself, this plugin will help you to optimise your website even more through the use of meta and link elements, XML Sitemaps, page analyses, keyword optimisation, RSS optimisation, social media integration and more.

10 – Provide an Excellent Header Image

The first thing that most visitors to your website will see is the header image. This essential image can either make or break your ECommerce site, but if you’re just using the default image that came with your theme, it is hardly going to do much to emphasise your creativity. Choose an image that captures the subject matter of your website in such a way that it inspires people to carry on reading. The optimal size of the header image will vary depending on your chosen theme.

Conclusion

Your eCommerce site can use a blog with great content and above we presented 10 tips to maximize your mileage with your ECommerce WordPress blog.

Brought to you by RobustTechHouse. We provide E-Commerce Development services.

10 Tips To Maximise Your ECommerce WordPress Blog was originally published on RobustTechHouse - Mobile App Development Singapore

[overwatchworks]

Unwelcome Meetings:

The gunslinger’s eyes locked on an old picture, worn at the edges, tape barely holding it to the wall. 

Winston’s agent completion ceremony with the old gang. Him, Genji, Reinhardt and Ana on one side. Angela, Lena, Torbjörn, and Jack on the other. Gabe facing away from the camera in the far corner. So much had changed.

There was a haze in the air, silence so quiet it was loud. Too loud. Jesse didn’t like it. He glanced at Genji, eyes partially hidden by his hat. The ninja’s lights were dimmed slightly by the dust around them, green casting a visible line through the air. Even through the mask, Jesse felt Genji’s gaze meet his own. 

It was all too familiar, this sense of unease, foreboding. Waiting in the shadows. 

Overwatch had sent Genji and Jesse to investigate an old Blackwatch hideout. The reasoning was obvious; they were the only two operatives that had specific knowledge on the place, Jesse especially. He had been there many times, the little building tucked into an unassuming corner of California, just inside Death Valley. Was one of the few Reyes trusted enough to take with him to check on things. 

Lots of dirty secrets were hidden in files there underground, stored in places Jesse had snuck in to back when he snooped around just a little to much. A file concerning the events in Rialto was what they were after. Sure, Overwatch had a copy, but they didn’t have the Blackwatch commander’s version of it. 

The one with the full truth. The version Jesse had heard only once from the commander himself, and never repeated to anyone. He wasn’t sure if he ever would.

“Come on, it’s this way.” Jesse murmured, tugging on the brim of his hat and continuing forward. Genji followed without a word. 

The ninja had been quieter than usual, contemplative. Jesse could say the same about himself. Blackwatch was a touchy subject for everyone. This mission they had been sent on rubbed Jesse the wrong way. Everything felt out of place. 

After a few more minutes of pensive silence, the two paused, sliding down to the lowest dip of a large dune. It went further into a canyon, evening sunlight filtering through the holes above them.

“You search left, I will go right.” Genji offered, cybernetic hands sliding over the sandstone carefully as he moved. The cowboy nodded, following the rock wall and stepping lightly. 

A flicker of light caught Jesse’s eye. Something had moved further in the canyon. Jesse set his hand on Peacekeeper in her holster, thumb circling the textured grip.

“Gen...”

“Here!”

Genji made a soft grunt as he twisted something on the ground, a handle popping up. He pulled on it, revealing a staircase that lit up as soon as he stepped down on it carefully.

“Welcome back, Agent Shimada.” A gentle voice greeted, Jesse joining Genji after sweeping the area once more.

“It can still read my biosignature...?” Genji murmured almost to himself, the gunslinger patting his shoulder as he passed and began walking down the staircase.

“Darlin’, our biosignature is in their databases forever. They ain’t forgetting who belongs to them.”

“Agent McCree, welcome.”

“Good to hear from you again, Eris.”

“Likewise.” The voice hummed. It was an AI model made before Athena, but it had almost the same capabilities. Programmed for Blackwatch instead of Overwatch. 

Holoscreens lit up the room the staircase led down to once Jesse stepped into it, head tilting at all the displays.

“Not much has changed.”

“I have kept everything in perfect condition as per request of Commander Reyes since the last transmission I received seven and a half years ago.” Eris informed them, Jesse’s jaw tightening.

“Yeah.”

“Is there anything I can help you find?” Eris continued when the cowboy said nothing else, Genji moving closer behind him.

“We need a physical file. Could you unlock the access panel to the vault for us?” Genji asked. Jesse went to a desk in the corner, sliding a hand through the dust.

“Of course. Give me just a moment.”

“Thank you, Eris.”

The gunslinger’s eyes locked on an old picture, worn at the edges, tape barely holding it to the wall. 

Winston’s agent completion ceremony with the old gang. Him, Genji, Reinhardt and Ana on one side. Angela, Lena, Torbjörn, and Jack on the other. Gabe facing away from the camera in the far corner. So much had changed.

Genji set his hands on the desk, leaning his weight into them.

“That was a good day. One of the fonder memories I have of that time.” Genji murmured, Jesse sighing.

“Yeah. It was nice.”

“Jesse...”

“I know. It’s just hard to look at it without thinkin’ of all the people we lost. And the ones we got back...They ain’t quite the same. Hell, we aren’t even the same.”

“Perhaps that is a good thing. Perhaps we needed a change.”

“Maybe.” Jesse shrugged noncommittally. Genji set his hand on the gunslinger’s shoulder, squeezing it lightly.

“I have unlocked the vault.” Eris called. 

Jesse shook himself out of memories, focusing on the task at hand. He and Genji went to the far side of the room, a door opening for them. File cabinets lined the newly revealed area, smelling somewhat musty.

“Do you know where it could be?” Genji asked, clearly disgruntled at the many lines of cabinets.

“I know they’re sorted by dates, so...Guess we just start checkin’?”

“Ugh...I hate old school files...”

“Some of this stuff can’t be trusted on anythin’ but paper, yanno? It’s the only thing that can’t be hacked.”

“I know, but it makes our lives in this specific scenario we happen to be in a whole lot more difficult.”

“Where’s all that patience you learned up in Nepal?” Jesse teased with a laugh, Genji pulling open a drawer and sifting through it.

“I have plenty, when the work is not boring.” The ninja muttered, Jesse smiling and shaking his head. 

His fingers slid over manila tabs with scratchy writing of dates and names, none of which he needed. Another drawer was opened, another set of files giving him nothing. Genji sighed after about ten minutes, the sound of paper shifting accompanying it.

“These are mostly agent files and insignificant mission reports.”

“Then move on to the next ones.”

“I’m trying to find ours!” Genji huffed, tossing the files on top of the cabinet and bending at the waist to scan more.

“There ain’t nothin’ on those we don’t already know about each other.”

“I want to see my unedited medical reports.”

Jesse raised a brow, turning to Genji as the ninja tapped a drawer closed and opened another.

“You’ve never seen those?”

“Have you?”

“Well, no. There’s lots of black lines on all the medical reports, no matter what.”

“On Ziegler’s, yes. She is bound by Overwatch protocol, and I am not about to break into one of their vaults. I want to see if O’Deorain made any files.”

“O’Deorain ain’t one I’d trust.” Jesse grumbled, wrinkling his nose a bit. He’d always thought hiring her was a mistake.

“Maybe not, but I do not doubt her intellect. And, this is the only vault I’ll be seeing for a long time. Who knows what I could find.” Genji shrugged, flipping through some papers. Jesse pressed his lips into a line, going to a new cabinet.

“It’d be nice if we could actually find what we’re here for. All these damn files are startin’ to blend together on me.”

A hum from Genji was the only answer he got, the gunslinger blinking hard to keep his eyes from tiring too much. These jobs weren’t quite his specialty. Jesse scrunched up his lips, teeth absently gritting against one another instead of the cigar he usually had to chew on. 

His metal hand brushed over some labels, nearly missing one that was filed incorrectly, hidden by the one in front of it. The cowboy pulled it up, brows furrowing. It didn’t have a date, only a label.

Venice Incident.

Jesse opened the folder, eyes scanning over the documents. Media coverage, pictures, mission reports, the recorded interrogation of Reyes afterwards. A hand-written report was on the back of that one.

Log report 707,

Venice was a failure. Antonio eliminated. 

I should have thought through things first, but he was right. There was no point in taking him in, I knew that from the beginning. Killing Antonio was the only way to unequivocally remove him from the equation. I know Overwatch is only going to hear what it wants to, so I let them do just that. Didn’t bother defending myself, it wouldn’t have mattered. Things will inevitably get fixed, covered up, go back to normal. 

But what happens when they can’t do that anymore? What will they do then? Another massive cover up? Another ploy to lead things back to normal, to lull the world back into a false sense of peace? Jack can’t answer those questions yet, but I can. 

It’s going to have to end soon. We’re only making it worse by trying to clean up the world. It doesn’t need us anymore. The Omnic Crisis is over. But Talon will eventually rise, I can see it happening already. 

I have my doubts about the way things are going, the things I’m having to do for Blackwatch now. But what more can we do? What more can I do? The world is changing, and it’s going to leave Overwatch and the people involved in it behind. I only hope they can see it too, before it’s too late.

Jesse swallowed thickly, the paper shaking slightly in his hands. Reyes’ voice in his head, a distant memory; when he sat Jesse down in his office, telling him these same things, to leave while he could, before the whole thing fell apart. 

Echoes of the past.

“Genji, I found it.” Jesse managed to say, the ninja looking up sharply.

“You did?”

The gunslinger held up the folder, Genji setting his own aside and walking over.

“This is his account of the—”

“Agents, I am detecting a disturbance in the stairwell.” Eris suddenly interrupted. Jesse immediately drew his gun, Genji sinking into a lower stance.

“We were followed?! How?” The ninja hissed, hand on his wakazashi. 

Jesse cursed under his breath, taking whatever papers he could from the folder and tucking them into a spare ammunition pack on his belt.

“I had a feelin’ we weren’t alone...Just figured no one would know what the hell we were doin’. Hardly anyone knew about this place.” He muttered darkly, thumbing back the hammer of his revolver as he walked forward cautiously. 

Genji followed close behind him, silent save for the sleek sound of metal sliding into his fingers as his shruiken slipped into place. Something clattered in the main room, Jesse’s finger tightening minutely on the trigger.

“We know you’re there. Just come quietly, and we won’t shoot on sight.” He called.

“Agent McCree, I am not quite detecting any signs of life.” Eris alerted him, voice quieter, almost unsure.

“What do you mean, ‘not quite’?”

“It is...Not a biosignature I have been programmed to recognize. It is not even a true biosignature.”

“So what is it?” Genji growled, Jesse’s blood chilling at the twisted laugh that echoed around the room. 

A shadow-like fog drifted through the doorway, swirling behind Jesse and Genji both before solidifying into a shape. A mask. Bone-white and carved like a barn owl. The thing was draped in black, clawed hands forming and gripping two massive shotguns.

“I’ve been asking that same question for a long time.”

It had a scratchy, echoing voice, deeper and more guttural than any Jesse had heard before. He held Peacekeeper up, arm unwavering, eyes narrowing. He knew this creature.

“So, this is the Reaper.”

“Always so blunt, aren’t you, McCree.” It rumbled, Jesse’s lip curling.

“How do you know my name?”

“I know a whole lot more than you think. Now, I need a certain little file hidden in here, so get out, or I’ll kill you both.”

“We are not going anywhere! You are the one trespassing.” Genji snapped, wakizashi catching the light as he unsheathed it slightly.

“I said, leave.” Reaper repeated, shotguns raising to point right at their heads.

“We ain’t movin’. These files can’t get into Talon’s hands.”

There was a deep sigh like a rumbling growl, before the ear-shattering blast of the shotguns went off. Jesse dove to the side as Genji deflected, already moving around Reaper. The gunslinger went opposite of Genji, Reaper turning to follow his movements. 

Jesse reached for a flashbang, but the shotgun went off again, blowing it from his metal hand. It exploded, the flash making Jesse stumble, blinking rapidly as his ears rang. He vaguely heard another three shots go off, then a shout of pain. The cowboy shook his head as his vision came back, the outline of everything still just a little too bright. 

He raised his gun, then froze as he saw where Genji was. Hands gripping Reaper’s wrist, those claws tightening around his neck, holding him off the ground. Reaper’s free hand was holding a shotgun towards Jesse.

“Let him go!” Jesse seethed, that laugh echoing softer, more sinister.

“You have the same tricks you always had, Shimada. Too predictable. You both are.” Reaper murmured, grip tightening on Genji. It forced a choked sound from him, fingers scrabbling at Reaper’s arm.

“Let him go, or I swear to god I’ll put a bullet through that fucking mask.”

“Oh? And risk me shooting him?” Reaper cackled, turning the shotgun to press against Genji’s stomach. Jesse lowered his arm slightly.

“Jesse, just—Go!” Genji grit out, the gunslinger’s glare never leaving Reaper’s mask.

“I ain’t leavin’ you, ever. What do you want, Reaper? I’ll let you have it if you let him go.”

“I just needed access to this vault, it doesn’t work for me anymore. Funnily enough, I also heard about two special ex-Blackwatch operatives that had been sent to do just that.” Reaper sneered. Jesse’s eyes flicked to Genji, his struggles weakening.

“‘Anymore’? The hell are you talkin’ about?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I thought I taught you better than this, ingrate.”

Jesse’s brow slackened, cotton filling his ears as laughter filled the room, his arm falling back to his side. It should have been obvious. The mannerisms, the fighting style, the way of speech. Jesse knew them all too well, just didn’t want to believe it.

“Gabe...?” He whispered, eyes wide, feeling vulnerable in a way he hadn’t since he was seventeen, tied up by Blackwatch in Deadlock Gorge.

“Not anymore.” Reaper growled, finger tightening on his shotgun. The blast was louder than all the others to Jesse’s ears, a spray of red mixed with black splattering on the ground, Genji joining it as he was dropped. 

The gunslinger could only watch, time not moving the way it was supposed to. Reaper walked towards him, Jesse unable to see anything but how he had the same stride as Gabe. How he held his shotgun the same as it leveled with the cowboy’s face again.

“Last chance. Take Shimada and leave. Don’t try anything sneaky, or he’ll bleed out before you can get him back to your base in time.”

Jesse stared up at him, the blank mask, the barrel of the shotgun. He nodded numbly. Following orders, just like he used to. Body moving on autopilot while his mind was still stuck in the past. 

Jesse went to Genji, picking him up with an arm around his waist, the other keeping Genji’s arm over his shoulder. He could hear the ninja’s voice, but the words escaped him. Only the slightly robotic hum as he left the bunker.

“We need evac, now.”

His own voice this time, calm and quiet. Jesse didn’t recognize it.

“Copy that, drop ship is inbound. ETA five minutes.”

“Jesse.”

He blinked slowly, staring straight ahead as he trudged up the sand dune.

“Jesse, wait.”

So much like Deadlock Gorge. 

Jesse stopped, breathing unevenly. Genji placed a hand on his chest, visor tilted up at him.

“Are you okay...?” The ninja asked softly. Far to concerned about him considering his own state. 

Jesse’s eyes dropped to the sand at his feet, the way the grains shifted over his boots with the faint breeze. His vision swam.

“I...Don’t know.”

-

Just a graze. That’s what Dr. Ziegler had said, just a graze. The healing should have gone faster, but the wounds lingered. No one knew why. Genji was confined to bed, though, he was able to at least stay in his own. Jesse hardly left his side. 

Neither spoke of what had happened at the end of their meeting with Reaper, not yet. Jesse wasn’t ready, and Genji stayed quiet for his sake. It had been two days. Jesse had closed himself off, keeping his thoughts and feelings hidden, clutched to his chest. Fragile. 

The ninja was laying in bed, a bored look on his face as he stared at the ceiling. All his armour was off, just the smooth synth skin and bits of metal that couldn’t be removed left. Jesse’s fingers traced over the scars on his right arm absently, eyes not really focused on anything in particular.

“Jesse, we should talk about this.” Genji suddenly spoke up. His voice was gentle, but firm at the same time. Jesse knew the tone, the one that meant he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He sighed quietly.

“I know...”

“You’ve hardly said a word to me since we got back.”

“I know.”

“So talk to me. It doesn’t have to be everything, but you need to let those thoughts out. I want to help.”

“I know!” Jesse snapped, closing his eyes and taking a little breath before softening.

“I-I know, darlin’.”

Genji sat up with a slight wince, turning to face Jesse, legs crossing. He took the cowboy’s hands in his own, thumbs rubbing little circles over the backs of them.

“You are not alone anymore, Jesse. I am here for you.”

That simple promise cracked the foundations of the wall Jesse had put up, making it all too easy to topple. Tears slid down his cheeks, unbidden, his hands shaking in Genji’s grasp. It took him a moment to gather his thoughts, his sharp inhale too loud in the otherwise silent room.

“Gen...It was him. I-It was Gabe. He’s alive, he’s still out there—!” Jesse’s voice cut off with a choked sound, Genji squeezing his hands. Waiting patiently. Jesse was thankful for it.

“I thought...We all thought he’d died. They—We lost so many...But him, of all people. Reaper. He’s Reaper. Has been this whole time, Gen, he’s with fucking Talon! I never thought—He would never. Gabe was...”

“He was the best man I ever knew, why has he turned into this...Wraith? A murderer. A traitor, of all things! I don’t understand what happened to him! There’s so much I regret not doing for him, and now, seeing that he’s alive, that he’s workin’ against us...” Jesse trailed off, wiping his eyes quickly. 

The swirl of emotion inside him was too thick to make much sense of. He truly didn’t know how to feel. Sorrow, maybe? Betrayal, yes, there was some of that. Hurt. An odd sense of relief. Fear, even.

“I was not as close to him as you were, but I know that is not the man we knew. Whatever happened to him, it changed him. He is Reaper now, and we must treat him like that. An enemy. He wants to kill us.”

“He didn’t, though. He had us both in point blank range, but he didn’t shoot.”

“I’m pretty sure he shot me, Jess.” Genji frowned, gesturing to his stomach, still wrapped in bandages.

“No, I mean, he didn’t shoot to kill. If he wanted us dead, we would have been dead. He took us both out like that,” Jesse snapped his fingers to illustrate, brows furrowing.

“But he didn’t kill us.”

“It’s not him, Jesse.”

“He let us go! He recognized us—”

“Jesse.”

Genji’s hands went to Jesse’s shoulders, dark eyes steeped in gold boring into his own.

“That is not Reyes. Reyes died in that explosion, and Reaper is what crawled from the remains.”

Jesse looked away, lips pressing together tightly. He knew Genji was right, but there was a part of him that wanted to believe Reyes was still there. A part of him that still dared to hope. 

Genji’s brows furrowed, reading the gunslinger’s eyes.

“Not believing it will only hurt you more in the end. And I am tired of seeing you hurting. You deserve to heal, to be content.” Genji told him, pressing a kiss to Jesse’s fingers, stubble scratching them lightly. 

The cowboy cupped Genji’s cheek, leaning in to press their foreheads together.

“I just wish things had been different...”

“As do I. But lamenting about the past will not help the future.”

“Yeah...Where’d you get all this wisdom?”

Genji smiled softly, humming.

“Mm, Zenyatta truly works wonders.”

Jesse chuckled quietly, pressing a kiss to Genji’s lips. The cowboy then let his head sink to Genji’s shoulder, resting in the crook of his neck. Genji toyed with his hair with one hand, the other still holding Jesse’s in his lap, fingers laced.

It was quiet for a few minutes, Jesse’s thoughts not a complete jumble for the first time since Reaper revealed himself. There was still a pressing matter, though.

“We need to tell the team.” He mumbled, Genji’s hand halting its movement.

“Yes, we do. But I want you to just rest tonight, Jesse. We can figure that out tomorrow.”

Jesse nodded. Genji leaned back, taking them both down to the mattress, Jesse careful of his wounds. He was tired, and the next day was sure to be another difficult one. 

But for tonight, Jesse felt he could rest a little easier.

~~

[selanaris]

Wake Up a Vehicon Story(Pt.III)

“I will not ask again. What happened here?!”

The vehicons shook in fear of the commander and his trine, “Uh...t-the Autobots attacked, and s-stole the energon supplies of the lower level. Uh, sir!” shouted one of the drones, fearing for his short life.

“Did any of you see it happen, or even try to fight back!”, the drones flinched at the commander’s tone.

“No, sir, we did not see what happened, we only just arrived after they got away. We came to look for survivors, only to find just this one here-” said the other drone before the first one elbowed him.

“A survivor?” questioned Starscream, walking around the two drones to see the barely online drone, “And did you not think to try to keep him online, he could have valuable information!”

“But…” the first drone hesitated, weighing his options, “He is online, just in stasis.”

“Then what are you waiting for, get this drone to the Nemesis for immediate repairs, they just need to stay online long enough to get the information out of its processor.” Starscream watched as the drones did nothing, “That is an order!!” The two drones rushed to pick up D-8311 and darted to the upper level as Thundercracker called for an upper-level ground bridge and update Soundwave on the situation.

The three seekers stood in silence after the drones departed, all three frowning, thinking. Then the youngest, unable to take the silence any longer, spoke up, “I know you felt it, we all felt it.”

The biggest member sighed, “It’s faint, very faint, near unnoticeable.” Thundercracker looks at his trine mates, “It’s far, it feels as if they’re galaxies away, but we didn’t feel it until we came to this planet, in this specific mine.”

Starscream, who has been silent throughout the conversation, starts to growl, surprising the other two, “The feeling is gone! They were right there and now they’re gone!!” he now begins to outright yell in rage. “Our sparkling is here and I never noticed!!! How could we have never noticed this before?! How could they just disappear like that?! Why is their spark signature very faint?!”

“Our bond.” whispers Skywarp, barely catching the attention of his trine mates, “When we are together our bond becomes stronger, and so does the bond between our sparkling. This means we can find them, they are on this planet!” he beams with joy at the thought of finding their lost sparkling.

“We can’t.” Thundercracker says mournfully, destroying the youngest’s joy, “Megatron has forbidden us from searching for our sparkling.”

The area goes into a somber silence, “Then we don’t tell,” Two helms look up at their leader, “We search, but we have to be discrete, we fly together on patrols and report anything we feel in our spark and remember where you felt it.” Starscream smiles confidently and looks at them, “We will find our sparkling.”

Later on the Nemesis…

The two drones carried D-8311 to the med bay, both grumbling on the way, “You should have just said he was offline, then we would be saved the trouble of actually saving him.”

The other one laughed, “He won’t be online for much longer. You heard the commander, they’re just keeping him online long enough to extract the information out of his processor. Anyway, let’s just drop him off and get out of here, you know vehicons are no longer allowed on the ship.” Both of the drones stop in front of the med bay before hesitantly walking in.

They quickly pause at the sight of the medic sitting on the lap of his assistant gently stroking his chin. The doctor and his assistant froze at the sight of the two drones walking in and are about to shout at them to leave before they noticed the injured drone they brought along. Knockout quickly goes into medic mode as he gets off Breakdowns lap to set up the medical berth, “What are you waiting for, put him on the berth, I need to know his barcode, what happened, and what are the orders.” commanded the doctor as Breakdown gathered the necessary tools for basic repairs.

One of the drones sets D-8311 on the berth and Breakdown starts plugging him into the support machines while the other drone explains the situation, “We were attacked in the mines by the Autobots and this one got shot in the chassis, but he is the only one to survive the attack. So Starscream has given the order to stabilize him and to extract his information about the attack.”

“Yes, yes.” Knockout said dismissively typing into a datapad, “And his barcode designation?”

“D-8311”

This answer caused both medics to freeze and Knockout almost dropped the datapad he was working on. “Get out,” stated Knockout. When he noticed the drones not moving he said it again, this time in a form of a command, “I order you to get out!”, now with their command protocols activated, they quickly left the room, unable to disobey the order.

“Knockout,” started Breakdown, sighing before dropping the news of the patient’s condition, “the damage is very severe. The outer casing of the spark chamber is broken and energon is leaving faster than we can put in.” Breakdown handed the doctor the datapad with the basic scan of the drone.

Knockout looked over the information quickly before his optics widened and he looked from D-8311 to his assistant, “He should be offline by now, it’s impossible for an artificial spark to last this long with this kind of damage.” he paused to look over the damage, “Breakdown, you work on doing the basic repairs and start the processor download, then send the download to Soundwave. I refuse to just download and let D.Bell offline like that,” Breakdown nodded slowly.

“We are disobeying an order by saving him you know”, he sighed looking to Knockout to ensure that this is what he wanted to do.

Knockout began collecting the needed materials to fix the drone’s spark chamber, “I know, but we both know that there is something special about D.Bell, and the point he is still alive proves that.” Breakdown plugged in his processor for download, “With the extensive damage, there is a possibility for him to lose his memory from the download, after all, drones don’t have processor backup software.”

Knockout moves to work on his spark chamber while breakdown begins on the legs. For a while they worked in silence before the doctor gasps, “What is it?” asked his assistant.

Knockout lifts something out of the drones chassis, a boxlike object with a wire connected to the spark chamber, “Why does a drone need a spark inhibitor?”, he starts to inspect the inhibitor before his optics go wide, “This is Shockwaves work, that I know for sure, but….why does a drone...need it?” Knockout moves quickly to the spark chamber, checking his patchwork, ensuring that it is stable enough for further spark inspection. He then moves to the middle seam of the chamber and goes to open it with breakdown watching intently on the side.

The doctor opens the spark chamber wide to allow visage of the artificial spark, only for both the medic and his assistant to freeze. For what seemed like hours, they stood there staring at the chamber, then Breakdown finally broke the silence, “Maybe that’s why…”

Inside the chamber where an artificial spark was supposed to be was a large, bright, real spark. Both medical officers were stunned, unsure of how to proceed with this, and only one thing was said by the doctor, “It’s a femme?!”

Meanwhile…

Soundwave had access to all the cameras through his visor to watch for any sign of Autobots, unwanted guest, rouge Decepticons, Starscream, etc. But at the moment he was focused on one specific camera. The med bay.

He watched the entire scene play out. From the drones arriving, to the doctors starting repair and download, to the discovery of the drone un-artificial spark.

This discovery led to many questions. How did this happen? Was it on purpose? Does the drone know? Who does know? And, how many drones have real sparks?

He knows for a fact that there cannot be many drones with real sparks, he has seen many drones artificial sparks before, and it’s a possibility for this to be the only one.

Soundwave stood there trying to figure out this new discovery, completely ignoring the information download sent from the medics. He ran every possibility through his processor, running constant simulations through his head. He wanted to know more about this mech….femme, but he knew Megatron’s new order for all vehicles. Perhaps he can use his rank and loyalty to ask for this drone specifically as a personal drone. No, he’ll want to know why, and Soundwave doesn’t feel like sharing this information, or his drone. Yes, his drone.

He ran another scan, this time over the spark signature, trying to identify the spark. He found nothing in the primary database, so he began to run it with all other collected databases, old, new, stolen, recovered, he went through each one before stopping at one database. The late doctor, Hook’s database. He found a match with a very vague file, his last entered, and uncompleted file. Starfall. The sparkling to none other than the command trine itself.

This was an issue. Seekers are very, very, protective of sparklings, whether they’re their own or not, and with all the seekers now on board, his plans will be much harder to complete. They will try to take away his drone. He won’t let some weak seekers with caregiver programming take away what belongs to him. They can’t take them away, if they don’t know about them, or can tell which one is which….

He looked back at the med bay camera and watched them repair the drone. What was it that they said, memory loss. That means the drone will be set back to basic drone programming and will be needed to given core settings. That is when he will enter. Drones physically cannot deny orders from higher-ups set during core settings, but if only one mech was entered during that phase. They will only listen to him and only him.

Soundwave began to move, and plan. The moment the medics leave, that will be his chance. A simple reprogramming and processor hacking will ensure this drone will belong to him.

He has been sure about many things, but he has never been more sure about anything before.

Drone D-8311, D.Bell, Starfall, belongs to Soundwave.

[iammickwhite-cn]

UNIT 1

UNDERSTANDING

1.1 Basic Nature of Cyber Threats: 

Nothing seems sacred these days. Where there are a computer and someone with the capability and devious mind, you could potentially find a cyber threat. The trouble is, the nature of cyber threats have changed both in kind and intensity. The global States have raised their game and increased their intensity. What may have been spotty-faced teenagers operating from their mother’s basement, has transferred cyber threats as a major security challenge for businesses. The threat is a possible danger that might exploit a vulnerability to breach security and therefore cause possible harm. A threat can be either “intentional” (i.e. hacking: an individual cracker or a criminal organization) or state-sponsored. In this definition, the threat is defined as a possibility. However, in the cybersecurity community, the threat is more closely identified with the actor or adversary attempting to gain access to a system. Or a threat might be identified by the damage being done, what is being stolen or the Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTP) being used.”In this definition, the threat is defined as a possibility. However, in the cybersecurity community, the threat is more closely identified with the actor or adversary attempting to gain access to a system. Or a threat might be identified by the damage being done, what is being stolen or the Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTP) being used”.1

1.2 Overview of Common Threats: 

Insider threats:” An insider threat is a malicious threat to an organization that comes from people within the organization, such as employees, former employees, contractors or business associates, who have inside information concerning the organization’s security practices, data and computer systems.”

The insider threat, whereby an employee acts, knowingly or unknowingly, in a counter-productive way to cause significant damage to his/her organization, has become a key risk for organizations around the world. This is in part driven by the greater access individuals have to critical information and systems as organizations become more and more connected. In addition, ever more sophisticated methods of carrying out a cyber attack and the availability of more outlets for leaking information are increasing the threat.[2]

Cryptojacking attacks: A cryptographic attack is a method for circumventing the security of a cryptographic system by finding a weakness in a code, cipher, cryptographic protocol or key management scheme. This process is also called “cryptanalysis”. SQL injection Attack: A code injection technique, used to attack data-driven applications, in which criminal SQL statements are inserted into an entry field for execution (e.g. to dump the database contents to the attacker). SQL injection must exploit a security vulnerability in an application’s software, for example, when user input is either incorrectly filtered for string literal escape characters embedded in SQL statements or user input is not strongly typed and unexpectedly executed. SQL injection is mostly known as an attack vector for websites but can be used to attack any type of SQL database.

Phishing: Fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by disguising as a trustworthy entity in electronic communication. Typically carried out by email spoofing or instant messaging, it often directs users to enter personal information at a fake website, the look and feel of which are identical to the legitimate site. Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques being used.

Ransomware: A type of malicious software from that threatens to publish the victim’s data or perpetually block access to it unless a ransom is paid. More advanced malware uses a technique called cryptoviral extortion, in which it encrypts the victim’s files, making them inaccessible, and demands a ransom payment to decrypt them.

Advanced malware attacks: These typically follow a common attack sequence: Planning: Involves selecting a target and researching the target’s infrastructure to determine how the malware will be introduced, the communication methods used while the attack is in progress, and how/where the data will be extracted.

1.3 Main features of threats to individuals:

From identity theft and fraud to social networking hacking attacks, everybody needs to be sure their safe. Knowledge is key as the saying goes. Your personal details, pictures, account details, and much more concerning yourself can potentially be exploited by the criminal.

1.4 Main features of threats to companies:

The reputation of your company, and of course the day to day functioning are under threat from cybercriminals. Various types of viruses and hacks can bring your business to its knees. 

The number one weak link for businesses when it comes to cybersecurity — by a long, long way — is the people who work in the business.

From falling for phishing emails, and clicking on links or downloading documents that turn out to be malware, to being a victim of business email compromise (BEC) scams that end up losing the company a lot of money, employees are a company’s greatest liability when it comes to cybersecurity.

See also: https://thehackernews.com/2017/09/blueborne-bluetooth-hacking.html

Figure 1: Explanation from CIO|INSIGHT on Today’s security issues for businesses.[3]

1.5:

Analyze and Detail

2.1 Why do people cause and create security breaches:

For fun

Some hackers make attempts on computers, servers or network systems just for the personal gratification. Others may feel that they need to prove something to their peers or friends and hack something only for the challenge

To Steal

Another reason to hack a system is to steal information or money. A large portion of hacking attempts falls into this category. Banks and large companies are common targets for hacking jobs, but sometimes smaller companies or even a specific person’s computer are targeted, as well.

To disrupt

There are also some hackers, including hacking groups; that target a company to disrupt business, create chaos and just be a nuisance. These groups often are trying to make a statement with their hacking, demonstrate security inadequacies, or show general disapproval for the business itself. Examples of hacking groups that made headlines are Anonymous.

2.2 What is a threat and how do they work:

One resource demonstrates potential as “the possibility of a malicious attempt to damage or disrupt a computer network or system.”

The malicious programs inside e-mail attachments usually only strike if you open them. Effects of a virus can be anything from a simple prank that pops up messages to the complete destruction of programs and data.[4].

If a virus is sent through a network. This will spread like wildfire, even potentially globally. In some cases, it can change configurations of a database system (i.e; a worm).

2.3 Features of threats & How they operate:

IBM recently announced the shocking average cost of data breach. While down around 10 percent, the global average for a data breach is $3.62 million. For many companies, the cost of suffering a cyber attack is enough to take the business down entirely, so it has never been more vital for all organizations to invest in their cyber defenses. In order to equip suitable security, you first need to understand exactly where the danger comes from. Looking ahead to 2018, we examine the biggest cybersecurity threats both to individuals and companies across the world.[5] 

WannaCry is so-called encryption-based ransomware also known as Wanna Decryptor or WCRY. It encrypts users files using AES and RSA encryption ciphers meaning the hackers can directly decrypt system files using a unique decryption key. From my research, especially remembering how much broadcast it received, it manipulated the laws that, basically, were prevalent at the time in many businesses, and specifically the NHS. People had not updated their systems often, and correctly. A playground for hackers.

2.4 How attack against companies works:

You work in the financial department of your company and you just got an email from an executive.

It instructs you to pay a sum of £78,000 before a specified time. It includes instructions for how to wire the money to your vendor’s bank.

You send the money, as requested, and it quickly moves to a number of small banks and then ultimately to an overseas account, where it is unlikely your company—or law enforcement—will be able to recover it. This is how phishing works. 

2.5 Review & Hierarchy:

In the year 2011, a hacker was sentenced to nine years in prison because of the cyber-attack that he caused in a hospital. With this incident of physical damage to a hospital system, this individual used the skills that he had to install malware.

As a result of his action, the Hospital’s HVAC’s system was adversely altered causing the patient’s safety to be unduly jeopardized. By remotely controlling the temperature in the hospital, it posed an immediate threat since it placed drugs and other medical supplies at risk. In this situation, the hacker was controlling both the air and heating systems in the hospital from a remote location. Just goes to show how much of a danger some corrupted intentions can be used to cause massive, and potential health dangers.

Evaluate the impact of threats

3.5 Presentation with research document highlighting the affects:

3.1  According to on researcher[6] data breaches alone see upwards of 4.4 million data records being lost or stolen worldwide every single day. Take the 2015 data breach at UK telecoms company TalkTalk. Web pages containing databases no longer supported by their producer were accessed by hackers, who stole the personal data of 156,959 customers. The result was lots of negative publicity, reputational damage and a record fine of £400,000 from UK authorities. 

One of the world’s largest DDoS attack ever took place in 2016, when US network provider Dyn was targeted. The attackers had harnessed the Internet of Things (internet enabled devices like cameras and fridges) to conduct the attack, and took down many major websites as a result. As the Internet of Things continues to expand, the risk is set to increase.

3.2  Hacking is a term used to describe actions taken by someone to gain unauthorized access to a computer. The availability of information online on the tools, techniques, and malware makes it easier for even non-technical people to undertake malicious activities. 

What it is:  The process by which cyber criminals gain access to your computer.        What it can do:  Find weaknesses (or pre-existing bugs) in your security settings and exploit them in order to access your information.        

3.3 Determining live threats to websites:

Streaming: Ok, i agree, i have used them myself, but in my defence i didnt consider them illegal. I can clearly remember watching a sports event and many many pop-ups appear, asking you to click this or that to access this or that in order (criminally) to get you to sign to something that you will be totally unaware  lead to something other than what is being advertised. Scammers, hackers. Call them what you want. But when you do fall for their cunningness, your computer could be infected with cookies or worse. Either annoying or sinister.

3.4 Determining live threats to servers:

There is no such thing as perfect software, and there is  always room for further refinement. Good system administration  requires vigilance, constant tracking of bugs, and proper system  maintenance to ensure a secure computing environment. 

A common occurrence among system administrators is to install an  operating system without knowing what is actually being installed.  This can be troublesome, as most operating systems will not only  install the applications, but also setup a base configuration and turn  services on. This can cause unwanted services, such as telnet, DHCP,  or DNS to be running on a server or workstation without the  administrator realizing it, leading to unwanted traffic to the server  or even a path into the system for crackers.. 

[1]https://www.secureworks.com/blog/cyber-threat-basics

[2]https://www.paconsulting.com/insights/managing-people-risk-and-the-insider-threat/

[3] https://www.cioinsight.com/it-management/inside-the-c-suite/slideshows/the-11-top-threats-that-organizations-face-today

[4] https://www.bullguard.com/bullguard-security-center/pc-security/computer-threats/how-does-a-virus-work

[5] https://staysafeonline.org/blog/biggest-cybersecurity-threats-2018/

[6] https://www.regus.co.uk/work-uk/cybersecurity-threats-where-do-they-come-from-and-whats-at-risk/?psrch=1&msclkid=e090cb097c8a1d9752fa9795a609d2a9&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GB%20%3E%20EN%20%3E%20OF%20%3E%20SM%20%3E%20DSA%20%3E%20NEW&utm_term=regus.co.uk&utm_content=Homepage

[websfb]

How To Protect A Website from Hackers

"The website is like an asset for the owner. They do so to utilize the user traffic for other purposes. Most hackers try to hack big organizations' websites, but they don't need always to do the same. The website where the organic traffic is good is often under attack by hackers. Therefore, to save your website from hackers' attacks, you need to implement a good defense system."

It looks technical but implementing the security measures is not very technical indeed. You can easily conduct this exercise by learning just a few things because it will save you money. It is important to understand that saving websites from hackers is not a one-time activity. This practice needs to be done on a regular basis.

The following are the important points to secure your website from Hacking;

1.     Installation of firewall

2.     Need to implement a strong password

3.     Installation of SSL, and use of HTTPS for website

4.     Checking of Admin Users Carefully

5.     Checking the Activity log

6.     Regular Backups

7.     Limit Login Attempts

8.     Block PHP execution in the upload folder

9.     Conduct a regular security audit

1.     Installation of Firewall

Firewalls are security gateways and can act as a barrier between your website and the rest of the internet, and they can help to block hackers from accessing your site. There are many different types of firewalls available, and you should choose one that is appropriate for your website. If you choose good quality firewalls, they perform the functions to save your website from external threats and not allow hackers to control it. You should also make sure that your firewall is always up-to-date and that it is properly configured.

2.     Need to Implement A Strong Password

In this time of technology, passwords are very important for your security. However, weak passwords give room to hackers to break the password and take control of your website. It is time to consistently implement a strong and complex password for your website and other related things.

3. Installation Of SSL, And Use of HTTPS For Website

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate is a protocol that needs to be used to encrypt data to communicate with websites. If you install it, the hacker will face many difficulties because they find all encrypted data. So, SSL certificates are very important and playing a major role in securing your website.

4.     Checking of Admin Users Carefully

One important way to protect a website from hackers is carefully to check the admin users. Admin users have access to everything on the website, so it's important to ensure they are legitimate and trustworthy. This can be done by ensuring they have strong passwords and keeping an eye on their activity. If anything, suspicious is going on, it's crucial to take action immediately to prevent any damage.

5.     Checking the Activity Log

Activity logs are very important. If you make it your practice to read activity logs on a regular basis, you will come to know every kind of abnormal activity on your website at the right time. Then you can take appropriate steps to tackle them timely. By reading activity logs, you come to know the changes which are taking place on your website. Maybe someday you will see that the admin rights create a new user. In this type of situation, you will take action and remove that account promptly.

6.     Regular Backups

To save your valuable data, you need to take regular backups, preferably on a daily basis. By keeping a recent backup of your site, you can quickly restore it if it is hacked or damaged.  

Many ways to back up your site include using a host that provides automatic backups or manually backing up your files and databases.  

Whichever method you choose, keep multiple copies of your backups in case one is lost or corrupted. In this way, in any situation, you can restore your website data accurately in time. Automatic backups can also be configured, which may work without a problem.

7.     Limit Login Attempts

It's important to take steps to protect your website from hackers. One way to do this is by limiting the number of allowed login attempts. Simply put, you will have to restrict the multiple logins attempts on your website. This will help prevent brute force attacks, where hackers try to guess passwords by trying multiple combinations. You can also use two-factor authentication, which requires users to confirm their identity with a code sent to their mobile phone. This makes it much harder for hackers to gain access to your website. So, if this feature is implemented, then the attack can be handled safely.

8.     Restriction on Remote Code Execution

Remote Code execution is a very dangerous thing for websites. Hackers often try injecting malicious code into a website to take control of it. So, you need to restrict remote code execution, which means only trusted users should be allowed to run code on the server. Restricting who can run code on the server makes it much more difficult for hackers to succeed.

9.     Conduct A Regular Security Audit

You need to conduct a regular security audit of your website. This involves scanning the website for vulnerabilities and then taking steps to fix them. It will help to see the weak areas of your website. A detailed security audit report provides you the information on your website's weaknesses, and you will come to know the loss pools on your website.  

Hackers are always looking for new ways to exploit websites, so keeping up with the latest security threats is important. In addition, regular audits can help identify potential problems before they become serious issues.  

Conclusion

In this article, you have read about the steps you can take to save and secure your website, but no surety can be given to any website that cannot be hacked. These are only added features that make your website more secure, that’s all. Nothing more than this. So, make it practice to update all features of your website that will help you to make your website more secure.  

[shirlleycoyle]

Company That Routes Billions of Text Messages Quietly Says It Was Hacked

A company that is a critical part of the global telecommunications infrastructure used by AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and several others around the world such as Vodafone and China Mobile, quietly disclosed that hackers were inside its systems for years, impacting more than 200 of its clients and potentially millions of cellphone users worldwide. 

The company, Syniverse, revealed in a filing dated September 27 with the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission that an unknown "individual or organization gained unauthorized access to databases within its network on several occasions, and that login information allowing access to or from its Electronic Data Transfer (EDT) environment was compromised for approximately 235 of its customers."

A former Syniverse employee who worked on the EDT systems told Motherboard that those systems have information on all types of call records. 

Syniverse repeatedly declined to answer specific questions from Motherboard about the scale of the breach and what specific data was affected, but according to a person who works at a telephone carrier, whoever hacked Syniverse could have had access to metadata such as length and cost, caller and receiver's numbers, the location of the parties in the call, as well as the content of SMS text messages.

"Syniverse is a common exchange hub for carriers around the world passing billing info back and forth to each other," the source, who asked to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to talk to the press, told Motherboard. "So it inevitably carries sensitive info like call records, data usage records, text messages, etc. […] The thing is—I don’t know exactly what was being exchanged in that environment. One would have to imagine though it easily could be customer records and [personal identifying information] given that Syniverse exchanges call records and other billing details between carriers."

The company wrote that it discovered the breach in May 2021, but that the hack began in May of 2016. 

Do you work or used to work at Syniverse or another telecom provider? Do you have more information about this breach? We’d love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, OTR chat at lorenzofb@jabber.ccc.de, or email lorenzo@motherboard.tv.

Syniverse provides backbone services to wireless carriers like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and several others around the world. The company processes more than 740 billion text messages every year and has “direct connections” to more than 300 mobile operators around the world, according to its official website. Ninety-five of the top 100 mobile carriers in the world, including the big three U.S. ones, and major international ones such as Telefonica, and America Movil, are Syniverse customers, according to the filing. 

To give perspective as to Syniverse’s importance, due to a maintenance update in 2019, Syniverse lost tens of thousands of text messages on Valentine's Day, which meant that the text messages were lost in transit and only delivered months later. Syniverse routes text messages between different carriers both in the U.S. and abroad, allowing people who are on Verizon’s network to communicate with customers who use another carrier. It also manages routing and international roaming between networks, using the notoriously insecure SS7 and Diameter protocols, according to the company's site.  

"The world’s largest companies and nearly all mobile carriers rely on Syniverse’s global network to seamlessly bridge mobile ecosystems and securely transmit data, enabling billions of transactions, conversations and connections [daily]," Syniverse wrote in a recent press release. 

"Syniverse has access to the communication of hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people around the world. A five-year breach of one of Syniverse's main systems is a global privacy disaster," Karsten Nohl, a security researcher who has studied global cellphone networks for a decade, told Motherboard in an email. "Syniverse systems have direct access to phone call records and text messaging, and indirect access to a large range of Internet accounts protected with SMS 2-factor authentication. Hacking Syniverse will ease access to Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and all kinds of other accounts, all at once."

That means the recently discovered and years-long data breach could potentially affect millions—if not billions—of cellphone users, depending on what carriers were affected, according to an industry insider who asked to remain anonymous as he was not authorized to speak to the press. 

"With all that information, I could build a profile on you. I'll know exactly what you're doing, who you're calling, what's going on. I'll know when you get a voicemail notification. I'll know who left the voicemail. I'll know how long that voicemail was left for. When you make a phone call, I'll know exactly where you made that phone call from," a telecom industry insider, who asked to remain anonymous as he was not authorized to speak to the press,  told Motherboard in a call. "I’ll know more about you than your doctor."

A slide from a Syniverse presentation deck. (Image: Syniverse)

But the former Syniverse employee said that the damage could be much more limited. 

"I feel it is extremely embarrassing but likely not the cause of significant damage. It strikes me as a result of some laziness, as I have seen security breaches happen like this a few times," the former employee said. "Because we have not seen anything come out of this over five years. Not saying nothing bad happened but it sounds like nothing did happen." 

"Seems like a state-sponsored wet dream," Adrian Sanabria, a cybersecurity expert, told Motherboard in an online chat. "Can't imagine [Syniverse] being a target for anyone else at that scale." 

The hack is already raising the alarm in Washington.

“The information flowing through Syniverse’s systems is espionage gold," Sen. Ron Wyden told Motherboard in an emailed statement. "That this breach went undiscovered for five years raises serious questions about Syniverse’s cybersecurity practices. The FCC needs to get to the bottom of what happened, determine whether Syniverse's cybersecurity practices were negligent, identify whether Syniverse's competitors have experienced similar breaches, and then set mandatory cybersecurity standards for this industry.”

“The information flowing through Syniverse’s systems is espionage gold”

In particular, Motherboard asked Syniverse whether the hackers accessed or stole personal data or cellphone users. Syniverse declined to answer that question. 

Instead, the company sent a statement that echoed what it wrote in the flining. 

"As soon as we learned of the unauthorized activity, we implemented our security incident response plan and engaged a top-tier forensics firm to assist with our internal investigation. We also notified and are cooperating with law enforcement. Syniverse has completed a thorough investigation of the incident which revealed that the individual or organization gained unauthorized access to databases within its network on several occasions and that login information allowing access to or from its EDT environment was compromised for certain customers," the statement read. "All EDT customers have had their credentials reset or inactivated, even if their credentials were not impacted by the incident. We have communicated directly with our customers regarding this matter and have concluded that no additional action is required. In addition to resetting customer credentials, we have implemented substantial additional measures to provide increased protection to our systems and customers." 

Syniverse disclosed the breach in an August SEC filing as the company gearing to go public at a valuation of $2.85 billion via a merger with M3-Brigade Acquisition II Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). In the document, the company wrote that it "did not observe any evidence of intent to disrupt its operations or those of its customers and there was no attempt to monetize the unauthorized activity. Syniverse did not experience and does not anticipate that these events will have any material impact on its day-to-day operations or services or its ability to access or process data. Syniverse has maintained, and currently maintains, cyber insurance that it anticipates will cover a substantial portion of its expenditures in investigating and responding to this incident."   

It's not a household name among customers, but Syniverse is one of the largest companies in the world when it comes to the cellphone infrastructure that helps more well-known companies like Verizon or AT&T to run on a day-to-day basis. 

"It is actually surprising that more stuff like this has not happened, considering what a mess Syniverse has become in recent years," the former Syniverse employee told Motherboard in 2019, referring to the Valentine's Day text messaging incident.  

The FBI and the FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) declined to comment. 

AT&T, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Telefonica, China Mobile, and America Movil did not respond to a request for comment. Verizon declined to comment. 

Subscribe to our new cybersecurity podcast, CYBER. Subscribe to our new Twitch channel.

Company That Routes Billions of Text Messages Quietly Says It Was Hacked syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[sharptackmedia]

Website Maintenance: Mistakes Every Website Owner Should Avoid

Stay Away From These Common Website Maintenance Mistakes

Website maintenance is an essential step in the upkeep of any website. Without proper maintenance, websites can become susceptible to many issues that will cost you time and money to repair. That’s why many website owners choose to have a regular website maintenance service to help keep them on top of the latest website problems with their web design tools.

It's essential for SEO purposes and general functionality to ensure your website runs correctly on all web browsers, platforms, and devices. Several things should be checked regularly to ensure your website is always running smoothly.

Below are some of the most common mistakes website owners make when it comes to their website maintenance.

Running Unnecessary Plugins

Plugins are beautiful tools that extend the functionality of a website by giving you easy access to advanced features. But too many plugins can lead to performance issues, conflicts, and loading times. It's crucial to not only know what each plugin does but also what its purpose is.

No matter how helpful a plugin may seem, if it's running on every page, you're going to experience some severe performance issues. Ensure that the plugins installed on your site are necessary and remove any that aren't being used or whose functionality can be replaced by another plugin.

Running Outdated Themes

Outdated themes are another critical issue that needs to be addressed for website maintenance. Just like any program, themes continue to evolve and become more efficient as time goes on. When you're using an outdated theme, your site will run slower than it should, which can cause all kinds of issues for your visitors, including high bounce rates.

Using The Wrong Web Hosting Provider

Your host provider is an essential piece to website maintenance because it's where your site gets its bandwidth and connectivity to the internet. With so many web hosting providers out there, it can be hard to determine which one is right for you, but it's essential to consider that each offers different features.

As you're looking for the best hosting provider, look at things like server speed, uptime, control panel support, available space and bandwidth, cPanel or other control panel availability, etc., so you can make sure you've found the right one. Also, note how easy it is to set up your website so you can get it running as soon as possible.

Not Having A Backup Strategy

It would be best if you had a backup strategy if something were to happen with your site. Imagine how hard it would be to recover from a hacked site or losing your entire database of users. You should always have backup copies of your database and website files stored on an external device if anything were to happen.

You should also test your backup files to ensure they work properly.

Not Understanding Basic SEO Practices

SEO is important to website maintenance because it makes sure your site gets the right kind of attention from search engines and users alike. It would be best to take basic steps every week to make sure that your site keeps its place among the top ranks in search engines.

For example, you should be using "keywords" on your site for SEO purposes, ensuring users can find your website when using specific keywords. You should also ensure that all the links throughout your site work properly and emphasize essential pages, not internal links like navigation menus.

Not Using A CMS

A Content Management System (CMS) can be a huge advantage in website maintenance because it allows you to update and edit content, images, etc., on your site efficiently, so you don't have to do everything manually.

It's important to note that WordPress is one of the most widely used CMS's out there, and it's easy to install on your website.

Ignoring Important Security Protocols

It would help if you were taking the necessary precautions when it comes to your website's security. One of the simplest things you can do is install a plugin that prevents brute force attacks on your site so malicious users can't get in and damage it.

As far as other protocols go, you should have an SSL certificate for your site that encrypts all user information and passwords when they're being submitted. It's also important that you verify your website in Google Webmaster Tools to make sure there aren't any issues or errors that could be causing problems for your site.

When securing your site, always use different usernames and passwords for each account you have access to because if one gets hacked, everything else is safe.

Conclusion

Website maintenance can be a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be if you follow these simple guidelines. Make sure you're using the right theme for your site's needs, you back up everything regularly in case anything were to happen, and focus on SEO and security protocols, so your users and search engines keep coming back for more!

Website Maintenance: Mistakes Every Website Owner Should Avoid was first published on

Sharp Tack Media 9009 SE Adams St #1911 Clackamas, OR 97015 (503) 451-6675 https://goo.gl/maps/hkv1FcwAw4U2

[accioharry]

part 6 is LONG and i have never written anything this angsty but i saw spiderman again today and that scene™ made me so emotional that this was the result! i hope you enjoy xx

if you’ve never read this series, you can find part 1 here, and if you missed part 5, you can find it here!

now that peter and michelle are dating, ned isn’t the only chair guy around

michelle has taken to helping both ned and peter with spidey duties

she even convinced may to let them use the linen closet in the living room as a “headquarters” for them, as long as they close the door when guests are around and go along with the idea that “peter accidentally sealed it shut as a kid” 

peter doesn’t know how she did it, she and ned found old computer pieces lying around in dumpsters and somehow made in that linen closet, 3 computer monitors, 2 keyboards, 2 headsets, and more. 

it even impressed tony stark when he came to check in on peter and may

and oh boy did may yell at him

but then tony mentioned his connections with MIT and well, peter brings brownies to tony and pepper quite often now

one day while May is at work, Peter and MJ are watching a history documentary. 

MJ is lying across Peter’s lap and is so focused on the untold stories of ancient civilization when the linen closet beeps

and suddenly Peter’s burrito is flying and MJ jumps over the couch and opens the closet and starts typing away

“w-what? the burrito!” peter starts to protest but MJ waves him off. 

“we got a hostage situation near the high school,” she pulls a chair up. she managed to hack into police coms a few weeks ago, and even Ned was impressed on that one.

“how many?” peter now hops over the couch and leans over behind her, resting his chin on her head.

“not a lot...about eight according to the police coms. i can’t tell what building it is, the map isn’t clear-” she opens her palm and peter knows to drop his phone in her hand, and suddenly ned is on the line

“MJ...why don’t you just call me from your phone? you have my number?-”

“shut it loser. we got a hostage situation near school and i need my chair partner.” 

“be there in 10″ and ned hangs up and MJ tosses the phone up to Peter, who catches it no problem

“karen, run facial recognition,” peter says, and MJ looks confused. 

“who the hell is-” she starts but is cut off when the third screen lights up with a criminal database.

“i hacked karen into the system when you went to get the burritos,” he mumbles into her hair. “she’s an AI tony had made.” 

michelle nods and then peter is laughing into her hair. “what parker?” she goes to shrug him off, but peter spins her chair around to face him

“you were jealous,” he’s smug.

“was not-” she goes to turn around but peter raises his eyebrows. “i don’t get jealous.”

“mhmm,” peter says before kissing her quickly and MJ rolls her eyes. again, a term of endearment. 

“suit up spidey boy,” she turns back to the screens, and ignores peter’s, “but i’m spiderman!” in the background 

it takes ned less than 10 minutes to burst through the door with his backpack 

“a hostage situation! we haven’t had that in a while!” 

“wow ned, so respectful of the situation,” she says as ned pulls up a chair next to him. 

“peter already out?” he asks, and she nods. 

though she’ll never admit it to them, the real reason she forced ned and peter to let her help was because after the building incident, she couldn’t stand the thought of peter being out there alone. and even if he’d never let her out there with him physically, at least she was doing what she could

ned pulls up a map with peter’s suit tracker and puts on a headset. “obi to anakin, you copy?”

“why am i anakin? i’m not going down a dark path-” peter’s voice comes through the headset, and michelle breathes out a sigh of relief. 

ned ignores him. “you’re getting close. police have the area surrounded, but i can’t get access to a camera inside the building.” 

“it looks like a general retail store,” mj says from her headset. ned is giving more details to peter when mj yells, “i got a camera! sending it over now,” and just like that peter is able to see what ned and michelle are seeing

“oh shit,” ned mutters. 

there’s at least ten masked men and just as mj predicted, eight hostages. the men look heavily armed, and definitely are not amateurs. 

“don’t go in peter,” mj warns. “sit this one out.”

“are you kidding me? if i don’t do something, those guys will kill everyone!” peter yells back, and according to the tracker, he’s on the roof of the building now. 

“you can’t take on ten guys at once by yourself!” mj raises her voice too, and ned slowly backs his chair away. if peter and mj are gonna fight over this, he should probably stay out of it 

“whatever. ned, give me a way in.” peter snaps, but mj shoots her hand to ned’s chair before he can scoot back in.

“no way,” mj narrows her eyes at the screen. “ned, don’t,”

“i’m doing this with or without your help, MJ.” peter’s tracker moves down the side of one of the buildings. 

“it’s too dangerous!” 

“get me a way in, or the stay the hell out of it!” peter says, and mj yanks her headset off and walks into the bathroom.

it’s silent for a moment, before ned thinks it’s safe enough to speak. 

“you can get in through the side door,” he says, and peter does. 

the fight is going well so far. peter has 3 of the men webbed up and 2 of them ran away in fear. ned is keeping him updated on the other 5 as police rush out the hostages

“on your left!” ned shouts, and peter nearly gets shot as he shoots out a web grenade.

“taser web!” he yells at two guys coming from the back, and ned hollers. 

“in the corner!” and peter webs him up. 

suddenly one of the guys comes out from behind the aisle and ned yells to peter, but the guy is faster. 

and peter is shot in the chest

“pull up his vitals!” mj screams, suddenly back in the chair. her eyes are bloodshot and she’s obviously been crying, but ned doesn’t have time to ask. 

“peter?” he calls into the headset. no response. “peter!”

“ned, where are his vitals?” mj is scrambling to find the location of the nearest hospital. 

“they aren’t good,” ned mutters. 

“keep him talking,” mj starts typing in coordinates into the computer. there’s a protocol set up, the “lost baby” protocol (tony’s name, not theirs)

basically, if peter gets in a situation, mj can trigger an alert to the avengers facility upstate by typing in coordinates. 

“he’s not responding!” ned yells. 

“okay,” she takes a deep breath. “okay it’s going to be fine. tony is on his way, it’s fine-”

and then the alarm goes off, signaling peter’s heart has stopped. 

happy arrives at the apartment twenty minutes later to drive the two of them to the hospital, and they pick may up from work on the way

luckily, he was in the area at the time

ned has his laptop, replaying the footage of the fight over and over again, doing his best to use karen’s facial recognition to identify these guys

and may is on the phone with pepper in the passenger seat, crying because thank god he’s alive but also scared because the bullet made his suit malfunction, which is why the alarm said his heart stopped

luckily, it never did

mj is leaning her head on the window, her headphones in, and all she can think about was how none of this would’ve happened if two people were watching the camera

tony and sam got to peter in less than 2 minutes and flew peter to a quinjet a few miles from the city where bruce was waiting with a stretcher, an iv, and everything needed to keep peter stable

by the time may, mj, and ned had reached the avengers facility, peter was already in surgery

“holy...” ned mutters, taking in the surroundings of the facility but may is walking quickly to pepper and maria hill who take the 3 of them down a long hallway. 

the wait feels like months. may has disappeared to talk with tony and ned is off giving the footage of the fight to maria and natasha, and mj is by herself in the hallway

she texted her parents to say she was sleeping over at betty’s, but that’s it. 

“michelle?” she looks up to see steve rogers standing over her. 

“uh...yeah?” she scoots over on the bench, and steve sits. 

“i’m Steve, peter has told us a lot about you.”

“oh god,” she shakes her head, laughing slightly. Her face turns serious, “how is he?”

steve pauses, “from what Bruce said, he’s going to be fine. the bullet didn’t hit anything major, but it was tricky to get it out. he’s sleeping right now, may and ned were heading to sit with him.”

mj nods, fiddling with her sweater. she’s not one to cry in public, and she’s not one to express her emotions either. even with peter, she still teases him and calls him a loser and rolls her eyes at him, but he knows she means well. 

“he really cares about you,” steve says softly. 

“we...we got in a fight,” she lowers her head. right before he went in the store, and I left the computers because I couldn’t take it. he was on my last nerves and I left and then he got shot because I wasn’t watching the screens and-” 

“it’s not your fault,” steve says reassuringly. “tony showed us the footage, there was no way you or ned or peter could’ve seen that guy coming.” 

michelle just shrugs, and steve sits with her until may comes out. 

“he wants to see you,” she smiles, holding out her hand. 

she looks over at steve, who gestures as if to say ‘go on’, and she reaches up and takes may’s hand. 

peter’s room is small with bare white walls and a tv in the corner playing an episode of the clone wars. mj walks in and may tells ned to come with her to get food, and that’s when she finally lets herself look at peter.

the dork is smiling. actually smiling after all of this and mj wants to yell at him, but instead she settles for going on the side where peter isn’t hurt and sits on his bed and puts her head on his chest

“hey darling,” peter says and michelle looks up at him. “thought i’d try a nickname out, thoughts?” he smiles, and mj puts her head back on his chest

“i’ll take the lack of response as a yes.”

“this is my fault.” 

“what?” peter says and she stands up, wiping the tears from her eyes and she starts pacing frantically. “what are you talking about?”

“this,” she gestures to the heart monitor. “is because of me. because i bailed because i got mad at you and i wasn’t watching the screen-”

“babe,” peter cuts her off. “this is because i didn’t listen to you. tony told me how fast you got those coordinates out to him, you did it in under 10 seconds.” 

“i was stressed,” she narrows her eyes. 

“you saved me.”

“it said your heart stopped.”

“but it didn’t”

“but it said-”

“it didn’t.”

 “but-”

“please don’t blame yourself. i know you’re doing it because you’re scared, but i promise you i’m okay. i made you that promise didn’t i?”

“that stupid promise,” she mutters, taking peter’s hand and letting him pull her back to lay on his chest, away from the bullet of course

“i was so...scared,” she whispers. 

“me too,” he whispers back.

and that’s how ned and may find them, michelle asleep on his chest, and peter’s good arm wrapped around her, his face nuzzled in her hair. 

update: part 7 is here!

[lactose-free-milk-blog]

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[ajmtecltd-blog]

How to Secure User Data from Theft

How to Secure User Data from Theft

Confidential user data like credit card details, insurance documents, and licenses, etc. are in a big demand on the dark web.

Criminals purchase them at high prices because they need these data and documents to carry out malicious missions like identity theft, falsely acquiring controlled drugs, e.g., the opioids and committing insurance fraud, along with other scandals.

These data don’t land on the dark web from nowhere. Hackers utilize a plethora of techniques and tools to steal such data from poorly protected websites machines and databases. In extreme cases, they also crack passwords to gain unwarranted access to special databases.

All is not at risk, though. You can do at least something to keep this trend in check. And that’s what this post is all about.

After reading it, you’re going to know the latest techniques to secure user data from theft. Read on.

Creative Ways to Safeguard User Data from Online Thieves Data Encryption Data encryption is a foolproof way of securing all the user data that you keep. It also comes in handy when you want to safeguard data between the user and the browser since it transforms the data into encoded format which only a trusted individual can access via a private decryption key.

Data encryption is not a rocket science anyway. Most of the tools we use in our day-to-day activities allow data encryption.

For instance, if you want to encrypt emails, you can use GPG- an open-source plugin that the Apple Mail Program use. It is used to encrypt, decrypt, sign mails. You can also use FileVault in your latest Apple’s OS to encrypt your computer hard drive.

Enhance Web Hygiene and Security If you run an online portal, classifieds site, membership site, an online store, or any informational website, the security of your web visitors should top your lists of priorities. Basic website security actions like password hygiene and automatic software updates should help you keep off the common hacking attempts and safeguard user data.

This is because cybercriminals are upping their game with each attempt, and they use sophisticated software to spot, target, and launch attacks on vulnerable websites and databases. On top of the regular software updates, you can also use parameterized queries to avoid SQL injections on your site.

It doesn’t end there, though. You must also use HTTPS to keep all the communication and data shared on the site private. HTTPS here is a security protocol to secure data of users on the website.

It encrypts all the information shared on the website, ensuring that the eavesdroppers and man in the middle attackers don’t spy on or takes over user sessions on the site. To use the protocol, you’ll need an SSL certificate which you’ll install and activate on the site.

After activation, you’ll see a green padlock, which confirms that you have migrated from the underlying HTTP to HTTPS. To do so, Symantec Secure Site is one of the best suited SSL certificates that comes with affordable price.

To take your web security a notch higher, be sure to use Organization Validation SSL. It will not only enhance the shopping experience of your site visitors but also ensure that they are dealing with the verified business website and don’t get duped into submitting their details on fake websites using your name.

Make the Hard Drives of Your Old Computers Unreadable Data thieves dissect every piece of evidence/clue when searching for data to steal. The old computer hard drives are no exception. They know that they can still find company secrets and customer details still available in the hard drives and use them in their malicious missions.

The best defense against this form of attack is making the hard drives unreadable before disposing of them. Here’s how to get about this;

Firstly be, be sure to back up all your data and transfer all files to a safe storage folder or back them up in the cloud. After this, sanitize the hard drives by either using approved software to wipe them clean, disk shred them or magnetically clean them.

Limit Access to Sensitive Data Insider threat is a common problem in any business. With, not anybody in your company should access anything at their will. There should be a policy formulation that should reveal about which type of data should be shared? Who can access such data and at what extend? If you do not have such policy, then the data would be at risk. Giving access to employees who do not need to access sensitive information can cause insider and outsider threat.

You must impose restrictions on the data which each person can access so you can limit the amount of data that may be at risk if an employee account is under compromise from external attack or if an employee decides to steal and leak or trade your business secrets and confidential user data.

Use Latest Antimalware on All Your Machines and Mobile Devices There are reports that Malware threats are on the decline, but that shouldn’t stop you from defending against them. You know the hackers can still catch up with you if you rest on your laurels with a false belief that you cannot be targeted or that malware attacks are not very common today.

Here’s the point. While there are countless efforts to tame malware attacks, the hackers seem to improve their game each day, trying to poke holes into anything. A Symantec 2018 report showed that Office files accounted for a whopping 48 percent of the malicious email attachments that year.

That means that you can’t just trust any document in your email attachments. You can also not discern a clean document from a malicious one by just looking at it. You need a powerful up to date antivirus to detect the latest attack definitions and perform the best remediation against them.

The tool here should not only help you detect the malware but also remove them and prevent future attacks on all your computing devices and the IT system.

Always Remember to Turn off Your Computer When You’re Done Using it It may look harmless but turn out to be costly for your business and brand, leaving your computer on and connected to the internet after using it. It opens a plethora of ports for cybercriminals to install malware on your machine then use it to plant or spread attacks.

It also makes it easy for malicious perpetrators who may access your computer unauthorized and transfer confidential data to external storage in seconds. Apart from turning off your computer when not using it, it’s also a wise move securing your wireless networks like Wi-Fi, etc.

Securing such networks is as simple as using a strong password for the system, encrypting and hiding it. Here’s how to do this; after setting your Wi-Fi password, set up the router or wireless access point such that it doesn’t broadcast to Service Set Identifier (SSID), which is its network name.

For encryption, you can go for a VPN from a trusted source.

Bottom Line

A data breach is not anything an entrepreneur can think about getting into. From a damaged reputation to financial losses, it also takes quite a lot of time to recover fully from a breach.

What if you can avoid one? The early the better. If you hadn’t switched to HTTPS, updated your antimalware software, limited access to confidential data, encrypted your data, or sanitized the old computer hard drives, the time is now. Don’t wait until it’s too late.