Good morning, it’s Thursday, which is one day away from Friday – in case you needed a reminder. (I did).
I touch on a lot of topics here, including things related to health, diet, sleep, and exercise. I have a lot of opinions and preferences and am generally not shy about sharing them, but I am not definitely NOT an expert in pretty much anything – except maybe communications, and I’m betting some people would even quibble with that statement.
I saying this as a set-up to what I’m about to dive into today because I think it’s important for me to say 1) I am NOT a cyber security expert, and 2) you should most definitely NOT follow my lead when it comes to safeguarding your online identity and information.
So, now that THAT is out of the way…I feel like at this point I have been hacked so many times that I no longer take the alerts I get seriously. Like, what is the point of changing one’s passwords if one’s information has already been accessed and is readily available on the dark web for anyone who might be interested in accessing it?
I get that perhaps you might be able to prevent entry into your accounts for at least a short period of time, and this is certainly important, given how much sensitive information is out there as we live our lives more and more in the digital space.
I’ve noticed that I am getting a lot more two factor identification notices and/or requests to create a passkey.
We all know that strong, unique passwords – NOT your birthday or your anniversary or the names of your kids/pets/spouses etc. and definitely not 12345 or abcd, etc. – the kind with multiple cases, letters, numbers, and symbols, are highly recommended. According to a Consumer Reports survey, most Americans have finally gotten the message on that.
However, the sad truth is that these days, even the most complex of passwords are vulnerable to phishing scams and even using an authenticator app, as so many companies are doing, isn’t a foolproof method of safeguarding sensitive information.
You might think you’re a savvy scam spotter. But the scammers are getting more sophisticated every day, and some spoof websites look downright real, tricking unsuspecting users into voluntarily providing their passwords and opening the door to fraud.
Enter the passkey – a secure, unique, and password-free authentication method that uses biometrics such as a fingerprint or facial recognition, or a device PIN. When you create a passkey, your device generates a unique key pair – both public and private – and the authentication takes place when a “challenge” is sent that only the private passkey can unlock.
I feel like I’m not doing the greatest job of explaining this, since I’m personally still a little lost. If you feel the same, click here or here to go down the passkey rabbit hole.
Today is World Password Day, which occurs annually on the first Thursday in May and was established in 2013 in an attempt to educate people on the need for strong, secure passwords.
Another good news-bad news day on the weather front. Good news: It will be dry (for a change) and mostly sunny. Bad news: It won’t be terribly warm, with high temperatures struggling to get into the low 60s.
In the headlines…
A purported suicide note by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which was sealed for years, has been released by a judge in Epstein’s cellmate’s criminal case.
The note allegedly from Epstein says: “They investigated me for months — FOUND NOTHING!!! It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye. Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!! NO FUN — NOT WORTH IT!!”
Stephen Colbert aired an interview with former President Barack Obama on Tuesday night as Colbert’s canceled CBS show heads toward its final episode this month.
Obama is once again tamping down speculation the government is sitting on evidence of extraterrestrial life, saying that while – in theory – he thinks life exists elsewhere in the universe, he hadn’t seen any proof during his White House tenure.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer led a chorus of Democratic outrage on Wednesday over a Republican proposal to spend $1 billion on the glitzy White House ballroom that Trump repeatedly promised would be built without using any public money.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has left the ICU after he was hospitalized over the weekend but will stay there for “some time”, according to a spokesperson.
The former mayor, who is improving after a serious case of pneumonia, is applying for free medical care through a federal program for emergency workers and others exposed to toxins following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to his lawyer.
About 40 passengers on a cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak previously disembarked on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena after the first passenger died, Dutch officials said.
People in three U.S. states are reportedly being monitored for potential hantavirus infections after traveling on a cruise ship at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak.
The deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard the stranded MV Hondius could reshape the way cruise lines screen passengers before boarding, according to an industry expert.
The Georgia Department of Public Health is monitoring two residents who “are currently in good health and show no signs of infection,” and they are following recommendations from the federal CDC.
Ted Turner, the “singular” CNN founder, billionaire philanthropist and pioneer of the 24-hour cable news cycle, is being remembered for his contributions to journalism and the world at large, following his death at the age of 87.
Turner, who also founded Turner Network Television (TNT) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM), died yesterday while surrounded by his family near his Tallahassee, Fla. home, amid a battle with Lewy body dementia.
Two-time Oscar winner and activist Jane Fonda — to whom Turner was married from 1991 to 2001 — celebrated his legacy with a lengthy Instagram post praising him for teaching her how to hunt, fish and think strategically.
New York’s roughly $260 billion state budget was already a month late by the time Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders started talking about money last week.
The late state budget has fueled Republican criticism of Hochul over energy mandates and the state’s cost of living. The delay coincides with the governor’s approval ratings reaching their lowest levels in a year.
Michael Rapaport is calling out Hochul in blunt terms after a tense protest outside a Manhattan synagogue, demanding accountability from the state’s top office.
Rapaport, who’s reportedly interested in running for mayor of New York City, condemned the Tuesday night clashes near Park East Synagogue that he described as the “HALLOWEEN SPRING FLING” on X.
Hochul called for a statewide probe following revelations aggressive bill-collection tactics described by a PSEG Long Island supervisor which also prompted two consumer watchdog groups to demand answers.
Assembly Member Monique Chandler-Waterman and New York City Council Member Mercedes Narcisse allegedly got in a physical altercation at Caucus Weekend, and now they will be facing off against each in the Democratic district leader primary next month.
With few signs of progress on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s promise to make New York City’s buses free for all riders, the City Council and some transit advocates are pushing for a more targeted alternative: focusing on the riders who need the help the most, now.
The City Council is pushing to expand the Fair Fares program for low-income New Yorkers through automatic access and by covering all transit costs. The Mamdani administration is not enthused.
Mamdani doubled down on his support of anti-Israel protesters and brushed off questions about his own rhetoric fueling antisemitic hate.
Mamdani said he was satisfied with the NYPD’s handling of a protest outside Manhattan’s Park East Synagogue Tuesday evening as he walks a fine line between standing with his progressive political base while not ruffling feathers in the police department.
Mamdani’s administration is scrutinizing NYPD contracts with a surveillance technology company that’s faced criticism for doing business with federal immigration authorities.
Hedge fund titan Ken Griffin revealed this week he’s scaling back jobs in the Big Apple as a “direct consequence” of Mamdani’s “tax the rich” push, stoking fears that the well-to-do are starting to flee the socialist mayor and taking their cash with them.
Private equity giant Apollo Global Management, headquartered in Manhattan, has decided to open a new business hub — internally dubbed its “second headquarters” — in either Florida or Texas with an official decision likely to be made public soon.
The city won a $31 million judgment against the owners of two long-troubled Bronx apartment buildings, the largest civil penalty obtained by the city’s housing department in its history, giving the city significant leverage over the buildings’ future, officials said.
A coalition of business groups and community justice advocates is calling on the Mamdani administration to overhaul New York City’s pedicab industry, including shifting enforcement from the NYPD to the Taxi and Limousine Commission.
The Mamdani administration is asking Lyft to abandon its Adams administration-era efforts to use facial recognition to verify the age of Citi Bike riders.
A federal bar on small businesses accessing loans backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration left a funding gap of tens of millions of dollars in New York City alone, according to the Mamdani administration.
Enrollment in New York City’s public schools could plunge by as many as 153,000 students during the next decade, according to a stark new forecast that highlights the continuing toll of falling birthrates, an aging population and an exodus of families.
Seven Chinese companies blacklisted by the US for engaging in horrific forced labor practices saw a multimillion-dollar boost in investments from New York City’s pension funds during ex-city Comptroller Brad Lander’s tenure.
New York City officials say a newly adopted health insurance plan for municipal workers will save nearly $1 billion annually, but experts and labor leaders question whether those savings will materialize.
The Rent Guidelines Board’s preliminary vote on whether to raise the rent for about 1 million regulated apartments will take place tonight in Long Island City, but its decision this year is anything but routine.
Top federal prosecutors in New York abruptly withdrew from an annual event hosted by the City Bar Association, which has been critical of President Trump’s policies.
Enraged PETA activists encased their feet in cement at PepsiCo’s New York headquarters over the alleged abuse of bulls in its sugar supply chain, according to authorities and reports.
“The Book of Mormon” performances on Broadway have been canceled through May 17 after a three-alarm fire hit the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in Midtown earlier this week, officials said.
A push to install permanent gates at Washington Square Park that could be locked at night is sparking controversy between those who see it as an effective way to enforce the existing midnight curfew and others who see it as a violation of the park’s spirit.
New York City’s watchdog agency is routinely denied access to child protective services records, even in the most tragic cases when a minor has died, according to a new report.
City health officials confirmed a person has been diagnosed with the measles virus in Manhattan. The infected person visited Norma Gastronomia Siciliana, an Italian restaurant on Ninth Ave. near W. 53rd St in Hell’s Kitchen from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on April 25.
A 28-year old woman posed as a Bronx high school student for two weeks, attending classes using a fake name, prosecutors allege.
The award-winning artist who survived being shoved into a moving Manhattan train heartbreakingly needed her mom to wipe away her tears at her attacker’s sentencing yesterday, after the senseless attack left her paralyzed from the shoulders down.
As the trial of a man accused of running an illegal Chinese “police station” in lower Manhattan gets underway, his defense is being aided by a former NYPD cop who himself was accused of acting as secret Chinese agent before those charges were dropped.
The rate of emergency room visits for tick bites in the northeastern United States has surged to its highest level in the last decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A recent TV ad from Republican Anthony Constantino’s congressional campaign used a fabricated quote attributed to the Times Union.
In less than a week, former Hoosick Falls Police Chief Robert Ashe’s 2022 official misconduct charge will be sealed, according to the terms of a deal to dismiss his case.
About half of the Capital Region school districts have purchased electric school buses, seven months before a new law goes into effect requiring the purchases.
A state Supreme Court justice has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the candidacy of a Working Families Party candidate who has been accused of attempting to hijack the party’s ballot line to run for a state Assembly seat.
The state Department of Civil Service has unveiled its first computer-based testing center in Cohoes, which department officials say will broaden access and efficiency for those taking state and local civil service exams.
A federal judge has granted final approval to a $27 million settlement in a class action lawsuit that was filed on behalf of Hoosick Falls’ residents against DuPont Co. in a case stemming from the toxic pollution of the community’s water supplies.
A Saratoga County man who was a victim of an elaborate financial scam was spared from losing $10,000 when he grew suspicious and contacted troopers, who were able to recover the money before it got to the scammers, State Police said.
RIP John McLoughlin, a dogged, old-school reporter who for decades was one of the most visible faces on Capital Region television news, who died this week at age 83.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
