05-02-26 An AI Model Finds Thousands Of Hidden Zero-Day Flaws Before Criminals Do

A brand-new AI model goes hunting for hackers and what it finds is honestly unsettling: thousands of high-severity zero-day vulnerabilities, including flaws that sat unnoticed for decades. We talk through Anthropic’s Project Glasswing, why the partnerships matter, and how AI-powered cybersecurity could help patch the holes before bad actors get there first. If you’ve ever wondered how much unseen risk is baked into the software running your bank, your hospital, or your everyday devices, this conversation puts real examples to that fear.

Then the mood shifts from “future tech” to “right now.” The Shiny Hunters ransomware and data extortion group is back in the headlines with claims involving major brands like Carnival, Amtrak, ADT, Zara, and more. We break down what these attacks look like, why cloud data and third-party platforms keep becoming the weak link, and how phishing emails still beat expensive security programs. Most importantly, we share concrete steps you can take if you think your information was exposed, including checking HaveIBeenPwned, changing passwords the right way, and when it makes sense to freeze credit.

We also get into a surprisingly practical change coming from the European Union right to repair movement: by February 2027, smartphones sold in the EU must have user-replaceable batteries. We debate what that could mean for iPhone and Android design, durability, warranties, and e-waste recycling and why tech rules made in Europe often ripple into the United States. If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs a security reset, and leave a quick review with the one topic you want us to tackle next.

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Tech Lineup

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hey there and welcome to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580 Orlando's news and talk. I'm Greg Rhodes here with David Levitt, president and founder of Refresh Computer Superstore. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. Or if you have any other comments during the show, we'd love to hear them use that open mic feature inside the WDBO app. You can also check out the website over at Refresh Computers.net or stop it at the Refresh Computer Superstore in Longwood at 820 East State Road 434, just three and a half miles east of I-4 in Longwood. Store hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you're listening to the show here on Saturday, it means you still have time to stop by. They'll be open until 7 p.m. today. And now for the man himself, David Levitt.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

All right. Thanks, Greg. And thanks everybody for listening to yet another edition of Tech Talk. And man, do we have a lot of stuff to talk about today, Greg? So I'm going to just go over the topics here real quick so you can listen and know what you're you have to look forward to. No, it's in store for today. That's right. So we're going to talk about you know how AI is hunting hackers. And that's a really cool project that Anthropic has actually put underway called Project Glass Wing. And I'll talk in detail about that and some really surprising findings already going on with that topic. We're also going to talk about why now is the perfect time to trade in or upgrade your computer at Refresh Computer. So stay tuned for that. And then they're the shiny hunters. If you haven't heard of them, listen up because it's a ransomware game gang. And you know, they were very prevalent not too long ago, causing all kinds of headaches. And guess what? They're back causing all kinds of headaches again, this time using a lot of AI tools to help them. We're also going to start a talk about how AI is interrupting the entertainment industry. It stole Darth Vader's voice. Somebody stole their voice. A big, big company, used Darth Vader's voice in their newest game, and of course Hollywood is furious. And we're also going to chat about your battery is about to get a lot easier to replace. Why? Because the European Union, right to repair, they call it their revolution and right to repair starting in February of 2027. That's not too far away. Every smartphone sold in the European Union must have a user-replaceable battery. So think what that means. Finally. Finally. Yes. Finally. And so we'll talk about what that means and get into more detail about

Project Glasswing Hunts Zero-Day Flaws

SPEAKER_01 2:52

that. So let's get to the first topic about Anthropic's Project Glass Wing. So who is Anthropic? Anthropic is one of the major AI companies out there. They operate the popular software called Claude, if you haven't heard of that. And if you haven't heard of it, go go check it out. There's a nice iPhone app, there's a Android app for Claude. You can get to it on the web. And it's a really handy tool. It's probably the last AI, major AI tool that I integrated, Greg, that I played with, I guess you could say. And I love it. It's it's it's great. I don't know. Have you used it much?

SPEAKER_00 3:33

I haven't used Claude very much. I've been uh I've been experimenting a lot with Gemini recently for some fun side projects just because it's you know it's easy. It's easy, it's already installed on my Android device and just uh kind of plug and play with that. But but Claude is one that I've heard a lot about in Anthropic. Definitely heard a lot about.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Yes. Anthropic's the company that the U.S. government dropped, right? Right. No, they didn't drop them. Anthropic dropped Anthropic said no, thank you. We're not gonna do what you want us to do. They're not gonna do your bidding to use AI to build war weapons and war things. So they dropped out, and I think the government is probably pursuing a lawsuit with them right now. But anyhow, uh if you haven't tried Claude, give it a shot. It's it's it's pretty cool, has a little bit different outcome than something like Chat GPT or Grok from X. It's it's a pretty cool tool. But anyway, they built something called Project Glass Wing and the future of cybersecurity. I'm gonna say even the name of it sounds science fiction, right? So, what is Project Glass Wing? Well, again, it was announced by Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI assistant. It was just announced this week. It's a collaborative initiative using AI to defend software against hackers, not attack it. So it's it's pretty cool. Uh their partners include all the big players Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Cisco, CrowdStrike, NVIDIA, JP Morgan, Chase. Plus 40 other organizations, major organizations, and they're using an unreleased AI model called Claude Mythos Preview. It's a frontier model not yet available to the public.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Mythos is the one that we've heard a little bit about in the background where Anthropic said this is just way too strong. People shouldn't have access to this. Now they're using it to go after the bad guys, it sounds like that's right.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

So Mythos is the tool that Claude announced like two weeks ago. That they, as soon as they announced it was available, they pulled it because it was scary good.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Yeah. It was doing it was doing stuff kind of on its own almost on certain things, kind of making up its own rules as it went as well. That's what they were saying. So that's definitely something that I can imagine the hackers aren't very thrilled about.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

So what did it find? So they they they let this tool loose, they let it run to find hacking sites and and companies and utilities and governments that run all these hacking tools, and it identified thousands and thousands of very high severity zero day vulnerabilities. We had a whole show on zero day one time, and what that means, zero day vulnerability is an attack that happens right now, and the places that it attacks has zero days to prepare for it because it's just happened. Right and and it and it's and it's already prevalent in millions of devices. So you know, it takes the whoever was attacked, a lot of times it could be it could be Google, Apple, it could be anybody, and it takes them time to respond to the attack in order to fix the attack and to come up with something that's going to prevent the attack from to you know proliferate.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Right, just because it's so unexpected. Like you said, uh it often happens like almost on like rollout day for a lot of different programs as well. So like the the day that it goes live, somebody got some kind of preview of the code and they found that little back door that they were looking for. Nobody knows it's there until they exploit it.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Well, this new tool from Anthropic, it found thousands of these zero-day vulnerabilities. So that it's very in other words, it was very easy for somebody to go in and make a zero-day attack. And so they were, you know, they shut the door on those, they slammed the door shut. So they actually found a 27-year-old flaw in a major operating system used on servers. Wow. 27-year-old flaw.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Now, if you remember one of those companies that you mentioned in here, CrowdStrike, yes, is a major server base. They host a lot of different programs, and there's been a lot of hacks of them over the last year or so. So that's a very interesting that they found something like that within the server operating system itself.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

So basically, in in what Project Glasswing is doing, it's acting like it could be the the attacker, it's looking for the vulnerabilities that it wants to find them before somebody else uses an AI tool to find them.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

What do they call that? A like a white hat hacker or something like that, right? So like, yeah, it's kind of being like the white knight. White night. You know, it is trying to find the trying to find those vulnerabilities before the bad guys came.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Well, that's exactly what Project Glasswing is is doing. So that's it's finding all these flaws that I'm mentioning. So so none of this stuff was allowed to occur because it found them already, and they're and they're and they're they're patching these holes, you I should say. They also found a 16-year-old vulnerability in a MPEG tool, which is a movie file tool, software used in millions of video applications. And so they're we're able to alert the the folks that that you know use the software or make this software to fix patch it, to fix their fix their vulnerabilities. They found Linux kernel chains so that could give an attacker full control of a system. So if you use Linux-based system, and there's a lot of systems out there using Linux as the operating system, some that you might not even think, oh wow, that's Linux. I thought that might have been Windows or something. But there's a lot of Linux-based software systems out there that had some vulnerabilities that Project Glasswing found.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

And that's been one of the big things that people have really wanted AI to be able to do, right? Is to be able to go back through all of these mass amounts of data that we've accrued here over the decades and really kind of go back through and yeah, no, this is we we talk about all the time about how these systems are antiquated and are used over and over and over again and built on top of each other. And now you have something that can kind of go back and say, Oh, wait, we missed this when we rewrote this code, and it can do it in a flash.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Instantaneously. Yeah, yeah, instantaneously. So so this is really a a really a great project from Anthropic that that they allowed this system that they they they started to use, that they started to just make public and then realized, wait a minute, it's too good. You know, the hackers are going to get a hold of this and do what they set it out to do as a white hat.

unknown 10:09

Right?

SPEAKER_01 10:10

And so they they they set it loose and they found all these different security flaws all over the place. And it's scary. So and it's a big deal. Yeah. And and and why it's a big deal because this this is the stuff that's running, you know, your bank, hot your hospital, the your power grid. Right. Yeah. It's this is stuff that you know has severe ramifications if some other AI tool found it before Project Glasswing. I mean, it it could have really wreaked havoc. And so Project Glasswing is still running right now. It's still running, it's still looking for vulnerabilities out there, and it's still finding them. It's still finding them out there. So, you know, and it helps so you know, hackers can't find them first. So it's a pretty cool tool, and you know, I'm really happy that Anthropic, you know, put this out there for for for you know for good use. Right. And and I, you know, I I don't think they made any money off of this, this tool.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

From what I understand to this point, no. Now now I know you mentioned that they've partnered with like Apple and Google and Microsoft, and I wonder if they had to pay a certain fee to be a part of that partnership, but we have I haven't heard anything about that. So when it comes to Project Lastwing, I haven't heard about anything about them having to pay to be a part of this research program. So I think it's a an altruistic use of AI, which is rarer and rarer to find these days now that it's kind of integrated itself into a lot of systems now, right? Well, yeah, and that's true.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

It's not just the big companies, it's not that that these attacks go after. And you know, even for you know Central Florida businesses, you know, it means it's a big deal. It means a lot to you too. I mean, there's some things that this tool is doing that's protecting you that you don't even know about, right? So, you know, because small businesses are quite frankly the easiest targets.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

We talk about all the time how they don't have a lot of these companies don't have their own IT department. Yeah, the security rely on right. They rely on all these other systems, and these systems obviously had a lot of flaws.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

And so, you know, and the good news is, you know, the AI-powered security tools, you know, they they improve. They they they get better over time, and they become affordable for small businesses too. So Anthropic announced that this project Glass Wing, the results they they do plan to announce, you know, they're gonna give this this is like a 90-day project that just started. And then in the 90 days, they're gonna come out with all the things that they found, a detailed list. So we're gonna look forward to that. Yeah, no, we'll definitely have to recap that in the future. So so think about you know, like the 27-year-old bug that's that was out there that it that it found. You know, that there was a flaw in the software that's been there since 1999. Since 1999. That's the glory days. That's the year Napster launched. Oh my. That's when Napster came out. That's the year the Matrix came out.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

That's what AI is based around, is the matrix, right? I know. I mean, what you were still using Windows 98, a lot of people at that point, right? That would have still been the main operating system.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

So nobody found it until this AI tool took a look. Wow. And and just it was just scanning stuff all over the place. So, you know, what does it say about how much we don't know about the security of the software we use every day? You know, because we can't fix what we don't know is broken. Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Yeah. No, you run that code, everything seems just fine when you run that system. And again, 27 years, it hasn't seemed to have been an issue, but it was a a possible just ticking ticking time bomb kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

And is it you know, and the unfortunate thing is it's a two-way, it's a two-way thing. I mean, because if Anthropic can come up with this tool, which they did, and run it and find all these vulnerabilities, somebody else can do it too, but use it to hurt you.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

In an even worse fashion than what you thought before.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

And so, you know, is there an AI war coming? Yes, it is. Uh uh there definitely is. It's all we're just we're seeing it. We're seeing it in the in the lawsuits that that that are that are coming out with Musk, right? And the I forget now escaped me.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Who there's with the opening?

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Chat GPT, the Chat GPT people, yeah. So you see it with that. You see it, so it's not just in lawsuits, but uh it's gonna be AI tools against AI tools already is, and uh, you know, just you know, buckle up.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

You can listen to Tech Talk right here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580. Hey there, welcome back to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580, Orlando's news and talk. I'm Greg Rhodes here with David Levitt, president and founder of Refresh Computer Superstore. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200, or you can always leave a comment during the show. Use that open mic feature inside the WDBO app. And now back to David.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

All right, thanks, Greg, and thanks everybody for listening to Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. If you missed the first segment, we talked about Anthropic's new Project Glasswing. And it's an AI tool that's used to find vulnerabilities that hackers would otherwise find if they had this kind of tool. It's a pretty cool topic and it's something you need to be aware of. So if you missed any of that or you want to recap, go to refreshcomputers.net, click on that podcast link in the upper right-hand corner, and you'll be able to hear the show in its entirety. And you know, now you'll be able to also see a brief description of each segment that we talk about so you don't have to listen to the whole show. You can skip, skip ahead and go to the section that you want to listen to. A quick rundown before the rundown. That's right. Or better yet, go to the bottom of the page, any page at refreshcomputers.net. There's a place that you can enter your email address. That's all we ask. We don't ask for anything else. Just put your email address in there, and that'll sign you up to get notifications whenever a new podcast is available. And it comes out usually once a week, every Saturday around 3 p.m. is when the podcast is made public, published, I should say. It's right after the radio show airs. And you can get these notifications automatically so you'll be able to listen to the show when it comes out. Or just wait till you have time. It'll be right there in the email link. So

Trade In Old Tech This Spring

SPEAKER_01 16:52

right now, you know, this, you know, we we want to talk about the spring tech clean out that you might want to consider using refreshed computers for. You know, after all, you know, the show is respon is sponsored by my company, Refresh Computers. And so, you know, we have to give a little plug-in here and there for the show, for the for the company. And so, you know, so spring clean, it's not just for closets, it's for your tech too. Most people, you know what we've found, Greg, most people have like one, two, three, four, five, six laptops or tablets or desktops, old phones just sitting around in a drawer doing nothing.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

I can think of two or three just sitting on my extra desk right now. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

And you know, that old device is, you know, it's losing value every single month, and it's probably some of these devices aren't even useful anymore. You know, so so what can refresh computers do that, you know, big box stores don't. You know, we're a local company. We've been local for 26 plus years right here in Central Florida. And, you know, we from businesses, you know, we buy outright, you know, any computers or desktops or you know, laptops that you might have that you know that you don't need anymore from your business. We don't do outright purchases from the general public, though, from private individuals, but we do take trade-ins now, which is important. So, you know, bring that old tech to the refresh computer superstore right there in Longwood, and we can let you know you know what kind of credit we can give towards the purchase of another computer or laptop at Refresh Computers. So again, you know, refurbished, it's doesn't mean it's broken. It just means it's professionally clean, tested, and often upgraded. And that's what we do with a lot of the computers at Refresh Computers.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

That's a great option. If you got stuck after the Windows 10 to Windows 11 upgrade and you still have that old laptop that you just can't upgrade, maybe now's the time to trade it in, try and get a couple extra bucks off of that brand new refresh laptop that you can get there at Refresh Computers.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

That's right. And you know, one of the benefits of buying a refurbished computer, besides the price, is a much better than a newer one, they'll last just as long as a new one, I'll tell you that. And also the fact they're fast, they're they're super fast. You know, if you still have a computer that you turn on and then you got to go make a cup of coffee or something and come back, just hopefully hoping that it's on when you get back with your cup of coffee. You're the modem dinging in the background, right? Yeah. You know, maybe it's time to upgrade that computer. And you know, a lot of these computers, Greg, we can refresh right there at the store. After after all, our name is Refresh Computers. We can refresh those older computers. If it's still capable of running Windows 11, we always suggest hold on to it. Because if it's super slow now, we can refresh it for you at a very good price. And, you know, and then you can use that computer another four, five, six, seven years. Any computer today capable of running Windows 11 can still be a six to eight year computer.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

What a great option. And that that's that's the kind of service that you'll get at Refresh Computer as well. If it's a better option for you, it's the better option for them as well. Coming up, we'll talk a little bit more about those shiny hunters. They're back, the ransomware gang that hit some major companies back again. We'll talk about it coming up after the break. You've been listening to Tech Talk right here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580. Hey there, welcome to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580, Orlando's news and talk. I'm Greg Rhodes here with David Levitt, president and founder of Refresh Computer Superstore. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. Or if you have any other comments during the show, we'd love to hear them use that open mic feature inside the WDBO app. You can also check out the website over at Refresh Computers.net or stopping at the Refresh Computer Superstore in Longwood at 820 East State Road 434, just three and a half miles east of I-4 in Longwood. Store hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. You're listening to the show here on Saturday. Means you still have time to stop by. They'll be open until 7 p.m. today. And now the man himself, David Levitt.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

All right. Thanks, Greg, and thanks everybody for listening to Tech Talk with Refresh Computers.

Shiny Hunters And A Breach Wave

SPEAKER_01 21:17

In this segment, we're going to talk about the ransomware gang that hit Carnival, Amtrak, ADT, and Zara, and a whole bunch of other companies all in one month.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

And we're not talking just uh for a couple of dollars or a couple of a couple of one or two uh incidents. We're talking some major numbers.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

Major numbers. So April 2026, in fact, has been one of the worst months for data breaches in recent memory. So that one hacker group called the Shiny Hunters, they've claimed responsibilities for attacks on Carnival Cruise Lines, Amtrak, ADT Home Security, Zara, the clothing companies, their parent company, McGraw Hill, and a lot more. Tens of millions of records. Or exposed. And the scary part, Greg, most victims had no idea until it was too late. Oh man. And so if you are subscribed or somehow have your data shared with any of these companies I just mentioned, you might have to consider doing some security measures on your own. So who are the shiny hunters? They are a ransomware and data extortion group extraordinaire. And they've been active since 2020. So they've been around for a little while. And they don't just lock your files, Greg. They steal your data and then they threaten to publish it unless you pay. So they've, you know, in recent years, they've that this is the organization that hacked a lot of government entities, a lot of cities, small cities and towns were were hacked and and their data was ransomed, and you know, a lot of places were forced to pay them. You know, hospitals and you know, these places too. So they've you know they hit hundreds of companies. So in April alone, they've they've claimed over a dozen major victims. So it's just uh astonishing what this company's been doing. So think of them as like a professionally a professional burglary ring, right? Yeah, but for data. The new day cat burglar, right? That's right. That's right. And some of the things that they were able to expose or or or get into are being sealed up by that same comp or by the company that we talked about in the in the first segment, Anthropic's Project Glasswing, where they're out you know, trying to seal up all these holes as fast as they can using AI, because guess what Shiny Hunters is using? AI. They're all using AI, it sure does seem, right? So so let's recap who got hit. Carnival Corporation, 8.7 million records stolen, including personal information from guess who? Cruise passengers.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

Not the company, your data. Because again, if you're if you live in Central Florida, odds are you've given Carnival Cruise at least a little bit of your information, a little bit of your money, you know what I mean? So there's that's that that's a big one, especially for here in Central Florida. So this just happened.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

This happened in April. So, you know, so your records are exposed, and your personal information is exposed now and is actually in the hands of this ransomware gang called the Shiny Hunters. So Amtrak, 2.1 million records exposed, including guess what, names, emails, uh, home addresses, support tickets, you know, uh things like that. So ADT home security. So partial social security numbers are used at ADT and dates of birth or other parts of the data that were stolen and in the hands of that company or that not company, but that ransomware gang, Zara. So nine million records claimed stolen from the world's largest clothing re retailer. So, you know, you've probably heard of Zara. They have stores all over the place now, and you maybe were not aware that they are now the world's largest clothing retailer. I mean I read this in the report. And so nine million records. So if you have an account at Zara, your records were exposed. And you know, they hold things like your credit card information and stuff like that. So, you know, it's it's pretty scary. McGraw Hill, 45 million Salesforce records. That's a lot, a lot of records. 45 million Salesforce records exposed, exposed, including student and educator data. Another company that I hadn't mentioned yet, but I'm going to mention now, 7-Eleven. Yep. Your favorite 7-Eleven store. You know, uh they stole 600,000 Salesforce records from them. And you know, Salesforce is a marketing tool that's used to collect information like your email, your phone numbers, and ways to get a hold of you in order to push out information on you know maybe sales that they're having at the store and stuff like that. Kemper insurance, 13 million records, 29 gigabytes of data. That's a lot of data to to absorb, and you know, 29 gigabytes of data. So that's that that data, that's text data. So that's a lot of information that they have access to there. So, you know, you got to ask the question, why does this keep happening? And, you know, and it and it's well, one easy answer is because AI now, I mean, it's it's easier for these hackers to use AI tools to go out and get stuff like this. And you know, and most companies store customer data in cloud platforms, right? Like Salesforce, like we just talked about. When those are misconfigured or breached, millions of records are exposed at once. So that's you know, that's how they got some of these companies is through that cloud platform called Salesforce that these companies use. So hackers, again, are using AI to find the vulnerabilities faster than companies can patch them. I mean, they're just going out there, going, going, going. And third-party vendors are often the weak link, right? So a company can have a great security, but their software vendor like Salesforce maybe doesn't have such great security.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Right. No, you hear about all these different companies, like even you talk, you we mentioned ADT here and the other thing. They talk so much about how they have a very secure system for all of their different data and things like that. And they do, but they're third-party apps. Third-party apps. And again, uh, some of the easiest ways for them to get into those kinds of things is just sending those random emails to employees of those companies and they find their way into the system.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

They do. And in fact, that's the number one entry point for this hack, the spine the the Shiny Hunters, is is employees actually clicking on the fishing phishing emails. So if you work for one of these companies and you clicked on an email that that that looks really good, looks like it may have even come from your company that you're working for. And in fact, it came from the Shiny Hunters people, and they're able to go in and use that as an entry point to get into their systems.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

And like you mentioned, all of those improvements are due to AI. We talked about AI kind of with with the Glass Wing project kind of helping to try and find these hacks, but a big portion of where these new, better attacks are coming from is in large part the AI.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

So

What To Do After Exposure

SPEAKER_01 28:32

what should you do if you think that you were exposed? Well, check your email. Companies are legally required to notify you if your data was breached. So if you think your data was breached by any of these companies, they're legally required. They have to notify you if they think that you were breached. And you know, if you haven't received an email from one of these companies that you're pretty sure your data was stored in, you may want to contact that company directly and demand that they release the information. You can go to have ibeen pawned.com. Really helpful website. You can type in your email and see if it's been in any known breaches. So that U R L is, I'm gonna have to spell it out because pawned is abbreviated. It's H A V E I B as in Boy E-E E-N, P as in Paul, W, N as in Nancy, E-D dot com. And if you want to if you can couldn't write that down, go back to the podcast link at refreshcomputers.net, click on that, and in the note show notes there for each podcast, this is going to be listed right there in the show notes. It's H-A-V-E-I-B-E-E-N P-W N E D dot com. And you can go there, you type in your email, and it'll let you know if it's been associated with any known breaches.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

How handy. I haven't heard of that website. I'll have to go back through and double check that because that's a great way to go back and see if you need to maybe update some passwords just in general as well. Maybe you missed that email when they told you, hey, your data has been breached.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

Sometimes they go in your junk folder. So you don't see them. So it's easy to miss those emails. So another thing that you can do, of course, we recommend this all the time change your password, right? On any account associated with a breached company. So if you have an account, if you are registered with any of these companies in any way, and you have a password there, go there and just go ahead and change that password. You can consider credit freeze if your social security numbers are involved. So it's free and it takes literally five minutes to go through that. So how about Carnival Cruise, the Carnival Cruise line, relevant, you know, to a lot of the listeners around Central Florida. It's you know, Florida is the cruise capital of the world, by the way. Millions of Central Floridians have sailed with Carnival. So if you've booked a Carnival cruise in the past few years, assume your data may be out there.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

We were going through those companies. I I've worked with at least half of those companies here over the last several years. So it'll definitely be something I'm gonna be going back. And I'm gonna use that that website, have I been pwned.com to or pawn.com to take a look.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

Well, a common thing that they do with these with with Carnival is is send you a rebooking email scam. So it looks like it's coming from Carnival. Oh, we have to we have to rebook your cruise. And I mean you've been looking forward to this cruise for for so long. And right, and then it's like, oh my gosh, they're rebooking. So you know the knee-jerk reaction might be to click on that. Well, be careful.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

And that's how they get you every time. That that that push for urgency on something is always something to look out for when it comes to those phishing emails that we always talk about. That's one of those big key points to that.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

So, what's the bigger picture? So, what does this mean for like everyday people? So your data is a commodity, whatever you have for information that is on the internet is a commodity for these hackers. And they get in there and they sell it your information, and you know, they they sell some of this information for as little as a dollar per record, you know, but they're getting millions and millions of records. So they're making millions and millions of dollars. That's what's in it for them. So the more accounts that you have, of course, the more exposure you have. So, you know, password managers, well, they're no longer optional. You got to use a password manager, folks. Yep. You you use a separate password for every every site that you that you go to. Don't use the same password more than once, because that's an old tool that trick that they use. They'll go in and they'll they'll once they find your password, they they try it on all these other accounts all over the place. And again, almost instantaneously. Instantaneously, like a faster than a blink of an eye. You know, they could get into your Bank of America account, for example, if you use the same password that you use on Amtrak, you know, or something where they just got into, you know, so they'll go out there and they'll find it. So again, just don't use the same password across multiple sites. It's just very, very dangerous. So, you know, I want to talk a little bit about another topic, Greg, that we're gonna get into towards the end of the and towards the next segment, and that is your your battery.

Replaceable Phone Batteries Coming 2027

SPEAKER_01 33:17

So, you know, your your phone battery is about to get a lot easier to replace. So we this is a skip over to another topic real sudden because we're only got another couple minutes here. This segment, we're gonna be talking more about it in the next segment. But starting in February 2027, that's less than a year away. Every smartphone sold in the European Union must have a user-replaceable battery.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

And if you remember, the change over to the USB C cable is because of this same rule, because of the European Union. So your iPhone cable changed because of something that happened in Europe. This is probably gonna have similar effects here in the States.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

Because it's just not cost effective for manufacturers to make a few different versions of the same thing, and especially when it comes to something like a battery. The cable is one thing. Make it a common connector. Well, that was a relatively easy, I mean, not super easy, but relatively easy compared to this battery thing, Greg. Because you're talking about an iPhone. You know, the whole iPhone was invented because they figured out a way to mold a battery inside a case. Yep. And that was what made the iPhone the iPhone. And so now Apple, Samsung, all every phone maker has to redesign their phone so you can swap the battery yourself. So, and remember, what happens in Europe in these kinds of situations rarely stays in Europe. It's going to be coming here also. So, you know, I uh I don't even know if Apple's prepared to do this by February of 2027. I haven't seen any news about it other than the fact they have to do it.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

It's called Right to Repair, and we'll get into it here after the break. You've been listening to Tech Talk right here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580. Hey there, and welcome back to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580, Orlando's news and talk. I'm Greg Rhodes here with David Levitt, president and founder of Refresh Computer Superstore. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. You can also check out their website over at refreshcomputers.net. And now back to David.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

All right, thanks, Greg, and thanks everybody for listening to Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. We had an information-packed show today. And so if you missed anything or if you couldn't catch everything in its entirety, go to refreshcomputers.net, click on that podcast link at the top of the page, and you'll be able to listen to this show in its entirety. And there's bullet points up there to let you know each segment what we're talking about so that you can skip ahead if you want to. So

Right To Repair Benefits And Risks

SPEAKER_01 36:04

we were just talking about the European Union passing a law saying that starting in February 2027, less than a year away, every smartphone sold in the European Union must have a user-replaceable battery. So, you know, Apple, Samsung, you know, all of you, yeah. I mean, they're all having to redesign their phones for the European market. So if they're going to have to do it for there, just like they did with that new, with the USB-C connection with this with the common power connector that the European Union passed a law on that a few years ago. And so they all have to use the same type of connector, which never made sense to me because they all take different power requirements anyway. So you have to still have to have a different power supply.

SPEAKER_00 36:47

Yeah, you still have to have a different power block to plug into still at this point.

SPEAKER_01 36:50

But but you know, this is why that you know the things that happen when government gets in the way of the technology is usually never a good thing. And so it wasn't a good thing with that common connector for powering your phone and charging your phone, and it's not going to be a good thing either for this new battery requirement, where you know, sure, you know, it's really convenient to be able to unplug a battery and plug the battery, you know, get a new battery and plug it in. And but it's not, you know, how do they make them you know wet proof now, you know, and rainproof and things like that, you know, because it's it's going to be a lot, a lot tougher to to to get to there. And they they probably will figure it out a way.

SPEAKER_00 37:31

That opens it up to a different side. I I think um you and I find ourselves on opposite sides of this argument a little bit. I'm a I'm very much in favor of replaceable batteries returning just because again, it extends the life. We've talked a couple of times about those fluffy pillows when it comes to some of those batteries and replacements.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

What I'm against is any government mandating it. Sure. That that's what I'm against. I mean, I I think it's a good idea to be able to do that. I think it's an awesome thing. It's a responsible thing for the manufacturers to be able to do that. Don't get me wrong. I think it's a it's it's a right thing to do, but the wrong thing for a government to mandate. I gotcha. That's that's where I come from. So anyway, it's it's all part of that right-to-repair movement going on in the European Union. And so, you know, and so you know, again, on the plus side, Apple charges like over 100 bucks, right? Just to replace an iPhone battery. And, you know, third-party shops charge less, but when the third-party shop changes your battery, guess what that does to your iPhone? Buy-by warranty. Voids the warranty, yes. And Apple knows when your phone's been opened. They have signatures in there that they can tell, just like they can tell whenever it got wet. Yep. They can know they know when your phone was open. So if they have to go into your iPhone and they can see that it was open because somebody replaced the battery, then they've now, you know, voided your warranty. So, you know, and uh another plus side is you know, on the environmental issue, you know, so these phones are not only difficult to repair because they're sealed, right? The the the ones the way they make them today, is that they're also difficult to more difficult to recycle because you always want to separate that lithium battery from the rest of the electronics. That's part of responsible recycling. And and it makes it so difficult to do, it's not, you know, for people when you're when a recycling company is doing hundreds and hundreds at a time or thousands at a time, it's not as difficult. But it is an extra step they have to take that maybe some recycling companies aren't doing.

SPEAKER_00 39:34

Which makes it more expensive to be a recycling company in that regard when it would be easier for, let's say, me just to be able to pop off the back of my phone and take that battery out by itself. And at the very beginning, it's already separated, right?

SPEAKER_01 39:46

Yes, and and keep in mind technically this law it only applies to Europe. But and it's definitely going into effect February 2027. But, you know, in order to be able to stay on top of things and not have several different types of models and phones, all these companies are almost forced to do the same thing for phones here in the U.S.

Closing Thoughts And Next Week

SPEAKER_01 40:08

And folks, that's all we're going to have time for today. So I really enjoyed today's broadcast with you, and hopefully you did too. So uh join us next week. We'll have a lot more to talk about. This is David Levitt signing off for Refresh Computers.