Blake Dowling, Author at Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Blake DowlingAugust 11, 2016

Social engineering refers to manipulating individuals into divulging confidential information as part of an elaborate con. In some cases, it can be the first step in digital fraud. Last week, I received a call from “Verizon,” asking me for the password of our account. I asked the chap what his name was; he said “John.” I informed […]

Blake DowlingAugust 2, 2016

On a Wednesday evening in 1988, I joined my friend Quinn Borland for an epic concert in Albany, Georgia. Opening for rock legends Motley Crüe was a little-known band called Guns N’ Roses. I was in middle school, so it was an incredibly big deal to be out on the town on a school night. […]

Blake DowlingJuly 27, 2016

Debbie Wasserman Schultz got to “Feel the Bern” from a hostile crowd of Florida delegates at the Democratic National Committee. Why were these Bern Victims so fired up? The email scandal, of course, which led to Schultz’s resignation. The pro-Clinton digital documentation revealed in this breach and scandal is a mess. There are several old school […]

Blake DowlingJuly 15, 2016

Fads are a regular occurrence in our fast-paced, ADD-ridden culture. We run from shiny thing to shiny thing, instantly fascinated and quickly bored. Swatch Watches in the ’80s and (of course) parachute pants, those awful rubber band bracelets my daughter wore by the truckload a couple of years ago. The yahoos from Duck Dynasty are […]

Blake DowlingJune 27, 2016

I visited Russia for the first time this summer. Growing up a Cold War kid, the prospect of visiting the Motherland was a little freaky — and the constant visibility of the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea had me sleeping with one eye open. Once I overcame these minor fears, the country was truly […]

Blake DowlingMay 31, 2016

In early 2016, I wrote a column for Florida Politics.com about the island of Bimini, located in the Bahamas about 50 miles from Miami. Hemingway wrote some books there, Gary Hart got busted for some shenanigans there. It’s a small fishing village with some seriously cool spots to check out — nature, watering holes, possible […]

Blake DowlingMay 11, 2016

Price discrimination has reared its head again. Just like most things, technology has taken something old school and rolled out a high-tech version of it. Not to be confused with “price gouging” mind you. This is where some run-down hotel in a college town charged you $300 a night for a $60 room. They should […]

Blake DowlingApril 27, 2016

I had a client ask me last week why I did not let them know about the scam “boss phishing.” That’s when an organization receives an email pretending to be from the boss of a company asking accounting to send money ASAP to an account. I told the client that I had done my absolute […]

Blake DowlingApril 17, 2016

This battle between Apple and the FBI is one of the most controversial technology stories of the year. The FBI, while trying to get into the phone of the two San Bernardino terrorists, took Apple to court. The agency demanded that Apple help the agency get data off the locked phone and then said “never […]

Blake DowlingApril 7, 2016

Ransomware has been a scourge since it first reared its head a few years back. The original Cyptolocker virus continues to cause problems worldwide and has been doing so since 2013. The original version would work like this: you receive a fake email pretending to be from UPS etc. and you click the link. BAM. […]

Blake Dowling

Blake Dowling: The latest in social engineering and digital fraud — hacking a person

Blake Dowling: Not in this lifetime — tech and the Guns N’ Roses reunion tour

Blake Dowling: Consumers can avoid feeling the ‘email Bern’ by hackers

Blake Dowling: What is Pokémon Go and why is it news?

Blake Dowling: из России с любовью (From Russia with love)

Blake Dowling: Kicked in the conch … Bimini, part 2

Blake Dowling: Retailers use your online data to determine what to charge for a product

Blake Dowling: Beware of ‘boss phishing’ and other new cyber scams

Blake Dowling: Apple vs. FBI and the bounties for ‘bug hunters’

Blake Dowling: Be careful of new computer viruses that target businesses