Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Blake DowlingMarch 10, 2018

Last week, I took to the road and Friday afternoon had me in Gainesville meeting with the Florida School Boards Association and NEOLA, where I attended a policy seminar on critical technology issues hosted by the Alachua County School District. It was a great chance for the audience to hear from experts on social media, […]

Blake DowlingNovember 22, 2017

A local TV station just called to ask our take on the Uber breach. When they call, it’s a good cue to write something about the topic. It also means I must stop thinking about turkey, IPA and college football. Rivalry weekend is something to be cherished indeed. What went wrong? A company that has […]

Blake DowlingNovember 4, 2017

This year has been exceptionally brutal on the cybersecurity front, and ransomware in particular. You know it is terrible when Webster tosses the name in the book. According to the 2017 Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “ransomware” is malware requiring the victim to pay a ransom to access encrypted files. Also added were other random words that have […]

Blake DowlingMay 27, 2017

Attending a Florida Public Relations Association professional development session, seeing many of the state’s best PR pros in the room was thrilling. Nanette Schimpf from Moore Communications Group; my man Rick Oppenheim (from RB Oppenheim Associates) and the main sponsor of the event, the rock-solid team at Sachs Media Group represented by Ryan Cohn and […]

Blake DowlingMay 15, 2017

Ransomware has become the fastest growing cyber threat; last week it was a variation called Fatboy, this week is WannaCry. The criminals are targeting everyone from home users to health care systems to big business. Data show that there has been an average of more than 4,000 ransomware attacks every day of this year. That […]

Blake DowlingMay 13, 2017

For better or worse, we live in a politically correct world. On one hand, efforts in that area have created increased awareness of sexism and other social injustices. On the other, some PC speak is patently ridiculous. I read somewhere that is politically incorrect to the word “fat.” I’m told we should say EWI — […]

Blake DowlingApril 1, 2017

Meeting this week with one of our national security partners, SonicWall, we had a fantastic luncheon with some local media partners, clients and Aegis staff. A big topic of conversation — ransomware. A SonicWall firewall can certainly help minimize risk, but there is no 100 percent protection from the constantly changing landscape of cyber threats. Say […]

Blake DowlingFebruary 5, 2017

We hear about the Russian mob and Russian hackers all the time, especially in politics and technology. The Russian mob is all over the dark web selling ransomware toolkits and fake credit cards. The Russians created ransomware, a threat that continues to wreak havoc all over the world in various forms. We can’t all be […]

Blake DowlingDecember 26, 2016

Breaches, hacking, ransomware, cyber threats, weaponized AI, smart toothbrushes are but a few examples of scary tech out there to make your day less than fantastic. Weapons systems that think on its own are in production, with governments racing to catch up on how to regulate these fast-paced advancements. Police and military already use drones […]

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. […]

Tag: Ransomware

Blake Dowling: Internet safety, social media and schools

Blake Dowling: Uber troubles

Blake Dowling: The scourge of ransomware

Blake Dowling: Ransomware, the Mob catching up with the times

Blake Dowling: WannaCry? No.

Blake Dowling: A new (politically incorrect) cyberthreat, linked to Big Macs

Blake Dowling: New ransomware kicks it up a notch

Blake Dowling: The Russian (hackers) are coming

Blake Dowling: Hacking, weaponized artificial intelligence, ransomware and other fun just for you

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