2018
OPSEC : What should I include in my bug-out bag
Search Google for "Bug-out bag," and you will get 137M results. YouTube has a 144K videos discussing it. A Bug-out bag (also called Go Bag, BOB, 72-hour kit, grab bag, a battle box, personal emergency relocation kit) is a small personal maintenance kit that would allow you to survive 72-hours when faced with an emergency. Most emergency agencies reconnect you prepare some kind of emergency kit. Emergency Preparedness Canada has a website dedicated to building basic bug-out kits. The US Department of Homeland security offers similar suggestions on their website.
How to fix issues at hotels, airports and other public WIFI hotspots
A captive portal is the intercept page you see when trying to log into most free public WIFI hotspots (e.g. airport, restaurant, hotel, etc.) You are normally shown a page that collects your email and then asks you to agree to the provider's terms of conditions. As browsers adopt more secure protocols by defaults (iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, iPad, etc.) there are situations when your device may not trigger the portal webpage correctly. The browser may block redirection to the portal page because it is typically transmitted using unsecured HTTP.
Fun with Shodan and IOT
Read this related article: Find phishing and malware with a simple search Search engines have become a favourite starting point for threat actors, so it should also be your starting point. Beyond Google, there are a bunch of specialized search engines that are powerful and scary. This article talks a bit about Shodan. Think of this article as a gentle introduction. What is shodan <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/cd2642f617.jpg" alt=""> Shodan is often called the world's most dangerous search engine. Shodan attempts to catalogue metadata about its targets and its targets are often Internet of Things (IOT) devices.
Find phishing and malware with a simple search
A very important function of any information security team is threat intelligence. Threat Intel can be a complicated and costly service in some cases but can be as simple a running a simple search in other cases. Here is a trick to get you started with the simple and cheap function. Did you know you can find lots of "fun" phishing and malware links using nothing more than a simple VirusTotal search? Search VirusTotal for Google Storage API (precooked link). Go down midway on the results page and voila.
2 secrets you need to know for Amazon Prime Day
Amazon Prime Day is here and expect millions of customers to go crazy buying things they don't need. At least those unneeded items are deeply discounted, right? Maybe! Thousands of items will be sold at their lowest price ever, but that isn't the case for everything. The internet is here to save the day again. A free online tool called CamelCamelCamel will show you the truth. You paste an Amazon link into the search bar at CamelCamelCamel and it will show you the item's price over time.
Google Chrome's Spectre Mitigation is consuming 10% more RAM
Google Chrome has always been a resource hog, but you may have noticed it's been consuming just a little bit more RAM lately (on your desktop). This new more demanding Chrome is because of the Google's Spectre mitigation efforts. The Google Chrome security team has enabled site isolation as a default (in Chrome v67 for desktops). Justin Schuh, head of Google Chrome Security, explained that site isolation separates each website process thereby preventing a malicious tab from stealing data from another.
Honest review or NordVPN
Recently I started seeing more ads for the NordVPN service. It seems some of you may be in the same position as I've received several emails asking me for my opinion about them. After a careful review, here it is. NordVPN is best described as a good "one size fits all" VPN service. You pay one fixed price and get full access to their network endpoints (1000+ servers in 57 countries) and the full available speed. TL;DR:NordVPN offers impressively fast VPN, good security and easy to use clients.
26 girls saved from exploitation by Twitter
The media is quick to publish reports about the "evils" of social media. Twitter is a favourite whipping target. Here is a little-told story about 26 young girls (aged 10-14) being saved from the clutches of human traffickers in India because of a simple tweet. Adarsh Shrivastava, a good samaritan, travelling on an Indian train noticed a group of young girls that seemed to be in distress. He twitted the train operator which was the start of their rescue. I am traveling in Avadh express(19040).
Freedom Mobile removes insurance coverage for lost or stolen phones
Freedom Mobile's phone protection plan is removing coverage for lost or stolen phones. In exchange, they are reducing the monthly fee by $1 (down to $9). This change was first noticed on Reddit by user Alphalee and you can read messages from upset customers (obviously). <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/b8bf42c609.jpg" alt=""> This change will come into effect on August 2nd, 2018. Repair service is now listed at $99 (was unlimited in the past). It looks like this is an attempt to limit fraud and reduce insurance costs for Freedom Mobile.
Review of the free Mozilla Send service
As a citizen of the digital world, you probably transfer large files daily. Sure you could use Google Drive, Dropbox or OpenText Core but Mozilla believes there is a better way (Mozilla Send). Mozilla Send is a web experiment that allows you to easily transfer large files up to 1GB in size. Mozilla Send can be used with any modern browser. How to use Send 1 - Go to https://send.firefox.com/ <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/65fea92c0f.jpg" alt=""> 2 - Upload a file
9 things you should pack on every trip
As a frequent traveller, I have picked up some tricks that make travelling a lot easier. I wanted to share some of those with you and hopefully make your life a little easier. Global WIFI Hotspot I wrote my first review of the (gen 1) Skyroam Global hotspot in 2015 and it became one of my most used travel items. When they released (gen 2) a new LTE capable model, the Skyroam Solis, I bought one and reviewed it as well.
OnePlus policy that makes it a better buy than Samsung, HTC or LG
As a security technologist, the security philosophy of the OEM is a crucial determinant of my decision to buy or recommend a device. This is where Apple shines with it's iPhone update strategy. Every single iPhone receives updates (security and version) at the same time. This is why I highly recommend Google's Pixel devices. The Pixel line offers the same regular and speedy update schedule. The other Android manufacturer that has shown it cares about upgrades is OnePlus. Until this week, it did a great job delivering updates quickly, but it didn't formally commit to a software upgrade schedule.
Is TOR Private and Anonymous?
One of the most frequently asked questions I receive from readers (from this blog, Twitter and LinkedIn) is "Should I consider TOR private and anonymous?" This question is interesting with fervent activists on each side [of the issue]. On one side are TOR proponents extolling the virtues of the platform and explaining how it will save humanity from the scourge of privacy-invading networks. On the other side of the discussion are conspiracy theorists that claim TOR is nothing more than an NSA honeypot (a data collection tool).
Calgary airport offers the best WIFI performance in Canada
Ookla, everyone's favourite speed test service has just published internet performance metrics for North American airports. Calgary Airport has been rated as the best performer of all Canadian airports and is the third best in North America. Seattle Tacoma International Denver International Airport Calgary International Montreal's Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport was rated the worst. Toronto's expensive Toronto Pearson International Airport is rated 23rd.
Examples of Darknet (TOR) sites
I have received a lot of requests from readers, LinkedIn and Twitter connections to provide examples of some "interesting" darknet (TOR Onion Network) sites. I have posted over a dozen on my LinkedIn page but thought I would show a couple here. My security team and I perform internet and darknet reconnaissance work to create briefing packages on cyber crime, determine trends and spot organizational dangers. As part of this research, we sometimes stumble on interesting examples that I share. I have chosen not to hide the onion addresses (aka the URL) because I want to show that these are not made up designs but actual sites.
Snapchat usage grows among teens
Pew Research publishes interesting surveys, and they recently shared results about what teens use most. Contrary to public opinion, Snapchat is still king with teens, followed by Youtube. Facebook usage amongst teens is down 71% compared to the 2014-2015 Pew report. 45% of teens admitted to being online "almost constantly." 24% of teens admitted to being online "several times a day." Girls are more likely to be "almost constantly" online (50%) compared to boys (39%). [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="446"]<img src="https://ekiledjian2.
Chromebooks are great and here are some myths you might believe
Anytime I pull out a Chromebook in a professional setting, colleagues and friends are dumbfounded how a tech geek like me would "settle" for a browser only thin client. People are downright shocked when I pull out my $1200 Pixelbook. Why would I buy a "browser only" device when I could use a Windows or Mac device that can run the Chrome browser but do so much more? Chromebooks can't run apps If you are reading this article, there is a good chance you are not a millennial that grew up with iPads and smartphones.
Google to rebrand music service to Youtube Music
It seems not a week goes by without Google renaming, cancelling or somehow changing one of its services. Google will update its music service with the hope of dethroning Spotify and Apple Music. Google will leverage its most recognized media brand to give music a fighting chance. So you will soon welcome YouTube Music into this world. “On Tuesday, May 22, we’ll be changing that by introducing YouTube Music, a new music streaming service made for music with the magic of YouTube” — Elias Roman, Product Manager - YouTube Music
Google to replace Drive with Google One
Google just announced their new Google One service. Google One will replace the existing Google Drive service and will allow users to buy additional storage that can be used across its various properties (gmail, drive, photos, etc). In addition to the new name, Google is throwing in some additional goodies into the existing plans The $US9.99 ($CAD13.99) 1 TB storage plan will be upgraded to 2 TB for free A new 200 GB tier will be implemented ($US2.99) Existing 1 TB customers will automatically get upgraded in the coming weeks as soon as the move is implemented.
Turn your legit link into a scary one
When Google finally shut down its Goo.gl shortening service, I wrote an article about the best alternative URL shorteners. Security specialists cringe at these services because they can often be used to hide attacks, but when brute forced (using a program that tries to find valid links automatically), you can usually find classified or confidential information. If you are interested in this type of research, check out this academic paper entitled "Gone in Six Characters: Short URLs Considered Harmful for Cloud Services.