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Blake Dowling - page 4

Blake Dowling has 42 articles published.

Blake Dowling is chief business development officer at Aegis Business Technologies. His technology columns are published by several organizations. Contact him at [email protected] or at www.aegisbiztech.com

Blake Dowling: WannaCry? No.

in Apolitical/Top Headlines by

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 is some serious volume. I know of a dozen entities that have been hit, some hit hard, like 1997 John Lynch chasing you down. On…

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

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

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 — Enhanced Weight Individual (or stout, overweight, etc.). So, you cannot say “fat-free?” If that’s the case, there’d be a lot of rebranding in the packaged…

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Blake Dowling: WannaCry? No.

Ransomware has become the fastest growing cyber threat; last week it was a variation called Fatboy, this week is WannaCry.

Blake Dowling: Looking back …

in 2017/Top Headlines by

Legislative Session is winding down – gaming, dope, infrastructure, assistive tech. It has been an exciting journey, with losers and winners, fights, name calling at the Capitol and at the Governors Club. Hopefully, when the dust settles, those in the trenches can regain some commonality and remember we are all on the same team as both Floridians and Americans (minus the UF-FSU rivalry, we will never be on the same team there). Besides that, it’s time for summer. Time to…

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Blake Dowling: Maybe we are getting a handle on hacking. Maybe.

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

A fella named Pyotr Levashov was arrested in Spain this month. Allegedly, the man’s real name is Peter Severa, one of the most wanted cyber criminals on the planet. At least six Russians have been arrested around the world on international warrants over the past several months, according to McClatchy Newspapers. There are allegations of involvement with the recent U.S. election, worldwide botnet schemes, ransomware and lots of fun stuff. As Americans, we get it, the Russian hacking community is after our…

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Blake Dowling: Look out for hackers (and the government)

in Apolitical/Top Headlines by

What now? More breaches. More leaks. Internet carriers selling your data? Hackers coming at us like United Airlines security? (For an interesting read, see Nader v. Airlines 1972) So you are worried about hackers, and — of course — the National Security Agency is watching (and logging) you surf on PredictIT.com or Lolcats.com. Or are you stressing because you might be in the World-Check database (bet on it — just by being an elected official, because it may consider you…

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Blake Dowling: Legislative Session 2017 – I’m just a bill

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

Last weekend, I was on the road in Gainesville for some spring football. As I sat in my mobile command station (aka the Wyndham) the following day — watching an epic Masters, NBA and college baseball weekend — I couldn’t get the old PSA from Saturday Morning Cartoons out of my head, and I started writing … “I’m just a bill on Capitol Hill waiting to become law, but today I am still just a bill.” Man, they do not…

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Blake Dowling: Making a good first (or millionth) impression on Twitter

in Apolitical/Top Headlines by

Twitter is an interesting beast, created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass and others. Within six years, 100 million users were on the platform — cranking out 300 plus million tweets a day. I joined the Twitter Army in May 2009 and 3,881 tweets later, I am still at it. It is a great way to launch our company Newsletter, POLITICO factoids, Crucial Gator Madness, Tech Industry news, Rando Band/Music info and the columns that I write. I had…

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