c/cybersecurity-tips

Burned $40 on a fake USB killer detector off eBay

I bought this little device that claimed to detect malicious USB devices before you plug them in. It was some no-name brand from a seller in China, looked legit in the photos. Plugged it into a random flash drive I found in a parking lot, and it gave me a green light saying it was safe. Then I plugged the drive into an old laptop I didn't care about, and the thing fried the USB port instantly. Lost $40 and almost wrecked my main machine. Anyone else fall for a cheap USB security gadget that was just a plastic shell with a blinking LED inside?

1 comments

seanperry•1d ago

Shoutout to the IT guy at my dentist's office

I was at my dentist's office last week and noticed the receptionist's monitor had a sticky note with the WiFi password taped right to the bezel. The network was named 'DentalSecure' and I watched three patients sit in that exact chair scrolling their phones. Does your office actually follow basic security stuff like separate guest networks or is it just sticker city?

1 comments

foster.ruby•1d ago

Tried turning off two-factor auth on my Gmail account for a week and nothing bad happened

I know this goes against everything everyone says about security but I got so tired of my phone dying at the worst times when I needed into my email. Last month I turned off 2FA on my personal Gmail just to see what would happen. Been 5 weeks now and zero issues. No weird login attempts, no spam sent from my account, nothing. I still use strong passwords and never log in on public wifi so maybe that's why. But honestly the convenience has been way better than I expected. Has anyone else tried dropping 2FA for a bit and just relied on other habits?

1 comments

nathan_torres34•4d ago

Shoutout to the guy at the coffee shop who warned me about public WiFi

I was grabbing a latte at Starbucks on Main Street last week when a stranger pointed out my laptop was showing a login screen for a fake WiFi network, and that click could've let someone scrape my freelance client files right there.

c/cybersecurity-tips

Burned $40 on a fake USB killer detector off eBay

Shoutout to the IT guy at my dentist's office

Tried turning off two-factor auth on my Gmail account for a week and nothing bad happened

Shoutout to the guy at the coffee shop who warned me about public WiFi

The coffee shop WiFi that taught me about public networks

Hit 500 blocked login attempts on my home server this month

PSA: My brother's old router got busted because he never checked the default login

Hot take: That $200 password manager subscription was a complete waste

Just saw my password habits from 2 years ago vs now and it's wild

Tried a password manager after my brother got hacked through a reused password

Cousin swore by that free VPN, got his login stolen anyway

I keep seeing people say use a password manager and call it done

What finally sold me on using a password manager after years of ignoring the hype

Had a chat with a neighbor in his 70s about password managers

Why does nobody talk about password managers blocking autofill on sketchy sites?

Talking to a college kid about 2FA changed my mind on something

Pro tip: Dont use 'password123' even on a fake account lol

Password managers used to freak me out but 2FA login codes changed my mind

Switched from random passwords to a passphrase system 3 months ago

My password manager failed me last week and I almost lost everything

Just crossed 10,000 blocked login attempts on my home server firewall

Vent: Spent 6 hours fixing a simple DNS issue that was hiding in plain sight

That VPN bundle deal I got for $99 turned out to be a complete scam

I finally figured out why my passwords kept getting stolen

The one trick that stopped 90% of my phishing emails in 3 days