Month: July 2024

Do computers already run the world?  CYBER WAR could be the next major threat to national security!

Last Friday, the world experienced a massive, unprecedented computer outage caused by a defective “routine” software update to Microsoft Windows customers issued by CrowdStrike, an Austin, Texas-based cybersecurity technology company ironically designed to prevent cyber-attacks.  Mac and Linux hosts were not affected.

In only a few hours, companies and industries worldwide were crippled, as over 8.5 million machines were affected causing frozen blue screens referred to as the “Blue Screen of Death!”

For example:

1. Travel: The big 3 airlines, United, Delta, and American grounded flights in the early hours as over 5000 US flights were canceled on Friday, over 2000 on Saturday, and over 500 at the time of writing this article on Sunday Morning.  American is the only carrier back on schedule for now.  There have been reports of airline agents handwriting boarding passes.  Even bus stops had blank blue screens!
2. Healthcare: Many hospitals have been forced to cancel ALL elective surgeries, walk-ins, routine appointments and even postpone some life-saving surgeries.  911 calls were adversely affected!
3. Banks: There have been reports from traders at JP Morgan Chase and other financial institutions of orders that could not be executed. 
4. Chain Restaurants: Starbucks mobile ordering crashed (Dunkin Donuts survived) and McDonald’s in Japan closed almost a third of their stores for the day.
5. Governments: The Dutch and UAE foreign ministries reported massive IT (information technology) outages.  In the U.S., downed court systems delayed trials for hours, including Harvey Weinstein’s. 

This is a scary situation as it was allegedly caused by an accident.  What if it was planned, how much worse would it be?  According to Richard Clarke, former White House Counter Terrorism Czar, Putin has already used this technology to plant a “spy package” into a software update for a company called Solar Winds, which affected over 10,000 government and private-sector machines that were not detected for 9 months. 

Unfortunately, there is little regulation, if any, on software and believe it or not, CrowdStrike cannot be sued!

My Suggestions for CrowdStrike and other large firms:

1. Test your Updates Before releasing them to the masses:  I spoke with tech experts who say technology can be developed to both pre-test these software updates before rollouts and or abort them during problem rollouts!
2. Do NOT send it to everyone at the same time: This isolates potential problems and the ripple effects of them.
3. Large Firms Need to Diversify: Large firms and perhaps even mid-size firms should consider spreading their risk by using 2 types of software.

During the chaos last Friday, cybersecurity agencies noticed upticks in copy caters and phishing.  Scammers immediately pounced on the unsuspecting and unprepared public!  Within hours, new domains had surfaced aiming to “dupe” users and designed to steal user data and breach their devices.

My suggestions for individuals:

1. Turn Off Automatic Updates:  The CrowdStrike outage has taught us the latest isn’t always the greatest when it comes to operating system updates. Unless the update addresses a critical security vulnerability wait a week or two to see if other users are experiencing problems.
2. Check your Malware:  This is the time to check or add malware protection for your computers.
3. Consider DuckDuckGo Search Engine: Google uses what is called “cookies” to track your searches and purchases.  Consider adding or using DuckDuckGo in addition to or in lieu of Google.  While Google is the superior search engine, DuckDuckGo does NOT track any of your queries.
4. Hover Over Email Sources Before Opening: Scammers have gotten more sophisticated using emails and texts.  Take your mouse or trackpad and “hover over” the email sender to see if you recognize the email address before opening and responding.

The bottom line is if one company’s “single content update” software bug can trigger a “worldwide internet outage,” then back up and checks and balances measures need to be taken immediately!

During an election year, there is usually elevated talk about inflation being one of the most important topics for Americans to be concerned about and I concur!  There is more to current inflation reports as they can be manipulated to show lower percentage increase numbers.

Inflation is an economic term for the rising prices of goods and services, which usually happens gradually.  During the COVID-19 era, we have seen inflation rise much faster than usual for a variety of reasons.  The U.S. central bank AKA the Federal Reserve, aims for a “slow and steady” inflation rate of 2% per year.  While the annual rate of inflation peaked at 9.2% in June of 2022 June 2024’s 3.3% rate still exceeds the Fed’s target inflation rate.

Forbes describes their three types of inflation as follows:

1. Demand-Pull Inflation: Describes how the demand for services can drive up their prices.  If something is in short supply, you can generally get consumers to pay more for it.
2. Cost-Push Inflation: often kicks in when “demand-pull” inflation is going strong.  When raw materials costs increase for businesses (such as pizza, which I call Pizza-flation), the businesses, in turn, must raise their prices, regardless of demand.
3. Built-In Inflation: As demand-pull inflation and cost-push inflation both occur, employees may start asking employers for a raise.  Employers must figure out how to keep their wages competitive or they can end up with a labor shortage.  If/when the employers raise employee salaries and, to maintain profit margins raise their prices, built-in inflation has arrived!

Currently, the USA is grappling with all 3 of these types of inflation at the same time, which is rare!  Unfortunately, it gets worse before it gets better as there is a 4^th type of inflation that nobody talks about nor wants to acknowledge.

Americans feel inflation most at the gas pump and in the supermarkets and grocery stores across the country.  Consumers are tired of the rampant inflation we have experienced from 2020-2024.  Manufacturers are keenly aware of consumer sensitivity towards inflation, so they have devised a clever, if not sneaky strategy for raising prices per unit cost by reducing the size or quantity of products whilst keeping the price level.   This phenomenon is known as “Shrinkflation!”

Manufacturers use the sleight of hand of shrinkflation to increase their price per unit without raising prices. This leaves consumers “paying the same for less”- often without realizing it.  This is happening most in food and household products.

Shrinkflation is best understood by using “real life” examples of what is currently happening countrywide:

1. Cheerios:  General Mills, the maker of “Cheerios” and many other cereals and popular brands has reduced the size of its boxes from 19.3 ounces to 18.1 ounces (-6.2%) for the same price.
2. Charmin Toilet Paper: Procter and Gamble decided that their Charmin “Mega-Roll” which once had 264 sheets now contains only 244 sheets       (-15%), for the same price.
3. Doritos: PepsiCo, through their “Frito-Lay subsidiary, has ensured that their “Doritos” chip bags have reduced the number of chips per bag.  Their standard-sized bag has been reduced from 9.75 ounces to 9.25 ounces (-5.1%), for the same price.
4. Tide Detergent:  Procter and Gamble used the same strategy as Charmin by reducing their Tide Detergent bottles from 100 fluid ounces to 92 ounces (-8%), keeping the price the same. 
5. Coffee: Over the years, many bags of coffee went from 16 ounces to 12 ounces, and some are now 10.5 ounces, all for the same price.  Coffee sellers have realized that it’s more profitable to reduce bag size and keep prices under $10 (a psychological barrier) instead of raising prices further.

Manufacturers have reintroduced their smaller packages by shifting the focus using phrases such as, “new and improved.”

Before I give you a few tips to combat this sneaky way of increasing prices, the first step is to understand and recognize when this is happening. 

My “BIG THREE” money-saving tips are:

1. Compare Unit Prices: This takes minimal work as our smartphones have calculators in them.  Some stores like Costco actually list the “price per unit” on their shelves.  If not, do a quick “cost per unit or cost per ounce” calculation then compare products based on unit or cost per ounce.  You might be surprised when looking at prices using this method. 
2. Consider Buying in Bulk:  Membership stores such as Costco, BJ’s, and Sam’s Club can be a good place to start.  Online, websites such as www.RetailMeNot.com can be a valuable resource to easily search and compare prices by unit or ounce when online.
3. Be Aware: Stay informed about prices and price changes for your favorite products going forward so you don’t get blindsided by Shrinkflation!