The Summer of (Security) Weirdness
In strange, security-related news of the last month, we learned how to get a buzz from snacks, scam large tech companies, get a little plastic surgery touch-up to evade those pesky surveillance cameras, and avoid coked-up sharks—as well as why all those in security should stay up to date with their inoculations.
As usual, while we approach this monthly feature with a lighter touch, security is serious, and we do not mean to diminish the negative impacts that anything related to these stories highlight.
Meet Priscila Barbosa, Queen of the Rideshare Mafia: She found the gaps in the verification processes of Uber, Lyft, and the like, and became a master at exploiting them. Then she got caught and blew up the network she had built.
Tetanus Booster for Sure, and Maybe Rabies? Security folks have to put up with a lot. In this case, it was a police chief, who was bitten by a New York City councilwoman who had joined a group of protesters at the site of a proposed homeless shelter in Brooklyn.
Another Reason to Stay Out of the Water: If Shark Week hasn’t already made you swear off swimming in the sea, there’s this new BBC report that found sharks off the cost of Brazil tested positive for cocaine. And we’re not talking incredibly trace amounts: “100 times higher than previously reported for other aquatic creatures.”
Face-Off in Real Life: Okay, it’s not exactly super criminal Nicholas Cage trading faces with FBI agent John Travolta, but it is a report on the clinics where criminals go for plastic surgery services to alter their appearance and evade recognition.
Doweedos Anyone? How About Trips Ahoy? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Federal Trade Commission cracked down on THC products named and packaged to resemble popular snack food brands.
And a few more strange security stories we ran across in July:
- Oscar Mayer Wienermobile flips onto its side after crash along suburban Chicago highway
- Japan wants to make it easier to shoot bears as attacks rise
- Hyena captured after panic in Nigerian city
- 'Super spicy' crisps land Japanese students in hospital
- Thousands of rare bird eggs seized in Australia
