{"id":48170,"date":"2014-04-23T20:28:02","date_gmt":"2014-04-23T20:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=48170"},"modified":"2014-04-23T20:28:02","modified_gmt":"2014-04-23T20:28:02","slug":"geek-cried-wolf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/","title":{"rendered":"The Geek That Cried Wolf"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/br><\/p>\n<h4>The Geek That Cried Wolf<\/h4>\n<p><i>Is the Sky Really Falling?<\/i><\/p>\n<p>By Bob Rankin<\/p>\n<p><i><font SIZE=\"2\">According to Bob Rankin, some of the dire security warnings circulating in the tech press &#8211; don&#8217;t pass the &#8216;smell test&#8217;.&#8211;PC Pitstop<\/i><\/font>.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n<p>Remember the bogus story from NBC News about the supposed dangers of bringing any electronic gadget to the Sochi Olympics? I wrote about that in Lies, Damned Lies, and Olympic Journalism.<\/p>\n<p>Two of the latest examples of tech journalists spouting nonsense are the stories proclaiming \u201cAndroid updates open backdoor to hackers\u201d and \u201cSecure Web browsing can leak private data to employers and ISPs\u201d. The life cycles of these stories follow a predictable pattern:<\/p>\n<p>Some obscure security researcher discovers a vulnerability. \u201cWolf!\u201d he cries to the tech press. \u201cBIG wolf!\u201d meaning it threatens the entire planet. \u201cA whole PACK of wolves!\u201d he continues, warning that legions of Russian Mafioso and teenaged script-kiddies can use this dangerous knowledge to launch attack after attack against everyone.<br \/>\nGeeks Crying Wolf<\/p>\n<p>The researcher backs up hysterical claims of imminent catastrophe with reams of jargon-laden gibberish that only another certified geek can understand, like this white paper from the group that discovered the Android vulnerability.<\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/askbobrankin.com\/geeks_who_cry_wolf.html?pcp\" target=\"_blank\">In step two\u2026Article Continued Here<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>Excerpt shared with permission from Bob Rankin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to Bob Rankin, some of the dire security warnings circulating in the tech press &#8211; don&#8217;t pass the &#8216;smell test&#8217;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":48176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3099],"class_list":["post-48170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bob-rankin","tag-tech-support"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Geek That Cried Wolf<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Geek That Cried Wolf - According to Bob Rankin, some of the dire security warnings circulating in the tech press - don&#039;t pass the &#039;smell test&#039;.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Geek That Cried Wolf\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Geek That Cried Wolf - According to Bob Rankin, some of the dire security warnings circulating in the tech press - don&#039;t pass the &#039;smell test&#039;.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PC Matic Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-23T20:28:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/wolf150.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bob Rankin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bob Rankin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/geek-cried-wolf\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/geek-cried-wolf\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bob Rankin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/14737bf7fced6827446b09e297ea0744\"},\"headline\":\"The Geek That Cried Wolf\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-23T20:28:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/geek-cried-wolf\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":214,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/geek-cried-wolf\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/wolf150.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"tech support\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Bob Rankin\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/geek-cried-wolf\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/geek-cried-wolf\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/geek-cried-wolf\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Geek That Cried Wolf\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/geek-cried-wolf\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/geek-cried-wolf\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/wolf150.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-23T20:28:02+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Geek That Cried Wolf - According to Bob Rankin, some of the dire security warnings circulating in the tech press - don't pass the 'smell test'.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/geek-cried-wolf\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/geek-cried-wolf\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/geek-cried-wolf\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/wolf150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/wolf150.jpg\",\"width\":150,\"height\":150},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/geek-cried-wolf\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Geek That Cried Wolf\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"PC Matic Blog\",\"description\":\"Tech Tips and Tricks\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png\",\"width\":1535,\"height\":483,\"caption\":\"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/pcmaticusa\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/c\\\/PCMaticVideo\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/14737bf7fced6827446b09e297ea0744\",\"name\":\"Bob Rankin\",\"description\":\"Bob Rankin is a translator for the technology impaired -- a writer and computer programmer who enjoys exploring the Internet and explaining technology in plain English. His work has appeared in Computer World, NY Newsday, and other publications. Bob is also publisher of Internet TOURBUS, author of several computer books, and creator of the Lowfat Linux tutorial.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/askbobrankin.com\\\/tbsignup.html?pcp\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/bobrankin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Geek That Cried Wolf","description":"The Geek That Cried Wolf - According to Bob Rankin, some of the dire security warnings circulating in the tech press - don't pass the 'smell test'.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Geek That Cried Wolf","og_description":"The Geek That Cried Wolf - According to Bob Rankin, some of the dire security warnings circulating in the tech press - don't pass the 'smell test'.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/","og_site_name":"PC Matic Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic","article_published_time":"2014-04-23T20:28:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":150,"height":150,"url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/wolf150.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bob Rankin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@pcmatic","twitter_site":"@pcmatic","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bob Rankin","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/"},"author":{"name":"Bob Rankin","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/14737bf7fced6827446b09e297ea0744"},"headline":"The Geek That Cried Wolf","datePublished":"2014-04-23T20:28:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/"},"wordCount":214,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/wolf150.jpg","keywords":["tech support"],"articleSection":["Bob Rankin"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/","name":"The Geek That Cried Wolf","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/wolf150.jpg","datePublished":"2014-04-23T20:28:02+00:00","description":"The Geek That Cried Wolf - According to Bob Rankin, some of the dire security warnings circulating in the tech press - don't pass the 'smell test'.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/wolf150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/wolf150.jpg","width":150,"height":150},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/geek-cried-wolf\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Geek That Cried Wolf"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/","name":"PC Matic Blog","description":"Tech Tips and Tricks","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png","width":1535,"height":483,"caption":"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA."},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic","https:\/\/x.com\/pcmatic","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pcmaticusa\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/pcmatic","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/PCMaticVideo"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/14737bf7fced6827446b09e297ea0744","name":"Bob Rankin","description":"Bob Rankin is a translator for the technology impaired -- a writer and computer programmer who enjoys exploring the Internet and explaining technology in plain English. His work has appeared in Computer World, NY Newsday, and other publications. Bob is also publisher of Internet TOURBUS, author of several computer books, and creator of the Lowfat Linux tutorial.","sameAs":["http:\/\/askbobrankin.com\/tbsignup.html?pcp"],"url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/author\/bobrankin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}