Author: William Strough

Tool on Top

On By William StroughIn Spotify, Streaming, TechnologyLeave a comment
Tool’s “Fear Inoculum” debuted at No. 1 with the equivalent of 270,000 sales in the United States.

In today’s music environment, the charts are topped with the same music year after year. A mix of pop music from Taylor Swift or a new album from Rhianna, the formula stays the same for the most part but that changed with the release of Tool’s new album “Fear Inoculum”. The first album in 13 years from the rock and roll band has seen them over take the number one spot from Taylor Swift’s album “Lover”.  

Tool’s new album also marked a new venture for the band. After years of not using streaming services or any other kind of digital platform, moved to digital means.By releasing their entire discography online at the same time as their new album has created a media spectacle that the billboard can not look away from. “Fear Inoculum” came in after just one week with 270,000 sales in the US with 88,000 of them being super deluxe editions that include a small 4 inch HD display that shows never before seen footage of the band. A new exciting twist on the already incredibly popular deluxe edition sales. The album saw 160,000 downloads and 27.6 million streams of their songs. Although these numbers are not as big as pop or hip hop streaming numbers they are a huge increase in the rock and roll market. This increase in streams shows that rock and roll can still bring it, even in 2019.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/09/arts/music/tool-fear-inoculum-billboard-chart.html

Twitter C.E.O Account Hacked

On By William StroughIn Online Safety1 Comment

-Eric Thayer, New York Times

Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/technology/jack-dorsey-twitter-account-hacked.html

Over the weekend there was a security breach at Twitter HQ. Jack Dorsey, who is the CEO of Twitter, had his Twitter account hacked by hate group Chuckling Squad. The hacker group took over his account and posted bomb threats, racially charged messages, and hashtags promoting themselves. The hacker group was able to get into his Twitter account through a text message service called Cloud Hopper. With Cloud Hopper, all you need is to set up a link between a Twitter account and phone number and you can text a message and Twitter will Tweet it. Messaging services like Cloud Hopper are nice in theory but these services bypass Twitter’s two-factor authentication which many users do not know. 

These attacks are not the first to happen to people in positions of power. Donald Trump had his Twitter deactivated by an inside member of Twitter. In a different attack, on the CEO’s of Facebook, Google, and Twitter, their Twitter accounts were all hijacked by a group call OurMine. Attacks like these not only affect the people who had their actual accounts stolen, but also, the millions of users who at any point could also be attacked and lose their Twitter account, or worse. 

Companies walk a fine line between sharing user data and protecting and there are ways that users can work this system for their benefit and to hurt someone else. Hacks and compromises like these are only going to keep going and reach greater and greater audiences. Our data is turning into one of the most valuable resources and protecting it should be a top priority for everyone