#AxisOfEasy 389: What Did You Get Done Last Week?

Mark E. Jeftovic

Weekly Axis Of Easy #389

Last Week’s Quote was:  “As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death,” was by Leonardo da Vinci.  Some interesting guesses but Aaron’s was the one that got it right!  Congrats Aaron 🙂  

This Week’s Quote:  “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”  By ???

THE RULES:  No searching up the answer, must be posted at the bottom of the blog post, in the comments section.

The Prize:  First person to post the correct answer gets their next domain or hosting renewal on us.

This is your easyDNS #AxisOfEasy Briefing for the week of February 24th, 2025 our Technology Correspondent Joann L Barnes and easyCEO Mark E. Jeftovic send out a short briefing on the state of the ‘net and how it affects your business, security and privacy.

To Listen/watch this podcast edition with commentary and insight from Joey and Len the Lengend click here.

In this issue: 

  • What Did You Get Done Last Week? (From the desk of Mark Jeftovic, easyDNS CEO)
  • AI-Powered Phishing Scams: How Cybercriminals Use Deepfakes and Stolen Credentials to Hijack Accounts
  • Private GitHub Repos Still Accessible via Microsoft Copilot, Security Firm Warns
  • Sweden’s Encryption Battle: Signal Threatens Exit Over Proposed Backdoor Law
  • New Linux Malware ‘Auto-Color’ Grants Hackers Full Remote Access with Advanced Evasion Tactics
  • Massive Data Breach at DISA Global Solutions Exposes 3.3 Million Records, Including Sensitive Personal Data

Elsewhere Online:

  • SystemBC RAT Now Targets Linux, Expanding Threat Landscape
  • Cybersecurity Researcher Uncovers 2.7 Billion IoT Records Exposed
  • Italy Faces Scrutiny Over Paragon Spyware Used to Target Journalists
  • Trudeau Pushes for Government and Private Sector Partnership to Control AI
  • Lee Enterprises Confirms Cybersecurity Incident, Investigates Impact


(From the desk of Mark Jeftovic, easyDNS CEO)
What Did You Get Done Last Week?

There’s been a lot of emotion on social media about the pros or cons of Elon Musk sending US Federal employees an email asking them to explain what they did last week. Instead of getting caught up in the bickering and arguing, I found myself not getting too excited or outraged about. it.

Instead, it prompted me to ask myself “What did *I* get done last week?”

Would I be able to fill out 5 bullet points of things that I actually got done last week, things that I’m specifically responsible for in my roles as a CEO, as an investor or as a writer?

Leaving aside my personal responsibilities – which some weeks (like last week, tbh) took up a lot of my time – which happens for all of us -Having this question literally shoved in your face can give rise to anger (or perhaps shadenfreude) or it can be  a signal to take stock about The Three-B’s of Timesuck

1) Busywork
2) Bureaucracy
3) Bullsh*t

…that consumes inordinate amounts of time (and energy) in all our professions,

Maybe instead of getting triggered at DOGE and Elon, it can get us thinking more about how to rectify that in our own jobs and lives.

What I did do in response to asking myself this question was on Sunday morning, over coffee, I wrote out bullet points of what I got done the prior week. Oddly enough, I hadn’t been doing that.

My routine has long been that on Sunday nights, I map out the coming week, but I hadn’t really made a habitual process for reviewing the prior week other than ongoing monitoring of all the myriad projects I have going.

But I think tracking project progress is different than specifically noting things that actually got done.

Under lockdowns I worked with Arash Vossoughi (success coach, see: https://vosscoachingco.com/) who recommended keeping a “daily wins” journal – writing at least five things you nailed that day, every day, before going to sleep. Everything is fair game here – from “I got the kids to school on time despite a late start” to “I finally found that bug in the code I’ve been working on”. This is a self-reinforcing habit, Arash used to pose the question, “what do you think it will do for your self-image once you have a stack of notebooks filled with your wins?”

In a LinkedIn thread where I was musing on all this, some people gave their suggestions for tracking their progress, like Asana. I use Omnifocus but mine is out of control rn, so I’ve had to go old school: 3X5 index card with my weekly priorities written out – clipped to a bookstand right in front of my face, then a daily planner (paper and pen) with my tasks and priorities.

What do you use? Drop it in the comments on the blog or weigh in on LinkedIn (remember to follow easyDNS on LI or @easyDNS on X, and Meta if you aren’t already).

-Mark


UK Secretly Orders Apple to Build Global iCloud Backdoor, Sparking Privacy Battle

The U.K. government has secretly ordered Apple to create a backdoor granting blanket access to all iCloud data globally, an unprecedented move in democratic nations. Issued last month under the sweeping *Investigatory Powers Act of 2016*—the “Snoopers’ Charter”—the order prohibits disclosure and mandates immediate compliance, even during appeal. Apple, typically cooperating case-by-case (e.g., the FBI’s terrorist phone case), faces a secret technical panel and judicial review but cannot delay enforcement. An Apple spokesperson declined to comment, though reports suggest the company may remove encrypted storage in the U.K., which wouldn’t satisfy demands for global access.

Western governments, particularly the U.S., have long sought unrestricted data access. In 2021, former FBI Director Chris Wray testified that encryption obstructs domestic extremism investigations. Law enforcement insists on “backdoors” balancing privacy and security, a claim experts reject, warning any access can be exploited. Critics liken encryption bans to China’s crackdown on Signal. The *Information Technology & Innovation Foundation* warns key escrow systems create attack vectors, exposing private data. The U.K. push, unlike prior Western attempts, is a unilateral mandate targeting a single company with global implications, pressuring Apple into a dilemma: compromise security or exit encrypted cloud services entirely.

Read: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/apple-ordered-provide-uk-govt-access-all-user-data-cloud


PlayStation Network Outage Leaves Gamers Stranded: PS4, PS5, and Online Services Down with No ETA

PlayStation Network (PSN) is down, locking PS4 and PS5 users out of account management, multiplayer gaming, and digital purchases. The outage extends to PlayStation Video, PlayStation Store, PlayStation Direct, and all PSN-connected devices, including PS3, PS Vita, PlayStation VR, and PlayStation Portal. Sony has not explained the cause or provided a resolution timeline.

Downdetector reports the outage began at 7:00 PM ET, affecting users across the U.S. and beyond. It mirrors a prior disruption that lasted hours. Potential causes include server overload—though no major game release justifies it—DDoS attacks, or an internal Sony error, which the company rarely acknowledges.

Frustrated players flooded Reddit. Some were mid-game when PSN disconnected; others, like new PS5 Pro owners, found their consoles useless without registration. *Helldivers 2* had just received a stealth PS5 Pro patch, but many couldn’t play. Worse, *Monster Hunter Wilds* launched its second beta, now unplayable. Sony’s customer support, per one Redditor, “ghosted” inquiries. Another called it “literally the worst time” for maintenance. With no updates from Sony, players are left watching a blank login screen, hoping PSN will return before their weekend plans expire.

Read: https://www.techtimes.com/articles/309316/20250208/playstation-network-status-red-alert-redditors-frustrated-over-sudden-psn-outage.htm

Update: PSN outage appears to be resolved at publication time.




China-Linked Disinformation Targets Freeland in Liberal Leadership Race, SITE Warns

Canada’s election security watchdog, SITE, has uncovered a PRC-linked disinformation campaign targeting Chrystia Freeland, a leading Liberal leadership candidate. The campaign, launched on WeChat and amplified by 30+ pro-Beijing accounts, echoes a 2021 effort that discouraged Chinese-Canadian voters from supporting Conservatives, particularly Kenny Chiu, falsely painted as anti-China. SITE briefed the Liberal Party and Freeland’s team, warning of continued foreign manipulation in Canadian politics.

WeChat articles attacking Freeland amassed 140,000+ interactions between Jan. 29 and Feb. 3, 2025, with SITE estimating 2–3 million users globally exposed. The false claims originated from WeChat’s most popular news account, an anonymous blog tied by China Digital Times to Beijing’s influence network. In 2021, similar falsehoods spread via WeChat, Douyin, and PRC-affiliated media, targeting Chiu and Conservatives. Three of the first Chinese-language news accounts to push the falsehoods belonged to a media group linked to China News Service, Beijing’s United Front Work Department’s overseas influence arm.

SITE suspects PRC actors view the 2021 effort as a success, given Conservative losses in Chinese-Canadian districts. The shift to attacking an internal Liberal contest suggests a broader strategy: shaping not just elections but leadership selection—deciding Canada’s next unelected Prime Minister.

Read: https://www.thebureau.news/p/breaking-canada-election-monitor


U.S., U.K., and Australia Sanction Russian Hosting Provider for Aiding LockBit Ransomware

The U.S., Australia, and the U.K. sanctioned Zservers, a bulletproof hosting (BPH) provider in Barnaul, Russia, for enabling LockBit, a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) group. The U.S. Treasury’s OFAC, Australia’s Foreign Affairs and Trade Department, and the U.K.’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office coordinated the sanctions, targeting Zservers and two administrators for leasing infrastructure to LockBit affiliates.

Law enforcement identified Zservers’ criminal role after it advertised BPH services on cybercriminal forums. BPH providers offer undetectable infrastructure to evade law enforcement. Zservers leased numerous IP addresses and servers to LockBit, including a subleased IP linked to a LockBit affiliate’s laptop found by Canadian law enforcement in 2022, running a virtual machine used for LockBit malware. That year, a Russian cybercriminal purchased Zservers’ IPs*, likely for LockBit chat servers. In 2023, Zservers leased infrastructure to another LockBit affiliate, including a Russian IP.

Sanctions block financial transactions and disrupt infrastructure but may not dismantle LockBit, as ransomware groups adapt. Experts say sanctions raise costs for cybercriminals, forcing reliance on less effective alternatives. Companies must monitor evolving attacker tactics, enhance incident response, and prepare for persistent ransomware threats.

Read: https://www.darkreading.com/cyber-risk/feds-sanction-russian-hosting-provider-lockbit-attacks

 

OmniGPT Data Breach Exposes 30,000 Users, Millions of AI Chat Logs, and Sensitive Credentials

A hacker, “Gloomer,” claims to have breached OmniGPT, an AI chatbot platform integrating ChatGPT-4, Claude 3.5, Perplexity, Google Gemini, and Midjourney, leaking 30,000 user emails, phone numbers, and 34,270,455 chat lines. Posted on Breach Forums at 10:04 AM Sunday, the leak contains messages, API keys, billing details, credentials, and over 8,000 email addresses shared in chats. It also includes file upload links—containing office projects, market reports, police verification certificates, WhatsApp screenshots, and personal documents—potentially exposing companies and individuals to financial fraud, data theft, and corporate espionage.

OmniGPT, serving a global user base, appears to have been disproportionately breached in Brazil, Italy, India, Pakistan, China, and Saudi Arabia. Experts warn that AI innovation is outpacing security, with Jason Soroko of Sectigo and Andrew Bolster of Black Duck emphasizing risks to privacy, cybersecurity, and psychological safety, citing IEEE 7014 ethical AI standards. GDPR violations could trigger fines and legal action.

OmniGPT has not responded. Users should change passwords, enable 2FA, monitor financial activity, and revoke compromised API keys. This breach exposes not just chat data but also trust in AI as a “digital confidant,” raising alarms about data governance and AI security failures at scale.

Read: https://hackread.com/omnigpt-ai-chatbot-breach-hacker-leak-user-data-messages/


How cybercrooks lure you in and scam you with fake “work from home” gigs

This piece is a thread we pulled from from LinkedIn posted by Troy Gochenour, an investigator for the Global Anti-Scam Organization – which combats various forms of online scams: pig butchering, fake work-from-home, shopping triangulation, et al.

He lays out the entire arc of a fake “work from home” job scam, involving “missions” – which can be anything from (presumably) boosting reviews or otherwise mining clicks – but it’s really just a ruse to get you to deposit into your “earnings” account to get yourself up to the next payout threshold.

I wanted to run it here because a I’ve seen this happen in the real world, in one case a business in my neighbourhood owned by a couple of brothers, and one of them fell for more than one of these scams – losing over $65,000 CAD between across them (and one of the partners even has a degree in computer engineering!)

These scams aren’t limited to technical newbies – they are sophisticated, have elaborate interfaces (which are 100% shams) and complimented with a healthy dose of social engineering to lure and defraud the unsuspecting.

Read: https://axisofeasy.com/aoe/how-cybercrooks-lure-you-in-and-scam-you-with-fake-work-from-home-gigs/



Elsewhere Online:

 

SystemBC RAT Now Targets Linux, Expanding Threat Landscape
Read: https://hackread.com/systembc-rat-targets-linux-ransomware-infostealers/

Cybersecurity Researcher Uncovers 2.7 Billion IoT Records Exposed
Read: https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/iot-data-breach-exposes-27-billion/

Italy Faces Scrutiny Over Paragon Spyware Used to Target Journalists
Read: https://www.securityweek.com/italian-government-denies-it-spied-on-journalists-and-migrant-activists-using-paragon-spyware/

Trudeau Pushes for Government and Private Sector Partnership to Control AI
Read: https://reclaimthenet.org/justin-trudeau-ai-censorship-push-free-speech-threat

Lee Enterprises Confirms Cybersecurity Incident, Investigates Impact
Read: https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/10/media-giant-lee-enterprises-confirms-cyberattack-as-news-outlets-report-ongoing-disruption/

If you missed the previous issues, they can be read online here:

 

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6 thoughts on “#AxisOfEasy 389: What Did You Get Done Last Week?”

  2. I thought every good project manager or planner did this sort of thing as a matter of course -i.e. plan what you are going to do and then tick the ones off that you completed at the end of the day or week. I run a small IT company and have been asking my development team since 1998 to sending me a brief weekly work plan every Monday morning – what are you planning to do in the coming week? At the end of the week I ask them to send me a quick update on how they tracked against the plan – what did they get done during the week – which tasks were completed and which are in progress. In 26 years I have never had anyone complain about having to do this. The idea is to focus your energy on what’s important at the start of the week and then check your progress at the end of the week. I believe it’s just good professional practise to plan and track progress. A productive week is a happy week for all.

    Personally I find it very rewarding an motivating to see my progress on a daily and weekly basis, and to see early when I am falling behind where I want to be, so I can address it or change the plan. It’s better than wandering aimlessly througout the week. From a resource and projects planning perspective it also gives me insights into how we are going as a team – are we on track, falling behind or straying from the target outcomes.

    My favourite personal planning tool is Notepad, which I use to write and re-write (endlessly) simple task lists to focus my energy on and to track progress. If the tool is too complex then I spend too much time on the tool and not on the tasks I should be working on. Cleary Musk is goal-oriented and outcome focussed and wants to gets things done super efficiently. Perhaps many government employees are not really goal-focussed and for them its more about taking home the paycheck than striving for excellence or productivity. Musk’s super achievements speak for themselves and the rest of us would do well to learn from him and try to emulate his work ethic.

    Thank you for this any many other excellent articles.

    Reply

  5. My organization plan is stupidly simple. I put all tasks on my calendar along with meetings. For general stuff I have an “errands” task that I move from day to day if its not completed

    Reply

  6. A one point in my career, my reactive job had hidden what I had been doing every day. I got to the point of depression, and decided to quite and move on. I got to the end of every day and had never completed the work and tasks that I had planned for that day due to emergencies and clients pulling me away from my planned tasks. In thinking about working on my resume, I decided I needed to see what it exactly was that I was doing every day. In a re-occurring Outlook task I jotted down a point for every call, e-mail, informal assistance, meeting and task, including any extra worked hours. Each day I marked the Outlook task complete at the end of the day. The next day, a new task list would show up with what I had accomplished from the day before listed before me. I realized that I was making progress at the tasks and projects, in significant ways but it was hidden by the chaff of daily emergencies and pull-away tasks, rabbit holes and squirrells. I was working too many hours because I thought I had not completed enough each day, and I was losing out, big time, on family time. Now, seeing what I have done in a list each and every day, I am able to use it to re-organize and re-prioritize what is important to my work and myself and I get more work done on the tasks I enjoy. I can point out the soul sucking work and try to ensure that not all my time is spent on those items. I now look at each day as a progression instead of lost time. I am able to work reasonable hours and point out to myself at the amount of work I have accomplished each day. I can see when there has been an actual bad day and I can see the ones that have been crazy productive. Nothing is hidden. The small amounts of time jotting have been worth the effort spent.

    Reply

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