[As heard on WTAG, WHJJ, WHYN on 2021-07-06]
Good morning, everybody. This morning, I got to talk about this IRS data breach. We’re supposed to trust them what happened here. We’re actually not quite sure. And apparently, neither does the IRS. We also got into a climate battle. Should we be doing something more with nuclear power? So we got into that in some detail as well.
[00:00:24] So here we go.
[00:00:25] Pat Desmarais: [00:00:25] Craig Peterson joins us. Craig is the Jim Polito show tech expert and has some great stories to talk about Craig. Good morning.
[00:00:34] Craig Peterson: [00:00:34] Hey, good morning Pat.
[00:00:36] Pat Desmarais: [00:00:36] Sorry, we can’t meet in person, my friend, but it is what it is. The phone will have to do. Hey, you got some great stuff for us to go back and forth about one of these stories I have now.
[00:00:47] Part of, and it has to do with our tax system and sensitive information that you and I give these people, the IRS, and you’re referencing a story that published sensitive information from people. And they got it from the IRS information that people file because they were filing their taxes.
[00:01:09]Craig, what’s up.
[00:01:10] Craig Peterson: [00:01:10] Yeah, that’s exactly what’s happened. We have so much information at the federal government level, including people who have had secret background clearances, top-secret clearances, any clearances, and all of this data has been stolen, at least from the office of management and budget.
[00:01:31] They’ve lost. Data the guys that control all of the information about all of the employees, all of that was stolen by China. And now we’re finding that the IRS something happened there, it was either hacked, or there were some major leaks from the IRS. Now what we have to do as citizens.
[00:01:53] Isn’t file our taxes. It’s called a voluntary system, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t come after you if you don’t pay. But it’s voluntary in that. We have to give them that information. Now, this is two-sided. We have private information, princess things like our social security numbers that have gotten out.
[00:02:13] Probably every person in the country’s social security number, at least almost everybody’s has already gotten into that habit of the bad guys, but can we trust the IRS? Can we trust the feds with handling some of our most sensitive information? And because, as you pointed out, some of this information was given to the IRS.
[00:02:36] Has it been published online? Pro Publica has a story that puts this information out there. And we can only assume one of a few things they’ve been hacked or maybe one or more IRS employees committed felonies by putting this information out there. And by the way, it’s legally protected. They’re not allowed to do that.
[00:02:57] Maybe within pro-public Publica story is false and alleged information’s manufactured. We’re not sure exactly what’s happened here, pat; I don’t hold out a lot of hope. I think that maybe they’re yet another victim of the hat. And
[00:03:13] Pat Desmarais: [00:03:13] Craig, correct me if I’m wrong, but this is something that has been reported now for a few days.
[00:03:18] I know that smaller companies, many had been reported being hacked. Is that true? And what is going on technologically here? It seems like it increasingly is not wise. Like I hate it, Craig, when I’m asked to give my social security number online, I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I don’t like doing that.
[00:03:40]This is the stuff secure or not.
[00:03:43] Craig Peterson: [00:03:43] Yeah. Yeah. W one of the bad things worse is if your social security number is stolen and is misused, it can take you up to 300 hours to recover your information, your good credit, et cetera. And that 300 hours is usually during working hours because you’ve got to call the banks.
[00:04:02] You’ve maybe have to call a car manufacturer, finance agents, whatever it might be. It’s crazy. And the IRS. Will the social security administration will not give you a new social security number. Now, what you’re talking about is this, Kasaya hack. We had solar winds hack here just a few months ago, which was devastating to many federal agencies and businesses nationwide.
[00:04:29] And now we’ve got you. Say it is a company that provides tools that are used by many what are called managed services providers. So these MSPs will want to keep their prices down their costs down. So they have this automated system that kind of takes care of everything. But what we see now is, again, a supply chain hack.
[00:04:54] In other words, you are a business and you would like a little bit of security and you’d like your machines to be updated. So you hire a managed services provider that MSP uses another service provider in this case, to actually do the grunt work for them. So that is the supply chain to you as a small business.
[00:05:16] But this hat now is showing that it’s been pretty darn deep. We don’t even know how far it goes yet. Sweden basically got shut down their banks their transit systems here in the U S there are hundreds of companies that have now received ransomware. And it’s in place. And by the way, also that leads to extortions after the fact.
[00:05:42] But they have this in place because of their supply chain, because their managed services provider was using software that as it turns out was not safe. And now they’re in trouble. As a regular businesses. So to answer your question, pat, where we are not safe, we can not push off our responsibility to keep our businesses safe or to keep us as individuals safe.
[00:06:11] We can’t push it off to someone else and we certainly can’t push it off to the federal government. We’re in a tight spot here. And Microsoft is responding in much the same way. Apple responded almost 10 years ago. And Microsoft is tightening up things dramatically in windows 11. They’re using special chips that are going to be on boards and computers that now will.
[00:06:35] Down your secrets, your passwords and things, which is a good thing, but we’re still looking at ply chain attacks. You as a business are trying to trust someone else to take care of your computers and pat, they’re just not taking care of them. Yeah.
[00:06:51] Pat Desmarais: [00:06:51] Good information. And it’s almost like we’re being victimized by modern day.
[00:06:55]Technological, Bonnie and Clyde’s correct. All right. Correct. Craig Peterson joins us here. The Jim Polito show tech expert. Let’s switch gears. I’m a big nuclear power proponent. I know it’s not the in thing people seem to want to decommission them. More than anything else. I don’t even know if we build any new nuclear power plants, but you had a story up there about the nuclear power plant in New York.
[00:07:19] And there’s evidence that, Hey, look at, you want to reduce the carbon footprint. You took this nuclear power plant offline, and you actually increased carbon emissions at the same time. Talk to us about that.
[00:07:33] Craig Peterson: [00:07:33] Yeah, 46 per cent increase in the average carbon intensity of electrical generation, because nuclear is safe, particularly the new nuclear plants.
[00:07:46] Now we’re still regulating our nuclear plants as though it’s 92. This deed, if you can believe that 70 year old regulations in place, we now are up to about the seventh generation of nuclear power and the way these are set up, don’t think Jane. Don’t think of the China syndrome, right? Where are you going to have this meltdown?
[00:08:08] And everyone’s going to die. That is impossible. Now these nuclear designs, and there are designs that are being put in place. Pat. They’re not all out there yet. A lot of people haven’t really. There’s 70 years behind up to date, but these nuclear plants are designed that if there is a failure of part of a system, the basic physics of it will not allow it to get out of control.
[00:08:38] So you can consider these nuclear plants like a ball. You have a big ball. It’s nice and round. And you’ve got a flat hill. That ball is not about to roll up there. Tell because of physics and that’s what they’ve done with these new designs and when people, so they didn’t, they just, him. Down the physics of them, it cannot happen.
[00:09:01] And people have been worried about, oh my gosh, all this nuclear waste is just terrible. That was 70 years ago. People that newest designs, if we can change these regulations are such that the nuclear waste is crazy. Minimally. And it’s nowhere near as concentrated, and it can be recycled back into these newest generations of nuclear plants.
[00:09:25] So the
[00:09:25] Pat Desmarais: [00:09:25] story that you have, Craig. The story that you have is the Indian point nuclear power plant, which is 30 miles north of New York city. Are there any in America at all? Craig knew these technologically advanced ones that you’re referencing is any new nuclear plants being built in a way.
[00:09:46] Craig Peterson: [00:09:46] Only very small scale ones.
[00:09:48] The us military now is taking some of these designs and they’ve got in fact right now, a bunch of bids out because they want small nuclear plants that fit into the back of a trailer from just a regular tractor trailer that they can bring out to different areas to provide power for them. So on that, Gail, the answer’s.
[00:10:10] Yes. There are a couple of companies that are making them on a similar scale where they will run a small town from a nuclear plant that is buried in the ground. And doesn’t have to be touched for 20 years. So yes, but the large-scale ones. No, they it’s just, it’s crazy. If he asked me, they’re just shutting them down.
[00:10:32] They’re not building the new ones, even though the new tech pat is amazing.
[00:10:36] Pat Desmarais: [00:10:36] Yeah, that my criticism is not, I live on Cape Cod, so they shut the one down in Plymouth. Craig, as you probably know, I didn’t have a problem with that, but my thing was, are you going to build a new one? Oh God. No, but it’s but the technology is so improved.
[00:10:50] No no. So I think you’re right. A lot of this is, your horse and buggy thinking on nuclear power. You’re thinking of technology from 50, 70 years.
[00:10:58]Craig Peterson: [00:10:58] Yeah. You’re absolutely right. Dan, so many people got scared by that China’s syndrome movie, and they’re just not understanding what’s happening out there,
[00:11:07] Pat Desmarais: [00:11:07] It’s like mirror in a crate, people saw reefer madness and they think that’s what pot is all about. You know what I’m saying? People see movies and it screws them all up. I’ve always thought that. All right, I enjoyed this. I don’t know what made me think of that. Craig, Peter son,
[00:11:24] Craig Peterson: [00:11:24] very much Alexandria Ocassio Cortez is onboard with you and me. She said her green new deal leaves the door open for this new nuclear power.
[00:11:35] Pat Desmarais: [00:11:35] Yeah. There’s no carbon print or you still have the the radioactive stuff you have to deal with. You still have to, you have to take care of that and store it. I’m a big proponent of you spend all this money on Yucca mountain. Use Yucca mountain.
[00:11:47]It’s controversial and I realize that, but I love what you’re saying and it makes perfect sense that we ought to, we want to deal with global warming, carbon footprint.
[00:11:57] Let’s embrace nuclear power. It’s clean other countries do it. Craig Peterson. I wish I had a little bit more time with you. I’ve very much enjoyed this conversation and I can see why they they bring you around. Great information. I appreciate it, sir. I hope that we do. Thanks now, Craig Peterson, the tech expert on the Jim Pollito show.
[00:12:17] Great information there wholeheartedly agree about what he was saying about nuclear power. And we ought to expand our minds a little bit folks on the new technology, the new type of nuclear power plant, just sayin’.
