Welcome to the week, my friend! Let’s kick this Monday off with trivia. What’s the wingspan of the RQ‑4 Global Hawk, our military’s biggest unmanned drone? Is it … A.) 50 feet, B.) 89 feet, C.) 117 feet or D.) 131 feet? (Hint: The wingspan of an F‑16 is about 31 feet.) You’ll find the answer at the end, along with a great video about it.

🤝 Share this important intel: Today’s top story impacts more people than many of us might realize. If you learn something, do me a solid and share it with someone you care about. Let’s get started. — Kim

You’re sick, so you go to the doctor. Bad news: You need surgery. Worse news: Your insurance won’t cover it; they say you’ve already had two procedures this year. But that’s impossible — you never even went to the doctor!

How could that happen? The short answer: Medical fraud.

Over 144 million Americans' medical information was stolen or exposed last year. It’s a record-breaking stat — and if that scares you, it should. Here’s how to find out if you’re part of the 1‑in‑2 Americans affected and, if so, what to do about it.

Too big for your breaches

Since 2009, health data breaches have accounted for over 50% of all hacking incidents. And it’s only getting worse: The largest healthcare hack in history just happened this year.

In March, ransomware group BlackCat hit the country's largest healthcare payment system, Change Healthcare, putting 50% of all U.S. medical claims — 15 billion transactions per year — at risk. Yup, that affects you and me both.

UnitedHealth Group, which owns Change Healthcare, reportedly paid $22 million in bitcoin to retrieve their data, marking the second-largest ransomware payout on record. (UHG has yet to confirm, but the transaction’s right there on the blockchain … oops.) And now, a second hacking group wants to get paid — or else.

What happens if your health data is stolen?

It could put you in massive medical debt — or keep you from getting the care you need. Hackers can resell your data to fraudsters, who then pose as you to get free medical care on your dime.

That means you could get caught holding the bill for everything from prescriptions to medical procedures. You also could get denied insurance coverage because your medical records show a preexisting condition you don’t have (but the person pretending to be you does).

And if you don’t catch phony medical charges in time, it could massively impact your credit.

Health (data) is wealth

I’ve got your eight-step health data checkup here:

1. Use this searchable database to see if your health care info has been compromised. (And keep an eye on this newsletter — I always let you know about major breaches!)
2. Use a lockbox for medical records and documents with personal identification info. Bonus: This one’s 44% off right now ($13.99).
3. Call your health insurance provider right away if you lose your ID card.
4. Use a strong, unique password if you log into an online portal to view your medical records. Use 2FA, too, if it’s available.
5. Remove prescription labels from empty bottles before you toss them. These labels have information thieves can use.
6. Monitor your credit. You can get three free credit reports a year at AnnualCreditReport.com.
7. Report phony medical bills. If you get bills for medical services you didn't receive, contact your insurance provider ASAP. After, report your billing errors to the credit bureaus at IdentityTheft.gov.
8. Use a wallet tracker. If you carry health insurance cards in your wallet, put a tracker in there so you always know where your wallet is. Team Android, get this wallet tracker. Team Apple, you’ll need an AirTag and a holder for your wallet.

Pro tip: Make sure any health apps you use are HIPAA-compliant (a lot of them aren’t). To check, try visiting their website’s terms and conditions page and doing a quick search (Ctrl + F on Windows or Cmd + F on Mac) for “HIPAA.”

✅ Criminals hope you won't catch on until it's too late. Don't be a victim. Share this story with the people you care about using the icons below.

Most versatile: Prop up your phone (or tablet) just about anywhere — table, car headrest, airplane seatback — with the Flight Flap. It’s a small sheet of metal encased in foam that folds flat for storage and bends to get the right angle. Right now, it’s 31% off ($10.99).

Best two-in-one: Anker’s combination phone stand and charger is a game changer for long FaceTime sessions, and it’s 20% off ($15.98). Wirelessly charge your Qi-enabled phone (including iPhone, LG and Google Pixel) while you’re chatting in landscape or portrait modes. Bonus: Samsung phones with Fast Charge mode charge twice as quickly!

🚥 Take a hard pass: The FBI is seeing a surge in folks falling for texts claiming they owe road tolls with a link to pay up to fake state toll sites. It’s a new scam — don’t fall for it.

Microsoft excels at stuffing ads into Windows 11: Look for them in the Start menu and lock screen once testing is over. Don’t want to see them? Turn off ads under Settings > Personalization. During the last quarter of 2023, Microsoft’s net income was $21.87 billion, up from $16.43 billion during the same time in 2022. Yup, they need the money …

😨 School alarms: A 13-year-old girl accepted a friend request on TikTok from a classmate … who then grabbed a pic of her face, put it on a nude body using AI software and shared the images with groups of guys. If I had a young child, they wouldn’t be on social media until college. The NY Times (paywall link) has a great read about this epidemic.

Meet your new CAIO: LinkedIn says the number of companies with a designated head of AI has tripled globally (paywall link) in the last five years. The Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer oversees AI’s role in order to improve workforce efficiency (aka fire people), identify new revenue (sell more things), and mitigate ethical and security risks (CYA). You know it pays really well, too.

Key-ping up: YubiKey is a USB-based key used by the ultra-security-conscious who don’t trust 2FA or authenticator apps. Turns out, there’s a major bug that lets someone gain administrator access to all your usernames and passwords. If you use a YubiKey, get the latest update now.

Super-duper: Western Digital announced they’ll be shipping a 4TB SD card next year. That one little card will hold 41 million Word docs, 820,000 photos or 5,800 movies. No price yet. Dang, I remember when a 3.5-inch floppy disk was state-of-the‑art!

👃 McDonald's "smell-vertising": The world's first billboard that literally emits the mouthwatering aroma of McDonald’s french fries is increasing sales in the Netherlands. The billboard is about 650 feet away from the restaurant. I’m just waiting for the day they come out with a sandwich called “The McJagger.”

Tax check: Want to double-check that everything went through? Use this site to see when your refund is expected. Here are other ways to check if your federal and state taxes were filed. Warning: If you’re calling the IRS right now, the wait times are nuts.

Spotlight for everything on a Mac: Apple’s built-in search function isn’t just for finding files; use it for quick calculations, currency conversions and even definitions. Press Cmd + spacebar to access Spotlight and search away! It's a powerful tool that can save you time from opening separate apps for simple tasks.

See ya: Too many devices on the same network can slow things to a crawl, especially if some of those devices (I’m looking at you, Nintendo Switch) use a lot of bandwidth. Try this: Put the kids on a separate network. Here’s how to set that up.

Quick! Hide your open windows: On a PC: Windows key + M. (Use Windows key + Shift + M to reopen.) On a Mac: Cmd + Option + H + M. Works for anything you need to hide, like, now.

Math counts: Next time you need to do a simple calculation, type it directly into your browser's address bar and hit Enter. It even works for percentages — type "What is 40% of 50?" or whatever numbers you need.

Password management for your business: Whether you have a small business or run a large enterprise, Keeper Security has you covered. Plans start at $7 per month for five users and include unlimited devices, user activity reports and more. Click here to learn more now.*

Finding and canceling all your subscriptions is a major pain. Rocket Money is an app that does it for you. It hunts down subscription services and makes it super easy to cancel the ones you don’t use. I did it and saved $456.76.

It only takes a few minutes and you’ll finally get rid of that nagging feeling that you need to cancel all the stuff you’re not using.

Save yourself time and trouble and use Rocket Money. It’s worth it.

It’s an accrual world.

The answer: D.) 131 feet. The RQ‑4 Global Hawk began operational missions for the United States Air Force in 2001. It can go for over 34 hours at altitudes up to 60,000 feet. Managed from ground stations at Beale Air Force Base in California and Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota, it’s scheduled to be retired in 2027. Here’s a vid about it.

😂 Barry bought a $1,300 drone the other day. I said, “If you crash this one, I’ll see a drone man cry.” He didn’t laugh, either.

Oh, and if you missed my radio show over the weekend, use your walk or chore time to catch up! Listen commercial-free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or in the Komando Community. It’s only a few bucks to get tech-smarter and hear some new jokes to use on the family. See you back here tomorrow! — Kim