Tag Archives: Sam Disraelly

Roundup: Vote, Be Cybersafe, Don’t Speed …

Posted on October 20, 2026 | 5 comments

3 ways to vote — starting now!

Connecticut’s 2026 election is underway.

There are 3 ways to cast ballots.

Absentee Ballot
To have a ballot mailed directly to you, click here. Online Absentee Ballot Application.

Vote Early In Person
Early voting at Town Hall runs from now through November 1. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with extended hours (8 a.m. to 8 p.m.) on Tuesday and Thursday, October 27 and 29.

Vote on Election Day
All 5 Westport polling locations are open Tuesday, November 3, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.:

  • Saugatuck Elementary School
  • Greens Farms Elementary School
  • Coleytown Middle School
  • Long Lots Elementary School
  • Westport Library

Not sure where you vote? Look up your polling location here.

For more information, click here or click here.

That’s one way of looking at things.

 

CYBERSECURITY: 3 WAYS TO STAY SAFE

“06880” has posted several pieces recently about cybersecurity. (Reminder: We were hacked — big time — a couple of weeks ago.)

Each time, we’ve sung the praises of tech god Sam Disraelly.

Now, have a chance to learn how to prevent damage by bad guys — and to meet Sam, one of the real good guys.

The event is next Tuesday (October 27, 6 p.m., VFW Post 399). It’s hosted by (of all groups) the Wilton Drum Hill chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (who only had to worry about Benedict Arnold).

But that’s not all.

Soon, Sam will team up with the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce, for a pair of Verso University “Lunch and Learn” sessions at the Westport Library.

Both are at noon, on November 13 and December 11. The first topic is “AI for Small Businesses“; the second builds on that one, for “Next Steps” (though previous attendance is not required).

No technical background required. The Library says: “Bring your lunch, your questions, and a real task you’d like help with.”

Sam Disraelly

PINKALICIOUS halloween

Halloween’s color is orange.

But this Sunday (October 25, 2 to 3 p.m.), the holiday turns pink.

Westport “Pinkalicious” author Victoria Kann will read her new book, “Snickerdoodle.” It’s a family-friendly event, with books available for purchase and signing.

Then comes trick-or-treating on Jesup Green. Westport Animal Shelters Advocates will join the fun. Guests can bring items from their wish list to donate.

Email (kids.westportlibrary@gmail.com) a photo of your dog dressed in costume, for possible inclusion in a slideshow.

 

EVERLASTING EVERGREEN SEWER WORK

As anyone who has tried to take the Evergreen Avenue shortcut knows, you can’t get to Myrtle Avenue from there.

As part of ongoing work, homes on that road were connected to temporary water a few weeks ago.

Now, digging has begun on Evergreen Parkway. They’ll go about 100 feet a day. That involves digging a trench navigating around gas, sewer, roots, rocks and other buried stuff; laying the pipe, then covering it all up, including an asphalt patch on the road.

Once the water main is installed, it is pressure tested for leaks. When the main is secure, workers dig up the road again and connect every house to it.

There is no estimated date for completion.

Evergreen work. (Hat tip and photo/Mark Mathias)

SKELETON SAYS: SLOW DOWN!

Today’s featured Halloween home decoration doubles as an important warning to all drivers on Compo Road North, near Cross Highway:

(Photo/Diane Bosch)

vince mcmahon crash: charges dropped

Speaking of speeding: In July of 2025 WWE co-founder Vince McMahon was involved in a high-speed accident on the Merritt Parkway, in Westport.

Driving northbound near Exit 20 (formerly Exit 41) at a speed of 110 to 115 miles an hour, the 79-year-old Greenwich resident slammed his Bentley Continental GT into the back of a BMW. He caromed off a guardrail, then continued driving before a Connecticut state trooper pulled him over.

The WWE owner told the officer he was in a hurry to get to his granddaughter’s birthday. Click here or below for a dashcam video.

He received a misdemeanor summons for reckless driving and following too closely, and was released at the scene on a $500 bond. In October, he was granted accelerated rehabilitation for one year, on the condition he make a charitable contribution.

On Thursday, a judge dismissed the charges completely.

McMahon’s lawyer, Mark Sherman, said, “As we’ve maintained in this case, not every car accident is a crime and Mr. McMahon is grateful to the court for this quick dismissal.” (Hat tip: Bill Dedman)

food drive saturday at the y

Members of the National Charity League Westport chapter volunteer at — and donate food and clothes to — Person to Person.

Now, they’ve organized a food collection event, to benefit clients of the Norwalk nonprofit. It’s this Saturday (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.), at the Westport Weston Family YMCA.

Most-needed items include hearty soups, pasta and sauces, peanut butter and jelly, dried and canned beans, cold cereal, oatmeal, snack and granola bars, rice (1-pound boxes), mac and cheese, canned fruits and vegetables, pancake mix, and shelf-stable milk.

“COLOSSI” AT MOCA: WHAT IT ALL MEANS

Visitors are flocking to MoCA\CT, for Rick Schaefer’s monumental charcoal drawings.

On Saturday (October 24, 4 p.m.), the artist will discuss the historical, political and visual dimensions of his work.

He’ll be joined by Avon Theater executive director Peter Gistelinck, and artist/ educator/urban policy leader Rick Bell. MoCA director Robin Jaffee Frank will moderate.

Together, they will explore Shaefer’s “Colossi” series. His images of vast walls in open landscapes evoke ancient monuments, while addressing contemporary questions of borders, land use, security and environmental change.
The event is free, with support from the CORA Foundation. 

dave kardas band rocks the vfw

Blues, rock, jazz and original music fill VFW Post 399 this Friday (October 23, 6 to 8 p.m.).

The very popular Dave Kardas Band returns. Also on tap: happy hour drinks, and bar food.

 

at the vfw too: jazz @ the post

Pianist Brian Marsella returns to the VFW, for Thursday’s Jazz at the Post (October 22, 7 and 8:15 p.m.; dinner service at 6:15). The “psychedelic  Art Tatum” is joined by bassist Reid Taylor, drummer Brian Floody and saxophonist Greg “The Jazz Rabbi” Wall.

Click here for tickets, and more information.

 

obituary: carolyn landis

Westport resident Carolyn Landis died Friday. She was 87.

A graduate of the Bronx High School of Science and Barnard College, with a degree in zoology, she taught science in the New York City public schools. After moving to Connecticut, she became a technical science writer.

Carolyn was a voracious reader and tennis player. Later, water aerobics at the YMCA became a daily ritual, and a source of both exercise and friendship

She is survived by her husband of 67 years, Alan; sons Eric (Johanna) of Rye, New Hampshire, and Mark (Deb) of New York, and grandchildren Beau (Katie Sweeney), Aaron, Justin (Maddie) and William (Emily).

A memorial service is set for Thursday (October 22, 2 p.m., Abraham L.
Green & Son Funeral Home, Fairfield). Contributions in Carolyn’s name can be
made to the Westport Library or Saint Jude’s.

Carolyn Landis

“WESTPORT … NATURALLY,” & SONG OF THE DAY

Some of the trees have turned, in Winslow Park.

But many others have not — as today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo sure shows.

(Photo/Dan Woog)

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And finally … in honor of the Westport Library’s Halloween Pinkalicious event (item above):

(Do you need a reason to click here to make a tax-deductible contribution to “06880”? Hey: You’re reading this far — today and every day. We’re here for you 24/7/365. Please support us. Thanks!) 

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Posted in Arts, Children, Entertainment, Library, Obituaries, Politics, technology

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From “You’ve Got Mail!” To “You Got Hacked!”: An Optimum Odyssey

Posted on October 12, 2026 | 8 comments

I’ve been a Cablevision customer since the early 1980s, when they rolled out that new-fangled “cable TV” contraption.

A decade later they demonstrated another technological marvel — a cable modem, connecting to the internet — at Klein’s department store. I signed up on the spot, one of the first dozen or so here in Westport.

Whenever I had to call what is now Optimum support — not a lot, but more than I should have — I would tell the representative, “Look at my account. I’ve been a customer since before you were born.”

Invariably, he or she would remark — in a difficult-to-understand accent, over a bad connection (not the best look for a phone company) — “Thank you for being a loyal customer.” That’s the script, and they were sticking to it.

In August I posted an Opinion piece by Sam Disraelly: “Beware! Your Optonline Address May Not Be Safe!”

In it, the Westport cybersecurity expert warned that because Optonline had 3 known security flaws — including no 2- or multi-factor authentication — every user was at risk.

Sam noted: “An email address isn’t just an address. It’s the recovery point for your bank, your medical portal, your retirement accounts, your kids’ school logins — nearly everything password-protected online gets reset through email. If someone controls your inbox undetected, they control the keys to reset almost anything else you own.”

He advised: “Set up another email address. I recommend buying a domain. Use it to host your own email on a trusted service, so you can control your own digital identity.  If you need to use a free account, there are other providers like Gmail, Outlook, or a similar provider.”

Sam Disraelly

I edited Sam’s piece. I published it.

If only I’d acted on it.

I thought my long relationship with Optimum — filled with many minor hassles, but no major ones — made me immune.

Hubris, thy name is Dan.

Three Mondays ago, I could not log in to my email.

That’s happened before. I usually perform some variation of internet voodoo to get in.

This time: nothing.

I called tech support. The offshore representative with the bad connection advised changing my password.

I did. I got in. Some — but not all — of my email was there.

A few minutes later, I went to check it again. This time, I was again logged out.

I’ll spare you the 3 hours of back and forth with “tech support,” much of which consisted of variations of “change your password.”

I kept changing it. The intruder who had gotten into my account kept changing it back.

Suddenly I began getting strange notifications, from financial institutions and merchants I had relationships with, and those I did not.

Why was I getting messages from institutions I did not do business with?

When I called them to dispute changes to my account — or to deny I’d ever set up an account — they asked me for my email. I gave it to them.

Then they asked for my phone number and address.

Nope, they said. That’s not you.

The intruder was using my email — and his own (probably fake) identification. Everyone I spoke with thought I was the hacker.

Panicked, I did the only thing I could think of.

I called Sam Disraelly.

He talked me off the ledge. He explained exactly what had happened — and how he could fix it. He’s done this before; he knew all their tricks, and he had plenty of his own.

He communicated clearly. He did not make me feel like the idiot I was.

And — this is key — Sam is ex-military. He loves going after bad guys.

He took over my computer, remotely. Then he went to work.

Again, I will spare you the details. Suffice it to say, it was — exactly as Sam predicted — a 2-phase game: first cat-and-mouse, then whack-a-mole.

It took 8 to 10 hours a day, for several days, for me to convince customer service representatives — with hard-to-understand accents, on bad connections, unwilling to deviate from their scripts — that (to use one PayPal example), no, I did not just order hundreds of dollars of Instacart items in Phoenix.

Look at the IP address! Have I ever used Instacart? Have I ever done anything in Arizona?

“Well, sir, it is on your account …”

Throughout the ordeal, Sam Disraelly was there for me. He was a godsend. (One of the passwords I changed — before Sam got me to use a password manager, another thing I had stupidly never considered before — was “SamIsGod.”)

It’s been 3 weeks.

I’m 98% back to where I should have been before this whole cluster****. I haven’t had an odd notification in several days. (Knock wood — the intruder is probably still in my Optonline account, because they don’t seem to be able to kick him out.)

I started using 2 Gmail accounts I’d always had, but seldom checked. I’d always found Gmail confusing; now I’m a convert. An added bonus: Their spam filter is vastly better than Optimum’s. (Note my 2 email addresses: danwoog@gmail.com, and 06880blog@gmail.com.)

I’m using my password manager too.

And though 2- or multi-factor authentication — the “authorization code” sent to your phone or email — is a pain, it’s worth the hassle.

If Optimum had only sent me a notification asking if I’d requested a password change 3 weeks ago, all that could have been avoided.

For the entire time I was a customer, they did not offer that option — despite knowing how important it is.

Then Sam Disraelly wrote his Opinion piece for “06880.” And I got my identity stolen.

As of October 6, Optimum now offers multi-factor authentication.

Woo hoo.

(NOTE: You can contact Sam Disraelly directly here. To see an “06880” podcast featuring Sam, click here. Another superb tech wizard, who I’ve used often, is Jamie Berger Katz: 203-984-3834; jbkatz@gmail.com. Put both in your Contacts today!)

(Thankfully, we did not lose any “06880” funds to the intruder. But we still look forward to readers’ support. To make a tax-deductible contribution, click here. Thank you!)

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Posted in Local business, technology

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“06880” Podcast: Sam Disraelly

Posted on September 28, 2026 | 6 comments

October is Cyber Security Awareness Month.

Timing is everything. Last week I suffered a major email hack — and a harrowing identity theft.

Which are 2 great reasons why this podcast with Sam Disraelly is so timely.

Not to mention, vitally important.

After careers in the military, and working with firefighters and 911 dispatchers, Sam found another way to help people.

He founded Your Tech — a 1-stop cybersecurity firm that is the gold standard in the field.

Sam is creative, passionate, and whip smart. He knows how to stalk and beat the bad guys. And he did it all without making me feel like I was the dumbest creature on the planet.

If you use the internet at all — and by reading this, you do — you need to learn as much as you can about cybersecurity.

This podcast is a fantastic way to start. Click here or below to begin.

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[OPINION] Beware! Your Optonline Address May Not Be Safe

Posted on August 15, 2026 | 18 comments

Sam Disraelly, his wife and their 2 girls have been Westport residents for 7 years. A Navy veteran, he is on the board of the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce. He is also a founder and CEO of Your Tech Department, a cybersecurity and IT support firm with offices in Wilton, Stamford and Westport.

Sam addresses this warning to “every neighbor still using an optonline.net email address.”

If you signed up for Optimum internet more than 5 years ago, there’s a good chance you got a free email address along with it — something ending in @optonline.net or @optimum.net.

If you’ve had it a while, you might still be using it. A lot of Westport and Fairfield County residents still are. They’re familiar. They work.

And that’s exactly the problem.

Sam Disraelly

I run a cybersecurity and IT support company in Fairfield County. People call me all the time after their optonline.net or optimum.net email gets hacked. Of everything I see in this business, it’s the one service that generates the most calls of this kind.

Three things are considered baseline in 2026 for any email provider:

Two-factor / multi-factor authentication (MFA). This is a second proof of identity beyond your password — an SMS code, an app confirmation — before anyone can log in. Microsoft’s research shows MFA blocks more than 99.2% of account compromise attempts, even when a password has already been stolen. It’s become standard on nearly every major email provider.

Session logs. The ability to see where and when your account has been accessed, so if something looks wrong (a login from a country you’ve never visited) you’d actually know.

The ability to kill an active session. If you discover you’ve been breached, the ability to remotely log out every open connection to your account.

None of these exist in Optimum’s email settings. There’s nothing to configure, because the option was never built.

Optimum notes the importance of 2-factor authentication (above). However, they do not offer it. 

Changing your password isn’t enough, either.

If you call Optimum and say you think your email’s been compromised, the advice you’ll get is to change your password. What they won’t tell you — because there’s no way for them to check — is whether that actually locks the hacker out.

Without session logs or the ability to end an active session, an account that’s already open in a hacker’s session before the password change simply stays open. A new password doesn’t close an existing connection; it only stops new logins. The old session keeps receiving mail as if nothing happened.

So a compromised Optimum account can stay compromised indefinitely, silently, even after you think you’ve fixed it.

An email address isn’t just an address. It’s the recovery point for your bank, your medical portal, your retirement accounts, your kids’ school logins — nearly everything password-protected online gets reset through email. If someone controls your inbox undetected, they control the keys to reset almost anything else you own.

Why hasn’t this been fixed? Because Optimum has quietly stopped investing in this service.

Buried in Optimum’s FAQ, under a page titled “How do I check my Optimum email?”, is this: “As of May 4, 2021, Optimum no longer offers the ability for new and existing Internet customers to create new Optimum email accounts.”

This means Optimum won’t create new addresses for anyone. It’s not an announcement of a shutdown, and existing accounts still work.

But Optimum’s own residential Terms of Service go further: any email account inactive for 90 days — no login, no sent or opened mail, no active forwarding — is deemed inactive and permanently deleted, contents unrecoverable, with no obligation to notify you first.

Screenshot of Optimum’s Terms of Service.

An address you’ve had for 15 or 20 years, tied to accounts you may have forgotten about, can simply vanish if you go 3 months without opening it.

Taken together: no new accounts issued since 2021, no security features added since who knows when, and inactive accounts wiped without warning. It’s a strong signal about where Optimum’s investment in this “free feature” has gone.

You don’t have to wait for Optimum to fix this, because there’s no sign they’re going to.

Instead: Set up another email address. I recommend buying a domain. Use it to host your own email on a trusted service, so you can control your own digital identity.  If you need to use a free account, there are other providers like Gmail, Outlook, or a similar provider that supports MFA, session logs and remote sign-out.

Forward your Optimum mail there in the meantime, or notify your important accounts (bank, medical, etc.) of the new address or switch them over directly.

If you’re not sure how, ask someone: a neighbor, a local IT person, your kid. This isn’t a hard switch, just an overdue one.

I’ve started gathering stories from people in the area whose Optimum.net or Optonline.net email has been hacked or compromised, as part of a push to get Optimum to bring their email security up to a basic 2026 standard. If that’s happened to you and you’re willing to share what happened, I’d like to hear from you. My email is sam@yourtech.team.

This isn’t about switching internet providers. It’s about one free feature that’s been quietly neglected for 5 years while sitting at the center of — and now endangering — a lot of digital lives.

(“06880” wants our readers to be safe. We want them to be informed. And, every once in a while, we want them to show support for this hyper-local blog. Please click here. And thank you!)

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Unsung Heroes #347

Posted on August 21, 2024 | 14 comments

One day last week, I logged on to my computer as usual, at 5 a.m. (“06880” gets up early.)

Instead of the familiar image I’d seen every day for several years, I was greeted with something quite different.

It wasn’t the Blue Screen of Death. But it might as well have been.

Chrome had disappeared. I was prompted to install Microsoft Edge as my default browser.

I could log on. But everything was gone: All my emails. All my documents. All my photos.

My entire online life — which, sadly, is about the same as my real life — had vanished into some (I feared) irretrievable corner of cyberspace.

The more I tried to make sense of it all, the more my computer threw me indecipherable curveballs.

Why would I want to open, randomly, Dropbox? Or Skype, which I haven’t used since Zoom became a thing?

I searched for “restore computer to earlier date.” The instructions worked fine — until they didn’t.

“No restore date available,” the box reported matter-of-factly. Sure enough, the only date it listed was that same day.

Normally, I would contact my go-to tech guru/genius/psychiatrist, Jamie Berger Katz.

But it was (by now) 5:30 a.m. Way too earlier to call her, unfortunately. (Though I did consider it. And more than briefly.)

I texted instead. “Mayday! Mayday!” I said. Then, to impart extra urgency, I described the situation — a computer version of “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up.”

Jamie Berger Katz

But terror-filled questions blasted my brain. What happens if Jamie likes to sleep in? What if she is on vacation, in some place like Tenerife? How long should I reasonably expect to wait to hear back — and what if she never calls?

So I did what any normal person does in that situation.

I turned to Facebook.

On the Westport Front Porch page, I described my dilemma. I sought a calm but urgent tone, yet probably came across as teetering on a ledge (with one foot already off).

I urged/pleaded anyone with any expertise to please call.

It was 5:45 a.m. Though Facebook never sleeps, most Westporters do. My hopes were low.

At 6:30, Jamie texted me. She was happy to help!

I described all the weird stuff. She listened.

Then she said, “Take a deep breath. You’ll be okay.”

She had one request. She wanted to have her morning coffee, before tackling my case.

Of course! 

I would have been happy to bring her coffee, if she wanted it. I would have made her breakfast too. But she was good.

Soon enough, Jamie called back. Through the magic of technology, she sent a link that gave her power over my screen.

I watched, impressed, as the cursor moved magically up and down. Upon commands from a few miles away, new screens opened, then closed.

“Somehow, everything is in a TEMP file,” Jamie announced. “Your computer doesn’t recognize it’s you. We’ll get it back to where it does.”

That sounded good. Of course, “we” was really “she.” I was just along for the ride.

In fact, I felt like a rider in a driverless car. Also, a patient awake during brain surgery.

Throughout it all, Jamie reassured me. “Everything is here. You haven’t lost anything. It’s all good.”

(I do back everything up on Carbonite. But I still wanted that stuff here, not in some cloud — which, I know, is not even an actual cloud.)

Soon enough, Jamie’s magic was done. “We” restarted my computer. The familiar log-in screen appeared. In a few seconds, so did my regular Chrome browser.

Everything was there. My thousands of photos. My tens of thousands of documents. My millions of emails.

Whenever anyone posts a request for computer help on Facebook, Jamie Berger Katz’s name comes up.

I’ve used her often, in non-emergency situations. She’s never failed me.

Apparently, many other Westporters love her as much as I do.

So — for many very selfish, but nonetheless valid — reasons, Jamie Berger Katz is this week’s Unsung Hero.

And if you’re ever in need of your own hero, you can find her at 203-984-3834; jbkatz@gmail.com, and/or click here. Her company name is Personalized Tech Support.

But wait! There’s a second Unsung Hero this week.

In the middle of my conversation with Jamie, I got a call from Sam Disraelly.

He’s with Your Tech Department (the name of his Wilton-based cybersecurity company), and he was very concerned.

I told him I was already in good hands.

His hands, it seems, are also quite good.

Not only was he willing to help — he followed up.

Twice. Just to see how I was doing.

I’m doing fine, now.

I am happily joyfully gleefully back on my computer, which looks just like it did before.

So I’d like to add Sam Disraelly to Jamie Berger Katz, and honor both as Unsung Heroes of the Week.

(Unsung Hero is a weekly “06880” feature. To nominate a hero, email 06880blog@gmail.com. To support our work, please click here. Thank you!)

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