Jeff Carney of Dark Horse IT says computer security isn’t easy, but it’s essential in today’s hacker-ridden world. (Photo/Mona Carney.)

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

The Moorhead Business Association’s experience with an all-out hack attack illustrates the gospel that IT expert Jeff Carney has been preaching for years.
“Yes, online security is a major inconvenience. It does take a few extra seconds,” the owner of DarkHorse IT emphasizes. “But without it, the bad guys literally have free rein.”
Internet hacking, he points out, is a billion-dollar industry pursued by bad actors in every corner of the globe. “Nation-states are involved now. Both Russia and China have essentially legalized hacking as long as it’s outside their borders, so there are basically no consequences. Only a very, very small percentage of bad actors are ever prosecuted. It’s basically free money.” Add to that untold numbers of opportunistic “lone rangers” and the treasure chest of purloined data on the dark web, and the outlook is indeed dismal.
Some hackers intrude to steal your personal information, intent on setting up a financial scam. One common scheme pops up a warning on your screen: “Warning! Microsoft (or some other entity) has detected a serious problem. Do not turn off your computer! Click here for tech support.” The bogus “helper” initiates a conversation that leads to demand for payment to “fix” the purported issue.
But countless other security breaches can go undetected by the user. Malware bots – automated computer routines – can do anything from stealing sensitive data to participating in large-scale DDoS attacks (distributed denial of service) that force websites, online services or networks offline, holding them hostage until a ransom is paid.
Carney, a native of California, has spent much of his career helping small businesses and individuals defend against high-tech evil-doers. His Moorhead company, DarkHorse IT, provides technology support to a long list of clients. Most are enterprises too small to support full-time IT staffers; instead, he maintains and monitors their technology infrastructure with an eye to cyber security. He also works with an increasing roster of residential clients.
He’s been immersed in the cyber world since the age of 13, when the web itself was young. Besides assembling computers from miscellaneous parts, the San Jose teen operated an online bulletin board, the earliest iteration of what we now know as social media. When it was invaded by a an equally youthful hacker, he learned how to parry the onslaught – strategy that has only become monumentally more sophisticated over the 30 years since then. Though he studied IT – information technology – at a California college, he says he’s largely self-taught, devouring information on the rapidly evolving field.
Jeff fell in love with North Dakota in his late teens, when he spent time in Grand Forks with his first wife’s family. He returned to California, but longed to return. “I’m a city boy, but I just loved it,” he recalls – “the people, the work ethic … the winters.”
He moved back in 2001 with his second wife, Mona. It was a rough introduction. “We came up here for her to take a look. There was a blizzard – 5 inches of snow, 20 below, instant frostbite. I love the weather, but she had her doubts,” he recounts with a grin. Nevertheless, they persevered. Eventually her parents parents moved here; then his own arrived. “Now the whole family’s out here,” he reports.
But no IT companies were hiring. Instead, he ended up working with owner Steve Shakily at Rancher’s. “It wasn’t a job. It was an education on managements and running a business,” he says. He went on to work with several large IT firms before launching his own business seven years ago.
Under its original name, FM Digital Solutions, he started out following the break-fix model, offering one-time repairs and installations. “But the landscape was changing. I could see growing demand for proactive security measures,” he says. The change of branding to DarkHorse marked his pivot to ongoing contracts that focus on thwarting the growing universe of cuber threats, as well as rapidly changing technology that now links not only computers but “smart” devices under digital control.
Jeff works in his home, a spacious house built in 1900. It’s occupied not only by himself, wife Mona and their 3-year-old son, but his adult son, daughter and several grandchildren – nine humans in all, along with five cats, two dogs, six chickens, and miscellaneous wild turkeys and raccoons who inhabit the neighborhood.
He works at a stand-up desk with three monitors, backed by a shelf crowded laptops and computers. His 3-D printer is flanked by boxes of parts and cables, some new, most otherwise. “I know that the minute I throw something away, I’m going to need it the next day,” he laughs. He’s not there a lot, though, frequently traveling to clients’ locations throughout the region. How do they find him? “Mostly word of mouth.”
Cuber security, Jeff says, is the biggest challenge of our time. Countless wrongdoers scheme to steal from innocent or unwary computer users with scams both obvious and subtle. As the number of people who work from home has exploded, the universe of vulnerable targets has been greatly magnified. Yet most users, he suggests, don’t take these threats – and the growing impact of artificial intelligence – seriously enough.
His recommendations always begin with seriously complex passwords, heavy-duty antivirus protection and two-factor authentication … all steps that, while doable, may seem like too much trouble, especially for the casual or beginning computer user.
For a man who spends his days alone, deep inside that intricate technology, Jeff has developed an impressive taste for teaching those less digitally adept audiences. One of his favorite opportunities came about when the director of the Moorhead Public Library called. “She said they had a patron who wanted to download and install a program whom they could not help. Could I?” he remembers.
He could, he did, and then offered to help others. That led to Tech Tuesdays, the free classes he conducts at 10 am. once a week for less tech-savvy students – some older, some whose English skills are limited, some just needing to catch up with the changing technology that drives their lives.
Topics are eminently practical, including everything from the myriad aspects of Google and social media to Chatting. “It could easily overwhelm them,” he acknowledges. “But by just setting up Google, they can acquire email, word processing, spreadsheets, PowerPoint-type presentations, cloud storage and photo applications. They can access a whole ecosystem.” Upcoming topics are posted on the library’s website, largo/Tuesdays/
Jeff also talks tech on KFGO Radio at 7:45 am. each Thursday. His advice is posted on his blog, kfgo.darkhorseit.com.
He urges both business and recreational users to take the threat of cuber intrusions seriously. His own gear, he says, is equipped with an industrial-strength firewall that records attempts to penetrate his system. “Every day, I’m being attacked with automated log-in attempts powered by AI. They scour the internet to find vulnerabilities. If one shows up, they start scanning for passwords. Most take only a few minutes, maybe seconds.
“My firewall records the geographic locations of those attacks. They’re international, coming literally from all over the world, and they’re relentless.” He pauses. “World War III has already begun in cyberspace. We just haven’t recognized it yet.”