One of the most popular models for analyzing cyberattacks doesn’t focus enough on what to do after adversaries break into networks successfully, which they inevitable will do, Black Hat 2016 attendees were told this week in Las Vegas.“Every attacker will become an insider if they are persistent enough,” says Sean Malone, a security consultant who spoke at the conference. “We need to operate under a presumption of breach.”MORE: 'Mayhem" wins $2M first prize at DARPA Cyber Grand ChallengeTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The enterprise is facing a dangerous combination of mounting cybersecurity threats of increasing subtlety—and a widening gap in the skills required to identify and combat them. Having someone who knows how to lead the charge in identifying and analyzing threats, creating strategic security plans and ensuring compliance requires the right level of expertise.+ Also on Network World: Why you need a CSO/CISO +The Information Systems Security Association spoke of a “missing generation” in information security, pointing to an estimated 300,000 to 1 million vacant cybersecurity jobs. To further complicate the labor shortfall, security professionals at enterprises understand they are in demand, and it is understood that employees will be receiving offers from other companies. According to a Ponemon study, senior security executives on average leave after 30 months on the job.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has described India as one of the company's fastest growing markets and has proposed to the government a program to offer refurbished phones in the country as a way to get around the high prices of its devices in a price-sensitive market.Cook is also said to have discussed with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May the "possibilities of manufacturing and retailing in India," a move that would help the company avoid the high import duties on smartphones and other products that the authorities have imposed to encourage local manufacture.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The first all-machine hacking competition is taking place today in Las Vegas.Seven teams, each running a high-performance computer and autonomous systems, are going head-to-head to see which one can best detect, evaluate and patch software vulnerabilities before adversaries have a chance to exploit them.It’s the first event where machines – with no human involvement – are competing in a round of "capture the flag, according to DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), which is sponsoring and running the event. DARPA is the research arm of the U.S. Defense Department.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: 6 simple tricks for protecting your passwords
The teams are vying for a prize pool of $3.75 million, with the winning team receiving $2 million, the runner-up getting $1 million and the third-place team taking home $750,000. The winner will be announced Friday morning.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Illinois' largest hospital chain today agreed to pay a $5.5 million fine by the government for lax data security that led to the exposure of more than 4 million electronic patient records.The fine against Advocate Health Care Network, the largest ever levied under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations, is a result of the "extent and duration of the alleged noncompliance."The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights (OCR) began its investigation in 2013, when the healthcare chain submitted three breach notification reports pertaining to separate and distinct incidents involving its subsidiary, Advocate Medical Group (AMG).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Staying secure online is an essential concern, for individual users, businesses, and cybercriminals alike. That’s right: Basic IT security applies whether you’re protecting sensitive data at an upstanding, ethical organization, or you’re in the business of stealing data from those same organizations.After all, the business may be cybercrime, but cybercriminals are still operating a business, with all the associated worries. Criminals rely on operations security (opsec) to stay ahead of law enforcement and security researchers intent on dismantling their operations, but also to protect their criminal enterprises from competitors planning on sabotage.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
After years of reluctance to pay researchers for exploits, Apple has given in and is ready to hand out up to US$200,000 for critical vulnerabilities found in the latest version of iOS and the newest iPhones.Apple announced the program Thursday at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. It starts in September, and unlike bounty programs run by other large technology companies it will be invite only.The program will start with a few dozen researchers hand-picked by Apple, though any outsider who submits a flaw that qualifies can receive a reward and be invited to join the program, said Ivan Krstić, the head of Apple Security Engineering and Architecture.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft has made no secret of its grand plans for chat bots, and this week it rolled out five new ones for Skype. Surely the most fun is "Spock," a bot that promises to help you "learn the ways of Vulcan logic."Back in April, Microsoft debuted a preview of Skype bots, the artificial intelligence-based helpers it hopes will make it easier for users to get things done. Today, more than 30,000 developers are building bots for Skype, it says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Security subjectsImage by Reuters/David BeckerBlack Hat includes a variety of security topics from how USB drives are a menace and how drones are fast becoming a threat you need to pay attention to and much more. Here we take a look at just a few of the hot topics presented at the conference.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
After Microsoft released an anniversary update of Windows 10 for PCs, a version is now available for the popular Raspberry Pi 3 developer board.The Anniversary Update is for Windows 10 IoT Core, a slimmed-down version of the OS for Raspberry Pi 3 and other developer boards. Users develop gadgets, robots, drones, and other smart devices with Raspberry Pi 3.The update has new features, as well as performance and application-support improvements, Microsoft said. It also provides an easier installation experience.Beyond Raspberry Pi 3, the Anniversary Update will also work with the MinnowMax, Raspberry Pi 2, and DragonBoard 410c developer boards.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The announcement this week of a final testing protocol aimed at discovering, once and for all, whether LTE-U technology can coexist peacefully with existing Wi-Fi networks has the LTE-U camp up in arms, as Qualcomm issued a thunderous denunciation of the Wi-Fi Alliance’s framework.
The plan, said Qualcomm senior vice president for government affairs Dean Brenner, is heavily biased against LTE-U and offers no real opportunity to demonstrate the technology’s ability to work harmoniously alongside Wi-Fi networks.
+ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Wi-Fi, LTE-U enter new phase of coexistence debate + LTE-U: A quick explainerTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google Chief Education Evangelist Jaime Casap’s oldest daughter scored a full ride to college on a swimming scholarship but she only lasted one semester out of frustration with the lack of technology at the school. She had been used to taking notes on her laptop in high school, for example, but was told she couldn’t bring her device into the college classroom. “I’ve been in education for 10 years and I remember talking to CIOs at universities saying technology is not a differentiator for their schools…that students don’t pick schools based on their technology,” says Casap, an adjunct lecturer in innovation at Arizona State University, where his daughter wound up attending and graduating from. “I can tell you that’s starting to change.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Successfully funded on Indiegogo, Go Cubes are a more creative way to get your fix. They're made with real cold-brewed coffee -- the equivalent of 1/2 cup (50mg) in each chewable cube. They're also crafted with precise amounts of other safe, effective supplements that improve the caffeine intake for enhanced focus & clarity, so you can get the most out of your day. They come in 3 flavors, and with this particular deal you get a box of 20 four-packs (80 cubes) in assorted flavors for $39. That's 34% off the typical list price of $59. If you love coffee, and the idea of "mocha", "drip" and "latte" flavored gummy cubes makes your mouth water, then this deal is right up your alley. See the discounted Go Cubes now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you think PC sales are in the toilet, you should look at what's happening in the tablet world. For the second quarter in a row, sales are down by double digits as consumers and businesses alike seek something more functional.Tablets have a bunch of things going against them. Primarily, the problem is they are a consumption device, not a creation device, and people want something more powerful. In addition, phablets and large smartphones have eaten into the market, there are no compelling reasons to upgrade because new generations are only a little better than the old, and the chief advocate for tablets, Steve Jobs, is no longer among us.The result, according to IDC, is a 12.3 percent decline in sales year over year for the second quarter of 2016. That comes on the heels of a 14.7 percent decline in Q1. IDC said this is due to vendors restructuring their product lines and customers delaying purchases as the market shifts focus towards productivity-oriented devices such as detachables.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Technology is moving the workplace along at lightning speed and not all businesses are ready to catch up. But that modernization is key to the future of work, according to a recent study commissioned by Dell and Intel.
Penn Schoen Berland (PSB) conducted 3,801 online interviews earlier this year, speaking with individuals working in nine different markets, including education, government, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, media, and entertainment and retail. They focused on the future of work and what these workers expect from their employers moving forward. "Not only is technology impacting the future office, it's redefining the office and greatly influencing the way we all currently work," says Kelli Hodges, global manager, Mobility at Dell.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Net neutrality foes work to get the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in and settle the matter of network neutrality, perhaps the most contentious issue in technology policy over the last decade.[ Related: U.S. appeals court upholds net neutrality rules, but fight is not over ]It is certainly possible, because opponents of the policy advanced by the Federal Communications Commission aren't conceding the fight after their recent legal setback.Last week, U.S. Telecom, CTIA and other trade organizations and allied groups appealed to a federal appeals court to rehear the case in a proceeding that would involve all active judges, not just the three-judge panel that upheld the FCC's open Internet order in June by a 2-1 split.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
How technology convergence can help CIOs do more with lessImage by ThinkstockCIOs and other IT decision-makers are used to having to do more with less. In the world of big data, they may be able to achieve orders-of-magnitude cost savings and productivity gains due to the convergence of development, IT ops and business intelligence (BI) strategy, exploiting advancements in open source software, distributed computing, cloud economics and microservices development.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Enterprises are eager to get Windows 10 onto their workers' PCs. Or they're in no rush.They see the just-released Anniversary Update as a major milestone. Or they don't.And some expect to have a majority of their PCs running Windows 10 in just a year from now. Or they believe it'll take twice that long.Recent surveys of IT administrators, managers and professionals displayed those opinions, and more, showing little consensus on anything other than the broadest trends that first, corporate IT likes Windows 10 a lot more than it did Windows 8, and second, Windows 10 will replace Windows 7 as the go-to operating system.Windows 10's adoption in the enterprise will be critical to the OS's success, especially from this point forward: The consumer-centric free upgrade offer has expired and the historic slump in PC shipments, mostly blamed on consumers' refusal to buy new systems to replace aged ones, continues unabated.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Gartner’s IaaS Magic Quadrant is out and Amazon Web Services is the clear the market leader, with Microsoft Azure is giving it a run for its money.It’s been a similar narrative for the past few years, but today Gartner basically said the market is status quo in 2016. The research firm’s MQ report is seen as an annual benchmark for the industry, a sort of checkpoint to see where the various vendors sit. Once again, it’s Amazon on top, Microsoft in second and a whole boatload of other vendors lumped into a category of “everyone else.”AWS: The ‘safe choice’ Amazon Web Service’s IaaS cloud is so mature and feature-rich that it’s defaulted to become the “safe choice” in the IaaS cloud market, Gartner says. AWS’s offerings available to the market are not only “many times the aggregate size of all other providers in the market,” Gartner says, but the company has a “multi-year” competitive advantage over every other competitor too.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here