The theft of unstructured data is extremely common. It can be very difficult to safeguard emails and files when a lot of people have access. Even the CIA is not immune, judging by the recent exposure of its hacking tools via WikiLeaks. It’s ironic that the CIA’s hacking guides have been hacked, but it just goes to show how difficult it can be to prevent.Carelessly handled unstructured data is an easy target, and it can prove very valuable for hackers. Since unstructured data may not be monitored, attacks and successful exfiltrations often go unnoticed for long periods.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A few years ago, ESG (and other) research indicated that security concerns posed the biggest impediment for more pervasive use of cloud computing. What happened next? Business executives and CIOs found that cloud agility, flexibility, and potential cost savings were too good to pass up, creating a “cloud or bust” mentality. Naturally, CISOs had to do their best and go along for the ride whether they were ready or not.So, how’s cloud security going at this point? ESG research indicates it is still a work in progress (note: I am an ESG employee). As part of a recent survey, cybersecurity professionals were presented with a series of statements about cloud security and asked whether they agreed or disagreed with each one. Here are some of the results:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Technophobic thrillers in popular media are always trying to convince us hackers are just a few malicious keystrokes away from crashing the world economy. And while doing such a thing is more complicated than just “deleting all the money,” one could certainly do a great deal of damage by changing what a computer thinks is true.Wouldn’t it be great if there were software that could guarantee which data was and was not correct, backed up by the most powerful computer processors available? I give you blockchain, which more and more fiscal institutions are using to protect their data, backed up by the undeniable power of mainframes.RELATED: Inside Bank of America's IT transformation
Blockchain first entered the public’s (OK, the techie public’s) awareness in the orbit of Bitcoin, as a means of securing that controversial digital currency’s code against someone who decided to break into the right server and add a couple zeroes to their account. But Bitcoin haters need not close this tab in disgust just yet, as blockchain has come into its own as a reliable security measure for more than just black market storefronts.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please Continue reading
Plantronics has been in the headphone/headset market for more than 55 years now (moon landing!), but most of their Bluetooth gear (aimed at entertainment, not the smartphone headsets) have been in the premium market. The BackBeat line of headphones include the Pro series (about $200 for the Pro 2), Fit series (about $130) and Go series ($129 for the Go 3).With companies like Apple forgoing the headphone jack on their new smartphones, the market for wireless headphones is now poised to surpass wired headphones in terms of sales. With these trends in mind, Plantronics has now entered the entry-level space (under $100) with its BackBeat 500 Series headphones ($79.99, now available). Aimed at first-time wireless headphone buyers, the BackBeat 500 still offers users features like 40mm-bass drivers, an over-the-head, on-ear fit and an up to 18 hour battery life. With multipoint Bluetooth supported, you can connect to multiple devices (such as a smartphone and laptop or tablet), and even switch between them automatically. For example, if you’re listening to music on the laptop and a phone call comes in, the headphones connect to the phone. Speaking of phones, there’s a microphone on the left earcup Continue reading
If you are a fan of virtual assistants and Android phones, then you might regard Samsung’s jump into the race as better late than never. If you are not a fan of virtual assistants, then you might not like the Samsung Galaxy S8 which will have a dedicated button on the side of the phone to summon the assistant. Like it or not, Samsung said its virtual assistant will eventually be part of all its appliances.Yesterday, Samsung announced that its intelligent voice assistant Bixby will run on the Galaxy S8 which will launch next week. But Bixby is coming to all-things-Samsung, as the company said it will gradually be applied to all of its appliances. “In the future, you would be able to control your air conditioner or TV through Bixby. Since Bixby will be implemented in the cloud, as long as a device has an internet connection and simple circuitry to receive voice inputs, it will be able to connect with Bixby. As the Bixby ecosystem grows, we believe Bixby will evolve from a smartphone interface to an interface for your life.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Eliminate dead zones, reduce interference, and extend the range of your home Wi-Fi coverage with this D-Link Wi-Fi range extender. With next-generation AC750 performance, the DAP-1520 provides bandwidth up to 300Mbps on the 2.4Ghz, and 433Mbps on the faster, more reliable 5GHz bands. The unit is compact and fits discretely into any wall outlet. Right now its typical list price of $45.25 has dropped a significant 56% to just $19.99. See this deal now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) gold rush is on, and the Wireless Innovation Forum is hosting a workshop in Las Vegas next week for those interested in becoming part of this new shared spectrum ecosystem.CBRS, as we explain in this FAQ, involves the opening up by the FCC of 150 MHz of spectrum to be shared for new commercial uses. The 3.5 GHz band will be shared among incumbents like the U.S. Navy, Priority Access License users (who win special access through an auction) and general users, which could include enterprises that want to build their private LTE networks for Internet of Things or other applications.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Huawei Technologies is going all flash with its latest enterprise storage system, the OceanStor Dorado V3.It's part of the new storage-as-a-service (STaaS) offering the company unveiled at Cebit on Monday, with which it aims to deliver the same experience on-premises and in the cloud. The Chinese equipment vendor is not the first to propose storage-as-a-service, but thinks now is the right time to make its move, as the convergence of big data, analytics and the internet of things increases the pressure on enterprise storage infrastructure. "Large enterprises are talking of storage transformation, whether they should restructure their storage," said Wing Kin Leung, CTO of Huawei's enterprise business group.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Mozilla last week patched a Firefox vulnerability just a day after it was revealed during Pwn2Own, the first vendor to fix a flaw disclosed at the hacking contest."Congrats to #Mozilla for being the first vendor to patch vuln[erability] disclosed during #Pwn2Own," tweeted the Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) Monday. ZDI, the bug brokerage run by Trend Micro, sponsored Pwn2Own.[ To comment on this story, visit Computerworld's Facebook page. ]
Mozilla released Firefox 52.0.1 on Friday, March 17, with a patch for the integer overflow bug that Chaitin Security Research Lab leveraged in an exploit at Pwn2Own on Thursday, March 16. The Beijing-based group was awarded $30,000 by ZDI for the exploit, which combined the Firefox bug with one in the Windows kernel.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Includes over 50 hours of gameplay, and all-new content created to celebrate 20 years of the iconic Lara Croft. And for the first time in franchise history, players can explore the world through Lara’s eyes with the game's VR support.
New products of the weekImage by SolarWindsOur roundup of intriguing new products. Read how to submit an entry to Network World's products of the week slideshow.Asavie Industrial IoT Accelerator KitImage by asavieTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Maximum privacy seems to be the goal for the new enterprise authentication and cloud storage services Bundesdruckerei is showing at Cebit this week.The 250-year-old state printer has moved far beyond its origins as a printer of banknotes and, later, passports, offering all sorts of secure digital authentication services.At the exhibition in Hanover, Germany, this week it's showing Bdrive, a way for businesses to securely and reliably store important files in the cloud.Unlike services such as Dropbox, Bdrive doesn't store the files themselves, just metadata about them. The task of storing the files is left to other public cloud storage services.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Nokia 3310 phone, a replica of its iconic namesake, took Mobile World Congress by storm last month. It was a surprising show of enthusiasm for so-called candy-bar phones, which remain popular in developing countries because of their rock-bottom prices.Qualcomm believes there's an untapped opportunity in such feature phones and believes it can bring smartphone-like capabilities to these handsets. So it made the 205 Mobile chip, which will bring LTE capabilities, better graphics, and more responsiveness to candy-bar phones.There is a big need for a chip like the 205, especially when you look at the limited features of the new Nokia 3310. The Nokia 3310 offers only 2G connectivity capabilities for texting and calling, while newer candy-bar phones with the 205 chip will be LTE capable.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The problem with a lot of touch-sensitive controls is that the communication is one-way: They can feel you, but you can't feel them.
With touch-screen displays it's easy enough, as the button does what it says on the screen. Not all buttons are designed to be looked at as they are pushed, though. Take video-game controllers or car entertainment systems, for example, or some industrial controls. The user's attention is typically elsewhere when these are operated.
Manufacturers can mold raised blobs into the surface to show where to press, perhaps even using the shape of the blob to identify the button's function, but that means that, unlike a touch-screen, the number and function of the buttons is fixed from the moment the device leaves the factory.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Declining birth rate, aging population, natural disasters, pollution: Do these sound like issues the IT industry can deal with? Japanese businesses say yes, and a number of them are at the Cebit trade show in Hanover, Germany, to explain why.
Industry 4.0 -- the building of "smart factories" in which machines monitor one another and make decentralized decisions about production and maintenance -- has been a theme of recent Cebit shows.
Now, under the banner Society 5.0, the show's partner country for 2017, Japan, wants to take the transformation beyond industry, making "smart society" one of the show's talking points.
Behind the drive are some very real societal problems. Japan's population is falling, but the average age of its citizens is increasing. A consequence of a low birth rate and extreme longevity, this is leading to an imbalance between young, active workers and those needing care. But with the country in a seismically active area, and having an ageing industrial infrastructure, this shrinking workforce is likely to deal with natural disasters and incidents of pollution.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It's almost four years since Edward Snowden leaked U.S. National Security Agency documents revealing the extent of the organization's surveillance of global internet traffic, but he's still making the headlines in Germany.At the Cebit trade show in Hannover, Germany, he'll be looking back at that period in live video interview from Moscow on Tuesday evening.There have been a lot of changes on the internet in those four years, but one of the biggest is the growth in the use of encryption.In 2013, the NSA had free rein and could listen in on almost any communication it wanted. Now, it's commonplace to encrypt traffic to webmail services and even popular websites such as Microsoft.com or Google.com using the https protocol. And you don't have to be an enemy of the state to use an end-to-end encrypted messaging system such as WhatsApp simply to chat with friends.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
McDonald’s India operation asked users to update their McDelivery app as a 'precautionary measure' after a security firm said it had found that it was leaking personal data of over 2.2 million users.The Indian operation of the food chain, which is owned and managed by franchisees, said in posts on Facebook and Twitter over the weekend that its website and app do not store any sensitive financial data of users.The operation did not admit or deny that there had been a breach, but urged users to update the online ordering app as a precautionary measure. “The website and app has always been safe to use, and we update security measure on regular basis,” according to the post.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Secusmart, the BlackBerry subsidiary that secures the German Chancellor Angela Merkel's smartphone, will roll out a version of its SecuSuite security software compatible with Samsung Electronics' Knox platform later this year.That means that organizations looking for smartphones offering government-grade security will be able to buy the Samsung Galaxy S7 or, soon, the S8 rather than the now-discontinued BlackBerry OS smartphones like the one Merkel uses.In addition to encrypting communications and data stored on the device, the new SecuSuite also secures voice calls using the SNS standard set by Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). Organizational app traffic is passed through an IPsec VPN, while data from personal apps can go straight to the internet. Encrypted voice calls go through a different gateway, not the VPN.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
While you may want to live long and prosper, you don’t want to be “kirked” – an extension added to files encrypted by the new Star Trek-themed Kirk ransomware.Kirk ransomware, which was discovered by Avast malware researcher Jakub Kroustek, doesn’t want the ransom to be paid in bitcoin; Bleeping Computer said it “may be the first ransomware to utilize Monero as the ransom payment of choice.”It is not known how the ransomware is being distributed, but researchers know that Kirk ransomware masquerades as the Low Orbital Ion Cannon network stress tool; LOIC was once favored for denial of service attacks. The fake version sports the LOIC slogan, “When harpoons, air strikes and nukes fail,” and claims to be initializing once executed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here