FireEye Will Layoff 350 Employees to Reduce $20M in Costs

About 350 employees will be laid off.

Apple losing smartphone share in India despite big efforts

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

In DARPA challenge, smart machines compete to fend off cyberattacks

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

In DARPA challenge, smart machines compete to fend off cyberattacks

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 hospital chain to pay record $5.5M for exposing data about millions of patients

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

Illinois hospital chain to pay record $5.5M for exposing data about millions of patients

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

The advanced security techniques of criminal hackers

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

The advanced security techniques of criminal hackers

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

Packet Blast: Top Tech Blogs, Aug. 5

PCEP and BGP-LS Questions and Answers

Julien Lucek concluded his PCEP and BGP-LS webinar with a lengthy Q&A session addressing all sorts of questions from the audience (to access all videos in this webinar, register here).

Supercomputers give a glimpse of cybersecurity’s automated future

Giant refrigerator-sized supercomputers battled each other on Thursday in a virtual contest to show that machines can find software vulnerabilities. The result: the supercomputers time and time again detected simulated flaws in software. It represents a technological achievement in vulnerability detection, at a time when it can take human researchers on an average a year to find software flaws. The hope is that computers can do a better job and perhaps detect and patch the flaws within months, weeks or even days. Thursday’s contest, called the Cyber Grand Challenge, was a step in that direction. The final round of the competition pitted computers from seven teams to play the hacking game “Capture the Flag,” which revolves around detecting software vulnerabilities.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Supercomputers give a glimpse of cybersecurity’s automated future

Giant refrigerator-sized supercomputers battled each other on Thursday in a virtual contest to show that machines can find software vulnerabilities. The result: the supercomputers time and time again detected simulated flaws in software. It represents a technological achievement in vulnerability detection, at a time when it can take human researchers on an average a year to find software flaws. The hope is that computers can do a better job and perhaps detect and patch the flaws within months, weeks or even days. Thursday’s contest, called the Cyber Grand Challenge, was a step in that direction. The final round of the competition pitted computers from seven teams to play the hacking game “Capture the Flag,” which revolves around detecting software vulnerabilities.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple’s bug bounty program favors quality over quantity

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

Apple’s bug bounty program favors quality over quantity

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

Apple’s bug bounty program favors quality over quantity

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

Arista Hoards Inventory During Cisco Litigation

Its Q2 earnings were impressive.

Google Open Sources Its 48V Data Center Rack

Bridging the transition to (and Google's desire for) 48-volt racks.

This new Skype bot lets you chat with Spock

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

Black Hat: Quick look at hot issues

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

Black Hat: Quick look at hot issues

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