Smartphones can indeed be hacked via public USB-charging ports found around public facilities such as airports, parks and coffee shops, says a computer security firm. Additionally, any PC used for charging can perform the exploit.Hacks of this kind, first publicly written about in 2011, and called "juice-hacking" then, are not a myth, Kaspersky Lab says. That’s despite an apparent lack of reported cases.The security company, known for its antivirus products, says it has proven that forms of the hack can variously make illicit calls, suck files off a device and in its simplest rendition, capture a phone’s unique identifiers, such as a serial number.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Smartphones can indeed be hacked via public USB-charging ports found around public facilities such as airports, parks and coffee shops, says a computer security firm. Additionally, any PC used for charging can perform the exploit.Hacks of this kind, first publicly written about in 2011, and called "juice-hacking" then, are not a myth, Kaspersky Lab says. That’s despite an apparent lack of reported cases.The security company, known for its antivirus products, says it has proven that forms of the hack can variously make illicit calls, suck files off a device and in its simplest rendition, capture a phone’s unique identifiers, such as a serial number.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Marcus Galafassi was named VP of Information Technology and CIO at Otis Elevator last October, joining the company at a critical time as the venerable firm is looking to make a large investment in technology to improve customer service and pave the way for new capabilities. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix recently talked to Galafassi about the big picture plans.
Marcus Galafassi, VP of Information Technology and CIO, Otis Elevator To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The number of non-farm jobs added in the United States in recent months has inched up, and the unemployment rate has held steady at 5%, but that’s not to say the computer and networking industry hasn’t suffered its share of layoffs in 2016 to date.Here’s a rundown of some of the more notable layoffs, workforce reductions, resizings or whatever companies want to call them.MORE: Laid-off Abbott IT workers won’t have to train their replacements | Looking back at 2015 tech industry layoffsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The SharePoint community has reacted with enthusiasm to Microsoft’s roadmap for SharePoint 2016, even though much of it is familiar to anyone who’s been using SharePoint for a while. It’s so confusingly familiar, in fact, that you may find yourself asking whether that wasn’t what SharePoint already did or wondering what else SharePoint was trying to do.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Apple is looking to make evolutionary rather than revolutionary changes to its iPhone this year as it extends the major refresh cycle to once every three years, according to a report in Tuesday's Nikkei newspaper.
The change, which the newspaper said Apple is "likely" to make, is due to there being little room left for major advances in smartphone hardware -- at least until an entirely new technology comes on the scene. As chips get faster and software gets better, the benefits seen by annual upgrades are getting smaller.MORE: 10 mobile startups to watch
Nikkei said this year's model will look "almost identical" to the iPhone 6 and have minor changes such as improved camera quality, water resistance and a better battery. The headphone jack is also slated to be removed, it said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
When you get paid to assess computer security practices, you get a lot of visibility into what does and doesn’t work across the corporate spectrum. I’ve been fortunate enough to do exactly that as a security consultant for more than 20 years, analyzing anywhere between 20 to 50 companies of varying sizes each year. If there’s a single conclusion I can draw from that experience, it’s that successful security strategies are not about tools -- it's about teams.
With very good people in the right places, supportive management, and well-executed protective processes, you have the makings of a very secure company, regardless of the tools you use. Companies that have an understanding of the importance and value of computer security as a crucial part of the business, not merely as a necessary evil, are those least likely to suffer catastrophic breaches. Every company thinks they have this culture; few do.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
When you get paid to assess computer security practices, you get a lot of visibility into what does and doesn’t work across the corporate spectrum. I’ve been fortunate enough to do exactly that as a security consultant for more than 20 years, analyzing anywhere between 20 to 50 companies of varying sizes each year. If there’s a single conclusion I can draw from that experience, it’s that successful security strategies are not about tools -- it's about teams.
With very good people in the right places, supportive management, and well-executed protective processes, you have the makings of a very secure company, regardless of the tools you use. Companies that have an understanding of the importance and value of computer security as a crucial part of the business, not merely as a necessary evil, are those least likely to suffer catastrophic breaches. Every company thinks they have this culture; few do.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
At St. Joseph Health, David Baker has made it his mission to give patients a more personalized and transparent experience in the way they communicate with the healthcare facility, either through interactions with their doctors or simply setting up their next medical appointment.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Make a good phone even betterImage by Ryan WhitwamHTC knew it had something to prove with the HTC 10, and it's a very good phone. It has solid performance, excellent design, and the latest Sense interface is only a mild change from stock Android. Even with all its good points, you can make your new HTC 10 even better. We've got 15 tips and tricks to make the HTC 10 the best device it can possible be.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In theory, nobody should be paying any money to the ransomware extortionists. Doesn't everyone have backups these days? Even consumer has access to a wide variety of free or low-cost backup services.
But the headlines are full of reports about institutions such as hospitals and police departments, organizations that should have business continuity plans in place with solid backup strategies.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With 10 interconnected knowledge areas that incorporate the use of 47 processes organized into five process groups, project management can be a multifaceted maze to navigate. Developing a deeper understanding of this discipline can be an all-consuming and intimidating task at times, and just trying to find out where to turn for training can feel overwhelming.5. Professional books and articlesTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
A recent test of pre-installed updater software on 10 laptops showed that every single one had security problems."We went and bought about 10 laptops," said Darren Kemp, security researcher at Duo Security. "And every single vendor had their own piece of software to perform software updates, including the Microsoft Signature Editions, and they were all pretty terrible."For example, some laptop manufacturers weren't using encryption in their updaters."We found exploitable vulnerabilities in every vendor," he said.We found exploitable vulnerabilities in every vendor.
Darren Kemp, security researcher at Duo SecurityTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A recent test of pre-installed updater software on 10 laptops showed that every single one had security problems."We went and bought about 10 laptops," said Darren Kemp, security researcher at Duo Security. "And every single vendor had their own piece of software to perform software updates, including the Microsoft Signature Editions, and they were all pretty terrible."For example, some laptop manufacturers weren't using encryption in their updaters."We found exploitable vulnerabilities in every vendor," he said.We found exploitable vulnerabilities in every vendor.
Darren Kemp, security researcher at Duo SecurityTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Ecommerce vendors are increasingly under pressure to deliver the most relevant products to site visitors. As choices available to consumers increase, so too does the requirement to filter the myriad of options and offer the most relevant products in response to a consumer's search. It is for this reason that ecommerce search tools from companies such as SLI Systems are increasingly important.Another player in the space is stealth Israeli company Twiggle. Twiggle combines the buzzwords du jour—machine learning, artificial intelligence and natural language processing—and delivers them within the context of ecommerce search.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
At the MIT EmTech Digital conference, startup Nervana announced plans to design and build a custom ASIC processor for neural networks and machine learning applications that the company’s CEO, Naveen Rao, claims will run 10 times faster than graphic processor units (GPU).The news comes after Google last week announced it had secretly deployed its neural network and machine-learning-tailored processors in its data centers about a year ago. The company reported that its custom processor had improved performance by an order of magnitude. Google’s approach and improvements in performance validate Nervana’s technical strategy.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A few weeks ago, Tumblr notified users of a data breach that resulted in the theft of user email addresses and hashed passwords. The company did not say how many accounts were affected, but recently someone put the data up for sale and the number is: 65 million records.The data is being sold on a Tor dark market website called TheRealDeal by a user named peace_of_mind who also sold 167 million user records stolen from LinkedIn. Recently he also posted offers for 360 million accounts allegedly stolen from MySpace and 40 million from adult dating website Fling.com.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A few weeks ago, Tumblr notified users of a data breach that resulted in the theft of user email addresses and hashed passwords. The company did not say how many accounts were affected, but recently someone put the data up for sale and the number is: 65 million records.The data is being sold on a Tor dark market website called TheRealDeal by a user named peace_of_mind who also sold 167 million user records stolen from LinkedIn. Recently he also posted offers for 360 million accounts allegedly stolen from MySpace and 40 million from adult dating website Fling.com.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here