Security
NSA Revelations: Has The Planet Gone Mad?
It was intriguing to see the tech community’s response to the NSA information-gathering revelations last week. High drama was the order of the day after The Guardian broke the story of a National Security Agency contractor releasing some strategic, classified PowerPoint slides, then hightailing into the shadows of Hong Kong. Dozens of NSA, spying and civil liberties stories dominated tech media outlet giants like YCombinator, ZDNet and GigaOM. As you’d expect, talk radio was abuzz with speculation and commentary. High-ranking,… continue…
The Beginning of the End of Security Theater
You often hear airport TSA checkpoints described as “security theater” because despite their imposing presence and processes, passengers still sneak contraband onto commercial flights. In IT, we see similar performances – and results. For us, security theater has manifested itself as the deployment of layers of technology like antivirus, Web filters, password policies, encryption, multi-factor authentication and on and on. When a breach and data loss does occur, IT does not hold itself liable because of all the measures that… continue…
Google Execs Predict a Future of Online Turmoil
Despite the seismic changes wrought by the Internet over the past 20 years, there’s a sense out there that we’re really only getting started. Who better to piece together a book full of sweeping predictions about the Internet’s impact going forward than Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman and former CEO of Google, and Jared Cohen, director of Google Ideas and a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations? In The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and… continue…
Protect and Secure BYOD Environments with End-to-end Management
Protect and Secure BYOD Environments with End-to-end Management (via slashdot) It’s no secret that the momentum of the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend has surged like a tidal wave across organizations of all sizes and industries. Employees everywhere continually seek ways to incorporate their personal devices into work, and today are pushing advanced consumer technology… continue…
Using Big Data to Save the Planet
Using Big Data to Save the Planet (via slashdot) Big Data: tool of international diplomacy? The U.S. State Department’s Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO) office is reportedly using an analytical toolset to drill deep into the reasons behind conflicts around the world. “We are about breaking and interrupting, stopping and preventing…
Mandatory Data Breach Reporting Appears Dead
Mandatory Data Breach Reporting Appears Dead (via slashdot) A plan by the Obama Administration to set up a framework for exchanging cybersecurity information could be dead—at least as a mandatory requirement. But that doesn’t mean such an information-sharing framework is off the table. The Washington Post reported April 26 that, while a national plan that… continue…
Ways AP Could Have Avoided Its Twitter Hack
A single tweet with a phony bit of news sent the stock market into a brief dive Tuesday, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 140 points in the three minutes from 1:07 to 1:10 p.m. ET. When the “news” — that two bombs had exploded in the White House, injuring the president — was debunked, the market regained its footing. Of course, phony information blasts out through Twitter all the time. The difference here is that… continue…
The Security Implications of Fake Twitter Followers
A recent New York Times story about the fake Twitter follower community got me thinking. The newspaper claims that this is a $1 million industry, with followers being purchased in bulk for about a penny a head. Why does Twitter tolerate this? Certainly, the company could easily fix this problem with some clever software engineering. Instead, they’re turning a blind eye. But on further reflection, it’s not something that’s easy to fix. I have a Twitter account that I set… continue…
What Are Your 5 Biggest Online Privacy Worries?
Let’s talk about this. An article posted on ITWorld earlier this month got me thinking about how small businesses have to deal with online privacy issues. According to ITWorld, their top five concerns include: The proliferation of cookies. Theft of cloud-based data through weak password controls. Being betrayed by the stored location data on cell phones and other mobile devices. Photo tags on social networks. Federal and police agencies scanning online services. Notice: None of these items include the words… continue…
Hacking an Airliner with an Android App
Hacking an Airliner with an Android App (via slashdot) Hacking an airplane’s onboard systems and forcing it to crash sounds like the opener of a bad action movie. But at the Hack In The Box conference in Amsterdam, security consultant Hugo Teso demonstrated how someone armed with an Android smartphone could make such a disaster happen. Teso, who works… continue…
C.S. Magor
Cat Miller
Dale Reynolds
David Brumbaugh
Dawn Kawamoto
Don Willmott
Elisabeth Greenbaum Kasson
Gayle Laakmann McDowell
Lekan Oguntoyinbo
Leslie Stevens-Huffman
M Noivad
Mark Feffer
nick kolakowski
Stephen Lahanas
Susan Hall
