For my Computer Security students. An article to
think about.
Cyber
Intelligence: Competitive Intelligence By Any Other Name…
The
current environment around cybercrime is quickly becoming a forcing
function that’s causing businesses to begin evaluating how they’re
doing cybersecurity across the board.
Most
importantly of all, it’s forcing companies to start thinking about
how to measure and prepare for the real, business impacts of cyber
threats lest they be held legally accountable by, say, the fine folks
at
the FTC. Or any number of voracious
civil suit-seeking lawyers [Hee,
hee. Bob]
closely monitoring their failings and foibles.
But
words and phrases like “begin evaluating” and “start thinking
about” don’t equate to decision-making or “doing” anything
real about it at all.
In
fact, despite a cyber and business “pop culture” zeitgeist
brimming with signs and indicators that people really are starting to
notice cyber insecurity (Mr.
Robot’s ratings anyone?), an alarming number of companies put
some very considerable roadblocks in front of themselves for not
getting started on the same sorts of “competitive
intelligence” programs for cyber that have become widely used
and benefited from across industry.
(Related)
Microsoft gathers data about you to keep itself competitive.
Microsoft
Boosts Remote Data Collection in Windows 7 and 8
Following
a series of updates meant to prepare Windows 7 and Windows 8 for the
impending upgrade to Windows 10, Microsoft pushed the Diagnostics and
Telemetry tracking service to existing devices and began collecting
more data on them, as Winaero
notes in a recent article.
A
quick look at the Windows 8.1 Feature
Supplement reveals that Microsoft is already collecting details
on how the platform, application, computers, and connected devices,
are used, as part of its Windows Customer Experience Improvement
Programs (CEIP).
As
long as you don't collide with planes, do whatever you want?
FAA
Approves Corporation's Use of Drones To Collect Data, Prompting
Protest from Privacy Advocates
The August 28 decision
allows a Washington, DC-based company, called "Measure," to
fly the largest fleet of commercial drones on record, a FAA spokesman
told VICE News. The company has produced reports with the American
Red Cross and the American
Farm Bureau on how bird's eye views could help first responders
in a disaster or farmers seeking to maximize their harvests.
… It's important to note that the FAA granted
Measure an exemption to fly its drones. That's because, currently,
it's technically illegal for businesses to fly unmanned aerial
vehicles unless they obtain a FAA waiver. The FAA has granted more
than 1,000
exemptions so far as it drafts regulations to govern drones.
But the FAA's proposed rules,
as currently written, address only safety. The National
Telecommunications & Information Administration, meanwhile, is
considering how the federal government might address drones and
privacy.
… While the federal government drafts its
regulations, state governments are instituting a hodgepodge of rules.
The National
Conference of State Legislatures reports that 26 states have
enacted laws regulating drones, often with the aim of dissuading
peeping toms whose drone use has prompted violent reactions, like the
Kentucky
father who shot down a drone he thought was spying on his sunbathing
daughters. (The pilot claimed he was snapping photos of a friend's
nearby house).
For Hillary: An article to think about? (No doubt
Hillary will suggest that Snowden isn't an objective observer, but
she won't dispute the conclusions.)
National Security Agency whistleblower Edward
Snowden said on Thursday that 2016 Democratic front-runner Hillary
Clinton is likely aware her personal email server exposed sensitive
national intelligence.
Snowden
added that lesser employees would have lost their jobs for copying
Clinton’s actions during her tenure as secretary of State.
“This is a problem because anyone who has the
clearances that the secretary of State has, or the director of any
top level agency has, knows how classified information should be
handled,” he said, according to excerpts of an Al
Jazeera interview airing Friday.
Sometimes you learn what a tool/technology can do
when you see what they promise not to do.
Justice
Department Announces Enhanced Policy for Use of Cell-Site Simulators
by Sabrina
I. Pacifici on Sep 3, 2015
“The policy, which goes into effect immediately
and applies department-wide, will provide department components with
standard guidance for the use of cell-site simulators in the
department’s domestic criminal investigations and will establish
new management controls for the use of the technology… Cell-site
simulators are just one tool among many traditional law enforcement
techniques and are deployed only in the fraction of cases in which
the capability is best suited to achieve specific public safety
objectives. To enhance privacy protections, the new policy
establishes a set of required practices with respect to the treatment
of information collected through the use of cell-site simulators.
This includes data handling requirements and an agency-level
implementation of an auditing program to ensure that data is deleted
consistent with this policy. For example, when the equipment is used
to locate a known cellular device, all data must be deleted as soon
as that device is located, and no less than once daily.
Additionally, the policy makes clear that cell-site simulators may
not be used to collect the contents of any communication
in the course of criminal investigations. This means data contained
on the phone itself, such as emails, texts, contact lists and images,
may not be collected using this technology. While the department
has, in the past, obtained appropriate legal authorizations to use
cell-site simulators, law
enforcement agents must now obtain a search warrant
supported by probable cause before using a cell-site simulator.
There are limited exceptions in the policy for exigent circumstances
or exceptional circumstances where the law does not require a search
warrant and circumstances make obtaining a search warrant
impracticable. Department components will be required to track and
report the number of times the technology is deployed under these
exceptions. To ensure that the use of the technology is well managed
and consistent across the department, the policy requires appropriate
supervision and approval.”
[The
policy: http://www.justice.gov/opa/file/767321/download
Legal arguments are fun!
With less than a week before the Second Circuit
considers the dispute between Microsoft and the government over
emails stored in Ireland (an issue I have blogged about here,
here,
and here),
I thought it worth responding to Orin Kerr’s novel suggestions as
to how to understand the case. Over at the Washington
Post, Kerr explains why both parties have the analysis all wrong.
He then suggests that, under the (erroneous) theory being pursued,
the government ought to win. I disagree with both points.
Is Google automating doctors? (auto-diagnosis?)
Google
increases health information available via search
by Sabrina
I. Pacifici on Sep 3, 2015
Google
Inside Search: “In early August, New York City saw an outbreak
of Legionnaires’ disease, a very rare and sometimes deadly form of
pneumonia. As more outbreaks came to light, Google
searches for Legionnaires’ disease spiked over 1,000%. People
wanted to know what this disease is, why it’s spreading, and how to
prevent it. So we quickly updated our health conditions feature
(first launched
last February) to provide information on Legionnaires’ right up
front, from a simple search. Indeed, health conditions continue to
be among the most important things people ask Google about, and one
of our most popular features. So today we’re announcing broader
updates—over the next few weeks, you’ll notice:
- Hundreds more health conditions (soon over 900 total, more than double the number we started with) where you’ll get quick at-a-glance info on symptoms, treatments, prevalence, and more
- Visual design improvements and some more specific triggering so it’s quicker and easier to get the info you need (for example, you can now search for “pink eye symptoms” and you’ll get straight to the symptoms tab)
- A ‘Download PDF’ link so you can easily print this information for a doctor’s visit—this has been a top request from doctors.”
This is not an explanation.
SAT Scores
Fall to Lowest Level in 10 Years
There's no obvious reason why average SAT scores
continue to fall, but continue to fall they do.
… Across all three sections, scores
slumped slightly from last year's averages. For math, the mean
was 511, down from 513 last year. For reading, it was 495 (down from
497) and for writing it was 484 (down from 487).
Unfortunately, this year's decrease isn't a
one-off: Overall, SAT scores have been falling slightly but steadily
since 2010, when students averaged 515 in math, 500 in reading and
491 in writing.
… This percentage varied drastically across
racial groups, however. While only 16 and 23 percent of
African-Americans and Hispanics, respectively, hit the benchmark, 61
percent of Asians and 53 percent of white test-takers did so. In
general, students' scores have been shown to consistently rise with
family income.
(Related) Can Facebook help educate students?
Facebook is developing software, which it hopes to
one day make available to any school that wants it, that helps
teachers run personalized lesson plans for students, the company said
Thursday.
The company is helping to further develop the
software used by charter school operator Summit Public Schools, which
says it tailors lessons to each student.
“They told us that while this model was changing
the way kids learn, the technology just wasn’t good enough,” said
Chris Cox, the company’s product head, in a blog
post. “So what if we could build this together and then give
it away for free?”
The product appears to allow teachers to craft
curriculums for students and for students to track their progress,
according to screenshots offered by Facebook. Cox said that the
technology gives teachers more time to work one-on-one with students
in the classroom.
… Cox looked to calm potential fears about the
privacy of students who use the software. He said that it does not
require students to have Facebook accounts, and that the team
developing the program is separate from the social giant’s main
operations.
For my entrepreneurial students.
… A 15-feature “travel jacket,” which
launched two months ago, just made a killing in a Kickstarter
campaign that ended at 1 p.m. this afternoon. Originally aiming
for a $20,000 goal, a total of 44,949 project backers pledged a
whopping $9.19 million for the garment, which makes it the
crowd-funding website’s most successful clothing campaign,
according to reports. The $20,000 goal was met in a matter of hours,
when the original intent was to raise the sum in a 58-day period.
Perspective. Some interesting App stats. Compare
“most downloaded” to “most revenue”
Facebook,
Google, Apple Dominate Top Apps Of All Time Lists; Candy Crush And
Clash Of Clans Are Top Games
A new report from app store analytics firm App
Annie this morning offers insight into the most popular – and
profitable! – iOS applications of all time. Not surprisingly, the
most downloaded app to date is Facebook, which also places elsewhere
in the top 10 list thanks to its other mobile properties like
Facebook Messenger (#2), Instagram (#4) and WhatsApp Messenger (#6).
Meanwhile, King’s Candy Crush Saga is the
world’s most downloaded game, but Supercell’s Clash of Clans
edged it out in terms of revenue.
Prepackaged App tools?
Plyfe
Brings Interactive Tools to Small Business
You've seen all the great interactive Web tools
that big companies use—trivia games, polls, and image carousels
that keep site visitors engaged. It's difficult for small businesses
to offer those same experiences, because the coding requirements
often lie outside their reach. Unless your core business relates to
technology or Web design, you probably don’t have that kind of
expertise in-house.
The Plyfe
platform changes all that by offering ready-to-use
interactive cards for websites, social media channels, and mobile
devices—all without any
coding needed and all for free.
Dilbert shows us what females think is a defect.
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