Always
consider the worst possible outcome of any hack. Protecting your
data from deletion also protects it from other risks. I can only
find the report in Spanish.
Destructive
hacking attempts target critical infrastructure in Americas: survey
Hacking attacks that destroy rather than steal data or that
manipulate equipment are far more prevalent than widely believed,
according to a survey of critical infrastructure organizations
throughout North and South America.
The poll by the Organization of American States, released on Tuesday,
found that 40 percent of respondents had battled attempts to shut
down their computer networks, 44 percent had dealt with bids to
delete files and 54 percent had encountered “attempts to
manipulate” their equipment through a control system.
Those figures are all the more remarkable because only 60 percent of
the 575 respondents said they had detected any attempts to steal
data, long considered the predominant hacking goal.
Russia
is not that clumsy. (If they had done it, North Korea would be
blamed.) Perhaps hackers who reside in Russia and used this hack to
“try out” for the big leagues?
Report:
Russia Behind 2014 Attack on White House Computer System
Russian
hackers last year were able to breach a White House computer system
after a successful cyber-attack on the State Department, a news
report said Tuesday.
The
report by CNN says the hackers were able to get sensitive
information, including non-public details about President Obama's
schedule.
For
those who have “nothing to hide?”
Sextortion
Has Evolved And It’s Scarier Than Ever
Sextortion
is an abhorrent, prevalent blackmailing technique – and it’s now
even more intimidating.
It’s
a simple practise, and increasingly widespread as our obsession with
documenting ourselves develops. We record our lives through social
media, and communication is so easy. We can share a lot with friends
and family.
Cybercriminals
are taking advantage of this. And it’s only getting worse.
Whatever
it does, it does not prevent cheating. My students can tell you 99
ways to “beat the system” just of the tops of their heads.
(Start with a partner positioned behind the camera...)
Lauren
R.D. Fox reports:
Rutgers University and other academic institutions are using a
monitoring program, Proctortrack,
that reveals if a student is cheating on an exam for their online
course.
Betsey Chao, a senior at Rutgers told The
New York Times, she had to download the software on her
computer and it uses her webcam to scan her features and verify her
identity before her exams. During the exam, ProctorTrack flashes a
red warning band to notify her that it is monitoring her computer
activity and recording a video of her. It also shows a live image of
Chao or any student who uses the tracking device during an exam.
Proctortrack also surveys if students have opened apps or web
browsers during online exams.
Read
more on Madame
Noire.
Interesting
article. Perhaps hoodies make you smarter?
When technology executives imagine the boogeyman, they see a
baby-face guy in wire-rim glasses. His name is Jay Edelson.
Mr.
Edelson, 42, is a class-action lawyer. He is also, if not the most
hated person in Silicon Valley, very close to it. His firm, Edelson
PC, specializes in suing technology companies, claiming privacy
violations.
…
Edelson’s investigative team, which consists of three lawyers and
a computer analyst. The group’s job, to put it plainly, is to find
ways to sue companies [Another
employment option for my Ethical Hackers? Bob]
…
One of the members of the investigative unit is Shawn Davis, a
digital forensics expert who previously worked as a network security
analyst. Now, from an office strewn with cables and old cellphones,
he spends his day playing with new devices as well as trawling
through websites and mobile apps to try to figure out what kinds of
data companies are collecting and how.
Got
your attention, didn't it.
Greek
PM in Moscow for Putin meet that rattles EU
Greek
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was to meet Kremlin strongman Vladimir
Putin in Moscow on Wednesday as part of an eye-catching visit that
has fuelled EU fears that cash-strapped Athens is cosying up to
Russia.
The
two-day trip comes as Tsipras is battling to unblock a rescue package
from the EU and IMF, with some in Brussels warning against any move
to barter financial support from Moscow for political backing over
the Ukraine crisis.
But
analysts say that while the visit might see Moscow lift an embargo on
Greek fruit, overall it is more about political grandstanding aimed
at pressuring Europe rather than a serious shift in policy. Tsipras,
a former Communist who came to power in January, has made no secret
of seeking closer ties to Russia at a time when Moscow is at
loggerheads with the European Union over the conflict in Ukraine.
For
my Big Data students.
NIST
Big Data interoperability Framework
by
Sabrina
I. Pacifici on Apr 7, 2015
NIST
is seeking feedback on the Version 1 draft of the NIST Big Data
Interoperability Framework. Once public comments are received,
compiled, and addressed by the NBD-PWG, and reviewed and approved by
NIST internal editorial board, Version 1 of Volume 1 through Volume 7
will be published as final. Three versions are planned, with
Versions 2 and 3 building on the first. Further explanation of the
three planned versions and the information contained therein is
included in each volume.
NIST Big Data Definitions &
Taxonomies Subgroup
1. M0392:
Draft SP 1500-1 —
Volume 1: Definitions
2. M0393:
Draft SP 1500-2 — Volume 2: Taxonomies
NIST Big Data Use Case & Requirements Subgroup
3. M0394:
Draft SP 1500-3 — Volume 3: Use Case & Requirements (See
Use Cases Lising)
NIST Big Data Security & Privacy Subgroup
4. M0395:
Draft SP 1500-4 —
Volume 4: Security and Privacy
NIST Big Data Reference Architecture Subgroup
5. M0396:
Draft SP 1500-5 —
Volume 5: Architectures White Paper Survey
6. M0397:
Draft SP 1500-6 — Volume 6: Reference Architecture
NIST Big Data Technology Roadmap Subgroup
7. M0398:
Draft SP 1500-7 — Volume 7: Standards Roadmap
Interesting failure of the customer feedback
system reversed because of pressure from social networks?
He
Said, She Said: How Uber Relied on Data in an Assault Dispute
…
Stephanie complained to Uber that night. And though the company
responded quickly—she had a reply by Sunday morning—the message
she received was puzzling. Uber didn't seem to understand the
seriousness of what had happened. "Our investigation is
complete and the situation is closed," an Uber employee wrote,
according to a screenshot of an email Stephanie provided.
…
Uber's response didn't reassure her that the driver was being held
accountable, Stephanie said. After
she started tweeting at journalists about what had happened,
she said the company apologized and credited her account for the
ride. But she still didn't know what happened to the driver. "To
my question of whether he could guarantee that this racist driver
would not be the one to pick me up the next time I called an Uber,
[the Uber representative] responded that he could not,"
Stephanie said. "Apparently, I do not have the right to know if
the person entrusted with my safety would be fired for endangering me
and calling me racial and sexist slurs."
As
it turned out, Uber did ban the driver from using its platform, a
spokeswoman confirmed. That decision is irreversible. In the 48
hours after her ride, Stephanie's complaint
worked its way up the chain of command—a complaint of this nature
is considered "critical," said Jennifer Mullin, an Uber
spokeswoman. Uber acknowledged it mishandled its initial response to
Stephanie's complaint. And the incident highlights how the company
draws on its trove of user and driver data to decide how to proceed
when a driver and a passenger have a dispute.
Another
indication that organizations have to start using all the available
data, not just the data they have in their systems. This should be
interesting to my Data Management students. (Hint: It really, really
should.)
Oracle
brings big data back to database administrators
Now
that many enterprises are seeing value in big data analysis, it may
be time for their database administrators and data warehouse managers
to get involved.
Oracle
has released a new extension for its Oracle Data Integrator
middleware that allows DBAs and data warehouse experts to treat big
data repositories as just another data source, alongside their
structured databases and data warehouses.
The
Oracle Data Integrator for Big Data "makes a non-Hadoop
developer instantly productive on Hadoop," said Jeff Pollock,
Oracle vice president of product management.
…
ODI provides
the ability for organizations to pull together data from multiple
sources and formats, such as relational data hosted in IBM or
Microsoft databases, and material residing in Teradata data
warehouses. So it was a natural step to connect to big data
repositories to ODI as well.
(Related)
This is exactly what my Data Management students found the last time
I taught the class.
Why
No One Uses the Corporate Social Network
…
Altimeter’s research shows that less than half of the enterprise
collaboration tools installed have many employees using them
regularly (see figure below).
(Related)
Twitter – outside the Google box? (I would have thought Microsoft
was a better home for Twitter.)
Twitter:
A Google Search For A Social Networking Firm?
The
market is rife with rumors that Google is seriously considering
buying out its social networking peer after somebody said that
Twitter had hired Goldman Sachs to deal with a couple of unsolicited
suitors.
There
are only a handful of companies that have both the resources and the
need for a social networking platform and Google seems to top that
list. Amazon or Microsoft seem like a stretch of the imagination and
Facebook has little need.
Apparently
GIFs are more popular than I thought. (Article 5)
Hulu
Launches Its Own GIF Tumblr
Hulu
has launched its own Tumblr which acts as a GIF search engine for
its content. Called The
Perfect GIF, the Hulu Tumblr allows you to find just the right
GIF to visualize your thoughts, with new GIFs being added on a
regular basis.
This
isn’t out of charity, of course, with all of the GIFs including the
name of the show and the Hulu branding. Thus, Hulu gets free
advertising every time someone posts one of its GIFs on a social
network. Which, given how
popular GIFs are becoming, will be often.
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