Pokemon GO is down today: here’s what to do
… Today Pokemon GO
is down. Niantic's servers have been
hammered into submission and they're working frantically to return the entire
grid back to full power. One of the
places I go to find this information out - one of my confirmation points on the
public end of the spectrum, is over at Is Pokemon GO Down or
Not. This is a website run on an
engine created by the folks at DataDog.
According to a DataDog representative, they're currently
working on an alert system so that people will be able to subscribe to the
service to get emails (or something like that) in the near future.
Small, but eventually they could add up to big money.
Data Breach Hits 140 Cicis Restaurants
Texas-based pizza restaurant chain CiCi’s, recently
rebranded as Cicis, informed customers on Tuesday that their payment card
information may have been stolen by malware installed on point-of-sale systems
at some locations.
The company said it launched an investigation in March
2016, after some of its restaurants reported problems with PoS systems. Cicis’ PoS vendor soon discovered malware at
some locations, which led to a forensic analysis conducted by a cybersecurity
firm.
… While in most cases the attackers gained
access to PoS systems in March 2016, some restaurants in Florida,
Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas had been breached since mid-2015.
… Earlier this
month, fast food restaurant chain Wendy’s informed customers that a recent breach impacted more than 1,000 of its locations. The company initially reported that only 300
franchised restaurants had been affected.
Fast-casual restaurant chain Noodles & Company has
also suffered a data breach. The company
said cybercriminals planted PoS malware at a majority of its 500 restaurants.
(Related) If you haven’t seen how quickly you can install a skimmer, watch this video for about 30 seconds…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y83ZgzuFBSE
Raw Video: Men Place Card Skimmer on ATM Store Machine!
Remember, “sports” is a business.
Jeremy Kirk reports:
A former St. Louis Cardinals
scouting director has been sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for
illegally peeking at a player-drafting database for the Houston Astros – a
hefty term for a distinctly unique hacking case.
Christopher Correa, 36, was accused
of illegally accessing Ground Control, a cloud-based database
that held the Houston team’s most critical observations on potential players,
and an Astros email account. He pleaded guilty in January in federal court in Houston to
five counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer.
The case is unique because of the stiff sentence Correa
received.
Read more on BankInfoSecurity.
For my Computer Security students.
6 Free Cyber Security Courses That’ll Keep You Safe Online
… I’ve compiled a
list of 6 free cyber and information security courses you can take, right now,
to boost your awareness of your online surroundings. Each course is designed for self-learning MOOCs (Massively Open Online
Courses), and come with active communities and lecturers you can direct
questions towards.
Easy to do, hard to justify?
Brazil judge briefly blocks WhatsApp over criminal case
A Brazilian judge briefly blocked Facebook Inc's WhatsApp
messaging service on Tuesday for failing to cooperate in a criminal
investigation, before the nation's top court overturned the measure in the third such incident since December.
Demonstrating the even government can grasp the obvious,
they just can’t implement it.
National Privacy Research Strategy outlines US privacy
research agenda
by Sabrina
I. Pacifici on Jul 19, 2016
Via FTC: “The White House recently released the first ever United
States “National Privacy Research Strategy,”
which identifies priorities for privacy research funded by the Federal
government. While focused on government,
the strategy is also intended to spur similar private sector efforts. I participated in the working group that
developed the strategy and am excited to see it published. The NPRS makes the case for why privacy
research is important. It calls for
funding for privacy research, coordination across government agencies, and
mechanisms to facilitate the alignment of privacy research with real-world
requirements. The NPRS outlines seven
national privacy research priorities and provides a set of research questions
in support of each priority…”
Someone must have really irritated the powers that be in
Washington. I would have said this was a
given, since 501(c)3 status has never been denied before and the Democrats are
in power. Is this a personal shot at
Hillary?
Turned down by the IRS, Philly's DNC host committee goes for
Plan B
The IRS has turned down the long-running effort by the
Democratic convention's Philadelphia host committee to win a tax exemption.
Word of the decision, a setback for efforts to raise the
last of the $60 million needed to help pay for the July 25 to 28 convention,
came Friday from its adviser, David L. Cohen.
When the decision came - and why - is less clear. Cohen would say only that the IRS
"recently" turned down the application for tax-exempt status under
section 501(c)3 of the tax code, which the committee had sought for more than a
year.
Once again I missed the boat. Who knew that “shaving tools by mail” was
worth a billion dollars.
Unilever Purchases Dollar Shave Club For $1 Billion In One Of
The Largest Tech Deals Of The Year
… The acquisition
of Dollar Shave Club, which was founded by Michael Dubin in 2011, is a standout
deal in what has been a quiet year for technology and online commerce companies.
While the company was not profitable, it recorded $152 million in
revenue in 2015 and was on track to do more than $200 million in sales this
year.
… The company said
that it has 3.2 million members who have subscriptions for products including
shaving razors, skin care products and daily wipes.
(Related) Perhaps
this explains why it’s worth a billion?
Dollar Shave Club: How Michael Dubin Created A Massively
Successful Company and Re-Defined CPG
… I believed
(still do!), in the age of social media, brands must become direct-to-consumer
in order to know their own customers.
… I knew that
subscription is a business model that only actually works for a select few
product categories, and that churn rates must be very low (well under 5%
monthly) in order for subscription businesses to succeed at scale. I believed it was possible to use asymmetric
marketing to injure existing incumbents who overly depend on broadcast
advertising and distribute only through retailers.
(Related) Anything
to help understand the customer.
Macy's Teams With IBM Watson For AI-Powered Mobile Shopping
Assistant
Macy’s is set to launch an in-store shopping assistant
powered by artificial intelligence thanks to a new tie-up with IBM Watson via
developer partner and intelligent engagement platform, Satisfi.
Macy’s
On Call, as it’s called, is a cognitive mobile web tool that will help
shoppers get information as they navigate 10 of the retail company’s stores
around the US during this pilot stage.
Customers are able to input questions in natural language
regarding things like where specific products, departments, and brands are
located, to what services and facilities can be found in a particular store. In return, they receive customised relevant
responses. The initiative is based on the idea that consumers are increasingly
likely to turn to their smartphones than they are a store associate for help
when out at physical retail.
I hated Assembler back in the mainframe only days, I still
hate it. (But it may be the best tool
for the job.)
IoT spurs surprise surge in assembly language popularity
Assembly language, a reliable staple of low-level
programming, has taken a backseat to the multitude of higher-level,
easier-to-use languages that have emerged over the years. But it is making a comeback, thanks to IoT
(the internet of things) and embedded computing.
This month's Tiobe index, which gauges language popularity
based on a formula examining internet searches, has assembly returning to its
top 10 for the second time this year, with a 10th-place slotting. It also reached the top 10 in January.
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