I don’t think that basically saying, “Gosh, Your Honor, we
had no idea spyware was on the systems we sold” will inspire confidence in
potential consumers, but in the meantime, there’s that pesky Article III
standing issue Lenovo can use. Matthew
Renda reports:
Computer manufacturer Lenovo
insisted it did not know malware was installed on computers it sold to
consumers, and that no one was harmed by the presence of the malicious software
during a hearing in federal court Friday.
Daniel Stephenson, attorney for
Lenovo, asked U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Whyte to refrain from certifying
a class in the case, arguing none of the four people who bought Lenovo
computers infected with faulty software was harmed and therefore lack
sufficient reason to sue.
Read more on Courthouse
News.
For my IT Governance students? When is it worth spending the time and money
to make this happen?
Hacker-Proof Code Confirmed
… When the project
started, a “Red Team” of hackers could have taken over the helicopter almost as
easily as it could break into your home Wi-Fi. But in the intervening months, engineers from
the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) had implemented a new
kind of security mechanism — a software system that couldn’t be commandeered. Key parts of Little Bird’s computer system were
unhackable with existing technology, its code as trustworthy as a mathematical
proof. Even though the Red Team was
given six weeks with the drone and more access to its computing network than
genuine bad actors could ever expect to attain, they failed to crack Little
Bird’s defenses.
… The technology
that repelled the hackers was a style of software programming known as formal
verification. Unlike most computer code,
which is written informally and evaluated based mainly on whether it works,
formally verified software reads like a mathematical proof: Each statement follows logically from the
preceding one. An entire program can be
tested with the same certainty that mathematicians prove theorems.
(Related) Where’s the fun in that? I want mini Stinger missiles!
The Anti-Drone Arms Race Is Taking Off
… as sales of
drones have increased, so too have other more worrying numbers. The FAA also says it receives more than 100
reports per month of drones flying around airports and other forbidden
places, where they could damage infrastructure or accidentally collide with the
engine of a landing airplane.
… Beeri is
cofounder and chief technology officer of Palo Alto-based ApolloShield, one of a
number of startups and defense companies selling ways to take down drones
behaving badly.
Unlike physical options for taking down a drone—which have
included nets, guns, and birds of prey—ApolloShield’s handheld device leaves drones
intact and functional, sending them back to their pilots nearby, Beeri says.
Perspective. Encryption
will replace bank vaults. Has SWIFT
become untrustworthy since Bangladesh?
Global Banks Partner to Form Blockchain Payments Network
Bank of America, Santander and the Royal Bank of Canada
have today announced they’ve joined forces to create a global blockchain
payments network using Ripple’s distributed ledger technology.
UniCredit, Standard Chartered and the Westpac Banking
Corporation have also joined the effort, which seeks to form the
foundation of a global network that performs a similar service as SWIFT
inter-bank messaging but with near-instant settlement times.
… Right now, the
banks involved are focused on hammering out the rules of play, according to Treacher.
The first step is a standardized agreement that
establishes the terms and conditions which a bank must agree to in order
to join, detailing how transactions will be processed and what kinds
of information will be exchanged.
The second step involves creating a “functional
standards document” that will allow the various banks to interact across
currencies and jurisdictions.
All my students should take this course or something
similar.
Investigating Cybersecurity Incidents — a free course
One of the biggest mistakes companies make when responding
to a cybersecurity incident is taking well-meaning steps to “clean up the mess”
that actually ruin the digital evidence needed to investigate and prosecute the
case.
Learning to securely preserve that forensic evidence is
key to a successful legal case. In partnership with IDG Enterprise, training
company Logical Operations Inc. presents a free online course on this timely
topic: Investigating Cybersecurity Incidents
… It’s a follow-up
to the free course Responding
to Cybersecurity Incidents, which continues to be available. Both classes
are part of the company’s full CyberSec First Responder certification course.
Sign up now for the free course “Investigating
Cybersecurity Incidents,” presented by Logical Operations and IDG
Enterprise.
To take these online courses, you’ll need to create an
account at the Logical Operations website, but there is no obligation or fee
For my next Spreadsheet class.
Microsoft Garage’s Project Córdoba is an Excel add-in for
working with IoT data
The Microsoft Garage group, which regularly releases
experimental applications for Android, iOS, and other platforms, has developed
a new Microsoft Excel add-in called Project Córdoba that’s designed to help
students easily import data from Internet-connected devices, so that they can
then make real-time dashboards with the data.
“When combined with a collection of worksheets customized
for middle school students, Excel brings to life the data behind scientific
principles. It also opens the emerging
world of IoT to the classroom and helps educators meet the NGSS and ISTE
requirements for data science,” Microsoft says on a page
dedicated to the new project.
Unlike some other Microsoft Garage apps, Project Córdoba
is currently only available after you’ve submitted an application
for access. And at least initially
Microsoft is interested in seeing people use this in the classroom — one of the
mandatory questions in the application asks applicants what grades they teach —
even though it could have broader applications. This is Excel, after all.
At the moment the add-in will only work with Microsoft Excel 2016 on Windows 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment