Paul Brinkmann reports:
An insurance company for Rosen
Hotels & Resorts has filed a lawsuit claiming Rosen is not
covered for more than $2.4 million in damages related to a data breach
announced last year.
And the costs could be more than
that, if Rosen faces legal claims from customers, according to the lawsuit.
[…]
Rosen allegedly was slapped with
$1 million fines from Visa and Mastercard each; $128,830 fine from American
Express; $50,000 in attorneys’ fees; $15,000 in fees to a crisis-management
firm; $40,000 in costs to send notifications to clients; and a bill for
$150,000 to a data forensics team that identified the breach.
Read more on Orlando
Sentinel.
Think about this in contrast to law enforcement painting
terrorists as “invisible” if they use encryption.
Encryption Won’t Stop Your Internet Provider From Spying on
You
… It’s certainly
true that encryption is on the rise online. Data from Mozilla, the
company behind the popular Firefox browser, shows that more than half of web
pages use HTTPS, the standard way of encrypting web traffic.
… But even if 100
percent of the web were encrypted, ISPs would still be able to extract a
surprising amount of detailed information about their customers’ virtual
comings and goings.
… Although the
exact URL of a page accessed through HTTPS is hidden to the provider, the
provider can still see the domain the URL is on: For example, your ISP can’t
tell what exactly story you’re reading right now, but it can tell that you’re
somewhere on theatlantic.com. That may
not reveal much other than your (excellent) taste in news sources—but a user
who visited a page on plannedparenthood.com and then a page on
dcabortionfund.com may have revealed much more sensitive information.
That’s an example from a 2016 report prepared
by Upturn, a think tank that focuses on civil rights and technology. The Upturn report also sets out some of the
sneaky ways that user activity can be decoded based only on the unencrypted
metadata that accompanies encrypted web traffic—also known as “side channel”
information. (These methods probably
aren’t widely in use right now, but they could be deployed if ISPs decided it’s
worthwhile to try and learn more about encrypted traffic.)
… In November, a
group of researchers from Israel’s Ben-Gurion and Ariel Universities demonstrated a way to
extend the idea behind website fingerprinting to videos watched on YouTube. By matching the encrypted data patterns
created by a user viewing a particular video to an index they’d created
previously, they could tell what video the user was watching from within a
limited set, with a startling 98 percent accuracy.
(Related). A job
for Data Analytics? Could we extract
individual browsing history from aggregated data?
You can’t buy Congress’ web history — stop trying
On the heels of Congress’ recent
rollback of the FCC’s privacy rules, some web-goers had a clever idea: why
not buy Congress’ web history?
The privacy rules were set to protect against
service providers like Comcast and Verizon using customer web-browsing data for
marketing purposes. Now that the rules
are gone, there’s nothing stopping those providers from using your browsing
data for targeted advertising.
The move has
enraged web privacy advocates, and a new crop of
GoFundMe campaigns (including one
campaign launched by Supernatural star Misha Collins) has seized
on an unexpected method of revenge: buying politicians’ web histories one by
one and publishing them for all to see.
… To be clear, you
can’t do this. Just because carriers are
allowed to market against data doesn’t mean they’re allowed to sell individual
web histories.
… In fact, what
the campaigns describe would be illegal no matter what the FCC does. The Telecommunications
Act explicitly prohibits the sharing of “individually identifiable”
customer information except under very specific circumstances.
“Them dang humans is so slow!”
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/computers-vs-humans-blackrock-chooses-computers-over-30-fired-cm767518
Computers vs. Humans: BlackRock Chooses Computers, Over 30
Fired
BlackRock BLK
, the world's largest money manager with $5.1 trillion in total assets, is
replacing their traditional stock pickers with computers. More than 30 people in their active-equity
group are being fired; this includes five of the group's 53 fundamental
portfolio managers.
BlackRock's decision is based on
managers not keeping up with computer driven strategies. Blackrock's clients have been withdrawing
money as the firm has struggled to keep up performance compared to its rivals. Bloomberg shows that BlackRock's
active-equity group averages a five year return of 7.3% compared to the
industry with 8.8%.
So to combat their woes, BlackRock is shifting to
quantitative strategies like many fundamental hedge funds are.
… In an interview, Mr. Fink stated, "The democratization
of information has made it much harder for active management. We have to change the ecosystem - that means
relying more on big data, artificial intelligence, factors and models within quant and
traditional investment strategies."
Sometimes those guys at Harvard
just seem to get it right.
… However, I also believe that the
effective deployment of AI in the enterprise requires a focus on achieving
business goals. Rushing towards an “AI
strategy” and hiring someone with technical skills in AI to lead the charge
might seem in tune with the current trends, but it ignores the reality that
innovation initiatives only succeed when there is a solid understanding of
actual business problems and goals. For
AI to work in the enterprise, the goals of the enterprise must be the driving
force.
Everyone gets hit, but not all at a significant
level. (A brief extract from a much
longer post.)
Cyber criminals are aggressively sharing credentials to
.edu e-mail accounts – including stolen accounts, fake e-mails, and older
e-mail accounts. The Digital Citizens Alliance saw evidence showing
threat actors of all types – including hacktivists, scam artists, and
terrorists – putting credentials (e-mails and passwords) up for sale, trade,
or, in some cases, just given away.
For the new report, Cyber Criminals, College Credentials,
and the Dark Web, Digital Citizens researchers talked with researchers
at three cybersecurity companies about sales on Dark Web. Digital Citizens research also talked with a
hacktivist who once publicly shared tens of thousands of HEI credentials. The report includes research on:
- rankings showing the total number of stolen credentials for the 300 largest university and college communities found within Dark Web sites.
- sites selling Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) credentials on the Dark Web. These e-mails include those stolen from faculty, staff, students, and alumni, as well as criminals who have created fake e-mails.
- clear web sites where vendors sell credentials.
- why fake e-mails are valuable and how they can be used in scams.
It’s simple. Just
re-think how the world works.
Amazon Wants Cheerios, Oreos and Other Brands to Bypass
Wal-Mart
Amazon.com Inc. has invited some of the world's biggest
brands to its Seattle headquarters in an audacious bid to persuade them that
it's time to start shipping products directly to online shoppers and bypass
chains like Wal-Mart, Target and Costco.
… Amazon is
looking to upend relationships between brands and brick-and-mortar stores that
for decades have determined how popular products are designed, packaged
and shipped. If Amazon succeeds, big
brands will think less about creating products that stand out in a Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. aisle. Instead, they’ll
focus on designing products that can be shipped quickly to customers’
doorsteps. Brands have been
experimenting with such changes, so the Seattle event may well resonate.
Niche markets require unique chatbots? One bot can’t talk to both teens and
adults?
Microsoft launches Ruuh, yet another AI chatbot
First there was Tay. Then there was Zo. Now there's Ruuh -- Microsoft's latest AI
chatbot.
Ruuh, a "desi AI who never stops talking," is
available only to users in India and in English only.
According to a Facebook page
for Ruuh, Microsoft launched its latest AI chatbot on February 7. Microsoft
filed for a trademark for Ruuh on March 15. Ruuh's interests include
"Chatting, Bollywood, Music, Humour, Travel & Browsing Internet."
For my students. Each of these are high value areas for
entrepreneurs. (Especially #8)
8. Robotics and Hardware Repair
(Related). Do my
students have any ideas for another niche?
The web is full of amazing niche social networks. They often cater to a specific profession,
hobby, or interpretation of networking. Here
are eight awesome niche networks you’ve probably never heard of. Be sure to share your favorites in the
comments below, too.
Employ my students!
Or at least get them the hell out of my classroom!
Up until early 2017, Facebook was seen by the majority of
users as a network that’s all about their personal lives and connections. But that’s all about to change with the
network’s new feature: Jobs on Facebook (currently in the U.S. and Canada
only).
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