Thursday, January 23, 2020


A trend(?) away from ‘proof of harm’?
PA Bill Tracker: Allowing victims of data breaches to sue companies that didn’t secure information
Daniel Walmer reports on a bill proposed in the Pennsylvania legislature:
House Bill 1010, introduced by Solomon, would change that. Under the bill, victims of data breaches could sue for $5,000 per violation or more if their actual losses were more than $5,000. The attorney general’s office can also seek civil penalties up to $10,000.
The bill would also require organizations to take “reasonable measures” to secure personal identification information. If they suffer a data breach, they would be required to notify affected customers “without unreasonable delay.” A delay of up to three days is permitted only if requested by law enforcement.
Our personal information is at risk. Countless incidents over the past few years have laid this fact bare,” Solomon wrote in a co-sponsorship memo. “We need to do more to defend Pennsylvanians’ private, personal information from falling into the wrong hands.”
The personal information protected by House Bill 1010 would include Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, financial account and credit card numbers, and medical information.
Read more on The Sentinel. This is one of the stronger bills that I’ve seen proposed and you may want to read all of its language.




Contrast with the FBI’s fight against encryption.
Tech policy think tanks write to govt urging stronger encryption to strengthen cyber security in India
Technology policy think tanks and digital freedom advocates have written to the National Security Council Secretariat urging stronger encryption requirements, improved breach disclosure norms and use of open-source software while encouraging free flow of data across borders, as part of suggestions to strengthen cyber security in India.


(Ditto)
Weakening Encryption Could Impact Election Security, Coalition Says
An election security group said the Justice Department’s renewed calls for access to encrypted data could impact more than privacy.


(Related)
Exclusive: U.S. Cops Have Wide Access to Phone Cracking Software, New Documents Reveal
While the FBI requests ‘backdoor’ iPhone access, documents indicate law enforcement already has easy access to encrypted devices


(Related)
Inside the $10 million cyber lab trying to break Apple’s iPhone
The Trump administration wants Apple to create a backdoor into the iPhone. District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. has spent millions trying to find other ways in.




We can’t secure dedicated voting machines. Can this be made to work?
Exclusive: Seattle-Area Voters To Vote By Smartphone In 1st For U.S. Elections
The King Conservation District, a state environmental agency that encompasses Seattle and more than 30 other cities, is scheduled to detail the plan at a news conference on Wednesday. About 1.2 million eligible voters could take part.
The new technology will be used for a board of supervisors election, and ballots will be accepted from Wednesday through election day on Feb. 11.




For my Architecture students.
How Leading Organizations Are Getting the Most Value From IT
Many of the most consequential investment decisions facing CEOs today are technology-related. That wasn’t the case a few years ago. But now every company is in effect a technology company, and every CEO a tech CEO. With every major technology choice representing a vital business decision, “good enough” decisions are anything but.
That’s what we are finding as we continue to analyze the technology decisions of more than 8,300 companies across 20 industries in 20 countries, in what we believe is the largest study to date of enterprise systems. This work also includes responses from nearly 900 CEOs across the globe.
Our initial comparisons found that the top 10% of these companies in terms of their levels of technology adoption, technology penetration, and organizational change are achieving levels of revenue growth that are double those of the bottom 25%, which constitute the technology laggards. These leaders also grow revenues more than 50% faster than the middle 20% of the companies we studied.




The good, the bad, and stuff we better learn more about.
AI, automation emerge as critical tools for cybersecurity
Artificial intelligence and automation adoption rates are rising, and investment plans are high on enterprise radars. AI is in pilots or use at 41% of companies, with another 42% actively researching it, according to the 2019 IDG Digital Business Study.
… “The volume of data being generated is perhaps the largest challenge in cybersecurity,” says David Mytton, CTO and expert in residence, Seedcamp. “As more and more systems become instrumented — who has logged in and when, what was downloaded and when, what was accessed and when — the problem shifts from knowing that ‘something’ has happened, to highlighting that ‘something unusual’ has happened.”




I better get busy, I’ve only read one of these.
7 books to read right now if you want to become the ultimate authority on artificial intelligence
Companies like Walmart, JPMorgan Chase, and AB InBev are using the advanced tech to overhaul operations in the hopes it will free up workers to focus on the more critical aspects of their jobs and lead to significant cost-savings over the next several years.
To support this push, many organizations are spending significantly to train their employees on AI and other new digital tools. Earlier this month, for example, Nationwide said it would spend $160 million over five-years to train all its employees on the technology, among other reskilling efforts.




Looks like they are missing a few airports, but potentially useful.
Find the WiFi Password For Almost Any Airport Lounge Using This Free Map
LifeHacker: “Fortunately, we’re at a point where most of the airports in the United States offer free WiFi in some form. Yes, sometimes you have to watch an ad to get there, but it’s there. That said, sometimes you end up an airport that doesn’t have WiFi, or one that has free WiFi that’s restricted by a time limit. For times like those, the WiFox Google Map can help. With it, you can search for any airport in the world and see how to connect to the WiFi there…”



No comments: