Tag: security

Tanium CEO’s Refreshingly Honest Take on the State of Internet Security

This is your Cyber Saturday edition of Fortune’s tech newsletter for October 7, 2017.

On Tuesday, the wood-smoke air of California’s wildfires descended on the Bay Area as cybersecurity professionals gathered at the Palace Hotel for an industry event.

I spent the morning interviewing Orion Hindawi, CEO of Tanium, the world’s highest privately valued cyber startup (worth $ 3.75 billion at last appraisal in May), for a fireside chat at his company’s second annual conference, Converge 2017. Hindawi has a no-nonsense approach to business—a suffer-no-fools attitude that landed him in the sights of a couple of unflattering stories about his management style earlier this year. (He later apologized for being “hard-edged.”)

On stage the chief exec delivered his peculiarly unvarnished view of the state of Internet security. “The idea that we’re going to give you a black box and it auto-magically fixes everything, that’s a lie,” Hindawi told the audience. (One could almost hear a wince from part of the room seating his PR team.) “All I can tell you is we can give you better and better tooling every day. We can make it harder for the attackers to succeed. That’s the best I can offer.”

Hindawi is a realist through-and-through. His outlook is perhaps best summed up by his response to a question about whether he subscribes to a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty view of the cyber threatscape. His reply would become a running joke for the rest of the conference. He said simply, “It’s just a glass, dude.”

Other tidbits of wisdom from Hindawi: not all hackers are Russian spies (the majority are lowly criminals). Unsecured Internet of Things devices pose a risk to everyone. And sometimes cyber insurance is the way to go when old systems are all but impossible to patch; the decision boils down to managing “operational risk, like earthquakes,” he said.

Hacking is not a dark miasma that penetrates all things, although it can sometimes feel that way. Companies, like Tanium, that are building the tools to swing the balance back in defenders’ favor without over-promising provide hope. Enjoy the weekend; I will be heading north of San Francisco, visiting friends who, luckily, were unharmed by the area’s recent conflagrations.

Robert Hackett

@rhhackett

[email protected]

Welcome to the Cyber Saturday edition of Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily tech newsletter. Fortune reporter Robert Hackett here. You may reach me via Twitter, Cryptocat, Jabber (see OTR fingerprint on my about.me), PGP encrypted email (see public key on my Keybase.io), Wickr, Signal, or however you (securely) prefer. Feedback welcome.

THREATS

Always use (advanced) protection. Google debuted an opt-in mode for high-risk users who wish to lock down their accounts on services such as Gmail, Google Drive, and YouTube with extra security. (Paging John Podesta.) The feature requires people to log-in using a special USB key (or Bluetooth dongle for mobile devices), it prevents third-party applications from accessing your Google data, and it adds beefed up malware-scanning of incoming documents. This author plans to sign up.

Gather ’round the good stuff. Pizza Hut warned customers that their personal information and payment card data may be at risk after hackers gained access to the company’s website and app for a 28-hour period starting on Oct. 1. An estimated 60,000 customers are thought to have been impacted. The company is offering victims free credit monitoring for a year.

Unicorn? More like Duo-corn. Duo Security, a Mich.-based cybersecurity startup whose tools help companies manage people’s digital identities, said it raised $ 70 million at a $ 1.17 billion valuation (including the capital raised) this week. Th round catapults the firm into “unicorn” territory, the swelling ranks of private firms occupied by young guns valued at $ 1 billion or more. Alex Stamos, Facebook’s security chief, recently praised Duo as the maker of his favorite cybersecurity product.

KRACKing Wi-Fi. A couple of Belgian researchers published a paper containing proof of concept code that exploits vulnerabilities in the way cryptographic keys are exchanged over Wi-Fi, allowing hackers to steal people’s data. Big tech companies like Microsoft issued a patch for the so-called KRACK bug on Oct. 10, Apple is in the middle of testing patches for iOS and macOS, and Google, whose Android 6.0 devices are the most vulnerable, said it would release a patch in early Nov.

Cyber insurers are going to get Mercked. Cyber insurers might be on the hook to cough up $ 275 million to cover damage to drugmaker Merck as a result of a June cyber attack, dubbed “NotPetya,” according to one firm’s forecast. The companies at issue have not yet disclosed figures themselves.

Surprise! It is depressingly easy for penetration testers to break into places where they are not supposed to be.

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ACCESS GRANTED

Boycotts are hardly an option: To opt out of a credit score is to opt out of modern financial life itself. As Equifax’s now former CEO Richard Smith testified in October, if consumers were allowed to abandon the credit system, it would be “devastating to the economy.” The better answer is systemic reform to the credit oligopoly.

—Fortune’s Jeff John Roberts and Jen Wieczner explain what practical recourse consumers and regulators have when it comes to dealing with the major credit bureaus in the wake of a massive data breach at Equifax. 

ONE MORE THING

The adventures of John Titor.  Namesake of a bygone Internet hoax, “John Titor” claimed to be a man sent from the future to retrieve a portable computer. Titor sent faxes to an eccentric radio program, Coast to Coast AM, that specialized in the paranormal. Here’s an oral history of that running joke; the pseudo-scientific explanations of time travel are delightful.

Tech

Fed to step-up focus on payment security with study, working groups: Fed's Powell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve is stepping-up its focus on payment security as the industry reaches a “critical juncture” driven by new technologies, Federal Reserve board governor Jerome Powell said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a conference in New York, Powell said the U.S. central bank would early next year launch a study analyzing payment security vulnerabilities and also planned to create new working groups focused on reducing the industry costs associated with securing payments.

“Rapidly changing technology is providing a historic opportunity to transform our daily lives, including the way we pay. Fintech firms and banks are embracing this change, as they strive to address consumer demands for more timely and convenient payments,” said Powell.

“It is essential, however, that this innovation not come at the cost of a safe and secure payment system that retains the confidence of its end users.”

The Fed does not have complete authority over the U.S. payment system, but it has led industry efforts to make it faster and easier to use. The central bank also leads the 160-member Secure Payments Task Force.

Powell’s comments underline growing concerns among financial market participants and regulators about the risks cyber thieves pose to the financial system following a series of recent incidents.

Last year, SWIFT, the global financial messaging system, disclosed it had suffered hacking attacks on its member banks including the high-profile $ 81 million heist at Bangladesh Bank.

During that incident, hackers broke into the computers of Bangladesh’s central bank and sent fake payment orders, tricking the Federal Reserve Bank of New York into transferring the funds. [here]

Powell said on Wednesday new fintech payment companies posed “significant challenges to traditional banking business models” and that the payment system was reaching a “critical juncture.”

His comments echoed those of Barclays Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley who on Saturday warned payments would be the next battleground for banks amid increasing competition from fintech players and tech giants including Amazon and Facebook.

Reporting by Michelle Price; Editing by Chris Reese

Tech

Sophos expands cloud-managed security portfolio

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… renewable energy usage for our global infrastructure footprint." Additionally, the German company Cloud&Heat introduced a specially-designed cabinet to heat the homes of customers by placing cloud servers into private residences and harvesting the …
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?Evolved understanding: What 2015 holds for the cloud
My main hope for 2015 is that the industry can move on from the “What is the cloud, public clouds are good/bad, private clouds are good/bad” debate and essentially become more nuanced in our understanding. Generally the experience of 2014 is that most …
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This is due mainly to its dominance of the networking segment and its rapidly growing position in servers. HP increased its market share to almost 13% and continues to battle Cisco for cloud infrastructure leadership. HP is the market leader in cloud …
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Hackers exploit cloud to host C&C servers
Hackers are exploiting cloud infrastructure to launch cyber-attacks against governments and financial groups, according to the security company Blue Coat. Users of Apple, Android and Blackberry devices were all targeted by the advanced persistent …
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Open Is The New Tack: IBM, Google Using OpenPOWER To Advance Intel …
Intel INTC +2.28% builds the guts of most cloud and enterprise servers and remains without materially significant challengers, but that doesn't keep the competitors from trying. As I recently detailed, Intel's performance and market lead, while real …
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Computerworld's 2015 Forecast Predicts Security, Cloud Computing And …

Computerworld's 2015 Forecast Predicts Security, Cloud Computing And …
Cloud computing initiatives are the most important project for the majority of IT departments today (16%) and are expected to cause the most disruption in the future. IDG predicts the majority of cloud computing's disruption will be focused on …
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Take in the big cloud picture with this comprehensive text
Covering all cloud infrastructure topics from application architecture to operational excellence, this could become the cloud computing equivalent of the medical textbook "Gray's Anatomy." This work is the collected brainpower of authors Thomas …
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Amazon's New Cloud Prices Show That Google Is Now a Threat
Amazon just changed the way that it charges for some of its cloud computing services. This barely qualified as a major announcement—Amazon billed it as a “simplification” of its pricing policy—but to some observers, it was a sign of something big. It …
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Why the Cloud Foundry Foundation Is a Game-Changer
The evolution of open cloud computing, or Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), has brought forth a wide range of new options to IT infrastructure deployment. The provisioning of compute, storage and related network technologies that used to take …
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Pentagon Watchdog: DOD Stumbles in Cloud Computing Plan
In addition, the IG report states DOD failed to fully develop skills training for acquisition and contract specialists whose job is procuring cloud computing services and developing cloud service broker management capabilities. DOD components …
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The Biggest Thing in Cloud Computing Has a New Competitor
Docker is the hottest new idea in the world of cloud computing, a technology embraced by Silicon Valley's elite engineers and backed the industry's biggest names, including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. Based on technologies that have long powered …
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Dual Advantage Of Home Security Camera

Wireless home security camera is generally positioned in seconds, minus the worries and inconvenience of cabling. Wireless Video Security Cameras are numerous of the nearly all regular security tools and produce a superb advancement to the business or home security system.

They don’t require problematic cabling which makes it effortless to put in place and can be positioned in almost any position or place favored. Wireless cameras are possibly handier and can be placed in absolutely any type of area. They are often set in plain view to frighten a thief off or obscured in areas for discrete monitoring. Wireless home security camera system offered dual advantages any moment they are in comparison with other security systems. This sort of camera is worthwhile for you in responding to your home and family members, in addition it permits you to watch specific activities. This sort of security system is turning into superior every day.

Video Features: Video resolution is really a key thing to require while purchasing a home security camera. You want a camera which won’t be too costly but can still offer the video resolution you will need to view images and streaming video with simply a small amount of image ambiguities. Video can be sent by wireless to your receiver, the receiver after that connects to a TV, monitor, VCR or DVR. These types of cameras can be used pretty much anywhere you want to.

Hidden security camera often need to be able to capture functional pictures while recording in smaller light or zero light situations. There are night vision capable cameras for these kinds of conditions nevertheless with regards to the actual light quantities, and their predictability, a black and white surveillance camera might be enough. Outdoor models will need to have a housing and bracket that is certainly both water and corrosion resistant. The bracket ought to be fully adjustable, and there need to also be enough cable to reach the monitoring station.

Businesses have located security camera systems that aren’t running or possibly even facsimiles to reduce the chances of thieves besides other criminals. Businesses can easily see their shops every time.

This article has been written by the author, Craig Tims. Should you require any moresecurity cameraplease visit his hidden security camera resources!

Hidden Cameras For Use For Anything From Children To Spouses

Spy Cameras are becoming more and more popular. The city of London spent the equivalent of over $380 million for over 10,000 surveillance cameras. These cameras have proven successful in reducing crimes such as burglary, pick pocketing and purse-snatching, but haven’t done much to solve or prevent violent crimes such as rapes, armed robbery and murder.

There is even a school that issues notebook computers with built in web cams to students. They can turn the web cameras on any time they want to spy on the unsuspecting students.

Spy cameras can be found in offices, schools, home, and even vehicles. The main reason for a spy camera is to provide proof of something bad or illegal happening. Of course, there will always be the people who spy because they want to see what’s going on in someone’s personal life. This is very intrusive and just like any technology out there, spy cameras can be used for good and evil.

There are wireless and wired spy cameras. They can be found in the most unsuspicious places including pens and a button of a shirt.

If you use a wireless unit you must have a transmitter and a receiver. If you are using a spy camera that has a built in digital video recorder the camera is completely self contained. All you need for a wired camera is to hook it up to a video recorder or monitor.

Parents use spy cameras to keep an eye on their children while they are out. They also use them as nanny cams to make sure the nanny or babysitter is treating their children well and not drinking all their liquor.

Business owners use spy cameras to protective themselves from wrongful harassment lawsuits, to monitor employee productivity and reduce theft of merchandise and office products.

For spouses that think their significant other is cheating they can use these cameras to find out for sure.

Jak A Crone is a leading authority in Surveillance and Security and offers a wide selection of hidden cameras, nanny cams, home surveillance systems, and Digital Video Recording systems. If you ever ask yourself where do I buy surveillance devices, you now have a secure place to order.

Professional Dummy Cameras With Flashing LED Is Among Dependable Fake Security Cameras

The expense required in construction was so large that I was not very eager to invest much more for the building’s safety requirements. I realized we required to maintain the premises safe all the time so, whenever a buddy suggested using a professional dummy camera with flashing LED, I grabbed the idea immediately.

On the web, I was proven fake safety cameras are an affordable means of protecting a establishment. For the method to succeed, though, burglars and vandals shouldn’t have the ability to see the difference regarding the suggested dummy digital camera and a actual surveillance digital camera.

Fortunately for me, this professional dummy camera with flashing LED can make use of a real digital camera housing but without the camera within it. It comes total with a flashing LED light, a working video cable, a weatherproof aluminum housing and a totally versatile mounting bracket. The exterior elements you might discover on a genuine monitoring digital camera are present in this device.

Surveillance cameras serve to monitor areas where safety and protection are required, typically, in warehouses, parking lots and sports complexes. They are also installed in commercial establishments like stores and supermarkets to watch the actions of clients and employees in order to prevent theft.

Now, thieves generally carry out their criminal actions in a hurry. Once they catch sight of my professional dummy digital camera with flashing LED, they’ll not cease to examine regardless of whether or not it’s a working surveillance digital camera. With its red blinking LED, they’ll simply presume that it is functional and logging them at that moment.

Since fake security cameras are affordable devices for deterring thieves, they’re perfect for use in the entrances to homes and offices. I acquired one that’s a breeze to mount by utilizing stainless steel screws. The dimensions of this professional dummy camera with flashing LED are 10 x 4 x 4 inches. It’s powered by a C battery that will run it for 6 months.

Robbers are extremely likely to avoid any place where they are able to see a safety camera. The low-cost alternative for those on a tight budget but who have the need to protect their house would be fake safety cameras.

For the cost advantage, I purchased several units of this dummy camera and positioned these in strategic locations in my building. They can secure my property in the interim while I’m saving for the purchase of real surveillance cameras in the future.

Ember F Quartz is a respected expert in Surveillance and Security and carries a full line of hidden cameras and surveillance solutions. She provides full support and start up guidance for all the products.

A Baby Video Monitor Is A Truly Effective Nanny Spy Camera

My sister rarely had any extra time to do all of the household duties that awaited her, let alone nurture two small kids. I suggested to her to obtain assistance by hiring a nanny but emphasized she ought to in addition have a Baby Video Monitor to supervise the nanny.

A baby video monitor will serve as her nanny spy digital camera, so that she can see if the nanny is performing her job properly. My sister won’t be tied up with the kids all the time yet she will have the ability to protect and care for them constantly.

I recommended the Baby Monitor Concealed Digital camera specifically. It consists of a spy camera concealed in a toy dog along with a handheld portable LCD screen. The puppy nanny cam remains with the child while the handheld monitor will go with my sister. Anywhere she might be within the home, she can take a look at and listen to everything the nanny is engaging in along with her toddlers.

She can move around and perform her chores but still maintain an eye on the kids since this baby video monitor has a wireless range of 300 ft. The puppy concealed camera is run with a 9 volt battery and the LCD monitor requires three AAA batteries.

Hidden within the puppy toy is a 2.4 GHz wireless digital camera with a microphone. This nanny spy digital camera is equipped with a 1/3 inch CMOS color image sensor along with a video quality of 380 lines. Having its minimal illumination of one Lux and 3.6 mm wide angle lens, the images taken are going to be well-defined.

The remote receiver includes a 2.5 inch TFT LCD color monitor display with a resolution of 480×234. The view area on the monitor is really 2 inches high x 1.5 inches wide, with a illumination of 250 cd/sq.m. along with a contrast of 150:1. With such specifications, my sister will see distinctly on this child video monitor whatever the camera sees.

My recommended Child Monitor Hidden Camera makes use of a remote monitor with a view angle of 10 degrees up, 30 degrees down, 45 degrees left and 45 degrees down. This will permit my sister to check out a wider view of the location to keep an eye on her tykes from more versatile angles.

The portable monitor has dimensions of merely 5.5 x 2.75 x 1.25 inches. Along with its weight of only 250 grams, my sister won’t have problems toting it around the house while busy with work. With the usage of this nanny cam, my sister can protect her children and lessen the tension of child-rearing on herself.

Phil B Silberman is a leading authority on home security. He is skilled in utilizing the newest concepts in hidden cameras and surveillance systems. If you want to discover how to safeguard your children you will find many selections of nanny cams.

Looking For A Camera In A Pen Took Me To The Best Spy Spy Pen Camera With A DVR

You will find lots of reasons to desire a mini camera in a pen. I personally use one for seminars and courses so that I can capture the discussions for evaluation or transcribing later on.

I stumbled into a Spy Pen Camera with a DVR as I was looking on the Internet for a concealed surveillance system. Instantly, I was impressed with what it had to provide. Not just did it fit my essential requirements, it was also among the best recording gadgets that I have actually utilized.

This Spy Pen Digital camera with a DVR records in complete color, not some thing that I’d expect from just any camera in a pen. Usually, the other products that I’ve seen only supply grainy black and white or grayscale videos. Its audio is also among the very best since it may capture noises from as far away as 15 ft. This is very helpful when I am sitting in the center row during a conference.

All of its technical aspects are easy enough to understand that somebody as technologically challenged as myself wouldn’t have any issues. I simply need to push a button and it’ll start working. It has a built-in mini DVR so it may automatically record both audio and video without any additional hardware.

After obtaining the footage that I need, I still have to watch it on a computer and even this action is a breeze. My Spy Pen Camera with a DVR could be utilized on any system with a basic USB port. All I have to do is plug it in and it can auto-install by itself to most operating systems.

The main objective of a concealed camera in a pen is usually to be unnoticed. With this gadget, not even my co-worker would know that I have a camera on me. I can slip it easily in to the front of my shirt like an ordinary pen and aim the camera lens, that is 1/4 inch from the top of the pen, towards the speaker. It can in fact write so the illusion is not ruined.

Needless to say, I need my unknown digital camera in a pen to last for the whole lecture. With its built-in LI battery, it will go on recording for 2 to 3 hrs, just enough time for a speech to finish. Its two GB of provided memory guarantees that no second goes unrecorded.

I am glad that I considered purchasing this handy monitoring system. Regardless of if I’m attending a seminar in Texas, India or Maine, I have the all-around device needed to get the very best from every one.

Chuck F Dugherty is a leading authority in Surveillance and Security and carries a full selection of concealed cameras and surveillance systems. He provides total support and start up guidance for all the products.

Black And White Surveillance Camera

Wireless home security camera is often set up in seconds, without the concerns and inconvenience of cabling. Wireless Video Security Cameras are a few of the most usual security devices and set up a perfect enhancement to the company or home security system.

They do not have to have complex cabling which makes it very simple to constructed and can be located in any kind of location or location preferred. Wireless cameras are also more versatile and can be put in effectively any type of place. They are often placed in plain view to frighten a thief off or obscured in locations for discrete monitoring. Wireless home security camera system presented dual advantages any moment they are compared with other security systems. Such type of camera is valuable for you in responding to your home and family members, in addition it permits you to watch particular activities. This sort of security system is turning into superior each day.

Video Technical specs: Video resolution is really a key matter to need when buying a home security camera. You would like a camera which won’t be very costly but can still offer the video resolution you will need to view images and streaming video with just a small amount of image ambiguities. Video can be sent by wireless towards the receiver, the receiver there after connects to a TV, monitor, VCR or DVR. These kind of cameras can be put apparently anywhere you want to.

Hidden security camera usually ought to be able to capture useful images when recording in lowered light or no light situations. There are night vision capable cameras for these kinds of conditions but with regards to the actual light amounts, and their predictability, a black and white surveillance camera may be enough. Outdoor types should have a housing and bracket that is certainly both water and corrosion resistant. The bracket ought to be 100 % adjustable, and there ought to also be enough cable to reach the monitoring station.

Businesses have positioned video cameras that are not performing or sometimes facsimiles to defend against thieves besides other criminals. Business owners can simply see their own outlets every time.

This article has been written by the author, Craig Tims. Should you require any morePayday Advancesplease visit his Fast Payday resources!