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Set Top Boxes To Surveillance: Cisco Aims To Be IoT’s 600lb Gorilla

September 25, 2013 Paul Roberts

Cisco Systems is one of the biggest ecosystem players with its eyes trained on the Internet of Things. This makes sense. After all, the company made its fortune selling the gear – routers and switches – that make the Internet hum, and that helped extend Internet connectivity to homes and businesses. Along the way, Cisco has been aggressive about acquiring new and promising technologies that promise to grow its top line. took some bad turns – unsuccessfully branching into consumer electronics in 2009 with the acquisition of Pure Digital, maker of the Flip camcorder, and Linksys, a maker of home networking gear, in 2003. The company discontinued the Flip product and sold Linksys to Belkin earlier this year amid a major corporate shake-up designed to re-focus the company. Now, with the next wave (Cisco calls it the 4th) of Internet connectivity upon us – namely: the “Internet of Things” (or […]

FDA Will Regulate Some Apps As Medical Devices

September 24, 2013 Paul Roberts

In an important move, the U.S. Food And Drug Administration (FDA) has released final guidance to mobile application developers that are creating medical applications to run on devices like the iPhone and Android mobile devices. Some applications, it said, will be treated with the same scrutiny as traditional medical devices.* The statement is the final word from the FDA on the approach it will take when enforcing federal regulations regarding the safety of medical devices to the large and fast-growing category of medical applications. The agency said on Monday that, while it doesn’t see the need to vet “the majority of mobile apps,” because they pose “minimal risk to consumers,” it will exercise oversight of mobile medical applications that are accessories to regulated medical devices, or that transform a mobile device into a regulated medical device. In those cases, the FDA said that mobile applications will be assessed “using the same […]

Welcoming A New Sponsor: Mocana

September 17, 2013 Paul Roberts

You’ll notice some new artwork gracing The Security Ledger this week, and that’s because we’ve welcomed a new sponsor to the family: Mocana. I’d like to officially welcome them to the Security Ledger family. This is a big win for Security Ledger. Mocana will join Veracode, The Trusted Computing Group and Gemalto in underwriting The Security Ledger’s coverage of IT security news and the intersection of security with The Internet of Things (IoT). But we also win the support of a company that is all about IoT. If you haven’t already checked out Mocana, I’d urge you to do so. Launched in 2004, the company’s expertise is in securing non-traditional endpoints. Mocana’s Device Security Framework, a suite of device-resident security software that is embedded into devices during the manufacturing process. DSF is a platform that supports a wide range of security functions, both through Mocana-created security modules and support of other […]

Report: Cell Phone Data, Blackberry Mail Swept Up In NSA’s Net

September 8, 2013 Paul Roberts

Sensitive data from every major brand of cell phone can be captured and analyzed by the U.S. National Security Agency, (NSA) according to a report in the German magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday. Citing “top-secret, internal NSA documents viewed by SPIEGEL reporters, the magazine said that NSA security researchers have developed tools to sap contact lists, SMS traffic, notes and location information from popular devices such as Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android and Blackberry phones, including Blackberry e-mail, a supposedly secure system that is one of the phone’s most trumpeted features. The documents describe a large-scale and well-organized program within the NSA to obtain data from mobile devices, with discrete teams of security analysts working on a specific platform, developing malware that infiltrates the computers the phones “synch” with, and then loads scripts onto the phones that provide access to a range of other features. See Also: Secure e-mail firms […]

The Stylish Sensor: Canary Poised To Take Flight

August 16, 2013 Paul Roberts

We’re still in the early days of the fast-emerging Internet of Things, but we can already identify some areas where inexpensive, remote sensors and other IP-enabled stuff will be transformative. Entertainment is one – and we’re already seeing the emergence of “smart TVs” that upset traditional boundaries between personal computing devices and viewing devices. Another market that’s being shaken is the one for home security systems. Anyone who has visited an electronics store or discount warehouse has seen packages of inexpensive, wi-fi enabled cameras that can be used to monitor the goings-on in and about your home “Scarface style.” Those DIY systems pose a threat to firms like ADT, GE and Tyco, which have been selling home security systems and monitoring services for decades. But you’re really setting the “paranoia” bar pretty high if you want to ask someone to install all those cameras, wire them up and then monitor […]