reputation

A Bitcoin

Bitcoin Blockchain: A New Foundation for Online Trust?| NYTimes

The New York Times has a really interesting story on the rise of Bitcoin’s “blockchain” technology as the foundation of a whole new wave of start-ups and applications – some of which could have big implications for Internet of Things. From the article: “As Bitcoin’s price has declined over the last year, critics have been quick to declare the virtual currency dead. Bitcoin’s true value, though, might be not in the currency itself but in the engine that makes it possible. Underlying Bitcoin — created as a way to make payments directly, anonymously and outside government control — is the block chain, a decentralized database that is driven by cryptography.” While the future of Bitcoin as a form of digital “cash” is uncertain, block chain is turning out to be a very useful technology for a variety of purposes – from streamlining financial transactions online to vouching for the authenticity of […]

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The Deadly Game of Cyber Mis-Attribution | Digital Guardian

In-brief: Tools to attribute cyber attacks are still primitive – leading to potentially damaging mis-identification. (This post first appeared on the Digital Guardian blog.)

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Infographic: After A Year of Breaches, Are Retailers More Secure?

After a year in which some of the U.S.’s top retailers found themselves on the wrong side of sophisticated, cyber criminal hacking groups, you may be tempted to search for a silver lining. Maybe the up side of all the attacks on retail networks and point of sale systems is an improved security posture overall? After all: if your neighbors to the left and right have their house broken into, you may well beef up your locks and alarms, even if your house hasn’t been targeted. Or, at least, that’s how the thinking goes. But Boston-based BitSight took a look at how the retail sector is faring security-wise as 2014 draws to a close. BitSight is an interesting company. They market a kind of reputation monitoring service: assessing security posture for companies by observing how they look from the outside. Think of it as a kind of Experian or TransUnion for security. […]

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With $200k Fine, FTC Finds Trust-e Not Very Trusty

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission fined TRUSTe, a for profit organization that is a leading provider of online reputations, $200,000 for misleading consumers about its web site monitoring services. On Monday, the Commission announced a settlement with TRUSTe over allegations that the company failed to perform annual compliance checks on more than 1,000 domains that earned its TRUSTe Certified Privacy Seal” between 2006 and 2013. The company also acknowledged making misleading statements about its for-profit status. “TRUSTe promised to hold companies accountable for protecting consumer privacy, but it fell short of that pledge,” said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez in an official statement. “Self-regulation plays an important role in helping to protect consumers. But when companies fail to live up to their promises to consumers, the FTC will not hesitate to take action.” TRUSTe is a critical player in the online trust business. The company provides seals to businesses that meet […]

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vArmour

With $42m Invested, vArmour uncloaks with Software Defined Security

In the old days, startups would pull together funding from a small group of early “angel” investors and rush to get a product – any product- to market as soon as possible. The idea was to prove viability in the hopes of attracting larger investments that would let you actually develop the product you really want to sell. But that doesn’t work well for companies that want to solve really hard problem. Such projects, justifiably, need a longer runway that isn’t suited to vaporware or rapid product iteration. vArmour Networks, a Mountain View-based startup that emerged from “stealth” mode yesterday, is a good example of that latter kind of start-up. The company has already raised $42 million in three rounds, dating back to January, 2013. It is offering technology to tackle a vexing product: how to secure the information flowing within and between the growing ranks of virtual data centers. With […]

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