Tag: privacy

The Art of Stealing Terabytes | Digital Guardian

There are many superlatives to describe the hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment. It has been called the “worst” and “most destructive” hack of all time. It has been likened to a nuclear bomb. It has been called an act of cyber warfare. But, behind all the hyperbole, the Sony hack is just another hack – albeit a bad one. And like any other cyber crime, there are questions about the ‘whys’ and ‘how’s’ of the Sony hack that have yet to be answered to anyone’s satisfaction. Chief among them: how the attackers were able to sneak terabytes of data off of Sony’s corporate network without being noticed. [Read more Security Ledger coverage of the Sony Pictures Hack here.] The sad truth may be that making off with terabytes worth of data may be easier than you think. Like you, I found this notion preposterous. But an informal poll of  respected security experts that […]

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No IoT Adoption? Security and Privacy Fears may be the Reason

As the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) rages in Las Vegas this week, its tempting to look at the reports about connected devices and wonder when it is, exactly, that the tsunami of smart devices, wearable tech and intelligent appliances will finally wash over us. But it might be even more useful to wonder why – given all the hype- we haven’t been washed out to sea already by the IoT wave. A recent article in Adweek calls attention to one leading theory about why the IoT isn’t gaining traction with everyday consumers: consumer worries about privacy and the security of data. The Adweek article (and groovy infograph) make hay out of a case study by Affinnova, a marketing technology firm that was acquired by Nielsen. The study asked consumers to evaluate “more than 4 million product concept variations and identify the most desired products and functions.” The goal: insight into consumer preferences as well […]

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Senator Warns of DHS Struggle with Cyber Security

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) used his final days in office to warn that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is struggling to fulfill its mission to protect the nation from cyber attack. The report, “A Review of the Department of Homeland Security’s Missions and Performance,” (PDF) was released on Saturday, as the retiring Senator from Oklahoma was leaving office. In it, the outgoing Senator said that DHS’s strategy and programs “are unlikely to protect us from the adversaries that pose the greatest cybersecurity threat.” The warnings on DHS cyber operations were part of a larger critique of the Department in the report, in which Coburn called on reforms of Homeland Security focused on accountability and streamlining. Despite spending $700 million annually on a range of cybersecurity programs, Coburn said it is hard to know whether the Department’s efforts to assist the private sector in identifying, mitigating or remediating cyber […]

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Wearable Cameras Birth A New Biometric

  Wearable technology is a burgeoning category, and products like Google Glass and smart watches are just the beginning. As with mobile phones, on-board cameras are sure to be de rigueur. But, as this article over at The Verge notes, those cameras will present new challenges (for privacy) and new opportunities (for security). Specifically: cameras coupled with your body seem to create new kinds of opportunities to uniquely identify you. One example: gait biometrics. The Verge notes recent research published by Professor Shmuel Peleg and Yedid Hoshen of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Those researchers created a way to identify first-person filmmakers based on the signature wobble of their cameras. The identity of the user can be determined “quite reliably from a few seconds of video,” the researchers write in their paper. [Interested in biometrics and wearables? Check out our article “Are Wearables the Future of Authentication?“] “The idea of distinguishing one person from […]

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Clues Point to Long-Duration Hack at Sony

With each passing day, evidence mounts that the attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment was a long-duration hacking event that gave malicious actors extensive access to the company’s network and data. The hack started out looking like a particularly nasty example of hacktivism – with thousands of SPE systems wiped of all data. Going on two weeks after revelations of the hack, however, the incident appears to be something much more dire: a massive breach of corporate security that gave malicious attackers access to gigabytes – and possibly terabytes- of sensitive data. With only a fraction of the allegedly stolen data trove released, the ripple effects of the incident are already washing up against other Sony divisions and firms with direct or indirect ties to the company. The latest developments in the saga include publication of some 40 gigabytes of internal files. As described by buzzfeed.com, the files include: “email exchanges with employees regarding specific […]

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