Data breaches are becoming increasingly common – and damaging – as the need for companies to store data where it’s accessible online conflicts with the need to keep that same data safe from prying eyes. Here are some of the biggest breaches in the past couple of years.
Facebook
Facebook’s March data breach was one of the most infamous of 2018. A company known as Cambridge Analytica was discovered using an app that scraped user data from the social media platform. Initially, Cambridge Analytica claimed that only 30 million users were affected but Facebook was later able to confirm the number as at least 87 million. Even this number may be too low.
As if the Cambridge Analytica scandal wasn’t bad enough, other apps were also found to be scavenging data from the site. Facebook suffered an even more embarrassing breach later in the year when it was revealed that a glitch in the site’s own software was leaving user data exposed. This was hastily corrected but it’s not known how many Facebook users may have had their data compromised.
Lord & Taylor and Saks
Lord & Taylor came under fire a couple of years ago after a major data breach. A raft of credit card details and names was discovered up for sale on a hacker platform by a security firm. The information was traced back to two high-end department stores: Lord & Taylor and Saks. Both stores had suffered a total system compromise and anyone who’d used a payment card at either store was apt to have had their data stolen. Over five million customers were affected and one person initiated a class action lawsuit against Lord & Taylor on behalf of those whose financial details had been compromised.
MyHeritage
Online geneology sites are all the rage – but handing over so much personal data should give users pause, especially following the data breach at MyHeritage. In June of 2018, a file was found on a private server outside the company containing the emails and hashed passwords of every user who’d registered since the previous October.
This incident shows why making an effort to get the best IT support for your business should not be ignored. You really cannot afford to cut corners. It also highlights the importance of storing only encrypted passwords and keeping user data separate from login information. Because MyHeritage stored hashed passwords, the attackers could not log into the users’ accounts. They also lacked access to the geneological data — in fact, it appears that all they had was the email addresses. Any data breach for a company like MyHeritage is bad news, however.
Sacramento Bee
In one of the most dramatic data breaches of recent times, attackers seized control of two databases owned by the Sacramento Bee newspaper. One contained the personal details of the paper’s subscribers. Perhaps even more disturbingly, the other database consisted of voter registration data provided by the Government. The hackers demanded a huge ransom for the data, which the paper refused to pay. Instead, they took the step of deleting both databases from their servers so that a similar attack could not occur in the future. This was bolting the stable door after the horse was gone, however, as the attackers promptly publicised the information online.
Ticketfly
The Ticketfly attack is another example of a data breach where the initial motivation was blackmail rather than simple data theft. Ticketfly is an online ticketing service engaged in selling tickets for concerts and sporting events. Their website was hacked and taken down for over a week, disrupting their operation and making sales impossible. Things went from bad to worse when the attackers demanded a ransom and Ticketfly refused. The attackers responded by uploading the personal details of Ticketfly staff and users to the hacked website where they were publicly visible.
Avoiding data breaches is a matter of good security. Ensure that you and your staff are up to date on the latest social engineering tactics and that all your computer systems are properly updated, patched and protected by security software. There is no excuse for poor security in the current day and age and the impact of a data breach could be very grave indeed. In fact, a lot of businesses underestimate the consequences. However, just think about the reputational damage and the money lost because of fraud losses, fines, and the cost of fixing the vulnerability and repairing your reputation. So, no matter whether your business is big or small, prioritizing security is of huge importance.
Many businesses will now need or want an app. Not because they know what to do with one, but just because it sounds pretty cool for a company say we have an app.
But that can change if you put the time and effort into working with a company which uses a process like design sprint. You can then firm up your idea and turn it into something achievable.
Of course, the chances are you have never built an app before, and it can appear very challenging. But if you work with the right company and you have a clear idea, there are no limits to what you can create.
But here are some considerations before you get involved with a professional company.
Problem-solving & Goals
Almost every product is designed and brought to life because they’re a means of solving a problem for somebody. The vacuum, for example, was a much faster way to sweep, and now you’ll be hard pushed to find a home that doesn’t have one. Whatsapp started as a free form of group communication, and now almost every single mobile phone has it. In both these cases, they solve the problem for the consumer.
Depending on what your business is, you’ll have the option to market your app B2B or to the general public. You need to consider a few issues that face both markets while doing your research. And it should be noted that almost all apps have some similar functions and purposes. So it’s all about extra functionality and how smoothly it runs – value, value and more value.
Research
You need to understand what people enjoy using and how they use things. If you want to create something with minimal options, then you have to make sure that each of those options is easy to access, the primary function of every application should be evident.
Considerations:
Find design inspiration
Consider technical aspects
Marketing and monetisation
Test other apps
While you are searching for some inspiration and functionality, make sure that you don’t end up trying to design something too close to the competition. Just remember that there are very few brand-new ideas, it’s more like older ideas are improved upon.
Sketches
Even if you are absolutely terrible at art, sit down with pen and paper and consider what your app is going to look like to the user. This might take a few tries before you get something that you think will work. Screenshots of all the apps you like, images, you can even mock some copy up.
This will just help you get a feel for how your users are going to experience your application, and how it’s going to look. Of course, you can bring this to the company that we are working with to build your app, and they will be able to guide you as to the best layout that you can use.
The goal of this is for you to be able to research and understand how and why people use applications, and why that would be applicable to your business. By cementing your ideas when you finally approach an app-building company, they’ll get a feel for the direction you’re going, and you’ll get an app that you’ll be proud of.
It is a harsh world in the technology industry. A fast-paced market with many players contending from within. So, it begs the question, how can someone become successful in such a market, when it is so busy and so fast-paced?
Innovate
To be successful in any market, you need to be able to innovate. Keep up with the times and passing trends. Without this, you could be left behind and seen as old and ‘uncool’. Companies like Apple are prime examples of this. Taking something old, like the phone, and reinventing it. It is not an invention, as there have been phones for many decades previous, but the iPhone was an innovation that has to help them keep ahead of the game in the technology market. Televisions are also a prime example. No longer are there one or two channels broadcasting for a couple of minutes per day. Hundreds of channels. There have been 3D televisions, with companies like American Paper Optics that have been able to create businesses and markets through innovations like these.
When a company doesn’t possess creativity, then it cannot possess innovation. Both need to be present to work, the ying and the yang. Many in the business world, truly believe that mixing creative practices in the business world will hinder the company, but this could not be further from the truth. One of the most expensive parts of a company is the employees that it has underneath it. One way for a company to be more creative and then hence improve its ability to innovate is to include its employees in landmark decisions for the company. Or, if there are no big decisions being made, just asking the employees what should happen and getting their perspective is crucial in creating and maintaining a culture of innovation within a technology company. Google, Apple, even Microsoft, and others, are all embracing the ‘Open’ and ‘innovative’ co-working spaces in their head offices. Collaborations and an Open culture all lead to innovation, and when a company loses its ability to innovate, it finds itself quite quickly out of a market it could have once dominated.
Simplicity, yet standing out. In a market full of noise and players, it is important to stand out. However, sometimes when it comes to marketing and brand image, less is more. Overly complicated marketing can confuse an audience, and in the world of instant with instant messaging and deliveries in the digital age, attention span is slim. Marketing needs to tell the message right away, no clutter and no jargon, in order to grab the attention of the audience and then start to introduce them to your business.
Have a Strategy
Last but not least, you need a strategy. Because of the fast-paced market, you need to be able to plan and have a strategy of how you are going in the next few months, the next year, the next five years, and be highly efficient. Successful companies, when they release the current brand new phone model, the next two years’ worth of phone generations are already hitting research and development, and most likely have prototypes that will eventually lead to mass production in the years to come. It doesn’t always have to be so large scale, but the lesson is strategy.
So, this is a small guide on how to be successful in the technology industry, have you got what it takes?
Since the introduction of the steam engine, we have seen
centuries of progress and innovation birth multiple industrial revolutions. In
2011, we began seeing the latest iteration, initially known as
“Industry 4.0.” As we enter its second decade, it maintains such
momentum to keep the spark of revolution relevant because of ideals and
advancements finally being executed in the commercial realm.
The Fourth Power
Industry 4.0 sees manufacturing technology,
cognitive computing, artificial intelligence, and more, as the essential
horsemen bring about the new face of industrialization. Everything is becoming
more automated, and the integration of technology affects multiple industries
in ways unheard of before.
This burgeoning connectivity between machines, equipment,
and physical worlds translated into the cyber realm has created what is coined
as the “industrial internet of things.” It is happening at a faster
rate than ever, with the speed of technological advancements accelerating in
recent years and continuing to do so toward the future. According to Moore’s
Law, computer processing speed is doubling every year and a half- and the data
shows that it may even be exceeding that growth exponentially.
The new industrial revolution takes concepts previously
hinted at during 3.0, expanding them and turning them into reality. We see this
with network connections integrated into commercial systems and machinery that
can communicate with each other and execute functions more efficiently and with
more flexibility than before.
I Am Robot
Robotics are among the chief advancements that mark this
era’s growth and progress. Big data, response times and reactions, and more
capability are shifted with this new generation of machinery, and computer
automation is allowing industries to reach unprecedented production numbers.
An advancement seen in this sector is the rise of the
collaborative robots, or “cobots,” that are not only able to work
with other machines of their likeness but also efficiently function in
congruence with humans. They are automated, so they don’t need manual
operators. But they can do their own tasks within an environment that has
people in it.
This collaborative hardwiring makes these robots core team
members in the production line. That makes for more intuitive operations that
lessen errors and manufacturing costs while leading to a marked increase in
quality for products finished and mobility achieved.
Getting Smart
The creation of the “smart factory” is a product
of digitization combined with robotics and existing systems that can be
improved. As computer systems and codes are implemented in the core workings of
a factory, robots are then integrated to execute the programs that have been
created.
That means daily tasks are mapped out, but automation allows
for adjustment in the event of unexpected circumstances or minor changes. The
integration of programmed machine intelligence will enable them to react
properly while getting the job done. That meets the era’s goal of more
sustainability, as this allows for more energy efficiency and cost management.
As continuing advancement changes the way our
factories and industrialized environments work, it’s exciting to see where this
era will take civilization and machinery.
If you thought that Moore’s law was dead, then Jim Keller, Intel’s lead chip designer, has news for you. He says that we’re still a long way off from the limits of silicon, and he wants to prove it.
In 1965, Intel founder and computer legend Gordon Moore observed that the number of transistors you could fit onto a chip doubled every couple of years or so. He thought that the trend might continue running for a decade or so, but it kept going, ushering in the modern technological age that we enjoy today. In 2015, Moore’s law celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Boffins and physicists pointed out, however, that eventually, you’d reach a hard limit imposed by the laws of physics. As you enter a smaller and smaller scales, quantum uncertainty takes over, and it becomes more challenging to prevent short circuits. Due to quantum effects, electrons can hop from one transistor to another, even if they are closed off from each other with solid material. This process causes chips to heat up and parse information less efficiently, harming their performance.
Ten years ago, many people in the industry believed that Moore’s law would run out of steam by 2020 – the year we’re in right now. But there’s been some push back against this idea from people in the industry. They claim that we’re a long way from maxing out silicon and that there are plenty of things that we can do to prevent stagnation.
Denser Gates
Jim Keller points out that there are several reasons to be optimistic. One of those is the fact that chip makers, like Intel, are now finding ways to make gates denser on CPUs without the electron leak problem. Keller believes that his firm can improve gate density by 50X, potentially overhauling the performance characteristics of CPUs entirely. Firms like Interbyte could see their orders shooting up from companies that need faster, more powerful servers.
3D Stacking
Then there’s the idea that if engineers can’t pack any more transistors onto a flat surface, they can try layering them on top of each other.
We’ve already seen this kind of thing in other areas, such as 3D NAND flash memory and high-bandwidth memory on some AMD graphics cards. So it is only a matter of time before it makes its way into the computing world.
Sure, it might require a lot of retooling, but that is something that Intel and others have been doing for many years, and there’s no sign that they’re keen to stop.
Graphene
Silicon is the material of choice for the semiconductor industry, but graphene is even more promising. The reason for this is that the carbon-based substance is able to conduct electricity with practically no resistance. This property means that is doesn’t heat up like traditional copper wires, meaning that it could replace them in chips.
Sure – graphene-based tech is a long way away – but it could mean that CPUs have higher clock speeds – perhaps as high as 100 GHz.
There’s a hidden safety feature that not all drivers enable when beginning to drive on the road, no matter if they ride a motorcycle, drive a car, or maneuver a HGV. It’s a safety feature that is free to gain, but you must develop it yourself. It’s also a safety feature that can be easy to forget if you’re in a rush, or if you lose your cool when experiencing negative driving habits from other road users that day.
This safety feature is your attitude. It’s a malleable object very easy to lose control of or ignore, but doing so will only lead you to be ever-more-likely to encounter trouble when driving. However, carefully curating it, and following important guidelines to this end will allow you to become a safer driver no matter what age you are or how skilled you may be.
We all know that refreshing our road theory knowledge (such as reminding ourselves of obscure road traffic signs from time to time) is worth our attention, but every time we drive it can also be worth taking a few seconds to get your headspace calibrated for your upcoming driving pursuit.
Here are the four attitudes you may wish to keep hold of to keep you safer on the roads:
You Can Never Predict Other Drivers
Unfortunately, no matter how careful you are, accurately predicting the driving habits of other road users is nigh-on impossible. A driver you have been traveling behind for five minutes may have kept exemplary road practice only to fall asleep at the wheel at the last moment you are expecting it, causing you to veer off course to move out of harms way. You simply cannot predict when and where something will happen. Traveling on the highway safely for three hours could be perfectly fine, only to have a truck in front of you blow a tire, forcing you into defensive driving procedures to get around them.
This fact is not intended to scare you, but to keep you alert. Prepare for the unexpected. Rest well before driving. Never drive with alcohol in your system. Ensure your vehicle is well maintained before setting off. This will help you when you need to be the most careful, and you’ll thank yourself for doing so. Even if you never encounter so much as a incompetent driver on the roads (unlikely), this lifelong effort will have been worth it. After all, financial insurance is important, but physical insurance is priceless.
Road Rage Is Never Worth It
Road rage is never worth the cost of venting your emotions. It just isn’t. Even ‘flipping the bird’ or shouting in your car can escalate the situation. Not only may this leave you arguing with someone in a live driving situation, but it will take your eye off the road. Who knows if someone cutting you up has also affected another road user, and they’re now annoyed and angry, contributing to your lack of safety on the roads? It’s worth asking these questions because we can never really understand how or why certain scenarios may get out of hand. To that end, don’t be the cause of that scenario.
Financial Security = Peace Of Mind
It’s important to protect your financial wellbeing when on the roads, not only because it’s a legal requirement, but because knowing you’re well-covered will grant you appropriate peace of mind on the roads. Perhaps being well-covered is an essential component fundamental to driving law, but it’s also nice to know that you haven’t been price-gouged when finding a package to suit you. A little research can be worthwhile. For instance, it’s worth knowing who has cheap motorcycle insurance appropriate to your particular needs and driving requirements, as you may be able to avoid paying over the odds for being protected. While careful driving can pay dues in regards to your safety, financial diligence and research can positively affect your driving budget.
You’re Only As Skilled As Your Last Drive/Ride
Remember that you’re only ever as skilled as your last drive or ride. It only takes one accident or one mistake to cause mayhem or put yourself in harms way. Each day you drive, and each driving session you have, you must recommit yourself to these principles. You may view yourself as a great driver, but how well will you drive today? That’s all that matters, and all that will ever matter.
With this advice, we hope you can adopt the best four attitudes that will keep you safe on the roads.
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