Shocked to hear that Capital Pipeline paid over $4 million to ransomware attackers? Now Bloomberg reports that one of the largest insurance companies in the US, CNA, paid $40 million after a similar attack on its systems in March. The company refused to make any kind of detailed comment on the incident, saying only that it followed the law.
According to experts, that figure is larger than any ransom payout disclosed so far, made just as attacks have increased "exponentially" over the last few months. And with that money coming in, I wouldn't expect to see things slow down any time soon.
It's not a great feeling when a product shines a light on your deficiencies as an adult. Mat Smith, while putting Dyson's V15 Detect through its paces, came to realize his floors were pretty filthy. And they had probably been that way for a while. With a laser-attached cleaning head, and a particle counting sensor that adjusts the power of the vacuum to deal with messier spots, the V15 is a powerful, expensive stick vacuum. Continue reading.
Toyota's 2021 redesign of its hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, the Mirai, resulted in a more efficient and more stylish vehicle. The only issue is that without an established hydrogen fueling infrastructure, the Mirai is trapped in California. There are reasons to still be interested, though.
With a lower starting price of $50,000, which includes $15,000 (or six years, whichever comes first) of free fuel, it's tough to deny the Mirai's appeal if you happen to live next to a fueling station. Continue reading.
Overwatch 2 won't arrive until 2022 at the earliest, but it will change the way you play the hero shooter. New Game Director Aaron Keller announced the series is moving to a five-on-five player-versus-player format. You'll be losing one of your tank characters, so teams will consist of two damage dealers, two support heroes and a single tank. Continue reading.
Belkin's Soundform Connect aims to match the features of Google's Chromecast, but for Apple hardware. The $100 dongle can connect to any traditional home speaker and turn it into an AirPlay 2-compatible smart speaker you can cast audio to from iPhones and iPads running iOS 11.4 and iPadOS 11.4. What it has over existing Chromecasts, though, is the inclusion of a 3.5mm headphone jack, making it compatible with a huge array of speakers. Continue reading.
Snapchat just showed off its long-rumored augmented reality-enabled Spectacles. The latest glasses are the fourth iteration of Spectacles, but the first to have augmented reality features built in. CEO Evan Spiegel unveiled the new glasses at the company's annual Partner Summit event, saying they now have the ability to "realistically ground digital objects in the physical world."
There's a lot packed into these glasses: two cameras, four microphones, two stereo speakers and touchpad controls. The displays are "dual 3D waveguide displays," which allow the wearer to view and interact with AR elements. The Snapchat boss said the company has been testing the glasses with a handful of creators and artists. But unlike other versions of Spectacles, the new glasses aren't for sale — at least not yet. Continue reading.
Cybersecurity Execs Dissect the Colonial Pipeline Incident
IT experts at the hacked Colonial Pipeline did a good job in mitigating the May 7 cyberattack and successfully stopped it when discovered by shutting down the network. But the attack was mostly invisible in the weeks-long initial stages, according to a briefing NTT Security executives conducted Tuesday.
Research Exposes 10 Common Threats Vexing Cloud Customers
New research by threat detection and response firm Vectra AI shows that the most common threats to corporate networks remain consistent throughout all companies -- regardless of their size. Researchers calculated the relative frequency of threat detections that were triggered during a three-month span.
Cybercriminals are deliberately targeting phones, tablets, and Chromebooks to increase their odds of finding a vulnerable entry point. The Financial Services Threat Report from Lookout disclosed that 20 percent of mobile banking customers had a trojanized app on their devices when trying to sign into their personal mobile banking account.
For anyone that still believes that Apple can be more than an incredibly profitable company; but one you can also be proud of for how it treats its people and customers, incoming VP of worldwide communications Stella Low could be the critical remedy for what ails the firm. Let's talk about Apple this week. Then we'll close with the product of the week: the HP Elite Folio Notebook.
Two-Thirds of CISOs Admit They're Not Ready to Face a Cyberattack
The 2021 edition of Proofpoint's Voice of the CISO report -- based on a survey of more than 1,400 CISOs in 14 countries -- found 66 percent of the executives acknowledged their organizations were unprepared to handle a targeted cyberattack this year. In addition, more than half the CISOs admitted they are more concerned about the repercussions from a cyberattack this year than they were in 2020.
Alliances Formed to Plug Security Holes in the IoT
Advancements in 5G connectivity and accelerated digital transformation of business operations creates heightened risk and expanded attack surfaces for security teams to harden and protect. Now, efforts by several internet industry groups are...
Allow App to Track? Most iOS 14.5 Users Tap Fuggedaboutit!
More than 90 percent of U.S. users of the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system iOS 14.5 are taking advantage of a new feature to block an application's ability to track their activity on their phones. Worldwide, 88 percent of users...
Scholarship Opportunity | MS in Cyber Security | USD
University of San Diego is proud to announce the availability of limited scholarship funds for new students admitted to the M.S. in Cyber Security Operations and Leadership (CSOL) program for the Fall 2021 term.
Contact Center AI Explained by Pop Culture | eBook
What if learning Contact Center AI were as engaging as “Blade Runner”? If understanding how it works could be less painless than how it's portrayed in “2001: A Space Odyssey”?
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