Cybercrime as a Service Impacts Hotel Industry and Loyalty Points
February 4, 2016
The marketplaces of the Dark Web provide an interesting case study in innovation. Three types of Dark Web fraud aimed at the hotel industry, for example, was recently published on Cybel Blog. Delving into the types of cybercrime related to the hospitality industry, the article, like many others recently, discusses the preference of cybercriminals in dealing with account login information as opposed to credit cards as detectability is less likely. Travel agencies on the Dark Web are one such way cybercrime as a service exists:
“Dark Web “travel agencies” constitute a third type of fraud affecting hotel chains. These “agencies” offer room reservations at unbeatable prices. The low prices are explained by the fact that the seller is using fraud and hacking. The purchaser contacts the seller, specifying the hotel in which he wants to book a room. The seller deals with making the reservation and charges the service to the purchaser, generally at a price ranging from a quarter to a half of the true price per night of the room. Many sellers boast of making bookings without using stolen payment cards (reputed to be easy for hotels to detect), preferring to use loyalty points from hacked client accounts.”
What will they come up with next? The business to consumer (B2C) sector includes more than hotels and presents a multitude of opportunities for cybertheft. Innovation must occur on the industry side as well in order to circumvent such hacks.
Megan Feil, February 4, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Bing Clocks Search Speed
February 4, 2016
Despite attempts to improve Bing, it still remains the laughing stock of search engines. Google has run it over with its self-driving cars multiple times. DuckDuckGo tagged it as the “goose,” outran it, and forced Bing to sit in the proverbial pot. Facebook even has unfriended Bing. Microsoft has not given up on its search engine, so while there has been a list of novelty improvements (that Google already did or copied not long after their release) it has a ways to go.
Windows Central tells about the most recent Bing development: a bandwidth speed test in “Bing May Be Building A Speed Test Widget Within Search Results.” Now that might be a game changer for a day, until Google releases its own version. Usually to test bandwidth, you have to search for a Web site that provides the service. Bing might do it on command within every search results page. Not a bad idea, especially if you want to see how quickly your Internet runs, how fast it takes to process your query, or if you are troubleshooting your Internet connection.
The bandwidth test widget is not available just yet:
“A reader of the site Kabir tweeted a few images displaying widget like speed test app within Bing both on the web and their phone (in this case an iPhone). We were unable to reproduce the results on our devices when typing ‘speed test’ into Bing. However, like many new features, this could be either rolling out or simply A/B testing by Microsoft.”
Keep your fingers crossed that Microsoft releases a useful and practical widget. If not just go to Google and search for “bandwidth test.”
Whitney Grace, February 4, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Multimedia Data Mining
February 3, 2016
I read “Knowledge Discovery using Various Multimedia Data Mining Technique.” The write up is an Encyclopedia Britannica type summary of the components required to make sense of audio and video.
I noted this passage:
In this paper, we addressed data mining for multimedia data such as text, image, video and audio. In particular, we have reviewed and analyzed the multimedia data mining process with different tasks. This paper also described the clustering models using video for multimedia mining.
The methods used by the systems the author considered use the same numerical recipes which most search vendors know, love, rely upon, and ignore the known biases of the methods: Regression, time series, etc.
My take away is that talk about making sense of the flood of rich media is a heck of a lot easier than processing the video uploaded to Facebook and YouTube in a single hour.
The write up does not mention companies working in this farm yard. There are some nifty case studies to reference as well; for example, Exalead’s video search and my touchstone, Google YouTube and Google Video Search. Blinkx (spun out of Autonomy, a semi famous search outfit) is a juicy tale as well.
In short, if you want to locate videos, one has to use multiple tools, ask people where a video may be found, or code your own solution.
Stephen E Arnold, February 3, 2016
Watson Weekly: Cognitive Insurance
February 3, 2016
IBM ran an ad with the headline “Cognitive Insurance.” You can find the ad in the February 1, 2016, New York Times. The secondary headline is “Outthink Storms,” which is rendered in the favorite colors of some color blind males, shades of green. The main hook “Cognitive Insurance” is in green. I had to look a couple of times to spot the phrase in the upper right hand corner of the image.
What’s interesting to me is that the ad seems to display those nifty isobars I encountered in a science class decades ago. My hunch is that the gale force winds of the Weather acquisition are ruining the coifs of the IBM public relations and advertising wizards.
The phrase has been used by IBM as well as an outfit called “Cognitive-Insurance” at www.cognitive-insurance.org, which to my dismay would not render. No 404. Just a blank page. I saw a couple of references to presentations by various experts.
But No mention of Watson, which I find interesting. Perhaps IBM has decided that Sherlock’s sidekick and the various uses of the word by swimming pool companies, furniture stores, and universities is a bit of an issue.
So cognitive insurance it is. I assume that IBM Watson’s team will make a bee line to Los Angeles where weather has been semi exciting.
Stephen E Arnold, February 3, 2016
Google Chestnuts: Page as Shakespeare
February 3, 2016
I read “20 Inspirational Larry Page Quotes.” I need to be inspired. A company based on GoTo/Overture “inspiration” is equipped to offer guidance and maybe hope.
Alphabet, the new name for Google which still exists, embraces Loon balloons, the challenge of “solving death,” and the UK tax dust up. Each of these is, in its own way, inspirational.
Here are three quotes which soon may appear on AllPosters.com motivational posters store front.
On Alphabet Google’s work (which includes selling ads): “I do think there is an important artistic component in what we do. As a technology company I’ve tried to really stress that.”
On anti trust and collusion among competitors regulations: ““Big companies have always needed and cooperated in areas where it made sense.”
On corporate governance and management oversight: “We don’t have as many managers as we should, but we would rather have too few than too many.”
Words to live by.
Stephen E Arnold, February 3, 2016
The Enterprise and Online Anonymity Networks
February 3, 2016
An article entitled Tor and the enterprise 2016 – blocking malware, darknet use and rogue nodes from Computer World UK discusses the inevitable enterprise concerns related to anonymity networks. Tor, The Onion Router, has gained steam with mainstream internet users in the last five years. According to the article,
“It’s not hard to understand that Tor has plenty of perfectly legitimate uses (it is not our intention to stigmatise its use) but it also has plenty of troubling ones such as connecting to criminal sites on the ‘darknet’, as a channel for malware and as a way of bypassing network security. The anxiety for organisations is that it is impossible to tell which is which. Tor is not the only anonymity network designed with ultra-security in mind, The Invisible Internet Project (I2P) being another example. On top of this, VPNs and proxies also create similar risks although these are much easier to spot and block.”
The conclusion this article draws is that technology can only take the enterprise so far in mitigating risk. Reliance on penalties for running unauthorized applications is their suggestion, but this seems to be a short-sighted solution if popularity of anonymity networks rise.
Megan Feil, February 3, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
The Encrypted Enterprise Search
February 3, 2016
Another enterprise software distributor has taken the leap into a proprietary encrypted search engine. Computer Technology Review informs us that “VirtualWorks Releases Its Encrypted Enterprise Search Platform ViaWorks Built On Hitachi Technology.” VirtualWorks’s enterprise search platform is called ViaWorks and the company’s decision to release an encrypted search engine comes after there has been a rise in data security breaches as well as concern about how to prevent such attacks. We will not even mention how organizations want to move to the cloud, but are fearful of hacking. More organizations from shopping in person on the Internet, banking, healthcare, government, and even visiting a library use self-service portals that rely on personal information to complete tasks. All of these portals can be hacked, so trade organizations and the government are instituting new security measures.
Everyone knows, however, that basic rules and a firewall are not enough to protect sensitive information. That is why companies like VirtualWorks stay one step ahead of the game with a product like ViaWork built on Hitachi’s Searchable Encryption technology. ViaWorks is a highly encrypted platform that does not sacrifice speed and accuracy for security
“ViaWorks encrypted enterprise search features are based on AES, a worldwide encryption standard established by NIST; special randomization process, making the encrypted data resistant to advanced statistical attacks; with key management and encryption APIs that store encryption keys securely and encrypt the original data. ViaWorks provides key management and encryption APIs that store encryption keys securely and encrypt the original data, respectively. Users determine which field is encrypted, such as index files, search keyword or transaction logs.”
VirtualWorks already deployed ViaWorks in beta tests within healthcare, government, insurance, and finance. Moving information to the cloud saves money, but it presents a security risk and slow search. A commercial encrypted search engine paired with cloud computing limits the cyber risk.
Whitney Grace, February 3, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
UK Tax and Google: Cue Sinatra Singing Regrets, I Have a Few
February 2, 2016
This corporate tax thing is pretty exciting. I recall that in some of my early jobs, corporate taxes were mostly routine. Halliburton had a system, and it seemed to work in a swell way.
I read “Google Tax Deal ‘Not a Glorious Moment’, says Minister.” According to the write up:
Business secretary Sajid Javid says he shared Britons’ sense of injustice as criticism grows of agreement with tech firm.
Confused? I am. The “real” news story revealed:
The admission by the business secretary, Sajid Javid, came as a senior executive from Google claimed he could not say how much UK profit has been generated by the technology firm in the past decade, or how many meetings had been held between the company’s executives and ministers. It follows the announcement nine days ago that the government came to an agreement with Google in which £130m will be paid in back taxes covering the past decade.
I thought that Googlers used Google’s cloud services for calendaring, spreadsheets, and the like. I thought that it was easy for Google services users to check out who met whom and when. I thought is was pretty easy to set up an updating spreadsheet which calculated the tax owed on certain revenue items.
I obviously was wrong. That happens a lot.
The British government which strives to appear organized is apparently confused. I learned:
Peter Barron, head of communications at Google across Europe, told the Andrew Marr Show he could not answer questions about Google’s profits over the past decade despite reports that it had made £7.2bn and therefore is paying less than 3% in corporation tax on its UK profits.
The sums strike me as trivial. For example, I learned:
Google is expected to announce on Monday that it has amassed £30bn of profits from non-US sales in Bermuda, where companies are not liable to pay corporation tax. The UK is Google’s largest non-US market, accounting for 11% of its global revenues, according to documents filed in America. The Observer revealed that the UK government has been privately lobbying the EU to remove Bermuda from an official blacklist. Barron said the arrangement in Bermuda had no impact on the amount of tax it pays in the UK. “It’s very, very important to make it clear that the Bermuda arrangement has absolutely no bearing on the amount of tax that we pay in the UK. No bearing whatsoever,” he said. When asked how much of the £30bn may have come from the UK, he said: “I don’t know the answer, I haven’t got the answer [at] my fingertips, except I would say that about 10% of global revenues come from the UK.”
Like Google’s position regarding the alleged problems with its self driving cars, humans are making problems. I believe it. Troublesome humans. Use algorithms.
Stephen E Arnold, February 2, 2016
Bing Rings the Cash Register
February 2, 2016
I read a fascinating story about Bing, Microsoft’s search system which does not include the Fast Search & Transfer goodies in SharePoint Search. Yeah, I know it is confusing.
The write up “Microsoft Corporation Makes Big Bucks with Bing: Cloud Is the Future.” Web search has been, as far as I know, a cloud service for more than a decade. Set that aside.
The important point is:
Microsoft Bing search engine grew by 21% in 2QFY16, emerges as a potent threat to Google.
Poor Google. First, it was the presence of Qwant (what? you don’t remember Qwant?) now it is Bing. Doom looms it seems.
The write up reports in “real” journalistic rhetoric:
Microsoft’s search engine advertising revenues excluding traffic acquisitions cost increased by 21% in the second quarter of fiscal year 2016 (2QFY16). … The software giant is expected to continue its growth in the coming quarters, although what is more important is that Bing will continue to remain profitable and gain shares in the foreseeable future.
I like that “is expected.” Is this a Bing prediction?
I noted this passage:
The software giant is making recognizable efforts to evolve from a Windows-dependent organization to a “cloud-first, mobile-first” company. Microsoft seems to be doing well with its cloud business and making a profit from its Office 365, as well. Users of Windows 10 are also on the rise. Interestingly enough, for these users, Bing-driven Cortana is a very important feature which helps the service generate significant revenue growth to bolster the slipping Windows revenues.
But the kicker for me was the statement:
… Popular speculation suggests that Bing is just a minor detail once you take into account Microsoft’s prospects regarding its position in the upcoming cloud business which it has invested heavily in; and rightly so as the cloud services segment has added indefinite value to the company’s stock.
But isn’t Bing a cloud service? I am confused but the Bing/Fast Search set up is a baffler as well.
Yep, the new Microsoft. And Windows phone? Hmmm.
Stephen E Arnold, February 2, 2016
Watson, Whither Weather?
February 2, 2016
i read “IBM Closes Weather Co. Purchase, Names David Kenny New Head of Watson Platform.” Big news. Watson is a platform and there is a new big rainmaker in charge of the alleged $10 billion revenue machine based on Lucene, acquired technology, home brew scripts, and weather data.
Weather is important. I agree. If I cannot look out the window, I am flummoxed.
The write up reveals:
As part of the deal, IBM is making some changes: First, the Weather Company’s cloud platform will now run on IBM’s Cloud data centers (recall that it once was a big client of AWS). That platform will now power all of IBM’s wider push into data services and Watson’s Internet of Things business. This will bring a massively bigger amount of data into the mix, covering what IBM describes as billions of IoT sensors. IBM will also use its weight to scale the Weather Company’s business: the company plans to expand weather.com into five more markets including China, India and Brazil “immediately”, as well as integrate it into IBM’s 45 global cloud centers.
I think this means that IBM is going to embrace an acquired company’s cloud platform. That’s okay. Does this suggest that IBM’s cloud platform is not very good? I will have to noodle on this a moment.
Okay, done. Yes, IBM’s cloud technology is less efficacious that the Weather Co.’s.
Next, I learned from the write up:
The Weather Channel — perhaps the Weather Company’s most mainstream product — is not included. But as part of the sale, under a long-term contract, it will license weather data forecasts and analytics now owned by IBM.
Er, okay. So it was the technology and fellow David Kenny.
Who is he?
A quick check revealed these items about the rainmaker:
- LinkedIn says he is a general manager, not a rainmaker. Good to know.
- He’s been a director of Best Buy and Yahoo. Okay, those are two firms which have made financial lightning.
- He was the president of Akamai for 15 months. That’s helpful, but I wonder is Akamai is the foundation of his cloud method and if there may be intellectual property issues. Nah, probably not.
- He worked at a PR firm. This is good. I want to see more of the Watson recipe and game show information.
- He was a Bainie. This is helpful background.
In my view, the Watson platform will be able to sidestep the issues raised in “The Truth about Bain.”
Will the Weather thing make Watson the perfect storm in IBM revenues? I am no weather person, but it looks as if it is cloudy with a chance for drizzle, then steadily falling temperatures, and a possibility of icy roads for tomorrow’s morning drive.
Fill your tank and take an energy bar. Delays are likely.
Stephen E Arnold, February 2, 2016
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