Google I/O 2015: From Projects Vault and Brillo to smart jeans and cardboard virtual reality, the impossibly advanced technologies unveiled in San Francisco June 3, 2015 BRILLO Essentially an operating system for the Internet of Things (IoT), Google’s Project Brillo is an adapted version of Android designed to manage a number of connected devices from a central management console. It’s Google’s attempt at standardising the way we control devices, from household appliances like Nest (which, incidentally, Google owns) to wearables [...]
Could the humble password about to become a thing of the past? Here’s how brainwaves are being used in the battle for cyber security June 3, 2015 A new system allowing accounts to be unlocked using brainwaves could spell the end for passwords as we know them. Named “brainprints”, the system is the creation of a research team at Binghamton University in New York, and involves an application that can identify a person based on nothing more than their mental reactions to [...]
The cost of cyber attacks on businesses has doubled in the last year June 2, 2015 The threat of cyber attacks on UK businesses is rising steeply, a government report has warned. Over the last year, the total cost of malicious attacks on business software and cyber breaches by employees came to £1.46m – over twice as much as the £600,000 they cost a year earlier. Nine out of 10 companies [...]
The rise of Cyberchondria: Search engines are wrongly making us believe we have terrible diseases May 7, 2015 You're feeling a bit funny – what could the cause be? A life-threatening disease? If MrDoctor123 on unknown medical blog considers it to be a vague possibility, then surely there's a genuine risk of imminent death. This over-reliance on the internet to self-diagnose our medical problems is spreading across the world faster than a highly [...]
Loyalty membership Costa lot as coffee card scheme data hacked April 23, 2015 Costa Coffee suspended millions of Coffee Club Card online accounts yesterday after hundreds of its loyalty scheme members suffered a security breach. The Whitbread-owned coffee shop said that it had identified a small number of members who had “some unusual activity” on their accounts after carrying out security checks. A spokesperson told City A.M. the [...]
Hackers force British Airways to freeze-frequent flyer accounts March 29, 2015 Tens of thousands of British Airways frequent-flyer accounts have been hacked, meaning executive club flyers will be unable to use their points. The carrier said no personal information had been viewed or stolen on the small proportion of its customers who were affected, whose accounts have now been frozen while the issue has been resolved. [...]
These are the four biggest threats to financial stability, according to the Bank of England March 26, 2015 The financial policy committee (FPC) which looks after financial stability over at the Bank of England, has outlined the areas it intends to keep a closer eye on in its quarterly assessment released today. 1. Geopolitical turmoil Eurozone turmoil could pose a threat to future financial stability. There have been some encouraging signs recently but [...]
Chinese government cyber division accused of hacking Google March 25, 2015 A wing of the Chinese government has been accused of being behind a recent attack on Google, as well as previous hacks on Microsoft, Apple and Yahoo. Anti-censorship organisation GreatFire.org today highlighted a recent admission by Google that it had been the subject of a “man in the middle” (MITM) attack which it traced [...]
PayPal sets up cyber security centre in Israel and buys startup CyActive March 11, 2015 Online payments company PayPal yesterday announced it was establishing a cyber security centre in Beersheba, Israel, and has bought local startup CyActive to help to launch the development. PayPal, which is due to be spun off from eBay later this year, did not disclose financial details, but Israeli media have said the purchase was worth [...]
PayPal boosting cyber security with buyout of Israeli CyActive March 9, 2015 ONLINE payments company Paypal is set to expand its cyber security business with the acquisition of the Israeli tech firm CyActive, it emerged yesterday. The $60m (£40m) buyout of CyActive will be Paypal’s second acquisition of an Israel-based company, after it purchased FraudSciences in 2008 for $169m. CyActive was founded in 2013 and provides companies [...]