Imagine an Internet where the law required every message sent to be read by government-approved scanning software. Companies that handle such messages wouldnt be allowed to securely encrypt them, or theyd lose legal protections that allow them to operate.

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Thats what the Senate Judiciary Committee has proposed and hopes to pass into law. The so-called EARN IT bill, sponsored by Senators Lindsay Graham (R-GA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), will strip Section 230 protections away from any website that doesnt follow a list of best practices, meaning those sites can be sued into bankruptcy. The best practices list will be created by a government commission, headed by Attorney General Barr, who has made it very clear he would like to ban encryption, and guarantee law enforcement legal access to any digital message.

The EARN IT bill had its first hearing today, and its supporters strategy is clear. Because they didnt put the word encryption in the bill, theyre going to insist it doesnt affect encryption.

This bill says nothing about encryption, co-sponsor Sen. Blumenthal said at todays hearing. Have you found a word in this bill about encryption? he asked one witness.

Its true that the bills authors avoided using that word. But they did propose legislation that enables an all-out assault on encryption. It would create a 19-person commission thats completely controlled by the Attorney General and law enforcement agencies. And, at the hearing, a Vice-President at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) made it clear [PDF] what he wants the best practices to be. NCMEC believes online services should be made to screen their messages for material that NCMEC considers abusive; use screening technology approved by NCMEC and law enforcement; report what they find in the messages to NCMEC; and be held legally responsible for the content of messages sent by others.

You cant have an Internet where messages are screened en masse, and also have end-to-end encryption any more than you can create backdoors that can only be used by the good guys. The two are mutually exclusive. Concepts like client-side scanning arent a clever route around this; such scanning is just another way to break end-to-end encryption. Either the message remains private to everyone but its recipients, or its available to others.

The 19-person draft commission isnt any better than the 15-person commission envisioned in an early draft of the bill. Its completely dominated by law enforcement and allied groups like NCMEC. Not only will those groups have a majority of votes on the commission, but the bill gives Attorney General Barr the power to veto or approve the list of best practices. Even if other commission members do disagree with law enforcement, Barrs veto power will put him in a position to strongarm them.

The Commission wont be a body that seriously considers policy; it will be a vehicle for creating a law enforcement wish list. Barr has made clear, over and over again, that breaking encryption is at the top of that wish list. Once its broken, authoritarian regimes around the world will rejoice, as they have the ability to add their own types of mandatory scanning, not just for child sexual abuse material but for self-expression that those governments want to suppress.

The privacy and security of all users will suffer if U.S. law enforcement is able to achieve its dream of breaking encryption. Senators should reject the EARN IT bill.

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The EARN IT Bill Is the Government's Plan to Scan Every Message Online - EFF

Does your child dream of becoming a YouTube or Instagram celebrity? The influencer lifestyle is not as picture-perfect as it may seem.

The rise of the internet has led to the rise of the social media influencer, altering the aspirations of children around the world. A recent survey of 2,000 parents of 11 to 16-year-olds shows that doctors (18%) are still number one on the dream job list, but they are closely followed by social media influencers (17%) and, more specifically, YouTubers (14%).

Being an online celebrity might look glamorous, but what are the risks? The digital world can hide a range of dangers, and its important that both children and their parents are aware of the threats.

Many young influencers, who base their self-worth on the likes and shares they receive, struggle if the interest of the online crowd fades. Basing self-esteem on public acknowledgement from strangers at an early age is risky this is especially true considering that feedback on the internet can often be even more aggressive as anonymity is heightened and the commentator can hide behind their screen.

Any person in the social media limelight will inevitably have to face online hate. Comment sections flooded with hateful messages are an emotional drag while actual threats are frightening for anyone, no matter their age.

Parents can help their children by moderating comments and reporting inappropriate behavior to administrators, but this is not feasible when large numbers of people are involved.

Kim Kardashian is one of the most influential figures on social media someone who likes to post and share everything from her private life. During one of her visits to Paris this backfired in the worst possible way when she was robbed at gun point, with criminals stealing jewelry worth US$8 million. It later came to light that the heist was organized based simply on following Kims whereabouts on social media posts. This example of oversharing should be a warning to anyone, especially to young influencers who will do almost anything to please their followers.

Parental guidance at the start a childs digital life is essential. It helps set healthy boundaries between public and private life on social media. Remember anything posted online will stay there forever.

Nowadays we spend so much time in the digital world that we often feel like its the real world, and so young children tend to overlook the simple fact that followers are not real friends. Anonymous online crowds will not be there when they need a break from the latest social media craze or be their confidant in difficult times. Real friends and family cannot be replaced and should not be neglected in favor of a digital life.

To learn more about dangers faced by children online as well as about how not only technology can help, head over to the to the Safer Kids Online platform.

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The pitfalls of being an influencer: What parents should know and do - We Live Security

ARLINGTON, Va., March 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Interos, the first and only multi-tier, multi-factor third-party risk management platform, today announced it has raised $17.5 million in a Series B funding round to accelerate data science and engineering growth, expand personnel and boost sales to drive commercial momentum for its leading risk management platform.

The funding comes after Interos tripled its headcount, increased annual recurring revenue by 700% and hiked SaaS subscription bookings by 693% in 2019. With the funding, Interos expects to capitalize on last years growth and more than double its personnel in 2020, hiring more staff to augment its proprietary software, which exposes critical risks in the global supply chain for leading private and public sector customers.

The round was led by first-time investor Venrock with participation from Kleiner Perkins.

After a strong 2019, this funding shows Interos has already secured major support in 2020 from the worlds most successful investors, said Jennifer Bisceglie, CEO and founder of Interos. Like our customers, investors see the value of the Interos platform, which is critical for global businesses in 2020. From events like the coronavirus to political unrest, companies need a platform that exposes risks and identifies how events affect suppliers around the world the moment they happen.

The latest funding underscores Interos strong 2019 and positions the company as a leader in third-party risk management. Risk leaders use the Interos platform to accelerate due diligence, eliminate environment, social and governance (ESG) risk and ensure the resilience of the worlds most complex supply chains.

Interos is one of the most compelling big data and AI companies Ive come across in the last decade, said Nick Beim, Venrock partner. Over the last 20 years, global supply chains have grown so rapidly and with so much opacity that most companies dont know who theyre working with or who theyre dependent on. Theres so much data to gather to fully understand those risks, and Interos helps companies address these urgent, strategic issues with a brand new set of capabilities.

Interos also recently added Phil Venables, a widely sought-after cybersecurity and risk expert to its board of directors. Venables distinguished career includes previously serving as Goldman Sachs first Chief Information Security Officer and Head of Technology Risk, and as its Chief Operational Risk Officer. Prior to his work at Goldman Sachs, Venables was the Chief Information Security Officer at Deutsche Bank. Venables serves on the Executive Committee of the U.S. Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection, is co-chair of the Board of Sheltered Harbor, and is a member of the boards of the Center for Internet Security and the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. He is also an advisor to the cybersecurity efforts of the U.S. National Research Council and the Institute for Defense Analyses.

Interos has worked with the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA and Department of Energy critical infrastructure. Interos uses machine learning to build and maintain the worlds largest knowledge graph of over 50 million relationships to discover and monitor the entirety of a supplier ecosystem. Each month, Interos ingests over 85,000 information feeds, processing over 250 million risks a month. Interos instantly visualizes the most complex multi-tier relationships, updating and alerting to changes in risk along five factors: financial, operations, governance, geographic and cyber.

"In todays interconnected world, Interos is bringing clarity to the muddled, confusing nature of supplier relationships, said Ted Schlein, partner at Kleiner Perkins. By automating due diligence, leveraging sophisticated technology and exposing vital risks, Interos shines a light on an otherwise opaque global supply chain.

About InterosInteros protects customers brand and operations from risk in their extended supply chains and business relationships. The first AI-powered platform for eliminating multi-tier, multi-factor risk from 3rd, 4th to Nth tier parties, Interos automates discovery, detection, and response to financial, governance, geographic, cyber and operational risk. Designed by experts and leveraging the companys 15 years of experience in managing risk in the worlds most complicated supply chains, Interos provides real-time risk management for Fortune 500 brands in manufacturing, financial services, and aerospace and defense.

For more information, visit http://www.interos.ai.

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Highwire Public Relationsinteros@highwirepr.com

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Interos Raises $17.5M from Venrock and Kleiner Perkins to Grow Third-Party Risk Management Platform - GlobeNewswire

No less than 98 per cent of traffic sent by internet-of-things (IoT) devices is unencrypted, exposing huge quantities of personal and confidential data to potential attackers, fresh analysis has revealed.

Whats more, most networks mix IoT devices with more traditional IT assets like laptops, desktops and mobile devices, exposing those networks to malware from both ends: a vulnerable IoT device can infect PCs; and an unpatched laptop could give an attacker access to IoT devices - and vast quantities of saleable data.

Those are the big conclusions from a real-world test of 1.2 million IoT devices across thousands of physical locations in the United States, carried out by Palo Alto Networks.

The company also focused in on the healthcare industry and found a truly alarming security situation: no less than 83 per cent of medical imaging devices run on unsupported operating systems; a massive 56 per cent jump from two years ago because of the end of support for Windows 7.

That leaves hospitals vulnerable to attacks that can disrupt care or expose sensitive medical information, the report notes. In addition, 72 per cent of healthcare VLANs mix IoT and traditional assets, so the potential for hackers to access personal health data is a ticking time bomb.

The researchers estimate that more than half - 57 per cent - of IoT devices are currently vulnerable to medium or high-severity attacks, making them an obvious target for hackers. We found that, while the vulnerability of IoT devices make them easy targets, they are most often used as a stepping stone for lateral movement to attack other systems on the network, the report noted. Furthermore, we found password-related attacks continue to be prevalent on IoT devices due to weak manufacturer-set passwords and poor password security practices.

In short, the poor IoT security that people have been warning about for years now risks compromising larger networks because they are being attached to the same network; and thanks to a failure to upgrade imaging equipment to newer operating systems, hackers also have an extra route in networks where they could gather vast amounts of data from unencrypted IoT devices. A double-whammy in other words.

There is a small amount of good news: Californias new IoT law (SB-327) that requires a different password for every device - rather than manufacturer defaults - came into effect at the start of the year and is expected to cut down on easy hacks.

While that is an improvement, as we previously noted the law only deals with the lowest hanging fruit and did not include things like secure software updates which are, over time, a greater security risk - as those running Windows 7 are likely to find out over the next few years. Even a law requiring manufacturers to periodically prompt users to upgrade their software could have a massively positive security impact.

Laws requiring encryption would also be a huge help. As would a data-minimization law that requires companies to only request and store data that is needed for the functioning of their products. As would some kind of compulsory two-factor authentication.

The fear is that lawmakers will take their focus off terrible IoT security now that they passed a law eliminating default passwords. As far as we are aware, that appears to be playing out with no new security legislation working its way through the corridors of power.

The report also has some interesting observations about specific security risks and OS use. Were witnessing a shift away from attackers primary motivation of running botnets to conduct DDoS attacks via IoT devices to malware spreading across the network via worm-like features, enabling attackers to run malicious code to conduct a large variety of new attacks, the authors noted.

As for the operating systems that critical hospital equipment is using: 56 per cent are on now-unsupported Windows 7 and a vaguely terrifying 11 per cent are still using WinXP. Seven per cent are running unsupported Linux or Unix; with just two per cent using supported Linux.

The report has several pieces of advice to limit exposure to IoT related threats. First up, find out whether you have IoT devices on your network and if so, segment them across VLANs. Then patch, patch, patch - especially easy things like printers. And lastly, switch to active monitoring so you find out faster if something is going on.

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The Internet of Things is a security nightmare reveals latest real-world analysis: unencrypted traffic, network crossover, vulnerable OSes - The...

As New York City hip hop group Non Phixion boldly proclaimed in their 2002 debut album: The Future Is Now. From drone fleets and autonomous transportation systems to smart homes with computer-controlled lighting, heating, media and security systems, a new group of highly-automated technologies is gripping the popular imagination. These technologies known collectively as the Internet of Things (IoT) form advanced ecosystems of interrelated devices with the capacity to monitor, detect, communicate and act on the real world independently of human intervention. Promising to fulfill all of our wildest technological dreams and needs, the IoT age has arrived and it looks like its here to stay.

While the consumer applications of IoT tend to receive the most attention, one area that is seeing strong growth in the uptake of IoT devices is workplace safety. Workplace safety costs businesses billions every year, and industries with especially hazardous working environments Construction, Oil & Gas, Mining, Utilities, Rail, etc. are beginning to adopt IoT technology to help minimize risk and address preventable threats. Before exploring these IoT solutions, however, let us first consider some of the key threats faced by workers in these industries.

Construction is one of the worlds most dangerous occupations, accounting for 1 in 5 worker deaths in the US and incurring tens of thousands of short- and long-term injuries each year. In construction, the major risk is falling from a height, which accounts of 26 per cent of fatal injuries in the workplace. Additional risks come from being struck by vehicles and heavy moving objects, proximity to overhead/underground high voltage power lines, confined spaces, high noise environments, and exposure to dust and fumes.

In underground mining operations, hazards include respiratory health problems

In Mining & Quarrying, sustained overexertion is the most common threat to workplace safety, accounting for 24 per cent of nonfatal injuries. In surface mining operations, specifically, the leading hazards come from geological instability (i.e. falling rocks), blast debris and collisions with large and heavy plant equipment. In underground mining operations, hazards include respiratory health problems (e.g. Black Lung), explosions and gas leaks (particularly in coal mines), heat stress, confined spaces and ionising radiation.

Other industries are often faced with some combination of the above, or similar, threats. In the Rail sector, for instance, there is high risk from collisions with vehicles, objects and machinery and vulnerability to electric shock. In Utilities, the number one risk is slips, trips and falls, accounting for 30 per cent of Lost Workday Injuries (LWIs) in 2016. And in Oil & Gas extraction, exposure to flammable gas, chemical emissions and oxygen-deficient atmospheres creates vulnerability to explosions and chemical poisoning.

What, then, is being done to tackle these threats? In a high-tech world, many safety measures currently in use hardhats, earplugs, gloves, gas masks, guardrails, harnesses, protective goggles and high visibility clothing appear decidedly primitive. Therefore, whilst these measures are still useful in minimizing risk, companies have started to integrate IoT technologies to enhance their application. These technologies bring together real-time analytics, machine learning, advanced sensors and embedded systems to offer a number of key functionalities:

Wearable technology is used to monitor a workers physiological state in real-time. Japanese wearable tech company Mitsufuji is active in this space, creating smart clothes woven from silver-metallised fibres that collect a range of data about its wearer, including heart rate and body temperature. Other examples include wristbands with bio-sensors to accurately measure stress levels and glasses that detect eye movements to identify fatigue and periods of micro-sleep.

Sensors used to measure temperature, radiation, gas leaks, carbon monoxide and other harmful chemicals can automatically alert workers to unsafe external conditions. Additionally, visual imaging software can map 3D representations of a workers environment, facilitating effective two-way communication between supervisors and personnel in the field, and remote guidance technologies provide live assistance to workers caught in serious danger (e.g. guide a miner trapped in a tunnel to the best way out).

Augmented Reality (AR) technologies offer new ways to support decision making in the field by providing holographic representations of physical equipment, while Virtual Reality (VR) technologies offer immersive situational training without the risks associated with real-life procedures. These technologies also offer up valuable behavioral data, which can be used to gauge a workers risk tolerance level and tendency to respond to danger.

Proximity detection systems utilize wearable sensors to monitor workers location, map their movements, and alert them to nearby hazards. One example of this are radio-frequency identification (RFIDs), which can measure a workers proximity to moving equipment and alert them to possible collisions and near misses. Another piece of kit is the smart helmet, which can immediately detect an accident, determine the workers location and send an alert containing coordinates to a safety control centre. The centre is able to make video and audio contact and communicate with the worker until help arrives.

Exoskeletons can assist with heavy lifting and the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) by analyzing worker movements and providing the necessary support. The Chairless Chair, for example, used by factory floor workers, fixes around the back and legs to provide support whenever the worker sits or crouches. Exoskeletons are also used to monitor worker movements, identifying repetitive movements and sustained periods of overexertion.

IoT innovations are helping to improve workplace safety on multiple fronts

Taken together, these IoT innovations are helping to improve workplace safety on multiple fronts. Firstly, they are preventative. By closely monitoring ones environment both internal and external IoT technologies can pre-empt and alert workers to potential dangers. Secondly, they are responsive. In the case of an accident, IoT technologies can alert supervisors and help coordinate a quick and effective response. Thirdly, they are informative. By accumulating and analyzing rich pools of data, IoT technologies can help optimize work in the field and find improved ways to limit risk.

While IoT certainly cannot eliminate all risk from the workplace it cannot prevent rocks falling in quarries, explosions on oil rigs or gas leaks in mines it can go a long way to make these environments safer and better places to work. Because when it comes down to it, workplace safety is certainly no accident!

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How The Internet Of Things Can Transform Workplace Safety | Baird Capital | Security News - SecurityInformed