Category Archives: Internet Security
Perimeter 81 raises $10M to texpand its Network as a Service platform – Help Net Security
Perimeter 81, a leading Zero Trust network provider for enterprises and organizations, announced a $10 million Series A investment round led by SonicWall, a Francisco Partners portfolio company, together with Spring Ventures, and existing investors.
Perimeter 81 provides enterprises and organizations with a secure cloud-based network solution. SonicWall equips users with next-generation firewall & Cyber Security solutions. As a result, each company will provide a unified network & security platform that will be a one-stop-shop for network and security offerings as a service.
The companies will integrate SonicWalls advanced security solutions and Perimeter 81s matured and innovative Zero Trust Network as a Service solution.
Both companys platforms will offer an easy-to-use Secure Network as a Service solution that provides Zero Trust access to internal resources, user and branch internet security, branch interconnectivity and endpoint security in one place.
With cloud and mobility solutions changing the way we work, we are seeing an increasing number of employees working on the go. This is driving a need to shift from a dated site-centric security model to a more cloud user-friendly, service-based platform.
Perimeter 81 is one of the only vendors offering a comprehensive set of converged secure network capabilities, delivered and managed from its multi-tenant cloud.
This funding round is the latest move in a year of exponential growth for Perimeter 81. Launched in February 2018, the company has already seen 400% year over year revenue growth, expanding from 180 businesses using Perimeter 81 to 500 in the past eleven months alone.
More than 81% of Perimeter 81s customers use it as their secure corporate network and not only as Zero Trust Access, replacing the need for a VPN.
As we see greater numbers of companies, from SMBs to enterprises and governments, making the move to a perimeter-less organization largely supported by cloud services, Perimeter 81 has seen tremendous growth, said Amit Bareket, Co-Founder and CEO of Perimeter 81.
When we created our Network as a Service solution, we made it possible to easily offer security solutions on top of our existing platform. We are excited to partner with SonicWall in order to provide the most advanced Secure Network as a Service available today.
We are excited to partner with Perimeter 81. This relationship will allow us to provide a wide range of businesses, from SMBs to Fortune 500s and governments, with our award-winning Capture Cloud Platform and real-time breach detection and prevention solutions, while allowing them to adopt a Zero Trust Security architecture that delivers tremendous efficacy in securing the modern organization, said SonicWall President and CEO Bill Conner.
Going forward, our customers and partners have choices between on-premise, cloud, and now, Secure Network as a Service all with integrated management within Capture Security Services. We believe this will ensure that our customers continue to fearless.
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Perimeter 81 raises $10M to texpand its Network as a Service platform - Help Net Security
Windows 10 Upgrades Blocked if Using Old Versions of AVG, Avast – BleepingComputer
If you are using older versions of Avast or AVG Antivirus, Microsoft has placed a compatibility hold that will prevent you from upgrading to Windows 10 1903 or Windows 10 1909 until you upgrade to a newer version of the antivirus software.
In a support notice to the Windows 10 Health Dashboard for Windows 10 1903 and 1909, Microsoft has stated that users who have AVG or Avast Antivirus versions 19.5.4444.567 or lower installedwill be prevented form installing the May 2019 Update and the November 2019 Update.
"Microsoft and Avast has identified compatibility issues with some versions of Avast Antivirus and AVG Antivirus. Any application from Avast or AVG that contains Antivirus version 19.5.4444.567 or earlier is affected.
To safeguard your upgrade experience, we have applied a hold on devices with affected Avast and AVG Antivirus from being offered or installing Windows 10, version 1903 or Windows 10, version 1909, until the application is updated."
Avast and AVG have also released support bulletins [Avast, AVG] with similar information as the one published by Microsoft.
"As of November 2019, AVG Antivirus program versions 19.5 or lower are no longer compatible with the Windows 10, version 1903 (the May 2019 Update). Before your PC can update to this Windows 10 version, a setup dialog displays the applications that need your attention first. If AVG Antivirus appears in this dialog, refer to the relevant instructions below to get the latest version of AVG Antivirus before updating your Windows 10."
When attempting to upgrade with older versions installed, Windows 10 Setup will display a message stating that the user must "Uninstall this app now because it isn't compatible with Windows 10."
This affects AVG Antivirus FREE, AVG Internet Security, Avast Free Antivirus, Avast Pro Antivirus, Avast Internet Security, and Avast Premier.
After updating to the latest version of AVG or Avast Antivirus software, users can then upgrade to either Windows 10 1903 or Windows 10 1909. For most users, I would recommend upgrading to Windows 10 1909 as it is almost like a service pack to 1903 and contains numerous bug fixes.
This is not the first time Microsoft has place compatbility holds on AVG or Avast version, as people have reported [1, 2] similar block as far back as August 2019.
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Windows 10 Upgrades Blocked if Using Old Versions of AVG, Avast - BleepingComputer
Recent Research: Internet Of Things (IOT) Security Market Comprehensive SWOT Analysis and Competitive Insight Report 2019-2028 – Daily Criticism
The GlobalInternet Of Things (IOT) Security Marketis carefully researched in the report while focusing largely on top players and their business strategy, geographical growth, market segments, competitive landscape, manufacturing, and pricing and cost structures. Each section of the research study is specially prepared to explore key facets of the global Internet Of Things (IOT) Security market. For example, the market dynamics section digs deep into the drivers, constraints, trends, and opportunities of the global Internet Of Things (IOT) Security market. With qualitative and quantitative analysis, the report could help you with thorough and comprehensive research on the global Internet Of Things (IOT) Security market. Our analyst has also focused on SWOT, and Porters Five Forces analyses of the global Internet Of Things (IOT) Security market.
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Competitive Landscape
Leading players in the global Internet Of Things (IOT) Security market are analyzed, taking into account their market share, latest developments, partnerships, new product launches, mergers or acquisitions, and markets served. MarketResearch.Biz provides an exhaustive analysis of their product portfolios to explore the products and applications they concentrate on when operating in the global Internet Of Things (IOT) Security market. It also provides useful recommendations for new as well as established players of the global Internet Of Things (IOT) Security market.
Some of the Major Internet Of Things (IOT) Security Market Players Are:
IBM Corporation, Infineon Technologies, Symantec Corporation, Check Point Security Software Technologies Ltd., Cisco Systems Inc, Intel Corporation, Alcatel-Lucent S.A., Sophos Plc, NSIDE Secure SA, ARM Holdings
Internet Of Things (IOT) SecurityMarket Segmentation
Global IoT security market segmentation by security type:
Network securityEndpoint securityApplication securityCloud securityOthersGlobal IoT security market segmentation by component:
SolutionIdentity access managementData encryption and tokenizationIDS/IPSDevice authentication and managementSecure software and firmware updateSecure communicationsPKI lifecycle managementDistributed denial of service protectionSecurity analyticsServicesProfessional servicesManaged servicesGlobal IoT security market segmentation by application area:
Smart ManufacturingSmart Energy and UtilitiesConnected LogisticsConsumer WearablesConnected HealthcareSmart Government and DefenseConnected VehiclesSmart Retail
The report provides market size with 2018 as the base year in consideration and a yearly forecast until 2028 in terms of Revenue (USD Million). The estimates for all segments including type and application have been provided on a regional basis for the forecast period mentioned above. We have implemented a mix of top-down and bottom-up approaches for market sizing, analyzing the key regional markets, dynamics, and trends for various applications. The Global Internet Of Things (IOT) Security market has been estimated by integrating the regional markets.
Regional Analysis
A section of the report has given detailed information about regional analysis. It provides a market outlook and positions the forecast within the context of the overall global Internet Of Things (IOT) Security market. MarketResearch.Biz has segmented the global Internet Of Things (IOT) Security market into major geographical regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, and the Middle East and Africa. Potential new entrants desiring to target only high growth areas are also incorporated in this informative section of the global Internet Of Things (IOT) Security market.
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Economic Trends, Industry Development, Challenges, Forecast and Strategies to 2028.
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Qualitative Insights, Key Enhancement, Share Forecast up to 2028.
Competitive Landscape and Regulations, 2019 to 2028.
Advanced Technology, Future Opportunities Till 2028
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Recent Research: Internet Of Things (IOT) Security Market Comprehensive SWOT Analysis and Competitive Insight Report 2019-2028 - Daily Criticism
Global and Regional IT Security Spending Market 2019 by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2025 – Daily Industry News Journal
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The research analysis for and Regional IT Security Spending market comprises each and every feature of the market all over the world, which starts from the and Regional IT Security Spending market description and ends on the and Regional IT Security Spending market segmentation (Internet security, Endpoint security, Wireless security, Network security, Cloud security). In addition to this, each section of the and Regional IT Security Spending market is categorized and evaluated on the basis of goods, the end-user clients of the and Regional IT Security Spending market, and the employment of the products. The geographical categorization of the and Regional IT Security Spending market (Powerboats, Yachts) has also been evaluated thoroughly in the report.
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DDoS Protection Market Witness an Unsold Story – The Market Journal
A New business Strategy report released by HTF MI with titleGlobal DDoS Protection Market Report 2019. This Global DDoS Protection market report brings data for the estimated year 2019 and forecasted till 2025 in terms of both, value (US$ MN) and volume (MT). The report also consists of forecast factors, macroeconomic factors, and a market outlook of the DDoS Protection market. The study is conducted using top-down and bottom-up approaches and further analyzed using analytical tools such as porters five force analysis and uncover Opportunities, Challenges, restraints, and trends of the Global DDoS Protection market. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins. Some of the Major Companies Profiled in the reports are Arbor Networks, Inc., Akamai Technologies, Inc., F5 Networks, Inc., Imperva., Radware Ltd., Corero Network Security, Inc., Neustar, Inc., Cloudflare, Inc., Nexusguard Ltd. & Dosarrest Internet Security Ltd. etc.
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Manufacture Analysis Manufacture of the DDoS Protection is analysed with respect to different applications, types and regions. Here, price for different key players for this market is also covered.
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Focus on segments and sub-section of the Market illuminated below:Geographical Analysis: North America Country (United States, Canada), South America, Asia Country (China, Japan, India, Korea), Europe Country (Germany, UK, France, Italy), Other Country (Middle East, Africa, GCC) etc
On the Basis of Product Types of DDoS Protection Market: , On-premise, Cloud, Hybrid
The Study Explores the Key Applications/End-Users of DDoS Protection Market: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Large enterprises
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Most important Highlights of TOC:1 Introduction of DDoS ProtectionMarket1.1 Overview of the Market1.2 Scope of Report
2 Exclusive Summary
3 Research Methodology3.1 Primary Interviews3.2 Data Mining3.3 Validation3.4 List of Statistics
4 DDoS Protection Market Segment & Geographic Analysis4.1 By Type [2014 -2025]4.2 By Application [2014-2025]4.3 By Region [2014-2025]
5 DDoS Protection Market Outlook5.1 Overview5.2 Market Dynamics5.2.1 Opportunities5.2.2 Restraints5.2.3 Drivers5.3 Porters Five Force Model5.4 Value Chain Analysis
6 DDoS Protection Market Competitive Landscape6.1 Overview6.2 Key Development Policies6.3 Company Market Standing
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DDoS Protection Market Witness an Unsold Story - The Market Journal
Six reasons for organisations to take control of their orphaned encryption keys before it triggers the next security breach – CSO Australia
A close analysis of the cybersecurity attacks of the pastshows that, in most cases, the head of the cyber kill chain is formed by somekind of privilege abuse. In fact, Forrester estimates that compromised privileged credentials play a role in at least 80 per centof data breaches.
This is the reason privileged access management (PAM) has gained so much attention over the past few years. With securing and managing access to business-critical systems at its core, PAM aims to provide enterprises with a centralised, automated mechanism to regulate access to superuser accounts. PAM solutions ideally do this by facilitating end-to-end management of the privileged identities that grant access to these accounts.
However, the scope of privileged accesssecurityis often misconceived and restricted to securing and managing root account passwords alone. Passwords, beyond a doubt, are noteworthy privileged access credentials.But the constant evolution of technology and expanding cybersecurity perimeter calls for enterprises to take a closerlook at the other avenues ofprivileged access, especially encryption keyswhichdespite serving as access credentials for huge volumes of privileged accounts, are often ignored.
This article lays focus on the importance encryption key managementwhy enforcing SSH key and SSL certificate management is vital, and how by doing so, organisations can effectively bridge the gaps in their enterprise privileged access security strategy.
1. Uncontrolled numbers of SSH keys trigger trust-based attacks
The average organisation houses over 23,000 keys and certificates many of which grant sweeping access to root accounts, says aPonemon survey. Also, a recent report about the impact of insecured digital identitiesstates that 71 per cent of the respondents did not have any idea about the number of keys or the extent of their access within the organisation.Without a centralised key management approach, anybody in the network can create or duplicate any number of keys. These keys are often randomly generated as needed and are soon forgotten once the task they are associated with is done. Malicious insiders can take advantage of this massive ocean of orphaned SSH keys to impersonate admins, hide comfortably using encryption, and take complete control of target systems.
2. Static keys create permanent backdoors
Enterprises should periodically rotate their SSH keys to avoid privilege abuse, but huge volumes of unmanaged SSH keys make key rotation an intimidating task for IT administrators. Moreover, due to a lack of proper visibility on which keys can access what, there is widespread apprehension about rotating keys in fear of accidentally blocking access to critical systems. This leads to a surge of static SSH keys, which have the potential to function as permanent backdoors.
3. Unintentional key duplication increases the chance of privilege abuse
For the sake of efficiency, SSH keys are often duplicated and circulated among various employees in an organisation. Such unintended key duplication creates a many-to-many key-user relationship, which highly increases the possibility of privilege abuse. This also makes remediation a challenge since administrators have to spend a good amount of time revoking keys to untangle the existing relationships before creating and deploying fresh, dedicated key pairs.
4. Failed SSL certificate renewals hurt your brand's credibility
SSL certificates, unlike keys, have a set expiration date. Failing to renew SSL certificates on time can have huge implications on website owners as well as end users. Browsers don't trust websites with expired SSL certificates; they throw security error messages when end users try to access such sites. One expired SSL certificate can drive away potential customers in an instant, or worse, lead to personal data theft for site visitors.
5. Improper SSL implementations put businesses at risk
Many businesses rely completely on SSL for internet security, but they often don't realize that a mere implementation of SSL in their network is not enough to eliminate security threats.SSL certificates need to be thoroughly examined for configuration vulnerabilities after they are installed. When ignored, these vulnerabilities act as security loopholes which cybercriminals exploit to manipulate SSL traffic and launch man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks.
6. Weak certificate signatures go unheeded
The degree of security provided by any SSL certificate depends on the strength of the hashing algorithm used to sign the certificate. Weak certificate signatures make them vulnerable to collision attacks. Cybercriminals exploit such vulnerabilities to launch MITM attacks and eavesdrop on communication between users and web servers. Organisations need to isolate certificates that bear weak signatures and replace them with fresh certificates containing stronger signatures.
Bridging the gaps in your PAM strategy
All the above scenarios highlight how important it is to widen the scope of your privileged access security strategy beyond password management. Even with an unyielding password manager in place, cybercriminals haveplenty of room to circumvent security controls and gain access to superuser accounts by exploiting various unmanaged authentication identities, including SSH keys and SSL certificates. Discovering and bringing all such identities that are capable of granting privileged access under one roofis one important step enterprises should take to bridge gaps in their privileged access security strategy.For, today's unaccounted authentication identities could become tomorrow's stolen privileged credentials!
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Six reasons for organisations to take control of their orphaned encryption keys before it triggers the next security breach - CSO Australia
110 Nursing Homes Cut Off from Health Records in Ransomware Attack – Krebs on Security
A ransomware outbreak has besieged a Wisconsin based IT company that provides cloud data hosting, security and access management to more than 100 nursing homes across the United States. The ongoing attack is preventing these care centers from accessing crucial patient medical records, and the IT companys owner says she fears this incident could soon lead not only to the closure of her business, but also to the untimely demise of some patients.
Milwaukee, Wisc. based Virtual Care Provider Inc. (VCPI)provides IT consulting, Internet access, data storage and security services to some 110 nursing homes and acute-care facilities in 45 states. All told, VCPI is responsible for maintaining approximately 80,000 computers and servers that assist those facilities.
At around 1:30 a.m. CT on Nov. 17, unknown attackers launched a ransomware strain known as Ryuk inside VCPIs networks, encrypting all data the company hosts for its clients and demanding a whopping $14 million ransom in exchange for a digital key needed to unlock access to the files.Ryuk has made a name for itself targeting businesses that supply services to other companies particularly cloud-data firms with the ransom demands set according to the victims perceived ability to pay.
In an interview with KrebsOnSecurity today, VCPI chief executive and owner Karen Christianson said the attack had affected virtually all of their core offerings, including Internet service and email, access to patient records, client billing and phone systems, and even VCPIs own payroll operations that serve nearly 150 company employees.
The care facilities that VCPI serves access their records and other systems outsourced to VCPI by using a Citrix-based virtual private networking (VPN) platform, and Christianson said restoring customer access to this functionality is the companys top priority right now.
We have employees asking when were going to make payroll, Christianson said. But right now all were dealing with is getting electronic medical records back up and life-threatening situations handled first.
Christianson said her firm cannot afford to pay the ransom amount being demanded roughly $14 million worth of Bitcoin and said some clients will soon be in danger of having to shut their doors if VCPI cant recover from the attack.
Weve got some facilities where the nurses cant get the drugs updated and the order put in so the drugs can arrive on time, she said. In another case, we have this one small assisted living place that is just a single unit that connects to billing. And if they dont get their billing into Medicaid by December 5, they close their doors. Seniors that dont have family to go to are then done. We have a lot of [clients] right now who are like, Just give me my data, but we cant.
The ongoing incident at VCPI is just the latest in a string of ransomware attacks against healthcare organizations, which typically operate on razor thin profit margins and have comparatively little funds to invest in maintaining and securing their IT systems.
Earlier this week, a 1,300-bed hospital in France was hit by ransomware that knocked its computer systems offline, causing very long delays in care and forcing staff to resort to pen and paper.
On Nov. 20, Cape Girardeau, Mo.-based Saint Francis Healthcare System began notifying patients about a ransomware attack that left physicians unable to access medical records prior to Jan. 1.
Tragically, there is evidence to suggest that patient outcomes can suffer even after the dust settles from a ransomware infestation at a healthcare provider. New research indicates hospitals and other care facilities that have been hit by a data breach or ransomware attack can expect to see an increase in the death rate among certain patients in the following months or years because of cybersecurity remediation efforts.
Researchers at Vanderbilt Universitys Owen Graduate School of Management took the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) list of healthcare data breaches and used it to drill down on data about patient mortality rates at more than 3,000 Medicare-certified hospitals, about 10 percent of which had experienced a data breach.
Their findings suggest that after data breaches as many as 36 additional deaths per 10,000 heart attacks occurred annually at the hundreds of hospitals examined. The researchers concluded that for care centers that experienced a breach, it took an additional 2.7 minutes for suspected heart attack patients to receive an electrocardiogram.
Companies hit by the Ryuk ransomware all too often are compromised for months or even years before the intruders get around to mapping out the targets internal networks and compromising key resources and data backup systems. Typically, the initial infection stems from a booby-trapped email attachment that is used to download additional malware such as Trickbot and Emotet.
This graphic from US-CERT depicts how the Emotet malware is typically used to lay the groundwork for a full-fledged ransomware infestation.
In this case, there is evidence to suggest that VCPI was compromised by one (or both) of these malware strains on multiple occasions over the past year.Alex Holden, founder of Milwaukee-based cyber intelligence firmHold Security, showed KrebsOnSecurity information obtained from monitoring dark web communications which suggested the initial intrusion may have begun as far back as September 2018.
Holden said the attack was preventable up until the very end when the ransomware was deployed, and that this attack once again shows that even after the initial Trickbot or Emotet infection, companies can still prevent a ransomware attack. That is, of course, assuming theyre in the habit of regularly looking for signs of an intrusion.
While it is clear that the initial breach occurred 14 months ago, the escalation of the compromise didnt start until around November 15th of this year, Holden said. When we looked at this in retrospect, during these three days the cybercriminals slowly compromised the entire network, disabling antivirus, running customized scripts, and deploying ransomware. They didnt even succeed at first, but they kept trying.
VCPIs CEO said her organization plans to publicly document everything that has happened so far when (and if) this attack is brought under control, but for now the company is fully focused on rebuilding systems and restoring operations, and on keeping clients informed at every step of the way.
Were going to make it part of our strategy to share everything were going through, Christianson said, adding that when the company initially tried several efforts to sidestep the intruders their phone systems came under concerted assault. But were still under attack, and as soon as we can open, were going to document everything.
Tags: alex holden, Hold Security, Karen Christianson, VCPI
This entry was posted on Saturday, November 23rd, 2019 at 12:02 amand is filed under Ransomware, The Coming Storm.You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can skip to the end and leave a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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110 Nursing Homes Cut Off from Health Records in Ransomware Attack - Krebs on Security
‘Tool of repression’: Iran and regimes from Ethiopia to Venezuela limit Internet, go dark online – USA TODAY
Iranian women pass a branch of the Iranian Melat Bank that was burned during the protests over increasing fuel prices in the city of Shahriar, Iran, on Nov. 20, 2019.(Photo: EPA-EFE)
Nearly a week after Iran's government imposed a near-total Internet and mobile data blackout amid protests over a rise in gas prices, its connectivity to the rest of the world remains extremely limited and reflects what researchers and activists claim, disputed by Iran, is a"toolof repression" used by regimesfrom Ethiopia to Venezuela.
But the shutdown in Iran, which began Nov. 17and remains at about 15% of normal levels, according to NetBlocks,a firm that tracks cybersecurity, has not only allowed officials in Tehran to exert control over information about the unrest.
It has also cut off Iranians from their friends and family abroad, seemingly strengthenedthe Trump administration's perception that its "maximum pressure" policy on Iran is workingafter Washington exited the nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions, and further obscuredwhat's happening and who's to blame in a Middle Eastern nation whose politicaland economicisolation has fluctuatedin the four decades since its 1979 revolution that usheredin its now entrenched Islamic Republic.
Inside Iran: Americas contentious history in Iran leads to mix of anger, weariness
Marcin deKaminski, a technology and human rights expert at Civil Rights Defenders, a Sweden-based rights watchdog, said Internet blackouts arepart of agrowing trend of governments tryingto shut theircitizens off from the world during fraughtmoments.
"They use itto limit freedom of expression orfreedom of assembly and quite often it's connected to elections or conflict or to different forms of civil unrest. This is happening in many different contexts from Uganda to Burma (also known as Myanmar)," he said.
Ethiopia has been intermittently shutting down Internet access since a failed coup in June.Venezuelaperiodically blocks access to Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and other services that require Internet or mobile data accessas part of anongoing effort to stymie political opposition groups and prevent the efficacy of mass protests. India shut offKashmir's Internet access more than three months ago amid political upheaval.
Different causes and aims:Mass protests from Iran to Hong Kong accelerate
The protests in Iran accelerated after the government increased gas prices by 50% at a time when the sanctions reinstated by President Donald Trump have contributedto soaring inflation and stagnating salaries. The World Bank forecasts that Iran's economy will shrink by 8.7% this year, a consequence of plummeting revenues from blocked oil exports and restrictions on itspetrochemicals, metals, mining and maritime sectors. Key consumer goods and some essential medicines and supplies can be hard to get.
"When I was in Iran in March there were people standing in lines to buy government rations and subsidized meat," said Hoda Katebi, a Chicago-based Iranian American writer and community organizer who has published a book about Iran's underground fashion industry. "Nothing's coming in. The currency is worthless."
Iran'scurrency has lost more than half of its value against the dollar since the Trump administration reimposed sanctions following its withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal.
Katebi spoke to USA TODAY on the sidelines of VOICES,an annual gathering for global fashion industryleaders and trailblazers that takes place near Oxford, England. At the event, Katebiappeared on a panel with Shirin and Shiva Vaqar Iranian sisters who had traveled to England from Tehranto talk about their eponymous fashion label.
"It's very hard for us, not just as emerging designers but as Iranians,"said Shiva Vaqar. "We face lots of sanctions and restrictions. Sourcing fabrics, finding production houses, convincing them to make our pieces . ... We have problems sending our products outside Iran. (We don't have)FedEx, (the) banking (system)is on lockdown."
Still, she said,"We try to make it."
Katebi and theVaqar sisters, who are longtimefriends, had not been able to communicate with each other ahead of the event because of Iran's Internet crackdown.Katebi said she has not been able to reach her family in Iran.
Iran student leader: I regret1979 attack on U.S. Embassy in Tehran
Amir Rashidi, an Internet security and digital rights specialist, said Iran has previously weighed the idea of creating different levels of access to the Internet. He pointed to a Nov. 1interview withHamid Fatahi, a senior official in Iran's ministry of information and communications technology, in which Fatahi discusses the possibility of partitioning access based on "social class" or the "occupational needs of users."
It wasnot immediately clear if Iran is still considering such an initiative, which could be used to suppressdissenting voices. China and Russia have either taken steps or are experimenting with ways toroute Internet traffic through state-controlled channels. Iran's domestic banks, hospitals, government agencies and other major state infrastructure and servicessuch as the police have remained connected to the Internetduring the blackout, according to digital security experts and Iranians contacted by USA TODAY.
Over the last week, demonstrators in Iran set fire to banks and police stations and ransacked public office buildings and blocked roads, according to rights groups. Amnesty International has said that at least 100 Iranians have been killed in the protests as security services have sought to disperse crowds by firing live ammunition.
Some Iranians have found workarounds for limited Internet access. Photos and video footage that havetrickled out of Iran haveappeared to corroborate the claims of violence, but Iran has dismissed Amnesty's death figures as propaganda.
"Amnesty's report is based on anti-Iranian sources and those sources are not reliable," Mohammad Farahani, the editor-in-chief of the Mizan News Agency, an official news site that covers Iran's judiciary, told USA TODAY in a direct message via social media.
"People (in Iran) have the right to protest just like anywhere elsebut those who burn banks and stores are not protesters (they are rioters)," he said.
Iranian authorities have sought to partly blame the unrest on dual-national agitators with ties to foreign governments. Iran's semi-official Fars New Agency reported Wednesday that "thugs arrested during the recent riots confessed they received $60 for each place set on fire." The Fars report did not say who may have been behind the payments.
But Sina Toossi, a research associate at the National Iranian American Council, a Washington-D.C.-basedorganization that seeks to promote links between Americans and Iranians, said that the "the Iranian government does not tolerate peaceful assembly for ordinary people to air their grievances ...If the Iranian government is sincere about making a distinction between protests and rioters, it should at the minimum facilitate this first step in allowing people to air their grievances publicly."
Toossi said that his WhatsApp groups with family and friends in Iran that were always a "feed of pictures and messages" have,since Nov. 17, "fallen ominously silent."
A senior Iranian diplomat in Europe who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the issuesaid thatthe Internet was disconnected to ensure that Iranians weren't "misinformed and bombarded with fake news."
Whither the nuke deal?: Iran starts injecting uranium gas into centrifuges
Included in this"fake news," according to Iranian officialsbut also many Iranians who would like closerrelations with the West and don't necessarilysympathize with their government or itsheavy-handed tactics, but who nevertheless object to interventions by officials in the Trump administration, including the president himself, is an effort to frame every protest in Iran as a sign that the regime is about to be toppled in a popular uprising.
"There's just so much more to it," saidMasoud Golsorkhi, a London-based Iranian-born magazine editor who was at the VOICES event in Oxford this week.
Still, late Thursday Trump tweeted that"Iran has become so unstable that the regime has shut down their entire Internet System," adding "They want ZERO transparency, thinking the world will not find out the death and tragedy that the Iranian Regime is causing!"
That same day the U.S.'stop diplomat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said that he had"asked the Iranian protestors to send us their videos, photos and information documenting the regimes crackdown on protestors. The U.S. will expose and sanction the abuses."
And on Friday, theU.S. imposed sanctions on Irans information minister,Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi, forhis role in "wide-scale Internet censorship."
Yet Toossi cautioned that "U.S. officials shouldn't conflate Iranians'expression of their legitimate grievances and anger with their own government as a welcoming of new U.S. interference in Irans internal affairs," the high-water mark of which was a 1953 CIA-orchestrated coup that unseated Iran's democratically elected prime minister.
"U.S. intervention in Iran's domestic affairshas a long, ugly history and has only made matters worse for the Iranian people and regional stability," he said.
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'Tool of repression': Iran and regimes from Ethiopia to Venezuela limit Internet, go dark online - USA TODAY
Through Its YubiKey, Yubico Provides a Hardware Solution that Maximizes Online Security and Usability while Moving Beyond Passwords – CardRates.com
In a Nutshell: Anybody using a computer or mobile device has created a username or password at some point. For years, this has been the standard for online security and authentication, but experts say this approach is no longer sufficient. YubiKey, from Yubico, is a multifactor authentication product that boosts authentication security while maintaining convenience for its users. The YubiKey simply plugs into a USB port or uses near-field-communication technology for supported smartphones, and users can touch the key with their finger and gain access to hundreds of applications and sites. Google and Microsoft support YubiKey, and Google employees are even required to use it on the job.
If youre reading this, youre most likely using a computer or a mobile electronic device. And if youre using one of those things, then youve likely had to create a password or two in your day. Or 27, which is how many discrete login passwords the average person has, according to a 2016 Intel Security poll.
But, with the numerous high-profile security breaches in recent years and more sophisticated technology available to hackers, some are saying its time to log off from using passwords to protect our accounts.
Now, growing numbers of security experts feel that the password in its common form is too old and unsophisticated for the job, according to a Washington Post article titled The Secret Password IsObsolete from 1994.
Multifactor authentication in which a user must present two forms of identification, such as a password and a one-time, computer-generated code have become more commonly used in recent years. But even thats not a match for todays bad actors.
Most of us in the industry have known for a long time that just a username and password is not secure enough, said Hormazd Romer, Vice President of Product Marketing at the internet security company, Yubico. As attackers have gotten more sophisticated and more real-time in their attacks, theyre even able to circumvent a lot of traditional multifactor authentication methods.
So, if the 27 passwords you have written down on that tiny little piece of paper in your desk drawer are no longer adequate, and even the increased security of the more labor-intensive multifactor authentication is not enough, how can our online accounts stay secure?
With the YubiKey, according to Romer. The flagship product of Yubico, the YubiKey is a piece of hardware that can be plugged into computers and other devices to log in to email, online services, apps, computers, and even physical spaces.
We recently spoke with Romer to learn more about the YubiKey, the technology behind it, and what makes it a superior authentication method.
Yubico was founded in Sweden in 2007 with the mission to make secure login easy and accessible to everyone, with one single authentication key that would work across multiple services.
YubiKey is the realization of this vision.
YubiKey is a physical device that plugs into the USB port of your computer or electronic device. There are different models of YubiKeys available for devices that use USB-A, USB-C, Lightning, and near-field-communication (NFC) technology.
The keys name conjures the notion of ubiquity on purpose, and the Japanese word yubi means finger, which is how users confirm their presence to the YubiKey.
At a high level, one of the key benefits of YubiKey is that it fits into a regular USB port of a computer and doesnt require any additional software or hardware, Romer said. Past solutions have required external card readers or other things you had to hook up to your computer, or required installing software.
Romer said all major browsers and platforms support YubiKey.
So that means as soon as you put your YubiKey into the USB port, the platform itself detects it and the browser says, Oh, this is a security key, now I can use it, he said.
Romer said the company offers two different form factors users can choose from, based on their preference.
One is what we call a keychain model, which is the size of, or smaller than, a typical house key, he said. And it has a little key chip holder in it, and you carry it with you on your keychain. Its portable and goes from computer to computer, and you always have it on your person as long as you have your keys with you.
The other version is the nano form factor which is geared toward convenience, Romer said.
Its for when youre typically working from a single computer all day long, and you need to log in multiple times a day, he said. This is a tiny, tiny thing thats kind of just a little nub sticking out, once you put into the USB port out of your computer. And to log in, all you have to do is tap it.
Romer said most users prefer to have one of each type of YubiKey.
The devices can also be used with mobile phones that support NFC technology.
To use the YubiKey, users first must go to the security settings of their account and select two-factor authentication. Then, for computers, they insert the YubiKey into the USB port and touch the key to verify they are human and not a remote hacker.
For NFC-enabled phones, users just tap the YubiKey against the phone to complete authentication.
The YubiKey offers a variety of functions when it comes to security and authentication.
For example, it works with the FIDO U2F open authentication standard which enables strong two-factor authentication to hundreds of web-based applications, including Gmail, Salesforce, and Twitter. And the FIDO2 standard offers expanded authentication options like multifactor and passwordless authentication.
With YubiKey support for FIDO2, organizations can accelerate to the passwordless future without the need for any client software or drivers, according to the company website.
The YubiKey can also generate a one-time encrypted password for a single use.
YubiKeys technology also enables it to generate six- and eight-character passwords for logging into various services and provides support for offline validations as well. The YubiKey 5 Series also supports the same features found in smart cards that broker data exchanges.
The keys can also generate 38-character static passwords that are compatible for any application login. This is handy for legacy systems that are not able to use two-factor authentication.
The company details the features supported on each YubiKey model on its YubiKey comparison chart, available on the company website.
All of these functions, which exist within the tiny YubiKeys, directly support Yubicos mission of providing convenient ways to authenticate credentials and prevent sensitive information from being stolen.
The YubiKey works with hundreds of enterprise, developer and consumer applications, out of the box and with no client software, according to the company. Combined with leading password managers, social login and enterprise single sign-on systems the YubiKey enables secure access to millions of online services.
Romer said Yubico feels very good about all the support it has in the industry.
The crush- and water-resistant YubiKey has been successfully deployed by some of the largest tech, finance, and retail companies in the world, according to Yubico, and has millions of users in 160 countries.
Not only is YubiKey supported across Microsoft and Google applications, but the use of YubiKey is also mandatory for all Google employees.
Google began working with Yubico in 2009 when Google was increasingly the target of sophisticated cyberattacks that could circumvent traditional security measures.
We believe that by using this token weve raised the standard of security for our employees beyond what was commercially available, wrote Googles Director of Security Engineering Mayank Upadhyay on the Yubico website. The device works with Googles Web browser Chrome, and works very seamlessly for people in their day-to-day workflow here at Google.
Romer said these kinds of enterprise uses of YubiKey are very valuable to companies because there is so much at stake if a data breach occurs. Companies not only risk losing millions of dollars if infiltrated, but sensitive customer data can be accessed, and a companys reputation can be severely damaged.
Although YubiKey does not work with every single website or service, Romer said Yubico is continually working to increase its level of support. In the meantime, the company encourages potential users to search its online catalog to see if the service they want to use is currently supported.
Romer added that Yubico does not currently have any banks listed in its catalog, and the company encourages users to express their desire to use a YubiKey with their financial institutions.
Yubico is regularly engaged with service providers to broaden the YubiKey ecosystem, but we often hear that its the customer preference that is most influential, he said. Most product features and road maps are prioritized based on popular customer demands.
Romer said there is a lot of exciting work going into making convenient and secure passwordless authentication a reality.
Theres going to be even more innovation in that area, he said. I think that is the future. Everybody hates usernames and passwords. IT people hate passwords. Hackers love passwords, but everybody else hates them.
Romer said he believes the whole tech industry will be moving toward a world where users wont have to create a new password every time they create an account or sign up for a new service online.
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Through Its YubiKey, Yubico Provides a Hardware Solution that Maximizes Online Security and Usability while Moving Beyond Passwords - CardRates.com
Organisations Join Forces To Fight Off Stalkerware And Domestic Violence – Women Love Tech
A group of organisations who work against domestic violence have joined forces with IT security companies to launch Coalition Against Stalkerware with the aim of combatting occurrences of domestic violence.
In this internet age, it seems that privacy is becoming more and more of a concept rather than a reality. In the cloud, everything is accessible, whether you like to admit or not. Although it is extremely difficult the content in our personal clouds, some people have been using Stalkerware in order to access the the most private aspects of peoples lives.
Stalkerware are programs that present users the opportunity to intrude into peoples photos, messages, social media, location, and more; which are currently and frequently being used as a means of instigating domestic abuse and stalking.
The IT security industry gives its input by improving detection of stalkerware and better notifying users of this threat to their privacy. Meanwhile service and advocacy organisations directly work with victims of domestic violence, know their pain points and requests, and can guide our work said David Ruiz, Online Privacy Writer for Malwarebytes Labs
According to Kaspersky, the internet security company, the issue is only worsening; with the amount of users facing these intrusive programs rising by 35% since last year. On top of that, there are more variants of Stalkerware available than ever before.
As part of the coalitions action, the website http://www.stopstalkerware.org has been launched with the goal to provide helpful online resources for victims. On the website youll find information on what Stalkerware is, what it does, how to protect yourself, and what steps to take, and what steps to avoid.
Ten organisations in total have committed to working together to do everything in their power to overcome the harmful effects of Stalkerware.
In order to counter this issue, it is important for cybersecurity vendors and advocacy organizations to work together said Vyacheslav Zakorzhevsky, Head of Anti-Malware Research at Kaspersky.
To find out more about the Coalition Against Stalkerware please visit the official websitewww.stopstalkerware.org
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Organisations Join Forces To Fight Off Stalkerware And Domestic Violence - Women Love Tech