Cyber threats increase as the world goes mobile and networked

December 23rd, 2011

Cyber threats continue to grow as the world becomes more mobile and networked. Next year, we can expect the number of successful network defence attacks to grow rapidly, partly because legislation will make data breach reporting mandatory but also because, increasingly, everything that moves will become a target – as a controllable mobile networked device.

What are the chances that the increased opportunities will result in cyber-attack, successful or not? Given the current network security methodologies deployed in a greater majority of organisations around the world, which rely on layers of software to deflect attacks, and the lack of robust security at the device level, I think it is highly probable that series of attacks will be mounted next year.

This is recognised in a current report on one mobile sector, on the world’s waters. The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) has just published the first EU report on cyber security challenges in the Maritime Sector. The report says that recent deliberate disruptions of critical automation systems, through malware worms such as Stuxnet, prove that cyber-attacks have a significant impact on critical infrastructures.

Disruption through Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) to these ICT capabilities may have disastrous consequences for EU Member States’ governments and social well-being. The need to ensure ICT robustness against cyber-attacks is a key challenge at national and pan-European level.

The report says that Maritime cyber security awareness is currently low to non-existent and advises: “Due to the high ICT complexity, it is a major challenge to ensure adequate maritime cyber security. A common strategy and the establishing of good practices for technology development and implementation of ICT systems would therefore ensure ‘security by design’ for all critical maritime ICT components.”

The tools for creating such havoc are becoming more focused and professional — and more accessible.

The newest and most unpredictable weaknesses today are in the connected systems embedded in late-model cars.

Vulnerabilities have been identified in remote start, locking, tracking and other car systems. Computer security researchers at iSec Partners, for example, have shown how they can unlock a car and turn on its engine using a laptop computer - and it took them but a few hours to tap into the car’s wireless connections.

These innovations were intended as theft deterrents but if cyber-criminals or terrorists could take control of these systems the consequences hardly bear thinking about.

And while the possibility of controlling an aircraft by remote computer, causing it to crash remains remote but hackers can disrupt flights and create potentially life-threatening situations.

Even rudimentary distributed denial of service attacks (DDOS) can and have been deployed; for example, the “ Low Orbit Ion Cannon“. These repurposed administrative tools bring down systems DDOS and they could cause serious problems if directed at critical transportation systems.

These networks are certainly frighteningly vulnerable. In 2002, a major weakness in the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) was discovered that could have been exploited to bring down large portions of the Internet. The vulnerability was kept a secret while security firms worked to protect telecommunications equipment around the world.

According to FBI reports at the time, if the systems could have been used to interrupt control information exchanged between ground and aircraft flight control systems – but the patches came just in time.

Similar outages in telecommunications systems and embedded systems could be used to disrupt train and track switching information in some countries, particularly the US.

Some rail systems there are based on supervisory control and data acquisition control systems (SCADA), similar to those that were compromised in the Stuxnet attacks in 2010.

Governments, organisations and corporates around the globe are waking up, belatedly to the seriousness of current network defence structural flaws. I hope that this new focus and energy will lead to adoption of radically more robust methodologies in 2012.

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YouGov 2012 consumer technology predictions

December 20th, 2011

YouGov has announced its 2012 predictions for UK consumers’ consumption and behaviour around Smart TV, smartphones, Facebook, digital newspapers and digital radio. The findings originate from a multi-country study, carried out in November 2011 with almost 13,000 respondents.

The headline statistics include:
o 15% of UK consumers say they will own a Smart TV within the next 12 months
o 86% of smartphone users ignore advertising on mobiles
o 60% of UK online population now use Facebook more than once a day
o 24% of tablet users access the web whilst in bed
o Just over one in five (22%) of 18-24 year olds have listened to the Radio via a portable radio set (including DAB)

As you can see, surprisingly only 15% of UK consumers said that they expect to purchase a connected, or ‘Smart’, TV within the next 12 months. However, that figure may not tell the whole story as people are already connecting their TV to the web via external devices, including games consoles such as the Xbox 360 and PS3, along with ‘plug in’ boxes such as Boxee.

The biggest driver for adoption of Smart TV is the availability of content, as YouGov reports 36% of UK respondents aged 18-24 said that they would make a connected TV purchase if they could watch their favourite TV content on-demand.

Dan Brilot, media consulting director at YouGov, said: “Smart content producers must continue to develop their services to make it increasingly easier for people to watch what they want, when they want, wherever they want.”

Moving onto smartphones, 40% of people own smartphones in the UK, increasing to 68% within the next upgrade cycle. However, YouGov say 86% of smartphone users ignore advertising on mobiles, meaning engagement via mobile must be useful and relevant - not broadcasted, or in other words: advertising.

In terms of digital newspapers and tablets, Russell Feldman, associate director of technology at YouGov says: “The decline of print media sales will only accelerate during 2012. Tablets and apps will increase the digital cannibalisation of paper copies as they erode more of those previously inaccessible locations to digital devices; for example, nearly one quarter (24%) of tablet users access the internet whilst in bed.”

Tablet usage is still small (currently only 4% of the UK population own one) but that number is growing and, as the market develops and new entrants such as the Kindle Fire gain traction, newspaper and magazine publishers will focus more effort on specific tablet versions of their publications.

Finally, DAB take-up hasn’t quite lived up to the initial hype. To make this happen, Dan Brilot, media consulting director at YouGov says: “The radio industry needs to educate and support consumers as they become accustomed to new ways of listening and to ensure that reach and frequency opportunities are truly maximised - not lost - in the digital age.”

Posted in Content, Digital communications, Digital media, PR, Slates, Smartphones, Social media, Trends and research, Useful resources | No Comments »

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Why take the Google+ page plunge?

November 18th, 2011

Google+ launched Google+ pages last week, in direct competition with Facebook, and the evidence shows that many brands have set up a page over the first week of activity, at least according to research by SEO firm BrightEdge, who confirmed ‘61 percent of world’s top 100 brands have already created Google+ pages‘, which is pretty impressive considering the time frame.

The question that keeps coming up is: ‘Why do I need a Facebook page and a Google+ page?’ Many of those brands that have taken the plunge already will have grabbed their Google+ page, simply to secure it, which is reason enough at least in the short term. Some may be surprised to hear though that it’s easy to set up fake pages so look for the verified badge when you visit the site.

So why does a brand need a Google+ page? Well, there are many reasons, 18.5 of which are defined in Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp’s piece on the Drum last week, and as he suggested, the integration of Analytics, YouTube, Adwords, Picassa offers an advantage over Facebook, and perhaps an insight into the longer term strategy.

Obviously Facebook is the prime motivation for the Google+ launch, and many feel Google+ is too far behind to mount an effective challenge, but the issue here is not so much about the stand alone effectiveness of Google+ vs Facebook, but the sheer scale of Google products that Google + already integrates, and will undoubtedly increase in the future. Let’s also not forget Google’s strength, its search engine, which has led to its Google+ pages already out ranking Facebook brand pages, which is reason enough for some brands to get involved.

The BrightEdge analysis showed Google+ pages on average appeared in the top 12 Google search results for the corresponding brand, while the brand’s Facebook pages on average appeared in the top 13 or 14 listed results.

The flexibility in connectedness, and search, gives Google the long term edge in terms of synching with its full range of services. Of course many services also synch with Facebook, but Google’s vision seems to take this to another level. We’re not talking about beating Facebook, Google is simply building around it and making it less relevant.

The reality is we’re a long way away from that today as 94 percent of the Top 100 brands analysed by BrightEdge have a presence on Facebook, and in terms of the big brands, like Coke, McDonalds and Verizon each only has dozens of fans on Google+, but millions of Facebook fans. The review of Facebook and Google+ properties for the top 100 brands showed a collective total of almost 300 million Facebook fans, compared to approximately 148,000 Google+ followers for these same brands.

Looking at the figures today, the task ahead of Google+ seems insurmountable, but i suspect the gulf between Facebook and Google+ will fall as the connected battle gets into second gear, and Google has already announced a pilot program that will allow businesses and brands to manage their Google+ Pages using a number of third-party applications, including Buddy Media, Context Optional, Hearsay Social, HootSuite, Involver, and Vitrue.

The issue is not so much about Google+ catching Facebook, but about offering a viable and useful reason to have a Google+ page as well. We may see different verticals opting for different networks based on reach and audience in the future, but with these options brands have ever more increasing routes to listening and engaging with their communities.

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XBOX is 10 today

November 15th, 2011

Ten years ago today the XBOX launched in the U.S. to take on Sony’s popular Playstation gaming machine. Since then it has gone from strength-to-strength. Prior to this, Microsoft’s only other real gaming experience was Flight Simulator and Sidewinder joysticks.

The XBOX introduced Halo, which is also ten years old today. Other launch games included Dead or Alive 3, Amped, Fuzion Frenzy, Project Gotham Racing and Jet Set Radio Future.

Since its launch in 2002, XBOX Live has pulled in 35 million members. The XBOX was discontinued in late 2006, following the launch of the XBOX 360 in 2005, and now there is an estimated 57 million XBOX 360s out there and growing.

Video of the XBOX 1 Launch at NY Timesquare

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YouTube movie rental launches in the UK

October 11th, 2011

The US and Canada have already made full use of YouTube’s movie rental service, but now it’s finally the UK’s turn to catch up.

Most of the movies are priced at £2.50 or £3.50 for a 48-hour pass and buyers have 30 days to start watching the content.

YouTube also claim “Many movie pages also feature YouTube Movie Extras with free behind-the-scenes videos, cast interviews, parodies, clips and remixes from YouTube’s unique community of content creators. Over time we’ll also be adding additional videos and features to YouTube Movie Extras so that you can get even more into movies on YouTube.”

You can check out the current movie selection here

You can also watch the movies on Android devices and Google TV, which I suspect will play a major part of any future Google TV updates, when they are announced.

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$45 tablet launched

October 5th, 2011

A few weeks ago, I posted about a budget tablet launching, which was selling for just £129.00 called the Andy Pad. This week I can go one better and let you know about an Indian tablet called the “Akash” (”Sky”) which is priced at $45.00. The first 500 tablets will be handed over to Indian students after the launch.

Ministry spokeswoman Mamata Varma, confirmed:. “Initially, 700 Akash tablets will be made every day and we expect the production to pick up when more companies join in to manufacture the device,”

The specifications for the tablet are below.

• Running an Android 2.2 operating system
• 7 inch touch screen
• 32GB expandable memory
• 256-megabyte RAM
• Two USB ports
• Wi-Fi Internet access
• Video conferencing capability
• Internal media player
• Estimated battery life of 180 minutes
• 2GB SD memory card included

Would you purchase one for $45.00?

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Dealing with uncertainty, faster than light particles and the tumbling satellite

September 23rd, 2011

Life is great! I’m not certain about that as a general principle but tonight, it most definitely is.

It has been a most extraordinary week – we’ve just had some of the best lessons in how things change and how difficult it is to measure anything. How fragile and contingent everything is.

First, the Tumbling Satellite. Here’s a picture showing where it will hit the Earth. It made me laugh out loud, and for a long time. That’s a big area…shame it’s not coming down over England. I’d be 10 again and out looking for trophies with the gang.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15034073

The satellite-wobble uncertainty was good enough, and the uncertainty continues but it got much better last night (Thursday) when Italian scientists announced, with understandable reticence, that they had been measuring the speed of sub-atomic particles sent from CERN and found out weird, strange and frankly terrifying things.

I would have given all my worldly goods to have been there when the team finally drew fearsome conclusions from their measurement of the travel times of neutrino bunches. Some apparently travelled faster than the speed of light.

It was not meant to be this way. E=Mc2, right?

The exercise was for the CERN team to prepare a beam of just one type, muon neutrinos, and send them through the Earth to an underground laboratory at Gran Sasso in Italy to see how many showed up as a different type, tau neutrinos.

Not sure how that panned out – but, hey, the Italian team found something potentially much, much better. Faster than light? WOW!

If the data is right, and the event/result are reproducible, then we have just shifted into a new universe.

All that is solid melts into air… what this means for PR and marketing, one can only guess. But it will make a difference. And that’s why life is truly great, often.

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Network security breaches move into crisis phase

September 23rd, 2011

Network security breaches are moving way beyond the ‘hacker quest for notoriety’ stage and we’re now in crisis.

While the lexicon for data breach is changing at bewildering speed, the sustained attacks from organised criminal gangs violate our network space on an hourly basis. If you have been hacked – and I was way back – you will know the sense of powerlessness, rage and fear that this brings.

In my case, it was a concerted attack on and control of a range of IP addresses that was then used by the hacking group to mount a sustained attack and penetration of NASA. My IP range was secure and safe but others in the range were not. The penetration began at the end-device level and moved from there to server-side.

Wasteland: cyber-crime steals the future

The initial attack led first to a wipe out of websites access, then barring by the naming authority, which I thought was akin to crucifying the victim of a robbery. Meanwhile, the hacker group penetrated and accessed NASA data.

But that experience taught me two things. First, the onus and focus was on the user to secure and nail down their network, whether shared or unique. Second, the software-based security solutions were not adequate.

If that was true in 2001, it’s even more valid now.

We’ve seen in the past week details of the sustained cyber attack on Mitsubishi and news around the threat of malware embedding deep in the BIOS.

I’ve been monitoring the network security landscape for two years, as part of the job at Liberate Media. It’s scary. Every week, there is a raft of stories around network breach of organisations of every type.

Worse, the number of breach reports is increasing month on month. These are only the tip, remember. Many countries do not require breach and data loss reporting, currently. That is about to change in the UK and Europe.

What this will do the breach statistics is anybody’s guess – but I would place a very big bet that the rate of breach will not go down.

The Guardian has just published a lengthy, informative blog post by author Misha Glenny that, between the scare-ware info, describes the breadth and depth of the organised cyber-crime dark side. Worth a read.

Time to wake up?

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Latest iPad 3 Rumours

September 7th, 2011

The latest iPad 3 rumour to hit the street is all about the battery. It is apparently thinner and lighter than the iPad 2 battery according to this source.

The iPad 3 is expected to hit the streets in February 2012 or it could be as early as September as indicated in this report. The new battery will be 20-30 per cent more expensive than the current battery used in the iPad 2, which might make new iPad more expensive.

Posted in Blog, Digital communications, Digital media, Emerging technology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

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An Android tablet for £129.00?

September 6th, 2011

How about an Android Tablet for £129.00?

A new contender has hit the market at just that price point called the AndyPad (not sure about the name!) or you can shell out £179.99 for the pro version.

You can order it now for delivery on the week commencing September 12th.

The specifications are as follows:

The weight is 374g

7in, 1024 x 600 screen

1.2GHz Cortex A8 chip, 512MB of RAM

802.11g Wi-Fi

HDMI and micro USB ports

It also has front- and rear-facing cameras - 0.3Mp and 2Mp respectively

Bluetooth

Here it is in action:

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