Cyber Security ⯀  

Network security is an issue that is increasingly important as businesses and even households shift more workflow processes and key tasks to the network and into the cloud. While some users may find it a challenge to protect even a single digital device, keeping an entire network secure can be a tall order for even the most tech-savvy users.

Cyber Securiity ⯀  

The internet is an amazing thing. It has changed how people communicate with each other. Today, any person can communicate with any other person on any continent through the power of the internet. It has also given regular people access to more information than could be stored in the largest libraries in the world. According to Internet Live Statistics, there are currently 1.9 billion websites online today.

Cloud Computing ⯀  

Cloud technology is made up of hardware and software resources that are managed by the service provider and can be accessed online. The technology depends on advanced programs and high-end networks of server computers. The number of cloud technologies is increasing each day, and if your business has not embraced cloud technology, then it should do so to continue enjoying the benefits.

Networks  

Information flooding the Internet can be easily hacked when it's not properly secured. Trade secrets, payroll and other crucial data must be protected with today's best strategies and tools.

Fortune 500 companies have a lot of information that's proprietary to their needs. Take a close look at how these companies secure their networks from hackers and thieves.

Starting With Classifications

Fortune 500 companies secure their networks by starting with employee classifications. Certain workers should have access to various sections of a company's server, such as payroll or health information. By using a minimum of three classification levels, workers can still be productive with the data that they need while keeping it away from the wrong people. These classifications are in the form of logins, card swipes and fingerprint images. The complexity level of the access pathway depends on the information hidden within.

Investing in Hardware

A key component to any secure network is hardware. Although many companies tout the benefits of cloud servers, this hardware isn't under the business's control. In fact, numerous people might have access to this information at the cloud-based company. Fortune 500 companies must have their own servers and other hardware so that the information is confined to a certain location. Trusted employees are the only ones who can access the information, which dramatically reduces the hacking potential.

Keeping up With Software

Hackers depend on outdated software because it simply makes their job easier. They'll use breaks in the code and hiccups in the system in order to access sensitive information. Fortune 500 companies must keep up with each software update. They might reserve a monthly time period to cover every update, such as after hours or on the weekend. Every software patch makes it harder for the hackers to make their way into the system where they compromise important data.

Incorporating Certified Web Security Solutions

Hackers will often find their way into a company's servers by using the average website. Ideally, Fortune 500 companies will have certified security solutions for their sites. As customers purchase an item through the portal, encrypted software activates for a secure session. Companies purchase these security solutions based on the volume of sales or correspondence through the website. Other background security measures are also part of the package. Companies simply need to work with their security representative in order to create a solid firewall.

Related articles

• How Does Technology Improve Our World? 
• Artificial Mini-Brains Show The Importance Of Cooperation In Evolution 
• Machines May Learn Like Us 

Encrypting Data

Encryption is still a critical part of data protection. Any file transfers must be coded so that the information cannot be pulled through and into hackers' computers. Deciphering these advanced codes is incredibly difficult. Ideally, Fortune 500 companies use the latest encryption software in order to make their data as convoluted as possible.

Documenting IT Changes

Security breaches occur most often when IT professionals don't document the changes in a given system. If several experts work in the same department, undocumented items might be overlooked or improperly applied. Fortune 500 companies encourage documentation of every step taken in the system. Although the process takes some time, it pays off with a secure system that's easily managed by multiple employees. In addition, any mistakes can be found immediately following an update or change. Security breaches tend to follow changes that aren't implemented within the parameters of the software's update.

As today's consumers interact more often with Fortune 500 companies, the transactions need to be enhanced with security as well. Paying with a cellphone instead of a credit card is one way to secure the transaction as encryption and codes pave the way around any hacking. Both businesses and consumers should take a hard look at their interactions so that any disruptions are minimized.

By  Rachelle Wilber	Embed

Cyber Security  

The face of computing changes daily. As technology, use, and users change, so do the challenges of network security. Attackers regularly change their method of attack.

It takes a combination of protective technology and training to ensure your network security and that you don't experience a data breach like one of the 781 in 2015. The median cost of a data breach today sits at $3.5 million, plus immeasurable cost to your reputation. Three developments in particular can be used to optimize the security of your company: mobile officing, cloud services, and employee security training.

Related articles

• NVIDIA's DRIVE PX Might Mean A Lot More Than Self-Driving Cars 
• Researchers Use Network of Cameras to Track People Indoors 
• Technology to Keep Your Company in the 21st Century 

Mobile Officing

Years ago, everyone accessed your servers from within your office walls using computers you set up and shored up against attack. Now, you must contend with employees accessing your servers with a bevy of devices including iPads, iPhones, Android and Windows phones, tablets, laptops, and home PCs. Your number of potential threats exploded while your budget likely stagnated. Not only must you secure cross-platform employee access across an ever-expanding network perimeter, you also need to secure against devices over which you have no control—those of the consumers. The consumerization movement will bring a flock of new viewers to your websites and forums.

Cloud Services

Another explosion in technology has occurred in the areas of cloud services and software as a service. Access to these services can avoid traditional inspection points. Continually redefine your policy controls for cloud and web applications with special respect to user availability and read-only access, as well as to block the possibility of password duplication.

Security Training

One way to cut off many security issues at their source is help your employees themselves learn about security awareness at work through training. Both easy to deploy and reasonable in cost, security training can make a real difference in your company's security. For instance, a recent study analyzed the results of 8 million phishing simulations during a 13-month period. Most participating organizations (75 percent of them), trained more than 1,000 employees. Pre-training data showed the average response rate to phishing emails at 20 percent. After three simulation exercises, the study found the employee click-thru rate fell to 13 percent, a fourth exercise dropped it to 4 percent and a fifth brought it to 0.2 percent. Visit a company like Global Learning Systems to learn more about security training.

It's easier than you think to make computing more secure. Especially in today’s world with constant developments to implement into your business. Staying on top of modern security techniques and training your employees to be smart in defending against digital threats can help keep your company’s data protected.

By Dixie Somers

Embed

Author Bio - Dixie is a freelance writer who loves to write about business, finance and self improvement. She lives in Arizona with her husband and three beautiful daughters.

IT  

The architecture of your IT infrastructure is an investment critical to the success of your business. Use this infographic to help you plan your network organization.

With telecommunications now a fundamental operation of any business, it is of critical importance that an organization has a solid, reliable network infrastructure in place. Building this infrastructure takes time and resources, but it is an investment well worth making to minimize the likelihood of massive IT problems further down the line which could prove even more costly to businesses.

Related articles

• Clarence Tan Talks About Singularity University 
• BRAIN Project Infographic Released 
• Richard Gordon On Building Intelligent Machines 

Exigent Networks created this infographic which charts the steps that are involved in the building of a network infrastructure. From the original determination of the site requirements right the way through to a post-installation review of the infrastructure, this is a thorough yet concise guide for businesses needing to implement a top quality network infrastructure. There are also some very practical tips on installing a network infrastructure, as well as a list of benefits to have a solid structure in place.

As a leading solutions architect once advised, it is far better to make a relatively expensive investment in the planning stage than to have the need for an exorbitant outlay to fix in the field. By putting the initial investment into having a dependable network infrastructure, you’re almost certainly going to avoid a situation where a network issue requires time and money to fix, with the additional offset of lost sales and productivity.

SOURCE  Exigent Networks

By 33rd Square

Embed

 Complexity  

Researchers have developed a theoretical framework for analyzing individual controls within networks based on numbers of sources and sinks for information flow. By this method, the number of controls required by a network can be predicted and direct comparisons for the basis for control across networks of differing size, structure, and function can be made.

Researchers have found a new way of decomposing the structures that give rise to the need to control complex systems at various points. Using this model, they developed a new network statistic, called the control profile, that both highlights significant differences between real networks and commonly-used random models.

The two brothers, Profs. Justin and Derek Ruths, from Singapore University of Technology and Design and McGill University respectively, have suggested, in an article published in Science, that all complex systems, whether they are found in the body, in international finance, or in social situations, actually fall into just three basic categories, in terms of how they can be controlled.

"While our framework does provide insights into the nature of control in these systems, we're also intrigued by what these groupings tell us about how very different parts of the world share deep and fundamental attributes in common."

Related articles Chris Eliasmith Discusses SPAUN's Artificial Intelligence  System That Merges Human and Artificial Intelligence Awarded US Patent  Researchers Connect Entropy To Intelligent Behaviour

They reached this conclusion by surveying the inputs and outputs and the critical control points in a wide range of systems that appear to function in completely different ways.

"When controlling a cell in the body, for example, these control points might correspond to proteins that we can regulate using specific drugs," said Justin Ruths. "But in the case of a national or international economic system, the critical control points could be certain companies whose financial activity needs to be directly regulated."

One grouping, for example, put organizational hierarchies, gene regulation, and human purchasing behavior together, in part because in each, it is hard to control individual parts of the system in isolation. Another grouping includes social networks such as groups of friends (whether virtual or real), and neural networks in the brain, where the systems allow for relatively independent behavior. The final group includes things like food systems, electrical circuits and the internet, all of which function basically as closed systems where resources circulate internally.

Referring to these groupings, Derek Ruths commented, "While our framework does provide insights into the nature of control in these systems, we're also intrigued by what these groupings tell us about how very different parts of the world share deep and fundamental attributes in common – which may help unify our understanding of complexity and of control."

"What we really want people to take away from the research at this point is that we can control these complex and important systems in the same way that we can control a car," says Justin Ruths. "And that our work is giving us insight into which parts of the system we need to control and why. Ultimately, at this point we have developed some new theory that helps to advance the field in important ways, but it may still be another five to ten years before we see how this will play out in concrete terms."



SOURCE  PhysOrg

By 33rd Square

Embed

 Juan Enriquez  

Juan Enriquez, explains in a recent TEDx talk, that networks and those people that can successfully navigate and cross them are critical for business operations.

While people are "The Most Important" part of any organization, their role has fundamentally changed in the last thousands, hundreds, dozens of years. Now networks are again changing the nature of how and where we work in very surprising ways.

As Juan Enriquez, Managing Director of Excel Venture Management and a bestselling author and academic explains in this TEDx talk, networks and those people that can successfully navigate and cross them are critical for business operations.

Related articles Racing With The Machines  Juan Enriquez Talks About Your Online Life  The Form of a Robotic Mind - Matanya Horowitz

Enriquez is recognized as one of the world's leading authorities on the economic and political impacts of life sciences. He is currently Chairman and CEO of Biotechonomy LLC, a life sciences research and investment firm. He is also the author of, As the Future Catches You: How Genomics & Other Forces Are Changing Your Life, Work, Health & Wealth, a book about the unprecedented political, ethical, economic, and financial issues, dramatically demonstrating the cascading impact of the genetic, digital, and knowledge revolutions on all our lives.

Enríquez was also the founding director of the Life Sciences Project at Harvard Business School and a fellow at Harvard's Center for International Affairs. His work has been published in Harvard Business Review, Foreign Policy, Science, and The New York Times.



SOURCE  TEDx Talks

By 33rd Square

Subscribe to 33rd Square

 Networks  

Modern stock market trading networks and systems have become so fast that the speed of light is now their key limiting factor. Alex Wissner-Gross has determined how high frequency trading may best overcome this hurdle.

The performance of a wide variety of globally-distributed online activities is increasingly limited by the finite speed of light. Dr. Alexander Wissner-Gross recently introduced technology for partially mitigating the impact of this limitation on the coordination of geographically distributed activities, such as virtual worlds, currency exchanges, telepresence, and remote surgery.

His solution involves positioning computer servers in optimal intermediate locations such as oceans and other network-sparse regions, opening the possibility of geographic remoteness becoming a new form of natural resource for developing countries in the next decade.

Related articles Google and NASA's Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab  10,000 Times Faster Than Light - Physicists Measure Speed of Einstein's 'Spooky Action at a Distance'  Is Warp Drive Possible?

According to Wissner-Gross, networks can use intermediate level networks, just as the body uses reflex arcs.  Such is the case when your hand touches a hot surface; the neural signals do not travel all the way to the brain and back to tell you to lift your arm, the nerves process and act to some degree on their own.

In particular, Wissner-Gross applied this problem to high frequency securities trading. Below is his map outlining where optimal trading node locations should be placed (in blue) to conduct trades at the various global exchanges (in red). He calls these nodes, "global reflex arcs."

Previously discussing this research, Wissner-Gross commented, “I see this work as one possible justification for making the entire surface of the planet more computationally capable… and in effect, making the whole planet smarter.”

Image Source - Wissner-Gross

Wissner-Gross is an award-winning scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur. He serves as an Institute Fellow at the Harvard University Institute for Applied Computational Science and as a Research Affiliate at the MIT Media Laboratory.

SOURCE  TEDx Talks

By 33rd Square

Subscribe to 33rd Square

 Future Trends  

Scott Cunningham worked in the computer and software industry, creating analytical models for commercial clients like AT&T. He is interested in operations research and decision sciences approaches for policy making. In particular he is interested in statistical analytics of social exchange. Now he uses these analytics to predict the future.

Scott Cunningham worked in the computer and software industry, creating analytical models for commercial clients like AT&T. He is interested in operations research and decision sciences approaches for policy making. In particular he is interested in statistical analytics of social exchange.

Cunningham jokes that Big Data might be his fault. He began his career at telephone service provider AT&T, where he focused on using data to improve customer experiences. Now he wants to use data to predict the future.

According to Cunningham, we live in a world that is filled with networks. Those networks have a lot of information we could use to predict the future. We need to gain the wisdom of the crowds and monitor the networks to find the patterns and use those patterns to find new information.

As Cunningham and Porter illustrate, finding exponential growth rates in subject matter publication can reveal future trends.  This chart shows the growth in publications relating to nanotechnology research.  Image Source:  Cunningham and Porter, Tech Mining

Related articles What Does Watson Tell Us About the Philosophy of AI?  Building the Analytical Engine  James Burke Looks at the World of the Future

His most recent publication, Tech Mining: Exploiting New Technologies for Competitive Advantage, co-written with Alan Porter, focuses on the prediction of new technologies.

Cunningham has found that current networks, like Google, are just reinforcing existing patterns. He talks of how these patterns are essentially top-down hierarchys that reinforce who the thought leaders are.

Cunningham views a future where machine learning will assist in the development of new ideas by cutting through the hierarchy of  today's hyperlinks and build connections across them.


SOURCE  TEDx Talks

By 33rd Square

Subscribe to 33rd Square