Evacuations and lockdowns are two events no organization wants to face, but every organization should be prepared for. They often happen in response to particularly dangerous situations that pose an immediate threat to people and property. It can be difficult to know how and when to make the decision to lockdown or evacuate, and it can be even more difficult to manage once the decision has been made. In either case, it requires organizations plan, test and have the right tools in place to reach all of their people quickly with information on what actions they should take to stay safe.
Unfortunately, the pandemic has forced many people and businesses to reconsider biometric technology. With the COVID-19 virus spreading easily through touchpoints, fingerprint scanners can quickly become a source for infections, especially in public spaces. Offices and ATMs contain many points of contact, and maintaining cleanliness on surfaces is nearly impossible. Unfortunately, these high traffic areas are also frequently the ones that would benefit the most from increased security.
It’s easy to see why the Open Supervised Device Protocol (OSDP), has become the security industry’s gold standard for access control installations. It enhances security, adds flexibility and makes systems easy to update and integrate with other devices. The Security Industry Association (SIA), with significant input from manufacturers and integrators, introduced OSDP in 2011 and it is now recommended for any public or private enterprise installation requiring a high level of security. Earlier this year, the International Electrotechnical Commission approved OSDP as an international standard.
The Black Lives Matter movement is spurring record-breaking fundraising online. In fact, the Minnesota Freedom Fund pulled in more than $30 million in donations alone following the death of George Floyd. The outpouring of financial support is great for these grassroots movements; however, large numbers like these often catch the eye of opportunistic scammers, unfortunately. While Black Lives Matter supporters are advocating on the street for a cause, scammers are capitalizing on their movement for their own gain.
The nature of IIoT devices and infrastructure makes them high-value cyber targets. This is because they are relatively easy to compromise and are often connected to internal networks with high-value content with links to other networks. Moreover, IIoT devices rarely have direct user interaction, and this unattended nature means that many types of device compromise are likely to go unnoticed and undetected – particularly when the malware does not disrupt the device’s primary functionality. Here are a dozen reasons why intelligent IIoT devices are attractive targets for hackers.
My favorite definition of the (public) cloud is “It’s someone else’s computer.” That is really what any external cloud service is. And if your services, data and other assets are located on someone else’s equipment, you are at their mercy on whether you can access those assets and data at any time. It isn’t up to you. It’s solely determined by them, and any service level agreement you agreed to. And you can lose everything stored there permanently. You should have multiple backups of your data no matter where it is stored, especially including if it is stored using a cloud service.
Obstacles including budget concerns, time constraints, stubborn company culture, or a lack of cybersecurity best practices can seem overwhelming, especially to a smaller organization with limited resources. Fortunately, there are reasonable solutions to each of these roadblocks that can help all organizations be more secure.
The question is this. Is this skepticism based on fact or as a result of that well-established human trait – resistance to change? In other words, does the convenience offered by a cloud app outweigh potential security threats such as hacking, and how susceptible are SaaS (Software as a Service) cloud apps to attack in the first place? To answer this question, let’s consider Microsoft Office 365, which is one of the most widely used software packages on the planet with more than 27 million consumer users and over 100 million enterprise users.
In early June, the California Attorney General filed final CCPA regulations with the California Office of Administrative Law. The final regulations were accompanied by a 59-page Final Statement of Reasons along with six appendices containing over 500 pages of comments on the regulations and the Attorney General’s responses to those comments. One of the many topics that the Attorney General’s office discussed was the final regulation’s requirements for drafting privacy policies. Given that the drafting of a privacy policy is a necessary part of CCPA compliance, it is worth analyzing those comments.
Expect the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic to bring lasting changes to our lives, from the way we authenticate identity to how we open doors – and even use public restrooms. If there’s a theme among these changes, it’s that they will favor contactless solutions. The use of biometrics to authenticate employees and customers has snowballed over the last decade. Expect demand from public and private organizations to grow even faster as they require accurate identification of workers, students, patients and many more people in response to new challenges resulting from the virus.
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