May the Odds Be in Your Favor – Machines Rebellion Began
Take a glance at the most discussed cybersecurity topics of the week.
Is the robots’ rebellion possible? Here is an approximate scenario of airport occupation by drones. “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it” – a holy mantra of most of the modern executives. So what KPIs should security pros pay attention to?Drones held London airport hostage
The Register on December 21, 2018
Imagine, after passing all security lines you are going to take a cup of coffee, relax and watch a romantic view of airplanes’ landings and takeoffs. Suddenly, a strange drone is showing in the air and flying to the runway. Do not spill your coffee!
Indeed, the errant drones were being flown near Gatwick’s runway and triggered a full shutdown of the airport. Then the crafts appeared several times in different locations, keeping the airport closed down. The flights of more than 120,000 people were canceled.
This is the way how technology can be used by malefactors, making people perplexed and interfering the whole work process. Furthermore, the case emphasizes the complexity in providing total security in terms of constant technological progress.
Children’s toys record your life
EURACTIV on December 21, 2018
It was a deep night; a town was plunged in a disturbing silence. Suddenly a window creaked, slammed shut and a doll under a child’s bed started… to send hackers your personal information!
We honestly tried to make this story horrifying. Would you be anxious, if we claimed that it might be true and some toys, including voice-activated dolls, GPS watches, and ‘smart’ robotic devices can record and transfer data? For instance, ‘My Friend Cayla doll’ can be paired with another device within a 15-meter radius via a Bluetooth connection. This means that anybody standing outside someone’s house can easily connect to the toy and talk with a child.
Therefore, in times of festive fever and parents’ desire to please their child with a gift, do not forget to make sure that “My Friend Cayla doll” has no unfriendly impact.
Cybersecurity is not an abstraction
Dark Reading on December 21, 2018
To protect a business, security professionals have to speak the language of business that nowadays is all about metrics. “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it” – a holy mantra of the most of modern executives. So what KPIs should security pros pay attention to?
- Operating productivity. The indicator is commonly calculated by dividing the units of output (for instance, blocked attacks) by the units of input (budget) and shows the efficiency of the IT team performance.
- Customer loyalty and retention. Clients value the security in Web applications, so emphasizing company’s data protection responsibility in marketing communications would increase their loyalty.
- Gross margin. Cybersecurity is an expense and of the “cost of goods sold”. Thus, understanding of the gross margin structure will help IT managers to contribute in its calculation more effectively.
- Hours worked per process. This metric of the security pros labor should be included in the “cost of goods sold”.
- Customer churn. The percentage of customer change in time may be useful in projecting network and security appliance volume requirements.
- Net promoter score. The level of customers’ loyalty in social networks also illustrates the role of information security in their satisfaction.
- Lead-to-client conversion rate. It is important for security pros to see where customers abandon the process of registration on the website. If it is around authentication steps, something goes wrong with the website security.