Networks today are subject to many threats including ransomware, cryptocurrency-miner threats, or state-sponsored hackers.

In line with other security industry pros, Microsoft has confirmed in its 24th annual security intelligence report that ransomware has taken a backseat to pesky cryptocurrency miners. 

But the company also warns that supply-chain attacks are on the rise. These are where an attacker uses a supplier or business partner to spread an infection. 

Past examples include the NotPetya not-ransomware outbreakthat caused over a billion dollars in losses for global firms and the Dofoil BitTorrent attacks. 
    
"Supply-chain attacks are insidious because they take advantage of the trust that users and IT departments place in the software they use," Microsoft warns in the report. 

"The compromised software is often signed and certified by the vendor, and may give no indication that anything is wrong, which makes it significantly more difficult to detect the infection. They can damage the relationship between supply chains and their customers, whether the latter are corporate or home users.

"By poisoning software and undermining delivery or update infrastructures, supply-chain attacks can affect the integrity and security of goods and services that organizations provide."

While attacks are changing and Windows 10 built-in security is improving, the company's advice to customers remains the same. However, there are conflicting data about the best approach to staying secure.  
Microsoft recommends only using software from trusted sources, though this 'security hygiene' measure could be undermined in a supply-chain attack. 

The company also recommends "rapidly applying the latest updates to your operating systems and applications, and immediately deploying critical security updates for OS, browsers, and email."

Deploying patches quickly is generally a good idea. However, Microsoft recently revealed that vulnerabilities in its software are most likely to be exploited as a zero-daybefore the company has even had a chance to release a patch. 

However, its other tips don't present obvious security conflicts.  

"Deploy a secure email gateway that has advanced threat protection capabilities for defending against modern phishing variants," Microsoft warns, adding that businesses should "Enable host anti-malware and network defenses to get near real-time blocking responses from the cloud (if available in your solution)." 

The other important measures organizations should take include implementing access controls, and teaching employees to be suspect of messages that ask them to divulge sensitive information. 

Microsoft also recommends keeping "destruction-resistant backups of your critical systems and data" and using cloud storage services for online backups. 
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"For data that is on premises, regularly back up important data using the 3-2-1 rule. Keep three backups of your data, on two different storage types, and at least one backup offsite," says Microsoft.

Every month, thousands of retail websites are targeted by cybercriminals, who insert a small piece of malicious code that allows them to snatch customers’ credit card information. The hacking technique is called formjacking, and it’s the virtual equivalent of putting a device on an ATM to skim debit card numbers.
Affecting an average of 4,800 websites per month, formjacking is one of the newest favorite ways for hackers to steal personal data, according to security company Symantec’s annual Internet Security Threat Report.

Small and medium-sized businesses are still the most prominent targets of formjacking, according to Symantec, but in recent months, high profile brands including British Airways and Ticketmaster have also fallen victim to attacks. Symantec said it blocked more than 3.7 million formjacking attacks on websites in 2018, with one-third of those happening during the holiday shopping season.

“Formjacking represents a serious threat for both businesses and consumers,” Greg Clark, CEO of Symantec, said in a statement. “Consumers have no way to know if they are visiting an infected online retailer without using a comprehensive security solution, leaving their valuable personal and financial information vulnerable to potentially devastating identity theft.”

As returns diminish on older hacking techniques, formjacking has become a lucrative choice for cyber crooks, though it’s impossible to quantify the amount stolen from every formjacking attack in 2018. Symantec estimates criminals were able to steal “tens of millions of dollars” by using credit card information or selling the numbers on the dark web for around $45 each.

Meanwhile, instances of ransomware declined 20% overall for the first time since 2013, according to Symantec. One primary reason for this is the decreased value of cryptocurrency, which hackers use to demand payments.

Of course, hackers are expert shape-shifters and are always looking for new, sophisticated ways to sneak up and steal private information. Security experts recommend staying on top of threats by using antivirus software and by checking to make sure any website where you enter your credit card information has a lock icon next to the domain, indicating it’s a secure server.
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Hackers have also been known to go old school, too, by sending targets phishing emails as a way to socially engineer them into sending personal information. But companies are increasingly on the lookout for these dangerous messages. Google even developed a phishing quizto help web users better identify potentially dangerous emails.

For years, IBM has offered corporate customers its Watson data-crunching technology – but only if they used it on IBM’s cloud computing service. Now, to expand Watson’s reach, IBM is also making it available on competing cloud services.

IBM said recently that it would allow businesses to use some of IBM’s Watson-related software with underlying data that is stored in rival cloud data centers like Microsoft’s Azure and Amazon Web Services. Customers will also be able to use Watson with data stored in their own data centers.

“It is enabling a level of openness that hasn’t been available to date,” said Rob Thomas, IBM general manager of data and AI.

The move marks a departure for IBM, which, until now, hasn’t seemed anything but open with its cloud computing service and Watson technologies. In 2016, for example, then-IBM CFO and current IBM senior vice president of global markets Martin Schroeter told analysts during an earnings call, “Watson runs on our cloud, and our technology will run on IBM’s cloud.”

But IBM is now shaking up its strategy to broaden Watson’s appeal. The change of heart comes as IBM’s public cloud languishes in third place, at best, in terms of market share behind AWS and Microsoft Azure.

Dan Kirsch, a research analyst at Hurwitz & Associates, called IBM’s new service “really significant” because businesses are increasingly seeking technology that’s not dependent on a single vendor.

Nick Patience, a founder and research vice president for 451 Research, said the move is “an acknowledgment by IBM that it’s a hybrid cloud world,” referring to firms wanting to use more than one cloud computing vendor as well as keeping some software running in their internal data centers.

 “We are confident in the IBM cloud that if clients try our products anywhere, they will eventually be drawn to IBM cloud and the uniqueness it provides,” said Thomas.

Although companies are concerned about being locked into a specific company’s cloud infrastructure when it comes to particular software and IT products, Patience said they are currently in the early stages of using AI and are still willing to upload their corporate data to cloud services like AWS and rely on them for machine learning software. Being locked into a particular vendor when it comes to machine learning projects isn’t yet much of a concern, but IBM is betting that will change.

He continued: “You could say IBM is trying to take back the initiative in machine learning here. The Watson brand has lost a little bit of luster over the years as others have come along. They are trying to take it back.”

SAP has launched a blockchain-based supply chain tracking system to allow drug wholesalers to authenticate pharmaceutical packaging returned by pharmacies and hospitals. That should help them weed out counterfeit drugs from their supply chain.

SAP says it hopes to eventually expand the use of distributed ledger technology to cover a broader range of pharmaceutical supply chain processes.

According to the company, its blockchain-based solution helps customers comply with the US Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), which establishes that as of November 2019, wholesalers must verify prescription drugs that are returned and intended for resale. This piece of legislation is tasked with protecting consumers from contaminated, stolen or fake medication.

Counterfeit drugs are a significant problem in the pharmaceutical industry. Research releasedby the World Health Organization in 2017 found that an estimated 1 in 10 medical products circulating in low-and-middle-income countries was either substandard or fake.

In the US, wholesalers encounter almost 60 million returns a year, accounting for an estimated $7 billion.
With the new software, customers can verify the product code, lot, expiration date and a unique serial number which is embedded in the barcode against manufacturers’ data stored in the blockchain.

It’s worth noting that the software was co-developed with other well-known pharmaceutical companies including Boehringer Ingelheim AG & Co. KG, GlaxoSmithKline plc and Merck Sharp & Dohme.

The news comes after SAP announced two industry consortia within the SAP Blockchain Consortium program in the fall of last year, but this is not the first time blockchain technology has been leveraged in a bid to fight counterfeit goods in the healthcare industry. In fact, Merck was looking to patentblockchain-based technology to bring greater transparency to the supply chain in June 2018.
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An immutable ledger such as blockchain would prove useful in the healthcare industry, so, it’s likely we’ll see similar projects launching soon.

Amazon now has a say in the development of a commonly used smart home standard, giving the company more power as it continues to push smart speakers, cameras, doorbells, and all other kinds of gadgets into its customers’ homes.

As of today, Amazon has a seat on the board of the Zigbee Alliance, which oversees implementation of the Zigbee wireless protocol. Zigbee isn’t nearly as popular as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, but you can think of it a lot like them – it’s a wireless protocol for letting gadgets communicate. But unlike Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, Zigbee is particularly useful for low-power devices and can travel longer distances, making it ideal for simple smart gadgets like a light switch.

Amazon introduced a version of the Echo, called Echo Plus, with Zigbee support more than a year ago. That support allowed the speaker to directly connect to a new world of smart home gadgets, like light bulbs, power outlets, and tiny sensors that it otherwise couldn’t have reached. The home alarm system for Ring, which Amazon owns, also connects to Zigbee.

It’s a slow start, but Amazon’s ascension to Zigbee’s board suggests the company will want to make more use of the protocol in the future. Other companies on Zigbee’s board include: 1) Samsung-owned SmartThings, which makes a smart home hub; 2) Signify, the company behind the popular Philips Hue smart lights; and 3) Comcast, which uses Zigbee on its Xfinity Home security solution.

Getting onto Zigbee’s board isn’t exactly a feat for Amazon, but it is an obvious and deliberate decision. Getting on the board means becoming one of the Alliance’s highest-paying members – $75,000 per year – and it gives those companies an significant advantage: they’re able to “drive specification development, requirements, and test plans.” Or basically, define where Zigbee goes next.
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If Amazon is paying that money, it means the company wants a say in what future versions of Zigbee can do and how different Zigbee devices work together. It also shows Amazon taking an opinion on which smart home standard it’d like to see win out. Zigbee’s most direct competitor is an alternative called Z-Wave, which hardware makers have criticized for relying on proprietary chips from a single company. Amazon is likely among the many companies in the smart home industry that would rather avoid dealing with the pricey parts that could come along with that if Z-Wave were to grow in popularity.

Drivers will soon have an extra set of eyes on the road, courtesy of Google.

Google’s navigation app, Google Maps, is starting to roll out speed limit and speed trap features. 

With the speed limit feature, drivers using Google Maps will be shown the posted speed limit of the road they’re driving on in the lower left side of the app. Speed traps are designated with a small camera icon and shown on the visible area of the map. The Maps app provides an audio warning for drivers when they are approaching a speed trap.

Users have had the ability to report speed traps in Google Maps since late last year. However, until now, the app wasn’t yet making the reported speed traps visible for users in maps. 

Google Maps users have long wondered when such features were going to make their debut on the service. Crowdsource-powered navigation app, Waze, grew in popularity for providing this sort of detailed information on the road. Google acquired Waze back in 2013 for around $1 billion. 

Now, nearly five and a half years later, some of the Waze features are finally making their way to Google Maps.

IBM recently debuted its System Onequantum computer. It’s not the biggest or most powerful computer the company makes. But IBM thinks it’s the one that’ll end up in a museum 50 years from now, and it’s hard not to agree. The IBM Q System One consolidates thousands of components into a glass-enclosed, air-tight environment.

In a recent interview with IBM‘s CTO, Quantum Computing, Bob Wisnieff he related some interesting insights into what it was like to develop and build the System One. He said the original idea was to show that IBM could make a reliable, functioning quantum computer that existed entirely outside of a laboratory.

IBM‘s System One is unique. It’s a legitimate quantum computing system that exists in a big box. It doesn’t have to be connected to a massive cooling system inside of a lab (it has its own, just like a mainframe or a PC). And it doesn’t require a physicist to dive under the hood every time you want to do something with it.
IBM Q Network organizations can program and run code on it right now.

The big picture wasn’t about what 20 qubits shoved inside a box can or can’t do, Wisnieff said. It’s about the fact it exists at all. He continued:

“What I like best is that we get to be in the right place at the right time for quantum computing, this is a joy project. This design represents a pivotal moment in tech.”

The “pivotal moment” bit might sound hyperbolic. Especially if you’ve seen the System One’s underwhelming coverage. James Vincent at The Verge, in an articleabout the System One, said:

"In the grueling race to build a practical quantum computer, tech companies are keeping their spirits up by loudly cheering every milestone — no matter how small."

Kieren McCarthy of The Register wrote an articleabout the system with the headline: “If you’ve been dying to run some math on a dinky toy quantum computer, IBM may have something for you.”

The quantum team at IBM spent about six months last year tossing ideas around, mostly trying to come up with solutions to the little problems that plague a project like this.

“In one way, you want to isolate the qubits from the universe,” Wisnieff said, before explaining “but you also have to have access to read and measure them.” Just one of many problems faced by an engineering team developing something that’s never been built before.

Once these problems got sorted, the IBM engineers and physicists then began working with design experts from Goppion, the company responsible for some of the world’s most famous museum-quality display cases, Universal Design Studioand Map Project Office. This was Wisnieff’s dream team.

These companies were chosen after IBM‘s Director of Research, Dario Gil, gave Wisnieff carte blanche to find the best designers in the world. Wisnieff said this was because Gil realized the significance of the project.

As Wisnieff explained the process of building the System One, it became clear the intent was never to create a device that would suddenly usher the era of commercial quantum computing into reality. IBM Research is working on that, so are Google and Intel and a bunch of other companies. But that’s not what System One was designed for.

There are plenty of qualified, sane experts who believe quantum computing technology will never amount to anything. Meanwhile, the physicists and engineers working on them understand they’ll be one of the most significant advancements in human history.

That’s a lot for a discerning public to put up with in their daily news feed and monthly science magazine. But when IBM built a functioning quantum computer in a box and demoed it at CES, it showed the entire world that quantum computers are here right now. And they’re only getting started.

It doesn’t matter if it can solve major problems or not. It’s not essential whether the System One will ever be sold as a commercial product or not – it almost certainly won’t. 
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What matters is that IBM took something that looked like this:

It’s real. You can touch it.
Fifty years from now MIT‘s physics lab, Google‘s quantum research center, or IBM’s large quantum lab won’t be faithfully recreated in a giant quantum museum. Instead, an actual quantum computer will sit inside one.
IBM unveiled the world’s first, and only, functioning integrated quantum computer that exists entirely outside of a lab. It’s not the quantum computer that will change everything. But it might be the one your grand-kids read about on page one of that chapter in their science textbooks.

Several companies demonstrated C-V2X (cellular vehicle-to-everything)communications technology developed by Qualcomm at CES 2019. But Ford may be the most aggressive in bringing C-V2X to market. The Detroit automaker will add it to every new car and truck sold in the United States by 2022, Don Butler, executive director for Ford connected vehicle platform and product, wrote in a blog post.

C-V2X is the latest incarnation of so-called vehicle-to-everything (V2X), a communications technology that allows cars to “talk” to each other and infrastructure. The claimed advantage of this technology is that it can warn a driver of things beyond his or her line of sight. If a car is stopped at an intersection with poor visibility, it could, for example, pick up signals from other V2X-equipped cars or sensors mounted on nearby buildings to tell the driver if it’s okay to go.

Vehicles could also communicate with stoplights, telling drivers when a light is about to change. Audi already offers this in the form of its Traffic Light Information system. The system gives a countdown when a light is about to turn green, but it only works in a handful of cities (Audi also offers a built-in toll transponder that relies on V2X tech). Aptiv has placed sensors on traffic lights in Las Vegas to guide its self-driving cars, even when they’re onboard cameras don’t have a direct line of sight to the light.

Ford could take things even further, Butler wrote. C-V2X could be integrated with driver aids, like those in Ford’s recently introduced Co-Pilot360 suite. Or it could be added to self-driving cars. Emergency vehicles could be equipped with C-V2X transmitters, allowing cars to detect their presence and move out of the way.

The difference between the C-V2X tech embraced by Ford and previous systems is that it’s based on 5G. All other V2X systems to-date have used a competing setup called Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC). But that means Ford will have to rely on the smooth rollout of 5G. Even the deployment of DSRC-based V2X vehicles and infrastructure has been slow, and DSRC is based on a more familiar technology derived from Wi-Fi.

“A conducive regulatory environment must be in place for C-V2X to be deployed, which is why we are working just as much with industry and government organizations to create such a technology-neutral environment,” Butler wrote in his blog post. He also told Bloombergthat he hopes other automakers will adopt C-V2X alongside Ford. He added that C-V2X is a simpler solution because telecom companies are already spending billions on 5G cell towers and antennas, while DSRC would require a separate government investment.
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Despite the potential hurdles, Qualcomm expects C-V2X and other related technologies to become a significant part of its business. The company believes that, within five years, 75% of cars will have some form of connectivity. A critical mass of vehicles will be needed to realize the technology’s full benefit since cars that aren’t equipped with C-V2X or similar systems can’t communicate with each other. The more vehicles on the network, the more effective it is.

Google has won approval to bolster work on its Minority Report-style touchless technology, which enables electronics to be controlled by hand gestures.

The Federal Communications Commission has approved Google’s plans to use more powerful sensors for its Project Soli initiative, first unveiled in 2015. The radar-based technology is now poised to kick on to the next level after Google was given special permission to use higher frequencies for its tests.

When Google first showcased the tech in 2015, it came under the X Labs banner and was focused on smartwatches, with specific gestures replacing a physical tap on the touchscreen. For example, it was possible to rub two fingers together in the vicinity of the watch to cycle through menus or turn up the volume of media.

Now the company could expand the operation to enable the sci-fi like air gestures we’ve seen in films like Minority Report and the Iron Man franchise, on larger screens and devices. The waiver granted by the FCCcould also be highly beneficial to tech users with mobility, speech, and tactile impairments.

In a statement (via Reuters), the FCC said: “The ability to recognize users’ touchless hand gestures to control a device, such as a smartphone, could help people with mobility, speech, or tactile impairments, which in turn could lead to higher productivity and quality of life for many members of the American public.”
The regulator also said there’s little chance of Google’s Project interfering with other spectrum users and has approved the tech for use on aircraft.
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Google hasn’t commented on the news yet, but it’ll be interesting to see what the company has in mind for Project Soli moving forward. Hopefully, we’ll find out more in 2019.

Since we’re early in the year, this might be a good time to propose some predictions for tomorrow’s smart home.

Video Kills the Telephone Call. The proliferation of smart speakers has continued unabated nearly since their inception, but recently we’ve seen a new feature taking center stage on these do-it-all devices – video. 

Amazon kicked off the trend, as it often does, with its Echo Show, a variant of the popular Amazon Echo series that featured a forward-facing camera and a tablet-like touchscreen attached to a smart speaker base. It followed up that effort with its reimagining of the alarm clock, the Echo Spot, a smaller orb-shaped smart speaker that includes a circular touchscreen face and similarly positioned camera. 

Google soon followed suit, adding the Google Home Hub, an upgrade of its Google Home smart speaker that, like the Show, featured a touchscreen tablet. Now Facebook has gotten in on the action with the release of Portal, a smart speaker/touchscreen, powered by Amazon’s A.I. assistant Alexa, with a strong focus on video-calling. 

While the merits of video functionality are readily apparent for smart speakers – users can follow recipes with hands-free commands, check the weather or map routes, or just catch up on shows while multi-tasking around the house – there seems to be a real push for these video-equipped hubs to replace the phone as the communication device of choice in homes. 

For Facebook Portal, this is expressly the case, with all other smart speaker features coming almost as afterthoughts to its prime purpose of visual-based communications. So committed to the cause of video chatting is the Portal that the Portal+ device can recognize users as they move and automatically rotate to follow them, allowing chat participants to remain on screen as they move from kitchen to couch. 

While Apple has not announced plans for a video element for its HomePod, the company has recently upgraded the capabilities of its iOS-based video chatting app, FaceTime, allowing users to communicate with up to 32 people on a call at one time. 

It remains to be seen if a rise in video communication-capable devices leads to a growth in video-chatting – consumers often don’t use products in the ways manufacturers intended. But even if an explosion of video-equipped smart speakers doesn’t lead to a golden age of people looking each other in the eye while communicating, at least everyone will be able to watch “The Great British Bake-Off” while making breakfast.
Smart Services. Throughout their history, smart homes have been defined by the intelligent devices they house. Voice-controlled lighting, thermostats that automatically adjust with the weather, coffee pots that begin brewing when they recognize you’re awake – products that save labor, money or time via automation and connectivity. 

But what about those tasks for which no single device will suffice? The chores – laundry, grocery shopping, home maintenance – that, short of a robotic butler, will require some manual labor on the part of the homeowner? 

Brace for the rise of smart services – automated fulfillment of the daily tasks that make an uninterrupted life possible. 

“Replenishment” is one area where these smart services are already established, and we should expect to see further growth. Beyond services like Peapod, you may have noticed that nearly every grocery chain of substantial size is offering some manner of automated ordering – and reordering – and delivery, either via an app or website. This process allows customers with a good grasp of their consumption habits to ensure that their homes are never out of their favorite foods, with specific items in specific quantities being automatically delivered at regular intervals. 

But expect producers to take thinking even further out of the process. Leveraging technologies like Amazon Dash, developers will start programming the household devices to recognize when they are running low on supply and automatically reorder the goods. Like WePlenish, a smart coffee pod container that keeps track of inventory levels and automatically orders more java when needed, so you never have to experience a caffeine-less existence. Will we see the refrigerator that automatically orders tomatoes? Or the soap dispenser that refills itself? The possibilities are endless – and likely, as automated reordering is an activity manufacturers can firmly get behind. 
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Task Oriented. But what about the tasks that keep your house running that require some measure of manual labor, like cleaning and maintenance? Here, too, we should expect to see app- and device-based solutions that call in reinforcements with some measure of regular automation when the chores need to get done. Like Cleanly, an app that allows users to schedule pickup and drop-off of their laundry, fresh and folded, within 24 hours. The latest version of certain home standards, like washers and dryers, can run their own diagnostic programs, identifying errors when they arise – how long before these machines can request their own maintenance when need? How long before a pool probe can send out a call when it needs cleaning? Or gutters can identify when they need to cleared? 

In addition to the rise of these automated services, we should expect to see growth of the technologies that help facilitate them. Technologies like Ring video doorbells or August smart locks, which can allow homeowners to identify who is at their door – like the Cleanly delivery person – and grant them temporary access to your abode. 

That is if a human even delivers your goods anymore. 

Delivery Improvements. Walmart recently announced a pilot programwith Ford and Postmates to examine the automated delivery of groceries via autonomous self-driving vehicles. Likewise, grocery chain Kroger announced a partnershipwith Nuro to tackle the most challenging task of ordering online, “last-mile delivery” – that is, getting the requested goods from the store to the customer’s home, a feat they also hope to accomplish with robotic drivers. 
The result of the endless automation of anything approaching “difficult” should enable individuals to lead lives unhampered in pursuit of their goals – be it increased productivity in matters personal or professional, or the much more noble pursuit of binge-watching Netflix while moving as little as possible.