Let’s start on a light note. For a brief period of time, the Internet of Things became associated with the fridge that orders milk by itself. This retro-futurist icon is a great example of a common tendency for extremely disruptive technological waves to first enter the public realm in the form of low impact nice-to-have use cases (personal computers and robotics suffered the same fate at first). Besides being amusing, these are also instructive. The small-mindedness of a fridge that has a direct line to the supermarket is a great way to make a really important point: the value of the Internet of Everything (IoE), ultimately, is about the network, not the individual connections. Continue reading “Internet of Everything and Machine Intelligence”
Authors
This post was authored by Alex Chiu & Angel Villegas.
Overview
Banking and sensitive financial information is a highly coveted target for attackers because of the high value and obvious financial implications. In the past year, a large amount of attention has been centered on Point of Sale (PoS) malware due to its major role in the compromise of several retailers. While PoS malware is a major concern, attackers have also realized that targeting individual end users is an effective method of harvesting other types of financial data. As a result, banking malware has become a prevalent category of malware that poses a major threat to users and organizations of all sizes. One of the more well known examples of banking malware is Zeus.
Table of Contents
Overview
Technical Analysis
Domain Generation Algorithm
Other Thoughts
Conclusion
Appendix
Banking malware typically operates by redirecting users to malicious phishing sites where victim’s input their banking credentials thinking they are logging into their bank’s website. Banking malware can also operate more stealthily by hooking into a browser’s functionality, capturing the victim’s credentials as they are typed in, and exfiltrating them. Once an attacker has a victim’s banking credentials, attackers can then sell it or use it to perform illicit transactions (such as transferring funds to another account on behalf of the victim). Continue reading “Threat Spotlight: Dyre/Dyreza: An Analysis to Discover the DGA”
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There was significant Small Cells buzz during last months Mobile World Congress, where Cisco announced a range of innovative products and solutions that can be used to accelerate the market adoption of small cells. In particular, I spoke at the Small Cell Forum’s Small Cell Zone were I described how Cisco is accelerating enterprise small cell deployments, through a combination of:
- driving an E2E enterprise architecture that is able to span single 50 sq.m teleworker installations through to 50,000 sq.m campus deployments
- cloud based Mobility IQ providing Wi-Fi and Small Cell network, user and business intelligence with dashboards that enable integration into enterprise managed service offers
- channel enabled commercial models that leverage Cisco’s installed base intelligence and vertical sector segmentation to prioritize, qualify, design and install enterprise small cells
- and, the topic that I want to drill into today, virtualizing small cell core networks and management systems that can be deployed in minutes instead of months, and consumed on a pay-as-you-grow basis
Small Cells have always been easy to deploy with integrated self configuration capabilities and Cisco has now deployed over Continue reading “Click to Deploy Virtual HetNet Cuts Small Cell Deployment Time from Months to Minutes”
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Springtime in Germany brings us Hannover Messe, one of the largest industrial conferences and exhibitions in the world. This year, Cisco will feature our validated and proven Manufacturing and Power Transmission & Control solutions. Our portfolio of market-leading industrial products and solutions offered with our complete lifecycle management services that address the key challenges of the fourth industrial revolution.
At our booth located in Hall 8, A25, learn how Cisco’s Connected Factory, Connected Oil & Gas and Connected Utilities validated architectures and industrial product portfolio delivers:
- Best-in-class industrial cyber and physical security protection
- Scalable IP based architectures and technologies that seamlessly integrate Profinet, and Ethernet/IP standards
- A faster path to Internet of Everything (IoE) value
- Optimized workflows and operation with secure remote access to global experts and real-time plant floor data analytics
Some of the key new capabilities we are highlighting include:
- Enhanced solution and product support for Profinet-based connected factories
- Updated industrial security by introducing identity management and services into Industrial networks to increase access security
Cisco technologies and products will be showcased and integrated into a multi-vendor and highly flexible production plant. In the SmartFactory KL booth located Hall 8, D20 we will be displaying a modularized automation and control structure that can be flexibly combine machines and automation modules in the production process. The demonstration will showcase the advantages of interoperability including quick setup and modifications to multi-vendor plant assets, product changes in real-time, and a versatile platform for production automation.
See one example of how we do it in this overview of our Industrial Ethernet (IE) 4000 switch series:
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This weekend our President and Chief Operating Officer, Gary Moore, tweeted to reiterate Cisco’s commitment to a culture of diversity and tolerance in response to Indiana’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act. In doing so, we take pride in joining the largest Indiana-based employer, Eli Lilly and Co., which called the law “bad for Indiana and bad for business.”
At Cisco, we believe that every employee should feel welcomed, valued, respected, and heard regardless of sexuality, race or gender. #Cisco
— Gary Moore (@GBMOORE) March 28, 2015
Cisco is a company of many thousands of employees with different beliefs, different histories and different backgrounds. We come together to make the world a better place. And doing so requires that we work together, across the multitudes of our differences, with basic standards of behavior and engagement.
We favor laws that encourage open and effective collaboration, not those that seek to gain by dividing instead of uniting all people. That’s why we join Apple, Salesforce, Eli Lilly and so many others in urging that the law be amended to make clear that “religious freedom” isn’t presented as a way to discriminate against our fellow citizens.
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During your morning workout at the gym, a device on your arm measures each step and connects with…your bank. By monitoring your healthy lifestyle, the bank can then arrange a lower rate on your health insurance. Later, when walking toward your office, you notice an apartment for sale in a neighborhood you have been scouting for real estate deals. So you point your smartphone at the building to view an augmented-reality image superimposed on the building. In turn, you see the price, square footage, and a live link to your bank’s virtual mortgage advisor.
These kinds of scenarios could become commonplace, once banks embrace the opportunities of the Internet of Everything (IoE) era. While today’s digital consumers demand experiences that are relevant to their current context, many feel that banks don’t understand their needs. Contextual interactions may be common when buying books or streaming movies, but customers sense a “value gap” with their banks. And many are willing to trust disruptive innovators from outside the traditional realm of financial services to fill this void.
Banks can keep pace with customer demand by adopting IoE-enabled solutions that offer expert advice, value-added services and convenience, whenever and wherever customers need them — and do so securely. Wearables and augmented reality are among the more forward-looking innovations that banks should be exploring today. But there are many other ways for banks to reconnect with customers.
In a recent Cisco survey of banking customers in 12 countries, respondents were extremely receptive to five core IoE-enabled banking solutions centered on advice (virtual financial advice, virtual mortgage advice and automated financial advice) and mobility (branch recognition and mobile payments). Seventy-five percent would move their money to another provider for one or more of the five concepts. In emerging markets, respondents are twice as likely to move their money.
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“Be Fearless.” While that phrase is capable of representing so much to so many, for women in the workplace – especially in the technology industry – it can be a difficult attitude to adopt. But judging by the overwhelmingly fearless attitudes expressed by so many women during our second @Cisco_WOI “Be Fearless” #CiscoChat, women are growing quite comfortable in continuing their fearless momentum in the workplace.
During the first “Be Fearless” #CiscoChat, more than 100 women shared their thoughts, experiences and feedback on how they’ve embraced living their lives, and pursuing personal and professional dreams by overcoming personal fears. This past Thursday, myself, Cindy Cooley, Chris Herl and Catalina Kowal engaged another group of dynamic women, continuing the conversation around not just being fearless, but maintaining that same spirit and outlying the next steps in the process. The follow-up conversation couldn’t have been timelier, taking place after Cisco’s Women of Impact Conference earlier this month.
So how are women staying inspired and fearless? What messages resonated the most from our Women of Influence conference? We’ve shared a few highlights from our #CiscoChat. We even had participants start the conversation early!
- What was your most memorable highlight from the #BeFearless Women of Influence conference?
The leaders of the Women of Influence Conference touched many Continue reading ““Stay Fearless” – Highlights from #CiscoChat with Cisco Women of Impact”
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Commoditisation is a big word these days in the Service Provider business. The value of our services is being depreciated as our customers are exposed to growing choices offering comparable products. In this borderless economy, competition can come from the most unexpected sources. How are you using technology to give your customers a better experience? A number of ways technology changes the way we do things we do were showcased in the recent Cisco Live events. How would you put those to good use in your businesses?
Every morning when I wake up, the first thing that I touch is my mobile phone. Living in Continue reading “Technology as a Strategic Differentiator”
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Some of you may remember Marathon Man, starring Lawrence Olivier as the evil Nazi dentist Dr. Christian Szell, and Dustin Hoffman as a graduate student nicknamed Babe. Szell has come to New York from his South American jungle hideaway to retrieve a cache of diamonds, but he’s not sure he won’t be walking into a trap. He thinks Babe knows, and tortures him by repeatedly asking, “Is it safe?
Szell: “Is it safe? Is it safe?”
Babe: “You’re talking to me?”
Szell: “Is it safe?”
Babe: “Is what safe?”
Szell: “Is it safe?”
Babe: “I don’t know what you mean. I can’t tell you something’s safe or not unless I know specifically what you’re talking about.”
It’s a scary scene.
I’m reminded of it whenever people ask or say: “Is the cloud secure?” or “Public clouds aren’t secure” or “Multitenant applications aren’t secure.”
So, is your cloud safe? Is it secure?
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