PRISM & Data Breach Response

The emergence of PRISM has caused a stir in the United States.

What is PRISM?

It is a collaboration between the National Security Agency (NSA), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the biggest tech companies in the country.  The agreement has provided the U.S. Government access to data including audio communication, videos, photos, emails, documents, call logs and text messages since 2007.

Headquarters of the NSA at Fort Meade, Maryland. 

How has PRISM come to light?

On Wednesday June 5^th, a classified order was shared and made public.  The order to Verizon Wireless by the Foreign Surveillance Court directed the company to turn over domestic & foreign call data from the past and in the future.  Such data would be gathered by the millions and would provide sender and receiver of calls, duration, time and location.

PRISM came about through leaked PowerPoint slides that described the collaboration between the government and the tech giants.  When questioned, companies such as Google, Facebook, Apple, AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft gave the same canned response, “we do not provide the government with direct access to our servers.”

James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence made statements suggesting that the collaboration existed and that the government was operating within the legal system.  Here’s what Clapper wrote about PRISM.

The whistle-blower

, 29 year old, Edward Snowden was a member of defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.  Snowden claims that a “massive surveillance machine” is in the making and that he leaked the information to  “inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them.” Snowden is currently in Hong Kong, China while various US diplomats are calling for the country to extradite him.

As if internet security and privacy were not already a hot topic, it can be an effective transition into offering Data Breach Response Coverage.

The Breach Response product is tailored to healthcare, retail, hospitality and higher education operations.  The product is geared to moderate the results of a breach of data.  These mitigation tools will help minimize brand damage and legal liability by offering the following coverage.

For claim examples for Data Breach Response, click here.

Related articles

• US surveillance leak source revealed (bbc.co.uk)
• Ex-CIA Employee Source of One of the Worst Breaches in U.S. History (1800politics.com)
• PRISM & NSA Whistleblower Revealed: Edward Snowden (dailypaul.com)
• Washington attempts to contain fallout from NSA surveillance leaks, Clapper apparently lied under oath (silveristhenew.com)
• Washington attempts to contain fallout from NSA surveillance leaks, Clapper apparently lied under oath (dprogram.net)
• Edward Snowden’s employer calls PRISM leak a ‘grave violation of its code of conduct’ (venturebeat.com)

Apple’s WWDC Live Blog

10:00 AM PST

The World Wide Developers Conference is just about to begin.  For those of you who don’t know what the WWDC is… It is the annual presentation from Apple announcing to the world new products, software and company goals.  This is the same stage where Steve Jobs changed the world by presenting the iPhone 1 in January of 2007.

Some have speculated that the 2013 Keynote address from CEO Tim Cook will reveal a new iOS operating system with a “flat look”, an introduction into a new music streaming service & a possible iWatch.  Time will tell.

Follow along on your iOS Device at the following link.

http://www.apple.com/apple-events/june-2013/

10:09 AM PST

The opening to the conference as flashy as usual.  The fancy graphics featured black and white dots that interacted with some catchy phrases on the screen.

“We can confuse Abundance with Choice”

“Craft around our intentions”

The beginning graphics may have offered some insight into the new iOS 7 design “black, white and flat all over”.

Anki Drive

The first big topic of the day was Anki Drive, which is a “robotics and artificial intelligence company” that introduced their video game featuring driverless cars on a map like rug.  Does this introduce Apple’s interest in driverless cars?

Aniki Drive Presentation during the WWDC

Waze, a driving app that identifies traffic patterns in users was recently purchased by Google for $1.3 Billion.  http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml  Waze has been discussed to having groundbreaking potential in the driverless car arena.  Keep an eye out for Anki Drive.

OS X Mavericks

For the last 10 software updates, Apple has used the name of big cats, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Lion etc.  As they are running out of Big Cats to name, a presenter cracked a joke naming the OS X “Sea Lion”.

After a quick laugh, the real name of the new software was revealed as Mavericks, based on the state of California, where the company originated and continues to innovate in.

–          Smoother & more convenient use of multiple displays was introduce

–          App Nap is introduced to free up unused memory when programs are in use

–          Safari will introduce a cleaner home page and a side bar that links your twitter feeds to links posted by those you follow

The operating system will be available this Fall.

iOS 7

iPhone has been ranked #1 by JD Power for the last 9 years running.

Al Gore loves iOS7

New Features Available – John Ive

–          “Biggest change to iOS since the launch of iPhone”

–          Typography

–          Layers with advanced application hierarchy

–          Depth & recognition capacity

–          “Instantly familiar” with organization

New Features

Control Center

–          Swipe up from bottom to release accessibility preferences

–          Brightness, flashlight, music player

Multi-Tasking

–          Preserves battery life when applications are in use

–          Frequent background activity

–          Patterns when you open apps and updates to your trends “intelligent scheduling”

–          New App navigation (double tap)

Safari

–          New full screen look

–          Smart search field with tap on top of bar

–          New tab interface

–          iCloud Keychain accessibility

–          Reading list with links from social sites

–          More than 8 tabs available

AirDrop

–          Share documents, files with friends around your device

–          Accept or decline share

–          “Bump” feature

Camera

–          Swipe between video or still

–          Built in filters

Photos

–          Photos are separated into moments

–          Time & place where images were taken

–          Organize by collection, year and places

–          Sharing options updates

Siri

–          New interface

–          New voice options – Male & Female available

–          Integration with Twitter, Wikipedia & Bing

Auto Makers who will be integrating iOS in their built in monitors by 2014

iOS in the Car

–          Car manufacturers including iOS monitors

New Built in App for iOS7

App Store

–          Search apps based on age range

–          Search popular apps by your location

–          Automatic app updates, no more notifications

Music

–          iTunes Radio

–          keeps track of every song you listen to

–          add to wish list

–          1 touch buying

–          Free with ads

 Other features

–          FaceTime Audio only – over wifi

–          Phone, FaceTime & Message blocking

–          Notification sync

–          Do not track option on Safari

Final Release this Fall

Related articles

• Apple iOS 7 To Be Announced At WWDC Today (geeky-gadgets.com)
• Gruber Says That All iOS 7 Leaks Are False (macgasm.net)
• WWDC 2013: For Once, We Haven’t A Clue What Apple Is About To Do (appadvice.com)
• Apple Inc. WWDC Rumors and Expectations Roundup: What the Media is Speculating Ahead of Monday’s Keynote, from iOS, OS X, and iPhone (latinospost.com)

Identity Crisis – Google & Motorola Working on Tattoos as Passwords

Ladies and Gentlemen, is it time to panic?

The days of online password simplicity is officially over.  No longer can your dog’s name and street address protect against a hack into your seemingly endless array of online accounts.  When companies such as Google & Facebook offer cash rewards and jobs to hackers, it makes the once crime into a sport.  As a game fisherman would spend 3 days on a charter boat to land the big Marlin, hackers confine themselves to similar quarters to “land the big one”.  Difference being, hackers get paid more.

Yes, these big companies hire the hackers to build better defenses again future intruders.  After all, the more you know about your enemy the more you can prepare against them.

But has this gone too far?

TATTOOS THAT REPLACE PASSWORDS!?

A PILL THAT GIVES YOU A WIRELESS SIGNAL FROM YOUR STOMACH!?

Chances are that within the past year you have had a conversation containing these words, “And then the Government will start putting computer chips in our brain at birth.”  Congratulations, you are the new Nostradamus, except, it’s not the government doing this… yet.

In May of 2012, Google acquired Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.  This purchase affirmed that Google would be extending their portfolio of offerings far past software and into gadgets. Analysts projected the acquisition would not stray Google from their most successful and profitable focus, advertising, but rather use Motorola for Android growth and innovation.

The tattoo prototypes contain electric circuits that are stamped on to a user’s skin.  The circuits are tailored specifically to an individual user, much like a digital social security number.  Your mobile device would only be unlocked and authenticated when you were within a particular distance from these circuits.

The other product is the Proteus Digital Health pill.  The pill that is already approved by the US Food and Drug Administration is a computer chip that operated on acid in the user’s stomach.  The pill acts as a tracking device and signal creator that can be used to identify an individual.  Similar to the tattoo, once the pill is ingested and activated, your mobile device can confirm your identity and allow you access.

The pill is much more farfetched than the tattoo for unlocking devices, but once could certainly justify this becoming a requirement to get past TSA in the (hopefully very distant) future.

The days of simplicity have passed us.  As consumers, our privacy and identities have never been more vulnerable.  Technology has optimized the world we live in far past what one could ever imagine and it is a great thing, until you depend on it.

Read the article from The Telegraph here.

Related articles

• Forgot your password? Take a pill (stuff.co.nz)
• Google Working On Password Pill And Electronic Tatoo (geeky-gadgets.com)
• Google Thinks You Want To Tattoo An Electronic Circuit To Your Flesh Instead Of Remembering A Password (businessinsider.com)
• Motorola wants to replace passwords with pills and tattoos (geek.com)
• Screw passwords! Soon you might log in with electronic tattoos, or pills (digitaltrends.com)
• Motorola Unveils Plan For Hi-Tech Tattoo That Will Replace Your Passwords And Monitor Your Health (govtslaves.info)
• The hi-tech tattoo that could replace ALL your passwords: Motorola reveals plans for ink and even pills to identify us (laurelbabeblog.wordpress.com)
• Electronic Tattoos and Passwords You Can Swallow: Google’s Regina Dugan Is a Badass (allthingsd.com)
• Moto X: Motorola reveals plans for ink and even pills to replace ALL your passwords (dailymail.co.uk)

Google+ & Your Agency’s Future

Image via CrunchBase

Is it time to start paying attention to Google+?The platform that was once considered the fastest growing social media site has quieted down over the past few years as the number of early adapters slowed.  Opinions of the tech giant are hot and cold.  Some can admire the endless capacity of information and therefore the tailoring of information specifically to you, while others are fearful of the identity profiles that are collected and stored for each user. Can you say, ‘Big Brother’?

It is safe to say that regardless of your opinion of Google, the company isn’t slowing down.

In early 2013 we saw the introduction of Google Glass, the wearable computer that has been the topic of many privacy discussions.  In late 2012 we saw approval for Google to operate the first driverless vehicle in multiple states across the country.  Now, Google has revisited the Google+ platform to further distinguish it from other social sites.

Google+ does not want to be your alternative to Facebook and/or Twitter.  Instead, the platform wants to be able to significantly separate itself by amount of platforms that it can stitch together and use in one seamless process.  This means YouTube, Google Maps, Google Reviews, Gmail and now Google+ will cater to your one identity.

If you are a marketing savvy insurance agency and have videos and/or reviews on the internet, it behooves of you to begin to integrate these sites with a Google+ profile.  In a digitally optimized world, Google is aiming to do some work for you.

In this sense, if you post a picture of a concert, Google will recognize the content and place a “concert” tag to the photo for search purposes.  Google is also aiming to perfect the #Hashtag game by organizing the thousands of titles into categories and subcategories automatically.  For instance, Twitter organizes the trends by exact lettering after a #hashtag.  So a tweet using #GeneralLiability does not associate at all with #GL.  Under the Google platform, the subcategories will automatically be associated together and be placed under a broader heading of #CasualtyInsurance or just #Insurance.

This effort by Google is promoting the further consultation between people, businesses, sites and topics with less effort on the publisher’s end.

Check out this article on CNN.com that discusses the future of Google+.