The Zen of IT
By Evan Schuman
Planned ‘fixes’ for credit-card interchange fees will actually make fraud easier
The US Federal Reserve and the US Senate are both looking to lessen restrictions on retailers — ostensibly to rein in card fees. What they actually are doing is inviting more fraud.
Will new EU crypto rules change how ransomware is played?
The European Union is cracking down on cryptocurrencies. That could have massive implications for enterprise IT.
Microsoft backs off facial recognition analysis, but big questions remain
Microsoft is backing off its support for some AI-driven features, including facial recognition. Although it's good Microsoft is acknowledging discrimination and accuracy issues, it had years to fix the problems and didn’t.
Are banks quietly refusing reimbursements to fraud victims?
There are disturbing reports that some major financial institutions are no longer crediting back all fraudulent transactions, even when the victim has filed a police report. This move by these financial institutions will soon come...
Worried about burnout? Few enterprises are set up to fight the real causes
C-level execs argue a fine game about caring about their employees — but those platitudes somehow never make it into the HR meetings about bonus benchmarks.
Let’s put smartphone mics to better use
What if smartphone sound-recognition could be tweaked to do core IT and operational chores? This would be an option to customize the phone to listen for sounds specific to your company.
How to master the diversity hiring challenge
It’s not often that you see two cybersecurity vendor CEOs agree on an issue — and yet get into a very public insult-fest with each other. Then again, this did start at RSA, so anything is possible.
Amazon to pass Walmart as No. 1 retailer by '24; the latter's store-based tack is to blame
A June report from an analytics firm has Amazon knocking Walmart out of its No. 1 retailer slot by 2024. Walmart bet on a store-based approach years ago, but consumers changed their habits and Walmart is soon to pay the price.
Google’s open-source security move may be pointless. In a perfect world, it should be.
Given that one of the uglier threats to enterprise cybersecurity involves re-purposed third-party code and open-source code, you might think that Google addressing the issue would be a big help. Think again.
DOJ reverses itself, says good-faith security researchers should be left alone
The US Department of Justice last week reversed its own policy, telling prosecutors not to prosecute anyone who has engaged in “good-faith security research.”
Apple’s self-repair program is bad for consumers, but might work well for IT
Apple has changed its self-repair program and has gone out of its way to make the program a horrible option for its intended audience: consumers. But it might make a lot of sense for enterprise IT wanting to do iOS device repairs.
Apple is the latest example of how the remote work fight has gone lunatic
The recent corporate pushback against working from remote locations (referred to, unfortunately, as work from home) is both self-destructive and bizarre.
Expect to see more online data scraping, thanks to a misinterpreted court ruling
In a case involving LinkedIn, a US appellate court has come to an obvious conclusion: scraping publicly-visible online data and content doesn't violate The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. What does it mean? That's where things get...
Think the video call mute button keeps you safe? Think again
Have you recently been on a video call, muted and then said something nasty about a client — or maybe even the boss? Were you confident the mute button was protecting your secret? You shouldn't have been.
Apple quietly stops meaningful auto-updates in iOS
Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, acknowledged Apple has dramatically slowed down auto updates — by as much as a month.
The Russian cyberattack threat might force a new IT stance
With the threat of Russian cyberattacks still with us, companies need to be on a war footing when it comes to security.
When should the data breach clock start?
Time is of the essence when a data breach occurs. The tricky part is figuring out exactly when a company first knows about a breach, and how long it has before making it public.
CVS app glitch makes — then cancels — vaccine appointments. And it gets worse.
CVS Pharmacy has a widely used app and site to schedule various vaccinations, including for COVID-19. The problem? It has a glitch that allows customers to schedule appointments that are then cancelled without explanation.
Behavioral Analytics is getting trickier
One of the best authentication methods today relies on behavioral analytics, especially when it’s used as part of continuous authentication. But it is getting a bit trickier to do so reliably.
Signing up with a cloud provider? Don't forget to set an exit plan
It’s not simply about getting easy permission to go when it's time to part ways; it’s about IT making sure any decisions don’t complicate that eventual departure.
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