Marissa Mayer to exit after Verizon acquisition as Yahoo becomes Altaba

Yahoo Inc. said on Monday that it will cut down its board after completing acquisition deal with Verizon Communications Inc., it is reported also that several executives including Chief Executive Marissa Mayer and co-founder David Filo, will step down as directors. After the sale of its core internet business, the company will change its name to Altaba Inc. from RemainCo, Yahoo said in a regulatory filing. Altaba’s remaining assets include Yahoo’s stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Yahoo Japan. The name is a combination of the words “alternate” and…

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WhatsApp to End Support Of Devices With Old Versions Of iOS And Android

WhatsApp launches end-to-end encryption on messages for all its users

Instant messaging App Whatsapp, will pull plug for devices running the older versions of mobile operating systems by the end of 2016. WhatsApp, the leading instant messaging client in the entire world, connects people globally without geographical barriers. In February this year, the application administrators announced that its services are being used by 1 billion users across the world but will be unavailable for some users. According to Apple, 63% of iOS devices are running on iOS 10, 29 % on iOS 9 and only 8 % on previous versions of…

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Banks remains top cybercrime targets globally

Cybersecurity

As digital technology develops, the business organizations continue to experience more transformations and disruptions exposing themselves to more opportunities and threats. Attacks against the finance industry are becoming increasingly sophisticated and highly targeted. The economic crime has as well gone digital as every sector of commerce digitalizes. According to a U.S. cybersecurity report released by IBM, the financial-services industry ranked third in number of cyberattacks in 2015, after health care and manufacturing. Reports also indicate that there were 2.46 million cyber incidents and 2.11 million victims of cyber crime in…

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Cybersecurity still remains a challenge for many companies

Cybersecurity

Awareness and investment in cybersecurity may have grown in recent years, but the longer-term strategy of embracing the issue remains a challenge for many, said Mr Low Chee Juee, chief technologist of the cybersecurity practice at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. Speaking at the tech risk conference during the Singapore Fintech Festival on Thursday (Nov 17), Mr Low said embracing cybersecurity remains a challenge even though organisations could reap the potential benefits of lower costs and improved organisational efficiency. “In terms of action, we’re still a step behind in a…

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Brookings Study estimates cost of internet shutdowns in 2015 at $2.4 billion

Banking Crisis

Whenever there’s a shutdown of internet access or restrictions placed on an app, we shake our heads disapprovingly because we know it’s a fundamentally bad idea to do that. But what exactly is the cost of those shutdowns? A new study from the Brookings Institution suggests well over $2 billion over the last year. The study, by Brookings analyst Darrell West, is a very rough estimate of these costs. We’re talking back-of-napkin rough — well, assuming you were sitting at the bar with MIT and World Bank economists. Essentially, West…

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U.S. Federal bank regulators outline new cyber security standards to stem attacks

crypto-ransomware

U.S. bank regulators on Wednesday outlined cyber security standards meant to protect financial markets and consumers from online attacks against the nation’s leading financial firms. Leading banks will be expected to use the most sophisticated anti-hacking tools on the market and to be able to recover from any attack within two hours, said officials briefing reporters on the plan. The rules, which will be finalized after industry input, is meant to raise cyber security to a top priority for corporate executives and boards, according to the banking agencies. Banks with…

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Increased ransomware and IoT hacks predicted in 2017

banking security

2016 saw companies rocked by over 90 million cyberattacks. In 2017 the number could double. Cybersecurity expert Sameer Dixit explains how new innovation leads to increased vulnerability. The threat of cybercrime looms ominously over companies and individuals. To raise awareness of the growing threat, October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month in the United States and Europe. The economic damage caused by cybercrime is massive and quantifiable. In 2016 companies and individuals will be hit by 90 million attacks. That’s 400 raids every minute. Nearly 70% of of these attacks…

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Interview: Hootsuite’s CEO Lessons from Getting Hacked on Social Media

Cybersecurity

“Hey, it’s OurMine Team, we are just testing your security, please send us a message.” Earlier this summer, that message was blasted out to my followers on Twitter… only I didn’t send it. I had been hacked. It was embarrassing. I run Hootsuite, a social media management company that prides itself on world-class security for our customers. How could this happen? What did I do wrong? In the following days, I learned that Ev Williams, the co-founder of Twitter, had fallen victim to the same hackers. And not long before that,…

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Internet companies petrified after hackers release code behind one of the most powerful online attacks

Google

Internet companies are bracing for more trouble after hackers released the code behind one of the most powerful online attacks ever, which harnessed as many as one million internet-connected devices to knock a blogger offline. The malicious software takes advantage of weak security on video recorders, routers and other internet-connected devices, taking control of the systems and forming them into a collection of attacking machines, called a “botnet.” It can then disable a victim’s internet servers by flooding them with an overwhelming amount of internet traffic. The botnet code was…

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Oracle acquires Palerra to upgrade Cloud Security

banking security

Oracle has just concluded the agreement to acquire Palerra last Sept. 18. The move is expected to bolster the company’s push to expand its Identity Cloud Service, which is touted as a next-generation security and identity platform for the cloud. Both companies did not provide any details about the recent acquisition, particularly the cost involved. However, one should remember that Palerra has raised $25 million in funding last year. This figure should provide some insight regarding its value. “Together, Oracle and Palerra will help accelerate cloud adoption securely by providing…

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