Today's Tech Digest
Kannan Subbiah
FCA | CISA | CGEIT | CCISO | IT Security, Strategy & Governance | Independent Director | Enterprise & Solution Architecture | 3 decades of IT experience and 2 decades of Mutual Funds domain experience.
The New Era Of Artificial Intelligence
AI will soon become commoditized and democratized, just as electricity was in its time. Today we use computers, smartphones, other connected devices, and, mostly, apps. Whilst access to internet technologies has constantly improved over the past decades, very few people are able to program these and generate income by intelligently exploiting consumer data, which, in theory, is not theirs. GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple) and the Chinese BAT (Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent,) are among the most prominent players in these fields. Tomorrow’s world would be different with the emergence of relatively simple, portable AI devices, which might not necessarily be connected to each other by the internet, but would feature completely new protocols and peer-to-peer technologies. This will significantly re-empower consumers. Because it is decentralized, portable AI will be available for the masses within a decade or so. Its use will be intuitive; just as driving a car is today. Portable AI will also be less expensive than motorized vehicles,
What is DevSecOps and Vulnerabilities?
The principles of security and communications should be introduced every step of the way when building applications. The philosophy of DevSecOps was created by security practitioners who seek to “work and contribute value with less friction”. These practitioners run a web site that details an approach to improving security, explaining that “the goal of DevSecOps is to bring individuals of all capabilities to a high level of security efficiency in a short period of time. Security is everyone responsibility.” DevSecOps statement includes principles such as building a lower access platform, focusing on science, avoiding fear, uncertainty and doubt, collaboration, continuous security monitoring and cutting edge intelligence. Community DevSecOps promotes action directed at detecting potential issues or exploiting weaknesses. In other words, think like an enemy and perform similar tactics such as trying to penetrate to identify gaps that can be exploited and that need to be treated.
7 essential technologies for a modern data architecture
At the center of this digital transformation is data, which has become the most valuable currency in business. Organizations have long been hamstrung in their use of data by incompatible formats, limitations of traditional databases, and the inability to flexibly combine data from multiple sources. New technologies promise to change all that. Improving the deployment model of software is one major facet to removing barriers to data usage. Greater “data agility” also requires more flexible databases and more scalable real-time streaming platforms. In fact no fewer than seven foundational technologies are combining to deliver a flexible, real-time “data fabric” to the enterprise. Unlike the technologies they are replacing, these seven software innovations are able to scale to meet the needs of both many users and many use cases. For businesses, they have the power to enable faster and more intelligent decisions and to create better customer experiences.
Tesla cloud systems exploited by hackers to mine cryptocurrency
Researchers from the RedLock Cloud Security Intelligence (CSI) team discovered that cryptocurrency mining scripts, used for cryptojacking -- the unauthorized use of computing power to mine cryptocurrency -- were operating on Tesla's unsecured Kubernetes instances, which allowed the attackers to steal the Tesla AWS compute resources to line their own pockets. Tesla's AWS system also contained sensitive data including vehicle telemetry, which was exposed due to the unsecured credentials theft. "In Tesla's case, the cyber thieves gained access to Tesla's Kubernetes administrative console, which exposed access credentials to Tesla's AWS environment," RedLock says. "Those credentials provided unfettered access to non-public Tesla information stored in Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) buckets." The unknown hackers also employed a number of techniques to avoid detection. Rather than using typical public mining pools in their scheme
Micron sets its sights on quad-cell storage
The first single-level cell, with one bit per cell, first emerged in the late 1980s when flash drives first appeared for mainframes. In the late 1990s came multi-level cell (MLC) drives capable of storing two bits per cell. Triple-level cell (TLC) didn't come out until 2013 when Samsung introduced its 840 series of SSDs. So, these advances take a long time, although they are being sped up by a massive increase in R&D dollars in recent years. Multi-bit flash memory chips store data by managing the number of electronic charges in each individual cell. With each new cell, the number of voltage states doubles. SLC NAND tracks only two voltage states, while MLC has four voltage states, TLC has eight voltage states, and QLC has 16 voltage states. This translates to much lower tolerance for voltage fluctuations. As density goes up, the computer housing the SSD must be rock-stable electrically because without it, you risk damaging cells. This means supporting electronics around the SSD to protect it from fluctuations.