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Steve Hamm in
We have tallied your “Likes” and the results are in. The popular favorite among the IBM 5 in 5 predictions of technologies that will change the way we live and work over the next five years is Mind reading is no longer science fiction. There are some lively comments on that one, too.
It’s not too late to weigh in with your opinion, however. Watch the videos and “Like” away!
People power will come to life
Click here to view the video and vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction by clicking the “Like” button below the video.
You will never need a password again
Click here to view the video and vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction by clicking the “Like” button below the video.
Mind reading is no longer science fiction
Click here to view the video and vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction by clicking the “Like” button below the video.
The digital divide will cease to exist
Click here to view the video and vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction by clicking the “Like” button below the video.
Junk mail will become priority mail
Click here to view the video and vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction by clicking the “Like” button below the video.
To vote for this as the coolest IBM 5 in 5 prediction, click the “Like” button below.
Read an in-depth blog post about the prediction by an IBM researcher.
Please participate in the Twitter conversation at #ibm5in5
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Guest in
To paraphrase Margaret Mead, progress that matters is usually set in motion by a handful of committed people possessed by a great idea and the will to pursue it.
In that vein, this summer a small team of privacy professionals coalesced around a promising idea–providing non-profit organizations with free legal advice on responsible and pragmatic practices for protecting individual privacy and data security.
Our work led to this month’s pilot launch of the Pro Bono Privacy Initiative, under which over a dozen professionals are engaging with a handful of human services agencies, helping them to navigate mission-critical privacy and data protection considerations.
I’m hopeful that our pilot is the start of a meaningful movement that will unite lawyers and other experts in privacy and data protection in service to a cause bigger than any one of us or our organizations.
Posted by
Steve Hamm in
In the next couple of years, there are expected to be 2 billion people connected to the Internet. At the same time, the instrumentation and interconnection of the world’s human-made and natural systems is exploding–which could mean that there soon will be more things connected to the Internet than there are people who are connected. This Internet of Things promises to give people a much better understanding of how complex systems work, so they can be tinkered with to make them work better. But it also opens up a whole new sphere of insecurity. Each of those sensors is, potentially, a point of vulnerability to people who write malicious code for fun, or profit, or to further their political goals.
Andreas Wespi
Harm could come in many forms, but some of the most hurtful scenarios for attacks on the Internet of Things include electrical power and communications blackouts, disruption of air traffic and roadway traffic lights, interruption of oil and gas exploration and contamination of water. So far, these concerns are mostly theoretical, but the spread of Stuxnet, the computer worm that targets control systems at nuclear power plants, shows just how dangerous such attacks can be. The worm knocked out about 1,000 centrifuges at Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment plant last year–and atomic energy experts warn that it has the capability of creating Chernobyl-like disasters. “We have to understand the new threats and understand how to protect our own infrastructure,” says Andreas Wespi, a cybersecurity expert at IBM Research’s Zurich laboratory.
Attacks will likely come in two ways: to the sensors and to the servers that gather, store, and analyze information from the sensors. Both kinds of vulnerability must be addressed.
6:11
Posted by
Steve Hamm in
Ever since the term “cloud computing” was coined a few years back, the very thought of allowing a company’s data to sit out in some undisclosed location in cyberspace has left CIOs and CFOs quaking in their shoes. If they can’t control their data (or even know where it is) how can they protect it? Their worry is one of the main reasons why cloud computing is more talked about than actually adopted by businesses.
That’s why a claim by one of IBM’s security mavens, Harold Moss, chief technology officer of cloud computing strategy, seems so surprising. “There’s a misconception that cloud is less secure than traditional IT environments,” says Moss. “The cloud can actually be more secure.”
How is that possible? I’m sure some of you disagree with his conclusion, and I invite you to weigh in with comments…
Posted by
Steve Hamm in
By Harriet Pearson
Today’s society is built on the fast flow and analysis of bits and bytes of information. The strides we make in gathering, routing, and analyzing this torrent of data holds the promise of an ever-brighter future. Still, behind these data are real people, real organizations, and real concerns, so we need to reconcile the competing goals of free information flow and individual privacy.
To support the ongoing discussion of this critical issue, IBM is joining other leading global businesses, non-profits, individuals and governments in celebrating international Data Privacy Day.
Digital privacy can seem elusive. If you’re a consumer, it can be difficult to figure out what information companies have about you, or where they’re getting it, or how they’re might use it. If you’re a business or government leader, it can be hard to figure out how to responsibly use the personal data concerning individuals to do things such as conserve energy, reduce traffic congestion and suppress crime.
What’s at stake? Plenty. Getting data privacy “right” is an economic and social imperative. Trust and confidence in the security and privacy of the critical systems of our planet – especially the digital version of its central nervous system, the Internet – is foundational to individuals’ continued engagement and reliance on such things as online commerce, e-health and smart grids. If individual consumers don’t feel that their privacy and security are protected, they will not support modernization efforts, even though the capabilities of technology advancements are proven and the potential benefits to society are extensive.
Here’s an example of the tensions we face: The ability of smart grids to conserve resources relies on the ability of, and commitment from, consumers to monitor and modify their individual usage. An individual using a smart meter understands the difference in the cost of using electricity at peak versus non-peak hours and could opt to lower their usage during more costly time periods. At the same time, data from the meters can reveal sensitive information such as work habits, shower schedules, use of medical devices such as dialysis, and whether or not a house is occupied.
So, how does society move ahead with smart grids and other technology advances that rely upon individual or personal data, while addressing consumer privacy?
Posted by
Steve Hamm in
Because we live our lives digitally, there’s no turning back the clock to simpler times when personal data was locked up in file cabinets and bank safe deposit boxes. We spew information about ourselves into the cybersphere via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Web sites requiring registration, personal identity cards and other kinds of smart cards. But is there a way that we can dole out information in small, controllable pieces–just enough to get things done but not a byte more?
The answer is yes, and a European research consortium is leading the way to delivering this capability on a mass scale.
The consortium, called ABC4Trust, is building safeguarding systems based on privacy-protecting technologies from IBM and Microsoft. It plans on testing the systems in a university in Greece and a secondary school in Sweden. The technologies, called Attribute-Based Credentials (where the ABC in the name comes from), make it possible to build Web services and electronic ID systems that get just enough information to authenticate peoples’ identities, qualifications and permissions–but no more.
Posted by
jamesmathewson in
Editor’s note: Many of the smarter planet initiatives we talk about on this blog depend on better security technologies. From health records to financial data to sensitive city infrastructure information, managing massive data streams over the Internet requires as much security innovation as data integration, interconnectedness and intelligence. Enter X-Force–IBM’s answer to studying these challenges with the kind of depth we use in all smarter planet initiatives. The following is a post by Tom Cross, the manager of the IBM X-Force Research Team, to explain how X-Force is helping organizations across the globe meet these challenges.
Today we released the IBM X-Force Mid-Year Trend and Risk Report that gives insight into the latest Internet threats, trends among attackers, and a projection on future potential risk areas like cloud security.
The report is the industry’s most comprehensive analysis of vulnerabilities and security threats. IBM is the only company with an extensive primary research team that uncovers, researches and catalogs vulnerabilities with a database that goes back 15 years. Our Web crawler is second only in size to Google, allowing us to uncover malicious sites and categorize web pages. We manage more than 20,000 security devices to gain firsthand insight into the types of attacks organizations face today. As X-Force, we sign up for a lot of spam to stay in the know so that we can protect clients and educate the industry.
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Guest in
Following is a guest post from Darcy Hansen:
As we turn the corner on the recession, the C-Suite has not stopped thinking about the constant demands on their businesses created by unrelenting factors like global competition, compliance, costs and the introduction of new technologies. The explosion of information from various sources including the Internet, adoption of mobile devices like iPads connected to the network combined with growing inter-connectedness of people and processes generates new business and operational risks. This all means that business and IT security and resiliency as critical as ever, and must be dynamic and intelligent in order to keep up with the speed of business change. So, how do CEOs, CIOs and – perhaps even more importantly – CSOs continue to improve IT performance in their company infrastructures while dealing with all these demands?
A key factor to achieving this is having the right security solutions for a shrinking, changing world. Protecting a company’s infrastructure with the right security approach allows it to take advantage of new technologies for collaboration, innovation and business growth – and respond to the changing dynamics of business more quickly. And IBM managed security services, along with the world-renowned X-Force research team, helps companies achieve that.
The new Security Operations Center in Bangalore
The newest addition to IBM’s managed security services infrastructure is found in Bangalore, India, where IBM is opening its ninth global security operations center (SOC). This state-of-the-art facility enhances IBM’s ability to provide managed security services clients with a high level of around-the-clock protection and service against threats. Building upon the global SOC network, clients will receive real-time analysis and early warning notification of security events, along with services such as 24/7/365 intrusion monitoring, virus and password protection and disaster recovery and data backup.
This new addition – which expands IBM’s infrastructure and security research and development activity – is yet another way in which we are expanding our security teams to match the traction and growth in this region of the world. IBM’s security professionals can already look at the billions of security events a day from Japan to India to the United States to Latin America from multiple types of businesses and industries. And the X-Force research team continues to use artificial intelligence, scanning and analysis capabilities to further improve the effectiveness of IBM’s security identification. As director of IBM managed security Rick Miller puts it, “With less downtime and less intense types of remediation provided by the new center, our security R&D and analysis allows us to be quicker and more pre-emptive than we already are.”
