Ged Carroll

Category: security | 保衛 | 정보 보안 | 情報セキュリティー

According to Wikipedia security can be defined:

Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social groups, objects and institutions, ecosystems or any other entity or phenomenon vulnerable to unwanted change. Security mostly refers to protection from hostile forces, but it has a wide range of other senses: for example, as the absence of harm (e.g. freedom from want); as the presence of an essential good (e.g. food security); as resilience against potential damage or harm (e.g. secure foundations); as secrecy (e.g. a secure telephone line); as containment (e.g. a secure room or cell); and as a state of mind (e.g. emotional security).

Back when I started writing this blog, hacking was something that was done against ‘the man’, usually as a political statement. Now breaches are part of organised crime’s day to day operations. The Chinese government so thoroughly hacked Nortel that all its intellectual property was stolen along with commercial secrets like bids and client lists. The result was the firm went bankrupt. Russian ransomware shuts down hospitals across Ireland. North Korean government sanctioned hackers robbed 50 million dollars from the central bank of Bangladesh and laundered it in association with Chinese organised crime.

Now it has spilled into the real world with Chinese covert actions, Russian contractors in the developing world and hybrid warfare being waged across central Europe and the middle east.

  • Luxxury I wanna be everything & other things

    Luxxury has released a new track I wanna be everything. Luxxury has the expansive feel of post-disco, pre-house uptempo dance music a la Shep Pettibone, the Latin Rascals and Arthur Baker. More related content here. Luxxury I wanna be everything is digital only.

    A YouTube video on the history of Unix. Now before you roll your eyes and move on to another site. Think about the ubiquity of unix. Key parts of the internet run on Unix. It’s also the reason why URLs and email addresses aren’t case sensitive. Most telecoms equipment runs on Unix or an analogue of the operating system.  I am writing this on a Mac, the core of the operating system is based on BSD – a variant of Unix. If you’re using Windows 10; it owes a lot to VMS – an operating system developed as a Unix analogue in the early and mid 1970s by Digital Equipment Corporation.

    As for Linux; it was originally developed because Linus Torvalds didn’t realise he could download a free version of BSD…. Linux now powers Android smartphones, smart televisions and all of the internet of things stuff that poses a huge security risk in your home. In terms of a written thing; Unix must be right up there with the works of Shakespeare or JRR Tolkien in terms of its importance in the modern world.

    The presentation also puts a bit of personality into what could have been quite a dry subject.

    I found this on Core 77; Nestle posted some epic videos from its Japanese Kit Kat factory. I love the enthusiasm of the presenters in their workwear as they take you through the manufacturing line: K. Kohno and H. Matsumoto are stars. Japanese Kit Kat is not the same as the sad loser biscuits that you pick up in your weekly shop. Instead they are beautifully packaged and come in a constantly changing variety of flavours like cherry blossom or green matcha tea. The process itself is beautiful to watch. In particular look at the packaging automation.

    The New York Times made a lot of allegations about Facebook and its reaction to Russian election tampering. Scott Galloway was on had to do TV interviews that poured petrol on the fire.

    Great video on Johnny Cash’s live concert At Folsom Prison. It is up there with Live at San Quentin also by Johnny Cash.

  • Zegna + more things

    Ermenegildo Zegna now looks to China for fashion’s vanguard, not the US — Quartzy – Ermenegildo Zegna, grandson of the brand’s founder and current CEO of the group, explained at the WWD Apparel + Retail CEO Summit in New York yesterday (Oct. 30). “Now we test new things in China, and then if it works, we bring them around the world.” – the problem with this approach is threefold:

    • What about the Italian heritage and expertise that one buys Zegna for?
    • Chinese sizes are considerably different to westerners
    • Chinese consumers lack the kind of soft power of Koreans or Japanese and the innovations may not travel that well

    More luxury content here.

    IBM’s Old Playbook – Stratechery by Ben Thompson – interesting analysis about the Red Hat acquisition. Red Hat is as much a culture and business model injection as an acquisition for IBM. Of course it could all go wrong if IBM internal realpolitik kicks in and smothers the transformation.

    Brandwatch presentations channel – slides from NYK London 2018 are well worth looking at from a marketing data and analytics perspective.

    Facebook: the court of King Mark | Financial Times – Facebook shareholders should be alarmed about Mr Zuckerberg’s insularity, he adds. “Zuckerberg’s absolute control can increasingly be seen as Facebook’s Achilles heel.” – Is this even news? Zuckerberg’s control has been baked in since the IPO. His poor judgement is also exceptionally well documented. Sony believes it is a manufacturer— and innovator and creator of consumer electronics. It still employs fantastically talented engineers, but that doesn’t seem to be enough. Manufacturing allows copying so fast that there is not longer an easy way to get blue water between you and your competitors

    US spies see new threats from global rivals, say it could be Cold War 2.0 – Stripes – because China

    The SONY Brands: like watching an accident happen – breaks my heart to read this as a long time Sony customer. Sony and its sub-brands do lack power,

    From Farm to Blockchain: Walmart Tracks Its Lettuce – The New York Times – overkill

  • SPC phone fraud data + more

    SPC Justice Data Service Platform on phone fraud in China

    Spike in fraud cases as criminals adopt illegal software – Chinadaily.com.cn  – A report released Monday by the SPC’s China Justice Big Data Service Platform said the number of online and telecom fraud cases concluded by Chinese courts rose more than 70 percent year-on-year in 2017. The report did not include exact figures on how many cases were heard in 2016 and 2017.”Not content with cheating people out of money with spam calls or texts, fraudsters have started using WeChat and illegal number-disguising software to deceive victims,” it said – SPC is China’s Supreme People’s Court. The SPC has documented mainland China scams. But these scams are also being run by Chinese in other countries like the Philippines and Thailand. More related content here.

    Internet of Things security flaws

    Bruce Schneier talks about IoT, surveillance, and cybersecurity – nice interview with Bruce Schneier focused on personal information security. And more here: Bruce Schneier talks about IoT, surveillance, and cybersecurity

    For safety’s sake, we must slow innovation in internet-connected things – MIT Technology Review – Bruce Schneier points out the security issues surround the Internet of Things (IoT). Dystopian futures are here. We are already seeing bot nets built on IoT products and smart appliances. The UK has been looking at legislating against default passwords on IoT devices, which is a good start to harden the IoT

    Hyundai Blue Link connected cars

    Hyundai car company advert for Blue Link looks like an episode of Black Mirror. Teenagers if you are going to get your parents to buy a car for you, think carefully.  Go for a cheaper, older ‘dumb’ vehicle with no Bluetooth stereo and really shitty fuel economy. Don’t get a new car that will grass you up. it will may also dime out adult drivers as well.

    https://youtu.be/kxZb2nrZUas

  • NYPD surveillance + more things

    IBM Used NYPD Surveillance Footage to Develop Technology That Lets Police Search by Skin Color – you might feel a bit squeamish about the application but this is established image recognition that Google (and Yahoo!) search engines used 12 years ago rather than anything new. We shouldn’t be surprised that the NYPD surveillance search system doesn’t use all aspect of physical attributes that might turn up in a witness statement.

    eBay builds its own customized servers to ‘replatform’ its data center infrastructure | SiliconAngle– surprised that they weren’t doing this already

    Luxury Daily | eBay extends authentication program to high-end watches – Paywall

    Immersive art – JWT Intelligence – In China, where fine art isn’t typically part of a school curriculum, art collectors and curators have been working with mall developers and brands for a number of years to create crossover opportunities among Chinese audiences, fueling interest and building a culture around art. Zheng’s approach is to focus on making his visitors the protagonists in his exhibitions to help them “accept art as an element in their lives.”

    WE ARE IN AN EFFICIENCY BUBBLE – BBH – at the expense of effectiveness. Just good enough commotised creative

    The Path Ahead: The 7th Forum on China-Africa Cooperation | China Africa Research Initiative – (PDF)

    Cryptocurrency exchange Changelly admits it can steal users’ Monero (if it wanted to) – I think this is over egging the opportunity and underestimating challenges

    WeChat, Alipay to Block Crypto Transactions on Payment Platforms – CoinDesk – surprised that this is taking so long

    JD CEO’s arrest steps on governance landmine – Breakingviews – (paywall) it shows how tenuous ‘foreign’ shareholding in Chinese entities are. According to The New York Times he has some form for these kind of events

    Manipulation, Chinese style – Nikkei Asian Review – cunning and clever. This should be compulsory reading for anyone doing lobbying or in corporate communications. It mirrors some of the Russian philosophy on information warfare, but the Russians take it in a much more kinetic direction.

    The “experiential advantage” is not universal – the less well-off get equal or more happiness from buying things – Research Digest – really interesting finding on consumer behaviour and retailing

  • Colin Kaepernick + more things

    Colin Kaepernick 

    If you work in marketing, you’d have had to hidden in a remote jungle outpost to avoid all the industry big opinion pieces and social discussion over Nike’s latest brand campaign. The outrage was over a social image of Colin Kaepernick supporting the video content below

    Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.

    Everything has become political. New Balance got the whip end of it from liberals during the early part of the Trump administration because of its domestic manufacturing plants and his focus on American jobs. The New Balance CEO made positive remarks about the president focusing on domestic manufacturing and liberals burned their sneakers on social media.

    So from the beginning Nike was in the ‘not Trump camp’ because of its business model. The question would be should it put its head above the parapet or not? From a marketing history that has worked with directors like Spike Lee – this is almost a non question.

    Nike also has demographics on its side, banking on the African American community and urban kids over aging Trump supporters. This will also play well in western European markets.

    Nike has trends behind it at the moment. Hypebeast style is on the ascendency, even in preppy lookbooks you are likely to see the blazer and chinos paired with a pair of Air Max in a colour scheme that pops.

    In my mind working with Colin Kaepernick was inevitable because it was such a Nike thing to do. Down the road Kaepernick is going to make a stylish articulate spokesperson, think Michael Jordan but with more of a ‘thinking man’ image. (Yes I know Michael Jordan is sharp as a button but he’s got more swagger).

    From Nike’s perspective it was a good tactical move. The timing was ideal to get out ahead of the NFL season, rather than being seen as a reaction to it. Scott Galloway went as far as to call it the ‘gangster marketing’ move of 2018. But no it wasn’t particularly brave on the part of Nike. From a Nike point-of-view this kicks the inevitable liberal media cyclical discussion about Nike and children working in third-world sweatshops a bit further down the road. I guess Nike won’t have to worry about yet another set of shoe brands like Starbury, Patrick Ewiing or And1 coming up anytime soon. Commentators tend to forget that they emerged because Nike was seen to be using black athletes to gouge poor consumers out of excess cash and fuelling criminality to have the ‘right’ shoes. What a difference a president makes.

    Secondly, there is an issue of has bravery become an overused word?

    • By using it to sell sneakers and track tops are you cheapening the sacrifices of fallen first responders, civil rights activists or military personnel?
    • Where do whistle blowers like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden fit into it?
    • And what does it say about America when you have to be brave to use your constitutional rights?

    Everything has become weaponised, how do we step back from this? More on Nike here.

    its a rare one of the columns when I am dealing with two pretty grim subjects in a week. The Register broke the news about western intelligence services declaring a new war on privacy – its a even more alarming when you think about how populist politics has blown up in the past few years. This is the best written reaction that I have seen to it. Schneier is a online security expert and I’d trust his judgement over any politicians: Five-Eyes Intelligence Services Choose Surveillance Over Security – Schneier on Security. Go and have a read, I’ll still be here when you come back.

    As you can understand I’d like to lift the mood a bit. The reaction of Japanese people to western swear words once they are explained to them is priceless.

    NASA on the Cray super-computers that they used in the mid-1980s

    My former colleague Haruka is doing a daily illustration challenge, creating artworks on 1 inch x 1 inch paper square. (An inch is 25.4mm)

     

     
     
     
     
     
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