Verizon and Google Are Love Birds? Their Call Is 5G 5G 5G
December 22, 2021
The folks involved with electronic equipment for air planes are expressing some concerns about 5G. Why? Potential issues related to interference. See the FAA and others care about passengers and air freight. Now Verizon and Google care about each other and are moving forward with more 5G goodness. (Please, turn off those 5G mobiles.)
Verizon is regarded as the top mobile provider in the United States. Verizon earns that title, because the company is always innovating. Tech Radar has the story on one of Verizon’s newest innovations: “Verizon Partners With Google Cloud On 5G Edge.” Google Cloud and Verizon will pool their resources to offer 5G mobile edge with guaranteed performance for enterprise customers.
Verizon is promising its 5G networks will have lower latency with faster speeds, reliable connections, and greater capacity. The mobile provider will deliver on its 5G and lower latency promise by decentralizing infrastructures and virtualizing networks, so they are closer to customers. Edge computing means data is processed closer to its collection point. This will enable more advanced technology to take root: smart city applications, telemedicine, and virtual reality.
Google Cloud’s storage and compute capabilities are what Verizon needs to deliver 5G:
“The partnership will initially combine Verizon’s private on-site 5G and its private 5G edge services with Google Distributed Cloud Edge, but the two companies have said they plan to develop capabilities for public networks that will allow enterprises to deploy applications across the US.”
Verizon’s new Google partnership makes it the first mobile provider to offer edge services with Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.
The advancement of 5G will transform developed countries into automated science-fiction dreams. Verizon 5G edge sounds like it requires the use of more user data in order for it to be processed closer to the collection point. Is this why Verizon has been capturing more of late? Will 5G networks require more private user data to function?
One of my colleagues at Beyond Search had the silly idea that the Verizon Google discussions contributed to Verizon’s keen interest in capturing more customer data. Will the cooing of 5G 5G 5G soothe those worried about having a 757 visit the apartments adjacent O’Hare Airport? Of course not. Verizon and Google are incapable of making technical missteps.
Whitney Grace, December 22, 2021
NSO Group: How about That Debt?
December 14, 2021
The NSO Group continues to make headlines and chisel worry lines in the faces of the many companies in Israel which create specialized software and systems for law enforcement and intelligence professionals. You can read the somewhat unpleasant news in Bloomberg’s report, the Financial Times’ article, and Gizmodo’s Silicon Valley-esque write up. Gizmodo said:
the company’s cumbersome mixture of unpaid debts and growing international scrutiny have made NSO a bloated pariah and is forcing its leadership to consider shutting down its Pegasus spyware unit. Selling the entire company is also reportedly on the table.
First, the reports suggest, without much back up, that NSO Group has about a half a billion US in debt. This is important because it underscores what is the number one flaw in the jazzy business plans of companies making sense of data and providing specialized services to law enforcement, intelligence, and war fighting entities. Here’s my take:
Point 1. What was secret is now open and easily available information.
Since Snowden, the systems and methods informing NSO Group and dozens of similar firms are easy to grasp. Former intelligence professionals can blend what Snowden revealed with whatever these individuals picked up in their service to their country, create a “baby” or “similar” solution and market it. This means that there are more surveillance, penetration, intercept, and analysis options available than at any other time in my 50 year career in online information and systems. Toss in what’s in the wild from dumps of FinFisher and Hacking Team techniques and the gold mine of open source code, and it should be no surprise that the NSO Group’s problem is just the tip of an iceberg, a favorite metaphor in the world of surveillance. None of the newsy reports grasp the magnitude of the NSO Group problem.
Point 2. There’s a lot of “smart” money chasing a big pay day from software purpose built for law enforcement, intelligence, and military operations. VC cows in herds, however, are not that smart or full of wisdom.
There are many investors who buy the line “cyber crime and terrorism” drive big, lucrative sales of specialized software and systems. That’s partially correct. But what’s happened is that the flood of cash has generated a number of commercial enterprisers trying to covert those dollars into highly reliable, easy to use systems. The presentations at off the radar trade shows promise functionality that is almost science fiction. The situation today is that there is a lot of hyper marketing going on because there’s money to apply some very expensive computational methods to what used to be largely secret and manual work. A good case for the travails of selling and keeping customers is the Palantir Technologies’ journey which is more than a decade long and still underway. The marketing is seeping from conferences open only to government agencies and those with clearances to advertising trade shows. I think you can see the risk of moving from low profile or secret government solutions to services for Madison Avenue. I sure can.
Point 3. Too few customers to go around.
There are not enough government customers with deep pockets for the abundant specialized services and systems which are on offer. In this week’s DarkCyber at this link, you can learn about the vendors at conferences where surveillance and applied information collection and analysis explain their products and services. You can also learn that the Brennan Center has revealed documents obtained via FOIA about Voyager Labs, a company which is also engaged in the specialized software and services business. Our DarkCyber report makes clear that license fees are in six figures and include more special add ins than a deal from a flea market vendor selling at the Clignancourt flea market. Competition means prices are falling, and quite effective systems are available for as little as a few hundred dollars per month and sometimes even less. Plus, commercial enterprises are often nervous when the potential customer realizes the power of specialized software and services. Stalking made easy? Yep. Spying on competitors facilitated? Yep. Open source intelligence makes it possible to perform specialized work at a quite attractive price point: Free or a few hundred a month.
What’s next?
Financial wizards may be able to swizzle the NSO Group’s financial pickles into a sweet relish for a ball park frank. There will be other companies in this sector which will face comparable money challenges in the future. From my perspective, it is not possible to put the spilled oil back in the tanker and clean the gunk off the birds now coated in crude.
Policeware and intelware vendors have operated out of sight and out of mind in their bubble since i2 Ltd. in the late 19909s rolled out the Analysts Notebook solution and launched the market for specialized software. The NSO Group’s situation could be or has already shoved a hat pin in that big, fat balloon.
More significantly, formerly blind and indifferent news organizations, government agencies, and potential investors can see what issues specialized software and services pose. More reporting will be forthcoming, including books that purport to reveal how data aggregators are spying on hapless Instagram and TikTok users. Like most of the downstream consequences of the so called digital revolution, NSO Group’s troubles are the tip of an information iceberg drifting into equatorial waters.
Stephen E Arnold, December 14, 2021
Rising Cyber Crimes Mean High Prevention Costs
December 13, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic forced organizations to institute remote work. Many organizations were not prepared, because they lacked secure networks and other necessary security measures to prevent cyber crimes. It is not surprising when Read Write explains in “Lessons Learned From The Skyrocketing Cost Of Cyber Crime” are loss of revenue, obvious preventable issues, and that cyber security and cyber crimes are burgeoning industries.
The pandemic spurred a rise in cyber crime, especially in ransomware, phishing, malware, island hopping, and hyper-targeted nation state attacks. (Does spreading of misinformation count as a cyber crime?). Cloud computing company Iomart recorded that data breaches rose by 273% in the first quarter of 2020 compared to 2019. Cyber crime cost the US an estimated $3.5 billion and the UK $1.8 billion, but it could be more as many crimes are unnoticed.
The cost of cyber crimes are projected to rise exponentially and cause more economic damage than natural disasters. It is important that organizations take preventative measures:
“With all the realistic threats that lurk in the digital space, it’s imperative for companies to deploy best practices in cybersecurity to protect their data and other digital assets. Plus, companies need to do everything they can to avoid the burdensome financial costs associated with cybercrime. While we can’t always prevent cyber attacks, we can learn from them and apply tangible steps to protect ourselves and our businesses.”
Good cyber security practices include implementing and enforcing identification, robust encryption policies, strong data hygiene, patch management programs, using blockchain and crypto currency solutions, and use traditional measures like firewalls, antivirus software, and anti-spyware.
Whitney Grace, December 13, 2021
The Coveo IPO: Making Some Headway
December 9, 2021
A number of Canadian tech companies have recently gone public on the Toronto Stock Exchange only to be met with muted responses. One was enterprise search firm Coveo, which went public in November in order to position itself globally, attract talent, and fund future acquisitions. CEO Louis Têtu appears unconcerned about the apparent indifference to his and other companies’ fledgling stock, The Globe and Mail reports in its piece, “Coveo CEO Dismisses Soft Trading Start on TSX as Quebec Software Company Closes $215-Million IPO.” Writer Sean Silcoff tells us:
“Coveo received more than $1-billion in orders for its IPO… . The stock hit $18 on its first day of trading last Thursday, but has since retreated, briefly trading below the issue price Tuesday. That makes it the fourth new tech issue this autumn – following D2L Corp., Q4 Inc. and E Automotive Inc. – to trade below its issue price. Coveo stock closed Wednesday at $15.30, up 1.7 per cent. Mr. Têtu dismissed Coveo’s ho-hum start as a public company, noting the share price of New York Stock Exchange-listed rival Elastic NV had dropped by 15 per cent over the previous four sessions. ‘There is a set of market dynamics we don’t control; the tide raises and lowers all boats,’ he said. ‘I think the jury is going to be out until the first earnings call [as a public company] and the subsequent earnings call. I think anybody who understands the stock market and IPOs … wouldn’t draw conclusions’ from the stock’s early performance. Coveo became the 20th Canadian tech IPO on the TSX to raise $50-million or more since July, 2020. By contrast, there were 12 such IPOs in the 11 years ended December, 2019.”
I suppose that is a good point—progress is progress, even if it is not at light speed. The write-up [paywalled] includes a few more details about Coveo’s growth and profits. Since its founding in 2005, the company has acquired two AI-powered e-commerce firms: Tooso in 2019 and Qubit in 2021. It sounds like Coveo may have some more companies already in its sights.
The good news is that the stock on December 8, 2021, was trending up. Search and retrieval is a tough business. Just ask the former CEOs of Autonomy and Fast Search & Transfer or take a look at the dust up between Amazon and Elastic. Worth monitoring. Maybe take a stake?
Cynthia Murrell December 10, 2021
US Government Procurement: Diagram the Workflow: How Many Arrows Point Fingers?
December 8, 2021
I want to keep this short. For a number of years, I have pointed out that current Federal procurement procedures and the policies the steps are supposed to implement create some issues. I like to mention procurement time for advanced software. By the time the procurement goes through the RFQ, the RFP, the proposal evaluation, the selection, the little meeting at which losers express their concerns, and the award — the advanced technology is often old technology. Another issue is the importance of marketing hoo hah which often leads the Federal government to purchase products and services which are different from that which was described in the PowerPoint presentations and the proposals. There are other interesting characteristics of the process; for example, coffee chats with senators, nice lunches with important people who may pop up on a cable TV talking head program, or good old friendship from a college social group. Ah, yes. Procurement.
“US Government Agencies Bought Chinese Surveillance Tech Despite Federal Ban” is a collection of some procurement anecdotes. Interesting? Not particularly. Why? There are no consequences for buying products and services from vendors who should not be eligible for US government contracts. The article focuses on Chinese related missteps. The explanations are crafted to avoid getting anyone in legal hot water.
Net net: I worked in DC starting in the early 1970s. How much has changed in the last 50 years. Not much. China is nemesis but China was a bit of a nemesis 50 years ago. The FARs have been updated. Nevertheless, some interesting purchases have been made over the years. Where’s the Golden Fleece Award now? Are there some unwanted and unloved tanks parked somewhere? What about certain air superiority systems which experience more downtime than a second hand taxi purchased from a shady character in Mexico City. Yes, procurement and some proud moments. Why not fire up that TikTok and ignore the useful data hosed back to certain servers?
Stephen E Arnold, December 8, 2021
Amazon: The Online Bookstore Does FinTech
December 1, 2021
Several years ago, I did a series of reports about Amazon’s push into a data marketplace. That technology is chugging along, but it appeals to the back office crowd. “Goldman Sachs Unveils Amazon Backed Cloud Service for Wall Street Trading Firms” makes clear that the back office is an important part of the Bezos bulldozer’s post-Jeff itinerary. Instead of teaming with US government agencies, the online bookstore has connected with everyone’s favorite financial institution to create a fintech cloud.
The write up reports:
The bank is opening up access to its trove of market data and software tools to hedge funds and asset managers in an offering designed with Amazon’s cloud division.
Like other Amazon back office services, many Amazon watchers will yawn. The excite swirls around Black Friday deals and Amazon’s alleged manipulation of its product search results.
How long has the online bookstore been working with the estimable Wall Street eminence? The answer is more than a decade.
Worth watching because the back office in the world of finance is possibly more lucrative than selling Amazon Basics T shirts.
Stephen E Arnold, December xx, 2021
NFT: Explain This to Your Mom at Thanksgiving
November 22, 2021
I have no dog in this crypto fight. You can view an interview with one of the founders of SecureX on November 30, 2021, in a DarkCyber interview. I am not sure about some of the innovations swirling around the crypto thing.
I do want to direct your attention to The NFT Bay. This is a pirate NFT search system. Navigate to the url (verified at 632 am US Eastern on November 22, 2021, and run your queries. Here’s the url https://thenftbay.org.
The logo looks familiar. Perhaps you have seen it before? Once again, my blog post will remain at a high level.
You can sign up for a newsletter about The NFT Bay. The publication is produced by an entity named G. Huntley. Sock puppet, alias, I don’t know, and I am not willing to spend time poking around. That’s a job for an enthusiastic NFT fan perhaps?
Where does G. Huntley reside?
That question has an interesting answer. A van that is slowly working its way around Australia. You can check out the entity’s Web site at this link. Yep, vanlife meets NFTs and InfoSec.
Now about your explanation for Thanksgiving.
Stephen E Arnold, November 22, 2021
Expert Surprised That Health Club Billing Methods Are Used by SaaS and Cloud Companies
November 19, 2021
I enjoy write ups which reveal the obvious. Consider health clubs or gym memberships. One gym located in the whiskey and fried chicken capital of the flyover states is about 3,000 square feet. How many members does the facility have? The answer is 3,000. How many use the gym on a regular basis? About 100. How does the outfit make money? Billing the “members” who never use the equipment. Plus, the billings each month are facilitated by the smart software at Visa, MasterCard, and banks with auto-withdrawal capability. Is this a scam? Nope, it’s the business model of health clubs. Just sign up and never come. Works like a champ by the way.
“I Analyzed SaaS Billing Dark Patterns” and learned that the author was surprised, shocked, horrified, and troubled that cloud providers use the health club approach to revenue. The write up reveals:
SaaS providers are more than willing to use dark billing patterns to increase their growth metrics and revenue. They exploit positive user acquisition loops in recurring subscriptions to get money from users as surreptitiously as possible.
Yep, shocker.
I loved this rhetorical question? Why do SaaS providers deploy the dark patterns?
The answer is, “The method generates money.”
But, but, but…. That’s bad.
Well, it depends on what point of view one adopts, doesn’t it.
Hollowing out is dumbing down in my book. The surprise in the write up illustrates the failure of basic management oversight.
What’s this mean? Higher costs, people who cannot figure out why something doesn’t work, and a lack of awareness about the obvious. Yep, the thumbtyper world is a fascinating construct.
Stephen E Arnold, November 19, 2021
Enterprise Search: What Did Shakespeare Allegedly Write?
November 15, 2021
The statement, according to my ratty copy of Shakespeare’s plays edited by one of the professors who tried to get me out of the university’s computer “room” in 1964, presents the Bard’s original, super authentic words this way:
The play is Hamlet. The queen, looking queenly, says to the fellow Thespian: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
Ironic? You decide. I just wanted to regurgitate what the professor wanted. Irony played no part in getting and A and getting back to the IBM mainframe and the beloved punch card machine.
I thought about “protesting too much” after I read “Making a Business Case for Enterprise Search.”
I noted this statement:
In effect you have to develop a Fourth Dimension costing model to account for the full range of potential costs.
Okay, the 4th dimension. Experts (real and self anointed) have been yammering about enterprise search for decades.
Why does an organization snap at the marketing line deployed by vendors of search and retrieval technology? The answer is obvious, at least to me. Someone believes that finding information is needed for some organizational instrumentality. Examples include finding an email so it can be deleted before litigation begins. Another is to locate the PowerPoint which contains the price the now terminated sales professional presented to close a very big contract. How about pinpoint who in the organization had access to the chemical composition of a new anti viral? Another? A shipment went walkabout. Some person making minimum wage has to locate products to be able to send out another shipment.
The laughable part of “enterprise search” is that there is no single system, including the craziness pitched by Amazon, Microsoft, Google, start ups with AI centric systems, or small outfits which have been making minimal revenue headway for a very long time from a small city in Austria or a suburb of the delightful metropolis of Moscow.
The cost of failing to find information cannot be reduced to the made up data about how long a person spends hunting for information. I believe a mid tier consulting outfit and a librarian cooked up this info-confection. Nor is any accountant going to be able to back out the “cost” of search in a cloud database service provided by one of the regulators’ favorite monopolies. No system manager I know keeps track of what time and effort goes into making it possible for a 23 year old art history major locate the specific technical innovation in an autonomous drone. Information of this type requires features not included in Everything, X1, Solr, or the exciting Amazon knock off of Elastic’s follow on to Compass.
Enterprise information retrieval has been a thing for about 50 years. Where has the industry gone? Well, one search executive did a year in prison. Another is fighting extradition for financial fancy dancing. Dozens have just failed. Remember Groxis? And many others have gone to the search-doesn’t-work section of the dead software cemetery.
I find it interesting that people have to explain search in the midst of smart software, blockchain, and a shift to containerized development.
Oh, well. There’s the Sinequa calculator thing.
Stephen E Arnold, November 15, 2021
Bitcoin: Now a Teenager. We Know What Is Ahead?
November 5, 2021
Bitcoin is 13 years old. Zits, staying out late, pushing boundaries, and trying out controlled substances. Did I miss anything.
Oh, yes, these thoughts were sparked by “Bitcoin White Paper turns 13 Years Old: The Journey So Far.” This nine page document by the mysterious Nakamoto entity has set off a fuse in the financial industry.
The write up provides a walk down memory lane. The essay states:
While it isn’t clear whether more countries will adopt BTC as legal tender in the future, or whether interest for Bitcoin ETFs will wane, it appears clear that Bitcoin is here to stay and serve as both a store of value and medium of exchange, and that’s only 13 years after the idea was first introduced. Imagine what will happen in the next 13 years.
Stock up on NFTs and crypto. Keep your eye on tax regulations too.
Stephen E Arnold, November 5, 2021
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