Hulbee Is In the Enterprise Search Derby
June 18, 2020
Enterprise search should be an easy out-of-the-box, deployable solution, but more often it is a confusing mess. Companies like Hulbee Enterprise Search develop search programs that delete the guesswork and immediately function:
“Hulbee Enterprise Search not only provides a simple search software, but also consolidates our experience and knowledge, which has been accumulated for over 17 years and combines intelligent search, format diversity, different corporate infrastructures, security, etc. in areas such as document management.
Our goal is to create a timely software technology for you that meets all security requirements. We would be very pleased if you test our software. Request a Proof of Concept.
Our software complements existing software products from other manufacturers such as SharePoint, Exchange, DMS etc. through the innovation of the search. It is thus not a competition, but an addition to and completion of the optimal search in the company.”
The purpose of enterprise search is to quickly locate information, so it can be employed by a business. Information includes structured and unstructured data, so enterprise search needs to be robust and smart enough to filter relevant results. Search must also be compliant with security measures, especially as more businesses host their data on clouds.
Enterprise search solutions like Hulbee must be flexible enough to adjust to changing security measures, but also continue to offer the same and better features for search.
Customization is key to being a contender in the marker for enterprise search.
Whitney Grace, June 18, 2020
Amazon: Can Money Buy Smooth Sailing?
June 15, 2020
What is the obvious solution when you must not leave home but there are things to purchase? Amazon.com, of course. And where do businesses turn when they must suddenly facilitate remote workers? For many, the solution is Amazon’s AWS. During this pandemic the tech giant has grown even larger, but with this success comes a lot of criticism. Yahoo News tells us, “Amazon Hit from All Sides as Crisis Highlights Growing Power.” One prominent example—New York state Attorney General Letitia James and others were disgusted Amazon fired a worker who had led a protest over covid-19-related safety concerns. The company says the employee was actually fired for refusing to quarantine after testing positive for the disease. Hmm.
AFP reporter Julie Jammot writes:
“As Amazon becomes an increasingly important lifeline in the pandemic crisis, it is being hit with a wave of criticism from activists, politicians and others who question the tech giant’s growing influence. Amazon has become the most scrutinized company during the health emergency. It has boosted its global workforce to nearly one million and dealt with protests over warehouse safety and reported deaths of several employees. But Amazon has also pledged to spend at least $4 billion in the current quarter — its entire expected operating profit — on coronavirus mitigation efforts, including relief contributions and funding research. Amazon’s AWS cloud computing unit, which powers big portions of the internet, is also a key element during the crisis with more people and companies working online. Amazon’s market value has hovered near record levels around $1.2 trillion dollars as it reported rising revenues and lower profits in the past quarter.”
The company’s size alone, say activists, is reason enough for scrutiny. Some are concerned about the way Amazon treats workers, others balk at the financial gain CEO Jeff Bezos has personally enjoyed during this time. Though the company has increased pay above minimum wage during the crisis, to $15 an hour, critics say it could afford to pay much more. There is also concern that, with its popular streaming service on top of everything else, the company just wields too much influence in people’s daily lives.
Amazon seems to have sailed through the biological disturbance. Now comes the legal thunderstorms. Smooth cruising ahead? Unlikely.
Cynthia Murrell, June 15, 2020
Criminals Want Cash? An Astounding Insight for Whom Exactly?
June 15, 2020
Why is it so hard for some people to understand a concept? Cyber criminals break laws not because it is fun (some might get a kick out of it), but to steal money. The old adage “money makes the world go around” is the goal for cyber criminals, because with money they can live their desired lifestyle. Security Brief delves into a report about cyber criminal activities in: “Cybercriminals After Money More Than Anything Else-Verizon Report.”
Security Brief read the Verizon Business 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report, where there 32,000 breaches were analyzed. Of that 3950 were from eighty-one countries and 86% of the breaches were related money. When broken down by continents, 91% were in North America, 70% in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, and 63% in Asia.
Most financially related organizations are taking precautions to protect their clients and fewer than one in twenty breaches exploit vulnerabilities. Other types of crumbier crime include:
“Other common cyber attacks include web application attacks, as threat actors go after cloud-based data. According to the report, more than 20% of attacks were against web application and used stolen credentials in some way. The report notes that the trend is worrying as more organizations shift business-critical workloads to the cloud.
Credential theft, phishing, business email compromise and other social engineering attacks caused more than 67% of breaches. Specifically, 37% of credential theft breaches used stolen or weak credentials, 25% involved phishing, and 22% involved human error.
Amongst malware incidents, ransomware was involved in 27% of cases, and 18% of organizations blocked at least one piece of ransomware in the last year.”
The article recommends businesses and users education themselves about common cyber crime attacks to prevent breaches. It is also a good idea to have a decent cyber security system that is regularly updated. Most breaches in North America involved stolen credentials, phishing/pretexting.
Money motivates cyber criminals? Why does that even need to be stated?
Whitney Grace, June 15, 2020
Free Surveillance: A Marketing Thing
June 14, 2020
There is one key reason many companies once hesitated to let workers telecommute, especially firms that handle sensitive information: security. However, the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing companies to find a way. Mondo Visione reports on one possible solution for financial firms in the brief write-up, “SteelEye Offers Free Communications Surveillance to Support Remote Working—90-Day Offer Aims to Assist Compliance Teams as Employees Work from Multiple Sites.” We learn:
“SteelEye, the compliance technology and data analytics firm, today announced that it is offering financial firms the opportunity to use its Communications Surveillance service for free for up to 90 days as the market adapts to a new style of working. As firms reopen their offices, reduced density rules are likely to prevail for some time, meaning a workforce that is spread between the office and home. Monitoring communications by staff working in multiple locations will require changes in compliance processes, which may prove challenging if access to on-premise technology is needed. To help compliance teams adapt to more flexible working conditions, SteelEye’s Communications Surveillance service is being offered for up to 90, days and 50 monitored users, at no charge and with no obligation for future use. It includes monitoring MS Exchange email and Bloomberg chat, and can be seamlessly integrated to capture communications from staff working remotely.”
SteelEye’s modular, cloud-based Communications Surveillance system can be deployed quickly, the company’s CEO promises, and clients can be on boarded within 24 hours. Risk detection, oversight, and compliance are the platform’s priorities. Founded in 2017, SteelEye is based in London.
Cynthia Murrell, June 14, 2020
After Dog Matching, Watson Pivots to Technology Ops
June 13, 2020
Can an older dog learn new tricks after a visit to a Mexican avocado festival?
It has been a while since Watson debuted, so it is not surprising the AI supercomputer would need to be retrained in IT. It has a held a variety of other jobs from chef to medical professional, so going back to its roots will do wonders for Watson’s career. ARN explains that, “IBM Retains Watson AI For IT Operations?”
Watson’s retraining comes from IBM’s CEO Arvind Krishna, who wants to use the AI supercomputer to become a tool diagnosing and solving enterprise IT problems. Krishna particularly wants to focus on the new AIOps market that applies AI to IT operations. He also wants to focus on cloud edge computing and the growing importance of the 5G mobile infrastructure. The new Watson AIOps will:
“Watson AIOps, IBM’s name for the new iteration of Watson, is built on the latest release of Red Hat OpenShift, a container orchestration platform, so it can run across hybrid cloud environments.
It’s designed to evaluate the swarms of alerts generated by IT monitoring tools when an incident occurs, in order to identify and help fix the root cause of the problem…
IBM already has an AI-based IT operations management tool, Netcool Operations Insight, that automatically groups related events and provides context to help solve problems.”
IBM is not the only AIOps developer in the market, but despite the hefty competition Krishna believes Watson and his company offer tools they cannot find anywhere else.
With 5G and cloud edge computing, IBM could have a one up on a market still in development.
Whitney Grace, June 13, 2020
Microsoft: Some Employees Express Discontent
June 12, 2020
Microsoft — yep, the outfit which cannot update its Windows 10 operating system without killing some computers — has another hillock obscuring its vision of cloud dominance. The obstruction is not Redmond’s other friendly jungle environment Amazon.
The mound of woe may be composed of employees objecting to whom and which entities the masters of JEDI sell the ever-reliable and entertaining digital products and services. Taking a less than 365 view, “Microsoft Employees Urge Nadella to Cancel Contracts with Police” reports:
Several Microsoft employees have written a letter to CEO Satya Nadella, urging the company to cancel contracts with the Seattle Police Department (SPD) and other law enforcement agencies in the wake of police brutality episodes during the Black Lives Matter protests. The internal email with the subject line “Our neighborhood has been turned into a warzone” seen by the portal OneZero, nearly 250 Microsoft employees have asked the tech giant to formally support the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and calls for the resignation of the Seattle mayor.
Interesting. Similar employee “suggestions” have been respectfully and not-so-respectfully submitted to other high-technology outfits.
The basic idea is that employees either perceive the right to influence what the company sells and to whom and which entities.
DarkCyber wants to note:
- Employees may have a hand in creating software like Windows 10 which, when updated, fails. It seems reasonable that [a] the employees cannot do work that “works” or managers cannot manage so that products and services “work”.
- A company with internal difficulties is likely to find itself vulnerable to sabotage or work slowdowns on certain projects which staff determine do not deserve full commitment. If this assertion is accurate, some entities may lose confidence in the Redmond outfit, assuming that confidence has not begun to erode due to other factors. (Possibly the Zune effect?)
- An operating environment which increases uncertainty can undermine stakeholder confidence. The appearance of “management effectiveness” is necessary to prevent feedback which escalates uncertainty. Such uncertainty can influence the behaviors of partners, shareholders, prospects, existing customers, and employees. (Yikes, employees.)
Net net: A small perturbation may presage a larger seismic event. To be frank, it is more difficult to envision worse news that Forbes’ Magazine publishing “Microsoft Confirms New Windows 10 Upgrade Warnings.” Imagine a news service for business people warning that a forced upgrade will kill devices and services like Internet connectivity.
Didn’t Microsoft roll out Bob (a graphical interface for Windows) and the big, bright, and failed Windows Phone?
Yeah. Management, governance, confidence — a trifecta.
Stephen E Arnold, June 12, 2020
Poking Artificial Intelligence Methods Reveals Clunky Methods
June 11, 2020
DarkCyber loves the word “clunky.” Herewith, the research team declares that flawed AI methods like those used for the Eurovision AI song writing contest are clunky. (You can get more information about the impression machine generated music made on two professional musicians at this link. Yeah, that’s a human puppeteer pulling the strings.)
The article with this information has a juicy, SEO title too:
“AI Has a Big Data Problem. Here’s How to Fix It. Supervised algorithms require lots of data, and often result in shaky predictions. Is it time for the next stage of AI?”
The main point of the write up seems to be:
Speaking at the CogX 2020 conference, British mathematician David Barber said: “The deployment of AI systems is currently clunky. Typically, you go out there, collect your data set, label it, train the system and then deploy it. And that’s it – you don’t revisit the deployed system. But that’s not good if the environment is changing.”
Yikes. Change derails smart software. Is that why DeepMind is good at games which are closed systems following specific rules?
The expert added:
“The AI won’t tell you when it actually isn’t confident about the accuracy of its prediction and needs a human to come in,” said Barber. “There are many uncertainties in these systems. So it is important that the AI can alert the human when it is not confident about its decision.”
Interesting. Two musicians figures out the problem listening to one song. Experts have required years to face up to an underlying problem with human intelligence: Ability to react to change.
Who was that old philosopher who said?
Time changes the nature of the whole world;
Everything passes from one state to another
And nothing stays like itself.
We could ask IBM Watson? Oh, right. Wait. IBM’s cloud fell over. Just like some other over-hyped systems and methods perhaps? No, I won’t mention that AI’s contributions to resolving the pandemic have been less than revolutionary.
Stephen E Arnold, June 11, 2020
Amazon: Public Sector Services Attract Attention
June 11, 2020
DarkCyber is not 100 percent certain that the information in “Amazon Urged by Petition to Break Ties with Police.” Petitions can be tricky information gathering mechanisms. With that in mind, consider this statement:
A coalition of racial justice groups on Tuesday launched an online petition calling for Amazon to cut all ties with police and US immigration officials. The petition takes aim at Amazon Web Services cloud computing unit’s “Rekognition” facial recognition technology and Ring surveillance cameras used for home security.
The goal is:
The groups want Amazon to sever ties with police departments and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
How will Amazon respond? The company’s policeware business is not well understood, and it could be poised to become a more significant factor in Amazon’s business strategy. I will be delivering a talk about Amazon’s services and activities for law enforcement at the July 2020 US National Cyber Crime Conference. Interest in the subject is increasing, just slowly.
Stephen E Arnold, June 11, 2020
Technology TapsBrakes on Learning? Well, Well, Well
June 8, 2020
DarkCyber is often amused when friends and acquaintances explain that tablets, personal computers, and mobile phones make their children more intelligent. Living in a cloud of unknowing is a delightful mental condition. One can only imagine the disdain with which the information in “Harder to Learn about Science with Modern Technology – Astronomer Royal” will be greeted.
The person dubbed the Big Dog of Astronomy in the UK has some definite ideas; to wit:
“I think paradoxically our high-tech environments may actually be an impediment to sustaining useful enthusiasm in science,” Lord Rees said….
The gadgets that now pervade our lives, smartphones and such like, are baffling black boxes and pure magic to most people. “If you take them apart you find few clues to intricate miniaturize mechanisms and you certainly can’t put them together again. “So, the extreme sophistication of modern technology, wonderful though those benefits are, is ironically an impediment to engaging young people in the basics, with learning how things work.”
I think the summary is that dumbing down goes up as high-technology squeezes learning into an easily controlled digital experience.
This is a positive for some companies. Are you able to identify two or three?
Stephen E Arnold, June 8, 2020
Many Internets: Fragmentation Gains Momentum
June 8, 2020
The idea of one big digital ocean appealed to some. Now doubters are doing more than grousing at the bowling alley. GAIA-X which surfaced a couple of years ago is chugging along. Slow but steady is the catchphrase. “Legal Entity for Gaia-X Established, European Cloud Platform Now Official” explains:
The first steps to the creation of the European cloud computing platform Gaia-X have been taken, with the creation of a legal entity in Belgium. Set up to address Europe’s dependence on American or Chinese cloud providers, 22 French and German companies, with the backing of several countries, have agreed to launch the joint venture.
The US and some of its big cloudy monopolistic-oriented companies are not on the invitation list. The write up includes diplomatic-type statements. The intent is clear: Independence from US vendors and control of the cloud computing environment in Europe.
Now how does sending email work again? Eurocrats are not into the Wild West approach practiced out West it seems. The fancy talk may mean, “Tie that bronco up out back and wait until GAIA-X lets los americanos in the digital café.”
Stephen E Arnold, June 8, 2020
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