Shodan and the Scary Side of Search
September 25, 2013
Search can be a lot of things, but “terrifying”? Yes, I’m afraid so. Forbes describes a thoroughly modern, search-related threat in, “The Terrifying Search Engine that Finds Internet-Connected Cameras, Traffic Lights, Medical Devices, Baby Monitors, and Power Plants.”
You may have heard the story about the hacked baby monitor, through which one truly deplorable individual viewed and harassed a sleeping two-year-old who was tucked into her own bed. In this piece, journalist Kashmir Hill examines the search engine Shodan, which she says probably facilitated that digital predator. Such a trespass is just the tip of the chill-inducing iceberg. She writes:
“Shodan crawls the Internet looking for devices, many of which are programmed to answer. It has found cars, fetal heart monitors, office building heating-control systems, water treatment facilities, power plant controls, traffic lights and glucose meters. A search for the type of baby monitor used by the Gilberts reveals that more than 40,000 other people are using the IP cam–and may be sitting ducks for creepy hackers. . . .
“Shodan’s been used to find webcams with security so low that you only needed to type an IP address into your browser to peer into people’s homes, security offices, hospital operating rooms, child care centers and drug dealer operations. Dan Tentler, a security researcher who has consulted for Twitter, built a program called Eagleeye that finds webcams via Shodan, accesses them and takes screenshots. He has documented almost a million exposed webcams.”
Scary stuff, but that is not all. The article notes that many modern buildings that house everything from apartments to businesses to government facilities have security, lighting, and HVAC systems connected to the Internet, where they could be hijacked. Even entire power grids could be usurped. The unnerving possibilities seem endless.
Like many scary things, Shodan can also be used for good. Folks working in security, academia, law enforcement, and white-hat hacking have used the tool to find susceptible devices and see that they are secured. It is also at least a bit comforting that the FTC is aware of Shodan’s capabilities and the vulnerabilities it reveals. The takeaway for consumers, of course, is to pay close attention to locking down devices from our end, with things like obscure user names (not “admin”!) and hard-to-guess passwords. Better yet, at least for now, we may wish to tune out the growing siren song that promises convenience through universal connectivity. The cost could be too high until security is significantly improved.
The programmer that developed and now runs the search engine, John Matherly, originally envisioned it being used by corporations for, let’s call it, competitor research. The sharp turn into creepy territory, though, does not seem to bother him. In fact, he seems to see this development as a good thing, shining light on inadequate security practices at companies that sell internet-connected devices. See the article for more about the man behind Shodan and the hornets’ nest that he has soundly thwacked.
Cynthia Murrell, September 25, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
New Startup Transforms the Treatment of Site Search
September 25, 2013
The recent AllThingsD article “Swiftype Raises $1.7M for Smarter Site Search” highlights a new startup that could completely transform the way that companies use SEO. According to the article, Swiftype, a company that focuses solely on site search, updates and re-ranks content based on factors like popularity, number of comments and partner relationships. It even allows users to change the order with a drag and drop feature.
Here is how it works:
“Customers pay $17 per month or more than $300 per month based on how big and complex they are. They also get access to search analytics — so, for example, customer DramaFever, which streams Korean TV and movies, decides what new content to buy, in part by ranking the most popular unsatisfied search queries.”
I don’t know about you, but I think this is incredibly interesting. Here at Beyond Search, we’re excited to see some funding go towards web site search.
Jasmine Ashton, September 25, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Artificial Intelligence: Does Search Come Up Short?
September 21, 2013
In my view, artificial intelligence continues to capture attention. In actual use—particularly in search and content processing—AI evokes from me, “Aiiiiiiii.”
I read “The Unexpected Places Where Artificial Intelligence Will Emerge.” For investors who have pumped cash into various inventions that understand meaning, the article may surprise them. The future of AI is war, Google, Netflix, Amazon, spam, surveillance, robot space explorers, and financial trading.
The only challenge for AI is its lack of consistency. Smart systems work in certain circumstances and fail miserably in others. In my ISS lectures next week, I profile a number of systems which are alleged to be incredibly smart. The reality is that the systems are often rigged to generate expected outputs. The problem of “you don’t know what you don’t know” plagues the developers of these gee-whiz systems.
Will artificial intelligence improve search? Well, AI makes search easier for those who are happy to accept system outputs. For those who need to dig deeper, AI systems often produce results which do little to provide fine-grained detail or make it easy to identify suspect results.
For a good example of AI in action, look at Google search results when you are logged in. Examine Amazon recommendations closely. Better yet, watch the TV shows and films recommended for you by Netflix.
Stephen E Arnold, September 21, 2013
LucidWorks Redesign Reflects Internal and External Success
September 18, 2013
LucidWorks has long been a leader in open source value-added enterprise solutions. One reason for their continued success is the ability to remain agile, and adjust to a changing market. LucidWorks is at it again with their latest redesign. At first glance, it is very noticeable from the outside – the LucidWorks Web site.
The design uses a slide show motif and a variation of the “card” approach to information presentation. Tasty stuff. See www.lucidworks.com
The new site looks great. Scrolling subject headings like “Big Data,” “eCommerce,” and “Knowledge Management” alert the user to the major areas where LucidWorks can make a big impact in the enterprise. Major business like Zappos and Sears are highlighted as Solr powered operations, the same open-source foundation that gives LucidWorks its abilities. User experience is front and center for the new Web layout.
However, the redesign is not just skin deep. LucidWorks Search 2.6 is the latest upgrade on the industry-standard product. The solution is built on Lucene/Solr 4.4 with REST APIs for schema definition and LucidWorks Flare to bring analytics to search results. And while LucidWorks Search and LucidWorks Big Data have been the bread and butter of the company for years, the LucidWorks Marketplace expands download ability into an app marketplace. Not only are partner products that run on Solr also available, but key components of the LucidWorks Search architecture are broken down into individualized downloads, allowing customers to obtain the specific components necessary for their customized architecture.
LucidWorks stays successful the company has been able to adapt to a changing market and giving customers what they need in a changing marketplace and information environment. The latest update by LucidWorks is just a reflection of management competence.
Emily Rae Aldridge, September 19, 2013
First, Yahoo, Now Microsoft Bing: The Logo Card
September 17, 2013
I just read “Bing Gets a New Logo and Modern Design to Take on Google.” What I find fascinating is that redesign seems to be the go-to method for making it clear that a company is really serious about revenue and value for stakeholders.
The article states:
A year in the making, Bing is dropping its curly blue logo for a modern design that closely matches the rest of Microsoft’s recently redesigned product branding.
I then learned that the color is exactly the same as the color used in “Microsoft’s corporate flag logo.”
Almost as important as color is the change in mobile search. I learned:
One of the big new changes is “Page Zero,” a method to quickly provide an answer or information before a full results page. Page Zero pops up as you type in the search bar on Bing, and if you’re searching for two similarly named people then it allows you to identify the correct subject of your search before the results are listed. For certain queries you might even get news, images, or video links, and common actions like check-in will be displayed on airline queries.
In my September/October column for Information Today (one of the for-fee write ups I still do), I point out that searching for news is getting more difficult, not easier. The flashy interfaces make it difficult to:
- Determine the date, time, and bibliographic details of some “hits”
- Spot differences in similar stories because modern design favors cards, tiles, and sizzle over a meaty results list
- Figure out why a particular “hit” appears. Results pop up which may be ads, boosted stories, or plain old false drops.
There are some other gotchas in news services as well. I am covering the problem of aliases, filtered content, and shallow back files in my upcoming ISS lecture in Washington, DC, on the 24th of September.
Without a differentiated system, I assume real journalists and many users will embrace a logo redesign. It is supposed to be working for Yahoo. Google, on the other hand, seems to be chugging along with its ad-based business model and announcing that it will bring sci-fi real time translation to the world.
One common thread unites these quite different companies: Body slam PR.
What happened to relevance?
Stephen E Arnold, September 17, 2013
Bing Offers Users a New Product Search
September 17, 2013
Microsoft’s version of search tries to remain competitive with Google, but lately it has been in the shadows compared to the new Google Glass and practically everything else the search giant does. Bing, however, had made the news again according to Search Engine Watch with the headline: “New Bing Product Search Launches.” The Bing team has decided to integrate shopping results into regular search results so users can see product features, specifications, reviews, related products, and make some more dough from those who pay to have their Web sites driven to the top.
Bing has also change the dashboard to feature three columns to display the shopping results:
· “The larger column will contain the main search results with the familiar blue links.
· The second column contains the Snapshot information complete with image, overview information, reviews related searches and paid ads.
· The third column is the Bing Social Sidebar, when users are signed in. The Social Sidebar adds information from Facebook, Klout and other social networks to help searchers make decisions based on friend or industry-leader recommendations.”
Bing denies that its new search is not pay-to-play and the results will not be skewed in favor of one Web site over another. Do we believe it? Who knows what goes on behind company doors? Paid ads will still appear in new shopping results and there is a new product ad option called Rich Captions for advertisers to add a meta description into search results. And there is the new way to make money. The new product feature has not launched yet, Bing is still tweaking the bugs.
Whitney Grace, September 17, 2013
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Trendy Publication Criticizes Redundant Programs
September 16, 2013
I don’t do much work in any government these days. Too old, I suppose. I also don’t have any interaction with trendy blogs and with-it thinkers. I have a a couple of friends who are about 70, and we talk about topics other than technology.
I did read “US Government Blew $321 Million on Redundant IT Programs.” The main point is that out of $82 billion, the news service pointed out that $321 is duplicative expense. I am not too good at math, but I think that $321 million represents less than one percent of the alleged $82 billion. My math skills are not what they used to be, but the percent looks somewhere around 0.00391463414. In short, trivial, a rounding error maybe?
Based on my own experience accrued since I joined Halliburton NUS in 1972 working in the Washington, DC vineyards, my hunch is that the $321 million number is incorrect. If the number were correct, the US government and its elected overseers are doing an outstanding job. In fact, the sole source for the report is the US government itself which is giving itself a GSA style iPad award.
My question, “Is the General Accountability Office study accurate?” I think digging into the US government’s methodology, the time period of the study, and the verification / validation process of the methods used are important. For example, how did the GAO reconcile the different terminology used for information technology acquisitions?
As it stands, the report from GAO and the article makes it clear that the government is doing a better job of managing than I thought possible. In fact, if the GAO study is accurate, the US government has improved its management of procurement in the last decade. I find this management excellent big news. Harvard Business Review will be panting for an analysis of this achievement.
I don’t pant. I just sigh.
Most Fortune 1000 firms have five or more enterprise search systems. None of these work particularly well. Now that’s redundancy.
Stephen E Arnold, September 16, 2013
The Rivals Face Off In The Search Ring
September 16, 2013
Here we go again with Facebook and Google. The two big IT rivals have been vying for control of the Internet for years and Yahoo Small Business Advisor informs us that another face off is coming in the article, “Graph Search Vs. Google.” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has already changed the way people communicate, but now he wants to change how people search. Instead of relying on basic content results, like Google, Zuckerberg wants Facebook’s Graph Search to return results based on its users friends and their likes. Google CEO Larry Page does not think his company and Facebook need to be rivals, but user speculation cannot help but compare the two and the article lists some of the problems Graph Search face.
There are “dirty likes,” which are likes for a business not based on it genuinely being liked but because of incentives it gives users. Also Graph Search will not be helpful to users who have too little or too many friends, because the results could be too big or too broad. The usual privacy concerns are noted and mobile search still has its limitations.
Here is another big factor that users will like:
“And here’s the thing: Google’s social network does not use ads, letting users see only what they want to see. Since G+ users don’t face the same pressure that leads to “dirty likes,” their circles are more likely to reflect their own personal interests. So even though Facebook has a much larger user base than Google+, the latter gives users a more personal experience. Plus, the fact that a person can access Gmail, Drive, and YouTube, all on the same website, while also finding personalized search results thanks to G+, is nothing to sneeze at, either.”
I am not looking forward to the news feed for the next few months as Graph Search comes out of its infancy. The true comparisons can only begin at that time, but then so will the rants and raves.
Whitney Grace, September 16, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
SharePoint Search: An Open Source Widget
September 15, 2013
If you have SharePoint responsibilities, you know how fabulous Microsoft’s Swiss Army knife solution is. Let me explain. The “fabulousness” applies to consultants, integrators, and “experts” who can make the rusty blade cut better than it does once the system is installed.
I learned about “SharePoint 2013 Search Query Tool” from one of the ArnoldIT SharePoint experts. You can download tool to test out and debug search queries against the SharePoint 2013 REST API. The tool does not help improve either the system or the user queries, but I find this software interesting for three reasons:
After years of Microsoft innovation, there are still issues with getting relevant results. Ergo the open source tool.
SharePoint does not provide a native administrative function to perform this type of testing.
Open source may be edging toward SharePoint. If the baby steps mature, will an open source snap in to replace the wild and crazy Fast Search & Transfer technology pop into being?
Stephen E Arnold, one of the world’s leading experts in information retrieval said:
Fast Search is on a technical par with SharePoint. The idea that two flawed systems can cope with changing user needs, Big Data, and unexpected system interactions is making SharePoint software which boosts costs. Change may be forced on Microsoft and without warning.
Worth thinking about and checking out the free widget.
Stuart Schram
Microsoft Sharepoint Found Strong, But Lacking in Key Functions
September 15, 2013
In the article titled Is Semantic Search the Solution to Information Retrieval in Sharepoint? on CMS Wire, a survey taken by a UK firm is under discussion. The survey reveals that up to half of Sharepoint users have trouble with finding internal information or getting the full support for the business in which Sharepoint is being deployed. The article does stress that the survey does not specifically ask what version of Sharepoint the respondents use. The article explains,
“The research points out that SharePoint is primarily an enterprise collaboration platform and not a search tool… It also shows that many information professionals believe they are getting less out of SharePoint enterprise search functions than their peers. Even worse, a quarter of SharePoint users believe that the SharePoint search function is offering them access to less than half the information contained in the enterprise. It also shows that most users think that information workers in other enterprises have better search capabilities.”
With nearly 100 million users globally, and 78% of Fortune 500 companies using Sharepoint, the research suggests that the search function was the most problematic.
Chelsea Kerwin, September 15, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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