Monday, September 23, 2013

BYOD Injuries

This BYOD installment brought to you by, Bring Your Own Doctor

Is your mobile device so attractive that you can't keep your eyes off it?  Is every phone call so life changing that you are unaware of your surroundings?  Do you constantly have to update social media as if you were on a reality series?  Do you feel useless unless you are tapping away on a touch screen?  Have you come close to being in a bad accident due to being in a world of your own?  If you answered 'yes,' then you might be a perfect candidate for the hot new mobile companion, Bring Your Own Doctor!!

Pedestrian injuries related to cell phone use are on the rise.  Have you ever been so involved with your mobile device that you've bumped into, tripped over, fallen off, fallen in or hit by something because you were not paying attention to where you were going?  You are not alone.  A recent study shows that pedestrian cell phone-related injuries have more than doubled since 2005.  Typically we hear of the horrors of using your mobile device while driving; the risk of personal devices on corporate networks; the dangers of downloading malicious apps and now distracted walking is becoming yet another hazard of this mobile craze.

park phones They looked at seven years of emergency room data (2004-2010) from 100 hospitals around the country which showed that bodily injuries (in public places, not at home) related to cell phones ranged from falling off walkways or bridges to walking in front of moving traffic.  In 2010 the study found that 1,500 pedestrians were treated in emergency rooms for cell-phone related incidents, as opposed to 559 in 2004. The number has risen every year and could easily double again for the 2010-2015 time frame.  The actual injuries are probably higher since many people are hurt and do not visit the ER.  The under 30 crowd, specially those between the ages of 16 and 25, are the most at risk. 

Are you surprised?  I'm not.  Everywhere you go, people have their devices out and head's down.  People will go to the park, only to sit on the bench with their phones out.  You can find plenty of 'falling into the mall fountain' YouTube videos due to people in a stare down contest with their phone.  For pedestrians, talking on the phone accounted for about 69% of injuries, verses texting, which accounted for about 9%.  This is not because texting is necessarily safer than talking and walking.  Instead, it is probably because less people actually text while walking than talk while on foot.  A couple of the injuries reported included a 14-year-old boy walking down a road while talking on a cell phone fell 6 to 8 feet off a bridge into a rock-strewn ditch, suffering chest and shoulder injuries.  A 23-year-old man was struck by a car while walking on the middle line of a road and talking on a cell phone, injuring his hip.  I'm sure you have your own story of some trip, slip or busted lip due to distracted mobile use. 

We usually hear about the digital dangers of mobile use along with the dreaded distracted driver and now there's proof that putting one foot in front of the other - the crowning achievement of any infant - has too, succumbed to technology. 

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Thursday, September 19, 2013

BIG-IP Edge Client v1.0.6 for iOS 7

With all your other iOS 7 updates (if you've made the plunge), if you are running the BIG-IP Edge Client on your iPhone, iPod or iPad, you may have gotten an AppStore alert for an update.  If not, I just wanted to let you know that version 1.0.6 of the iOS Edge Client is available at the AppStore with iOS 7 support. 

Customers who use UDID in their access policies should have users update to this version.

The BIG-IP Edge Client application from F5 Networks secures and accelerates mobile device access to enterprise networks and applications using SSL VPN and optimization technologies. Access is provided as part of an enterprise deployment of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager, Edge Gateway, or FirePass SSL-VPN solutions.  BIG-IP Edge Client for iOS Features:

    • Provides accelerated mobile access when used with F5 BIG-IP Edge Gateway.
    • Automatically roams between networks to stay connected on the go.
    • Full Layer 3 network access to all your enterprise applications and files.

iPhone Screenshot 1iPhone Screenshot 2

 

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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

The Malware Mess

A couple weeks ago McAfee Labs released the McAfee Threats Report: Second Quarter 2013, which found that Android-based malware marked a 35% growth rate not seen since early 2012.  They also found twice as many new ransomware offerings in Q2 as in Q1, bringing the 2013 ransomware count higher than the total found in all previous periods combined.  Everything was in play - SMS stealing bank malware, infected legitimate apps, malicious apps in sheep's clothing, along with fake dating and entertainments apps.  A lot of areas that we spend a good portion of our mobile time.

In addition to mobile threats, Q2 also saw a 16% uptick in suspicious URLs and a 50% increase in digitally-signed malware samples.  Attackers are showing that they can adapt to the criminal opportunities and continue to infiltrate the ever changing infrastructure.  Ransomware, a very popular and profitable scheme, where pop-ups or other messages threaten the user unless they pay a ransom, doubled from Q1 to Q2.  Hey, if it works, might as well.  Malware signed with legitimate certificates increased 50% to 1.2 million samples.  You think you're getting the safe code due to the certificate's authentication but that cozy blanket gets cold quick.  Malware also continues to find life with infected URLs according to McAfee.  The total number of suspect URLs found reached 74.7 million or a 16% increase over Q1.  The Indexed Web is at least 3.82 billion pages so around 2% of the web but still.  I might suggest, 'watch what you type, don't click suspicious links, avoid porn sites,' and other rather obvious actions but these days it could be delivered through an ad loading on a popular news site.  Almost no one is immune.  SPAM continues to hog email servers accounting for almost 70% of all global email volume.  That's nuts.  Think about it all the legitimate email we send over a month and it only accounts for 30% of all email?!?  What a waste of resources.  Other highlights included cyber espionage campaigns and attacks on digital currency.

These threats come at a time where there seems to be a disconnect between executives and their technical teams. 

The Ponemon Institute's most recent research shows that when it comes to locking down enterprise infrastructure, the application layer is responsible for more than 90% of all security vulnerabilities, yet more than 80% of IT security spending continues to be at the network and endpoint layer.  According to Ponemon, 'Most Organizations are Woefully Behind in Application Security.'  For it's 'Current State of Application Security Report' , they asked 642 IT professionals (both executive & engineering) 20 questions concerning tools usage, development team knowledge and security best practices to better understand the maturity of an organization’s application security program in comparison to the core competencies of high-performing organizations.  They found that a much higher percentage of executive-level respondents believe their organizations are following security procedures through the lifecycle of application development than do the engineers who are closest to executing the security processes.  For instance, 71% of executives interviewed believe that application security training is available and up to date but only 20% of technical staff felt the same.  Around 67% of execs feel they have a mature application security program, compared to 33% of technical staff and 75% of executives believe that a secure architecture exists in their organization verses 23% of technical staff.  Someone is either not communicating or many organizations do not yet consider the need to proactively do something about application security or even attempt to understand application security risks.

What is troublesome is that even with all the media attention and the afore mentioned malware stats, most organizations are not building nor testing their applications for security. According to the Ponemon report, only 43% of respondents say they have a process in place to test for vulnerabilities prior to release, and only 41% are using automated scanning tools to test applications during development. And just to pile on, only 42% push their applications to manual penetration testing by internal teams or from a third party. 

So, threats are increasing (I feel like I say this multiple times a year) and it seems that organizations' response to them are decreasing...or at least not taking them seriously enough.  In many ways, it is kinda like the real world.  We think, feel, believe that we're safe until something happens...then we take all the precautions.  Many organizations need to do that yesterday. 

Today's technologies are awesome but every once in a while I do miss 4 TV stations (including PBS), typewriters, rotary phones, mimeograph machines, S&H Green Stamps and the hard wires of yesteryear.

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Thursday, September 5, 2013

Are You Ready For Some...Technology!!

Every year around this time football fans are drafting their fantasy leagues, wearing their favorite team's jerseys, stocking tailgate items and experiencing the new technologies that have become part of the game.  From Second Screen apps to Catapult, technology is not only changing the game but also how fans experience the contest.

As more fans engage with mobile devices, the TV broadcast is being regulated as the Second Screen.  Usually the mobile device is used to access information that compliments the program but with NFL fans, particularly those who play fantasy leagues, it is the reverse.  They are locked in to their mobile app, following multiple games, tracking stats, clicking on-demand videos and even watching teams not associated with their local market.  The NFL sees a huge opportunity to reach and engage fans even more.

Australia-based Catapult is being used by many NFL teams to track athlete performance among other metrics.  A 3.5-ounce monitor situated between the player's shoulder blades monitors player movements within 15 centimeters and gives coaches acceleration, distance covered, speed, explosion times, exertion, hitting force and every other imaginable piece of data on a player's specific movements.  It is changing the manner in which teams practice, recover from injuries and even plan for games.

The San Francisco 49ers’ new Levi’s Stadium is touted as the most technologically advanced stadium in the league.  With their stadium app, fans can check bathroom, food and beer lines along with streaming replays (with your choice of camera angle) and streaming NFL Redzone.  There is plenty of WiFi capacity, which is actually uncommon at NFL stadiums.  There is only a handful of teams with WiFi service in their football stadiums but Roger Goodell (NFL commissioner) wants to make wireless internet a standard in NFL stadiums in the coming years.

There are many other advances like safer helmets with a chip that monitors the force of a hit, 2100-inch HDTVs, retractable grass and sustainable stadiums all making an impact.  The best place to watch football is in the comfort of your own living room and teams are looking at ways of creating a living room atmosphere for 80,000 fans. 

And as you're waiting for tonight's kickoff, check out what this dad did for his kids.

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Tuesday, September 3, 2013

You Got a Minute?

Like most of us, I try to read the entire internet on a daily basis but for some reason, these slipped through.  They both came out in 2011 and I am sure the numbers have changed in many cases.  For instance, the graphic shows 70+ domains registered every minute and for Sept 3 (thus far for today), on average 78 per minute have been registered.  Yet for twitter, the chart indicates 320 new accounts per minute but my look up today, if my math is correct, shows 94 new twitter accounts every minute but with 546,000 (vs. 98,000+) tweets per minute today.

Regardless, the somewhat, slightly dated info is still mind boggling and it is always fun to see historical data.

Things that happen on the Internet every 60 Seconds circa 2011.

And the products we use:

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60 Seconds – Things That Happen On Internet Every Sixty Seconds [Infographic]

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