In the U.K., where vehicle theft has been in a steep decline for the past 20 years, the most widespread advice given by police to car owners is: keep your car keys in your freezer. The most common source of vulnerability these days is the interception of RF signals between keyfobs and cars. For a time, several years ago, there was a rash… Read More
Safety = Security?
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between safety and security? I would be surprised if you had unless you work in these areas as we tend to use the words interchangeably. Languages such as German, Norwegian and Spanish have one word to mean both – or so I am told by my associates who claim those languages as their mother… Read More
Safety Verification for Software
When automakers are thinking about the safety of an embedded system in a car, while it’s good to know the hardware has been comprehensively tested for safety-specific requirements, that isn’t much help if the software component of the system is not supplied with similarly robust guarantees.
The challenge is that the software … Read More
Android Auto-Rooting Malware – You Can Run But You Can’t Hide
There has been a startling rise in a class of Android auto-rooting malware which is believed to affect over a quarter of a million phones in the US and well over a million in each of India and China. The attack has primarily infected older versions of Android (so far) – KitKat, JellyBean and Lolipop primarily.
The malware, known as Shedun… Read More
IBM z13 Helps Avoid Costly Data Breaches
A global study sponsored by IBM and conducted by the Ponemon Institute found that the average cost of a data breach for companies surveyed has grown to $4 million, representing a 29 percent increase since 2013. With cybersecurity incidents continuing to increase with 64% more security incidents in 2015 than in 2014 the costs are… Read More
Software Security is Necessary but NOT Sufficient
As the silicon designs inside the connected devices of the Internet of Things transition from specifications to tapeouts, electronics companies have come to the stark realization that software security is simply not adequate. Securing silicon is now a required, not optional, part of RTL design processes.… Read More
Whose IoT devices were breached in 2015?
IoT, as we all know, is not without issues–though we have become reliant upon it in many ways.. In 2015, there were some very viable and tangible proofs that the IoT field is fraught with real peril and that we as IoT designers, developers and companies need to be paying more attention to security. Just how many different IoT … Read More
Why is the IoT Catnip to Hackers?
The latest developments in IoT security will protect the companies that use them from disastrous hacks.Rob Enderle writing in CIO Magazine May 20 about a new security certification for IOT products lauded the new offering and cited other measures that responsible IoT businesses must take to secure the future of their companies.… Read More
Synaptics’ New Security Adapter Takes PC Fingerprint Security Literally Anywhere
Synaptics is an understated innovator in the human interface and end user experience technology space, and many of the hottest smartphones, tablets and PCs have their technology inside. The Samsung Galaxy S7, Apple iPhone 6S, Dell XPS 15, Microsoft Surface and Surface Book, and HP ENVY are just a few of these products I’ve personally… Read More
The CyberSecurity Emperor Has No Clothes
In the past year, I’ve written numerous articles that have a common theme: the security world is badly broken as crypto schemas developed in the 90’s are no defense for today’s sophisticated hackers. For the most part, my blogs have been very well received, and have been picked up and posted by multiple sites and publications worldwide.… Read More
The Intel Common Platform Foundry Alliance