Author: Tim Cawsey

…. — .– / -.. .. -.. / — — .-. … . / -.-. — -.. . / -.-. …. .- -. –. . / -.-. — — ..- -. .. -.-. .- -.-. .. — -. ..–..

In today’s society, instantaneous messaging is something we both need and expect in our everyday lives. Just think about the number of times you rely on it in a single day; work emails, IMing colleagues, WhatsApping friends. It’s almost impossible to cast your mind back to what communication looked like centuries ago.

If we go back a couple hundred years, most messages could only be delivered as quick as the fastest horse could ride. Messages that had to be delivered over a long distance were carried by messengers, or were signaled visually.

So, how did we go from that – to what we’re using today?  One of the landmark milestones in the communication revolution was that of Morse Code. On this day (May 24^th) 177 years ago, the first morse code message was sent – changing the landscape of communication forever. With this in mind we wanted to take a look back through the biggest milestones in communications.

The Invention of Morse Code

– …. . / .. -. …- . -. – .. — -. / — ..-. / — — .-. … . / -.-. — -.. .

Developed in the 1830s and 1840s by Samuel Morse and others, the telegraph revolutionised long-distance communication – transmitting electrical signals over a wire laid between stations.

In addition to helping invent the telegraph, Morse developed a code that assigned a set of dots and dashes to each letter of the English alphabet, allowing for simple transmission of complex messages across telegraph lines. In 1844, Morse sent his first telegraph message, from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore. Although the telegraph had fallen out of widespread use by the start of the 21st century, it laid the groundwork for future inventions.

The Communication Revolution

– …. . / -.-. — — — ..- -. .. -.-. .- – .. — -. / .-. . …- — .-.. ..- – .. — -.

Telephone: The success of telegraphy and Morse Code created an appetite and need for instant communication, ultimately leasing to the creation of the telephone – with credit resting with Scottish scientist Alexander Graham Bell. The first commercial telephone services were set up on both sides of the Atlantic in 1878-79.

Satellite: In 1958, a United States satellite was used to transmit a presidential Christmas message to the rest of the world. In 1960, the Echo satellite was launched by NASA for radio communication; that same year the first-ever repeater active satellite was launched. Two years later in 1962, as part of an international project involving several companies and nation states, the world’s first direct relay satellite for commercial communication was launched – Telstar.

Internet: In the height of the cold war during the 1960s, MIT researcher JCR Licklider developed a plan to create a “galactic network” of computers which would enable important US leaders to talk to each other in case the Soviet Union disabled or ‘hacked’ the telephone system.

Jump forward to the 1970s, American computer scientist Vinton Cerf developed a system for the various small networks of the world to talk to each other or do the “handshake”. This critical innovation was called Transmission Control Protocol or TCP, later expanded to include Internet Protocol or IP. The Internet was established, but in its first decade it was limited to universities and researchers. That changed in the 1990s with the coming of the World Wide Web, invented by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 while working at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

Mobile Cellular Technology: The age of the handheld cellular mobile phone began in April 1973 when Motorola’s Martin Cooper made a mobile phone call in front of journalists. Since then, there have been various developments in mobile technology. The 1980s witnessed the launch of the analogue cellular system – known as 1G. 2G followed in the 1990s with the rise of GSM technology, marking the switch from analogue to digital, with the advent of 3G in the 00s making it possible to stream video and music on phones. Mobile data really started to boom with the arrival of the first iOS and Android smartphones and 4G networks.

The Future of Communication

– …. . / ..-. ..- – ..- .-. . / — ..-. / -.-. — — — ..- -. .. -.-. .- – .. — -.

When we talk about the future of communication at the moment, there isn’t a single conversation that doesn’t come back to 5G.

It’s reported that by 2024 5G will account for 21% of the world’s mobile connections – and its connectivity will power a world of new services, not just benefitting how we communicate with each other – but with our devices, and surroundings. 5G unleashes a powerful combination of extraordinary speed, expanded bandwidth, low latency, and increased power efficiency perfect for connecting objects. It will make our cities smarter and our entertainment more immersive.

Sometimes it’s hard to comprehend just how we’ve gone from coded dots and dashes to talking about IoT devices and smart cities – but it all harks back to that first transmission on May 24^th 177 years ago.

The post Morse Code: How did it change communication? appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

The banking industry has undergone a huge transformation in recent years and continues to transform as we head into the realm of real-time, digital first (and physical later) banking and payment. Characterized by the need to do things more cost-effectively, sustainably, faster, and with user experience at its core – modern card program strategies are revolutionizing the sector and embracing these changes will be vital for a bank’s survival.  

To set some context, here is just a short recap of the challenges and changes currently facing the banking sector: 

Online branches growth in popularity:

Can you remember the last time you visited a bank branch in person? If not, then you’re not alone – under the lead of agile fintechs and neo banks, the capabilities of banking apps have improved so much that there are very few reasons for customers to visit in person. In fact a survey from KMPG found that one in five UK consumers haven’t visited a bank branch since before the Covid-19 pandemic – a trend we will likely see continue.  

Fintechs are challenging the status quo:

Recent years have seen digital-first challenger brands give consumers greater choice and flexibility – revolutionizing personal banking. Not burdened by decades of legacy tech to contend with – these brands have managed to quickly design products and solutions that have user experience solely front of mind, and traditional institutions are forced to do the same.  Real-time, quick services, simple yet secure is what is in the DNA of such neo stakeholders in the financial sector. 

Boom in contactless payments:

Recent data that shows that in 2020 the number of people in the UK who registered for mobile payments grew by three quarters to over 17 million. And in December 2021, contactless payments reached its highest recorded level, accounting for 69% of all debit card transactions, and 56% of all credit card transactions – a trend that is expected to continue to rise.  

A Modern Card program and strategy is about unifying and improving the customer’s banking and payment journey with real-time digital card issuance and complete control of all their payment credentials. This blog series will explore why a Modern Card Program is an essential part of this and will address the challenges of bringing it fruition.   

 

Challenge #1: Managing connectivity with payment schemes to successfully deploy EMV tokenization and associated card services   

The growing demand for mobile, user-centric services for card issuance is front of mind for all card issuers, processors, and wallet providers. As we’ve already discussed – the banking sector has been transformed – driven by customer expectation to be in control 24/7, via their smartphones or a modern web interface. People want to order their physical, digital or virtual card instantly, via their mobile app and/or the web, then use it to pay at stores and online.  Cardholders want to be in control of their card’s settings. These services are no longer a nice to have – but an expectation.  

However, when it comes to traditional banks that have been issuing EMV cards for years, the core banking infrastructure in place is often not optimized to support real time services, nor to deliver a rich mobile experience. Beyond tokenization for digital wallets, launching new services such as virtual card issuance and secure display, 3DS, Click-to-pay or pay-by-instalments can be extremely challenging.  

Card issuers can find plenty of technology partners to implement new mobile-centric card services. For digital card for instance, major Payment Schemes provide access to their EMV Tokenization services. However, beyond APIs, managing connectivity with such network services is a real project on its own.  Frequent API updates and rapid innovation rollouts require a very close relationship with payment networks: a relationship that goes beyond the usual scope of work for developers.  

Success for such modern card programs relies heavily on the deployment of modern card issuing platforms, implementing a brand new mobile and web front end but also orchestrating the entire core banking systems involved in the card issuing stack and the card life cycle management (systems managing accounts, transactions, claims and settlement, among many more). 

EMV tokenization alone represent the lion share of such modern card programs services and require deep use case knowledge that can only be acquired by developing a close relationship with the token service providers.  Thales D1 has a unique role of the EMV tokenization market with a preferred partnership with leading payment networks, removing the complexity for developer to re-invent uses cases from scratch, using system APIs with no orchestration across the card payment stack 

By somewhat “tokenizing their relationship” with token services, provided via Thales and the D1 platform, developers can focus on rolling out innovative services for their cardholders while Thales deliver the tool to execute development in record time and cost. 

The post Deploying a Modern Bank Card Program: Part One appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

…. — .– / -.. .. -.. / — — .-. … . / -.-. — -.. . / -.-. …. .- -. –. . / -.-. — — ..- -. .. -.-. .- -.-. .. — -. ..–..

In today’s society, instantaneous messaging is something we both need and expect in our everyday lives. Just think about the number of times you rely on it in a single day; work emails, IMing colleagues, WhatsApping friends. It’s almost impossible to cast your mind back to what communication looked like centuries ago.

If we go back a couple hundred years, most messages could only be delivered as quick as the fastest horse could ride. Messages that had to be delivered over a long distance were carried by messengers, or were signaled visually.

So, how did we go from that – to what we’re using today?  One of the landmark milestones in the communication revolution was that of Morse Code. On this day (May 24^th) 177 years ago, the first morse code message was sent – changing the landscape of communication forever. With this in mind we wanted to take a look back through the biggest milestones in communications.

The Invention of Morse Code

– …. . / .. -. …- . -. – .. — -. / — ..-. / — — .-. … . / -.-. — -.. .

Developed in the 1830s and 1840s by Samuel Morse and others, the telegraph revolutionised long-distance communication – transmitting electrical signals over a wire laid between stations.

In addition to helping invent the telegraph, Morse developed a code that assigned a set of dots and dashes to each letter of the English alphabet, allowing for simple transmission of complex messages across telegraph lines. In 1844, Morse sent his first telegraph message, from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore. Although the telegraph had fallen out of widespread use by the start of the 21st century, it laid the groundwork for future inventions.

The Communication Revolution

– …. . / -.-. — — — ..- -. .. -.-. .- – .. — -. / .-. . …- — .-.. ..- – .. — -.

Telephone: The success of telegraphy and Morse Code created an appetite and need for instant communication, ultimately leasing to the creation of the telephone – with credit resting with Scottish scientist Alexander Graham Bell. The first commercial telephone services were set up on both sides of the Atlantic in 1878-79.

Satellite: In 1958, a United States satellite was used to transmit a presidential Christmas message to the rest of the world. In 1960, the Echo satellite was launched by NASA for radio communication; that same year the first-ever repeater active satellite was launched. Two years later in 1962, as part of an international project involving several companies and nation states, the world’s first direct relay satellite for commercial communication was launched – Telstar.

Internet: In the height of the cold war during the 1960s, MIT researcher JCR Licklider developed a plan to create a “galactic network” of computers which would enable important US leaders to talk to each other in case the Soviet Union disabled or ‘hacked’ the telephone system.

Jump forward to the 1970s, American computer scientist Vinton Cerf developed a system for the various small networks of the world to talk to each other or do the “handshake”. This critical innovation was called Transmission Control Protocol or TCP, later expanded to include Internet Protocol or IP. The Internet was established, but in its first decade it was limited to universities and researchers. That changed in the 1990s with the coming of the World Wide Web, invented by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 while working at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

Mobile Cellular Technology: The age of the handheld cellular mobile phone began in April 1973 when Motorola’s Martin Cooper made a mobile phone call in front of journalists. Since then, there have been various developments in mobile technology. The 1980s witnessed the launch of the analogue cellular system – known as 1G. 2G followed in the 1990s with the rise of GSM technology, marking the switch from analogue to digital, with the advent of 3G in the 00s making it possible to stream video and music on phones. Mobile data really started to boom with the arrival of the first iOS and Android smartphones and 4G networks.

The Future of Communication

– …. . / ..-. ..- – ..- .-. . / — ..-. / -.-. — — — ..- -. .. -.-. .- – .. — -.

When we talk about the future of communication at the moment, there isn’t a single conversation that doesn’t come back to 5G.

It’s reported that by 2024 5G will account for 21% of the world’s mobile connections – and its connectivity will power a world of new services, not just benefitting how we communicate with each other – but with our devices, and surroundings. 5G unleashes a powerful combination of extraordinary speed, expanded bandwidth, low latency, and increased power efficiency perfect for connecting objects. It will make our cities smarter and our entertainment more immersive.

Sometimes it’s hard to comprehend just how we’ve gone from coded dots and dashes to talking about IoT devices and smart cities – but it all harks back to that first transmission on May 24^th 177 years ago.

The post Morse Code: How did it change communication? appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

…. — .– / -.. .. -.. / — — .-. … . / -.-. — -.. . / -.-. …. .- -. –. . / -.-. — — ..- -. .. -.-. .- -.-. .. — -. ..–..

In today’s society, instantaneous messaging is something we both need and expect in our everyday lives. Just think about the number of times you rely on it in a single day; work emails, IMing colleagues, WhatsApping friends. It’s almost impossible to cast your mind back to what communication looked like centuries ago.

If we go back a couple hundred years, most messages could only be delivered as quick as the fastest horse could ride. Messages that had to be delivered over a long distance were carried by messengers, or were signaled visually.

So, how did we go from that – to what we’re using today?  One of the landmark milestones in the communication revolution was that of Morse Code. On this day (May 24^th) 177 years ago, the first morse code message was sent – changing the landscape of communication forever. With this in mind we wanted to take a look back through the biggest milestones in communications.

The Invention of Morse Code

– …. . / .. -. …- . -. – .. — -. / — ..-. / — — .-. … . / -.-. — -.. .

Developed in the 1830s and 1840s by Samuel Morse and others, the telegraph revolutionised long-distance communication – transmitting electrical signals over a wire laid between stations.

In addition to helping invent the telegraph, Morse developed a code that assigned a set of dots and dashes to each letter of the English alphabet, allowing for simple transmission of complex messages across telegraph lines. In 1844, Morse sent his first telegraph message, from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore. Although the telegraph had fallen out of widespread use by the start of the 21st century, it laid the groundwork for future inventions.

The Communication Revolution

– …. . / -.-. — — — ..- -. .. -.-. .- – .. — -. / .-. . …- — .-.. ..- – .. — -.

Telephone: The success of telegraphy and Morse Code created an appetite and need for instant communication, ultimately leasing to the creation of the telephone – with credit resting with Scottish scientist Alexander Graham Bell. The first commercial telephone services were set up on both sides of the Atlantic in 1878-79.

Satellite: In 1958, a United States satellite was used to transmit a presidential Christmas message to the rest of the world. In 1960, the Echo satellite was launched by NASA for radio communication; that same year the first-ever repeater active satellite was launched. Two years later in 1962, as part of an international project involving several companies and nation states, the world’s first direct relay satellite for commercial communication was launched – Telstar.

Internet: In the height of the cold war during the 1960s, MIT researcher JCR Licklider developed a plan to create a “galactic network” of computers which would enable important US leaders to talk to each other in case the Soviet Union disabled or ‘hacked’ the telephone system.

Jump forward to the 1970s, American computer scientist Vinton Cerf developed a system for the various small networks of the world to talk to each other or do the “handshake”. This critical innovation was called Transmission Control Protocol or TCP, later expanded to include Internet Protocol or IP. The Internet was established, but in its first decade it was limited to universities and researchers. That changed in the 1990s with the coming of the World Wide Web, invented by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 while working at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

Mobile Cellular Technology: The age of the handheld cellular mobile phone began in April 1973 when Motorola’s Martin Cooper made a mobile phone call in front of journalists. Since then, there have been various developments in mobile technology. The 1980s witnessed the launch of the analogue cellular system – known as 1G. 2G followed in the 1990s with the rise of GSM technology, marking the switch from analogue to digital, with the advent of 3G in the 00s making it possible to stream video and music on phones. Mobile data really started to boom with the arrival of the first iOS and Android smartphones and 4G networks.

The Future of Communication

– …. . / ..-. ..- – ..- .-. . / — ..-. / -.-. — — — ..- -. .. -.-. .- – .. — -.

When we talk about the future of communication at the moment, there isn’t a single conversation that doesn’t come back to 5G.

It’s reported that by 2024 5G will account for 21% of the world’s mobile connections – and its connectivity will power a world of new services, not just benefitting how we communicate with each other – but with our devices, and surroundings. 5G unleashes a powerful combination of extraordinary speed, expanded bandwidth, low latency, and increased power efficiency perfect for connecting objects. It will make our cities smarter and our entertainment more immersive.

Sometimes it’s hard to comprehend just how we’ve gone from coded dots and dashes to talking about IoT devices and smart cities – but it all harks back to that first transmission on May 24^th 177 years ago.

The post Morse Code: How did it change communication? appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

World Password Day has come around again. Since its inception, it’s an awareness day designed to promote and reinforce the importance of better habits when it comes to password settings. As such, we expect to be inundated with research highlighting the percentage of consumers who still have ‘poor’ password habits, lists of the most common passwords still in use, and accompanying advice from a multitude of companies reinforcing what ‘good’ looks like.

Now, as passwords are often the first port of call for our online / digital identities – it’s of course important that good habits are encouraged – however, the fact that World Password Day is still needed also highlights a problem that’s not going away. The headlines and research we’ll see on this day won’t have changed, the stories and issues are the same – we’re stuck in Groundhog Day.

With this in mind, we’re taking this opportunity to look into the problem with passwords, and how we might want to change how we think about securing digital identities.

Too Many to Remember

Do you know how many passwords the average consumer has? A recent study from NordPass found that it’s around 100 – an increase of 25% in recent years. That’s unsurprising given the pandemic had us all signing up for new online services – be that for entertainment, personal or work purposes. There are countless other studies out there, and while the average figure may vary slightly, they all point towards the same thing – it’s an unmanageable amount.

At this juncture it’s worth asking yourself if you know how many passwords you have? If you have an iPhone there’s a quick way you can find out using the following steps (the final number might be sobering):

1. Start the Settings app.
2. Tap “Passwords & Accounts.”
3. Tap “Website & App Passwords.” You might be asked to enter your passcode or log in with Touch ID or Face ID.
4. Your iPhone will now display your complete list of saved passwords.

There’s also a way to find this out via Google Chrome:

1. On your computer, open Chrome
2. At the top, click More Settings
3. Select Passwords, Check Passwords

Information Overload

Having an unmanageable number of passwords correlates with the coinciding factor that consumers are faced with information overload when it comes to password management. Put simply, there’s a lot of rules and guidance to follow. Official best practice on what makes a good password varies depending on who you ask, general advice includes.

• Using three random, unconnected words. Official advice from the National Centre for Cyber Security (NCSC)
• At least twelve characters, including a mixture of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers and special characters I.e. “R3plac!ng l3tt€rs with numb3r$”

Not only should passwords meet certain specifications, but it’s also recommended that they are updated regularly – as an example some employers and IT departments will force employees to update their password at least every six weeks.

There’s a lot of rules to follow, especially as we’re meant to have a different password for every account. Password managers are often touted as the best way to manage this, but whichever way you cut it, it puts almost all the responsibility on the end- user.

The consequences for weak and easy to guess passwords are clear – and you can hardly make it through the month without a high-profile data breach hitting the headlines. However, all things considered we can hardly act surprised that the text-based password continues to plague individuals and organisations alike.

In part two of our World Password Day series, we’ll be discussing why we need to look at a password-less future of digital identification.

Click here to read part two

The post World Password Day: Why are passwords still a problem in 2022? appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

If you’ve read part one, you’ll know that there’s a persistent problem with passwords. Despite the continued warnings, data breaches and endless guidance – weak and easily hackable passwords still guard a sobering number of online accounts and identities. Past experience tells us this is unlikely to change.

If we journey back to 2004, at the RSA Conference, Bill Gates predicted the death of the password stating: “There is no doubt that over time, people are going to rely less and less on passwords. People use the same password on different systems, they write them down and they just don’t meet the challenge for anything you really want to secure.”

18 years on and we’re still at the stage where passwords are the dominant means of securing digital identities. With cyber-attacks and data breaches increasing in frequency, and cybercriminals becoming increasingly sophisticated – it’s vital that we head towards a password-less future.

The good news is this isn’t a futuristic pipe dream, but the technology is already there to make this happen – and there are already some good examples in use already.

Digital IDs gives consumers control and convenience

As discussed in our previous blog, it’s highly likely that that average consumer has passwords in the hundreds. These passwords will guard anything from their Netflix account, through to their online banking – and while the security risks are very real, so is the temptation to use easy to remember phrases. In today’s digital age we all value privacy and control – but also convenience and efficiency.

Thankfully, the rise of Digital IDs mean that consumers get this level of control over their digital identities, all through one single point of access. At the same time, it provides authorities with the opportunity to create companions for physical identity documents that are straightforward to issue, manage and verify, delivering a powerful tool to fight ID fraud, reduce red tape and boost efficiency.

Across the globe, digital identification is increasingly becoming more mainstream, with new measures constantly coming to fruition to make this the norm. For example, if we look to the EU we have the introduction of the latest legislation on European Digital Identity – eIDAS2. The eIDAS2 means that by September 2023, each EU Member State must make a digital ‘wallet’ available to every citizen who wants one. Service providers in both public and private sector organisations, such as banks and telcos, will have to accept it as proof of ID.

This acceleration isn’t just taking place in  the EU – just earlier on this month the UK government proposed legislation to secure digital identify, even creating a  the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes.

Bolstering security with behavioural biometrics

Most of us have become accustomed to using biometrics in some form in recent years, with facial recognition, or fingerprint readers becoming increasingly prevalent on most smartphones today. In many instances, these biometrics can also be used to verify purchases.

The virtues of biometrics as opposed to text-based passwords are well accepted – and recent advances in this technology means that we can look beyond fingerprint and facial recognition to an approach based on each individuals’ unique characteristics.

Behavioural biometrics is an innovative approach to user authentication and can identify a user (or an imposter) based on a set of unique patterns, from the way someone moves a mouse, the way they type on a keyboard, or the time spent on an activity. These traits are also reinforced with device-based indicators such as IP addresses and geo-location data.

Risk assessment rules can then be applied to each transaction, ensuring that an appropriate authentication level is always actioned. For example, a low-value purchase made by a consumer near their home can be processed instantly. But, if a high-value purchase is attempted, not in keeping with that user’s normal behaviour the the transaction can be blocked, or additional authentication is requested. ​

The business case for a password free future

Our recent Data Threat Report found that nearly a third of businesses across the globe have experienced a data breach in the last 12 months. More often than not, the weakest link in the security chain is the employee, through often small but harmful mistakes – such as an easy to guess password. In this post-pandemic, the new normal of hybrid working also opens up a new host of cyber security challenges.

Considering this new normal, organisations should consider adopting access management solutions such as password-less verification which identifies users through other methods such as an IP address or multi-factor authentication. This will overcome the inherent vulnerabilities of text-based passwords, while improving levels of assurance and convenience.

In conjunction with this, adoption of a Zero Trust model, based on the principle “Never Trust, Always Verify”, requires employees to only access data they’re authorised to do so, while ensuring they verify who they are each time they require access.

Heading towards a password-free future

Throughout this two-part blog series, we have highlighted the various problems with passwords – but not without solutions. The technology is here, and already in use to help us do away with them for good.

But that said, in the meantime – please don’t use 123456, qwerty, password or 654321 to guard any of your online accounts!

Click here to read part one

The post World Password Day: Why we need a password-less future appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

…. — .– / -.. .. -.. / — — .-. … . / -.-. — -.. . / -.-. …. .- -. –. . / -.-. — — ..- -. .. -.-. .- -.-. .. — -. ..–..

In today’s society, instantaneous messaging is something we both need and expect in our everyday lives. Just think about the number of times you rely on it in a single day; work emails, IMing colleagues, WhatsApping friends. It’s almost impossible to cast your mind back to what communication looked like centuries ago.

If we go back a couple hundred years, most messages could only be delivered as quick as the fastest horse could ride. Messages that had to be delivered over a long distance were carried by messengers, or were signaled visually.

So, how did we go from that – to what we’re using today?  One of the landmark milestones in the communication revolution was that of Morse Code. On this day (May 24^th) 177 years ago, the first morse code message was sent – changing the landscape of communication forever. With this in mind we wanted to take a look back through the biggest milestones in communications.

The Invention of Morse Code

– …. . / .. -. …- . -. – .. — -. / — ..-. / — — .-. … . / -.-. — -.. .

Developed in the 1830s and 1840s by Samuel Morse and others, the telegraph revolutionised long-distance communication – transmitting electrical signals over a wire laid between stations.

In addition to helping invent the telegraph, Morse developed a code that assigned a set of dots and dashes to each letter of the English alphabet, allowing for simple transmission of complex messages across telegraph lines. In 1844, Morse sent his first telegraph message, from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore. Although the telegraph had fallen out of widespread use by the start of the 21st century, it laid the groundwork for future inventions.

The Communication Revolution

– …. . / -.-. — — — ..- -. .. -.-. .- – .. — -. / .-. . …- — .-.. ..- – .. — -.

Telephone: The success of telegraphy and Morse Code created an appetite and need for instant communication, ultimately leasing to the creation of the telephone – with credit resting with Scottish scientist Alexander Graham Bell. The first commercial telephone services were set up on both sides of the Atlantic in 1878-79.

Satellite: In 1958, a United States satellite was used to transmit a presidential Christmas message to the rest of the world. In 1960, the Echo satellite was launched by NASA for radio communication; that same year the first-ever repeater active satellite was launched. Two years later in 1962, as part of an international project involving several companies and nation states, the world’s first direct relay satellite for commercial communication was launched – Telstar.

Internet: In the height of the cold war during the 1960s, MIT researcher JCR Licklider developed a plan to create a “galactic network” of computers which would enable important US leaders to talk to each other in case the Soviet Union disabled or ‘hacked’ the telephone system.

Jump forward to the 1970s, American computer scientist Vinton Cerf developed a system for the various small networks of the world to talk to each other or do the “handshake”. This critical innovation was called Transmission Control Protocol or TCP, later expanded to include Internet Protocol or IP. The Internet was established, but in its first decade it was limited to universities and researchers. That changed in the 1990s with the coming of the World Wide Web, invented by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 while working at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

Mobile Cellular Technology: The age of the handheld cellular mobile phone began in April 1973 when Motorola’s Martin Cooper made a mobile phone call in front of journalists. Since then, there have been various developments in mobile technology. The 1980s witnessed the launch of the analogue cellular system – known as 1G. 2G followed in the 1990s with the rise of GSM technology, marking the switch from analogue to digital, with the advent of 3G in the 00s making it possible to stream video and music on phones. Mobile data really started to boom with the arrival of the first iOS and Android smartphones and 4G networks.

The Future of Communication

– …. . / ..-. ..- – ..- .-. . / — ..-. / -.-. — — — ..- -. .. -.-. .- – .. — -.

When we talk about the future of communication at the moment, there isn’t a single conversation that doesn’t come back to 5G.

It’s reported that by 2024 5G will account for 21% of the world’s mobile connections – and its connectivity will power a world of new services, not just benefitting how we communicate with each other – but with our devices, and surroundings. 5G unleashes a powerful combination of extraordinary speed, expanded bandwidth, low latency, and increased power efficiency perfect for connecting objects. It will make our cities smarter and our entertainment more immersive.

Sometimes it’s hard to comprehend just how we’ve gone from coded dots and dashes to talking about IoT devices and smart cities – but it all harks back to that first transmission on May 24^th 177 years ago.

The post Morse Code: How did it change communication? appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

World Password Day has come around again. Since its inception, it’s an awareness day designed to promote and reinforce the importance of better habits when it comes to password settings. As such, we expect to be inundated with research highlighting the percentage of consumers who still have ‘poor’ password habits, lists of the most common passwords still in use, and accompanying advice from a multitude of companies reinforcing what ‘good’ looks like.

Now, as passwords are often the first port of call for our online / digital identities – it’s of course important that good habits are encouraged – however, the fact that World Password Day is still needed also highlights a problem that’s not going away. The headlines and research we’ll see on this day won’t have changed, the stories and issues are the same – we’re stuck in Groundhog Day.

With this in mind, we’re taking this opportunity to look into the problem with passwords, and how we might want to change how we think about securing digital identities.

Too Many to Remember

Do you know how many passwords the average consumer has? A recent study from NordPass found that it’s around 100 – an increase of 25% in recent years. That’s unsurprising given the pandemic had us all signing up for new online services – be that for entertainment, personal or work purposes. There are countless other studies out there, and while the average figure may vary slightly, they all point towards the same thing – it’s an unmanageable amount.

At this juncture it’s worth asking yourself if you know how many passwords you have? If you have an iPhone there’s a quick way you can find out using the following steps (the final number might be sobering):

1. Start the Settings app.
2. Tap “Passwords & Accounts.”
3. Tap “Website & App Passwords.” You might be asked to enter your passcode or log in with Touch ID or Face ID.
4. Your iPhone will now display your complete list of saved passwords.

There’s also a way to find this out via Google Chrome:

1. On your computer, open Chrome
2. At the top, click More Settings
3. Select Passwords, Check Passwords

Information Overload

Having an unmanageable number of passwords correlates with the coinciding factor that consumers are faced with information overload when it comes to password management. Put simply, there’s a lot of rules and guidance to follow. Official best practice on what makes a good password varies depending on who you ask, general advice includes.

• Using three random, unconnected words. Official advice from the National Centre for Cyber Security (NCSC)
• At least twelve characters, including a mixture of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers and special characters I.e. “R3plac!ng l3tt€rs with numb3r$”

Not only should passwords meet certain specifications, but it’s also recommended that they are updated regularly – as an example some employers and IT departments will force employees to update their password at least every six weeks.

There’s a lot of rules to follow, especially as we’re meant to have a different password for every account. Password managers are often touted as the best way to manage this, but whichever way you cut it, it puts almost all the responsibility on the end- user.

The consequences for weak and easy to guess passwords are clear – and you can hardly make it through the month without a high-profile data breach hitting the headlines. However, all things considered we can hardly act surprised that the text-based password continues to plague individuals and organisations alike.

In part two of our World Password Day series, we’ll be discussing why we need to look at a password-less future of digital identification.

Click here to read part two

The post World Password Day: Why are passwords still a problem in 2022? appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

If you’ve read part one, you’ll know that there’s a persistent problem with passwords. Despite the continued warnings, data breaches and endless guidance – weak and easily hackable passwords still guard a sobering number of online accounts and identities. Past experience tells us this is unlikely to change.

If we journey back to 2004, at the RSA Conference, Bill Gates predicted the death of the password stating: “There is no doubt that over time, people are going to rely less and less on passwords. People use the same password on different systems, they write them down and they just don’t meet the challenge for anything you really want to secure.”

18 years on and we’re still at the stage where passwords are the dominant means of securing digital identities. With cyber-attacks and data breaches increasing in frequency, and cybercriminals becoming increasingly sophisticated – it’s vital that we head towards a password-less future.

The good news is this isn’t a futuristic pipe dream, but the technology is already there to make this happen – and there are already some good examples in use already.

Digital IDs gives consumers control and convenience

As discussed in our previous blog, it’s highly likely that that average consumer has passwords in the hundreds. These passwords will guard anything from their Netflix account, through to their online banking – and while the security risks are very real, so is the temptation to use easy to remember phrases. In today’s digital age we all value privacy and control – but also convenience and efficiency.

Thankfully, the rise of Digital IDs mean that consumers get this level of control over their digital identities, all through one single point of access. At the same time, it provides authorities with the opportunity to create companions for physical identity documents that are straightforward to issue, manage and verify, delivering a powerful tool to fight ID fraud, reduce red tape and boost efficiency.

Across the globe, digital identification is increasingly becoming more mainstream, with new measures constantly coming to fruition to make this the norm. For example, if we look to the EU we have the introduction of the latest legislation on European Digital Identity – eIDAS2. The eIDAS2 means that by September 2023, each EU Member State must make a digital ‘wallet’ available to every citizen who wants one. Service providers in both public and private sector organisations, such as banks and telcos, will have to accept it as proof of ID.

This acceleration isn’t just taking place in  the EU – just earlier on this month the UK government proposed legislation to secure digital identify, even creating a  the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes.

Bolstering security with behavioural biometrics

Most of us have become accustomed to using biometrics in some form in recent years, with facial recognition, or fingerprint readers becoming increasingly prevalent on most smartphones today. In many instances, these biometrics can also be used to verify purchases.

The virtues of biometrics as opposed to text-based passwords are well accepted – and recent advances in this technology means that we can look beyond fingerprint and facial recognition to an approach based on each individuals’ unique characteristics.

Behavioural biometrics is an innovative approach to user authentication and can identify a user (or an imposter) based on a set of unique patterns, from the way someone moves a mouse, the way they type on a keyboard, or the time spent on an activity. These traits are also reinforced with device-based indicators such as IP addresses and geo-location data.

Risk assessment rules can then be applied to each transaction, ensuring that an appropriate authentication level is always actioned. For example, a low-value purchase made by a consumer near their home can be processed instantly. But, if a high-value purchase is attempted, not in keeping with that user’s normal behaviour the the transaction can be blocked, or additional authentication is requested. ​

The business case for a password free future

Our recent Data Threat Report found that nearly a third of businesses across the globe have experienced a data breach in the last 12 months. More often than not, the weakest link in the security chain is the employee, through often small but harmful mistakes – such as an easy to guess password. In this post-pandemic, the new normal of hybrid working also opens up a new host of cyber security challenges.

Considering this new normal, organisations should consider adopting access management solutions such as password-less verification which identifies users through other methods such as an IP address or multi-factor authentication. This will overcome the inherent vulnerabilities of text-based passwords, while improving levels of assurance and convenience.

In conjunction with this, adoption of a Zero Trust model, based on the principle “Never Trust, Always Verify”, requires employees to only access data they’re authorised to do so, while ensuring they verify who they are each time they require access.

Heading towards a password-free future

Throughout this two-part blog series, we have highlighted the various problems with passwords – but not without solutions. The technology is here, and already in use to help us do away with them for good.

But that said, in the meantime – please don’t use 123456, qwerty, password or 654321 to guard any of your online accounts!

Click here to read part one

The post World Password Day: Why we need a password-less future appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.