Artificial intelligence makes smarter security


Sci-fi often portrays artificial intelligence (AI) like this: a computer watches people for a while, blinks darkly and decides the solution to the world’s problems is to kill off the human race. Thankfully we are far away from that. But what AI is capable of today is simulating a specific human brain function – such as pattern recognition. And that’s very exciting for security.

AI makes security practical in the open world
The world is now open, causing disruption in many industries and changing the demands on security.

Seeing cybercrime as a business helps to fuel new combat strategies



Seeing it differently

Thinking differently about software security: Inside-Out


We live in a very different world today than we did 10-20 years ago. We’ve never been more connected. So, it’s surprising that software security practices remain in the realm of “We’ve always done it this way before”. Can they really expect to solve today’s security problems with an old way of thinking?

Traditional thinking
Traditional thinking typically starts with the premise that honest parties control the computer devices and any cryptographic operations are performed free from interference from would-be attackers. Given this, it’s probably understandable

Cryptography is everywhere in day-to-day life


Cryptography is no longer limited to the military and spies. This ancient art underpins modern life. It’s about encoding intelligible data, e.g. numbers, text and transforming them into something unreadable to anyone other than who the information is meant for. The question is, does it need an upgrade for today’s always connected world?

How secure is your house?
Hundreds of times a day we use cryptography in our everyday life. From the lock on the website that you’re browsing, remotely unlocking your car with the key fob to using all kinds of devices.

Mobile has changed everything…except the security mindset?



Learning from app developers

Kodi: latest vehicle for online piracy


As Richard Branson said “Business opportunities are like buses. There’s always another coming along.” Looking at the online piracy world, the latest bus is exploiting software media centers. And unfortunately, many consumers are being taken for a ride.

I’ve mentioned it before, online pirates are undoubtedly criminals. Yet they’re also entrepreneurs. The pirates are continually adapting. To effectively fight online piracy means keeping up to date with their latest activities.

APIs – friend or foe?


APIs are everywhere in modern day life. We rely on them to access services on mobiles, tablets and laptops. Without them our day-to-day life wouldn’t be the same. Yet they are also increasing the attack surface. Are they really a friend to e-commerce or to cybercrime?

e-Commerce’s friend
APIs are not new. They’ve been around a long time. APIs are key to building scalable web-based applications as they allow and manage the interaction between 2 online connected services.

Does the security auditor have a point?


On a recent flight, I was sat next to a security auditor. He asked “can someone steal keys used to encrypt credit cards from the server memory?” It depends, was my reply. But his question left me wondering. Why hasn’t anyone built a server side white box implementation?

Why does it depend?
Like any implementation, some are more secure than others. If the server side code was using ‘standard cryptographic APIs’ and they were black box implementations then

Bringing trust back into the relationship



Trust online