Tag Archive for: compete

CSUF cybersecurity students compete to hack into vulnerable systems – Orange County Register

/in


Last fall, Cal State Fullerton cybersecurity students competed in the Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition where teams of students from the region met to determine how to hack the security systems of an airport and then presented a report of their findings to executives.

The Cal State Fullerton team of six students placed second in the high-pressure competition, which provided real-world experience that they will bring to the jobs that await them once they graduate. Business sponsors often recruit winners for employment during these events, said Mikhail Gofman, professor of computer science and director of the ECS Center for Cybersecurity in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Penetration testing means trying to break through the security systems of a business by using the same tools and techniques that hackers use. If a penetration tester can discover and exploit a vulnerability, Gofman said, then so can an attacker.

“This is often called the security governance,” Gofman said, “the goal of which is to ensure the cybersecurity of the company. It is driven by risk management, and, of course, cyberattacks are a big part of the company risk management, because a cyberattack can have very devastating consequences.”

The regional competition focused on the security systems of an airport. “They weren’t actually real airport systems, but real networks which simulated what a network infrastructure of an airport would look like,” Gofman said. “The students had 12 hours, from morning to night, to conduct the penetration test to find and exploit as many security vulnerabilities as possible.”

Then they had to write a professional penetration testing report that communicated their findings in plain language.

“Our goal as a team was to try to fully compromise the company, given only a set of IP ranges and some scattered fictitious employee information they left on the internet for us to exploit,” said fourth-year student Katherine Chen, who was a member of the winning team.

“You use public information on the internet to impersonate someone and use their information for malicious purposes, which we were successfully able to do,” Chen said. “At…

Source…

Google’s Pixel Watch to Compete With Apple Watch This Fall

/in


The first smartwatch featuring Google-built hardware and software is coming. At its I/O developer conference on Wednesday, Google officially announced the Pixel Watch, slated to arrive alongside the Pixel 7 (and presumably a new Apple Watch) this fall. 

On the design front, the new wearable will feature a domed circular face, a tactile crown, a recycled stainless steel case, and customizable bands. On the inside, it will run Wear OS, featuring an “improved” user interface “with more fluid navigations and smart notifications,” Google SVP Rick Osterloh said at the event. 

In terms of apps, the Pixel Watch will naturally feature several Google standbys, including Assistant, Home, Maps, and Wallet, along with “deep” Fitbit integration, according to Osterloh. 

Pixel Watch


Google Home on the Pixel Watch
(Image: Google)

The watch is voice-enabled, so you can ask Google Assistant for the weather forecast and more. With Google Maps, you can follow directions, even when cycling, right on the watch without having to bring your phone. Google Wallet on Wear OS will launch starting with support for payment cards, letting you check out in stores with a tap of your wrist. A new Google Home app for Wear OS will let you control and monitor compatible smart home devices including lights bulbs, security cameras, and thermostats from your watch. 

On the health and fitness end, the Pixel Watch will support continuous heart rate monitoring and automatic sleep tracking. It will also be the first Wear OS device to support Fitbit’s Active Zone Minutes metric. 

Pixel Watch


Google Maps on the Pixel Watch
(Image: Google)

That’s all Google has officially said about the Pixel Watch at this time. Osterloh promised more details in the coming months. 

Meanwhile, Google also tipped additional Wear OS devices from Fossil, Mobvoi, Montblanc, and Samsung launching later this year, but didn’t offer details.

Recommended by Our Editors

On the software side, Deezer and SoundCloud apps are slated to arrive on Wear OS in the near future, joining several other notable additions that have recently launched on the platform, including Adidas Running, KakaoTalk, Line, and Spotify. Google also plans to bring Emergency SOS to Wear OS later…

Source…

As Atlanta companies compete for talent, workplace flexibility is seen as key

/in


Home Depot is set to hold a virtual corporate career day on Tuesday. It’s the first time the retail giant has put on such an event.

The Atlanta-based company isn’t alone in trying to stand out in a competitive labor market. And flexibility is seen as one of most important things workers are looking for.

Among the most prized job candidates, Home Depot is hoping to connect with are those with backgrounds in computer science, cyber security and supply chain management.

“They have more options now,” said Eric Schelling, vice president of global talent acquisition for Home Depot. “The pandemic has provided more options for them with remote, work for different states or different companies around the country.”

It’s a familiar story. The tight labor market has led to companies being more flexible about where employees live and where they do their work.

“Certain roles, depending on the work that you’re working on, will be roles where you can work from home long term. Others will be where it’s a little bit more of a hybrid approach,” Schelling said.

That hybrid approach is catching on, says Johnny C. Taylor, CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management. SHRM, as it’s known, includes more than 2,000 Georgia companies and non-profit groups as members.

Johnny C. Taylor is president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management. (Emil Moffatt/WABE)

“What employees want is flexibility. And that may mean I work from home two days a week in the office three days a week,” said Taylor. “But I don’t want to just totally work from home, especially millennials and Generation Z, because they make relationships at work, they build friendships, this is how they build community.”

For others, flexibility means the ability to work and care for children or elderly relatives. Taylor says developing this kind of workplace in an equitable way, has been a challenge.

“That is really proving to be quite vexing for employers to not create two cultures: the culture of people who work at home and the people who are in the office,” said Taylor.

But companies that strike the right balance, he says, have a better chance at landing the employees they’ve been looking…

Source…

Netflix, Which Has Previously Touted Its Ability To Compete With Piracy, Joins Australian Antipiracy Efforts

/in

We have for some time been covering the rapid expansion of antipiracy and site-blocking efforts in Australia. Between the movie and music spaces, these efforts have been spearheaded by a couple of local entertainment groups, such as Village Roadshow and Music Rights Australia, and the typical suspects from the US, such as the MPAA, RIAA, and various movie and music studios. The ramping up of those efforts continues to date, with recently updated copyright laws being used by those groups to request massive site-blocking for torrent and streaming sites, with the courts generally rubber-stamping all of them.

To date, a glaring non-combatant in all of this has been Netflix. And that hasn’t been some huge surprise, either, given that Netflix has long had a history of touting its own ability to both compete with piracy and make use of its cultural effects, and the rest of the entertainment industry painting Netflix as some kind of problem for the industry itself. And, while Netflix’s tone on piracy has certainly begun to change, that made it somewhat jarring to learn that the company was suddenly diving into the Australia anti-piracy fray with both feet.

Over the past two years, many of the world’s largest torrent and streaming sites have already been blocked, but the work is far from done. A new application recently submitted at the Federal Court of Australia requests ISPs to block dozens of websites.

The complaint comes from Village Roadshow as well as several other prominent movie companies such as Disney Enterprises and Universal City Studios. For the first time, Netflix Studios has joined in as well, as Computerworld notes.

As stated, Netflix is now a part of the MPAA, which perhaps explains why it is now in on these enforcement efforts. This appears to be something of a move of solidarity with the industry, as the focus of this particular complaint is pretty heavy on sites accused of distributing Asian content.

Interestingly, the court order has a strong focus on Asian content. Several of the targeted sites, such as BTBTT and 123kubo.org, are predominantly popular in Asian countries. In addition, the list also includes many anime sites such as Animeultima.to and Ryuanime.com.

The latter is likely due to the fact that the Australian distribution group Madman Anime Group is listed as one of the applicants as well.

So, again, there’s something of a all-for-one and one-for-all flavor to all of this. Still, being a member of the MPAA doesn’t require Netflix to join in on these legal efforts at site-blocking. As is typical in these complaints, the torrent and streaming sites are painted as having only one purpose: to commit copyright infringement. On that basis, the complaint seeks the blocking of 86 websites.

But the new part of this is Netflix’s involvement. Why it suddenly feels the need to join the ranks of those seeking site-blocking is an open question, particularly when it has built a business model out of being more convenient and reasonable an option than piracy itself.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Techdirt.