“It’s providing all of the infrastructure, all of the kind of capabilities” that will be deployed “to all of these agencies to help protect .gov,” Harrington said in an interview Monday at his office in Sterling, Virginia.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesman said that the agency reaffirmed on June 2 its decision to award the contract. The deal will provide services to operate and maintain the department’s breach detection and prevention system, known as Einstein, and develop new cybersecurity capabilities, the spokesman said.

Raytheon rose less than 1 percent to $134.78 at 2:36 p.m. New York time, its highest since July 29, 1980.

Compromised Data

Beefing up online security has become a priority for government agencies and companies after repeated cyber attacks. Last year, the Office of Personnel Management experienced a breach traced to hackers in China that compromised data on 21.5 million individuals.

“If you think about the federal agencies, many of them have been underserved because of budgets. When you think about even OPM their mission is not cybersecurity, their mission is getting people cleared,” Harrington said. “This whole cybersecurity thing is a new element, and a hard element for a lot of these agencies who have budgets for many, many years that didn’t include IT security.”

In a January report, the Government Accountability Office said Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity Protection System “provides DHS with a limited ability to detect potentially malicious activity entering and exiting computer networks at federal agencies.” It raised concerns about the system’s ability to monitor network traffic and address threats.

Raytheon, which says it has invested more than $3.5 billion in building its cybersecurity services, will “support DHS in providing those capabilities out to those agencies,” Harrington said.

The company already works with Homeland Security as a liaison, sharing classified cyberthreat intelligence with the private sector. Raytheon also shares threat indicators it finds with the Defense Department and within the defense industry, but not all companies are ready to do so. The defense and financial industries are further along in cyber information-sharing, Harrington said. Retail industry groups have approached Raytheon about how they can start providing cyber intelligence, he said.

Privacy, Litigation

“There are those who find it complicated: ‘’Do I want to provide my data to the government? Do I want provide my data to my competition? What if I release private, personal identifiable information?’” Harrington said. “There’s a lot of concerns that people have around privacy, that people have around lawsuits and litigation.”

Current debates over encryption meant to protect data have underscored those questions. After the FBI seized an iPhone used by a shooter involved in a terrorist attack in December, the agency was initially unable to crack its password protections. A federal judge ordered Apple to create new software to get past this encryption. Apple refused, saying this could threaten the data security of all its customers.

Maintaining cyber capabilities within the government also has been a challenge. U.S. Air Force and Navy program managers haven’t yet made “big moves” to incorporate cybersecurity requirements into bid documents or contract selections, Harrington said.

“Both the services have been looking at it very hard from the requirement side, as to how do they articulate that and what’s good enough, and how do you measure it and how much money do they have to pay for it,” Harrington said. “But we haven’t seen it come out as a big, major shift.”

Source: TheWHIR

SEE ALSO: Security Pros Split on Whether Private Data is Safer with Government or Private Companies

The documents, later obtained by Bloomberg, span 2,239 pages and are heavily redacted. The records don’t identify hackers or say whether sensitive information was accessed or money was stolen, Reuters said. The Fed didn’t immediately have a comment on the report.

Cyber security at central banks is under increased scrutiny following the theft of more than $80 million from the Bangladesh central bank’s accounts at the New York Fed. The Reuters article covered cases involving the Fed’s Board of Governors in Washington and the news agency didn’t have access to reports from local teams at the 12 regional Fed banks, which include New York.

Theft Briefing

House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, on Tuesday sent a letter to New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley asking for a briefing and information related to the February theft. Hackers stole from Bangladesh Bank’s account at the New York Fed, which has said instructions to make the payments were authenticated by the Swift message system that’s widely used by financial institutions.

READ MORE: Half-Baked Government Consolidation Causes Cybersecurity Headaches: Report

While acknowledging that the Bangladesh bank’s systems “appear to have been the weak link” in that case, the Smith letter states that it’s Congress’s responsibility to ensure that the New York Fed is “taking all precautions to protect American finances and aggressively execute its own role as overseer of Swift.”

In response to a letter earlier this year from Democratic Representative Carolyn Maloney of New York, New York Fed General Counsel Thomas Baxter said that “there is no evidence of any attempt to penetrate Federal Reserve systems in connection with the payments in question.”

Source: TheWHIR

SEE ALSO: Canadians Speak Out Against Controversial Anti-Terrorism Legislation Bill C-51

The code of conduct arrives as Europe comes to terms with the bloody attacks in Paris and Brussels by Islamic State, which has used the Web and social media to spread its message of hate against its enemies. The companies said it remains a “challenge” to strike the right balance between freedom of expression and hate speech in the self-generated content on online platforms.

“We remain committed to letting the Tweets flow,” said Twitter’s head of public policy for Europe, Karen White, in the statement. “However, there is a clear distinction between freedom of expression and conduct that incites violence and hate.”

Platforms Sued

A French Jewish youth group, UEJF, sued Twitter, Facebook and Google in Paris this month over how they monitor hate speech on the web. In the course of about six weeks in April and May, members of French anti-discrimination groups flagged unambiguous hate speech that they said promoted racism, homophobia or anti-Semitism. More than 90 percent of the posts pointed out to Twitter and YouTube remained online within 15 days on average following requests for removal, according to the study by UEJF, SOS Racisme and SOS Homophobie.

“With a global community of 1.6 billion people we work hard to balance giving people the power to express themselves whilst ensuring we provide a respectful environment,” said Monika Bickert, head of global policy management at Facebook, in the statement. “There’s no place for hate speech on Facebook.”

Source: TheWHIR

SEE ALSO: Verizon Shutting Down Public Cloud, Gives Users One Month to Move Data

The walkout by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers has been one of the largest in the U.S. in recent years. Perez helped broker the deal by bringing Verizon Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam and two union executives to Washington to discuss ways to resolve the dispute.

To try and keep up with business demands during the strike, Verizon had dispatched managers and non-union workers to call centers and field-service assignments. Yet even with the temporary help, the strike has been a drag on the company’s landline business, Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said during an investor presentation earlier this month. Because of the strike, Verizon probably won’t add FiOS TV or broadband customers in the quarter, he said.

READ MORE: Equinix Mulling Purchase of CenturyLink and Verizon Data Centers

The new labor contract is the first since Verizon took full control of Verizon Wireless and agreed to buy AOL, two deals worth almost $135 billion that point toward a wireless-centric future. The company has been shedding union-heavy operations, including its FiOS business in three states last month. Landlines accounted for 29 percent of Verizon’s revenue, down from almost 50 percent in 2008. And as its strategy has shifted, the ranks of union workers have shrunk by about half from 78,000 13 years ago.

Facing years of declines in the landline unit as more people opt for only wireless service, Verizon pushed to have union workers pitch in more for health benefits and be flexible on temporary job relocations. The unions, which had been working without a contract since Aug. 1, wanted to limit those transfers of workers to other regions, protect jobs from being moved offshore and preserve pension increases.

Of the workers, about 29,000 are represented by the CWA, 10,000 by the IBEW, according Candice Johnson, a spokeswoman for the CWA.

Source: TheWHIR

While people find cloud services useful, the CMA “also heard some complaints resulting from unfair terms in contracts,” Nisha Arora, the authority’s senior director for consumer issues, said in the statement. “If left unchanged, these terms could result in people losing access to their treasured possessions or facing unexpected charges.”

SEE ALSO: EU Hands Huge Government Cloud Contracts to BT

Cloud storage offers a convenient means of safely storing family photos, music, films and important documents, and access them from any device, the CMA said. About three in 10 people in the U.K. use such services, mostly for free, from their smartphones and tablets, the regulator said. This is true for the likes of Google’s Drive or Apple Inc.’s iCloud, said Cecilia Parker Aranha, project director at the Competition Markets Authority.

The three providers that have agreed to change their contract terms today weren’t necessarily the worst offenders, but were of particular concern to the CMA because they offer standalone cloud services storage products for which they charge consumers for any level of storage, Parker Aranha said.

In a fast developing market “it’s important that we act now to ensure that businesses comply with the law and that consumers’ trust in these valuable services is maintained,” Arora said.

Source: TheWHIR

SEE ALSO: Yahoo Nixes Alibaba Spin Off, Plans Reverse Spin of Core Business

Yahoo — under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer — started a review of the company’s options in February after pressure from investors and a failed turnaround. Bidders have included TPG, Verizon Communications Inc., YP Holdings LLC, and a consortium led by Bain Capital LP and Vista Equity Partners LLC, people familiar with the matter have said. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman Warren Buffett is also backing a group bidding for Yahoo’s Internet assets, people familiar with the matter have said.

While Goldman said the process is robust, he declined to give details on what “inning” the effort is in during the presentation.

SEE ALSO: Yahoo Data Center Team Staying “Heads-Down” Amid Business Turmoil

“We are taking it extremely seriously,” Goldman said, noting the process is accounting for the majority of executives’ time. “It’s our collective goal that we find a way that — wherever this ends up — that ultimately Yahoo will do better with the benefit of however it goes than staying independent.”

Goldman said Yahoo is making progress in efforts to streamline the company as well. Yahoo now has about 9,000 employees down from 10,400 at the end of last year.

Source: TheWHIR

The meeting offers new details about the scope of government plans to take “special management stakes” in Internet companies. Bloomberg News reported earlier this month that leaders were considering a pilot program for such an arrangement with web portals and mobile apps that focus on news content, but the idea of applying that to video-streaming companies was previously unknown.

It’s still not clear what would happen if companies refuse to give stakes to the government or if the regulators will proceed with the plan. The move would allow Communist Party leaders to exert even greater control over the web and the companies that distribute content online, such as Tencent Holdings Ltd. and NetEase Inc.

The government already exerts strict control over licensing for online video by only giving licenses to seven companies, and has made it difficult for international firms to have a share in the country’s $5.9 billion online video market.

Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp., whose representatives were said to be at the meeting, declined to comment in a text message. IQiyi.com, the streaming service of Baidu Inc., and Youku Tudou’s owner Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. declined to comment in e-mailed statements. PPTV didn’t respond to a request for comment and Canny Lo, a spokeswoman for Tencent, wasn’t immediately able to comment. The regulator didn’t respond to a faxed request for comment.

Under President Xi Jinping, China has enacted stricter limits on media and Internet freedoms over the past year. The proposal for “special management stakes,” first outlined in November 2013, would give authorities the ability to block content from reaching the web.

In the pilot program pitched to online news providers, officials offered to issue licenses in exchange for a board seat and stock, people familiar with the matter have said. The government wouldn’t receive dividends or any other form of bonus and won’t interfere in business decisions outside of control over content distribution, the people said.

In the May 18 meeting, the regulator recommended that online video companies choose among five state media companies to serve as shareholders but said they could work with others as well, according to the people familiar.

Source: TheWHIR

The impairment doesn’t affect United Internet’s dividend policy or its guidance for the year, the company said. United Internet holds 8.3 percent in Rocket, a stake valued at about 278 million euros, according to Bloomberg data.

“The development of Rocket companies is advancing and many things already work well, but it naturally takes time,” United Internet Chief Executive Officer Ralph Dommermuth said in a phone interview. “While the share price could be more positive, I’m convinced that investments in Internet companies like Rocket will pay off in the medium and long-term.”

Drag on Stock

Shares of United Internet rose as much as 4.1 percent as the company reported first-quarter sales and profit from its operating results that beat estimates, after signing up 270,000 new customers.

The second quarter started “very well” when it comes to user gains and the company may potentially raise its customer development guidance if the trend continues in the coming months, Dommermuth said. The company, which competes with Deutsche Telekom AG and Vodafone Group Plc selling telephone and Internet access and services, is open to buying international web-hosting companies and possibly more city-owned telecommunications networks, he said.

United Internet’s results would have been better without the Rocket investment. Rocket shares have declined about 28 percent this year as the company faces pressure to prove its investments will pay off. The company, which helps guide a stable of startups such as HelloFresh, Westwing and Delivery Hero, showed little progress reducing losses at several of them last year.

Many of its companies were still in the growth phase and needed investments in 2015, CEO Oliver Samwer said earlier this year, vowing to show “significant” improvements in profitability this year and next.

Investment AB Kinnevik, the second-biggest shareholder in Rocket, will evaluate its stake once the holdings will mature in two to three years, CEO Lorenzo Grabau told Dagens Nyheter. The Samwers still are the biggest shareholder in Rocket.

By Stefan Nicola

Source: TheWHIR

He described a future where children could use apps like WeChat to interact with dead grandparents, thanks to the ability to download human consciousness into computers. All of these technologies would require huge amounts of data storage, which in turn could generate business for Huawei, he added.

Read more: When Users Die, Yahoo Japan Deletes their Account and Offers Funeral Arrangements

Ho also referred to a scene in “The Matrix” where a character downloads the ability to fly a helicopter.

“That kind of data download volume exceeds current levels,” he said. “In the future storage will need to exceed 15,000 Zettabytes so this is a huge increase.”

Post-Human Society

In Silicon Valley, high-tech companies like Google have discussed long-term planning for a post-human society, while Calico and venture capitalist Peter Thiel have both raised the prospect of immortality. SpaceX founder Elon Musk has long held the goal of transporting humanity to colonies on other planets.

But it is rare for established Chinese technology firms like Huawei to make business preparations based on the intangible possibilities facing the species. Ho said science fiction films helped spur his team to consider new product lines.

“A lot of science fiction has prompted me to have this type of thinking – in science fiction we’ve seen some terrible worlds where technology destroys human society,” he said. Ho described a film in which a character — apparently an AI persona — absorbs ideas from books then launches an attack on humanity. “There’s a very interesting film where Mr Wong has a task of downloading books, he also has a task of printing books and later he kills human beings. Therefore we need better safety technology.

“We need authentication, better tech protection and remote defense – we are developing all of these now.”

Source: TheWHIR