5 suprising, promising, sometimes ominous ways computers changed in 2017

We called 2016 the “year of the beta” for the PC market, because so many of the most important technologies and innovations were in their earliest and most unproven states. In 2017, some of these PC trends took a step forward, while new developments made the year a bit disturbing. This year, we saw a lot of promise alongside signs that some changes could do as much harm as good.

AI remains the dominant player

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere. We included AI as a top trend in 2016, and it remains one for 2017. It’s made in-roads not just in the personal technology we use every day, but has also become more important in systems that impact us in ways beyond how we use technology.

On a more personal basis, digital assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant became even more ubiquitous, with Google’s Home line of smart speakers expanding, and Amazon’s various Echo products dominating the home assistant market. Microsoft finally joined in with its own Cortana-powered entry in the Harman Kardon Invoke, although that company’s strategy is unclear given its partnership with Amazon to tie Cortana and Alexa together. Chances are, though, that if you don’t already have at least one digital assistant somewhere in your home, you’re using one on your smartphone, and this form of practical AI is becoming an important part of your life.

AI is becoming so competent that in 2018, and beyond, it will threaten jobs.

AI continues to get smarter and become more adept at accomplishing individual tasks. Smart cars are perhaps the most visible example, as we’re seeing live versions running around town with various levels of success. AI is also beating us at our most challenging games. Google’s AlphaGo not only beat the best human player 3-0, but also taught itself to get better.

Indeed, AI is becoming so competent that in 2018, and beyond, it will threaten jobs. If your career is in one of a few areas – such as technical writing, taxi cab driving, or accounting – there’s a good chance that an AI will take your place in the near future. It’s not all doom and gloom, however, as AI also augments human capabilities in important ways, such as helping doctors more accurately diagnose illnesses using genetic information.

Security took a tumble

2017 taught us our most sensitive data isn’t safe. No matter how it’s stored — on our PCs, our business networks, or in the cloud — there’s a nefarious party somewhere with the desire and tools to gain access to it. The result has been a general angst, which makes us wary of using the very services that make PCs so valuable to us.

The scope of these attacks is frightening, with none being of more concern than the Equifax hack that exposed some of the most vital financial and personal information of more than 145 million Americans. In another example, the infamous Yahoo data breach was discovered in October to have affected three billion users.

Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

It wasn’t just hacks that made us afraid to turn on our PCs. Ransomware, where nefarious parties encrypt a PC’s data and demand payment for the key to unlock it, was also rampant in 2017. The worst example was the WannaCry attack that struck in mid-year, infecting hundreds of thousands of machines, locking away data from individuals to commercial concerns to government agencies. It’s only recently that “cyber affiliates” of the North Korean government have been implicated as the culprit behind WannaCry, showing that even nation-states might be getting in on the action.

AR and VR grew as prices dropped

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) was nothing new in 2017, but this was the year the technologies took a step toward being more affordable. And it’s not just major players like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift dropping prices, though those systems are less expensive than ever before.

Microsoft’s own Windows Mixed Reality products became real this year, impacting the AR/VR market in two important ways. First, there’s a new wave of slightly more affordable headsets from a variety of traditional PC manufacturers, promising greater hardware competition based on the unified AR/VR platform built into Windows 10.  Second, Windows Mixed Reality requires lesser hardware than the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift systems, running with reduced functionality on lower-end PCs, and ramping up the performance and quality on faster systems.

There wasn’t any significant news in 2017 about Microsoft’s HoloLens system, but that doesn’t mean the HoloLens has no future. Rather, as we learned in February, Microsoft has pushed the HoloLens timeline out a bit, with its commercial release looking more likely in 2019. Whenever it arrives, it could incorporate a dedicated AI chip that should make it an even more compelling solution.

Another player entered the market at the very end of 2017, or at least made its first appearance. That’s Magic Leap AR, which was finally unveiled in December. The distinctly cyberpunk aesthetic was something of a surprise, and while its overall capabilities remain unknown, it’s another promising step in the advancement of AR.

PCs continued to get more flexible

We noted that in 2016, PCs were better than ever, with a solid selection of machines ranging from thin and lights, to gaming notebooks, to incredibly flexible 2-in-1s. What last year began, 2017 has continued in earnest, with a slight twist — some of the best advances occurred in the 2-in-1 space, while the traditional clamshell notebook seemed a bit stale.

Lenovo’s best mainstream systems were in its premium convertible 2-in-1 lineup. The Yoga 720 13 and Yoga 720 15 are true workhorses, with the latter even sporting an entry-level Nvidia GTX 1050 GPU. And the Yoga 920 is one of the best notebooks you can buy, receiving an Editor’s Choice award. HP put a ton of energy into its convertible 2-in-1s. The most recent Spectre x360 13 is a case in point, providing a notebook experience that’s unparalleled while offering the usual 2-in-1 flexibility. Finally, Microsoft just introduced the long-awaited sequel to the Surface Book and its Performance Base variant, the Surface Book 2.

The 2-in-1 has transitioned from a tool for people who like to write on their displays and use them as tablets, to notebooks that rival the best clamshells as traditional machines, while offering that extra punch of flexibility.

CPU wars heated up

Prior to 2017, Intel dominated the processor scene. That’s not to say that AMD had no decent alternatives, but chances were if you wanted to build a gaming PC, or something that could churn through your video editing chores, you’d be watching the news for what Intel released next.

All that changed in 2017. AMD released its new Ryzen CPUs based on the Zen architecture, and the price-performance dynamic shifted in AMD’s favor. Intel CPUs still provide the absolute performance advantage, but you’ll pay significantly more to get it. Buy an AMD Ryzen CPU, however, and you’ll get great performance at every price point, from the lower-end Ryzen 5, all the way up to the monstrous Ryzen Threadripper. AMD is even poised to compete strongly in the mobile market, with its newest Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) solutions making their way into notebooks at the tail end of 2017.

And that’s not the only development putting pressure on Intel’s CPU hegemony in PCs. Qualcomm and Microsoft partnered up in 2017 to introduce the Always Connected PC concept, which pair Qualcomm ARM processors with an optimized version of Windows 10 that promise mobile-like battery life, instant-on capabilities. They’re not on store shelves yet, but the first models were announced, and will be sold in spring of 2018.

Intel won’t take these developments sitting down, but there’s new competition in town that’s challenging the status quo. That’s good news. Competition should mean faster, more affordable processors for everyone.

Conclusion

2017 was an important year for the PC. Computers are more flexible and functional than ever, thanks to the 2-in-1’s rise to popularity. Yet there’s also more to do with high-end hardware – like enjoy the latest VR games – and more new hardware to choose from. We expect those trends to continue in 2018, and hope problems like security flaws and AI advancement don’t take away from the fun.

Editors’ Recommendations

• HP Spectre x360 13 vs. Lenovo Yoga 920: Fighting for convertible 2-in-1 primacy
• AMD is more than the Threadripper. Here are the best AMD CPUs on any budget
• Lenovo Yoga 920 review
• The best 2-in-1 laptops you can buy
• Microsoft’s Surface Book 2 available for pre-order starting November 9

Xiaomi’s next A.I.-packed voice assistant speaker may support Cortana

Xiaomi revealed through its Mi Community that it will offer a new voice assistant speaker for $30 in January. Sold by Xiaomi subsidiary Yeelight, the big deal with this device is that it will sport two virtual assistants: One based on Xiaomi artificial intelligence technology to be used within China, and Amazon Alexa for customers located in the Western market. This dual-A.I. support enables Yeelight to sell the voice assistant speaker on a global scale.

Although Xiaomi and Yeelight didn’t elaborate on the stated China-based A.I. technology, speculation points to possible Microsoft Cortana integration. Microsoft and Xiaomi made a deal in May 2016 that would bring Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Skype to Xiaomi phones as pre-installed apps. In return, Microsoft sold 1,500 patents to Xiaomi. Both companies officially called the move a “cross-license and patent transfer agreement.”

The puzzle piece stringing all this together is Microsoft’s Azure platform. It powers not only the cloud aspects of Microsoft’s apps, but Xiaomi’s Mi Cloud service as well. Since Cortana is a key component of the Azure platform, creating AI technology based on Cortana — and possibly using related patents purchased and/or licensed by Microsoft — seemingly backs up all the Cortana speculation related to the new voice assistant speaker.

Still, Xiaomi and Yeelight didn’t officially announce Cortana support, only Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. Meanwhile, here are the specifications:

Speaker:
1x 2-watt
Voice input:
6x microphones
Voice input range:
Up to 16.4 feet
Processor:
Quad-core Cortex-A53 chip
Memory:
256MB
Storage:
256MB
Connectivity:
Dual-band Wi-Fi
Bluetooth Low Energy
Buttons:
Microphone off
Speaker off
Power
Volume up
Volume down
Price:
~$30

“Yeelight Voice Assistant is equipped with Dual A.I. system and can also be used for the control of other Xiaomi home automation products, such as smart LED lamps, table lamps, bedside lamps, ceiling lights, etc,” the announcement states. “The device is currently supporting only of Xiaomi branded home automation products for the Xiaomi smart home, while in the coming weeks support will be extended to more devices.”

If the Yeelight Voice Assistant is indeed powered by Cortana, it would be one of only three stand-alone speakers to support Microsoft’s assistant. Samsung-owned Harman launched the Harman Kardon Invoke speaker in October, standing 9.5 inches tall and packing three woofers, three tweeters, and two passive radiators. It not only supports Cortana but has hands-free calling using Skype. Two months after its release, the Invoke now only costs $100, half of its original price.

Meanwhile, HP is slated to launch a stand-alone Cortana-powered speaker in the near future. HP’s version was originally slated for the 2017 holidays, but it may not appear until the CES 2018 technology show in a few weeks. The device originally made an appearance as a slide during Microsoft’s Build conference in May followed by Computex.

That all said, the Yeelight Voice Assistant will land on store shelves in China on January 31. Whether it actually supports Cortana remains to be seen. It will follow the tower-shaped Mi A.I. speaker launched earlier this year in China for $45.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Cheetah Mobile’s Android launcher is the first to feature Microsoft’s Cortana
• LG’s ThinQ is a new Google Assistant smart speaker taking aim at Alexa
• August Home’s smart locks now come with a deeper Amazon Alexa integration
• 2018 Nissan Rogue small SUVs continue to be the automaker’s top-selling models
• Google’s AlphaGo Zero charts a startling new course in AI research

OnePlus 5T gets numerous camera improvements and December security patch

OxygenOS 4.7.6.

There are a lot of reasons to love the OnePlus 5T, and one of them is its software experience. OnePlus’s OxygenOS is one of the best alternatives to stock Android, and along with its smooth performance and many customization options, OnePlus has done a great job over the years with fast and plentiful updates.

OxygenOS 4.7.6 recently started rolling out to the OnePlus 5T, and although it’s a fairly incremental update, there are a few nice improvements to the camera package that should make your pictures look noticeably better, including:

• Stability improvements
• Clarity improvements for selfie in low light
• Performance improvements for 3rd party camera apps

In addition to this, you’ll also find a variety of general system updates:

• Added assistive lighting for face unlock
• Improvements for expanded screenshot
• Improvements for Wi-Fi display
• Updated Android security patch to December

OxygenOS 4.7.6 is available for the OnePlus 5T now, and if it hasn’t arrived on your phone unit just yet, it should be ready within the next couple days.

Oreo for the OnePlus 5T coming as early as this week

OnePlus 5T and OnePlus 5

• OnePlus 5T review: Come for the value, not the excitement
• OnePlus 5T specs
• Should you upgrade from the OnePlus 3T?
• OnePlus 5T vs. Galaxy S8: Beast mode
• All of the latest OnePlus 5T news
• Join the discussion in the forums

OnePlus
Amazon

Sony discovered to be working on Xperia XA2 Ultra

Spoiler alert – it has a big screen.

A lot of midrange handsets were released in 2017, but for those that love big displays above all else, one of your best options was the Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra. The XA1 Ultra launched this past spring with reasonable specifications, but its biggest draw was definitely its 6-inch 1920 x 1080 Full HD display.

Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra.

Now, according to Malaysia’s SIRIM product certification system, it would appear that Sony is working on a successor. The phone is referred to as the Xperia XA2 Ultra, and it features the model number H4233. Not much else can be seen aside from this, but something worth mentioning is that this is the same model number that appeared on a GFXBench benchmark in September.

According to that benchmark, the XA2 Ultra will come equipped with another 6-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 630 processor, 4GB RAM, and 64GB of storage. Also expected is a 21MP rear camera, 15MP front-facing camera, and Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box.

These specs should be taken with a grain of salt, but seeing as how we’ll likely get an official announcement during Mobile World Congress this coming February, we won’t have to wait too much longer before the XA2 Ultra’s unveiling.

Sony Xperia XZ and XZs now being updated to Android 8.0 Oreo (Update)

Best PlayStation 4 Accessories as of December 2017

Your PS4 is fine on its own, but these accessories can help complete the experience!

My Momma told me that the key to any good outfit is the right accessories.

That’s not true. She never said that, but it sounds like the sort of thing that some mom somewhere said. The same, however, is certainly true for gaming setups. The right gaming accessories can spell the difference between just playing video games and having a gaming experience.

There are so many options when it comes to accessories for the PlayStation 4. We’ve curated the best of the best to help take your PS4 experience to the next level!

Headset

So the kids or the roommates are sound asleep and you’re ready to blast some baddies with a rocket launcher. The only problem is that you want to blast the volume while you do it. There is a solution to your woes. Pick up an Arctis 7 Steel Series headset and you will never have to worry about waking people up again. It’s has everything you might want from a gaming headset for your PS4: great sound, good comfort level, lag-free wireless audio, and a killer battery life. Happy silent gaming!

See at Amazon

Charger

I know what you’re thinking and yes there is a way to charge your PS4 controllers and display them stylishly. When you’re kicked back on the couch with your feet up you can look over and rest easy knowing that your controllers are charging and lookin’ sweet when you see the soft blue glow of this dual controller charging stand.

See at Amazon

VR

File this under pricey but game-changing. Are you ready to take PlayStation gaming to the next level? If the answer is yes then you might as well consider the accessory to beat all accessories. The PlayStation VR will afford you the opportunity to at last take the helm of a Starfleet ship, climb the mountains of Skyrim, or get the pants scared off of you in Resident Evil. The world of VR is yours for the taking.

See at Amazon

Fighting Stick

Maybe VR isn’t right for you. Maybe you like your gaming experience to feel more like an evening playing Streetfighter 2 Turbo: Hyper Fighting at the local pizza parlor. The problem is that you will never come close to that experience with the standard PlayStation 4 controller. What you need is a real deal fighting stick. Pick up this Qanba Obsidian fighting stick and you will be ready to take on all comers. And with the satisfying click of Sanwa buttons you will be in fighting game heaven.

See at Amazon

Steering Wheel

All right, all right, so maybe fighting games are not your raison d’etre. You’re more of a pedal to the metal, rubber meets the road sort of gamer. You love racing games and much like your fighting game loving cousins, it’s all about the controller. If you’re going to go all in with racing games you might as well go all in with your controller and pick up a Driving Force G29 racing wheel. At last, you will be able to brake and hit the gas with your feet the way good ol’ Hank Ford intended.

See at Amazon

The great part about accessories is that it allows you to make the game experience unique to you. If you’re looking for something more then you don’t have to live with what comes out of the box. Happy gaming and happy accessorizing!

PlayStation 4

• PS4 vs. PS4 Slim vs. PS4 Pro: Which should you buy?
• PlayStation VR Review
• Playing PS4 games through your phone is awesome

Amazon

Is OnePlus working on a Sandstone OnePlus 5T?

You have our attention.

The OnePlus One is a memorable phone for a lot of different reasons, but one thing about the device that’s always stuck with me is its Sandstone back. OnePlus used its Sandstone material on the OnePlus One and OnePlus 2, and its combination of being grippy and smooth at the same time made it one of the most unique phone materials to date.

Don’t get too excited just yet, but it looks like OnePlus may be bringing it back for the 5T.

OnePlus recently uploaded a video to its YouTube channel called “What’s in the Box?”, and it shows a handful of different people feeling a mystery product inside a covered box. It’s never revealed what exactly they’re touching, but the individuals in the clip say that it’s “smooth”, “a little bit textured”, “like a stone”, and “quite grippy.” As if that wasn’t on the nose enough, one person even says “It might be the OnePlus One Sandstone.”

While it’s entirely possible that OnePlus could just be teasing some random accessory with a Sandstone texture, we’re inclined to believe that it is, in fact, a OnePlus 5T.

The Star Wars version of the 5T that OnePlus released in select markets stands out the most for its white color and red alert slider, but one thing that’s not really noticeable in pictures/renders its Sandstone material on the back. As Harish noted in his hands-on with the phone:

Unlike the glossy metal back on the standard variant of the OnePlus 5T, the Star Wars edition comes with a Sandstone finish à la OnePlus One and OnePlus 2. The textured coating makes the device incredibly grippy, and is generally a huge improvement over the standard 5T.

OnePlus says it’ll “unbox the mystery” in January 2018, and until then, we’ll be over here crossing our fingers for a Sandstone 5T.

OnePlus 5T and OnePlus 5

• OnePlus 5T review: Come for the value, not the excitement
• OnePlus 5T specs
• Should you upgrade from the OnePlus 3T?
• OnePlus 5T vs. Galaxy S8: Beast mode
• All of the latest OnePlus 5T news
• Join the discussion in the forums

OnePlus
Amazon

Kroger is the next grocery chain hoping to cut checkout lines

It’s not just tech giants like Amazon or corporate behemoths like Walmart that are hoping to reduce the need for checkout lines. Kroger is expanding its Scan, Bag, Go self-checkout technology from a handful of stores in the Cincinnati area (which have been testing it for 5 years) to 400 stores in 2018. The system is mostlysimilar to Walmart’s approach: you scan items as you add them to your cart throughout the store, letting you breeze through the self-checkout terminal once you’ve paid through your goods (in this case, at the terminal itself). It’s not certain which stores will receive the tech, but an announcement is expected in early 2018.

It’s no secret as to why chains like Kroger are expanding upgraded self-checkout tech after being content to test it in a limited fashion for years. The desire to cut costs (and unfortunately, jobs) helps, but this is also a counter to Amazon’s growing presence in the grocery world, especially now that it owns Whole Foods. If established chains don’t make it easier to skip the lines, there’s a real chance that Amazon will lure those customers away with promises of scrapping lines, checkouts and in some cases the need to enter the store.

Source: Houston Business Journal

‘PUBG’ sets new record with three million simultaneous players

In case you needed further proof that people really, really, really like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), Steam has your back. Today, the game shattered its previous concurrent-players record by more than double the amount, peaking at 3,106,358 this morning, according to Valve’s game-selling platform. As of this month, PUBG had some 25 million players on PC overall. In September, the game peaked at 1,342,857 concurrent players.

Not too shabby for a game that only recently exited beta. The closest competitor to today’s numbers? The free-to-play Dota 2 (again), with a comparatively paltry 704,938. By comparison, PUBG amassed over a million players on Xbox One in its first 48 hours a few weeks back.

OVER 3 MILLION!! Thank you all for helping us reach this amazing milestone! GG WP everybody ❤ pic.twitter.com/twUQkSkP5U

— PLAYERUNKNOWN (@PLAYERUNKNOWN) December 29, 2017

Via: Polygon

Source: Steam, PlayerUnknown (Twitter)

2017’s biggest cybersecurity facepalms

2017 was a year like no other for cybersecurity. It was the year we found out the horrid truths at Uber and Equifax, and border security took our passwords. A year of WannaCry and Kaspersky, VPNs and blockchains going mainstream, health care hacking, Russian hackers, WikiLeaks playing for Putin’s team, and hacking back.

In 2017 we learned that cybersecurity is a Lovecraftian game in which you trade sanity for information.

Let’s review the year that was (and hopefully will never be again).

Moscow mules

This was the year Kaspersky finally got all the big press it’s been angling for. Unfortunately for the antivirus company, it wasn’t for its research. Kaspersky spent an uncomfortable year in the headlines being accused of working with Russia’s FSB (former KGB). Eventually those suspicions got it banned from use by US government agencies.

Kaspersky’s alleged coziness with Putin’s inner circle has made the rounds in the press and infosec gossip for years. But it came to a head when an NSA probe surfaced, the Senate pushed for a ban, and — oddly — the Trump administration came with the executioner’s ax.

Obviously, Kaspersky — the company and its CEO of the same name — denied the accusations, and offered to work with the US government. They offered up their code for review and filed suit when the ban passed.

At this point, the only thing that might save Kaspersky’s reputation in the US would be finding us that pee tape. Fingers crossed.

Be still, my backdoored heart

A ransomware attack on Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in 2016 put health care hacking center stage, but in 2017 it turned into a true nightmare.

The WannaCry ransomware attack spread like wildfire, locking up a third of the National Health Service (NHS) in England. That was followed by other worms, like Petya/NotPetya, which hit US hospitals in June.

The security of pacemakers was exposed as being awful, specifically in the case of medical device manufacturer St. Jude Medical (now rebranded as Abbott). A lot of people hated on researcher Justine Bone and MedSec for the way they went about exposing pacemaker flaws, but they were right. The FDA put a painful pin in it when it notified the public of a voluntary recall (as a firmware update) of 465,000 pacemakers made by St. Jude Medical.

Meanwhile, white-hat hackers put together the first Cyber Med Summit — a doctor-run hacker boot camp for medical professionals. That the Summit exists is a tiny bit of good news in our medical mess, but it also proved that you should probably make sure your doctor keeps a hacker on staff.

Medical staff at the Summit got a wake-up call about medical-device exploits and concluded they need to add “hacking” to their list of possible problems to assess and diagnose.

I’m not crying, you’re crying

On May 12, more than 150 countries were hit in one weekend by a huge ransomware crime wave named WannaCry. The attack was derived from a remote code execution vulnerability (in Windows XP up through Windows Server 2012) called “EternalBlue,” found in the April Shadow Brokers/NSA dump. Those who did their Windows updates were not affected.

WannaCry demanded $300 in bitcoin from each victim, and among those included were the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). The ransomworm was stopped in its tracks by the registration of a single domain that behaved like a kill switch. The creators apparently neglected to secure their own self-destruct button.

Researcher MalwareTech was the hero of the day with his quick thinking, but he was sadly repaid by having his identity outed by British tabloids. Adding insult to injury, he was later arrested on unrelated charges as he attempted to fly home after the DEF CON hacking conference in August.

Two weeks after the attack, Symantec published a report saying the ransomware showed strong links to the Lazarus group (North Korea).

Others independently came to the same conclusion. Eight months later, and just in time for his boss’ warmongering on North Korea, Trump team member Thomas P. Bossert wrote in the Wall Street Journal that “the U.S. today publicly attributes the massive ‘WannaCry’ cyberattack to North Korea.”

Maybe he’s just a backdoor man

US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in October introduced the world to the new and totally made-up concept of “responsible encryption” — and was promptly laughed out of the collective infosec room.

“Responsible encryption is effective secure encryption, coupled with access capabilities,” he said.

He suggested that the feds won’t mandate encryption backdoors “so long as companies can cough up an unencrypted copy of every message, call, photo or other form of communications they handle.”

Even non-infosec people thought his new PR buzzwords were suspect. “Look, it’s real simple. Encryption is good for our national security; it’s good for our economy. We should be strengthening encryption, not weakening it. And it’s technically impossible to have strong encryption with any kind of backdoor,” said Representative Will Hurd (R-Texas) at The Atlantic’s Cyber Frontier event in Washington, D.C.

Politico wrote:

It’s a cause Rosenstein has quietly pursued for years, including two cases in 2014 and 2015 when, as the US attorney in Maryland, he sought to take companies to court to make them unscramble their data, a DOJ official told POLITICO. But higher-ups in President Barack Obama’s Justice Department decided against it, said the official, who isn’t authorized to speak to the news media about the cases.

To everyone’s dismay, Rosenstein doubled down on his “responsible encryption” campaign when he capitalized on a mass shooting — using as his example the phone of Devin Patrick Kelley, who opened fire on a congregation in Texas, killing 26 people.

He said, “Nobody has a legitimate privacy interest in that phone … But the company that built it claims that it purposely designed the operating system so that the company cannot open the phone even with an order from a federal judge.”

Like Uber, but for Equifax

If there was some kind of reverse beauty pageant for worst look, worst behavior, and best example of what not to do with security, we’d need a tiebreaker for 2017. Equifax and Uber dominated the year with their awfulness.

Equifax was forced to admit it was hacked badly in both March and July, with the latter affecting around 200 million Americans (plus 400,000 in the UK). Motherboard reported that “six months after the researcher first notified the company about the vulnerability, Equifax patched it — but only after the massive breach that made headlines had already taken place… This revelation opens the possibility that more than one group of hackers broke into the company.”

Shares of Equifax plummeted 35 percent after the July disclosure. And news that some of its execs sold off stock before the breach was made public triggered a criminal probe.

Which brings us to the “unicorn” that fell from grace.

In late November, Uber admitted it was hacked in October 2016, putting 57 million users and more than half a million drivers at risk. Uber didn’t report the breach to anyone — victims or regulators — then paid $100,000 to the hackers to keep it quiet and hid the payment as a bug bounty. All of which led to the high-profile firing and departures of key security team members.

Just a couple of weeks later, in mid-December, the now notorious “Jacobs letter” was unsealed, accusing Uber of spying and hacking. “It was written by the attorney of a former employee, Richard Jacobs, and it contains claims that the company routinely tried to hack its competitors to gain an edge,” Engadget wrote, and “used a team of spies to steal secrets or surveil political figures and even bugged meetings between transport regulators — with some of this information delivered directly to former CEO Travis Kalanick.”

The letter was so explosive, it’s now the trial between Uber and Waymo — so we can be sure we haven’t seen the last of Uber’s security disasters in the news.

Images: Getty Images/iStockphoto (Wannacry); D. Thomas Magee (all illustrations)

All 50 states opt in to AT&T’s FirstNet public safety network

FirstNet, the nationwide broadband network for first responders, will be the official public safety network for all 50 US states. The network has been a very long time coming. Having been initially proposed following the 9/11 attacks, the FCC approved LTE to be the standard on which it would function back in 2011. In March, AT&T was selected by the First Responder Network Authority to build and run the network and in June, the company began sending its plans to state governments for review. States had until yesterday to decide whether they would opt in or out of the program and all 50 decided to approve it. Washington DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands also opted in while American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands have until March 12th to make their decisions.

The FirstNet program will be funded by success-based payments from the First Responder Network Authority that will total $6.5 billion over the next five years and AT&T says it will contribute around $40 billion over the next 25 years as it builds and manages the network. FirstNet will give first responders dedicated access to LTE coverage and starting today the network will run on AT&T’s existing LTE infrastructure. Next year, the company will expand the network, adding Band 14 spectrum — the spectrum specifically licensed for FirstNet — on tens of thousands of towers across the country. “The full FirstNet experience will come to life over the next 5 years. And as it does, we’ll continue to explore upgrades — like 5G — that will give first responders the best connection on their own network dedicated to them when they need it,” AT&T said in a statement.

Via: Reuters

Source: AT&T