iRobot and Black & Decker settle over alleged patent infringement

iRobot, maker of the Roomba vacuum, has taken to challenging its competitors over alleged patent violations in an effort to hold on to its market share. In April, it named a number of companies including Black & Decker, Bissell, iLife and Hoover in a complaint filed to the US International Trade Commission wherein it asked the commission to investigate their supposed patent violations and ban any products that it finds to incorporate any infringed upon intellectual property. Now, however, iRobot says it has reached an agreement with Black & Decker.

Most of the settlement’s contents are confidential, but iRobot says that Black & Decker has agreed to stop selling its robotic vacuums for a certain period of time once it works through its current inventory. In return, iRobot has removed its competitor from the pending US International Trade Commission investigation and US District Court of Massachusetts case. “This settlement represents another successful milestone in the enforcement effort iRobot initiated earlier this year,” Glen Weinstein, chief legal officer at iRobot, said in a statement. “iRobot believes in the strength of its patents, and the agreement by Black & Decker to discontinue sales of any home robotic vacuums for a certain period of time signifies, yet again, the value of iRobot’s intellectual property.”

Source: iRobot

BMW partnership will develop solid-state EV batteries

BMW is jumping into the solid-state battery game and it’s doing so by teaming up with battery-developer Solid Power. The company is a spin-out from the University of Colorado Boulder and has been developing solid-state rechargeable batteries since 2012. BMW is partnering with Solid Power to bring its battery technology to electric vehicles. “Since the company’s inception, the Solid Power team has worked to develop and scale a competitive solid-state battery paying special attention to safety, performance and cost,” Doug Campbell, founder and CEO of Solid Power, said in a statement. “Collaborating with BMW is further validation that solid-state battery innovations will continue to improve electric vehicles.”

Solid-state batteries offer a few advantages over the lithium-ion batteries largely in use today including greater energy density and, therefore, increased driving range when used in EVs, less chance of fire or explosion and rapid recharging. The benefits of solid-state batteries are why so many companies, including Fisker, Toyota and Google, are looking to develop the technology and ultimately incorporate them into their products.

Batteries that limit EVs’ driving ranges will certainly keep these types of vehicles from becoming mainstream. So technology that can stretch those driving distances and make EVs as convenient as traditional gas-powered cars will be a must when it comes to expanding their use and, therefore, the environmental benefits they afford.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Solid Power

China’s most popular game is about to launch in the US

You might not have even heard of Arena of Valor (outside of a Twitch tourney), but it’s all-consuming in its native China, with 200 million registered players and over 80 million daily active users. Tencent’s mobile-only MOBA game, known as Honor of Kings in its original form, is so popular in its homeland that tournaments are everywhere and the game has time limits to prevent kids from playing too long. And now, Tencent wants it to become a household name in the rest of the world. In a confirmation of some earlier rumors, the tech giant is formally launching Arena of Valor worldwide on December 19th, with users in North and South America getting their first crack at the Android and iOS hit.

Watch Arena of Valor MAJOR Announcement & Giveaways! from ArenaofValor on http://www.twitch.tv

Arena sticks to Honor’s core MOBA formula, where teams of five distinctive heroes clash in a bid to take over each other’s bases. The largest change is a cultural one: Arena drops Chinese legends in favor of Western fantasy tropes, and it switches to Facebook for connecting friends instead of WeChat.

The game has been available in Europe since August, and has had at least some success with more than 2 million downloads. The problem, as The Verge notes, is that Chinese companies have historically had problems translating the success of their domestic games to an international audience. The titles rarely have any name recognition outside of China, and there are differences in gaming habits that make success difficult. Where limited access to games has led to MOBAs becoming wildly popular on phones in China, there’s a stigma against mobile gaming in North America.

Tencent is creating an eSports league to boost competitive play and is partnering with livestreamers to drum up hype, but there’s no guarantee of success — certainly not when it has to take on established titles like Vainglory. However, it’s the attempt that matters. Chinese behemoths like Tencent know they’ll have to move beyond their home turf to keep growing, and that means doing more than acquiring foreign companies (Tencent owns League of Legends’ Riot Games and a piece of Activision Blizzard) to ride on their successes.

Source: The Verge, Twitch

DHS finds first responder apps are plagued by security issues

While it’s great that a consumer app like Waze started offering traffic data to help first responders avoid traffic, emergency professionals have been using their own suite of apps for awhile. But how safe are they? The Department of Homeland Security initiated a pilot program to vet the security of 33 different apps provided by 20 developers — and found that 32 of them had potential security and privacy concerns and more serious vulnerabilities.

Some of the privacy issues included required access to the device camera, contacts and SMS. But eighteen of the apps had ‘critical flaws’ including hard-coded credentials stored in binary, SSL certificate issues and susceptibility to data interception. The pilot project’s staff alerted each appmaker, and Ten developers remediated their products thus far, while security and privacy issues were addressed in 14 of the apps.

It took most of the developers less than an hour to make those fixes, according to the DHS press release. Closing the vulnerabilities was as simple as removing old or unused code, enabling operating system protections and checking whether the apps actually needed some of the permissions they were requesting. Technically, this vetting pilot program was a success for finding vulnerabilities, but it’s unclear how long they were in use before anyone caught wind of their security flaws.

All apps surveyed are listed in the public responder app marketplace AppComm, which is run by Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO), a participant in this pilot program.

Via: CNET

Source: Department of Homeland Security

Apple’s Annual Meeting of Shareholders to Take Place on February 13, Pre-Registration Required

Apple today updated its website for investors to note that its 2018 Annual Meeting of the shareholders will take place at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park on February 13, 2018.

The record date for the meeting is December 15, 2017, and Apple plans to publish additional details about the upcoming meeting in the near future when the proxy statement is filed.

Apple says it expects more shareholders to want to attend than there are seats available, and so advance registration is required using a unique control number that will be issued following the filing of the proxy statement.

Once our proxy statement is filed, the bank, broker, or other organization that holds your Apple shares will be issuing proxy materials to you that will include a unique control number. You’ll need that number to register for the meeting at proxyvote.com beginning at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time on January 22, 2018, and registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

To ensure you receive your proxy materials in a timely way, please make sure that your contact information is current at the organization that holds your shares.

Shareholders can register to attend the meeting at Proxyvote.com starting at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time on January 22, 2018. Apple plans to accept registrations on a first-come, first-served basis.

Apple earlier this month asked the SEC for permission to skip shareholder proposals involving issues like greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, and human rights. Apple says these topics do not need to be addressed as they are areas that it “routinely reviews” and are not representative of “significant policy issues” requiring a shareholder vote.

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Wicked Audio’s Outcry Bluetooth speakers review: Why affordable doesn’t have to mean bad

In the market for an affordable, quality Bluetooth speaker? You might want to check out what Wicked Audio has to offer.

A brand many of you are probably acquainted with (their products are sold via Best Buy, Amazon and more), Wicked Audio’s portfolio also includes two Bluetooth speakers.  I’ve been testing them both for the last few weeks, and I have to say I’m quite taken with them. With competitive price tags attached to them, these two speakers provide a great alternative for music lovers who don’t want to spend premium on an entertainment device they might not use on a daily basis.

The first thing that struck me when I received the two speakers was the super cool packaging. I am an illustration/graffiti lover, and the boxes of these speakers were adorned with lots of fun art to behold. A real visual treat indeed and definitely something I wasn’t expecting. Also kudos for the name; Wicked Audio sounds a lot better than Sonos or Sennheiser or anything of the sort.

But what about the products? I’m getting there…

Wicked Audio Outcry, the mini Bluetooth speaker

The two Wicked Audio speakers are named Outcry (the smaller, portable one) and Outcry Extreme (the bigger one) and you can get them set up in an instant. Just turn them on, while also making sure Bluetooth on your mobile device is on. The Wicked Audio speakers should show up in the Available Devices section on your phone and from there you can easily pair them together. Note that you can only pair one mobile device to either of the speakers at a time.

The smaller Outcry speaker is a tiny cylinder, that can fit basically anywhere (in your pocket, palm or in your bag/purse). It feels quite sturdy in hand, as it’s made of durable materials, and it’s also water-resistant. The speaker grill lives at the top and that’s where the sound comes out.

The tiny Outcry does a pretty swell job of filling a room with music, even as it relies on a less than stellar 40mm driver. Portability is probably this speaker’s main selling point, as well as the fact that it features manual controls that let you adjust the volume on the speaker without actually doing so from the smartphone.

What’s more, as mentioned above the Outcry is pretty sturdy. I’m a pretty clumsy individual and I must confess I must have dropped the speaker at least three times. Two times it was playing music, but it continued to stream the sound unperturbed. I could not spot any scratches or anything like that either.

The mini speaker has a battery life of only 3 hours – which isn’t much – and takes up to 1.5 hours to fully recharge. Wicked Audio notes it has a Bluetooth range of 32ft/10m and in my experience of using it in my small apartment, I didn’t notice any connection drops.

What about the larger Wicked Audio Outcry Extreme?

Wicked Audio Outcry Extreme gets the party started

Despite the aesthetically pleasing package design, the Wicked Audio Outcry Extreme Bluetooth Speaker boasts a very familiar look. It’s rectangular in shape with rounded ends and features a grille made from metal that wraps around most of the speaker except for plastic-made top and bottom. Technically, the Outcry Extreme isn’t a true 360-degree speaker, but it does have sound coming out from the back, as well as the front.

The Outcry Extreme features an On/Off switch on the back of the device, alongside a 3.5mm headphone jack and microUSB port for charging. On top of the speakers, you’ll find the manual controls for adjusting volume, skip or play/pause tracks, as well as answering phone calls.

Like it’s smaller brother, it’s designed to entertain. Not only will the speaker provide a robust musical background, but it also put a smile on your face every time you connect (or disconnect) your phone to it. When the Bluetooth connection is lost or you disconnect it, the speaker lets out a frustrated “Grr” sound, but when it connects again, it will greet you with a goofy “Ding!”.

Moving on to sound quality, the Outcry Extreme features twin 45mm drivers that managed to do a pretty decent job when the sound volume wasn’t too high. When playing some tracks (mostly metal or rock) at full volume, the sound had a tendency to become quite distorted. Bass lines aren’t particularly striking either, although Wicked Audio promises “earth-shattering, rock you to the core, ghetto blaster bass”. Fortunately, if you have a music player such as nPlayer installed on your phone, you can use its embedded equalizer to enhance the bass experience.

Obviously, the Outcry Extreme is louder than the tiny Outcry, but even so don’t expect it rattle your windows.

Another observation that might prove relevant to some. The Outcry Extreme and smaller Outcry don’t shut themselves off when you disconnect Bluetooth or leave it inactive for a while. You’ll just have to do it manually.

The Wicked Audio Outcry Extreme offers up to 8 hours of audio playback but will take more than half that time (4.5 hours) to fully recharge, so it’s best to do it overnight.

The Outcry Extreme has the same Bluetooth range as the tiny Outcry (32ft/10m) and is also water-resistant, so it shouldn’t be harmed if you forget it in the backyard and a few drops of rain end up touching it.

Conclusion

While the Outcry speakers don’t deliver the kind of audio that makes you feel you’re standing in a concert hall with the band is playing on stage in front of you, they do offer decent quality sound and set of functions without breaking the bank. Not to mention great packaging. The mini Outcry is available for $29.99 a pop, while the Outcry Extreme can be yours for $54.99. They would surely make great Christmas gifts!

Sennheiser IE 80 S In-Ear Headphones Review

It’s been a while since we’ve seen movement from Sennheiser’s higher end earphones. That is, the company’s IE line of in-ears, where the mid-range has been owned by the IE 80 and the flagship of the series being the IE 800 (which we looked at) for the past few years. Well, Sennheiser is now getting around to updating its shining stars. And judging by the nomenclature, we very well are looking at refinement rather than reimagining.

Taking a page from Apple’s naming method, Sennheiser tacks on an “S” to the model name. Here, we’re taking a look at the new contender for mid-range in-ear king, the IE 80 S.

Much of what made the original IE 80 great is still here, like the detachable cable and analog bass adjustment, but the design/ergonomics and acoustics have been reworked for the better. Let’s take a look at what to expect.

Design

Since this is a refinement, the overall form of the IE 80 S reflects that of the original. They still have that interesting trapezoidal shape and are meant to be worn around the ear. One immediate difference in the design is the reduction of the brushed metal plate on the flat, outward surface of the earpieces.

We don’t think everyone will be a fan of this move, as the metal looks more premium than the predominate material of the earpiece chassis, which feels like your standard-fare hard plastic (but with a stealthy, smooth matte finish). But we can understand what Sennheiser was going for. This is a more streamlined look and it draws the eyes to the Sennheiser logo and that intriguing bass control dial.

Durability is something else Sennheiser says was a focus with the IE 80 S, and we believe it. The earpiece housing, connector neck, and cable construction all feel like they can hold up to a beating.

Speaking of the cable, it’s also looks like it’s made of a pretty standard-fare black sheathing. It feels better in-hand, by sporting a smooth, rubbery finish. It has a thickness that backs its durable up-bringing, which serves good for resisting tangles but not for being the most compact when rolled up for travel.

Usability

We’re glad that the IE 80 S comes with a similarly awesome selection of accessories like its predecessor. First and foremost are the wide variety of ear tips, which now include different sizes of Comply foam tips. The in-canal seal is extremely important with in-ear headphones, and anyone should be able to find something that works out of these nine different pairs.

That said, I didn’t have a very positive experience with either types of the silicone tips. I don’t know if it’s because the stubby shape of the tips, or their firmness, but I had a hard time getting an appropriate seal. It’s hard for a reviewer to comment about this aspect of an in-ear, because all ear canals are different. But for what it’s worth, I try a lot of earphones and these gave me more fit trouble than usual. I eventually found that jamming them in tightly got me the seal I wanted. Anyways, I’m glad that Sennheiser threw in foam tips as an option. Things were all good using those. And you may want to opt for foam anyways, because isolation isn’t this earphone’s strong suit.

Fortunately, our fit issues didn’t bode badly for comfort. The earpieces are lighter than they look, and their unique trapezoidal shape actually fit nicely in the ear. We actually barely feel them when donned, and that’s what you want. The around-the-ear wear makes for a secure fit, which works together with the thick rubbery sheathing to stop microphonics at its tracks. These are earphones you can workout with; they stay in place despite movement.

We love that Sennheiser retained cable swappability, but hate that it’s with a proprietary 2-pin connector – which means third-party cables are a no-go.

We must mention a slight difference with the design of this around-the-ear earphone compared to others. The stem interface where the cable connects to the earpiece is long and sticks up vertically when you wear the earphones. This is partly what makes the IE 80 S so comfortable, but we did find that it caused the cable to fall from our ears at times (when turning our head). You’ll want to utilize the chin slider to keep the cables tightly against you, or use the optional ear hooks that are included.

The cable has a generous length short of 4 ft (3.93′ to be exact). Sennheiser made a tweak to the Y-splitter, smoothing out the original blocky form. For some reason, it has also changed the orientation of the 3.5mm jack. It used to be right-angled and now is straight. We feel like this is an unnecessary change and also inconsistent, because the update to the IE 800, the IE 800 S, continues to use a right-angle connector. Please choose one method and stick to it.

The bass tuning dial on each earpiece requires a small flathead tool, which Sennheiser places on the opposite end of the ear wax cleaning tool – so you’ll want to make sure you have this around if you often change the bass. There’s five little markers with a quarter circle section in which to increase the bass.

We really wish that Sennheiser at the very least marked the lower and upper limits of the bass dial. There’s no visual reference, so you have to remember what you last set it on. If you forget, you’ll have to listen, change it, and listen again to figure it out. You of course can try to remember what’s what relative to the earpiece orientation, but we still stand by that a simple marker would have been best.

Sound

Sennheiser set themselves up for scrutiny when it comes to the sound of the IE 80 S, because it’s one of the big updates and a big reason why you’ll be paying the original premium of this headphone. Suffice to say, the IE 80 S doesn’t disappoint.

One of the things that continues to stands out in Sennheiser’s audio reproduction is clarity. We’ve seen it in our listen of the wallet-busting IE 800, and we can tell a similar prowess in the IE 80 S. Throughout the spectrum, notes cleanly hit with appreciable separation. There’s plenty here to enjoy from an analytical standpoint, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t the kind of energy that gets our feet thumping.

Many headphone makers opt for a V-shaped frequency response to get this kind of impact. Sennheiser aims for a good balance between impact and accuracy with a U-shaped response, which lifts bass and treble but keeps the mid-range appreciable. I’m usually a stickler about ample mid-range presence, but didn’t find the IE 80 S really lacking in this area. What helps is the natural and airy vocals.

Out of the box, we didn’t feel that the bass needed any boosting. It’s the strongest aspect of the sound by default. But it is nice that Sennheiser includes an analog boost for bassheads; this is an option rarely found on earphones. We really enjoyed the bass on the IE 80 S. It’s authoritative, which coupled with its ability to be tuned should make this the best choice for basshead audiophiles. The qualities of both the bass and treble are about the same level for us; they’re where they should be at this price range but could be better. The mid-bass has a looseness to our ears, and the sub-bass isn’t as deep as what you’d find on the IE 800, nor is the treble is extended/sparkly as it either.

But what helps the entire presentation (and pleasure) is the airy soundstage. The IE 80 S follows in the steps of its more expensive counterpart in this respect. So this means that it’s a more 3D space than it is wide, and the dynamics of different notes in the space are superb.

Final Thoughts

We reckon that the two biggest questions that the IE 80 S will raise are if they’re a worthy upgrade and if they’re worth their hefty $350 price. We’re more inclined to say Yes to the second question than the first, but it will come down to what the listener values. The IE 80 S in no way wipes the floor with the original IE 80, and the recommendation becomes difficult when the still-capable original costs $150 less than the new guy.

But if sound quality means a lot to you (which, if you’re thinking about dropping a few hundred, then it probably does), than the IE 80 S may be worth it. Sennheiser has carried over some of its higher level expertise to its mid-range champ and it can make a valuable difference. It also helps how the device is refined as much out as it is in.

Sennheiser IE 80 S

Twitter bans extremist account retweeted by Trump

Twitter’s enforcement of its new anti-hate rules is having a very immediate and tangible effect. Daily Dot has noticed that Twitter banned the account of Jayda Fransen, the British extremist whose bogus anti-Muslim videos were retweeted by Donald Trump in November. The social network also banned the account for his group as well as those of numerous other racist organizations, such as American Renaissance and its editor Jared Taylor.

The company declined to identify the exact accounts that would be removed by its newly enacted policy, but it did acknowledge that it would “review” accounts and ban groups that identify as extremist through their goals and engage in or promote violence against civilians. This is the result of its enforcement, in other words.

As Gizmodo noted, these extremists are easy targets: they wear their hatred on their sleeve and have few sympathizers outside of their immediate circles. The real test is whether or not Twitter goes after extremists who have relatively wide followings and try to mask their hate with softer language, such as white supremacist Richard Spencer. However, the crackdown suggests that Twitter’s enforcement promise isn’t just lip service. In theory, it’ll spend more time taking action and less time trying to justify inaction.

Via: Gizmodo

Source: Daily Dot

Seagate speeds up data access on its hard drives, but they won’t match SSDs

Despite the falling prices of flash-based solid-state drives and their rising presence in desktops and laptops, hard drives aren’t completely out of the picture. They offer extremely large capacities at an affordable price, but their read and write speeds fall extremely short. Seagate plans to address this issue with multi-actuator technology.

On their simplest level, hard drives are similar to old-school record players, only they can write to the medium as well. Hard drives contain several magnetic, spinning “records” that hold your data, and are accessed by arms with needle-style readers on their ends. These arms typically move across the platters simultaneously, but Seagate’s multi-actuator technology now divides them all into two separate groups.

“With two actuators operating on a single pivot point, each actuator will control half of the drive’s arms. Half the drive’s recording heads will operate together as a unit, while the other half will operate independently as a separate unit,” Seagate said. “This enables a hard drive to double its performance while maintaining the same capacity as that of a single actuator drive.”

In an illustration, Seagate shows eight spinning platters complemented by eight arms, each with their own read and write heads (needles). All eight share the same pivot point, but the top four are moving separately than the bottom four. Data is read and written at a faster rate because Seagate’s new design doesn’t perform these operations in a single wave, but rather in two using a leapfrog-type fashion.

Seagate’s multi-actuator technology focuses on the hyperscale data center where hard drives are still the major source of storage due to their low cost and extremely high capacities. But they’re not exactly fast when compared to solid-state drives using the same storage device connector. How this new technology will improve access times versus using the standard data center-focused hard drive still remains to be seen.

Unfortunately, the old-school SATA 3 connector used by bulky hard drives and 2.5-inch solid-state drives will always bottleneck performance. It’s capable of moving data at up to 600MB per second, which you will never experience although 2.5-inch solid state drives can come close. Hard drives with platters that spin up to 7,200 rotations per minute (RPM) can reach up to 160MB per second, and those that spin at 5,400RPM are even slower.

In theory, Seagate’s new technology should double the maximum data movement speed of hard drives. But the new design likely isn’t just locked to splitting the arms into two separate groups: The company likely needed a new controller that can split data into two groups of platters while keeping all that data “together.” In other words, instead of saving your photo to the hard drive in one long stroke, its painted onto the platters in two small, faster strokes.

Seagate also said it developed a new heat-assisted magnetic recording technology (HAMR) to pack even more storage. This tech will appear in its Exos hard drives in pilot volumes during 2018 followed by a full release in 2019.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Are enterprise hard drives more reliable than mainstream models? Report says no
• In the battle of SSD vs. HDD storage, the winner is clear
• This microwave-based hard drive will offer 40 terabytes of storage
• Seagate could release the first 20TB hard drive by 2019
• Can democracy be digitized? These vets at Polco say yes

Obama’s cybersecurity commissioner offers advice on how to keep safe when shopping online

Shopping is a big part of the holidays, whether you’re heading to the grocery store for a festive feast, or trawling Amazon for last minute gifts. Online criminals are aware that people might let their guard down, given the many other stresses of the season, so they’re on alert for potential targets.

It’s not impossible to get through the end of the year without becoming a victim, but your chances of doing so are much improved if you take the proper precautions. Digital Trends caught up with former cybersecurity commissioner to President Obama, Eric Cole, to get some insight on the best ways to stay safe and secure.

Digital Trends: What sort of things can consumers do to stay safe while shopping online?

Eric Cole: First and foremost, use common sense. I know people are always wanting these crazy, high-tech pieces of advice from me, but they’re not practical. What I always say is that cybersecurity is not about doing crazy, complex things. It’s doing simple things in a consistent manner. If we just used basic common sense online, we would be much safer.

Cybersecurity is not about doing crazy, complex things. It’s doing simple things in a consistent manner.

For example, one of the big hacks we’ve seen this year is that adversaries will buy ads on search engines like Google. Now, you’re looking for that perfect gift, you go to Google and put in the search term, and the second, third item that appears up in that search shows the items for 80 percent off.

You can’t believe your eyes, right? This item is hard to get, nobody’s discounting it, and here it is for 80 percent off. You just can’t help yourself. You click on the link, and in those three seconds where you’ve clicked on the link, boom – your computer is compromised, your identity is stolen, your credit card information is gone. It’s that easy. One click is all it takes, so you want to be very careful about where you’re going.

Stick to those mainstream sites, and remember. deals that seem too good to be true are too good to be true. I’ve heard very, very, very few cases where seeing these crazy discount sites pays off for consumers. Be smart, look at the big sites, and be careful about giving out your personal information.

Is there a greater threat of being subjected to an attack at this time of year?

Yes, and there are three reasons. One, the adversaries are more active. Remember, adversaries don’t typically target an individual, they target a number. They don’t care if you’re Bill Gates or Bubba Gates, what they want is 10,000 credit cards. They want 10,000 identities . During the holiday season, because there are so many more people online, there’s a lot more people they can compromise.

Former C.I.A. Technology Director, Dr. Eric Cole (credit: Security Haven)

Second, people have such large amounts of transactions during the holiday that they don’t really check their credit card statements as closely as they should. At the end of the year, for Christmas, they might get two, three, or four pages. They’ll glance through it, but for most people, when they think fraudulent credit card activity, they’re looking for $20,000 purchases. That’s not reality. Most adversaries will do a $2 or $3 purchase here and there. So, if you just scan your credit card statement quickly, you will miss those fraudulent charges.

The trick with that is, contact your credit card company to do real-time alerting. I use this feature, and it’s awesome. Now, whenever my credit card is used for any purchase in a restaurant or in a store, I get an alert, and then I approve that this is authorized or unauthorized. A lot of people go, “oh, but Eric, that’s going to take two to three more seconds every time I approve a purchase.” Yes, but I will tell you that the probability of having credit card fraud is high, and that will probably cost you 300 to 400 hours. Do you want to take two seconds now, or 400 hours later, when your credit card gets compromised?

Does the Equifax breach demonstrate that we need to be less trusting of how others use our data, as well as keeping an eye on our own activity?

Some people get upset with me when I say this, but security is your responsibility.

Yes! This is one that I’ve been pushing for a while, and some people get upset with me when I say this, but security is your responsibility. It’s terrible that our information was in Equifax, it’s terrible that it happened, but that is ultimately your responsibility. Cybercrime has a high payoff and very low risk, so this problem is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. You cannot rely on third parties to protect you.

If you want to make sure that you protected, you segment out your life. For example, I have six different credit cards. I have one just for gas, one just for Amazon, one just for bill paying. And by doing that, now if there’s an issue, it’s not only contained and control, but it’s much easier for me to go in and get a new card.

How much of an impact does a person’s digital footprint have on their tendency to be attacked? Does having a greater amount of active accounts equate to greater risk?

Having a bigger digital footprint does increase your tendency, but it’s basically your public digital footprint. Every time you go to a site and you want to download a document, or somebody’s gonna give you a free gift, or they’re gonna give you a PDF, and they say, “please enter your name, your email address, and your phone number,” those are the things that really increase your probability of being a target. Some of those are good, lots of them are bad.

Adversaries will try every place they can to get that information. We’ve seen a lot of attacks where people on Craigslist will give their name, their phone number, and their email address. That’s public information, that anyone can see. Setting up an account isn’t really gonna increase your risk, if those are private accounts, if those are different passwords, if those are strong passwords. That’s OK. It’s the public information, the social media. The things you put out there that anyone can find will put a much bigger target on your back for a cyber criminal to come after you.

People often think about cybersecurity as someone taking control of an email account or similar, rather than compromising a physical token like an ATM card. How can we protect against credit and debit card fraud, whether online or in person?

First and foremost, repeat after me – credit cards are good, debit cards are bad; credit cards are good, debit cards are bad. You want to stay away from debit cards. If you want to use a debit card to go to the money machine and take money out, that’s one thing, but you do not want to use debit cards online, in stores or anywhere else.

There are laws that protect you on credit cards. Debit cards have no such laws.

The reason is, one, there are laws that protect you on credit cards. Debit cards have no such laws. Yes, many banks are usually nice about it, but they don’t have to be. If there’s a fraudulent charge on my credit card, it doesn’t come out of my account. It goes out of the credit card company’s account, and now if I debate it, or I contest it for six months while they investigate, they’re out the money and not me. If somebody uses your debit card, it immediately comes out of your bank account. Now, if you contest it for six months, you’re out the money for six months.

Also, be very, very careful of public wireless. Only use wireless in your trusted home. If you’re going to a store, what I do is, as soon as I leave my house, I just turn off wireless. It’s not worth the risk. It’s not worth that exposure. But once again, the most important thing is just common sense. Don’t trust anyone, and be careful of when and where you give out your information.

What are some of the similarities and differences of personal cybersecurity, compared with some of the other roles you’ve filled in your career?

Interestingly, in the last year, we’ve seen two things happening. One, more and more services moving to the cloud. Now that services are moving to the cloud, we can do some oversight of the cloud provider, but really, it’s all about the endpoint. Whether it’s a big company or a small company, or an individual, they all access servers from the internet, so it all comes down to making sure that endpoint is properly protected.

Second, adversaries are realizing that yes, there’s cases like Equifax where their servers were quite vulnerable, and it was very easy to break in, so they went after the servers, but in most cases the weakest link in any organization is the individual. So, the number one method of compromise for an organization is sending a legitimate-looking email to an employee and tricking them into opening an attachment.

Five, ten years ago it would have been extremely different. Today, because both attacks are on the individual, most services are being accessed from the internet, adversaries are doing phishing attacks that look legitimate to trick people. They’re much more similar than they used to be.

Responses were edited for length and readability.

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