When Solid State Storage Devices (SSDs) first appeared on the market in the early 1990s, industry pundits were unsure as to when the flash-based devices would be capable of competing with traditional hard disk drives (HDDs). Known for their reliability, low-cost and consistent performance, HDDs have always managed to push back on SSD encroachment. However, the SSD-HDD paradigm has changed in recent years, especially for Enterprise-class storage. This is primarily due to increased SSD performance and efficiency (higher IOPS, lower latency, etc.), both of which are made possible by high-speed interfaces such as SATA 3.0 SAS 2 and PCIe-based NVMe.
Hospital medical devices targeted in cyber attack
A recent report authored by TrapX details three instances where hospitals were hit by data breaches. According to DarkReading’s Kelly Jackson Higgins, the digital intrusions occurred after certain medical devices had been infected with malware backdoors. “In all three cases, the hospitals were unaware that these devices – a blood gas analyzer, a picture archive and communications system (PACS) and an x-ray system – were infiltrated with malware,” writes Higgins.
The Evolution of Biometric Security: Part Two
Writing for SemiconductorEngineering, Ernest Worthman notes that while biometrics offer a plethora of potential security-based tools, there are currently only two in wide-scale deployment: fingerprints and facial scanning. Indeed, according to ABI digital security analyst Dimitrios Pavlakis, fingerprints account for 60% to 70% of all biometric applications. Additional technologies eyed by major industry players include iris, retina, face, palm and hand scans.
Is health care prepared for the Cyber Age?
Writing for SemiconductorEngineering, Ernest Worthman describes the health care industry as “woefully ill-prepared” for a digital Cyber Age. “This is a rather dismal assessment, considering that the volume of personal health-related data is an order of magnitude greater than the equivalent data in the financial segment and growing rapidly,” he opines.
Increasing crop yields with Big Data
The Farmers Business Network (FBN) is currently working on an initiative to break down agricultural data on millions of acres of U.S. farmland – while providing real-world results on the performance of various seed and crop strains as well as fertilizers. As Datanami’s George Leopold reports, the FBN, which recently announced a $15 million investment round led by Google Ventures, says the goal of the network is to tap into hard-won collective knowledge while making agricultural data more accessible. The goal? To produce larger crop yields at a lower cost.
U.S. Navy bolsters cyber security
The U.S. Navy is working to bolster the cyber security of its computer networks, weapon systems, and communications equipment while bracing for potential attacks against power grids and fuel supplies. “Cyber is in everything now,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told participants at the Defence One conference in a statement quoted by Reuters.
