Influential cybersecurity thinker Becky Bace says American companies need a wake-up call. Here’s what could make companies—and citizens—finally pay attention and stop just patching the problem.
By Becky Bace
12/09/15 04:55 AM EST
If you’re new to the world of cybersecurity, it might surprise you to learn that the government and private industry have been trying to tackle the problem for almost 50 years.
Despite their efforts, the problem continues unabated, and is only growing: A 2015 study involving 252 major enterprises reports an average annualized loss of $15 million per enterprise—up more than 80 percent over the last six years. Other sources estimate the global cost of cyber breaches approaches $500 billion a year. Furthermore, a survey of global CEOs indicate that more than half now rate cybersecurity threats as having a major influence on corporate strategy.
The commercial market for security technologies is marked by a series of “silver bullet” offerings, each proposing to cure all problems and strengthen the security stance of those wise enough to buy and install them. But the level of attack and subsequent damage continue to increase.
Clearly, something needs to change. But what?
InstantLabs expands ID tests to combat seafood fraud
By Joe Whitworth+, 09-Dec-2015
InstantLabs has added two additional salmon identification tests to allow distributors, processors and government regulators to positively identify the species in less than two hours.
New species ID tools bolster growing product line from manufacturer of the Hunter® testing system
Baltimore, MD (PRWEB) December 01, 2015
December 1, 2015 — InstantLabs is adding two additional salmon identification tests to continue the expansion of the company’s growing product line of food safety and seafood fraud prevention tools.
The new salmon tests – for Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and Sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka) – allow InstantLabs to offer fast, reliable species identification for the four most popular salmon. InstantLabs has previously launched test kits for Atlantic (Salmo salar) and Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). This allows distributors, food processors and government regulators to positively identify the salmon species in under two hours.
Developed in conjunction with the University of Guelph, these new test kits will be offered as part of the InstantLabs’ InstantID™ Species product line. The company’s offerings include identification tests for Atlantic Blue Crab (Callinectes sapidus) and U.S. Catfish (Ictalurus species), as well as offerings for pork (Sus scrofa) and horse (Equus) species identification. These kits are available for use on the Hunter® platform, or other PCR instruments.
“These new tests help us serve a greater customer base within the global seafood industry,” said Steven Guterman, InstantLabs CEO. “We believe the speed and simplicity of our system will protect consumers, help processors and combat the accelerating international problem of seafood fraud.”
InstantLabs’ Hunter® instrument combines accuracy, speed, and ease-of-operation into a compact portable system. The system can be used for both species identification and food pathogen detection, delivering results quickly, thereby allowing seamless integration into food industry firms’ processes and facilities. InstantLabs’ DNA-based technology provides accurate species verification in hours at the point-of need rather than requiring samples be sent to centralized labs for sequencing, which often leads to a delay of one to two weeks.
ABOUT INSTANTLABS: InstantLabs, a molecular diagnostic device company, developed and markets the Hunter® Real-Time PCR system, a fully-integrated, easy-to-use, portable and affordable real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) platform for rapid, accurate DNA detection. InstantLabs Medical Diagnostics Corp., the legal entity, offers the Hunter® system for use with several food-borne pathogen test kits as well as a growing number of species identification test kits for the global food market. InstantLabs has also developed a line of test kits designed to detect organisms implicated in microbiologically induced corrosion (MIC) in conjunction with industrial partners. The Hunter® system is especially well suited for use at points-of-need to detect and analyze a wide variety of common and problematic analytes. Founded in 2008, InstantLabs is located in Baltimore, MD.http://www.instantlabs.com.
ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH: Acknowledged as one of the leading public research universities, the University has 39 Canada Research chairs in natural sciences, energy, health services and social sciences. With a commitment to student learning and innovative research, University leaders are dedicated to cultivating the essentials for our quality of life – water, food, environment, animal and human health, community, commerce, culture and learning. The University community also shares a profound sense of social responsibility, an obligation to address global issues and a concern for international development. Learn more at http://www.uoguelph.ca.
For more information: Steven Guterman, Chief Executive Officer, (917) 679-1928, sguterman@instantlabs.com or Tim Pittman, (919) 539-8155, timpittman@nc.rr.com
Soon enough your blender will be able to communicate when its blades are becoming dull and at the same time instruct you where to go to purchase new ones — at the lowest price, we hope. This is part of a larger trend called "the Internet of things" where all things will be connected to the Internet. Smart watch today, smart coffee maker tomorrow.
Online data keep growing, yet the question remains: How safe is our information? With recent hacks like those at Sony and Ashley Madison, our vulnerability has never been clearer. There is a huge need for cybersecurity innovation. But where will it come from? As Silicon Valley turns out social networks and mobile apps, the nation's answer, surprisingly, lies right here in Baltimore.
Why, you ask? There are 3 primary reasons:
Read More at http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-baltimore-innovation-20151125-story.html
]]>Baltimore County’s government believes the region is the cybersecurity center of the world.
At its heart is bwtech@UMBC, a cyber incubator on a 71-acre campus adjacent to the University of Maryland’s Baltimore County campus—consistently ranked among the top five “Most Innovative Schools” nationally by U.S. News & World Report.
Not just for startups, the incubator is a place for established companies to attract talent and expand and visiting companies to network that works closely with the county’s Department of Economic and Workforce Development and hosts a Government Contracting Institute.
“The 15-mile radius around Baltimore city, particularly in the county, is a hotbed of workforce and talent, economic development, startups and entrepreneurship, early stage equity funding, and great companies that are growing and exiting in the cybersecurity and info space,” says Michael Binko, Startup Maryland founder and CEO, in thisrecently uploaded YouTube video.
Information and cybersecurity risks and mitigation strategies are one of the research and technology park’s focus areas, along with clean energy and life sciences.
From the promo video, it’s clear that the county wants its cybersecurity companies competing with those on the West Coast. And it doesn’t fail to mention another selling point, the incubator’s convenient location minutes from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
“The reason that we like Maryland and this region in general is because of all the cybersecurity talent here,” says Zuly Gonzalez, founder and CEO of Light Point Security at bwtech@UMBC. “You know, you’ve got government installations, lots of universities in this area.”
Dave Nyczepir is News Editor for Government Executive’s Route Fifty.
Alumni Delali Dzirasa ’04, computer engineering, and Andrew Mavronicolas ’14, information systems, were recently featured in a SmartLogic video promoting bwtech@UMBC. Both alumni run companies based in the research park: Dzirasa is the president of the software company Fearless Solutions, and Mavronicolas is co-founder of Backpack ‘Em, an online intra-campus exchange platform. Ellen Hemmerly, executive director of bwtech, is also featured. Watch the whole clip here: https://umbcalumni.wordpress.com/2015/11/02/spotlight-on-bwtechumbc/
It’s been 20 years since the late Superman actor Christopher Reeve damaged his spinal cord in a riding accident. Now, a potential breakthrough could solve the mystery of treating the injury.
But what’s most impressive is not what they discovered: a link between the long-term recovery of victims and high blood pressure. It’s how they discovered it.
They didn’t conduct a new study. They mined $60 million of basic research that had basically been discarded 20 years ago.
Using mathematical and machine learning techniques not previously available, researchers combed through the raw data of multiple studies on over 3,000 animals.
At the time these studies were originally conducted, there were too many variables for researchers to find successful results.
But with new computing techniques, this once unusable data now offers fresh insights.
Think about that. They didn’t discover anything new. They just found new ways to use old information. It’s more than a breakthrough in medical treatment.
It has the potential to transform medical science.
The difference between this and, say, the traditional human-based, hypothesis-driven science is a simply one: humans are prone to bias and error. Computers aren’t. And the software discovers patterns in large datasets – something humans just aren’t equipped to do. Then it tees up the results in a network diagram for further analysis.
It’s nothing short of remarkable!
The firm behind this software is Ayasdi. It uses a technique called topological data analysis, or TDA for short, developed my Stanford mathematician and Ayasdi co-founder Gunnar Carlsson.
There comes a point when the traditional mode of science can only go so far. As Ayasdi CEO Gurjeet Sigh puts it: “Traditionally, you have to be lucky, and then you have to have a stroke of insight. But the probability of being lucky is lower and lower over time, so you need these systems to do that work for you.”
That’s why I used my systems engineering background to make better trading decisions – using a system that sifts through social media chatter. It’s the same principle as what these doctors did by finding patterns in complex data.
And let’s face it – the stock market is one complex mine of data! That’s why we use systems to get a leg up, and how we bring strong profit opportunities to subscribers.
New software sifts through the information gathered in long forgotten studies and finds new avenues for researchers to pursue—like a new advance in treating spinal injuries.
Doctors have just discovered a previously unknown relationship between the long-term recovery of spinal cord injury victims and high blood pressure during their initial surgeries. This may seem like a small bit of medical news—though it will have immediate clinical implications—but what's important is how it was discovered in the first place.
This wasn’t the result of a new, long-term study, but a meta-analysis of $60 million worth of basic research written off as useless 20 years ago by a team of neuroscientists and statisticians led by the University of California San Francisco and partnering with the software firm Ayasdi, using mathematical and machine learning techniques that hadn’t been invented yet when the trials took place. The process was outlined in a paper published today in Nature Communications, and hints at the possibility of medical breakthroughs lurking in the data of failed experiments.
"What was thought to have been a boondoggle turns out to have great value," says Adam Ferguson, a principal investigator at UCSF’s Brain and Spinal Injury Center and one of the paper’s authors. Just how much is unclear until trials are conducted in humans, but the finding raises several interesting questions—notably whether scientists should publish their raw data for posterity and whether their time and funding would be better spent poring through old experiments than conducting new ones.
Read more at: http://www.fastcoexist.com/3052282/the-latest-medical-breakthrough-in-spinal-cord-injuries-was-made-by-a-computer-program
BALTIMORE, Nov. 5, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) and the bwtech@UMBC Cyber Incubator announced today that machine intelligence and advanced analytics provider, Ayasdi,will be the sixth cyber start-up to graduate from the highly successful Cync Program. A ceremony marking the occasion took place last week at the CyberMaryland Conference in Baltimore.
Cync is a global cyber start-up initiative designed to cultivate the brightest ideas in cybersecurity and commercialize these innovations for use in the federal marketspace. Formed in 2011 by Northrop Grumman and bwtech@UMBC, this unique partnership creates a pathway for technology-driven start-ups to speed advanced solutions to customers while providing extensive business incubation expertise and access to capital and talent to help companies thrive.
"As a leading cyber provider to the federal government, we have an obligation to foster innovation to ensure that the best ideas are made available to our nation to stay ahead of the ever evolving threat," said Chris Valentino, director of strategy, cyber division, Northrop Grumman Information Systems. "No one company can do it all, it's innovation from all corners of the world that will make the difference so giving a boost to those with great ideas is what our partnership is about as we strive to keep our global networks safe."
"Ayasdi achieved much success while participating in the Cync program with fundraising and business development," said Ellen Hemmerly, executive director of bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park. "We are delighted that Ayasdi will continue to grow its government business as a tenant at bwtech@UMBC."
Leverege, of Baltimore and ParaTools, of University of Oregon, join Cync this month as the newest cyber start-ups accepted into the program.
Cync graduates include DB Networks, KoolSpan, AccelerEyes (ArrayFire), Five Directions and Oculis Labs. Current occupants at Cync include iWebGate, Perth, Australia; Light Point Security, Baltimore; and OptioLabs, Baltimore.
Based in Menlo Park, Calif., with offices in the Cyber Incubator at bwtech@UMBC, Ayasdi's machine intelligence software uses Topological Data Analysis to simplify how knowledge is extracted from the most complex data sets to help governments and enterprises make the right operational decisions quickly. Among its awards, Ayasdi was selected as a 2015 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum and, for the second consecutive year, was named one of the 10 Most Innovative Companies in Big Data by Fast Company Magazine. In March 2015, Ayasdi announced a $55 million Series C funding round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Beyers, which joined other leading investors in the company. For more about Ayasdi, click here.
The Cync program is currently taking applications, looking for companies that address critical market needs in the areas of cyber, data sciences, big data, secure mobility, and cyber physical systems/critical infrastructure protection. For information about applying to this scholarship program, go to www.bwtechumbc.com.
bwtech@UMBC is a 71-acre research and technology community at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). With more than 500,000 square feet of office and laboratory space, it is home to more than 120 technology and life science companies at all stages of development. bwtech@UMBC offers collaboration with university faculty and students, and enjoys a strategic and convenient location, close to downtown Baltimore, BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport and Washington, D.C. Its annual economic impact on the state is estimated to be more than $500 million.
Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems, cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.
CONTACT: Marynoele Benson
Northrop Grumman Corporation
703-556-1651
marynoele.benson@ngc.com
Megan Hanks
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
410-455-5791
mhanks@umbc.edu