Posts Tagged: "home depot"

Cybercrimes, Data Breaches Rise Against Big Firms

Cyber crimes and data breaches have become far too widespread in the recent times. Technological progress has taken the risk to new levels, with newer techniques to exploit vulnerable organizations, corporations and governments being discovered every day… A considerable number of organizational respondents to the survey, approximately 32%, reported being affected by cyber crime. Nearly 34% felt that they would be affected within the next 2 years. While 61% of the top executives feared cyber attacks, only 37% of organizations claimed to have a cyber incident response plan in place. Obviously, this represents a significant disconnect between the level of fear and the level of preparedness in the industry.

The Last VCR: The final punctuation on the rise and fall of old-school home video

Reports from Japanese media indicate that Osaka-based Funai Electric (TYO:6839) will cease production of videocassette recorders (VCRs) by the end of the month. The company cited a few issues such as a difficulty to source parts and dwindling sales which dropped to 750,000 units in 2015; at its peak, Funai was selling 15 million VCR units per year. The death knell for videotape technologies has been sounding for some time. Last year, Tokyo-based electronics conglomerate Sony Corp. (NYSE:SNE) announced its decision to discontinue both Betamax videocassettes and Micro MV cassettes used for recording. The Video Home System (VHS) standard suffered a significant blow in 2008 when the last major VHS distributor discontinued sales. Although few are bemoaning the loss of videotape thanks to the convenience and higher quality of discs and VOD, production of the world’s last VCR turns our focus backwards in time to see the rise and fall of this early home video technology.

Data Security Systems and the Prevention of Identy Theft

Home Depot may be the latest and largest breach to become news, but it’s certainly not the only one and hacking activity seems to be ramping up in the past few months. Malicious software known as Backoff, responsible for the Target breach, has also been identified as a potential culprit in recent breaches at Dairy Queen, Supervalu and United Parcel Service. Law enforcement officials have theorized that an Eastern European group may be responsible for a majority of these breaches because of links to Ukraine in the malware’s code… [R]ecent data breaches at major corporations have agitated some financial technology developers to look for more secure options for conducting transactions without cash. Many are touting a new wave of debit and credit cards which have microchips that improve data security as a possible answer.

Great Again: Revitalizing America’s Entrepreneurial Leadership

The magnitude of the problems facing our economy cannot be overstated. Neither can it be overstated that a coherent national innovation policy is the answer to what ails the U.S. economy. As Hank explains in the Introduction, “for the first time in our history, the connection between technological innovation and job creation has broken down. And for the first time also, the wealth created by innovation is going mostly just to a handful of founders and venture capitalists rather than to many thousands of employees, not to mention the community at large.” Through mismanagement and misapplication of tax, immigration and patent policies our leaders in Washington, D.C. have done us no favors. Speaking at the reception last night Nothhaft explained: “We live in the greatest country in the world and we seem bent on tying our arms behind our backs.” That has to change.