How It Works Why Quantum XC News & Resources About Us Contact Quantum Xchange Gains Industry Momentum; Addresses the Shortcomings of Modern Day Encryption

Press release

Company is Positioned for Continued Expansion in 2019 Following Notable Recognition 

Bethesda, MD – Feb. 26, 2019 – Quantum Xchange, provider of the first quantum key distribution (QKD) network in the U.S., today announced their continued upward momentum, marked by numerous industry awards and earned speaking engagements scheduled for the first half of the year. Quantum Xchange is recognized as a provider of the most secure, hardened encryption available to address the shortcomings of today’s encryption standards, and the imminent threat of quantum computers. Today, Quantum Xchange offers commercial enterprises and government entities quantum communications  over unlimited distances.

“Since our formal company launch in June 2018, Quantum Xchange has accomplished some incredible things, not the least of which was to initiate, for the first time in the United States, quantum key travel from Wall Street, under and across the Hudson River and past the Statue of Liberty to northern New Jersey,” said John Prisco, President and CEO, Quantum Xchange. “Our developments will ensure the future of encryption regardless of quantum computing power, and we are grateful to offer a solution that is effective today while nefarious actors harvest and stockpile data that they will read when a suitable quantum computer is available.”

In January, Prisco was named a 2019 Cyber Star by DCA Live, a list that honors the entrepreneurs, investors, and community leaders who are solving big problems, and creating jobs and $ billions of new wealth in the greater Washington region. Taking the company’s vision further across the U.S., Prisco will speak at events in both San Diego and Boston next month. Starting with the Optical Society’s (OSA) OIDA Executive Forum, Prisco will serve as a panelist for the Commercial QKD and Encryption session on March 4. He will then present the QKD Hardware Markets session on March 20 at the Inside Quantum Technology event, The Future of Quantum Computing, Quantum Cryptography and Quantum Sensors.

In between these events, Quantum Xchange will spend a week at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, where newly appointed advisor Whitfield Diffie will present on the Cryptographer’s Panel on March 5. Shortly after, Prisco will make a special appearance at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas where the company’s quantum fiber network, Phio, will exhibit as a finalist for the SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards.  Attendees of the events that Prisco is set to speak at, and attend, in the coming weeks will gain comprehensive insights into the commercial future of all areas of quantum technology, including the latest opportunities in areas such as financial services, pharma and specialty chemical, healthcare, automotive and transportation, defense, government and R&D.

As a provider of quantum key distribution and secure communications, Quantum Xchange gives commercial enterprises and government agencies the ultimate defense to keep high-value data safe – today, tomorrow and in the future. For more information about Quantum Xchange, please visit https://quantumxc.com/.

https://quantumxc.com/quantum-xchange-gains-industry-momentum-addresses-the-shortcomings-of-modern-day-encryption/

HOSTKEY Deploys AMD EPYC™ Processors for Customers Needing Powerful Performance on Virtualized, HPC and Parallel Workloads

Press release

AMD EPYC 7281 and EPYC 7401P processors’ reliable and powerful hardware supports internet solutions and services for HOSTKEY customers

SANTA CLARA, Calif. 02 april

2019 

Today, AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) and HOSTKEY, a leading cloud solutions company representing clients across Europe, Russia and North America, has announced the release of AMD EPYC^TM processor-based servers across HOSTKEY’s infrastructure. This new deployment of AMD EPYC CPUs offers differentiated features, core-count, connectivity and memory bandwidth to HOSTKEY customers running virtualized environments and high-performance computing workloads.

The new HOSTKEY platform uses the 16-core AMD EPYC™ 7281 and 24-core EPYC™ 7401P processors delivered on Gigabyte platforms, which have support for up to 8-channels of RDIMM/LRDIMM DDR4 memory and 128 lanes of ultra-fast PCIe® Gen3 x4 connections to support increased user demand.

“AMD EPYC processors in single or dual-socket configurations enable HOSTKEY to provide a greater variety of services to our customers, expanding upon the available options for their processing needs,” said Anton Malina, Head of the Netherlands Datacenter Infrastructure. “As a leading provider of services in the regions we support, we are excited to work with a leader in the datacenter industry, AMD, to make the performance of AMD EPYC available.”

“We are excited to work with HOSTKEY and provide their customers with access to the AMD EPYC 7281 and EPYC 7401P processors. These AMD EPYC powered servers give HOSTKEY customers a new choice for running their virtualized, HPC or parallel processing workloads, while still experiencing the great service and support expected from HOSTKEY,” said Daniel Bounds, senior director, Datacenter Solutions, AMD

How to Access AMD Servers on HOSTKEY

AMD EPYC based servers are now available in the Netherlands. Customers can order their server with a configuration of choice on the HOSTKEY company site. The basic AMD EPYC 7281 processor-powered Servers, with 32GB RAM and 2x240GB SSDs, are available from €119/month. All HOSTKEY servers come with protection from DDoS-attack.

Additional Resources

• Learn more about AMD EPYC at AMD.com
• Follow AMD datacenter developments on Twitter @AMDServer

About AMD

For more than 45 years AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics and visualization technologies ― the building blocks for gaming, immersive platforms and the datacenter. Hundreds of millions of consumers, leading Fortune 500 businesses and cutting-edge scientific research facilities around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work and play. AMD employees around the world are focused on building great products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) website, blog, Facebook and Twitter pages.

About HOSTKEY

HOSTKEY provides dedicated and cloud infrastructure hosting services based in ultra-modern data centers to corporate as well as private clients. Our infrastructure is applicable to dedicated and hybrid solutions. HOSTKEY is available in Amsterdam, Moscow and New York. Our partners include such companies as Microsoft, NGINX, cPanel, RETN, Huawei, AMS-IX, Serverius, DataPro and many others. The experience and professionalism of our employees ensure high quality and prompt rendering of services requested, from installation to administering and full support of a client`s IT system.

Bitdefender Given 5-star Rating in CRN's 2019 Partner Program Guide for the 4th Year in a Row

1 april 2019 Press Release 

Annual Guide Recognizes the IT Channel’s Top Partner Programs

Bitdefender, a leading global cybersecurity company protecting over 500 million systems worldwide, announced today that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has given Bitdefender a 5-Star rating in its 2019 Partner Program Guide. This annual guide identifies the strongest and most successful partner programs in the channel today, offered by the top technology suppliers for IT products and services. The 5-Star rating recognizes an elite subset of companies that offer solution providers the best partnering elements in their channel programs.

To determine the 2019 5-Star ratings, The Channel Company’s research team assessed each supplier’s partner program based on investments in program offerings, partner profitability, partner training, education and support, marketing programs and resources, sales support, and communication.

The Bitdefender global Partner Advantage Network is tailored to support each partner type in the most effective way. Constant innovation with a sharp focus on benefits for partners is the number one priority. As such, partners are entitled to many benefits including, sales and marketing tools, financial protected incentives, new opportunity registration, leads program, competitive training and certifications, and hands-on training. 

“With new technologies emerging every year, evaluating which IT vendors to partner with grows increasingly more complex for solution providers,” said Bob Skelley, CEO, The Channel Company. “We are proud the CRN Partner Program Guide has become the trusted resource to identify the most rewarding partner programs and provides crucial insight into their strengths and benefits for the channel.”

“As always, the Bitdefender team remains committed to our promise of ease of doing business and ly responding to our partners’ business needs,” said Joe Sykora, VP Global Sales and Channels at Bitdefender. “With integrated tools and comprehensive support, Bitdefender delivers high-quality service and technology.”

The 2019 Partner Program Guide will be featured in the April issue of CRN and online at www.CRN.com/ppg 

https://www.bitdefender.com/news/bitdefender-given-5-star-rating-in-crn&039;s-2019-partner-program-guide-for-the-4th-year-in-a-row-3657.html

Hydro, il colosso norvegese dell'alluminio sotto attacco cyber

E' di qualche giorno fa (19 marzo) la notizia che una delle più grandi società di produzione di alluminio, la norvegese Hydro, abbia subito un attacco cyber.

L'attacco condotto attraverso l'uso di un ransomware, apparentemente mira ad ottenere un riscatto. 

Nel corso di una conferenza stampa il responsabile finanziario della società, Eivind Kallevik, ha annunciato che l'attacco è abbastanza grave.

Sembra che il virus non abbia avuto grosse conseguenze sulla produzione  (cosa alquanto difficile da credere!) infatti alcuni impianti sono stati disconnessi e altri sono stati attivati in modalità manuale.

La Norway's National Security Authority (NSM) incaricata di dare assistenza alla Hydro oltre che fornire aiuto ha in corso gli accertamenti del caso per individuare i responsabili dell'attacco. Il ransomware utilizzato è conosciuto col nome di LockerGoga ed è stato impiegato in combinazione con un attacco diretto contro il servizio di Active Directory. Ma è ancora troppo presto per essere sicuri, al momento si tratta infatti solo di ipotesi.

Supponendo che le prime ipotesi sul ransomware siano esatte, vediamo cosa ci dice TrendMicro su LockerGoga. Secondo la società di sicurezza informatica il ransomware LockerGoga ha fatto la sua apparizione di recente (gennaio), contro una società di consulenza ingegneristica francese, la Altran Technologies. La prima cosa che il malware fa una volta infettato un sistema, è cambiare le password degli utenti, rendendolo inaccessibile, quindi inizia a cifrare i file presenti nel sistema e invia sullo schermo un messaggio di richiesta di riscatto. L'impiego di sistemi diversi (dal pagamento del riscatto!) porteranno alla compromissione dei dati. Sembra che LockerGoga non abbia la capacità di diffondersi in rete a differenza dei suoi parenti WannaCry e Petya/NotPetya, invece ha la capacità di superare le difese messe in campo da molti sistemi di protezione (sandbox e machine learning). 

Sul sito TrendMicro è possibile leggere gli aggiornamenti.

Alcune considerazioni:

Ancora una volta una grossa società è stata colpita, cosa che dimostra che il possedere (almeno teoricamente) grandi risorse non mette al riparo dal rischio. Ciò che occorre è una strategia di sicurezza e un impiego oculato delle risorse, umane e non.

La società produttrice di parti in alluminio occupa una grossa fetta del mercato europeo e americano (circa il 20 %), l'attacco ha avuto delle ripercussioni sul valore delle azioni ma i danni maggiori saranno presumibilmente dovuti alla necessità di rallentare o bloccare la produzione.  

Sembra che il ransomware non faccia uso di una catena di Comando e Controllo, e la cosa dunque farebbe pensare che il malware possa essere controllato dall'interno della rete stessa della Hydro.

Ancora una volta occorre evidenziare alcune problematiche che affliggono il nostro mondo, altamente informatizzato, ma ancora lontano dall'essere esente da problemi di tutti  i tipi.

La prima considerazione da fare, non legata al fatto in se, riguarda la velocità con cui si produce il software e si rilasciano nuove funzionalità, velocità che è andata sempre aumentando nel corso degli anni e che non depone certo a favore della buona esecuzione. 

La seconda riguarda la complessità: spesso, voler ricercare la semplicità di utilizzo da parte degli utenti (di tutti  i livelli, per esempio introducendo interfacce grafiche ecc.), ha portato ad un incremento esponenziale della complessità dei software (e dei sistemi in generale), complessità che, ancora una volta, è nemica del buon funzionamento.

La terza considerazione riguarda la generale mancanza di expertise nel campo della sicurezza informatica, evidenziata spesso in ambito Unione Europea ma che ancora non trova soluzione, se è vero infatti che sono aumentati i corsi universitari in sicurezza informatica è altrettanto vero che rimane una certa distanza tra queste ultime e il mondo industriale.

Infine, in molti paesi, la mancanza di finanziamenti pubblici del settore condiziona fortemente lo sviluppo di un tessuto di imprese capaci e pronte ad offrire i propri servizi di sicurezza a organizzazioni e società di piccole e medie dimensioni, limitando fortemente la capacità di crescita delle competenze a causa della mancanza di concorrenza.  

Occorrerebbe anche riflettere sulla crescita enorme delle società informatiche e cominciare ad interrogarsi sulla necessità di esigere da queste ultime una maggiore serietà professionale nel rilascio del software e dei sistemi.

Infine, ma non meno importante, è necessario iniziare a riflettere seriamente sulla invasività della informatica nel mondo attuale, non certo per cercare di limitarla, cosa ormai impossibile, ma per capire come limitare i danni in caso di attacco cyber e come poter garantire un sufficiente, alternativo, livello di comando e controllo non basato su tecnologie digitali.

Immagino già che qualcuno starà pensando: "Ecco, il ritorno di carta, penna o macchina da scrivere e servizio di fattorini... ma dove vive questo?", ebbene si, in alcuni casi la cosa potrebbe essere necessaria e per funzionare dovrebbe essere esercitata regolarmente per preservare un sapere che sta scomparendo. 

Alessandro Rugolo

Per approfondire:
- https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47624207;
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-19/hydro-says-victim-of-extensive-cyber-attack-impacting-operations-jtfgz6td;
- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-norsk-hydro-cyber-security/norway-say-hydro-cyber-attack-began-monday-evening-and-escalated-during-the-night-idUSKCN1R00TO?il=0;
- https://www.thelocal.no/20190322/norways-norsk-hydro-hit-by-ransom-cyber-attack.
- https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/cyber-attacks/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-lockergoga-ransomware

First Canadian Threat Report from Cybersecurity Firm Carbon Black Finds That 83% of Surveyed Canadian Businesses Have Been Breached During the Last 12 Months

PRESS RELEASE Mar 12, 2019

Surveyed businesses report phishing and ransomware are the most likely to spawn breaches

WALTHAM, Mass., March 12, 2019 —Carbon Black(NASDAQ: CBLK), a leader in cloud-delivered, next generation endpoint security, today released the results of its first Canadian Threat Report. The research demonstrates the apparent intensity of cyber threats facing Canadian businesses.

According to the research, attacks are increasing in volume and sophistication, causing regular security breaches affecting 83% of organizations surveyed. The report analyzes survey results from different industries, organization sizes and IT team sizes to build a picture of the modern attack and cyber defense landscape in Canada.

Key survey research findings:

• 83% of surveyed Canadian organizations have been breached in the last 12 months
• The average number of breaches per surveyed organization is 3.42
• 76% of surveyed organizations have seen an increase in attack volumes
• 81% of surveyed organizations say attacks have become more sophisticated
• 85% of surveyed organizations plan to increase spending on cyber defense

Escalating cyber attacks

Of the 76% of Canadian businesses reporting an increase in cyberattacks, 25% said the volume has grown by 51% or more in the past year. In addition, 81% of surveyed businesses said they’ve witnessed an increase in attack sophistication.

Of note, 85% of Canadian organizations surveyed said they are planning to increase spending on cyber defense in response to the escalating threat landscape.

“Our first Canadian threat report indicates that organizations in Canada are under intense pressure from escalating cyberattacks,” said Tom Kellermann, Carbon Black’s Chief Cybersecurity Officer. “The research indicates increases across the board in attack volume and sophistication, causing frequent breaches. In response, an encouraging number of Canadian organizations are adopting threat hunting and seeing positive results. As threat hunting strategies start to mature, we hope to see fewer attacks making it to full breach status.”

The human factor plays a part in the attacks that lead to breaches, the survey found. Phishing attacks are at the root of one in five successful breaches, the survey noted.

Additionally, 59% of surveyed Canadian organizations said they are actively threat hunting, with one in five (20%) saying they have threat hunted for more than a year. A very encouraging 86% of those organizations report that threat hunting has strengthened their defenses. 

-ends-

Survey Methodology

Carbon Black commissioned a survey, undertaken by an independent research organization, Opinion Matters in January 2019.  250 Canadian CIOs, CTOs and CISOs were surveyed from companiesin a range of industries including: financial, healthcare, government, retail, manufacturing, food and beverage, oil and gas, professional services, and media and entertainment. This forms part of a global research project with other countries being surveyed including: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore and the UK.

Symantec to Host Tech Talk: “Integrated Cyber Defense”

press release 02/28/2019

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC), the world’s leading cyber security company, will host a Tech Talk webcast in conjunction with RSA® Conference 2019. Greg Clark, President and CEO, and Hugh Thompson, CTO, will discuss Symantec’s technology innovation and leadership in securing the cloud generation. Interested parties can find more information on Symantec’s Investor Relations website at http://symantec.com/invest.

No financial information will be presented on this webcast.

Date: Monday, March 4, 2019

Time: 11:00 am PT / 2:00 pm ET

Speakers: Greg Clark, President and CEO; Hugh Thompson, CTO

Dojo by BullGuard Wins 2018 Broadband World Forum Award For Network Security

Press release

Prestigious award recognizes excellence in the broadband marketplace

SAN FRANCISCO and HERZLIYA, Israel – OCTOBER 29, 2018 – BullGuard, the award-winning consumer cyber security company, today announced Dojo by BullGuard has received the 2018 Broadband World Forum Award for Best Network Security. Broadband World Forum is an annual Informa event that brings together hundreds of innovators in the broadband community.

The annual Broadband World Forum Awards are regarded as the most prestigious recognition of excellence in the broadband industry. The 2018 categories were designed to showcase innovation in network technology, new products, or business models, as well as those delivering broadband for the social good.

Dojo by BullGuard’s cybersecurity solutions have been the recipient of numerous awards in the past year, including the GSMA 2018 GLOMO Award for Best Connected Consumer Device at Mobile World Congress Barcelona, the 2018 Fortress Cybersecurity Award, Computing’s 2018 Cloud Excellence Award, the 2018 Stratus Award for Cloud Computing, and the 2018 IoT Evolution Product of the Year Award, amongst others.

“It’s an honor to win the 2018 Broadband World Forum Award for Best Network Security for Dojo by BullGuard,” said Yossi Atias, General Manager of IoT Security at BullGuard. “In the next two years, more than 21 billion IoT devices will be connected around the world. Winning the Broadband World Forum Award for Network Security solidifies the opportunity and critical nature for CSPs and ISPs to mitigate the forecasted IoT-related cyberattacks.”

Dojo by BullGuard is an early pioneer and leader in the IoT security domain. Dojo enables CSPs to leverage their existing broadband services and offer a managed enterprise-grade cybersecurity services to their customers. Dojo Intelligent IoT Security Platform (DIP) is easily integrated into CSPs network via open APIs, providing an end to end solution for a wide range of IoT security use cases. Unlike other generic IoT platforms, DIP is designed from the ground up as a managed IoT security service for the CSP market. Service providers who implement the Dojo Intelligent Platform provide their end customers unprecedented multi-layered protection.

View a short video of the Dojo Intelligent IoT Security platform for CSPs and ISPs here.