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Thursday, December 17, 2015
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A Brazilian judge on Thursday lifted the ban a different judge had imposed on WhatsApp hours earlier, according to reports.

It did not seem reasonable to affect millions of users to penalize Facebook, WhatsApp's owner, for failing to cooperate with judicial rulings, the judge reportedly said, suggesting that the imposition of a larger fine would have been more appropriate.

The ruling reversed the decision of a judge in Sao Paulo, Brazil, who on Wednesday had ordered the 48-hour suspension of WhatsApp services starting at midnight. The suspension was meant to penalize Facebook for ignoring two previous judicial rulings to turn over information in a criminal investigation. Facebook had refused to supply the data despite having been hit with a fine.

The temporary suspension of services spurred about 1.5 million Brazilians to sign up for WhatsApp rival Telegram Messenger, sparked outbursts in the Brazilian Congress, and inspired the sardonic "#In these 48 hours I will," according to reports.

"We're disappointed that a judge would punish more than 100 million people across Brazil, since we were unable to turn over information we didn't have," a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by spokesperson Matt Steinfeld.

"I am stunned that our efforts to protect people's data would result in such an extreme decision ... . We hope the Brazilian courts quickly reverse course," wrote Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The Brazilian government wants to clamp down on the Internet and social media, according to media reports.

Some of the country's telcos are similarly inclined, for their own reasons, but they're opposed by the Brazilian telecommunications authority and at least one other telco, as well as by ordinary Brazilians, who reportedly pay through the nose for wireless services.

Leading Up to the Ban

The controversy that resulted in the ban stemmed from the case of a drug trafficker linked to the PCC, one of Sao Paulo's most dangerous criminal gangs, who allegedly used WhatsApp in the commission of crimes.

Judge Sandra Regina Nostre Marques reportedly ordered the 48-hour shutdown of WhatsApp because of Facebook's refusal to share data on the drug trafficker.

The ban affected not only Brazilians, but also users in nearby Chile and Argentina.

Failure to Comply

Facebook could not provide the information the court demanded, because WhatsApp's uses a store-and-forward model, which means messages are deleted from its servers once they have been delivered.

Those messages can't be retrieved from the servers, which essentially function as routers.

WhatsApp chats are backed up automatically and saved daily in the users' phone memory storage. Users also can back up chats to online storage.

Political Maneuvering?

"Vivo, Brazil's leading wireless operator has always been calling for heavy-handed regulation against WhatsApp because it considers WhatsApp and other over-the-top services are getting a free ride," said Ronald Gruia, director of emerging telecoms at Frost & Sullivan.

The company's stance "lines up with the position of the government, which wants more regulation for its own political interest," Gruia told the E-Commerce Times.

"Its approval rating is about 10 percent, and it's increasingly faced with scrutiny over various scandals, and a lot of the mobilization that's been happening against it has occurred over social media, which it can't control," he said. "TV and radio it can control."

Anatel, Brazil's equivalent of the United States Federal Communications Commission, "says operators around the world are dealing with messaging apps, so Brazilian carriers must deal with it," Gruia continued.

Oi, Brazil's "third or fourth largest telco," takes the same position as Anatel, he noted.

On the other hand, the ban on WhatsApp could have been merely an attempt by the judge to gain publicity, because "the judge probably knew the ruling would be struck down," Gruia commented.

Você Não Passará!

Given the climate of terrorism and the widespread unrest in the world, other governments, including the U.S. government, are taking the same position as Brazil's, suggested Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

"It's a shortcut to evidence, and one thing that's true of pretty much everyone in any industry is that we all like shortcuts," he told the E-Commerce Times.

However, Brazil's social media might remain free for a while yet.

"There won't necessarily be a clampdown, just more heavy-handed censorship," Gruia said. "It's a non-starter, and the government has bigger fish to fry."

Richard Adhikari has written about high-tech for leading industry publications since the 1990s and wonders where it's all leading to. Will implanted RFID chips in humans be the Mark of the Beast? Will nanotech solve our coming food crisis? Does Sturgeon's Law still hold true? You can connect with Richard on Google+.

1:18 AM

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A Brazilian judge on Thursday lifted the ban a different judge had imposed on WhatsApp hours earlier, according to reports.

It did not seem reasonable to affect millions of users to penalize Facebook, WhatsApp's owner, for failing to cooperate with judicial rulings, the judge reportedly said, suggesting that the imposition of a larger fine would have been more appropriate.

The ruling reversed the decision of a judge in Sao Paulo, Brazil, who on Wednesday had ordered the 48-hour suspension of WhatsApp services starting at midnight. The suspension was meant to penalize Facebook for ignoring two previous judicial rulings to turn over information in a criminal investigation. Facebook had refused to supply the data despite having been hit with a fine.

The temporary suspension of services spurred about 1.5 million Brazilians to sign up for WhatsApp rival Telegram Messenger, sparked outbursts in the Brazilian Congress, and inspired the sardonic "#In these 48 hours I will," according to reports.

"We're disappointed that a judge would punish more than 100 million people across Brazil, since we were unable to turn over information we didn't have," a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by spokesperson Matt Steinfeld.

"I am stunned that our efforts to protect people's data would result in such an extreme decision ... . We hope the Brazilian courts quickly reverse course," wrote Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The Brazilian government wants to clamp down on the Internet and social media, according to media reports.

Some of the country's telcos are similarly inclined, for their own reasons, but they're opposed by the Brazilian telecommunications authority and at least one other telco, as well as by ordinary Brazilians, who reportedly pay through the nose for wireless services.

Leading Up to the Ban

The controversy that resulted in the ban stemmed from the case of a drug trafficker linked to the PCC, one of Sao Paulo's most dangerous criminal gangs, who allegedly used WhatsApp in the commission of crimes.

Judge Sandra Regina Nostre Marques reportedly ordered the 48-hour shutdown of WhatsApp because of Facebook's refusal to share data on the drug trafficker.

The ban affected not only Brazilians, but also users in nearby Chile and Argentina.

Failure to Comply

Facebook could not provide the information the court demanded, because WhatsApp's uses a store-and-forward model, which means messages are deleted from its servers once they have been delivered.

Those messages can't be retrieved from the servers, which essentially function as routers.

WhatsApp chats are backed up automatically and saved daily in the users' phone memory storage. Users also can back up chats to online storage.

Political Maneuvering?

"Vivo, Brazil's leading wireless operator has always been calling for heavy-handed regulation against WhatsApp because it considers WhatsApp and other over-the-top services are getting a free ride," said Ronald Gruia, director of emerging telecoms at Frost & Sullivan.

The company's stance "lines up with the position of the government, which wants more regulation for its own political interest," Gruia told the E-Commerce Times.

"Its approval rating is about 10 percent, and it's increasingly faced with scrutiny over various scandals, and a lot of the mobilization that's been happening against it has occurred over social media, which it can't control," he said. "TV and radio it can control."

Anatel, Brazil's equivalent of the United States Federal Communications Commission, "says operators around the world are dealing with messaging apps, so Brazilian carriers must deal with it," Gruia continued.

Oi, Brazil's "third or fourth largest telco," takes the same position as Anatel, he noted.

On the other hand, the ban on WhatsApp could have been merely an attempt by the judge to gain publicity, because "the judge probably knew the ruling would be struck down," Gruia commented.

Você Não Passará!

Given the climate of terrorism and the widespread unrest in the world, other governments, including the U.S. government, are taking the same position as Brazil's, suggested Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

"It's a shortcut to evidence, and one thing that's true of pretty much everyone in any industry is that we all like shortcuts," he told the E-Commerce Times.

However, Brazil's social media might remain free for a while yet.

"There won't necessarily be a clampdown, just more heavy-handed censorship," Gruia said. "It's a non-starter, and the government has bigger fish to fry."

Richard Adhikari has written about high-tech for leading industry publications since the 1990s and wonders where it's all leading to. Will implanted RFID chips in humans be the Mark of the Beast? Will nanotech solve our coming food crisis? Does Sturgeon's Law still hold true? You can connect with Richard on Google+.

1:16 AM

A Brazilian judge on Thursday lifted the ban a different judge had imposed on WhatsApp hours earlier, according to reports. It did ...

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Wednesday, December 16, 2015
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A Brazilian judge on Thursday lifted the ban a different judge had imposed on WhatsApp hours earlier, according to reports.

It did not seem reasonable to affect millions of users to penalize Facebook, WhatsApp's owner, for failing to cooperate with judicial rulings, the judge reportedly said, suggesting that the imposition of a larger fine would have been more appropriate.

The ruling reversed the decision of a judge in Sao Paulo, Brazil, who on Wednesday had ordered the 48-hour suspension of WhatsApp services starting at midnight. The suspension was meant to penalize Facebook for ignoring two previous judicial rulings to turn over information in a criminal investigation. Facebook had refused to supply the data despite having been hit with a fine.

The temporary suspension of services spurred about 1.5 million Brazilians to sign up for WhatsApp rival Telegram Messenger, sparked outbursts in the Brazilian Congress, and inspired the sardonic "#In these 48 hours I will," according to reports.

"We're disappointed that a judge would punish more than 100 million people across Brazil, since we were unable to turn over information we didn't have," a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by spokesperson Matt Steinfeld.

"I am stunned that our efforts to protect people's data would result in such an extreme decision ... . We hope the Brazilian courts quickly reverse course," wrote Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The Brazilian government wants to clamp down on the Internet and social media, according to media reports.

Some of the country's telcos are similarly inclined, for their own reasons, but they're opposed by the Brazilian telecommunications authority and at least one other telco, as well as by ordinary Brazilians, who reportedly pay through the nose for wireless services.

Leading Up to the Ban

The controversy that resulted in the ban stemmed from the case of a drug trafficker linked to the PCC, one of Sao Paulo's most dangerous criminal gangs, who allegedly used WhatsApp in the commission of crimes.

Judge Sandra Regina Nostre Marques reportedly ordered the 48-hour shutdown of WhatsApp because of Facebook's refusal to share data on the drug trafficker.

The ban affected not only Brazilians, but also users in nearby Chile and Argentina.

Failure to Comply

Facebook could not provide the information the court demanded, because WhatsApp's uses a store-and-forward model, which means messages are deleted from its servers once they have been delivered.

Those messages can't be retrieved from the servers, which essentially function as routers.

WhatsApp chats are backed up automatically and saved daily in the users' phone memory storage. Users also can back up chats to online storage.

Political Maneuvering?

"Vivo, Brazil's leading wireless operator has always been calling for heavy-handed regulation against WhatsApp because it considers WhatsApp and other over-the-top services are getting a free ride," said Ronald Gruia, director of emerging telecoms at Frost & Sullivan.

The company's stance "lines up with the position of the government, which wants more regulation for its own political interest," Gruia told the E-Commerce Times.

"Its approval rating is about 10 percent, and it's increasingly faced with scrutiny over various scandals, and a lot of the mobilization that's been happening against it has occurred over social media, which it can't control," he said. "TV and radio it can control."

Anatel, Brazil's equivalent of the United States Federal Communications Commission, "says operators around the world are dealing with messaging apps, so Brazilian carriers must deal with it," Gruia continued.

Oi, Brazil's "third or fourth largest telco," takes the same position as Anatel, he noted.

On the other hand, the ban on WhatsApp could have been merely an attempt by the judge to gain publicity, because "the judge probably knew the ruling would be struck down," Gruia commented.

Você Não Passará!

Given the climate of terrorism and the widespread unrest in the world, other governments, including the U.S. government, are taking the same position as Brazil's, suggested Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

"It's a shortcut to evidence, and one thing that's true of pretty much everyone in any industry is that we all like shortcuts," he told the E-Commerce Times.

However, Brazil's social media might remain free for a while yet.

"There won't necessarily be a clampdown, just more heavy-handed censorship," Gruia said. "It's a non-starter, and the government has bigger fish to fry."

Richard Adhikari has written about high-tech for leading industry publications since the 1990s and wonders where it's all leading to. Will implanted RFID chips in humans be the Mark of the Beast? Will nanotech solve our coming food crisis? Does Sturgeon's Law still hold true? You can connect with Richard on Google+.

11:30 AM

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Federal information technology purchasing often involves large amounts of money based on the small print of acquisition requirements. Arcane procurement language seemingly can have a big impact on transactions.

For IT vendors, provisions of recent legislation are prime examples of why it pays to scrutinize every line of the laws and regulations pertaining to federal acquisition programs. One example: For years federal agencies have been encouraged to utilize commercial off-the-shelf, or COTS, hardware and software versus more costly customized IT configurations.

Now, provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2016, and the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act should increase both awareness and purchasing of COTS offerings. The FITARA law was enacted last year, but implementation is still in the early stages and its impact will be felt over the next several years.

"New realities in federal IT management create a shifting sales landscape for COTS manufacturers," said Chris Wiedemann, market intelligence senior analyst at immixGroup, at the company's 2016 Government Sales Summit conference last month.

Matching Private Commercial Market

The use of commercial off-the-shelf procurement certainly is not new within the federal government. Federal COTS acquisitions involve commercially available items provided to the government in essentially the same form as they are offered in the general market.

The idea is that these items are less costly and can be used just as effectively for many purposes as substitutes for expensive and unnecessary customized products built especially for government agencies. In the IT realm, federal COTS products include both hardware and software.

In the government acquisition process, the new laws encourage agencies to move toward the COTS buy option, versus the customized build choice. Finding those provisions supporting COTS, however, can be challenging. For example, the NDAA for 2016 runs to 580 pages -- but vendors would be encouraged by a small item tucked into the law addressing COTS.

The section requires the Department of Defense to issue procurement guidance that at a minimum provides that an agency head may not enter into a contract in excess of the simplified acquisition threshold for noncommercial IT products or services unless the head of the agency determines in writing that no suitable commercial items are available to meet the agency's needs.

As the NDAA 2016 bill -- and the COTS language -- was being considered earlier this year, the COTS proposal in the bill "reinforces and essentially outlines the need for the DoD to conduct more market research to identify commercially available solutions," noted Jason Glasser, director of federal programs at DOMA Technologies.

The language was "not just referring to information technology, but the department's needs as a whole," he said.

"The new NDAA has potential to start DoD on a path to better planning new projects by crafting the needs around what is commercially available," Glasser said.

Acquisition Reform Act Spurs COTS

On the civilian side of federal IT procurement, the FITARA law is replete with guidance and requirements that promote more efficient IT contracting, with an emphasis on incremental IT procurement programs versus large one-shot projects that are expensive and limit flexible approaches to acquisitions. The FITARA bill has led to successive guidance and acquisition declarations within federal agencies that boost the concept of COTS procurements.

In early November, for example, Steve Cooper, the CIO at the U.S. Department of Commerce, appeared before the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee to discuss the department's preparation of the 2020 census.

Among the steps that Commerce was taking was a "realization of the Census Bureau's information technology guiding principles to simplify, innovate and engage by looking to the cloud first and emphasizing standard-based, commercial off-the-shelf solutions over custom development," he said.

In addition to major departments such as Defense and Commerce, smaller agencies also are more aware of the COTS option.

In a capital planning and investment document issued earlier this year describing the agency's response to the provisions of FITARA, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission noted that new IT acquisitions give preference to using available, suitable federal information systems, technologies and shared services or facilities, or to acquiring open source or COTS technologies over developing or purchasing custom or redundant solutions.

"COTS is for real, and has been for some time, and the continued direction from the Office of Management and Budget means that the focus is on agencies conducting market research to determine if there is a COTS solution that can meet their needs before deciding to move forward developing a custom solution, which can oftentimes prove costly and take an extended period of time," said Tomas O'Keefe, market intelligence consultant at immixGroup.

"Hardware is a popular option for COTS, particularly hardware that can operate on an open-standards platform where an agency doesn't get locked into one vendor's total solution," he told the E-Commerce Times. "Moving forward, we expect departments to try and avoid vendor lock-in so they have flexibility."

Another potential COTS growth area will continue to be in cybersecurity, particularly tools geared toward insider threat prevention and defending against more sophisticated attacks against a department or agency's networks, O'Keefe noted.

The COTS versus customizing situation doesn't always have to be mutually exclusive. "There are often many customization options that come with COTS products, particularly for an enterprise like the government," he added.

The impact of FITARA will be significant going forward, said Robert Haas, team chair for the Professional Services Council's Federal IT Budget Outlook.

The legislation "will start to drive transformation," in federal IT procurement, he said at the PSC outlook forum in November.

As a component of transformation, "while it's hard to divine what Congress has in mind for any particular issue, there are a couple of ways to think about" the COTS issue, Haas noted.

"One is a rallying cry to eliminate individual custom software implementations where a COTS product fulfills most if not all of the requirements. Moreover, the requirement gaps are opportunities to ask whether the process could be changed to simplify the IT support required," he told the E-Commerce Times.

Agencies Express Strong Interest

"Another way to think about the COTS versus custom software implementation is as a risk reduction and replacement strategy. In this case, the focus is less about whether a specific COTS package needs to be tailored to an agency, and more about using standardized platforms that are supported with maintenance releases, bug fixes and so forth. In this scenario, there is a risk of customizing the COTS software to the point it is difficult to upgrade in the future. At that point, the total cost of ownership may favor a custom software implementation," Haas said.

In either case, interviews among federal IT professionals conducted in conjunction with the PSC outlook forum "indicated that agency leaders are looking for cost effective and efficient methods" to modernize their IT systems. "COTS approaches are likely to be a good fit for some situations, while others require a different solution," he said.

COTS strategies often work best where there is a high degree of standardization.

"Specifications are commonly understood in these types of procurements and can yield substantial savings" Haas noted. "These savings continue to accrue during the deployment and operations phases because standard configurations are easier to manage and support."

John K. Higgins is a career business writer, with broad experience for a major publisher in a wide range of topics including energy, finance, environment and government policy. In his current freelance role, he reports mainly on government information technology issues for ECT News Network.

3:20 AM

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Tuesday, December 15, 2015
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Although technology  Electronics is among the most profitable areas and stronger in the world today, that none of the content at all where that success that is constructive in the long years have crashed in one moment for whatever reason and that's what happened with Toshiba Corp. and is very famous company specializing in the manufacture of computers and televisions and refrigerators and many other electronic devices.
Toshiba Corporation a was considered one of the most powerful technology companies in the world and its products have been used by various people from around the world as they knew a very great demand for electronic products in the markets, but today the giant Toshiba crisis almost fatal for giant and especially after the news was leaked the fact that Toshiba Corp. is preparing to expel more than 7000 employees in our company
Among the reasons that prompted Toshiba to get rid of its staff is weak and falling prices in markets where the company's share price Toshiba to more than 34 percent and is very large and has been a surprise for the management of the company making the most of the investors in the company have resigned to avoid further losses, although the real reason behind the decline in the value of the shares of Toshiba is still somewhat obscure to the news available at this time according to That Toshiba had manipulated profit thereby subject to intensive investigation for accounting company.

 Toshiba currently moving towards the abyss and apparently they will receive the same fate Yahoo! Inc. where the company has failed miserably because its President, "Marissa" and which could not develop the company which led the Board to view the company for sale.

2:17 PM

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Seattle Lets Ride-Sharing Drivers Unionize

The Seattle City Council this week approved an ordinance that will allow drivers for Uber and Lyft to form unions, becoming the first U.S. city to pass such legislation.

The City Council voted 9-0 in favor of the ordinance, which doesn't require the mayor's signature to pass.

Drivers for Uber and other ride-sharing networks are classified as independent contractors, like taxi drivers, though there has been a push to change the classification to employees. As independent contractors, they aren't afforded any of the protections of the National Labor Relations Act.

The two largest ride-sharing networks, Uber and Lyft, have argued that the ordinance violates federal labor laws, and the unionized independent contractors could fall under antitrust scrutiny because of their potential to fix prices.

The ordinance requires ride-sharing networks and cab companies alike to list all of their independent contractors with the city. That list will be made available to unions, which could reach out to the drivers to organize.

Driver Freedom

Uber and Lyft responded to Seattle's decision by stressing the freedom their models offer drivers.

Lyft drivers are in full control of where and when they work, the company said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by spokesperson Paige Thelen.

"Unfortunately, the ordinance passed today threatens the privacy of drivers, imposes substantial costs on passengers and the city, and conflicts with longstanding federal law," Lyft said. "We urge the mayor and full council to reconsider this legislation and listen to the voices of their constituents who choose to drive with Lyft because of the flexible economic opportunity it offers."

Uber drivers choose how many hours they work, the company said in a statement spokesperson Jessica Santillo provided to the E-Commerce Times.

"Uber is creating new opportunities for many people to earn a better living on their own time and their own terms," Uber said. "Drivers say that with flexible and independent work with Uber, 50 percent of them drive fewer than 10 hours a week, 70 percent have full-time or part-time work outside of Uber and 65 percent choose to vary the hours they drive 25 percent week to week."

Who's the Winner

Going by the applause that reportedly filled City Hall when the vote was handed down and the pushback from the ride-sharing networks, it might appear the drivers won the day.

Drivers might hurt themselves more than they gain, however, if they move forward with unionization, according to Rod Martin, CEO of The Martin Organization.

"The effort to unionize Uber and Lyft drivers has nothing to do with helping them and everything to do with making them less competitive with taxis," he told the E-Commerce Times. "When even David Plouffe is against it, you know it's a terrible idea."

Ride-share drivers are full-time workers sweating it out in a factory somewhere, Martin said. They are people who have been trying to earn a bit of extra money on the side.

"Unionizing them will just make them more expensive and thus less attractive, helping the Teamsters by destroying a wonderful opportunity both for the drivers and for consumers," he said. "The entire exercise is shameful, and all too predictable."

Rules of the Game

Unionization just might be a move of a chess piece, part of larger effort to raise independent contractors to employees. Whatever the motive, court battles involving ride-sharing networks have been redefining what independent contractors and employees are, suggested Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

"This is less of an evolution and more of old rules being applied consistently to new opportunities," he told the E-Commerce Times. "I think we are going to get a lot of case law on both sides before this is done, but the industry will work through this as others have in the past."

What's especially interesting is how cab companies have been putting so much effort into killing off the startups, while neglecting the issues surrounding their own inability to advance, Enderle said.

"That seldom works long term," he said, "but the efforts are keeping the legacy firms from advancing and likely will assure they won't survive."

Quinten Plummer is a longtime technology reporter and an avid PC gamer who explored local news for a few years, covering law enforcement and government beats, before returning to writing about things run by ones and zeros and the people who make them. If it pushes pixels or improves lives, he wants to learn all he can about it.

10:22 AM

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UK police on Tuesday arrested a 21-year-old man as part of their investigation into last month's hack on VTech's systems.

The man was arrested in Bracknell, 30 miles west of London, on suspicion of unauthorized access to a computer to facilitate the commission of an offense and suspicion of causing a computer to perform functions to secure or enable unauthorized access to a program or data, police said.

The South East Regional Organized Crime Unit, whose officers made the arrest, also seized a number of unspecified electronic items.

The Hack's Targets

The breach affected more than 4.8 million parents' accounts and nearly 6.4 million related child profiles, according to VTech.

About 1.2 million of the children had the Kid Connect app enabled. The app let them exchange voice and text messages, photos, and drawings between VTech tablets and smartphones.

The majority of the victims -- about 2.2 million parents and 2.9 million kids -- were in the United States.

VTech suspended Learning Lodge, the Kid Connect network and several websites to allow Mandiant, a subsidiary of security firm FireEye, to conduct a security assessment and help beef up security.

The Threat to Kids

Parent data taken includes names; email, mailing and IP addresses; secret question and answer for password retrieval; the password itself; and download history.

Kids' profiles on VTech listed only their names, genders and birthdates, VTech said, but someone claiming to be the hacker told Motherboard he obtained the kids' head shots and chat logs.

"Even the name, gender or birthday of children in the wrong hands is a concern," pointed out Brian Laing, VP at Lastline.

Such information can allow a predator to establish familiarity with a potential victim, he told the E-Commerce Times.

The Impact of the Arrest

The arrest "will have the same impact on cybercrime as a high-profile drug bust has on international drug trafficking: none," said Jeff Hill, channel marketing manager at Stealthbits.

"The potential financial rewards so far outweigh the risk of being caught that resource-constrained international law enforcement currently serves as a nonexistent deterrent, and that's likely to be the case for the foreseeable future," he told the E-Commerce Times.

An Angel in Disguise?

The hacker who breached VTech's systems did so to call attention to the company's poor cybersecurity practices, he told Motherboard. He reportedly feared the company would ignore him if he approached it directly.

There was evidence indicating others previously might have accessed the data, the hacker said, and he claimed he didn't want to publish the data or profit from it.

"Society's perception of a criminal's motives is irrelevant," Hill pointed out. "An unarmed man who jumps the White House fence and enters the front door to highlight security vulnerabilities is a criminal, irrespective of his arguably virtuous intent."

Assuming best case or best intentions "is a mistake," Lastline's Laing contended. The stolen data could be used to access an online VTech account and hack into a toy that allows voice collection to let the hacker gather information on a family.

Hackers potentially could push out dangerous messages to toys that could speak once they'd broken into a consumer's online account, he suggested.

"How would your child respond if their toy suddenly said, 'Mommy needs you to open the front door right now'?" Laing asked.

Beefing Up Security in Connected Toys

Companies making connected toys or other Internet of Things appliances "need to really think seriously about security" and perhaps hire security companies specializing in application testing, Laing said.

However, security in connected toys likely will come about because of "a general reluctance of customers to embrace toys and applications that require the submission of personal information to operate," Stealthbits' Hill suggested, as well as manufacturers acceding to that trend.

Richard Adhikari has written about high-tech for leading industry publications since the 1990s and wonders where it's all leading to. Will implanted RFID chips in humans be the Mark of the Beast? Will nanotech solve our coming food crisis? Does Sturgeon's Law still hold true? You can connect with Richard on Google+.

8:09 AM

UK police on Tuesday arrested a 21-year-old man as part of their investigation into last month's hack on VTech's systems. ...

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