Real Estate’s Increasing Interest In Blockchain Technology
Blockchain technology has introduced many beneficial opportunities for multiple industries. In real estate, it provides an immutable distributed ledger, universal accessibility, and overall allows for a faster, safer, and more transparent process. It can also be used to ensure title deeds are authentic or be used to allow the co-ownership of properties. In a normal real estate transaction, there can be up to ten middlemen involved, which not only creates a longer wait time but becomes confusing and frustrating. With the use of legally enforceable smart contracts on the blockchain, countless middlemen and paper contracts become obsolete, saving time and money. According to one of the world’s largest real estate companies Cushman & Wakefield, the industry is just starting to gain interest in the technology. A gradual market shift towards the use of blockchain will occur as more companies become educated about the benefits.
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28 Million Text Messages Exposed In Server Breach
A poorly configured server allowed tens of millions of text messages, passwords, and two-factor codes to be leaked. The exposed server, which ran on Amazon’s Elasticsearch allowed any individual to have an almost real-time view of text messages using an easy, browsable, and searchable database. The database is filled with names, cell phone numbers, and contents of the text messages. The server, which belongs to Voxox, was not password protected. An analysis of the text messages provided insight into the various types of sensitive information that was exposed. These messages ranged from banking passwords, Microsoft account password reset codes, hospital reminders, and much more. This incident raises the question, How well are companies protecting consumer data? What steps are they taking to secure it?
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Alibaba’s Adaptation Of The Blockchain
With record high sales of $25B in one day, Alibaba is increasingly expanding throughout the world. How does a company that large keep track of their complex daily transactions? With blockchain technology. In fact, Alibaba is proud that they “are the most patented company in the world of blockchain technology.” Due to the technology’s ability to provide a transparent supply chain, Alibaba is fighting food fraud, securing medical data, and tracking cross-border shipments efficiently. Using an immutable record of shipment data, Alibaba dives further into the logistical benefits of the blockchain, decreasing the risk of any data tampering. Alibaba is an epitome of how a company can benefit from the technology, and as more become informed, it will be interesting to see who follows their footsteps.
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Cybersecurity Is A Top Concern For Health System Execs In 2019
A survey of 44 execs that represent an average annual revenue of $5.3 billion dollars found cybersecurity is on the top of the list of things that will have the greatest impact on the industry in the next year. The survey results stated 62 percent of the execs believed their “Staff” was the greatest potential vulnerability. Employees have become a huge target in many industries with phishing and spear-phishing topping the list of the most common types of cyber attacks in the last year. Many execs did not express confidence in their organizations IT business plans for actions to take after an attack. As over 4.4 million records were exposed in just the third quarter of 2018 alone, more planning has to be done in regards to conducting more security tests and the protection of confidential information. Developing plans to protect patient information from breaches will reduce the monetary damage they bring and will instill users’ confidence in various health systems.
Read more about the concerns of Health System Execs here
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Are You Ready For A Cyber Crisis?
Companies that have not planned ahead for cyber attacks have increased the risk of not only suffering a breach but also having to face claims of failing to implement adequate cybersecurity measures. Having data stolen from your company can cause potential customers to lose faith in your product, as well as having to deal with private claims from individuals whose data was compromised. To reduce this, companies must establish reasonable and appropriate security measures, develop incident response plans, and enforce data security practices. These are just some steps a company may take to decrease the chance of their businesses being compromised. As many cyber threats evolve rapidly, companies must be prepared.
Read about risk prevention and planning ahead here