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Only 30% of businesses in Mideast have a full data encryption strategy – Saudi Gazette

May 22, 2017 | Author: admin

DUBAI In the Middle East, only 30% respondents have a comprehensive encryption strategy a number that stands in marked contrast to the global rate of 41%, Thales, a leader in critical information systems, cyber security and data security, said Sunday in its Middle East edition of its 2017 Global Encryption Trends Study.

At 33%, IT operations has the most influence in directing that strategy. This finding is also in contrast to the global figure, where for the first time in the history of the study, business unit leaders had the highest influence. Other critical findings demonstrate organizations show a preference for control over encryption in the cloud and are readily deploying hardware security modules (HSMs) to protect their data:

60% of respondents take one of two routes: they either perform encryption on premise prior to sending data to the cloud, or encrypt in the cloud using keys they generate and manage on premise

Only 37% are willing to turn over complete control of keys and encryption processes to cloud providers

The overall HSM usage rate is 34% and the top deployment model for HSMs used with cloud applications is on-premise (49%)

The top two software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications that respondents currently encrypt with, or plan to encrypt with, are Microsoft Office 365 (50%) and Salesforce.com (38%)

Philip Schreiber, Regional Sales Director for Thales e-Security MEASA, said: As businesses the world over increasingly turn to cloud services, were seeing a rapid rise in sensitive or confidential data being transferred to the cloud and yet in the Middle East less than a third of respondents had an overall, consistently applied encryption strategy. Encryption is now widely accepted as best-practice for securing data and a good encryption strategy depends on well-implemented encryption and proper key management. Thales hardware security modules (HSMs) have provided reliable high-assurance key management for decades and this years study underscores their importance in securing a wide range of critical applications.

Other key findings:

30% are currently using or planning to use HSMs with Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) deployments, with 23% claiming the same for Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) deployments. Usage of HSMs with CASBs is expected to almost double in the next 12 months (from 12 to 23%)

The top drivers for encryption are IP protection and protection of customer information. This is in contrast to the global data where compliance is, and historically always has been, the top driver for encryption. In the Middle East, compliance ranked 5th on the list at 28% (as compared to the global average of 55%)

Encryption use in the Middle East is highest for Internet communications, databases, and laptop hard drives. SG

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Only 30% of businesses in Mideast have a full data encryption strategy - Saudi Gazette

Bitcoin prices are soaring under Trump – CNNMoney

May 22, 2017 | Author: admin

Just in 2017, bitcoin prices have soared 125%.

And traders can probably thank President Trump for at least part of the big spike.

Last week, markets were rocked after reports about former FBI director James Comey's memo about being asked by Trump to stop an investigation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's ties to Russia.

Stocks plunged due to rising levels of uncertainty about Trump's ability to get anything meaningful accomplished as he deals with this crisis. And the US dollar weakened too. But bitcoin (XBT) is a beneficiary of this turmoil. So is gold.

One of the reasons digital currencies like bitcoin and lesser known ones such as Ethereum and Ripple have soared this year is because they, like gold, are not backed by governments. Bitcoins are tracked in a public online record known as the blockchain.

There are a finite number of bitcoins that can be "mined" -- that is, made available after a complex math problem is solved. And even though the record of transactions is public, there is a level of anonymity about who is making the transactions.

Bitcoin prices have tended to pop over the past few years at times of geopolitical uncertainty -- and especially when there were significant questions or concerns about the health of a major country's paper currency.

Trump has already talked about wanting the dollar to be weaker to help make the products of big US multinationals more competitive overseas. So that may be helping to lift the price of bitcoin.

The president also has some known bitcoin bulls in his administration as well.

His budget director, former US House member Mick Mulvaney, had been dubbed the "Bitcoin Congressman" by some of the currency's backers.

Related: Billionaire says he has 10% of his money in bitcoin and other digital currencies

And vice president Mike Pence's chief economist Mark Calabria has given speeches in support of bitcoin as well. Calabria was formerly the director of financial regulation studies at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute before joining the administration.

Many experts also think President Trump's fiscal spending plans could be highly inflationary. That could further weaken the dollar and fuel the rise in bitcoin and gold prices.

But concerns about just what Trump will actually be able to accomplish in the wake of the Comey allegations are another big reason for the dollar's recent slide and accompanying rise in bitcoin.

There is even some speculation about whether or not Trump's presidency could end prematurely due to him resigning, being impeached, or removed via the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution.

Add it all up and it appears that bitcoin prices could continue to climb higher. But some are worried that the party could end soon.

I asked my followers on Twitter what they thought was next for bitcoin.

Several expressed concerns that prices will come tumbling down since bitcoin has been an extremely volatile investment over the past few years. When bitcoin topped the $1,000 level in January, it was the first time it had done so in three years.

Those are great points. It is debatable whether bitcoin can ever become a mainstream form of payment. Just look at how little money the hackers behind the recent WannaCry ransomware made by demanding payment in bitcoin.

But Ross Gerber, CEO of investment firm Gerber Kawasaki and a frequent guest on CNNI's business programs, noted that bitcoin may be the perfect currency for these crazy and tumultuous times.

In other words, bitcoin and its smaller digital currency siblings could continue to benefit from all the turmoil in Washington.

CNNMoney (New York) First published May 22, 2017: 10:58 AM ET

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Bitcoin prices are soaring under Trump - CNNMoney

As bitcoin rockets to records, here’s how much skeptics missed out on, says one money manager – MarketWatch

May 22, 2017 | Author: admin

Investors who made bullish bets in bitcoin near its nascence may be getting the last laugh, as the digital currency, which has drawn skeptics, has raced to repeated records in recent trade.

The value of one bitcoin BTCUSD, +11.49% shot to nearly 2,200 for the first time on Monday. Trading at 2,195,81:

The unmitigated ascent for bitcoin comes as virtual currencies broadly have been gaining more prominence, putting them on a tear since last year, with cryptocurrency bulls pointing out stratospheric climb for bitcoin, compared with other traditional investments.

One regret chart sent around on Monday by Jeroen Blokland, portfolio manager on the Robeco Global Allocation team, shows how a $1,000 investment in bitcoin in July 2010 would be worth more than $35 million. Comparatively, the equivalent investment in the S&P 500 would be around $2,500 (excluding dividends):

While the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.48% has eased about 0.1% so far in May, essentially going nowhere, one bitcoin is about 61% higher for the month, climbing from around $1,344 at the start of the month to Mondays fresh record. Those gains have in part been driven by upbeat regulatory moves, and the Securities and Exchange Commissions decision to rethink its rejection of the proposed Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust exchange-traded fund.

As well, given the political tension in the U.S., some investors have sought out alternative investments, and bitcoin was tracking gains for gold GCM7, +0.58% until the virtual currency started sprinting ahead of the more traditional haven commodity this month:

Of course, comparing the S&P 500 (or even gold) with bitcoin is a bit of apples-and-oranges comparison, and there are plenty of caveats. Chris Dannen, founder of New York-based cryptoasset fund Iterative Instinct, said earlier this month that some of the recent run-up could have been caused by a handful of wealthy traders, awash in crytocurrency and moving prices to their advantage.

Manfred Hubner, chief executive officer at Sentix.de, which provides a weekly capital market survey on hundreds of different indexes, said there has been a systematic increase in interest the bitcoin market since 2014, but noted a change in expectations recently, which could trigger those prices to correct, or move lower.

In a note on Sentixs website, Hubner likened bitcoin to the Dutch tulip bubble of the 17th century (it isnt the first time such a comparison has been made), as well as a Ponzi -like scheme. He said investors should be cautious as bad things tend to happen to those who get in late on what he described as a speculative bubble.

There are some pretty heady valuations out there at the moment, when it comes to bitcoin, Charles Hayter, chief executive officer and founder of Cryptocompare, said in a Monday note.

At the moment all you need to be showered in cash are a couple of buzzwords tagged onto something crypto or blockchain related. Ironic is the fact that some prediction markets who have raised via this method rely on the wisdom of crowds for their USP (unique selling point) yet are subject to their madness in terms of valuation, he added.

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As bitcoin rockets to records, here's how much skeptics missed out on, says one money manager - MarketWatch

Bitcoin Surges Past $2200 – Futurism

May 22, 2017 | Author: admin

In Brief Bitcoin has set record after record as a global currency. It also has the potential to become a universal currency. But, what are the realities behind the impressive figures? The Rise of Bitcoin

Bitcoin (for its history, see this infographic) has experienced unprecedented success since their domain name was registered on anonymousspeech.com. Monday, it was reported that the single bitcoin hit a landmark point, reaching $2,251.61 dollars, which far exceeds the price of gold. Its exchange rate has increased in 23 of its past 26 sessions. It has been the top performing currency every year since 2010 (besides 2014). By the summer, it will be accepted at more than 260,000 stores in Japan, since it is officiallylegal tender in the country. The verdict against the Winklevoss Twins to not allow it to enter the U.S stock exchange may, in the wake of this success, be overturned.

All of this seems to point to Bitcoin becoming a currency on par with the Dollar, Pound, Yen or Euro; or because of its decentralized and digital nature it could become the global currency.

These figures, however, may not tell us the whole story. All that glitters is not gold.

The first thing that Bitcoin will have to do to continue its rise is to become more stable. The reason Bitcoin is so successful is also the reason it could fail. It has the ability to swing and shift extremely quickly: we need only look at when it dropped 15% in a matter of minutes in response to the Winklevoss Twins ETF verdict. One key characteristic of a successful currency, rather than its worth as an asset, is stability, which Bitcoin has not yet achieved.

Second, it will need to increase its transaction speed. In comparison with payment processors like Visa, the number of transactions Bitcoin can process is tiny: around 7 compared to thousands. This is because of each transaction has to be validated and verified by an individual due to it being part of a blockchain. And, even though it has the potential to stretch to 27, unless this value is increased there will forever be a serious limitation to how much bitcoin can grow.

Third, these exciting new figures may be artificially caused by an indirect centralization (centralization not through the legal process, but by market means similar to a hostile takeover of a company). While Bitcoin is an uncentralized currency, if an individual miner (or collection of miners) take control of most of the mining then they are able to abuse the majority loophole, created as a democratic foundation of the currency. This would also allow the individual or group to rewrite the blockchain. As the majority of the miners are Chinese companies, and demand for the currency is increasing in the country due to the value of domestic currency falling, some fearthe rise of state control in a system designed to be anti-state.

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Bitcoin Surges Past $2200 - Futurism

IRS Probe of Bitcoin Goes Too Far, GOP Warns – Fortune

May 22, 2017 | Author: admin

A closely-watched fight between the Internal Revenue Service and a popular bitcoin exchange took a new twist last week, as senior Republicans in Congress sent a sharply-worded letter that suggests the tax agency is overstepping its powers.

The letter concerns an IRS investigation into possible tax evasion by customers who use Coinbase, a San Francisco-based company that many people use to buy digital currencies. As part of the investigation, which began last year, officials demanded that Coinbase turn over information for every one of its accounts.

Coinbase and its customers are currently in court trying to block the demand, saying it's too broad, and now the letter from the Republicans is likely to give them extra ammunition.

"The summons is estimated to affect 500,000 active Coinbase customers and would result in the production of millions of pages of associated records, many of which contain personally identifiable information ... Based on the information before us, this summons seems overly broad, extremely burdensome, and highly intrusive to a large population of individuals ," says the letter, which is signed by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Ut), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and by Vern Buchanan and Kevin Brady, who head the House Committee on Ways and Means. (my emphasis)

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The Republicans' concerns echo those of Coinbase and its customers, who argue the IRS does not need every single Coinbase account to carry out its audit, and that the investigation sweeps in people who have clearly done nothing wrong.

The tax agency, for its part, has pointed out that only 802 Coinbase users filed a tax form related to bitcoin in 2015, which suggests large number of people have failed to declare capital gains related to bitcoin.

The IRS investigation also comes at a time when the price of bitcoin has been on an incredible tear, climbing from $13 in 2013 to a new high of over $2,000 last week. Those who profited from the higher priceseither by selling bitcoin for dollars or exchanging it for merchandiseare required to pay taxes on the gain.

Some Coinbase customers, however, have not sold any bitcoin at all while many others hold only a minimal amount, raising questions of why the IRS demanded information about every account.

One theory, according to a lawyer who spoke with Fortune late last year, is that the IRS's sweeping demand is a negotiating tactic to make Coinbase more cooperative, and that the two sides will reach an agreement to allow the agency to inspect some, but not all, of the accounts.

The letter from the Republicans, which asks the IRS to explain its strategy for enforcing tax payments on digital currency by June 7, is likely to put pressure on the agency to come to a deal with Coinbase.

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IRS Probe of Bitcoin Goes Too Far, GOP Warns - Fortune

Why Bitcoin Is Surging, Again, Up 130% This Year – Wall Street Journal (subscription)

May 22, 2017 | Author: admin

CoinDesk

Why Bitcoin Is Surging, Again, Up 130% This Year
Wall Street Journal (subscription)
The price of bitcoin surged over the weekend and into Monday morning as a new wave of speculative investment drove up prices. Bitcoin traded above $2,200 on Monday, according to the news and research website CoinDesk. That was up about 9% on the ...
Consensus 2017: BitPay CEO Calls Bitcoin Fork 'Only Option' For BusinessesCoinDesk

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Why Bitcoin Is Surging, Again, Up 130% This Year - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

The Inventor of BitTorrent Plans His Own CryptoCurrency – Crypto Insider (press release) (blog)

May 22, 2017 | Author: admin

I am gonna go make a cryptocurrency company, BitTorrent inventor Bram Cohen told Steal This Show podcast host Jamie King. That is my plan.

Mr. Cohen plans to release a cryptocurrency to address Bitcoins mining inefficiency when it comes to wasting energy.

There is a loophole, Mr. Cohen notes. You can get them to work with proofs-of-work, but then this involves these warehouses burning electricity. But there is a loophole in that, which is proof-of-storage. Mr. Cohen believes this problem can be solved by using the extra storage space on computers.

Instead of computers burning electricity to mine, you have storage space that is implicitly mining because its sitting there, and proves its sitting there. The storage space is already sitting online not doing anything on desktop computers and cloud offerings with extra storage capacity, according to Mr. Cohen on the podcast.

He adds: There is lots of storage capacity out there, and its value is much greater than bitcoin mining rewards handed out.

Mr. Cohens vision for his cryptocurrency involves fusing proof-of-space and proof-of-time. Proof-of-space work when users have an interest in allocating non-trivial amounts of memory or disk space to solve a challenge presented by service providers. Proof-of-space are similar to proof-of-work. They do not, however, use CPU-bound functions.

There are some technical issues, which adding in proofs-of-time fixes, Mr. Cohen tells Crypto Insider over text chat, admitting the concept is difficult to explain. The short of it is that proofs-of-time keep an attacker from making a whole new fake history instantly, a problem caused by the property that mining requires no power.

Mr. Cohen adds: Proof-of-time refers to a sequential proof-of-work, like the old saying that one woman can make a baby in nine months, but nine women cant make a baby in one month.

The main idea is zero waste in mining. One of the benefits of storage based things is there is a lot less centralization in mining, so there is less concern about a 51% attack.

The good part of this is subtle, Mr. Cohen tells Steal This Show listeners.There are economic resources that you can apply towards rewards, he elucidates. People will spend resources getting rewards. So it will still be wasteful, but there is a waste that has already happened and youre leveraging that at no additional cost.

The BitTorrent founders specialty might work well applied to the world of cryptocurrency. Mr. Cohen launched BitTorrent to solve problems with bandwidth scarcity in sharing data over the internet, and his platform still today enables individuals to distribute large files sans the need for specialized infrastructure.

Before starting on his own cryptocurrency, Mr. Cohen must first tie up loose ends with BitTorrent, Inc., the business wing of his distributed software. In the next few months, Im going to devote myself full-time to the cryptocurrency stuff, Mr. Cohen notes on the podcast.

Burstcoin, an altcoin listed on Coin Market Cap, uses what the developers term proof-of-capacity as its consensus method. It appears to merely be a re-brand of proof-of-space, the latter of which is the term preferred by academic literature.

As Mr. Cohen tells Crypto Insider, critics of Burstcoin lament the developers do not acknowledge Hellman time-space trade-offs in their coding. The coin, they say, attempts to solve problems by relying on a platform called NXT, instead of developing their own innovations.

Its not the first time Mr. Cohen mentioned this plan. The BitTorrent founder presented a talk at the Stanford Blockchain Conference, in which he examined the potential of proof-of-space and proof-of-time in a cryptocurrency.

One slide in his presentation reads: There are massive amounts of unused online storage in the world. [A cyptocurrency] requires no additional power to mine. No potential for ASICs. The available miners are highly decentralized.

Picture from Cory Doctorow/Flickr.

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The Inventor of BitTorrent Plans His Own CryptoCurrency - Crypto Insider (press release) (blog)

Bitcoin Surge Continues as Cryptocurrency Tops $2100 Amid U.S. Dollar Pullback – TheStreet.com

May 22, 2017 | Author: admin

Bitcoin prices surged to another all-time high Monday, taking the total value of the cryptocurrency in circulation to more than $37.5 billion.

Bitcoins were marked at $2,120each on the Bitsmap exchange in Europe at 08:45BST, a more than $100 increase from last week's close and a more than 51% increase from the beginning of the month.

The gains followed news that Ledger Holdings, the parent company of the bitcoin options exchange LedgerX, said it had closed $11.4 million in new financing as it awaits approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for the firstU.S.-based trading and clearing house for the virtual currency.

"In the short term, these investments will further our application to become a regulated exchange and clearing house for bitcoin options," said LedgerX CEO Paul Chou. "In the long term, these strategic investors will help us enter additional marketplaces and territories."

Bitcoin's gains have also mirrored declines in the U.S. dollar and surge in trading activity in Japan, where it was deemed as 'legal tender' by the government and began being used as a common form of payment as of April 1.

The U.S. dollar index, a measure of the greenback's strength against a basket of six major currencies, has fallen more than 1.9% since the beginning of the May amid investor concern over the fate of President Donald Trump's tax reform and stimulus spending strategies as his administration grapples with myriad allegations related to his ties with officials in Russia.

Over that same time period, spot gold prices, a traditional "safe-haven" for investors transitioning from riskier bets, have fallen around 1% to $1,255 per ounce.

Coinbase Hopes For Cryptocurrency’s ‘Netscape Moment’ With New App, Token – Forbes

May 22, 2017 | Author: admin

Forbes

Coinbase Hopes For Cryptocurrency's 'Netscape Moment' With New App, Token
Forbes
Digital currency right now is having its Netscape moment declared Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong at the Ethereal Summit, in Brooklyn, in a presentation about the cryptocurrency company's most recent product, Token, a messaging app with ...

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Coinbase Hopes For Cryptocurrency's 'Netscape Moment' With New App, Token - Forbes

Cloud Computing takes Preakness – CNN.com

May 22, 2017 | Author: admin

(CNN)Cloud Computing, ridden by Javier Castellano, finished first in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, denying Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming a chance to capture horse racing's Triple Crown.

"Today is a special day," Castellano told broadcaster NBC just after the race. "I'm so happy, really happy."

Cloud Computing, a 13-1 betting choice, crossed the finish line just a head in front of Classic Empire, the second-place horse. The winning time was 1:55.98.

Always Dreaming, which led much of the race, finished well back after fading down the stretch at Pimlico Race Course near Baltimore. He was eighth, almost 14 lengths behind the winner.

"I'm not going to dispute the fact that we brought in a fresh horse -- that was part of our strategy," trainer Chad Brown said.

It was the first victory in a Triple Crown race for Brown.

"It's a dream come true. It's a culmination of a lot of hard work," he said.

Always Dreaming and Classic Empire broke well from the gate and galloped to the lead with Always Dreaming along the rail and Classic Empire on his shoulder. Many of the record crowd of 140,327 were sure it was a two-horse race as the field went down the backstretch.

The focus grew on Classic Empire, which finished fourth at the Kentucky Derby, as the colt raced past Always Dreaming in the final turn and took a significant lead.

Cloud Computing sat third at each quarter pole, waiting for the home stretch to make a move.

The Klaravich Stables entry, having not raced in six weeks, had enough to run down Classic Empire and edge him at the line.

The final leg of the Triple Crown is the Belmont Stakes on June 10 in Elmont, New York. Brown indicated that it has not been determined whether Cloud Computing will race.

"It's possible," he said.

CNN's Quand Thomas contributed to this report.

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Cloud Computing takes Preakness - CNN.com

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Only 30% of businesses in Mideast have a full data encryption strategy – Saudi Gazette

Bitcoin prices are soaring under Trump – CNNMoney

As bitcoin rockets to records, here’s how much skeptics missed out on, says one money manager – MarketWatch

Bitcoin Surges Past $2200 – Futurism

IRS Probe of Bitcoin Goes Too Far, GOP Warns – Fortune

Why Bitcoin Is Surging, Again, Up 130% This Year – Wall Street Journal (subscription)

The Inventor of BitTorrent Plans His Own CryptoCurrency – Crypto Insider (press release) (blog)

Bitcoin Surge Continues as Cryptocurrency Tops $2100 Amid U.S. Dollar Pullback – TheStreet.com

Coinbase Hopes For Cryptocurrency’s ‘Netscape Moment’ With New App, Token – Forbes

Cloud Computing takes Preakness – CNN.com

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