Coldstreams Internet of Things

Coldstreams Internet of Things Blog

Business / Cloud / Privacy / Security

Consumers said to want more #IoT devices for security, protection and willing to share that data with insurance companies

Specifically, consumers say they’d share more data with their insurance company in exchange for smoke, fire and water alarm systems (and presumably also theft) that send data to their insurance company.

“Consumers appreciate the safety and security value propositions of smart home products”

Source: Report: Nearly half of broadband internet households interested in IoT-based insurance | Insurance Business

Everyone wants to be inside your bedroom now, from your smart phone, to your Amazon Alexa device, to your set-top-box (which logs everything you watch) to your home security systems (which, in some cases, log everyone in and out and share with a network provider).

Business / Privacy / Security / Smart Phones / Social media / Spying

HP computers and data privacy and spying

I have an older HP desktop computer. I’ve long observed significant slow downs as various background tasks were underway and I had assumed it was just anti-virus software running in the background. But it was not – instead, the HP Support Assistance was frequently scanning the entire system, using 55% of the CPU and hogging the disk input/output, tremendously slowing down the system. I finally disabled the HP software as I had never seen any...

Security

Minor security problem at Veoh.com

Veoh was established years ago as a video sharing service. Perhaps as many as ten years ago, I set up two accounts there. One for my self, to which I uploaded just two videos, plus a second one to test out for a daughter who was about to do a study abroad – she could use that account to post videos. We never used this one, though, and the account languished. I did not remember...

Security

Venmo’s broken security

I just changed the password on an account that is not mine – but it had my email address and frequently sent me financial transaction reports in the clear. This is a lesson for how insecure online services are today – and the severe privacy problems inherent in sloppy cloud computing businesses. Someone entered my email address for their account at Venmo. Month’s ago. Apparently Venmo NEVER VERIFIED the email address. Consequently, I receive their...

Drones / Policy

Consumer #quadcopters seen as a National Security Threat #Drones #Drone

Authorities seek authorization for government agencies (including local police) to electronically disable quadcopters, potentially shooting them down electronically or kinetically. Source: Security Experts Say Drones Pose a National Security Threat | Time In their scenarios, quadcopters are just a way to drop explosives (tiny ones!) and spray chemicals and bio-terror weapons. Prediction of what will gradually happen: A Federal license will eventually be required to fly a radio control model aircraft anywhere except an AMA-...

Business / Wireless

Britain may shut down plan to switch emergency service communications from radio to private 4G cellular network

Britain has been moving toward shutting down traditional radio communications systems and moving all emergency services to a private “4G Emergency Services Network”. While much more expensive than their existing emergency radio system, it would at least be less reliable than what they have now. (Not a joke.) They are also considering running both – radio system for voice and 4G for data (the first rule of government contracting is never do one when you...

Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com