How to measure the value of big data

Data itself is quite often inconsequential in its own right. Measuring the value of data is a boundless process with endless options and approaches – whether structured or unstructured, data is only as valuable as the business outcomes it makes possible.

It is how we make use of data that allows us to fully recognise its true value and potential to improve our decision making capabilities and, from a business stand point, measure it against the result of positive business outcomes.

There are multiple approaches to improving a business’s decision-making process and to determine the ultimate value of data, including data warehouses, business intelligence systems, and analytics sandboxes and solutions.

These approaches place high emphasis on the importance of every individual data item that goes into these systems and, as a result, highlight the importance of every single outcome linking to business impacts delivered.

Big data characteristics are defined popularly through the four Vs: volume, velocity, variety and veracity. Adapting these four characteristics provides multiple dimensions to the value of data at hand.

Essentially, there is an assumption that the data has great potential, but no one has explored where that might be. Unlike a business intelligence system, where analysts know what information they are seeking, the possibilities of exploring big data are all linked to identifying connections between things we don’t know. It is all about designing the system to decipher this information.

Read More: http://www.information-age.com/it-management/strategy-and-innovation/123460041/how-measure-value-big-data

Managed Security Services Prove Their Worth

The world of cybersecurity changes every day. New threats enter the security landscape, and organizations leverage new and better tools to deal with these threats. At the same time, business users travel around the world, carrying notebooks, tablets and smartphones that contain sensitive information. How can enterprises continue to secure data in such a dynamic environment?

Cloud-based security solutions — known as Security as a Service, delivered by managed security service providers — fill this gap. Cloud-based security offerings provide organizations with the flexibility to respond to an increasingly diverse spectrum of attacks. Once considered fringe products, Security as a Service offerings now play a critical role in building strong defenses.

The Benefits of Security as a Service

Security as a Service providers offer several key benefits that simply aren’t found in traditional on-premises offerings. Cloud-based products are often scalable, affordable options that offer state-of-the-art security controls with only a fraction of the administrative burden needed to support on-premises systems.

Cloud providers design their service offerings with scalability in mind. The hundreds or thousands of customers they serve simultaneously demand highly scalable solutions that easily accommodate both predictable and unpredictable spikes in usage. If an organization’s website sees a sudden spike in demand — perhaps with the arrival of a seasonal peak or because of media coverage — an on-premises solution may not cope with that demand without a time-consuming and expensive hardware upgrade. Cloud security offerings can automatically scale to meet changing needs.

Read More: http://www.biztechmagazine.com/article/2015/11/managed-security-services-prove-their-worth

The future of internet security

CYBER CRIME IS A MULTI MILLION POUND business. In the UK alone, the Cabinet Office estimates the cost of cyber crime to be in the region £27bn every year, and that number is only snowballing as we move towards a society where everything and everyone perpetually relies on information, and nothing is obscure.

We have become almost entirely dependent on the continued availability,
accuracy and confidentiality of information and communications technology. But as well as significant benefits, this has enabled old crimes to be committed in new and more subtle ways, meaning that as tech progresses, so do the criminals relying on it.

Cyber crime, hacks and data breaches are becoming more prevent, and within the last couple of years, they have hit some of the world's biggest service providers. It's now not a matter of if your company will get breached, but when, and what can be done to try and prevent the inevitable.

Security has now passed well beyond hacking for fun and is now often fuelled by the potential to obtain large quantities of money without physically robbing a bank. Major conglomerates are being targeted, and real people are having their personal information and finances put at risk every day.

So in five years' time, as technology becomes even more pervasive and cyber criminals find it even easier to take advantage of organisations that at the same time are taking more security precautions, how will the threat landscape look?

Read More: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/feature/2433753/the-future-of-internet-security

Windows 10: Enabling BitLocker hardware encryption fails with November update

Windows users seem to be experiencing an issue with enabling BitLocker hardware encryption after updating to their system to November update, which Microsoft is calling its major update to Windows 10 that brings version 1511, build 10586. This happens with the clean installation of the November update.

Windows BitLocker drive encryption is a security feature that Microsoft claims provides better data protection for your PC by encrypting the data stored on your Windows operating system volume. BitLocker uses Trusted Platform Module (TPM) to protect Windows OS and data as well as ensures the computer is not tampered with even when it is lost. The TPM is a microchip built into the computer and used to store information including encryption keys.

You can use BitLocker without a TPM, for which you need to change the default behaviour of the BitLocker setup wizard by using Group Policy, or configure BitLocker. When you are using BitLocker without TPM, the encryption keys are stored on a USB flash drive.

BitLocker encryption issue with November Update

According to a user, nesoi, who has reported this on the Microsoft TechNet forum, the BitLocker encryption worked fine before the update. It even works with Windows 10 build 10240, which is the RTM build, released prior to the November update.


Read More: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/windows-10-enabling-bitlocker-hardware-encryption-fails-november-update-1530069