The Weekly Cypher is specially curated to keep you up-to-date on the latest in cybersecurity, biometrics, and related news and innovations. Here are a few of the headlines you might have missed this week.
Hackers Manage to Compromise Aadhaar’s Biometric Security System | TechNadu
In a highly alarming development, hackers have found a way to compromise the Aadhaar software and the ID database by disabling some of the security features of the enrolment software. An even more disturbing fact is that the hack is being widely circulated on WhatsApp for as little as Rs. 2,500 (US$35). This means unauthorized persons from anywhere in the world can generate Aadhaar numbers at will making it a security concern of national importance as Aadhaar authentication is being promoted as a one-stop solution for all forms of authentication.
The Cybersecurity 202: Lawmakers slam State Department for failing to meet basic cybersecurity standards | Washington Post
In a letter sent Tuesday to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the lawmakers pointed to recent reports showing the department lagged behind other federal agencies in safeguarding itself from cyberthreats. They specifically called on the State Department to roll out multi factor authentication, or MFA, across its networks, saying a “password-only approach is no longer sufficient to protect sensitive information from sophisticated phishing attempts and other forms of credential theft.”
A year after Equifax, cybersecurity is still seeking its Holy Grail | MarketWatch
At the anniversary of the Equifax Inc. breach disclosure, the biggest headache for executives in charge of protecting company data has to do with choices — as in, way too many of them. The number of cybersecurity choices facing chief information security officers, or CISOs, is truly overwhelming, according to those in the industry, as hundreds of “Best in Show” companies vie for rising corporate security budgets while claiming superiority for their small niche of the sector. The growing pressure to protect customer data, and with it, the company’s reputation, has given way to the idea of a Holy Grail of a central solution for cybersecurity.
After boarding pass on WhatsApp, AI is next stop: KLM CEO Pieter Elbers | The Hindu
With the rapid rise in the use of mobile phones over the last decade, mobile applications have become the easiest way for a company to reach a customer. The question is, whose apps would those be? To KLM’s CEO, Pieter Elbers, it is not the apps that the airline develops but apps that customers use frequently. The Dutch carrier had spent a lot of time, effort and money in attracting customers to its own websites or apps. But, explains Mr. Elbers, “if I check how many apps you use on your mobile, you don’t use more than say, 10 regularly. So rather than spend millions and millions in attracting customers to our site or app, we decided we need to be where our customers are. If our customers spend half their lives on WhatsApp, then we need to be there, rather than attracting them to our apps.”
Our first look at Apple Park | CNET
Tuesday wasn’t just the launch of three new iPhones, an Apple Watch and an Apple TV. It was also the first time Apple welcomed journalists to its gigantic, 175-acre Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California. Apple Park is home to several buildings, most prominently a 2.8-million-square-foot ring unofficially known as the Spaceship, which boasts four-story curved glass panels, custom aluminum door handles and one of the largest roof-mounted solar farms in the world. It’s the new home for more than 12,000 Apple employees, a sizeable chunk of Apple’s Cupertino workforce.
