Wave Systems Corp. (fka WAVXQ)

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Microsoft hopes crowdsourced A.I. algorithms will help avoid the next global cyberattack

https://www.cyberscoop.com/microsoft-cybersecurity-challenge-artificial-intelligence-georgia-tech-northeastern-university/?utm_campaign=CyberScoop%20-%20Editorial&utm_content=84141644&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-720664083767435264

If you’ve developed an artificial intelligence tool capable of predicting the next ransomware outbreak, Microsoft wants to hear about it. And they’re willing to pay.

More than 300 data scientists, security practitioners and academics are involved in an initiative to help Microsoft determine which Windows machines are the most vulnerable to malicious software. The competition challenges participants to assess the probability a device will be hit with malware based on different factors about the machine, ranging from the firewall configuration to the antivirus software and CPU.

Microsoft announced the competition on Dec. 13, giving participants three months to develop an algorithm that can predict whether a Windows 10 or Windows XP computer, for example, is likely to be infected with the next major virus, organizers said. The competition offers a glimpse at how cybersecurity will blend with artificial intelligence and machine learning, as major companies invest in experiments that could help them avoid another cyberattack on the scale of WannaCry or NotPetya.

“We’re looking at artifacts from the computers that have been infected in the past and predicting ahead of time which computers are likely to fall victim to the same kinds of campaigns,” said Brendan Saltaformaggio, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, which is helping organize the competition along with Northeastern University and Microsoft’s Windows Defender research team.

“Cybersecurity has largely been a reactive field where there’s an attack and we try to figure out how it happened,” he said. “Bringing in A.I. will give us the ability to inoculate against these attacks before they occur.”

Researchers will be provided with 9.4 GB of anonymized data culled from Windows Defender, Microsoft’s antivirus tool. Data includes browser information, the operating system in use and a machine’s geolocation, among other details. Teams that predict attacks with the highest accuracy will be awarded a combined total of $25,000 in prizes.

Participants making random guesses might be able to predict attacks with a 50 percent accuracy rate, according to Mansour Ahmadi, a post-doctoral research associate at Northeastern University. The highest scorers in this competition had nearly achieved 70 percent within five days, he said.

Such figures provide hope that researchers will hit at least a 80 percent success rate within three months, Ahmadi said.

It looks like a safe investment, too. A U.S. government assessment determined the 2017 NotPetya virus cost global businesses some $10 billion in what was perhaps the most expensive cyberattack ever, according to Wired magazine. The WannaCry ransomware outbreak, which spread via a vulnerability in Windows operating systems, is estimated to have cost between $4 billion and $8 billion.

“With things like ransomware remediation, it’s very expensive, so if we can prevent that we can save a lot of money,” said Ahmadi. “If we can detect early symptoms, we can avoid more expensive procedures.”
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If firewalls and antivirus don't effectively work against the latest ransomware then SEDs that are remotely initialized by Wave's SED management solution could be a formidable final layer against ransomware. How accurate will these future algorithms be if they can't capture the effectiveness of firewalls and antivirus?
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https://www.wavesys.com/wave-alternative

The IT perimeter is gone

With tablets, smartphones, and cloud applications, your employees can access sensitive data anytime, from anywhere. Indeed, around 70 percent of security breaches and data thefts are inside jobs. Meanwhile, the hackers only get better: advanced persistent threats (APTs) appear as normal traffic, and malware can go unnoticed for weeks.

It’s a new world, one without borders. Yet most organizations are still trying to protect their data with the same old firewalls and antivirus software. It’s not working. We refer you to the headline-making breach of the week.

You have to start with the device

Wave has an alternative: security that’s built into each and every device.

We’re talking about hardware: self-encrypting drives (SEDs), which protect data when a device is stolen or lost, and trusted platform modules (TPMs), or embedded security chips. Both go in at the factory, and increasingly, both are standard. They make it possible for you to monitor and control each individual device and its data, no matter where it is. But you need software to turn on and manage your SEDs and TPMs. Wave makes that software.

We’ve been refining comprehensive, centralized management of hardware-based security longer than anyone else. More than that, we’ve shaped the field as a founding member of the Trusted Computing Group, the not-for-profit that develops and promotes industry standards for the hardware.

Security that’s confirmed, not assumed

With Wave, you’ll know that you’re secure. Because we start with the individual devices, you get a broad, deep view of your network. You can see exactly who’s on it, with what devices and what apps, at any given time. Just for example, if Bob goes home and tries to log onto Facebook with the company laptop, Wave can stop him.

A big piece of this heightened security is device authentication. Traditional two-factor authentication requires what amounts to two user IDs. But by using the TPMs inside your devices, Wave can confirm the identity of not only users, but also the devices they’re on. Combine that with fast, enforced encryption of sensitive data via your SEDs—all easily managed with Wave software—and your data is protected from the full range of modern risks: device theft, missent emails, flash drives, portable hot spots … even (and no one else can say this) hardware keyloggers. Not to mention Bob.

Do we need to say that with Wave, compliance is no problem?

Start closing your security gaps today, with what you’ve got

You might be surprised to hear that 90 percent or more of your computers probably already have TPMs. Mobile devices are catching up fast. SEDs are newer, but you probably have a bunch of those too. Machines that don’t have them can often be outfitted at little to no extra cost. So you’ve got some or all of the hardware. All you need to do is turn it on with Wave.

It’s almost as easy as it sounds. TPMs and SEDs are built to open, vendor-neutral industry standards, and so are Wave solutions. That means Wave works on your existing mix of hardware, across platforms, and will evolve with you. It’s part of what makes the Wave alternative not only more secure, but also simpler and cheaper. Total cost of ownership for Wave data protection can be almost half that of a traditional software-based system.

Questions? Read on, or contact our sales department.