You probably heard that one of the biggest credit-reporting bureaus got hacked recently. It was pretty bad.
Equifax, TransUnion and Experian are the big three providers of credit scores (and other data, including: social security numbers, full names, addresses, birth dates, and even drivers licenses and credit card numbers for some) to potential lenders and consumers.
Hackers have had access to this information between May and July, and it's taken five weeks for the company to disclose the breach.
Regardless of whether or not you were affected, they are offering "Trusted ID Premier" monitoring free for a year as an extra layer of protection. But, beware, TechCrunch has pointed out that agreeing to their ToS seems to waive your right to sue Equifax.
Situations like this are reminders to pay even more attention to your own online security.
Crazy times! North Korea just tested a hydrogen bomb. Trump says every option is on the table ... here's one time where using Dennis Rodman seems less crazy.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
An ant is pretty cool. It can lift more than 50 times its weight and handle pressures up to 5000 times its weight.
But, what makes ants interesting is what they do when there's a colony (or swarm) of them.
An ant can only be "so" smart - their heads are tiny - but a colony of ants is a superorganism whose collective intelligence is much greater than the sum of its parts.
Ants release pheromones from glands all over their bodies that can tell their colony an array of things. It can tell them how many ants they need to accomplish a task, it can tell them where there's food or danger, and it can even be used to relocate their whole colony to a new geography.
Clearly, it can also be used to communicate that the best way to survive danger is to create a mass of each other and allow the most possible to survive ... there's no fear or greed, only what's best for the colony.
In a very real sense, this is where technology and trading are starting to move. I say starting, but swarm intelligence has been an area of research in technology since the late 80's.
There are many simple applications of swarm intelligence in creating CGI crowds, telecommunication networks and more, but technological advances are drastically increasing the power and uses of swarms.
Using the communication of various systems in order to gain real-time data from their actions and interactions will create hidden opportunities that we couldn't capitalize on previously.
We're in a golden age of innovation ... How cool is that?
What Do You Need To Know About Equifax's 143 Million Consumer Hack?
You probably heard that one of the biggest credit-reporting bureaus got hacked recently. It was pretty bad.
Equifax, TransUnion and Experian are the big three providers of credit scores (and other data, including: social security numbers, full names, addresses, birth dates, and even drivers licenses and credit card numbers for some) to potential lenders and consumers.
Hackers have had access to this information between May and July, and it's taken five weeks for the company to disclose the breach.
Equifax claims that they responded immediately, but three Equifax executives sold shares of their company before they publically announced the breach on Thursday.
Since the breach became public, Equifax's (EFX) stock is down over 13 percent.
How is Equifax responding to the risk?
Equifax has made public statements that the leak has been fixed ... but that does not protect or remedy the data that already leaked.
As a result of the breach, Equifax created a website for you to determine if you've been affected.
Regardless of whether or not you were affected, they are offering "Trusted ID Premier" monitoring free for a year as an extra layer of protection. But, beware, TechCrunch has pointed out that agreeing to their ToS seems to waive your right to sue Equifax.
Situations like this are reminders to pay even more attention to your own online security.
Posted at 02:35 PM in Business, Current Affairs, Market Commentary, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)
Reblog (0)