Month: August 2024

Data breaches don’t discriminate: How to level up rugged device management

Discover how to fortify your rugged devices against data breaches and optimize security strategies.

Rugged devices are designed to function come rain or sunshine – literally. These devices can operate in harsh environments, including in extreme temperatures, water, strong vibrations, heavy dust, and for long periods of time.

They’re particularly popular in warehouses, construction, logistics, and healthcare, and their scope of use is expanding. In fact, one survey found that over half of IT decision-makers plan to increase their spending on rugged devices in the next 12-18 months.

But when it comes to data breaches, rugged devices are just as vulnerable as other technology. The cyber landscape can be as hostile as physical surroundings, and so the ruggedness of a device is determined as much by its defense against hacks as by its durability.

Back to security basics

It’s easy to overlook the foundations of cybersecurity when managing sophisticated rugged devices, but without this baseline, you’re building on quicksand. Standard cybersecurity practices ensure that all devices in your fleet have protective measures that can evolve and be customized according to your organizational needs. These basics include:

– Regular software updates for your operating systems, firmware, and applications. Ideally, these updates should be automatic to guarantee that any security vulnerabilities are patched with the latest releases, and that security features respond to the most current threats.

– Two factor authentication (2FA) and biometrics for account access. Passwords alone aren’t enough

– 2FA and biometrics provide another layer of protection that makes accessing rugged devices and their data more difficult for players who don’t have permissions.

– Only connect to secure, trusted WiFi and VPN connections. If your team has to use public internet connections, they should only do so with a VPN to avoid exposing sensitive information on rugged devices.

– Encrypt data for files stored within rugged devices, both when they’re at rest and in transit.

– Back up data frequently (both offline or via the cloud) and store data away from physical rugged devices so that if they’re compromised, data can be remotely wiped and is not completely lost.

Update rugged systems and strategies

Rugged tech security requires upgrading your devices and appliances to close any gaps in your security systems – particularly in places where gaps are more likely to be targeted and exacerbated by malicious actors. For example, researchers have shown that industrial barcode scanners used by airport baggage handling systems can have keystrokes remotely injected into them and compromise the computer connected to the scanners.

In response, organizations need to integrate rugged technology with existing and unfolding digital infrastructures. With this seamless connectivity, device management and operations are more efficient, and real-time decision making is easier and more effective. It also reduces opportunities for errors and for hackers to find and take advantage of points of entry.

Just look at Google’s latest Distributed Cloud configuration. The air-gapped appliance maintains connectivity in full isolation (without being connected to Google Cloud or public internet), so users in rugged environments can still access Google cloud applications without jeopardizing data or increasing the risk of outages.

Likewise, there has to be employee training for your staff to know how to use rugged devices securely and to follow security protocols. A study from Stanford and Tessian reports that employee mistakes cause 88% of data breach incidents, yet with policies like password specifications, no auto-login, and no personal app downloads, this number can be significantly lowered.

The physical maintenance of rugged devices is important too. That means cleaning, servicing, and having a reliable support team to optimize devices and minimize operational failures. And, where possible, you should customize your rugged tech based on how it’s used – for instance, setting limits on battery use and how many connections it can make at a time. The more efficiently a rugged device runs, the better shielded it is in the business and cybersecurity environment.

Rugged device management for the remote reality

Rugged devices are designed for their immediate environment but they are powered (and protected) by remote administrators. Organizations therefore have to enforce remote security policies that empower long-term, safe device usage and data access.

That starts with remote data wipe and device locking. If your rugged devices are lost or stolen, your data can be removed from a distance and access to the device prevented. For rugged devices that are used in precarious environments and can fall into the wrong hands, this functionality is essential.

Elsewhere, kiosk mode can restrict internet browsing and downloading apps on rugged devices, which stops data from being abused by unsafe apps and websites. Remote device inventory monitoring also helps, as it shows all managed devices in one dashboard with insights around platform summary, device details, compliance violations, and device status. You can equally adopt remote device management that tracks the precise location of devices in real time. With information around devices’ longitude and latitude, you can always survey your fleet and check that devices aren’t in places where they shouldn’t be.

Even with these rugged device management steps in place, it’s still wise to have notification and alerts for when there are potential security threats. These inform your users and administrations ahead of time before issues worsen and a data breach can take place. For instance, you could set up alerts around geofence breaches when your rugged devices are taken beyond a certain location.

The rugged road ahead

Despite their name, rugged devices are sensitive to cybersecurity hacks and need regular maintenance to be shielded from them. And, as rugged devices become more advanced, there’s greater pressure on IT administrations to update those protections in parallel.

By brushing up security basics, updating systems and strategies, and prioritizing remote management, your rugged devices can truly be robust and a reliable form of ROI for organizations.

We’ve featured the best rugged laptop.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro’s Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

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Fordefi Unveils First Institutional-Grade MPC Wallet for DeFi on Sui

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, 28th August 2024, Chainwire
The post Fordefi Unveils First Institutional-Grade MPC Wallet for DeFi on Sui first appeared on Tech Startups.

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, 28th August 2024, Chainwire

The post Fordefi Unveils First Institutional-Grade MPC Wallet for DeFi on Sui first appeared on Tech Startups.

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Astrobotic’s lander didn’t make it to the Moon because of a failed valve

Engineers are redesigning parts of the propulsion system on Astrobotic’s next lunar lander.

Enlarge / Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander, with some of its propellants visible, before shipment from the company’s headquarters in Pittsburgh to the launch site in Florida. (credit: Astrobotic)

Seven months after its first lunar lander fell short of reaching the Moon, Astrobotic announced Tuesday that the spacecraft was stricken by a valve failure that caused a propellant tank to burst in orbit. The company’s next landing attempt, using a much larger spacecraft, will include fixes to prevent a similar failure.

Astrobotic’s first Peregrine lander, which the company called Peregrine Mission One, launched January 8 aboard United Launch Alliance’s first Vulcan rocket. But soon after separating from the rocket in space, the lander ran into trouble as it stepped through an activation sequence to begin priming its propulsion system.

A review board determined “the most likely cause of the malfunction was a failure of a single helium Pressure Control Calve called a PCV—Pressure Control Valve 2, within the propulsion system,” said John Horack, a space industry veteran and professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at Ohio State University.

Read 28 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Shared drives are finally coming for Google Workspace Business users

Google Workspace Business Starter users will be able to set up shared drives with pooled storage in Google Workspace.

Google Workspace has announced the introduction of pooled storage and the rollout of shared drives for its basic tier of users.

The new feature, designed to help teams collaborate and manage their files more effectively, will be available to for Google Workspace Business Starter users from September 23, 2024.

Google has moved away from 30GB of storage per user as part of the change – organizations will now have a collective storage capacity of 30GB times the number of users.

Google Workspace Business Starter gets a major storage overhaul

Google says that the change will allow admins to manage storage more effectively, with the flexibility to set per-user storage limits as needed.

The company also said that its shared drives will simplify file discoverability, enhance collaboration and ensure files are retained after certain employees leave: “Shared drives are a key tool for collaboration – users can store, search, and access their team’s files instantly.”

From September 23, all Business Starter users will be able to create shared drives by default, however admins can restrict this if they prefer.

“Less time spent requesting access to files and searching for relevant documents with all of your team’s files in one place,” the company stated in its blog in light of continuing global discussions around boosting worker productivity.

Admin settings for shared drives will start rolling out from August 26, giving IT departments time to adjust the settings according to company policies ahead of full product rollout. This includes adding or removing members, modifying access levels and restricting the external sharing of content.

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SpaceX Falcon 9 booster ‘tipped over’ into the ocean during landing

Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images

The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket crashed during an attempted landing on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean last night. The booster had nearly completed its touchdown when it tipped over, dropping into the sea.
It was the first time the company has failed to recover one of the reusable boosters since February 2021, ending a streak of 267 successful landings for the reusable boosters, according to CBS News.
SpaceX posted about the failed mission at 4:04AM ET, writing that the booster “tipped over following touchdown” on what was its 23rd launch. The second stage succeeded in putting a batch of 21 Starlink satellites in orbit, however, 13 of which carry the company’s cellular transmission capability.

After a successful ascent, Falcon 9’s first stage booster tipped over following touchdown on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship. Teams are assessing the booster’s flight data and status. This was the booster’s 23rd launch.— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 28, 2024

SpaceX had planned for back-to-back launches this morning but postponed the second one in order to review data from the botched landing. The setback follows another in July when the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily grounded the Falcon 9 when a second-stage exploded in July.
Before this morning’s launch, SpaceX had delayed Polaris Dawn, a mission to send four astronauts through the Van Allen radiation belts and attempt the first private astronaut spacewalk. The company cited a poor weather forecast as the reason for the scrubbed launch.

Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images

The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket crashed during an attempted landing on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean last night. The booster had nearly completed its touchdown when it tipped over, dropping into the sea.

It was the first time the company has failed to recover one of the reusable boosters since February 2021, ending a streak of 267 successful landings for the reusable boosters, according to CBS News.

SpaceX posted about the failed mission at 4:04AM ET, writing that the booster “tipped over following touchdown” on what was its 23rd launch. The second stage succeeded in putting a batch of 21 Starlink satellites in orbit, however, 13 of which carry the company’s cellular transmission capability.

After a successful ascent, Falcon 9’s first stage booster tipped over following touchdown on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship. Teams are assessing the booster’s flight data and status. This was the booster’s 23rd launch.

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 28, 2024

SpaceX had planned for back-to-back launches this morning but postponed the second one in order to review data from the botched landing. The setback follows another in July when the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily grounded the Falcon 9 when a second-stage exploded in July.

Before this morning’s launch, SpaceX had delayed Polaris Dawn, a mission to send four astronauts through the Van Allen radiation belts and attempt the first private astronaut spacewalk. The company cited a poor weather forecast as the reason for the scrubbed launch.

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Quench That Travel Thirst With 50% Off a Hydro Flask Water Bottle

It isn’t every day that you save 50% on anything, but today is one such day.

It isn’t every day that you save 50% on anything, but today is one such day.

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