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Submission + - Anthem Blocking Federal Auditor from Doing Vulnerability Scans (digitalguardian.com)

Submitted by chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes: File this one under "suspicious behavior." Anthem Inc., the Indiana-based health insurer has informed a federal auditor, the Office of Personnel Management, that it will not permit vulnerability scans of its network — even after acknowledging that it was the victim of a massive breach that leaked data on tens of millions of patients.

According to this article (http://www.healthcareinfosecurity.com/anthem-refuses-full-security-audit-a-7980/op-1), Anthem is citing "company policy" that prohibits third party access to its network in declining to let auditors from OPM's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conduct scans for vulnerable systems. OPM's OIG performs a variety of audits on health insurers that provide health plans to federal employees under the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program, or FEHBP. Insurers aren't mandated to comply — though most do.

This isn't Anthem's first time saying "no thanks" to the offer of a network vulnerability scan. The company also declined to let OIG scan its network in 2013. A partial audit report issued at the time (http://www.opm.gov/our-inspector-general/reports/2013/audit-of-information-systems-general-and-application-controls-at-wellpoint-inc-1a-10-00-13-012.pdf) warned that the company, then known as WellPoint, "provided us with conflicting statements" on issues related to information security, including Wellpoint's practices regarding regular configuration audits and its plans to shift to IBM's Tivoli Endpoint Manager (TEM) platform.

Submission + - Robocops Direct Traffic in the Congo (theguardian.com)

Submitted by mspohr
mspohr writes: The Guardian describes robocops used in Kinshasa to direct traffic:
"The solar-powered aluminium robots are huge, towering over the jammed streets of Kinshasa, as cars and motorcyles jostle for road room, their horns blasting.
Each hand on the odd-looking machines — built to withstand the year-round hot climate — is fitted with green and red lights that regulate the flow of traffic in the sprawling city of nine million.
The robots are also equipped with rotating chests and surveillance cameras that record the flow of traffic and send real-time images to the police station."
These are second generation robots designed by a Congolese association of women engineers.
"Although the humanoids look more like giant toys than real policemen, motorists have given them a thumbs up.
“There are certain drivers who don’t respect the traffic police. But with the robot it will be different. We should respect the robot,” taxi driver Poro Zidane told AFP."

Comment Re:Gin & Tonic (Score 1) 71

by mspohr (#49107025) Attached to: Drug-Resistant Malaria May Pose Major Threat

You jest... but the invention of "quinine water" (tonic) mixed with gin was to mask the bitter flavor of quinine so that people could take their daily dose and prevent malaria in tropical areas.
Unfortunately, like for all other drugs, malaria has developed resistance to quinine so it is less effective today (but still a good mixer for gin).

Comment Re:Sweet, sweet karma (Score 3, Interesting) 257

by mspohr (#49061189) Attached to: Tesla Factory Racing To Retool For New Models

If you think burning fossil fuels in an ICE at 25% efficiency is green, then keep on sending your money to the terrorists.... EVs emit less CO2 than ICE cars even if the electricity comes from dirty coal because there is much higher efficiency at all stages. Coal is on it's way out for electricity generation, BTW, in case you haven't heard. Worldwide coal consumption has decreased for the past few years and the "war on coal" is just getting started. Wind and solar electricity are now cost competitive with coal and much cheaper than nuclear.
EV cars are much cheaper than gas... even the cheap gas we have today. Gas would have to go below $0.50 a gallon to be cheaper than electricity for cars.

Comment Re:It would be great if google and apple enter ... (Score 1) 138

by mspohr (#49055391) Attached to: Apple Hiring Automotive Experts

I agree. Automotive electronic are generally stupid and far behind times. Most every new car today has electronic features which are laughable compared to consumer electronics. Worse, they can't be upgraded and won't be upgraded so you'll be stuck with it until you sell the car. Microsoft tried to make car software which Ford used but the software was typical of the garbage that MS produces.
It would be great if Apple made car software. We might get some good car software for a change.
(Tesla seems to be the one manufacturer which actually "gets it" with car software. Their entire car is run by software and it's updated every few months to add features, etc. But then, they've hired a lot of Apple people.)

Comment Re:Sure (Score 1) 138

by mspohr (#49055347) Attached to: Apple Hiring Automotive Experts

Apple doesn't manufacture anything (except a few high end computers), everything is outsourced to a contract manufacturer. They would probably outsource car manufacturing to someone who actually knew how to manufacture cars.

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