Page 53 - BWA FEB 2013

February 2013 | Business World Magazine | 53
back to the original owners. He sees this as a preemptive solution that offers savings on hard costs as well as
increased protection. Cyber threats were also the theme of a special February hearing held by the U.S. House
Intelligence Committee. During the hearing, testimony was offered by Baltimore Gas and Electric CEO Ken
DeFontes. BG&E is an affiliate of a company known as Exelon which holds the 2013 Board of Director’s Chair for the
Electric Power Supply Association. In that cyber security is a critical component of safeguarding the nation’s power
grid, DeFontes credited The Chertoff Group (led by former DHS Chief Michael Chertoff) as an enterprise that
professionally “assists in building a framework and developing effective policies to prevent and respond to
cybersecurity incidents.”
The Chertoff Group was among a number of companies who recently partnered with the FCC to launch and
promote Small Biz Cyber Planner 2.0, an online tool designed to help small businesses create a customized
cybersecurity strategy. According to the Chertoff Group, studies suggest more than 80 percent of small businesses
have no formal cybersecurity plan in place to protect against threats. Research further indicates a typical cyber
attack can cost a business an average of approximately $200,000 (more in terms of reputation in News Corp.
perspective). The bottom line, with increased risks come increased tools and services to mitigate those risks.
Industry analysts anticipate this theme to continue throughout 2013.
Employers, as well as anyone else, may soon have opportunity to eavesdrop in manner never before allowed thanks
to two new commercially developed software solutions.
Massachusetts-based Raytheon, following the conducting of a joint research project with the U.S. government,
says it has developed software capable of mining excessive measures of data from social networking sites to not
only track people, but also make predictions about their future tendencies. Referred to as Rapid Information Overlay
Technology (or RIOT), the software allows one to enter a name and quickly access a return of the relevant pictures
and posted messages across the plethora of media platforms, associated with the entered name. Details of
relationships and chat exchanges are included. The software will likely spur a riot with privacy advocates.
Meanwhile, IBM has just introduced a new security solution touted as IBM Security Intelligence with Big Data.
The software allows employers to scan archived volumes of email, financial reports, web-traffic, as well as social
media sites, to quickly access remarks made by people, or particular patterns-of-activity that could be deemed as
detrimental to business operations. Loose lips may sink ships, but so too do callous keystrokes.
Analysts anticipate the industry will clamor with increased offerings of “data mining” capabilities in the coming
soon.