Israeli cyber-security firm gets GE award for Internet technology

ThetaRay to help protect data being processed on General Electric’s cloud platform, Predix

By David Shamah, The Times of Israel

GE   (General Electric) is getting into the cloud business – and it’s taking Israeli cyber-security firm ThetaRay along with it.

After investing along with several partners $10 million in ThetaRay last year, GE presented the company at its recent Minds and Machines Conference in San Francisco with its Industrial Innovation Award for offering the “Most Innovative Industrial Internet Technology.”

The ThetaRay technology, said GE, will be used in its big data platform for industrial and business cloud development, called Predix.

According to Mark Gazit, CEO of ThetaRay, “our relationship with GE will make it possible for many more industrial companies to benefit from our groundbreaking solution. We are honored to receive this award, and proud to be part of the Predix ecosystem.”

GE’s Predix platform offers companies apps that allow them to process cloud-based data to analyze information, helping them use big data to save money and time. Financial news site The Street quoted Bill Ruh, GE’s vice president of global software, as saying at a June conference that GE intends to be a “next-generation industrial company that is going to have as a core competency” the ability to meld the physical and digital worlds.

With its data analysis apps, Predix will help companies analyze specific cohorts of data to do things like providing data to allow wind farm operators to adjust turbines in real time to change the curvature of a blade or make other alterations, allowing a more efficient operation and producing more power, the site quoted Ruh as saying.

When big data meets the cloud, hackers generally aren’t too far behind. It’s much easier for them to get to data that is transmitted to a public cloud than it is to get to that data when it is on a local server, behind a firewall – even when there are substantial defenses in the cloud server. In 2011, for example, hackers were said to have used an account on an Amazon cloud server to steal data from Sony, and in 2014, photos, many of them of celebrities in various stages of undress, were posted on a hacking site after being poached from online accounts on Apple’s iCloud servers (Apple claimed that it was the accounts that were hacked, not the servers).

In any event, ThetaRay’s technology comes in handy for cloud sites seeking to protect their clients. “Hackers are always looking for backdoors,” said Gazit. “They penetrate systems using various methods, like spear-phishing schemes,” in which hackers search for a weak link, matching an email message with a potential victim who is vulnerable to threats, rewards, fear or other psychological tactics to get the victim to click on a link or open a document that will install malware giving them access to data.

“Once they penetrate a system they can put any kind of malware they want into it, turning it into their own little ‘playground,’ installing anything they want. Meanwhile, information continues to flow through the system, and it’s all exposed to hackers’ whims.”

The best way to deal with the threat, said Gazit, was to look at the overall picture in a system, and try to figure out what “doesn’t look right. Our system checks for anomalies both inside and outside a network, evaluating what would be considered ‘normal’ in an organization and what would be anomalous.”

Anomalies could include increased activity inside a network, or greater than usual requests for communication resources outside a network. Those anomalies, for example, showed up on systems that were plagued with the Stuxnet virus, which wreaked havoc with Iranian centrifuges even as it indicated, on screen, that everything was running smoothly, said Gazit.

To arrive at its conclusions, ThetaRay examines lots of data – “the more the better.

“We check for anomalies in the huge amount of data we process, looking for patterns of activity that should not be there,” said Gazit. Data is taken from all input sources — email, web connection data, log files, sensors, cameras and microphones, etc — comparing the activity with expected patterns, with the models, said Gazit, developed over a period of seven years by top graduates of the IDF’s security tech Unit 8200 group, and top professors from Tel Aviv University and Yale University.

ThetaRay was one of only four companies to be honored with Industrial Innovation Awards, alongside PepsiCo, Pitney Bowes, and Salt River Project. The “Most Innovative Industrial Internet Technology” award was designed to highlight a company or offering that significantly advances the Industrial Internet, GE said.

“The success of the Industrial Internet depends on a collaborative ecosystem,” said Harel Kodesh, vice president, Predix, and CTO, GE Digital. “With Predix, GE is driving digital innovation across the industrial world-working with companies like ThetaRay helping advance this mission. We consider its technology a valuable component of the Predix microservice catalog that is helping our customers achieve better outcomes.”

October Newsletter - Enterprise Applications Management

Enterprise Applications Management might be the answer for Organizational needs that are not covered by enterprise application such as, ERP, CRM, etc.. One application to answer enterprise needs such as H.R. Management, Project / Knowledge management, Training, HelpDesk and many others. 
Enterprise Applications Management Technology is Vega’s topic of the month. For a full coverage of this topic please refer to the Full Article published at our Blog.

Enterprise Applications ManagementThe information Age

By 1950 the first programmable electronic computers had been developed. Costly, these early systems were practical only for the largest of organizations. In the 1980’s a generation of powerful, relatively inexpensive equipment (PC’s & Servers) made complex data processing functions affordable for most businesses and many individuals. By the end of the first decade of the 21^st century, the ubiquitous internet, coupled with the availability of sophisticated, multi-function software made even the most complex and specialized computing processes practical for any size organization.

Once only viable for the largest enterprises, advanced application suites with fully integrated modules such

as…

• Knowledge Management
• Employee Evaluations
• Project Management
• Training Administration
  
• Development Path
• Feedback Processes
• Content Creation
• Permissions Management
• Work Plans
• Resources Management
• Re-certifications
• Collaboration
• Recruiting Processes
• eLearning
• Budgets
• Qualifications
• Surveys

                                       …are now available and practical to implement for most organizations.

For more ...... See Vega's Octobe  Newsletter

Brazil’s Start-Ups Attracting Investments from U.S. Investors

500 Startups, Qualcomm Ventures, Redpoint eVentures and Techstars Invest in Startups from the Brazilian Accelerator Program, Start-Up Brasil
By Business Wire

The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) today announced nine start-up finalists that will present at its second annual International Demo Day in San Francisco. InternationalStart-Up Brasil, an initiative from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), managed by the Brazilian Association for the Promotion of Brazilian Software Excellence (Softex). Two startups from InovAtiva, a program from the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade were also invited to present.

Demo Day is a program from

Check out Brazil's hottest new start-ups showcasing in San Francisco: http://bit.ly/Start-UpBrasilDemoDay

Graduates of Start-Up Brasil Program have gone on to successfully raise money from U.S. investors including 500 Startups, Qualcomm Ventures, Redpoint eVentures, and Techstars.

The nine Brazilian startups will be presenting their businesses to a panel of U.S. investors on December 10th at the second annual International Demo Day.

“We can estimate U.S. investors committed around USD $12 Billion to the Brazilian Private Equity / Venture Capital Industry in 2014 alone,” said David Barioni Neto, President of Apex-Brasil. “It’s safe to say that Silicon Valley VCs have discovered Brazil’s vibrant start-up scene. We capture 53% of all the Latin America venture capital deals. That´s why our agency has an office in Silicon Valley and many initiatives to present great investment opportunities to U.S. businessmen. The Demo Day is one of them.”

Israeli app-testing startup Perfecto gets $35 million in new funding

Perfecto, an Israeli company that develops cloud solutions for measuring user experience on apps, announced a $35 million Series E funding round on Wednesday led by Foundation Technology Crossover Ventures.

By Gedalyah Reback, GeekTime

The round brings their total haul to $90 million. Current investors FTV Capital, Carmel Ventures,

Globespan and Vertex Ventures also jumped back in. The money will expand marketing operations in North America, Europe, and the Far East. They plan on expanding staff at its Israeli HQ as well as at new locations in Australia, China, Japan, and Toronto. Perfecto previously raised $20 million in Series D last year.

Their main solution is called Continuous Quality Lab, providing constant monitoring and automated testing to optimize user experience on different platforms under real user conditions. They tout being able to test apps in use from any model of device or network. In 2015, they also introduced Wind Tunnel to get predictive analysis of an app’s performance once it hits the market at a later date.

In September, Accenture released survey results of 2,000 executives, only 54% of whom said post-release quality assurance (QA) testing of their apps was critical to their business. Technavio predicted last year that the global software testing marketing would grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.15% through 2018. ABI Research had predicted in 2012 that the market for app testing would quadruple to more than $800 million by 2017.

Its main Israeli competitors are Applause, which has raised $80 million and acquired two companies, and We-Test, which crowdsources testing.

CEO Eran Yaniv, CTO Yoram Mizrahi and former VP Sales Jacky Allal founded Perfecto Mobile in 2006. They employ over 300 people and have more than 1,500 active business customers, including major brands HP, Microsoft, Comcast, Liberty Mutual, and IBM. The company’s HQ are in Rosh Ha’Ayin, Israel.

Enterprise Applications Management - New Age

The information Age

By 1950 the first programmable electronic computers had been developed. Costly, these early systems were practical only for the largest of organizations. In the 1980’s a generation of powerful, relatively inexpensive equipment (PC’s & Servers) made complex data processing functions affordable for most businesses and many individuals. By the end of the first decade of the 21^st century, the ubiquitous internet, coupled with the availability of sophisticated, multi-function software made even the most complex and specialized computing processes practical for any size organization.

Once only viable for the largest enterprises, advanced application suites with fully integrated modules such

as…

• Knowledge Management
• Employee Evaluations
• Project Management
  
• Training Administration
• Development Path
• Feedback Processes
• Content Creation
• Permissions Management
• Work Plans
• Resources Management
• Re-certifications
• Collaboration
• Recruiting Processes
• eLearning
• Budgets
• Qualifications
• Surveys

                                       …are now available and practical to implement for most organizations.

The Challenges

While the availability of this type of functionality is a major advantage, users must be sensitive to installation, training, and operating complexities when mixing components of these types with applications from multiple suppliers. Consequently, a single, comprehensive, and well integrated application suite is always the best choice.

If the single vendor approach is not chosen, the following issues will inevitably need to be addressed:

•  Implementation of separate integrated applications from different vendors, but applying them only for single-purpose requirements, creates unnecessary complexity and adds significantly to overall cost for the organization. Without careful coordination, an organization can find itself using many separate applications with overlapping functionality and no common integration.
• Excessive implementation, training, and operating costs resulting from acquisition of multiple products when a single product suite would have sufficed.
• Redundant and inconsistent data is generated without awareness of other, non-integrated applications.  This is further exacerbated when overlapping and inconsistent data is rolled-up into Business Intelligence and other analytic reporting systems.
• Security issues and other conflicts with the IT group and central administration are almost guaranteed when individual departments implement their own solutions without approval and close coordination across departments.
• Interacting with and managing multiple vendors is always challenging and expensive. Different and conflicting operating environments, database systems, OS releases, Browser support, training issues, etc. always create additional problems.
• Change management and redundant purchase costs occur when a department finds its originally installed application is no longer adequate.  This situation requires new procurement & licensing costs, as well as implementation, conversion, training and integration fees.

An Integrated Solution

In order to address the above detailed issues, corporate-wide adoption of an integrated, comprehensive solution is clearly the most viable alternative. Even if special features/upgrades to the company-wide solution are necessary, the overall costs still strongly favor this approach. These types of applications are now available and affordable for most organizations. Moreover, quality suppliers will normally offer assistance with any special customization or “tuning” of their applications.

The major characteristics of these types of platforms are:

• Modular – The client organization can choose which applications it wishes to address with the platform; to pay for only those that it needs; and not to pay for unnecessary features that are not
  
  being used. In this regard, additional modules & features can easily be purchased and activated when needed.
• Cloud based – The organization doesn’t need to operate or purchase servers. The platform is installed in the cloud and is available anywhere with an internet connection.
• On premise option – Since the new platforms are "light" and easy to install and maintain, the solution will also be offered for "on premise" use.
• Versatile/Multi-use – Features are built in a way that they can be used to address multiple, general purpose requirements. This helps to keep the platforms light and easy to use.
• Operate on any device, operating system, and any browser – Whether the user works on a desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile phone, he can operate all the user side functions regardless to the operating system or the browser that is being used.
• Customization – Although the platform is built to suit any organization, sometimes groups within the enterprise operate in different ways. So the software should be constructed in a way that enables feature-by-feature selection. This is addressed with user-controlled switches that can be turned on and off (not hard-coded), so it will be easily adapted for use by many organizations.
• Integration – The ideal new era platform has built-in mechanisms to ensure fast and easy integration to Active Directory, common database management systems, and other corporate information systems.
• Scalable – A modular platform, by definition needs to be scalable and elastic to support additional massive numbers of users as required. And when operating in the cloud, it needs to automatically activate more servers when overload conditions are identified within the network.
• Reporting – A major advantage of the advanced platform is that users can filter, analyze, integrate, and report information that is being generated from the many features and modules of the system.

Conclusions

Thanks to the availability of low cost network and hardware technology, as well as today’s advanced application software development techniques, the days of expensive (and risky) “custom” software development or one solution application have passed. In today’s “new age” environment, focus on selection of an application suite (and vendor) with the best fit becomes the primary challenge.

Critical to the selection process is the need for an organization to establish a comprehensive set of requirements that can then be mapped against various supplier offerings. Beyond the “fit,” all the normal business metrics then need to be applied. The viability and responsiveness of the vendor, satisfaction of existing customers, support, and the supplier’s ability to provide regular updates to the suite that not only add desirable new features, but also keep it aligned with today’s rapidly changing technology environment - all are important factors in the selection process.

From here, the next generation solutions will undoubtedly be more “intuitive.” That is, by examining network and user habits, they will be able to “sense” what application functions are being used and are therefore necessary for the new solution. From there, they will be able to generate pre-configured solutions for each individual user on a case-by-case basis. Quite a Brave New World… 

Here’s How Brazil Is Giving Every Citizen Free Mobile Data

The government, along with Qualcomm and one of the nation’s biggest banks, has a plan to get the poor online.

By Ian King & Christiana Sciaudone, BloombergBusiness

Once considered the next great growth engine for the smartphone industry, Brazil is on the decline. With its economy shrinking and unemployment on the rise, many Brazilians are making do with dumb phones. They find the cost of an Internet-connected device prohibitive, particularly when they factor in mobile data fees.

One possible solution borrows from a technical breakthrough made by AT&T half a century ago. The Brazilian government is working with local companies and Qualcomm, the world’s largest mobile phone chipmaker, on a modern version of toll-free calling. A new 1-800 system for mobile data

allows Brazilians to access their bank accounts for free on smartphones without incurring data costs. The government of São Paulo plans to extend free data services to some official websites by the end of the year.

Banco Bradesco, one of the country’s biggest banks, began exploring a free data program after observing that many customers had stopped using the company’s app and were switching back to such traditional banking services as phone calls and visits to the teller. A survey of those customers found that they couldn’t afford data plans and didn’t have access to Wi-Fi during work hours, when banks are open. Bradesco teamed up with technology giant Qualcomm, and together they spent a year negotiating with Brazil’s four main phone-service providers. The bank purchased data packages wholesale and started rolling out the program in 2014. Bradesco customers can check account balances, transfer money, and pay bills without buying a data plan. “The response was excellent,” says Mauricio Minas, a vice president at the bank.

Bradesco has signed up almost 7 million of its 26 million checking account customers to the company’s mobile services, Minas says; it had 4 million at the end of 2014. The number of mobile transactions in the first half of 2015 doubled, compared with the same period last year, and the bank expects volumes to keep doubling each year. About 35 percent of all transactions will be initiated on phones by the end of 2015, and that number should rise to 40 percent next year, Minas estimates.

Sponsored data has been tested in other emerging markets, with some success. Internet.org, a pet project of Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, provides free access to a limited group of websites—Facebook being one—in Colombia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia. Two of China’s largest mobile operators began offering one-day free access to Alibaba’s Taobao Marketplace in 2013 to get people hooked on the shopping site and to encourage data use.

Bradesco’s service in Brazil isn’t a philanthropic endeavor. Besides creating an incentive to attract new customers, it’s cheaper than hiring additional bank and call center staff. Each visit to a teller costs the bank more than $4, whereas an online transaction costs pennies, according to a study commissioned by Qualcomm. “This solution easily pays for itself,” says Minas.

Qualcomm, which sponsored a report about the program in Brazil that is expected to be published on Aug. 18, is developing similar free-data software that the government will roll out to citizens. Qualcomm is banking on emerging markets to drive future demand for smartphones, most of which rely on the company’s chips. While Brazil, at 282 million mobile subscribers, has more phone lines than people, some 75 percent are on prepaid plans with little to no data. Smartphone sales growth in the country dropped 15 percent last quarter after a 56 percent jump during the same period in 2014, according to market research firm IDC.

Qualcomm is encouraged by the results of its program. “If you apply the same concept that you have with 1-800 calls to data, you can revolutionize the industry,” says Christiano Amon, co-head of Qualcomm’s chip unit. “I believe it has the potential to get adopted in many, many places.”

One place Qualcomm isn’t expected to go after is the U.S. While Amazon.com successfully

introduced a similar, albeit limited, program with free access to its e-bookstore on Kindles in 2007, Americans have resisted the concept of corporate-sponsored Web access. Proponents of net neutrality set their sights on Internet.org in May, saying it’s a vehicle to lock people into Facebook. Past proposals for sponsored data in the U.S. have “caused a bit of an uproar,” says Courtney Munroe, an analyst at IDC. While such services may not work in developed markets, “it makes a lot of sense where data is still relatively expensive,” he says.

Brazilians happy to avoid standing in line at the bank may soon get relief from a second common inconvenience: getting a driver’s license. The state government in São Paulo is developing an app called Poupatempo, meaning “save time,” that aims to speed up the process of applying for a license or identity card. Sao Paulo will spend at least 30 million reais ($9 million) a year to build out the service, and it wants to make sure people are using it. “Most don't access the service online because of the cost associated with data,” says Aldo Garda, an information technology coordinator for the state government.

São Paulo is talking to the four biggest telecoms in Brazil about buying data on behalf of residents. The government hopes to save itself some money by converting people from more expensive call centers to online services, Garda says. He expects a 50 percent reduction in visits to government offices within two years, if the app is successful. Given the recent economic troubles throughout the country and cuts on government spending that impend, Brazil could use any savings it can get.

As cyber-risks abound, airline industry seeks Israeli help

IATA, the largest international airline group, will work with Tel Aviv University to improve on- and off-line security for its members
By David Shamah, The Times of Israel


The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has signed an agreement with Tel Aviv University under which a new joint center for innovation in aviation will be established in order to

develop technologies to protect airline reservations systems, authentication for security purposes, and financial systems, as well as to develop ways to run airlines more efficiently using big data and advanced intelligence.

Two weeks ago, the New York Stock Exchange was shut down for nearly four hours for still-unexplained reasons – possibly, according to some experts, due to hacker activities. That incident generated headlines all over the world, but there was a second unexplained outage as well on July 8 – the grounding of all flights by United Airlines for nearly an hour. Was it due to hacking? A United Airlines official said there was “no indication that this was caused by an outside entity,” but it wasn’t the first time United – or flights by other airlines – were grounded for “unexplained” reasons.

That airlines are vulnerable to hackers is well-established. In June, for example, planes were grounded in Poland after hackers breached the network at Warsaw’s Chopin airport, causing delays that affected some 1,400 passengers. In May, United removed a passenger from a flight after he apparently hacked into a plane’s navigation system via its entertainment system. And in January, Malaysia Airlines saw hackers break into its website.

And airlines realize just how vulnerable they are. In May, United announced a Bug Bounty contest, inviting hackers to test its online systems to find weaknesses. Last week, the airline awarded a million frequent flier miles to two hackers were able to find vulnerabilities. While he couldn’t share the specifics of the hack (to prevent details of the vulnerabilities from coming out), Jordan Wiens, one of the winners, said that the bugs were somewhat “lame” – an indication that the system may not have been very well-protected.

Realizing it has a problem, IATA – which represents 260 airlines that are responsible for 83% of the

world’s airline flights – has teamed up with Tel Aviv University to develop security systems in a variety of areas. With the agreement, IATA joined the companies’ forum of Tel Aviv University’s cyber center, and helped organized an international cyber-security conference that took place at Tel Aviv University last month. As part of the joint activity, IATA’s representatives, together with Ramot and Tel Aviv University’s international cyber center, will identify technologies and information that are relevant to the field of international flight.

Prof. Raanan Rein, vice president of Tel Aviv University, who signed the agreement on behalf of the university, said that it was another important step in the university’s links with international companies and industry.

“The agreement with such a large and important organization as IATA demonstrates Tel Aviv University’s leading role in the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as in research,” said Rein.

Kobi Zussman, CEO of IATA Israel, said that like hundreds of international bodies, IATA and the world of flight also wish to benefit from Israeli high-tech academic capabilities. “We are convinced that our collaboration with Tel Aviv University will be most valuable for the flight industry,” he said.

Four Things You Need to Know Before Laying Off Employees in LatAm

Getting to grips with the legal requirements in terms of layoffs can be tricky, even more so in a foreign country. Nearshore Americas unpacks four things you need to know before laying off employees or contractors in Latin America.
Bianca Wright, Nearshore Americas


Terminating employment is never something to be taken lightly, but doing so in a country other than the US can bring its own unique headaches. As Danielle Urban, a partner in the Denver office of Fisher & Phillips LLP, noted: “The US model of employment-at-will is uncommon in the rest of the world.” Urban specializes in foreign HR and employment law issues.

So what’s the deal in Latin America? Labor law across the region differs considerably, but there are some similarities across borders. Responses to layoffs differ widely as well, although there is always negative publicity. IBM Argentina’s 2012 layoffs resulted in threats of union action, a cry repeated in 2014 when Alliance@IBM compiled reports of more than 3,300 layoffs in IBM offices abroad, including 1,500 reportedly let go in Brazil and 600 in Argentina. In contrast a US printing company that closed a plant and laid off workers in Argentina in 2014 was accused of terrorism by the government. Caution is key in ensuring that layoffs are done in the best possible way.