Day: February 4, 2018

Launched in 2016, IOTA is a public ledger with no chains, no blocks, and no fees. Its name stands for Internet of Things Application, and instead of a blockchain, it utilizes a new technology called the Tangle. Its underlying currency is called MIOTA, and without any transaction fees, this network is designed extremely well to handle a large amount of micropayments to power the Internet of Things.

Why IOTA?

While blockchain tech has real-world value, it doesn’t come without its drawbacks. One such drawback is the transaction fee. According to the IOTA whitepaper:

The importance of micropayments will increase in the rapidly developing IoT industry, and paying a fee that is larger than the amount of value being transferred is not logical.

This is where IOTA comes into play. It was designed from the ground up to have absolutely no transaction fees. This solution was made possible with Tangle technology.

According to ZDNet, there will be over 20 billion devices connected to each other by 2020. IOTA wants to be at the forefront of the IoT revolution by creating a currency for these devices. Any communication or task performed between such devices will need some sort of a currency, and MIOTA aims to be the solution. With the ability to complete transactions instantly and with no fees, it’s the perfect currency for these devices to use.

What is IOTA’s Tangle?

The network is able to achieve consensus with no transaction fees with the use of Tangle technology. The Tangle is the coined term for IOTA’s DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) on which the network is based. Instead of being packaged into blocks and chained one after another, IOTA’s transactions are connected in a big tangled web.

Rather than having mining farms mine whole blocks, each user verifies the past two transactions with a tiny amount of work before he or she can send their own transaction. In this way, the cost of each transaction is the cost of electricity it took your node to verify the past transactions rather than a fee set by a network of miners.

Furthermore, since Tangle technology doesn’t have blocks, one doesn’t need to wait for verifications. Transactions are mined in parallel, and as a result happen instantly. This is precisely why Tangle-based cryptocurrencies are able to achieve the highest TPS (transactions per second) rates among all blockchain-based currencies.

IOTA’s Network Resilience

Another advantage of using Tangle technology is that the network becomes more resilient to quantum computing and also to the infamous 51% attacks you may have heard about (which is actually a 34% attack).

34% attack-resistant

It was believed that if an attacker had access to 51% of Bitcoin’s network power, he or she could take over the cryptocurrency. However, it was later found out that 34% was enough. Essentially what is required to take over a blockchain-based network is a certain percentage of the total hashing power. Because of IOTA’s network topology, there are three things that are required in order to perform such an attack:

1. A percentage of the network hash rate
2. Having a full view of the network
3. Being paired with a certain percentage of nodes

The first variable is self-explanatory. A full view of the network is required in order to propagate the rogue hashing power effectively throughout the network. Finally, that hashing power must be paired with a sufficiently high percentage of nodes in order to actually propagate the attack successfully. If the attack isn’t performed fast enough, the network will easily see the anomaly and ignore the threat.

While there is a slim chance that an attacker may gain enough hash power and be paired with a large enough amount of nodes, the network topology is kept private because connections between nodes are private. Thus, it would be extremely unlikely that such an attack would successfully take place.

Quantum-Resistant

Another advantage to IOTA’s network is its quantum resilience. Because of its use of Winternitz hash-based signatures instead of elliptic curve cryptography, it’s able to resist quantum-based computing which will inevitably come in the future. Current research suggests that hash-based functions are secure against quantum computing, which was one of the reasons IOTA decided to go that route.

Concerns About IOTA’s Cryptography

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a96MHqND0g

With all the positives about this network, we can’t forget some of the potential issues with IOTA’s implementation. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology released a report underlying some “serious weaknesses” with the platform.

The report included concerns regarding the Curl hash function that is used in IOTA. According to a Forbes article that covered the report:

Specifically, the researchers claim they were able to break the homegrown hash function “Curl” that IOTA was using as part of its digital signature scheme to secure user funds. Further, the researchers were able to demonstrate how an attacker could then forge a user’s digital signature and use it to steal funds.

Fortunately, IOTA has since fixed the bug in question. Furthermore, while the hash function was breakable, IOTA’s co-founder Dominik Schiener stated that forging users’ digital signatures is extremely impractical due to the network topology and the way the wallet is structured.

Real-World Applications for IOTA

IOTA didn’t make it to the #11 spot on coinmarketcap.com without having some real-world use cases. Here are a few companies that currently use IOTA:

SatoshiPay, a blockchain-based nanopayments company, announced a partnership with the IOTA Foundation to replace Bitcoin as the company’s settlement network.

REFUNITE partnered with IOTA to trace families that have been separated during times of crisis:

IOTA and REFUNITE intend to explore access to critical information and the increasing opportunities that arise from a more connected world.

CarPass, a company that guarantees correct mileage on your odometer by creating a “digital twin” of your car on the blockchain, partnered with IOTA to use MIOTA as its underlying cryptocurrency. CarPass initially used Ethereum for the transactions, but after realizing the potential in IOTA, they instantly switched over.

Top IOTA Wallets

There are two main options for storing IOTA. The first is to download the wallet from IOTA’s github and install the node on your computer. Since you need to perform some work in order to send a transaction, you would need to run a node on your computer in order to send transactions on the IOTA network.

The other option is to use an exchange wallet, but do so at your own risk. Remember that if an exchange goes down or gets hacked, you will lose access to your MIOTA. The exchanges that currently support IOTA trading are Binance, Coinone, Bitfinex, and OKEX.

Conclusion

IOTA is definitely at the forefront of cryptocurrency. With its state-of-the-art Tangle technology enabling instant and free transactions, it’s the main candidate for the emerging IoT market. Having partnerships and use cases in the real world serves as a proof of concept for IOTA’s vision. As the amount of smart devices increases every year, the number of use cases for IOTA will only grow, so it is natural to assume the currency’s price will also rise.

However, new technologies always come with new risks. While the Curl vulnerability was fixed in the wake of MIT’s report, there is no knowing what other possible vulnerabilities might be found on the network. However, such risks come with any cryptocurrency that deviates from Bitcoin’s blockchain.

Disclaimer: This is not trading or investment advice. Please do your own research along with reading this article. The Merkle and its employees may or may not have investments in the above cryptocurrency.

4th February, 2018

DomRaider Group is pleased to present the initial version of their blockchain powered auctions solution under the new brand name of Auctionity. A French tech startup, DomRaider has been working relentlessly to develop an open-source solution that will allow real-time management of auctions, leveraging the extraordinary capabilities of the blockchain technology.  

The auctions platform Auctionity promises to be an innovative solution for all worldwide auctioning players, including the live auctioneers, escrow, appraisal experts, delivery services and online auctions providers. This will be the world’s first decentralized network for real-time management of any auction in the world, both online as well as in the auctioning room.

Some of the key attributes of Auctionity’s blockchain solution will be

• Publicly verifiable auctions that are tamper-proof
• Worldwide auctions accessible through generic interfaces
• Consensus on bids in less than one second
• Very low transaction cost

The release of the first version of Auctionity is a giant leap forward by DomRaider Group towards the success of their ambitious plan of revolutionizing auctions through blockchain technology.

“This MVP was designed to be very easy to set up and to use. It is meant to be a mainstream and user-friendly tool so that anyone wishing to sell an object through auctions, on a website or blog for example, could do so quickly and easily.’ says Etienne Roudeix, the Blockchain Product Manager for Auctionity.

DomRaider Group has recently completed a highly successful ICO campaign where they managed to exceed the target by selling 560 million tokens to contributors around the world. During this phase, the company rolled out the DRT (DomRaider Token), their official medium of transaction that can be exchanged on the HitBTC, Yobit, and EtherDelta platforms. A hugely successful crowdsale allowed DomRaider to accelerate their developmental activities.

Following the formal introduction of Auctionity, the next step for DomRaider will be to implement this solution with the major players in the auction industry or those willing to provide this type of service in the future. With this goal, they have recently partnered with NaviAddress, a well known digital address platform. Another distinguished industry player is expected to partner with DomRaider to support the deployment strategy of Auctionity.

“We have been in contact for several weeks with a potential partner and the first technical tests will be conducted in the near future. Our objective in the next month is to work in this direction and multiply opportunities similar to this one in order to eventually gain the support of national and international players and have them convinced of the added value Auctionity can bring.” says Tristan Colombet, the CEO of DomRaider.

The DomRaider team is extremely confident that the price of their token DRT will experience a surge in the days to come. They are all set to launch a new website token.domraider.com, dedicated to the DRT token with dedicated features for DRT holders, roadmap for DRT, and incentive program for DRT holders.

“To keep our word and to show actual progress on our project is a key reassurance factor for our community,’ explains Damien Henriques, the CMO of DomRaider. “The DRT is already tradable on three exchanges, viz. HitBTC, EtherDelta and Yobit. It will soon be added to several other exchanges.”  

To support their ambitious development plan, DomRaider has recently started a major recruitment drive, opening up over forty new positions with a view to double the size of its current team. Following this recruitment, the company is building dedicated teams specializing in technologies that are key to their market, such as blockchain, digital assets and drop catching.  

To find out more about Auctionity blockchain based auctions platform, please visit www.auctionity.com

About the DomRaider Group: Initially specialized in selling expired domain names through auctions, DomRaider took a step into the blockchain world when it successfully concluded its ICO in 2017. Now revolving around several activities, the DomRaider group has created four websites to make a clear separation between the different services it offers.

• DomRaider Group (Corporate website of the group): https://corporate.domraider.com
• Auctionity (Blockchain Auction Solution): https://www.auctionity.com
• DRT (Dedicated website to DomRaider Token & DRT Holders): https://token.domraider.com
• Youdot (Drop catching solution for expired domain name): https://www.youdot.io

Contact: Paul Decombe and Sabrina Gaillac

Email: [email protected]  (Paul Decombe) / [email protected]  (Sabrina Gaillac)

This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views held by any employees of The Merkle. This is not investment, trading, or gambling advice. Always conduct your own independent research.

Cryptocurrencies have grown to include a wide array of uses, some far more creative and legitimate than others. One unique implementation of blockchain technology can be seen in Steem, a blockchain-based social media platform.

What is STEEM?

Steem is a custom blockchain responsible for rewarding content creators and site participants of steemit.com. Through a complex algorithm, the site’s participants, content creators, and miners receive some combination of payouts from the platform’s three currencies: Steem (STEEM), Steem Dollars (SBD), and Steem Power (SP).

Steemit.com has grown tremendously since launching on July 4, 2016, now recording close to 1 million unique users daily and about 10 million unique users monthly. While much of the content on the platform is related to cryptocurrency, there have also been a number of very popular accounts dedicated to topics such as gaming, travel, lifestyle, and artwork. The unique and highly incentivized nature of the platform has caught the interest of thousands of content creators, including individuals both highly involved and completely oblivious to the overarching cryptocurrency community.

How does it work?

The distribution of the three currencies mentioned above incentivizes all participants in the network – from visitors to miners and creators. Similar to Bitcoin, Steem’s blockchain is based on a Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm. However, it differs greatly in the distribution of the mining rewards. Unlike Bitcoin and many other PoW coins, only 10% of Steem block rewards are awarded to miners. The remaining 90% are distributed among two groups: content creators, which include original posters along with thread commentators, and holders of Steem Power. Content creators receive 75% of all minted coins, and SP holders are granted the other 15%. The current inflation rate of Steem is 9%, and will decrease by .5% every year until the rate reaches .95%.

Steem Power is the main component that drives the system, as the worth of content is decided by voters who hold Steem Power. Steem Power acts as a locked variant of Steem. When users “power up”, they are transferring their Steem funds to SP at a 1:1 ratio. To power back down, they must enter a “power down” phase, wherein Steem Power is converted back to Steem, with one-thirteenth of the SP being unfrozen once a week over a 13-week period.

Users are rewarded for powering up to Steem Power because it gives weight to their voting. Each Steem Power holds an equal amount of weight, so a vote from a user who holds, for example, 100 SP carries ten times the influence as a vote from a user who holds 10 SP. The larger the weighted vote (the number of votes multiplied by the influence of each vote), the more compensation the comment or post receives.

Rather than keep investments as liquid Steem, supporters of the platform have an incentive to lock up their holdings as illiquid Steem Power because they are rewarded, first and foremost, with 15% of the newly minted supply. Beyond this, SP holders play the role of determining what content gets rewarded. The better they are in rewarding better content, in theory, the greater their investments will be worth, as more people will interact with the platform and invest in Steem if better content is shared.

Lastly, content creators share 75% of generated coins. The amount earned is distributed partially as Steem and Steem Dollars, and is directly proportional to the number of votes they receive. Content creators are encouraged to share fewer, high-quality posts rather than a slew of garbage, as compensation is entirely based on community reception, with each post earning a base amount of $0.

Trending posts, those which receive the most weighted votes in a 24 hour period, are rewarded with hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Empowering Users

STEEM is different from most other cryptocurrencies in that users do not need to sacrifice money or hardware to earn a significant profit. Anyone who puts in the time and effort to contribute meaningful and interesting content has the ability to potentially earn thousands of dollars. Top posts have earned more, reaping rewards well into the five figure range. Such posts can encompass any and all topics; well-received posts in the past have included everything from make-up tutorials to chalkboard cryptocurrency analyses.

Furthermore, crypto knowledge is absolutely not a requirement to use the platform or be successful. Becoming an active member on Steemit.com is as straightforward as running your own Tumblr blog or Medium account. Anyone with the knowledge of or desire to blog is invited to join the hundreds of thousands of individuals actively participating on Steemit right now.

What’s to Come?

Steem’s developers are actively working on a major addition to the custom blockchain: Smart Media Tokens. Smart Media Tokens represent a highly intuitive, content specific alternative to Ethereum’s token protocol. With these tokens, existing forums and other content creation platforms can create their own tokens to be distributed to community users, supporters, and creators.

Smart Media Token issuers will have the ability to run ICOs, sell tokens, or freely distribute them (as with Steemit.com) to members of their communities. Additionally, forums and other groups will be able to incorporate any number of Smart Media Tokens to create an immersive, multi-token environment, with each Steem-based token being highly specified for the exact role its creators seek for it to play.

Price History

Shortly after the launch of Steemit.com, STEEM saw a massive explosion in price, touching a market capitalization of almost US$400 million in mid-July 2016. During this period, STEEM was the third highest valued cryptocurrency, behind only Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, this massive explosion brought out a number of inherent flaws in the system. Most importantly, a handful of Steem Power whales had almost complete control over the distribution of coins and direction of content, as the weight of their holdings gave them total power to vote any post to the top, thus rewarding the poster (oftentimes themselves) with thousands of dollars worth of Steem and Steem Dollars.

The massive hype, combined with the exposure of flaws, led to a market cap devaluation of over 95% between July 2016 and March 2017, when Steem reached an all-time low market capitalization of just over US$15 million. Fortunately, this trend reversed during the overall altcoin explosion in June and July of 2017. While Steem appreciated modestly relative to many others, it maintained the uptrend through January of this year. At that time, the coin experienced an explosion even greater than the first one, and Steem achieved a market cap of almost US$2 billion. Currently, one STEEM is valued at US$4.07, and the market cap of the coin is just over US$1 billion.

Steem can be traded on a number of exchanges, although the most popular options include Binance, Bittrex, and Poloniex.

Conclusion

Steem and its platform, Steemit.com, represent a massively used, pragmatic utility that continues to grow. Despite its early flaws, its developers have undertaken over a dozen forks of the blockchain in order to improve the fairness and efficiency of the platform. At rank #26 on coinmarketcap.com, Steem is certainly not an unknown or highly undervalued currency, but it does still have plenty of room to grow.

If speculators like the concept of Steem but are concerned about the price or other factors, there are a couple of smaller, newer alternatives worth looking into. One is Simdaq, a social media platform allowing traders to communicate and buy/sell trading algorithms and bots. This coin has only just completed its crowd sale and is traded on the Waves Decentralized Exchange. Another is Scorum, another social media platform that is dedicated to sports and sports wagering. This project is currently in the main stage of its crowdsale, and has sold just over US$5 million worth of tokens, with a hard cap of US$17 million.

Blockchain-powered service LockChain.co that creates a technological solution and a decentralized marketplace for property booking without intermediaries has announced in its official blog that its alpha version marketplace has officially been launched.

It is the first company that challenges giants such as booking.com and airbnb.com with its blockchain based online travel booking application. The company relies on cutting out any commissions and directly linking clients to hosts through their unique Ethereum based LOC Travel engine. The engine will utilize smart contracts for the execution of the bookings which will provide a free-to-use, trustless environment that protects both clients and the hosts.

The announcement comes shortly after the company has struck partnerships with around 100,000 hotels around the world. The hotels are expected to be integrated and ready for booking by the end of February 2018.

“Booking.com and Airbnb.com charge on average 20% from each booking that is made through their platform. Our plan is to utilize advanced blockchain technology and to cut out any commissions. It is the right of the host to receive the full amount of the money for the investment that they are making, and it is certainly the right of the traveler to be able to pay directly to hosts for their travel experience. Some commissions with current established leaders can reach as high as 50%, which is unfair. Nobody wants to pay that kind of money to someone who is just a middleman and does not add value to the actual travel experience. Accommodation sector is in a bad need of transparency.” ..says CEO of LockChain.co-  Nikola Alexandrov

The marketplace launch is the result of extensive development that began mid 2017, and is with “Alpha version” status, which means that is pending a lot of upgrades and improvements. Listing properties for hosts is completely free, and booking them in the native LOC token is free of any commissions.

Unlike many other projects, LockChain.co is one of the few companies that provides an immediate real world application of a blockchain based technology. The company has close to 1,000 properties that are already integrated and have pricing of -18% when compared to Airbnb.

The accommodation market LOC tries to penetrate offers a 500B opportunity and their penetration strategy is straightforward – to offer much lower prices thanks to the LOC token.

“2018 will be all about delivery and actual service adoption/utilization. Many ICO startups will fail because of the lack of validation on their product. I believe we have a sound approach in this regard since we aimed for a reasonable ICO, and a practical business validation. If there is value in the market cap, it should be the result of a product and not of the FOMO effect. Tempted from high market caps, ICOs tend to create huge supply in tokens and hype their users before having anything viable as a service, which further puts those projects into danger as it artificially inflates their market caps.  ” – says CEO Nikola Alexandrov.

The LOC token has limited supply of only 9.25M circulating tokens, and a total supply of 18.5M LOC and traded on exchanges such as HitBTC, Etherdelta, Mercatox, Gatecoin and Yobit. It has experienced an increased in value of approximately +600% for the people that participated in the ICO. Even so, the LOC Token has a market cap of only 15M on Coinmarketcap which definitely makes it an interesting pick.

This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views held by any employees of The Merkle. This is not investment, trading, or gambling advice. Always conduct your own independent research.

Eticket4, an international p2p-platform where you can buy tickets on the secondary market for any event, has successfully completed the private sale of ET4 tokens and announces today, February 1st, the launch of the public Pre ICO, which will last until February 21st.

During the private sale, which took place on January 30-31, ETicket4 managed to attract about $400 000 from 79 investors. All early birds, under the terms of private sale, received bonuses of 40%. In total, investors received about 500 000 ET4 tokens.

On February 1st, the public pre ICO started. Eticket4 released for sale utility-tokens ET4, the price of one token is fixed and equal to 1/1000 ETH (Ethereum). During Pre ICO tokens can be purchased for ETH or BTC (bitcoin). Investors are also provided bonuses that can reach up to 30% – depending on the time and amount of investment. For example, those who buy tokens in the first five days of Pre ICO will receive a discount of 8%. That investors who will purchase 1000 or more ET4 tokens can reach 30% discount..

ET4 tokens will allow their owners to get a number of advantages when buying or selling tickets through the Eticket4 platform. Thus, with the ET4 token, customers will be able to receive discounts up to 100% of the ticket price. So, when, for example, tickets for the football World Cup are paid with tokens, the buyer receives a 20% cashback, while paying for tickets to any other events – 10%. Sellers will have access to the extended functionality of the analytical cabinet and a number of other advantages. Finally, event organizers with a balance of more than 10,000 ET4 can regulate the secondary ticket market through smart contracts, e.g. set price and volume limits on the tickets issued via Eticket4 platform, receive fees from secondary market transactions.

ABOUT ETICKET4 COMPANY

ETicket4 is an international secondary ticketing platform developed by Russian-Israeli entrepreneurs in 2015. Being an intermediary between various entities involved in the ticket reselling process, the platform serves as a guarantor of transaction security, tickets’ validity, timely payment, and delivery. ETicket4 has an annual turnover of $2 million and already provides tokens with real, rather than speculative, liquidity. During the FIFA Confederations Cup ticket selling period Eticket4 successfully entered the CIS countries and Eastern Europe markets.

So ETicket4 already provides high speed and transparency of transactions in the secondary ticket market. This is an active and successful business: the platform was launched in the fall of 2016, through it more than 80 thousand tickets were sold, more than 3500 professional brokers were registered, and the annual turnover is more than $ 2 million. The service is not only an intermediary, but also a guarantor of transaction security, authenticity tickets, timely payment, and delivery. In the long term, the company plans to scale its business in Europe and the US.

Right now the project team is already working on a loyalty program at the core of the token economy, forecasting prices in the secondary market with the help of the neural network, forward contracts for brokers, and general expansion of the platform functionality with the help of blockchain technologies. The participants of the platform have the opportunity to forecast changes in ticket prices and choose the most favorable time for the transaction. Forward contracts and analytical tools for brokers reduce the risks of not selling tickets purchased, and our experience in conducting safe transactions will allow users not to be afraid of fraud.

Contacts:

Official project’s ICO: http://et4.io/

Contacts for investors: [email protected]

Contacts for press: [email protected]

Official site: https://eticket4.com/

This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views held by any employees of The Merkle. This is not investment, trading, or gambling advice. Always conduct your own independent research.

Chinese search engine Baidu and social media platform Weibo reportedly no longer allow crypto-related advertising on their sites, following news of stricter regulations on cryptocurrency trading and ICOs. #NEWS

Technology significantly improves our productivity at work, but they also pose many threats to companies. The universal serial bus or USB ports are widely used for connecting with USB devices that ensure effective computer networking. However, this equipment can seriously damage your business unless you use USB management software. Here are 6 ways how unprotected USB connection can negatively affect your corporate policy and even destroy your network.

1. Stealing Sensitive Data through USB Drives

Employees with low morale can easily steal accessed information using flash drives. USB devices are an easy way to hide data stealing under the veil of performing working duties. If you don’t control what information is copied from your network, then you may face a serious data leakage one day. There are many cases when dismissing employees copied client databases, contacts of company’s partners, and even intellectual property when they leave the company. Then this information may be disclosed to your competitors. However, a USB management system will help you close this blind spot and protect against intentional data theft.  

2. Using USB Devices for Personal Purposes

Information theft isn’t the only reason why your enterprise requires USB management. Some employees may also use flash drives for bringing tasks that aren’t related to their responsibilities. Even if you limit an Internet access to entertaining websites, your workers can be busy with previously downloaded videos or books they run from their flash drives. This can significantly decrease productivity at work and negatively affect your business. Fortunately, USB management software will let you know who is using a USB port and allow you to stop suspicious USB connections to your network.

3. Threats from Encrypted USB Drives

Some companies prefer to use encrypted flash devices that provide a certain level of security. However, it may not be enough to meet increasing security challenges. USB drives can have infected firmware that isn’t detected and prevented with antiviruses. Researchers at SR Lab discovered that the basic code in USB firmware can be modified and infected with malicious software. If an employee unintentionally inserts an infected flash drive, then a computer will automatically install a virus or emulate the profile of a network controller to steal DNS settings.  In some cases, you may also try to stop automatic running of inserted devices, which isn’t always helpful either.

4. Security Breach from USB Devices

Apart from flash drives, there are many other USB devices that can also create a security breach for your enterprise. For instance, using a USB port, a user can connect an unauthorized modem or portable external hard drive. However, you can prevent this if you use a USB Device Management that isn’t only control the use of flash drives but also controls any connections to other USB devices.

5. Destroying Corporate Network through USB Drives

Some companies underestimate the importance of USB security, but just one flash drive infected with malware can destroy the corporate network. Booby-trapped USB drives can control the computer performance without any consent from a user. Special malware can also physically destroy the computer or even the whole network of the company. For instance, a USB pen drive provides a computer with a 220 volt charge that causes its instant explosion. Another malware known as Stuxnet worm uses zero-day holes and other Microsoft Windows vulnerabilities to spy an infected network and even physically destroy it. This virus spreads using a USB drive and was firstly used in 2010 for decreasing the efficiency of Iranian nuclear facilities.

6. Improving Corporate Security

The USB management policy is especially useful when your company personnel use authorized USB devices or tokens as an instrument for multi-factor authentication. Various USB devices are also necessary for work performance, such as modems, printers, and other input/output devices. In this case, it isn’t effective to block all USB ports or flash devices for preventing threats. You will need a smart management system with white and black lists of USB devices. Modern USB management software can provide these necessary features and notify your security administrator about all potential threats.

Conclusion

Considering the mentioned reasons, you can see that USB devices may pose a constant risk of computer viruses and data leakage. While it’s almost impossible to avoid the use of these devices, it’s better to implement a USB management system at your enterprise.

There are many types of USB management software, which you can use for blocking and scanning any flash devices, detecting viruses, controlling data transferring, and even managing your entire network.

This software can run on any operating systems and control computers remotely. Unlike antivirus programs, these systems allow you to react to USB threats immediately even if there is no connection to the Internet. In case of a potential threat, you can also limit the connection to all USB devices or create a list of authorized flash drives.

In addition to physical attacks, a USB management system will let you control the flow of sensitive information inside your company. Thus, you can easily detect any attempts of data leakage via flash drives and block them in real time.

Blockchain can ‘revolutionize the world,’ says South Korean Finance Minister, calling for cooperation with China on Blockchain #NEWS

Bitcoin hit a 2 month low this week amid fears of regulatory clampdowns and government-issued cryptocurrencies. #OPINION

Key Highlights

• Cardano dropped 10.52% on Sunday morning to trade at $0.4386, as the majority of cryptocurrencies managed to hold on to intraday gains by the close. 
• Cardano finished the previous week on a downward trajectory, recovering from the previous week’s closing $0.418.
• There was a strong resistance at $0.52 levels through the previous week, which held Cardano back from testing $0.56 resistance levels.
• Cardano tested the $0.30 and bounced back following to hit the $0.52. Currently, Cardano trades inside the range.

Cardano Price Resistance

Following a weekly closing at $0.413, Cardano managed to avoid testing support levels through the day, with a move through to $0.488 levels allowing Cardano to partially recover the lost ground from the week.

Cardano managed to move above the 50.0% Fib retracement level of the last drop from $0.5207 high to $0.2973 low, though there was plenty of resistance through the day, with the pair failing to test to hold above 78.6% $0.47 through the day.

The chart below shows how the Cardano continues to trade in a bearish sentiment along with other cryptocurrencies although, for the day, Cardano managed to stay in a positive territory with the pair up 6.54% to $0.474 at the time of writing.

With Cardano having fallen through the first support level of $0.435, the next major support level sits at $0.409, with today’s first resistance level of $0.473 some way off and unlikely to be tested through the day, barring a retracement back through the Fib 78.6% retracement level through the middle part of the day.

While the general sentiment towards the cryptocurrencies remains negative and Bitcoin is trading below $10,000, ranges are likely to continue moving lower, as the markets fret over what lies ahead from a regulatory standpoint, with the SEC now looking to move ahead and introduce regulations in order to reign in fraudulent activity that has hit the market through the start of the year.

Technical Indicators

Major Support Level: $0.409

Major Resistance Level: $0.435

Fib 50.% Retracement Level: $0.4094

Fib 38% Retracement Level: $0.3829

Fib 62% Retracement Level: $0.435

The post Cardano (ADA) Daily Analysis, February 4, 2018: Trades Inside Range appeared first on NewsBTC.

What makes a two-factor authentication solution convenient for an enterprise and which products should companies consider to implement? In this article, we will cover 7 most suitable data protection tools offered by well-known two-factor authentication service providers.

A standard procedure of getting access to a network account consists of entering login details: a login and password. This is a single factor authentication. Two-factor authentication (2FA) is an additional data protection measure that implies an extra step to a common log-in procedure. Unlike a single factor authentication requires users to enter password and login (something they know) to get access to data, 2FA may require entering one-time password received on a personal mobile device (something users have) or inherence confirmation, e.g. biometrics (something users are).

Two-factor authentication solutions allow companies to better protect their data and avoid unauthorized access to it. Though, a set of features and characteristics of every tool can be totally different from vendor to vendor.

SecurAccess

SecurAccess is a tokenless two-factor authentication system developed by SecurEnvoy specifically for user-identification that involves remote access. This solution will be especially useful for those companies that manage remote teams. Both small and medium enterprises can take advantage of Secure Access, as well as large corporations can since its deployment can scale up to 100,000 users per hour.

SecureEnvoy’s product can send passcodes to any mobile phone without SMS delivery delays. It allows companies to enhance their list of users to include both third-parties and consumers besides own employees. Therefore, in case your company has to provide its partners with access to corporate business resources, then SecurAccess would be a convenient solution.

SecurEnvoy’s tokenless authentication brings various benefits to companies that strive to save their budget on the 2FA solution deployment and helpdesk administration. With SecurAccess, they can avoid expenses on token deployment or replacement as well as reduce helpdesk administration cost since their users won’t face token resynchronisation or PIN resets.

The solution will cost you about $1,650 annually for more than fifty users.

Features

• Sending out passcodes via SMS, VoIP phone calls, or email;
• Unlimited number of supported LDAP servers;
• Supporting all popular web SMS gateway services, such as Vfirst, T-Mobile, aql, and HSL;
• Overwriting passcodes (automated replacing old passcodes with new ones);
• In Case of Emergency feature that implies sending notifications to privileged users if  some nonstandard situation causes an access denial.
• Integration with various servers, such as Microsoft’s Adam, Fedora, eDirectory, Sun Directory Server, and AD.

Okta Adaptive MFA

Okta Adaptive MFA is a multifactor authentication (MFA) tool based on a single sign-on (SSO) principle. This solution is especially convenient for those companies that need to adopt cloud-based security.

The main advantage of Okta Adaptive MFA is that it can provide the right authentication factor in each particular situation. Administrators can set specific types of authentication factors for users depending on their position. The solution can send out passcodes via SMS, push notifications, use biometrics, software and hardware tokens to authenticate users.

Okta Adaptive MFA has a flexible reporting system. Admins can review suspicious activities, the number of users who have never signed into a corporate system, or the list of users with failed logins.

The implementation of this tool will cost you $3 per user monthly. With additional $3 per user, companies can order the Advanced Policy package that supports IP zone functionalities and reputation as well as geolocation.

Features

• Supporting both software and hardware tokens;
• Using biometrics as one of authentication factors;
• Choosing particular authentication factors for particular user groups;
• Automated user account creation with Active Directory logins

SecureAuth IdP

SecureAuth IdP is a tool that can be used for both single sign-on (SSO) and multifactor authentication. As a cloud-based solution, SecureAuth IdP is suitable tool for medium and large enterprises that use a wide variety of SaaS services and strive to significantly increase their network security.

The solution can provide companies with a high flexibility regarding setting authentication factors. A traditional login process implies entering both login and password at the first stage. However, SecureAuth IdP enables admins to set a custom order of requesting specific sensitive data.

The solution offers numerous 2FA options, such as smart cards, USB keys, biometrics and generating one-time passwords via a phone call, SMS, and email.

SecureAuth IdP will cost you not less than $15 per user annually,

Features

• Integration with SAML;

• Active-Directory integration;
• Supporting the Single Sign-On (SSO) technology;
• Authentication via biometrics;
• Complex reporting.

SecurID

RSA is one of the most known multifactor authentication providers. Its RSA Authentication Manager or SecurID suite is a 2FA tool for securely accessing applications regardless whether they are installed on-premise or located in the cloud. . SecurID has a wide set of software and hardware tokens that can be installed as supplementary authentication factors.

RSA SecureID suite also includes RSA Identity governance and lifestyle tool that allows you to generate different types of reports and provides you with a real-time access certification, provisioning, and monitoring.

SecurID supports all basic mobile operating platforms (Android, iOS, Blackberry, and Windows Phone) and it can send out passcodes via SMS, push notifications, and email.

The implementation of SecurID suite will cost you from $1 to $6 per user, depending on the package.

Features

• Sending out passcodes via SMS, email, and using hardware or software tokens;
• On-demand authentication via various protocols, such as RADIUS or Native RSA SecurID Protocol;
• Reporting.

Symantec VIP

The Symantec company offers  its Validation and ID Protection (VIP) service, a multifactor authentication tool which can use both smartphones and biometrics to make a login process more secure. When it comes to sending out passcodes to smartphones, Symantec VIP can use both voice calls and text messages. To provide access to network resources, Symantec VIP can also use a wide variety of hardware tokens or biometrics, such as fingertips.

The solution offers more than thirty integration methods for various apps, such as Cisco, SharePoint, SonicWall and Juniper VPNs. Furthermore, adding a few lines of JavaScript code will allow enterprises to integrate Symantec VIP with their own web applications.

Symantec offers various add-ons for their solution that enhance its capabilities. An additional risk-based analysis tool helps companies to detect fraud by analyzing particular user authentication process. For example, if some user logins in from different locations simultaneously, the system alerts about such suspicious situations. VIP Enterprise Gateway, another add-on, ensures RADIUS and Active Directory integration as well as both local and VPN access to company’s web servers based on Linux or Windows.

Symantec charges $0.25 per each passcode via voice calls and $0.07 per each text message.

Features

• Risk-based tokenless authentication;
• Authentication via fingerprint biometric;
• Scheduled reports;
• RADIUS and Active Directory integration.

CA Strong Authentication

CA Technologies is one of the most known  multi- and 2-factor authentication vendors that offers network security solutions to large- and medium-sized companies that seek tools capable of preventing identity theft. Their product adds extra authentication steps for various servers and services, such as Outlook, Salesforce, and Active Directory. It supports a wide range of software-based tokens, such as voice calls, text messages, mobile applications, and email messages. Their solution can be deployed on different platforms: a web app, desktop, iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

CA Strong Authentication can easily integrate with a CA Identity Manager suite to ensure a higher level of security due to the special key protection technology patented by CA. The suite provides a full set of necessary administrative tools that allow companies to configure their policies, monitor user activity, and detect cyber attacks. CA Strong Authentication can report user authentication attempts, risk assessment and tracking administration details.

Features

• Supporting many different credentials, such as passwords, knowledge-based authentication methods, hardware and software tokens.
• Eliminating the risk of stolen passwords since the solutions stores no passwords.
• Enhanced reporting system;
• Integration with SAML and RADIUS;
• Supporting the Single Sign-On (SSO) technology.
• Availability as an on-premise solution and MPS-hosted or cloud service.

Vasco IDENTIKEY

Vasco, a global vendor of IT security solutions, offers one of the best two-factor authentication solutions on the market. Its IDENTIKEY Authentication Server includes multi- and two-factor authentication tools and DIGIPASS tokens. Their 2FA tool focuses on protecting access to network resources and it supports a wide range of token types, such as text messages, mobile apps, email messages hardware tokens, QR codes, web clients, and Windows software. It also supports various authentication methods, such as RADIUS, Active Directory, SAML, Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), and a web code.

The main advantage of IDENTIKEY Authentication Server is its reporting capabilities. It provides more than thirty different report templates that can be downloaded in an HTML, XML, or PDF format. The solution also provides many preset customizable policies that allow companies to set authentication for different user groups or internal vs. external logging in.

The standard package will cost companies from $333 per 5 users.

Features

• Supporting hardware tokens;
• Reporting summaries on user history;
• Supporting web server and RADIUS environments;
• Active-Directory integration;
• Web-based administration interface.

Conclusion

An IT community realized long ago that traditional passwords could not ensure reliable security for important data because they can be easily compromised. 2FA delivers additional data protection measures that strengthen company’s confidence in the safety of their information. All of the above-mentioned 2FA solutions support mobile tokens and provide flexible authentication methods. Though, some of the vendors have taken a step further and tried to focus on risk-based methods too.

If your company uses numerous Saas-based applications, then such solutions as SecureAuth IdP and Okta Adaptive MFA will be especially suitable. If your company often interoperates with third-party organizations and needs to provide them with limited access to network resources, then SecurAccess will be a wise choice. In case you consider mostly on-premise solutions, then SecurID and CA Strong Authentication are your best bets. If you appreciate both advanced reporting and fraud detection capabilities, then Vasco IDENTIKEY and Symantec VIP are worth considering.