Technology

Cities face many risks from cyberattackers and the attacks are increasing.

Threat: Cities face many risks from cyberattackers and the attacks are increasing.
Solution: Cities need to continue to catch up in cybersecurity and practice responses to cyberattacks.
URL: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-mind-boggling-risks-your-city-faces-from-cyber-attackers-2016-01-04

In the article the author details the numerous threats and vulnerabilities in cities infrastructure. For example the city of San Diego uses 400 different applications, some of them decades old. With more and more systems exposed to the Internet through networks, these out of date systems are extremely vulnerable. Patching systems isn’t the only solution necessary.

In addition to updating software and policies cities need to practice responses to cyberattacks. The article tells of one simulation where a city wasted 45 minutes waiting for an engineer to reach a computer. Cities need to know who handles what and have a plan for when they can’t reach a point of contact. Through this multi layer approach cities can better prepare for cyberattacks.

Cities face many risks from cyberattackers and the attacks are increasing. Read Post »

Google Maps placed my house in the witness protection program

I have no clue why but Google Maps has blurred out my house on Street View. It’s pretty odd that it has suddenly done this without me requesting it. I placed a request to remove the blurring but the response was less than helpful. I’m wondering if I upload some photo’s to Google maps, if it will remove the blurring.

Hi,

The Street View you reported has been reviewed but does not qualify for blurring or removal under our policies.

Street View seeks to enrich our visual understanding of the world by featuring imagery from public property. We blur or remove images from Street View according to our Street View Privacy and Security Policies, including images that have:

  • Individual faces
  • Legible license plates
  • An individual’s home
  • Violations of our content policies

Thank you for using Street View. We appreciate your feedback as we work to make Google Maps a valuable resource for everyone.

 

Sincerely,
The Google Maps Team

blurred_out

Google Maps placed my house in the witness protection program Read Post »