Product Support – SonicWALL NSA Series

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Customizations policy for SonicWall Software products

A customization indicates functionality and configurations added to a product that are not provided as part of the core product release and, as such, would be outside the scope of normal support and maintenance. Customizations may take the form of new or modified scripts used within or alongside our products, as well as additional functionality such as custom reports, dashboards, rules, automated actions, etc. developed by you, your partners, or our Professional Services Organization.

Support and Customizations

We do not perform or maintain customizations. The design and development of customizations to our products is your responsibility. Assistance from Support will be limited to helping ensure that the product's functionality which enables the addition of customizations is functioning as expected. Alternatively, you may obtain guidance through product specific community sites or the Support Knowledge Base.

Advanced Assistance

If more thorough and detailed assistance is needed to design and develop customizations, we recommend that you engage our Professional Services Organization or fully certified partners to assist. Their expertise in designing customized solutions will ensure customers receive maximum value and product adoption. In addition to providing post-implementation expert services, Professional Services also offers a variety of pre-packaged customizations for some products which may meet your specific requirements.

Training & Certification

We recommend that you obtain the appropriate product training before attempting to design, develop, and implement any customization to our products. Our training courses will equip you with the necessary knowledge and ability to design and implement effective changes to our products. For more detail on the training services available, please refer to Training & Certification Services .

Maintaining Customizations

Careful consideration should be given to all customizations during future migration or upgrade exercises to new product and platform versions. Customizations could inhibit the upgrade itself and may require a level of re-work to continue functioning properly. Support does not take ownership for any customizations. We strongly encourage you to document and maintain records on any implemented customization work. These records can be useful in isolating problems that may be attributable to the customization or a defect in the core product.

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Product Support - SonicWALL NSA Series

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4th Circuit Rules Common Rifles not Protected by Second Amendment – AmmoLand Shooting Sports News

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AmmoLand Shooting Sports News
4th Circuit Rules Common Rifles not Protected by Second Amendment
AmmoLand Shooting Sports News
Arizona -(Ammoland.com)-On 21 February, 2017, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that common semi-automatic rifles are not protected by the Second Amendment of the Constitution. The ban includes semi-automatic rifles that can take detachable ...

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4th Circuit Rules Common Rifles not Protected by Second Amendment - AmmoLand Shooting Sports News

Letter: Why not strike the First Amendment? – Iowa State Daily

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The writers at the Daily have done an excellent job of examining the Constitution recently. However, there is one portion of that terrible document they forgot to condemn, and it threatens our lives even more than others they have decried.

Therefore, I modestly propose one addition to their editorials on the grounds that mine is milder and has more justification behind it. Yes, the First Amendment is outdated. This ill-conceived rule was only made so evil farmers could talk about the government, their peers and anyone else without being jailed for speaking without approval.

Back in those times, they didnt have rapid communication such as telephones and the internet. Words had to travel very slowly by mouth and perhaps carried by horses, giving plenty of time to prevent thought crime, which must be accounted for differently today. Besides, black people and women had a different legal position, so we can automatically discount any ideal from the era as outdated.

People like me who see the wisdom in discarding the First Amendment could amend the Constitution with a heavy majority in Congress. But it would be easier to tell people that its irrelevant and gradually pass laws to eliminate its range of application so we dont have to wade through the tedium of coming up with better arguments and getting more seats in Congress on our side.

Where does the First Amendment even fit in a good world? Should we have every mother and father explain their views of the world to their kids and spend the day worrying that the youth might come to a different conclusion? Should we accept the possibility that any worker you encounter on your daily business has different opinions than yourself?

If a man were to shout fire in a crowded theater, others would repeat his shout and some would shout the opposite, creating a complete mess for authorities determining if there ever had been a fire. Behold, this problem reaches to the beginning of recorded history, with individuals, nations and entire species that were described but whose existence is uncertain.

Lets make the ACLU a division of the government; any group that lobbies Congress is practically in the government already, never mind that some other lobbyist organizations are actually receiving federal funding. Perhaps they can distribute thesauruses or pamphlets on theories of government. When we give everyone a reason to question authority, what could go wrong? If someone shouted a slur at pedestrians from a car and sped away, Id like to see free-speech advocates open their mouths and try to think of a rebuttal to erase the damage.

Pro-speech rights people would rush to wave my example away as an exaggeration and argue that people would have training to prevent poor grammar and logical fallacies. But they forget, we already have plenty of politicians to handle public speaking for us, so letting civilians have their own ideas is redundant. Thats why we should strike the First Amendment.

Im not claiming we need to abandon words or even the English language. We just need to control people more. Lets clamp down the right to speak freely and peaceably assemble. We cant trust 18-year-olds, 22-year-olds or 26-year-olds with responsibility like that; who knows what they might say? More ideas and thinking arent the answer to a complex situation like our modern world. Instead, we should move the designated area to assemble with controversial ideas off campus, then into a basement, and then require a permit to enter the basement. Hopefully, people will forget about free speech and religion before a disaster happens.

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Letter: Why not strike the First Amendment? - Iowa State Daily

Appeals court: First Amendment gives public right to video police – Fort Worth Star Telegram

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Fort Worth Star Telegram
Appeals court: First Amendment gives public right to video police
Fort Worth Star Telegram
A witness, Brandon Brooks, uploaded this video of the incident to YouTube. In a recent 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, Justice Jacques Wiener wrote: Protecting the right to film the police promotes First Amendment principles. Brandon Brooks YouTube.

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Appeals court: First Amendment gives public right to video police - Fort Worth Star Telegram

Trump’s Unprecedented War on the First Amendment Has Gone … – Huffington Post

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A few weeks ago, I wrote about Donald Trumps attacks on our nations news media and his attempts to position his Twitter account as the only official news outlet of the administrationeffectively a state-run media outlet built upon a social media platform. Unfortunately, since I wrote that piece, Trump and his entire administration have effectively tripled-down on their war against the American news media and have taken unprecedented actions to counter it.

If youve had a chance to watch any of Sean Spicers White House press briefings over the last month (I usually see them on CBSN), you have probably seen at least a couple of instances of Spicer directly arguing with and attacking individual reporters, much the way that Trump did with Katy Tur during the campaign. Spicer has already shown himself to be combative with the news media, and Trump himself continues to decry established media outlets, such as CNN and The New York Times as fake news and now, very fake news (emphasis mine).

This, of course, is just a small sampling of his tweets directed at delegitimizing the entire media apparatus of this nation. But that last one may be the most alarming: Trump has officially declared the news media the enemy of the American People. Let that one sink in just for a minute.

The American news media is effectively our liaison into the workings of our state and federal governments. Whenever reporters include quotes in newspaper or on-line reports, or sit down with officials in one-on-one interviews, they are giving the American people a brief glimpse into that representatives policy positions, personality, and method of governing. Reporters can communicate with inside sourcesoften anonymously for fear of reprisalsand find out more of what is going on behind the scenes, which is often how questionable policies and even outright corruption are revealed to the populace. The media also brings crucial information, such as product recalls, threats to public safety, and foreign policy, to the attention of the populace. Their ability to communicate effectively has only grown in the technological age, with social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook serving to provide additional ways for people to receive their news and stay informed.

It is perhaps this latter outlet which Trump is trying to monopolize and control. By labeling many media organizations as fake news through his Twitter account, Trump seeks not only to control his own narrative, but also the medias ability to effectively communicate with the American people. Every time Trump mentions a specific organization or reporter in a speech or in a tweet, he is singling that person or entity out for public ridicule, knowing that if they have a public Twitter account (the vast majority do), his supporters and followers will assail them with harassment. This is a way to not only undermine their credibility with the nation, but also an attempt to silence them completely. Individual journalists especially may feel pressured to disconnect from social media due to constant harassment and threats made against them. Donald Trump is both enabling and encouraging such behavior.

So maybe it should come as no surprise that, just a few days ago, the Trump Administration literally blocked a number of news media outlets from participating in a press briefing. Reporters from CNN, The New York Times, Politico, and The Los Angeles Times were all barred from entry. In fact, according to the report, Sean Spicer was literally hand-picking the news outlets he wanted in attendancea form of journalistic discrimination. This is potentially the beginning of a total media blackout of journalistic outlets the administration seeks to impugn. If Trump and his team can ultimately position the American news media as something to be shunned and discredited, his supportersand potentially a large chunk of the American populacewill be less likely to trust their reporting as the full gamut of their offenses comes to light. This in itself will make it much harder to eliminate the threats his administrations policies present to America.

The administration has also taken the media to task as of late for its very use of anonymous sources. On CBS Face the Nation recently, Reince Priebus declared:

This is disingenuous at best, given the administrations use of its own anonymous sources in an attempt to confuse the public. Furthermore, there is little question that, for certain types of stories, anonymity is the only way to get the story out there. Sources may be, depending on the story, risking their careers and potentially even their lives by simply speaking to a reporter. Outing the identities of these sources simply puts a target on their backswhich, given how vindictive this entire presidency has become, may be exactly what Trump and Priebus are hoping for, to squelch as much public criticism as possible.

And then earlier tonight, this story popped up on my Twitter feed. Sebastian Gorka, an Islamophobe who was also hired by Steve Bannon to serve as a terrorism advisor to Trump, personally phoned one of his critics with threats of a lawsuit for tweeting his criticism of Gorka. Michael S. Smith II, a regular contributor to discussions on terrorism and how groups like ISIS are using social media to leverage support, has tweeted criticisms of both Trumps and Gorkas handling of radical Islam. Gorka apparently expressed hurt feelings at being criticized by someone hes never met and threatened the lawsuit at the beginning of the conversation:

Which begs the question: Is the Trump Administration now seeking to pursue lawsuits against individual Twitter users who denounce and criticize their policies on the platform? If Gorka does indeed press for charges against Smith, it would certainly set that precedent. It would also send a clear and direct message to every citizen in the United States: Donald Trump is not to be questioned. In fact, Stephen Miller, Trumps senior advisor, recently said in so many words:

This should make every American tremble in fear. Welcome to the new reality under Donald Trump.

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Trump's Unprecedented War on the First Amendment Has Gone ... - Huffington Post

SBXbank to launch cryptocurrency-powered marketplace ‘Coinxmart’ – EconoTimes

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Monday, February 27, 2017 5:28 AM UTC

SBXbank, a fintech company headquartered in London, is going to launch Coinxmart a unique marketplace where transactions are carried out using cryptocurrencies, Jakarta Globe reported.

Speaking with Jakarta Globe, SBXbank's Asean vice president of marketing Abdul Rahman said that company intends to sink up to Rp 100 billion ($7.5 million) into developing fintech services that offer e-commerce, peer-to-peer investment and lending, all of which will use a cryptocurrency.

Rahman further said that Coinxmart will be launched in Indonesia, alongside its iOS and Android apps, in May. SBXbank's proprietary cryptocurrency SBXCoin will be used in the marketplace.

He noted that the prospects of cryptocurrency is positive in Indonesia as it can also be used in many traditional banking services, including lending, deposit, payment and transfer.

"Soon fintech products will be used widely in all aspects of the financial industry's value-chain," Rahman added.

SBXbank is currently negotiating with Indonesia's Financial Services Authority (known as the OJK) to convince them that fintech services, including its cryptocurrency, are safe for the customers. Rahman is hopeful to convince OJK that the cryptocurrency is safe and cannot be easily used for money laundering activities particularly as SBXbank strictly follows know-your-customer (KYC) policies.

"We have to build public awareness of crypto currency. We have to let the public know the advantages of using crypto currency," he said.

In order to give time to the customers to familiarize with SBXCoin and promote its use, SBXbank intends to allow up to 30 debit cards to be used in the marketplace.

"There's no physical money in the internet, everything will be done using SBXCoin eventually," he said.

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Top 4 Cryptocurrencies Suffering From Slow Block Times – The Merkle

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If there is one thing a lot of people would like to change about bitcoin, it is the rather long time in between blocks being generated on the network. This is also why various outcomes are so popular, as they process transactions a lot quicker. Interestingly enough, Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency to suffer from very long block times. In fact, there are at least four other well-known currencies, which suffer from this problem.

Similarly to bitcoin, NameCoin is another SHA-256 cryptocurrency using the same proof-of-work algorithm. It also has a total coin supply of 21 million coins, and a difficulty retarget mimicking the one of bitcoin. The similarities dont end there, though, as Namecoins block time is 10 minutes as well. Unfortunately Namecoin never become a mainstream success, even though it is still popular among the early cryptocurrency adopters.

There seems to be a trend among older SHA-256 coins, as quite a few of them have a 10-minute block time. PeerCoin is a bit different than NameCoin, though, as it combines both proof-of-work and proof-of-stake. Moreover, PeerCoin has no fixed coin supply and a much lower mining difficulty compared to other popular SHA-256 coins.

It is worth noting Peercoin offers a one-block mining difficulty retarget, which is rather unusual. Then again, this block reward of over 65 coins per network block is rather high, which may be part of the reason why Peercoin never became much of a success either. Without scarcity and clear use cases, there is not much use for Peercoin, even though it still holds a value of roughly US$0.31 per coin.

BitBar is the odd one on this list, as this altcoin never amounted to much. Whether that is due to the developer abandoning the project, or just a project that failed to capitalize on bitcoins hype, is a discussion for a different day. We do know Bitbar has a 10 minute block time, which makes it one of the slowest cryptocurrencies to date. Ten minutes is rather long for a Scrypt-based cryptocurrency, though, as those coins usually generate new blocks within three minutes or less.

Contrary to what most people would like to believe, bitcoin is not the slowest cryptocurrency in the world right now. That title goes to Quatloo, a rather obscure altcoin targeting the sci-fi enthusiasts around the world Although this currency has a specific appeal to this group of users, it never became a big success by any stretch of the imagination.

With a block time of 22.25 minutes, Quatloo transactions take ages to confirm. For a Scrypt-based proof-of-work cryptocurrency, that block time was the undoing from day one. Although Quatloo is still being mined as we speak, its community remains rather small and it appears that will not change anytime soon.

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What Corporates Really Think Of Cryptocurrencies – PYMNTS.com

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Blockchain may have more potential to disrupt corporate finance than actual bitcoin does, but that doesnt mean cryptocurrencies are entirely ignored by the enterprise space.PYMNTS takes a look at how the corporate world interacts with cryptocurrencies and were not just talking about bitcoin from how businesses pay cyber ransoms to the role bitcoin plays in promoting T&E innovation.

$7.5 million will be spent by Indonesias SBXbank on a cryptocurrency marketplace, the bank revealed last week. Also known as Smart Banking Exchange, the FI will launch Coinxmart and use SBXbanks own cryptocurrency,SBXCoin, in hopes of promoting the use of cryptocurrency in areas like lending and payments. The bank is reportedly working with the nations Financial Services Authorities to receive clearance for the initiative, a tricky move, reports said, as cryptocurrencies remain unregulated in the country.

12,000 anonymous data scientists competing for bitcoinprovide artificial intelligence-based market prediction models used by San Franciscobased hedge fund Numeraito strengthen its investing strategy. Reports in Forbes last week said this company is now developing its own digital currency, Numeraire, making it one of the first digital currencies released by an entire company. According to the funds founder Richard Craib, the digital currency could act as an incentive for data scientists to develop more sophisticated market prediction models which has massive implications for the hedge fund space altogether, introducing a way investors use cryptocurrencies to boost their own performance.

A 4,000 percent spike in ransom payments last year means companies are willingto cough up the cash to get their files back when hit by a cyberattack. That statistic, provided by Recorded Future, sets the stage for a world in which businesses are stockpiling bitcoin to pay ransoms, according to reports. For corporate ransomware attacks, the average cost of a ransom is between $10,000 and $75,000, analysts say.Robert Gibbons, CTO at Datto, which provides digital disaster recovery services, told reporters last week that a quarter of companies that actually pay the ransom, however, never actually see their files restored. He emphasized that businesses buying up bitcoin for this purpose may be doing so in vain, as paying a ransom simply invites the next attack.

20 of 710 cryptocurrencies have a market currency of at least $10 million, according to travel technology expert Johnny Thorsen at the Business Travel Show event last week. While Thorsen said concepts like blockchain smart contracts are more likely to disrupt the corporate travel billing space more so than cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, he did say he expects more travel service providers to accept bitcoin as payment, with three air carriers already doing so. But bitcoins volatility, the expert noted, may be stunting innovation in the development of blockchain-based corporate travel solutions.

10 days in a row, bitcoin maintained its $1,000-plus valuation this month, according to the PYMNTS.com Bitcoin Tracker. Analysts are beginning to wonder whether its new price floor will stay at a grand, but others argue its too early to tell. Its good news for individual investors bitcoin ATM company Coinsource says it now has 80 ATMs in operation across the U.S. but could bitcoins newfound value (hitting as high as $1,149 last week) mean corporate investors will get in on the action?

A 9-point blockchain industry self-regulatory initiative was launched in Chinain the wake of a surprise crackdown by the Peoples Bank of China on bitcoin exchanges. Now, the China Blockchain Application Research Center is reportedly helpingguide the cryptocurrency industry in the nation towards self-regulation and recently organized an event to collaborate with regulatory bodies on the matter. Those nine points include the establishment of compliance departments, compliance to anti-money laundering and anti-corruption rules, and the self-regulation by corporates. The move follows regulatory efforts announced by the Philippines central bank earlier this month to regulate the bitcoin industry and combat money laundering.

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A Binary Bet on the Bitcoin Twins – Bloomberg

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Bits, the units of information that underlie any digital currency, have only two values: zero or one. Perhaps it's time investors were reminded thatbuying bitcoin is a similarly binary wager.

The virtual asset is trading at a record,shrugging off a campaignby the People's Bank of China to control trading. Underpinning its rise is the hope that American entrepreneursCameron and Tyler Winklevosswill succeed in their attempt to create thefirst bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

On March 11, the twins are expected to receive a final decision from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on whether they can list their ETF.Afavorable outcome would create a precedent and pave the way for other providers.There are two more fundsseeking a review from the regulator -- one of which already trades over the counter -- and talk abounds of many more.

Investors who have driven bitcoin's price above itsNovember 2013 high of $1,137 are betting that the advent of bitcoin ETFs will spur demand foran asset class withlimited supplyand cause prices to extend their climb.

High Hopes

Investors are betting that the first SEC-approved bitcoin ETF could spur demand

Source: Bloomberg

What they may be missing is the possibility that the Winklevoss twinswill fail. A contract created by Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange, a cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform, to bet on the possibility of approval of the Winklevoss ETF, showed favorable odds of only 34 percent on Monday.

Odds of SEC approval

34%

In spite of employing lawyerKathleen Moriarty, a legend in the ETF world, the Winklevosses have been forced to wait since July 2013as the regulator takes its time to determine whether the digital currency can be considered an asset class. Even the lawyers working for the twinsinitially didn't want to take the case because they thought bitcoin might be a Ponzi scheme.

All the while, the twins have been amending their filing in an attempt to convince the SEC. The latest bull run started shortly after their most recent addendum, registered on Jan. 20, which among other things requested a larger initial issue size for the fund.

Along the way, they've added settlement systems in order to establish the bitcoin price and determine the net asset value of the ETF at the end of every day. (Conveniently, that process will happen on the Gemini exchange, owned by the Winklevosses.) They've also added insurance, so potential hacks shouldn't be an issue.

Yet for all their bending over backward, they have yet to win an endorsement from the regulator, which stilloperates mostly on legislation enacted in 1933. The U.S. government simply may not be ready to give the stamp of approval to bitcoin that allowing an ETF would imply.

In the more likely outcome of an SEC rejection, bitcoin could quickly drop back to the sub-$800 levels tested after China's latest crackdown was unveiled in January. That would be a drop of about a third from the current price. Meanwhile, the upside in the event of approval is unclear.

The launch of the first Gold ETF was hardly bullish. For the first year of its existence, themetal's price actually dropped. Eventually, it took off, but more as a resultof the turmoil unleashed by the global financial crisis than on its own merits.

Fall to Rise

In the first year of the pioneer gold ETF, the yellow metal's price actually dropped

Source: Bloomberg

Put simply, the downside for bitcoin is potentially much bigger than the upside -- at least in the short term. The digital currency's future has never been this binary. Unlike with programming code, though, one of the two alternatives isn't zero: It's a deeply negative number.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.

(Updates fifth paragraph withBitcoin Mercantile Exchange contract.)

To contact the author of this story: Christopher Langner in Singapore at clangner@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Matthew Brooker at mbrooker1@bloomberg.net

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A Binary Bet on the Bitcoin Twins - Bloomberg

Bitcoin Wants to Go Higher – CryptoCoinsNews

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Bitcoin dropped 150 points on Kraken, a mere 3 hours after we suggested a short on these pages a couple days ago. The question has been privately asked by several: Is that it, or is there more of a fall coming?

My response at the time was that I did not know; I was waiting for the market to a give a clue. Since then, it has given a modest clue, I believe. It is looking likely that the next leg will be up.

Erik Beann, the genius behind Wave59, developed a wonderful tool called the Fibonacci Vortex. It essentially calculates a Fibonacci spiral which when placed on a swing high or low can be used to visualize support and resistance as it relates to time, as well as calculate times when change is likely.

Here is a picture of the vortex on my daily chart:

As you can see, the lower of the blue arrows marks where the rally began in earnest as soon as pricetime was able to get above the 2nd spiral, which had been marking resistance for several days prior.

This is notable because the red arrow on the chart indicates that pricetime (briefly) got above the 3rd spiral a couple days ago, and is testing the spiral again as these words are typed. The fact that the spiral was penetrated a couple days ago before pulling back gives an indication that the market wants to get above it. Will it succeed in breaking through? I suspect so, though the market will be the judge in the next day or two. If so, a rapid advance will likely follow.

Not shown on that screenshot is where the next spiral is. Suffice to say, it is quite a bit higher than current prices. However, there has not yet been a buy signal offered by the tool, as price has not yet closed above the spiral. Caveat emptor.

Happy trading!

Remember: The author is a trader who is subject to all manner of error in judgement. Do your own research, and be prepared to take full responsibility for your own trades.

Image from Shutterstock.

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CloudBleed Data Leak Is A Big Threat To Bitcoin Platforms – The Merkle

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Bitcoin users need to be well aware of the recent CloudFlare issue, as it affects quite a few different cryptocurrency-related services. Several companies issued warnings regarding CloudBleed, all of whom advise users to change their passwords. With so many exchanges relying on CloudFlare, this is another example of why centralization needs to be avoided.

To put the CloudBleed security issue into perspective, the scope of services affected by this data leak extends well beyond the bitcoin space. It is believed the data leak exposes thousands of passwords and other personal information for several months until it was discovered. Cloudflare managed nearly 10% of all web traffic, which makes it one of the backbones of the internet, so to speak. Unfortunately, this also means virtually every popular service is affected by this data leak.

Among the information being leaked to anyone who requested it are passwords, cookies, messages, and any other type of personal information one can think of. The bug was discovered in September of 2016, yet no further specific details were provided to us at this time. We do know the list of clients affected by CloudBleed is a lot larger than most people would think possible.

Security analysts at Googles Project Zero noticed an overflow error that could leak sensitive information to search engines and other platforms scraping data from the internet. This opens up a treasure trove of financial information to hackers and other criminals looking to take advantage of it. It is unclear if any of this information was obtained by hackers, but it seems very plausible that is the case.

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince is confident the issue was fixed before someone could even take advantage of the flaw. That is a rather bold and positive statement, although it wont necessarily put peoples minds at ease. Various bitcoin companies issued warnings to their users to change their password immediately, as that remains the best course of action. Moreover, any platform where the same password was used will need to have the credentials updated as well.

The list of affected bitcoin companies is rather long and includes virtually every platform most users ever come in contact with. Popular exchanges, such as Coinbase, BTC-E, QuadrigaCX, Kraken, Bitstamp, and Bitfinex, for example, are all using Cloudflare for their Anti-DDOS protection. All of these companies advised users to update their password sooner rather than later. LocalBitcoins is also affected, even though the platform does not act as a custodian for funds. Then again, having someone steal your account and scamming users is still a real threat.

This event goes to show multiple companies relying on one and the same anti-DDoS provider is a big problem. Especially in the world of bitcoin and decentralization, a more distributed solution is direly needed. CloudFlare has built a strong reputation over the past few years, but this data leak highlights the problem of centralization. All bitcoin users relying on a service affected by this leak need to update their login credentials as soon as possible, that much is certain.

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Spooked by Cyber Extortion Spike, Businesses Stockpile Bitcoin – Top Tech News

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U.S. corporations that have long resisted bending to the demands of computer hackers who take their networks hostage are increasingly stockpiling bitcoin, the digital currency, so that they can quickly meet ransom demands rather than lose valuable corporate data.

The companies are responding to cybersecurity experts who recently have changed their advice on how to deal with the growing problem of extortionists taking control of the computers.

"It's a moral dilemma. If you pay, you are helping the bad guys," said Paula Long, chief executive of DataGravity, a Nashua, N.H., company that helps clients secure corporate data. But, she added, "You can't go to the moral high ground and put your company at risk."

"A lot of companies are doing that as part of their incident response planning," said Chris Pogue, chief information security officer at Nuix, a company that provides information management technologies. "They are setting up bitcoin wallets."

Pogue said he believed thousands of U.S. companies had prepared strategies for dealing with hacker extortion demands, and numerous law firms have stepped in to facilitate negotiations with hackers, many of whom operate from the other side of the globe.

Symantec, a Mountain View, Calif., company that makes security and storage software, estimates that ransom demands to companies average between $10,000 and $75,000 for hackers to provide keys to decrypt frozen networks. Individuals whose computers get hit pay as little as $100 to $300 to unlock their encrypted files.

Companies that analyze cyber threats say the use of ransomware has exploded, and payments have soared. Recorded Future, a Somerville, Mass., threat intelligence firm, says ransom payments skyrocketed 4,000 percent last year, reaching $1 billion. Another firm, Kaspersky Lab, estimates that a new business is attacked with ransomware every 40 seconds.

"If you're hit by ransomware today, you have only two options: You either pay the criminals or you lose your data," said Raj Samani, chief technical officer at Intel Security for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "We underestimated the scale of the issue."

Hackers often send out email with tainted hyperlinks to broad targets, say, an entire company. All it takes is one computer user in a company to click on the infected link to allow hackers to get a foothold in the broader network, leading to hostile encryption.

"At least one employee will click on anything," said Robert Gibbons, chief technology officer at Datto, a Connecticut company that offers digital disaster recovery services.

Law enforcement counsels U.S. businesses not to succumb to ransom demands, urging them to keep backup copies of their data in case of hostile encryption.

"The official FBI policy is that you shouldn't pay the ransom," said Leo Taddeo, chief security officer for Crypt-zone, a Waltham, Mass., company that provides network security. Until 2015, Taddeo ran the cyber division of the FBI's New York City office.

But practical considerations increasingly are dictating a different approach. "It's an option to pay the ransom to get back up and running. Sometimes it's the only option," Taddeo said.

"But it has downsides," he added. "Paying ransom just invites the next attack."

Moreover, 1 in 4 companies that pay ransoms never get their files restored, Gibbons said.

The idea of rewarding extortionists with payment makes some technologists see red.

"That makes me super mad," said Lior Div, chief executive of Cybereason, a Boston-area cybersecurity company. "There are things that are unacceptable, and we need to fight them."

Div and his company have done something about the extortion epidemic. They built a product called RansomFree that claims to detect 99 percent of all ransomware strains.

So far, the free software has been downloaded 125,000 times, the company says.

As extortionists get more sophisticated, researchers say, they are modifying their malicious code, their infection strategies and the way they collect payments.

Once they weasel their way into your network, they now take a look around.

"They'll actually explore your system to see how much money they can squeeze from you," said Andrei Barysevich, director of advanced collection at Recorded Future.

And they won't offer any sympathy, no matter how valuable the encrypted data, even if lives are at stake, say, in a health care network. They may even say they are doing nothing evil.

"They actually think they are on the moral high ground. They think the companies should have paid more for security," said Barysevich, who spoke at a presentation this week at the annual RSA cybersecurity conference in San Francisco, which bills itself as the world's leading gathering of cybersecurity specialists.

One of the reasons midsize and large companies are storing bitcoin for emergency use is that extortionists, once they succeed at penetrating a system, commonly give a deadline for payment before destroying data. But victims can't rush out and buy bitcoin in a day or two.

"It takes at times a week for (brokers) to process you," Barysevich said.

Setting up the wallet ahead of time, Pogue said, allows businesses an option that is quick, although perhaps repugnant.

"If they need to go to it, they are not spinning their wheels standing up a bitcoin wallet," Pogue said.

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Comets wrap up MASL Central Division title with 10-3 win over Cedar Rapids – Kansas City Star

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Comets wrap up MASL Central Division title with 10-3 win over Cedar Rapids
Kansas City Star
Former Kansas City Comets coach Vlatko Andonovski greeted Vahid Assadpour with a giant bear hug and wondered, rhetorically, who called the Comets captain old in the moments following the club's regular-season finale at Silverstein Eye Centers Arena.

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Players recalled from Comets as Canucks deal with mumps – Sports … – Utica Observer Dispatch

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STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

VANCOUVER, British Columbia The Vancouver Canucks are dealing with a mumps outbreak.

The team said Friday defenseman Troy Stetcher has been diagnosed with the highly contagious virus and defensemen Chris Tanev and Nikita Tryamkin and forwards Mike Chaput and Markus Granlund have shown symptoms. The players with symptoms were immediately tested and quarantined for a five-day period or until test results prove negative.

The news affects the Utica Comets, who earned a 2-1win overWilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Four players were officially recalled Saturday: Comets' points leader Alex Grenier, top-scoring defenseman Jordan Subban, fellow blue liner Evan McEneny and forward Joseph LaBate. Grenier and McEneny did not play in Friday's game.

The Comets play their fifth game in seven days when they travel to take on the Binghamton Senators at 7 p.m. Saturday in a big North Division matchup. With the moves, the Comets added 26-year-old defenseman Alex Wall to a professional tryout contract.

Wall, who appeared in one game earlier this season with the Comets, has 30 points in 49 games with the Adirondack Thunder. With the addition of Wall, the Comets have 12 healthy forwards and seven healthy defensemen.

The 25-year-old Grenier (38 points in 51 games) is the Comets' franchise leader in multiple categories and has had a strong fourth season in Utica, while the 21-year-old Subban leads the team's defensemen with a career-best 13 goals with 29 points. Both have spent time on the Comets' power-play unit this season. Grenier and Subban, who were both AHL All-Star selections this season, have spent time with the Canucks this season, but have not appeared in a game.

The 22-year-old McEneny (17 points in 43 games) has been a solid presence on the blue line and trusted in all situations for Utica this season. The 24-year-old LaBate, who recently returned from an injury and spent time with the Canucks earlier this season, has two goals and nine points in 25 games with the Comets this season. LaBate has played three games with the Canucks.

McEneny was in the Canucks' lineup Saturday for his National Hockey League debut against the San Jose Sharks.

"We're taking this very seriously, given how easily mumps can spread," Canucks General Manager Jim Benning said.

The team added that vaccines are also being administered to minimize further risk of contraction, along with universal preventative hygiene measures, including disinfecting all dressing room areas.

The mumps virus is found in saliva and respiratory droplets. It is spread person to person through coughing, sneezing or coming into contact with saliva.

This isn't the first time the hockey world has been hit by the mumps. Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby was among a group of players diagnosed with the virus during the 2014-15 season.

The outbreak with the Canucks came the day public health officials and infectious disease experts urged Canadians to check that their vaccinations are up to date as clusters of mumps are investigated in Ontario and Alberta. Measles cases are also being probed in Nova Scotia. In Alberta, seven players and a coach with the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League have been hit by mumps.

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Players recalled from Comets as Canucks deal with mumps - Sports ... - Utica Observer Dispatch

How to cope with Psoriasis – Jamaica Observer

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Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune condition that causes the rapid build-up of skin cells. This build-up of cells causes scaling on the skins surface.

Inflammation and redness around the scales is fairly common. Typical psoriatic scales are whitish-silver and develop in thick patches. Sometimes, these patches will crack and bleed.

People with psoriasis may find living with the condition challenging.

Here are four tips on how to cope with psoriasis:

1. UPDATING MAKE-UP

Daily cosmetic products could be worsening skin irritation and redness. Clients should look for fragrance-free, hypoallergenic and non-clogging moisturisers to support skin with an extra layer of protection.

Primers will give users a smoother skin surface to work with, and liquid foundation can be easily controlled with any skin type.

As for removing make-up, petroleum-based make-up removers loosen make-up prior to taking it off and can help avoid aggravating sensitive spots.

2. EATING HEALTHY

Controlling diet can be beneficial for individuals with psoriasis as some foods can cause redness and swelling of the skin. An anti-inflammatory diet has proven to help individuals manage plaque psoriasis.

Psoriasis sufferers should eat: Fish, nuts, oils, and colourful fruits and vegetables. Foods to avoid include: Nightshade vegetables, dairy, refined sugar, and red meat.

3. TAKING VITAMINS

Many people with psoriasis find that including vitamins and supplements in their diet help their skin clear.

Omega 3 helps decrease inflammation and powers the immune system through fish oil, vegetable oil, soy, nuts, and seeds.

Vitamin D can be found in salmon, Swiss cheese and sunshine, which helps slow the growth of skin cells.

4. LOWERING STRESS LEVELS

Psychodermatology is a term doctors created, linking emotional stress to skin. Bodies reacting to a mental state can trigger certain hormones to be released, which can cause skin to have negative side effects.

The brain and skin are connected because they are derived from the same cells. When people experience stress in life, quite frequently their skin becomes a reflection of the stresses.

The following can help reduce stress levels: Acupuncture, massage therapy, behavioural therapy, talk therapy, and relaxation training.

Michelle Vernon is a licensed aesthetician who operates the Body Studio Skincare located at 23 Central Plaza, Kingston 10, and Fairview Shopping Centre, Montego Bay. She may be reached at telephone 908-0438 or 684-9800; IG@bodystudioskincare; E-mail: bodystudioskincare@gmail.com; Website: http://www.bodystudioskincare.com.

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US Travel Restrictions Would Damage 2026 World Cup Bid, UEFA President Says – New York Times

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New York Times
US Travel Restrictions Would Damage 2026 World Cup Bid, UEFA President Says
New York Times
Aleksander Ceferin, the president of UEFA, has said the United States bid to host the 2026 World Cup could be hampered by travel restrictions put in place by the Trump administration. Credit Martial Trezzini/European Pressphoto Agency. NYON ...

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US Travel Restrictions Would Damage 2026 World Cup Bid, UEFA President Says - New York Times

Heart failure BREAKTHROUGH: Stem cells trial offers hope to millions – Express.co.uk

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A high-level meeting has paved the way for global trials to begin on hundreds of patients.

British scientists have found a way to use stem cells to repair damaged tissue which could help millions living with heart failure, the UKs leading cause of death.

Scarring due to disease or heart attacks affects more than two million people in Britain.

GETTY

This would be the biggest breakthrough since the first transplants three decades ago

Professor Steve Westaby

Initial trials involving more than 100 patients are being planned for the autumn at two London hospitals.

World renowned cardiac surgeon Professor Steve Westaby, who helped pioneer the revolutionary technique, said it had been thought that repairing heart damage was impossible.

But results from a long-term trial that began in Greece five years ago have shown that this is not the case.

Preliminary data from this trial showed the engineered stem cells, known as Heartcel, can reverse scarring by up to 79 per cent.

The data, presented at the European Society of Cell and Gene Therapy in Florence, showed an average of 40 per cent reduction in heart damage in those on the treatment.

Last month researchers finalised talks with European and US regulators to discuss the timetable for global trials next year involving 500 people.

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6 early signs of a heart attack

Professor Westaby, from the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, said: I am very excited at the prospect of a trial which will hopefully lead to the availability of this stem cell treatment to thousands of patients annually in the UK.

Other scientists have tried in vain to repair damaged heart muscle using stem cells over the past few decades.

This is the first time scarring has been shown to be reversible. It could herald an end to transplants and lead to a treatment for heart failure within three to five years.

GETTY

Professor Westaby said: This would be the biggest breakthrough since the first transplants three decades ago.

Professor Westaby has been working on the technique for more than a decade and is carrying out the study with Professor Kim Fox, head of the National Heart and Lung Institute, at Imperial College London.

The implanted stem cells were created by medical outfit Celixir, co-founded by Nobel laureate Professor Martin Evans, the first scientist to culture mice embryonic stem cells in a laboratory.

Professor Westaby was inspired to work on the breakthrough in 1999 after a four-month-old baby girls heart healed itself after he carried out a major life-saving operation.

Kirsty Collier, from Swindon, was dying of a serious and rare heart defect. In a last ditch effort Professor Westaby cut away a third of her badly damaged heart.

GETTY

GETTY

Surprisingly it began to beat. Fourteen years later a scan has shown that the heart had healed itself.

Now Kirsty, 18, has a normal one. Professor Westaby said: She was essentially dead and was only resurrected by what I regarded at the time as a completely bizarre operation.

The fact there was no sign of heart damage told me there were foetal stem cells in babies hearts that could remove scarring of heart muscle. That never happens in adults.

Its all down to the clues we got from Kirstys operation.

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Heart failure BREAKTHROUGH: Stem cells trial offers hope to millions - Express.co.uk

Is Spirituality Irrational? – Huffington Post

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Spirituality and rationality seem completely opposed. But are they really?

To get at this question, let's start with a little thought experiment. Consider the following two questions:

1. If you were given a choice between reading a physical book (or an e-book) or listening to an audiobook, which would you prefer?

2. If you were given a choice between listening to music, or looking at the grooves of a phonograph record through a microscope, which would you prefer?

But I am more interested in the answer to a third question:

3. For which of the first two questions do you have a stronger preference between the two options?

Most people will have a stronger preference in the second case than the first. But why? Both situations are in some sense the same: there is information being fed into your brain, in one case through your ears and in the other through your eyes. So why should people's preference for ears be so much stronger in the case of music than books?

There is something in the essence of music that is lost in the translation between an audio and a visual rendering. The same loss happens for words too, but to a much lesser extent. Subtle shades of emphasis and tone of voice can convey essential information in spoken language. This is one of the reasons that email is so notorious for amplifying misunderstandings. But the loss in much greater in the case of music.

The same is true for other senses. Color is one example. A blind person can abstractly understand what light is, and that color is a byproduct of the wavelength of light, and that light is a form of electromagnetic radiation... yet there is no way for a blind person to experience subjectively the difference between red and blue and green. But just because some people can't see colors doesn't mean that colors aren't real.

The same is true for spiritual experiences.

Now, before I expand that thought, I want to give you my bona fides. I am a committed rationalist, and an atheist (though I don't like to self-identify as an atheist because I'd rather focus on what I *do* believe in rather than what I don't). So I am not trying to convince you that God exists. What I want to say is rather that certain kinds of spiritual experiences *might* be more than mere fantasies made up out of whole cloth. If we ignore this possibility we risk shutting ourselves off from a vital part of the human experience.

I grew up in the deep south (Kentucky and Tennessee) in a secular Jewish family. When I was 12 my parents sent me to a Christian summer camp (there were no other kinds in Kentucky back in those days). After a week of being relentlessly proselytized (read: teased and ostracized), I decided I was tired of being the camp punching bag and so I relented and gave my heart to Jesus. I prayed, confessed my sins, and just like that I was a member of the club.

I experienced a euphoria that I cannot render into words, in exactly the same way that one cannot render into words the subjective experience of listening to music or seeing colors or eating chocolate or having sex. If you have not experienced these things for yourself, no amount of description can fill the gap. Of course, you can come to an *intellectual* understanding that "feeling the presence of the holy spirit" has nothing to do with any holy spirit. You can intellectually grasp that it is an internal mental process resulting from (probably) some kind of neurotransmitter released in response to social and internal mental stimulus. But that won't allow you to understand *what it is like* any more than understanding physics will let you understand what colors look like or what music sounds like.

Happily, there are ways to stimulate the subjective experience that I'm describing other than accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Meditation, for example, can produce similar results. It can be a very powerful experience. It can even become addictive, almost like a drug.

I am not necessarily advocating that you go try to get yourself a hit of religious euphoria (though I wouldnt discourage you either -- the experience can give you some interesting and useful perspective on life). Instead, I simply want to convince you to entertain the possibility that people might profess to believe in God for reasons other than indoctrination or stupidity. Religious texts and rituals might be attempts to share real subjective experiences that, in the absence of a detailed modern understanding of neuroscience, can appear to originate from mysterious, subtle external sources.

The reason I want to convince you to entertain this notion is that an awful lot of energy gets wasted by arguing against religious beliefs on logical grounds, pointing out contradictions in the Bible and whatnot. Such arguments tend to be ineffective, which can be very frustrating for those who advance them. The antidote for this frustration is to realize that spirituality is not about logic. It's about subjective experiences to which not everyone is privy. Logic is about looking at the grooves. Spirituality is about hearing the music.

The good news is that adopting science and reason doesnt mean you have to give up on spirituality any more than you have to give up on music. There are myriad paths to spiritual experience, to a sense of awe and wonder at the grand tapestry of creation, to the essential existential mysteries of life and consciousness, to what religious people call God. Walking in the woods. Seeing the moons of Jupiter through a telescope. Gathering with friends to listen to music, or to sing, or simply to share the experience of being alive. Meditation. Any of these can be spiritual experiences if you allow them to be. In this sense, God is everywhere.

Things to ponder: Why are spiritual experiences in general so strongly associated with irrationality? Is it possible that spiritual experiences *causes* people to become irrational?

Do you think comparing spiritual experience to music is an apt analogy? What about comparing it to a psychedelic drug?

What are the benefits and drawbacks of seeking spiritual experiences? On balance, is it a worthwhile thing to do?

____________________________________________________________________

Connect with Dr. Gleb TsipurskyonTwitter, onFacebook, and onLinkedIn, and follow his RSS feed and newsletter.

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Demystifying the spiritual person – Daily News & Analysis

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When we think of a doctor, the image of a person with a lab coat and stethoscope comes to mind. Or take a scientist; the image is of a person lost among test tubes in a lab. The stereotype of a person on a spiritual path is that of a peaceful person with maybe a halo around their head. But spiritual people are just like you and me, the only difference being their passion toward finding happiness. So here's disentangling some of the myths and misunderstandings about a spiritual person.

There is a difference between spirituality and morality. While moral values dictate terms for a disciplined life, spirituality defines the way to live life. It shows how to live a happy life and make the most of our time on this planet. Drinking or swearing does not make you any less spiritual but may fall short of the moral code set by people.

The misconception about people on a spiritual path is that they do not take joy in small pleasures, that frivolity and having fun is not something they enjoy, or that their life is about silence and a sense of self-control. This is in fact the opposite to how true spiritual people are. They are open, free, and enjoy even the smallest of joys like having a cone of ice cream.

People believe that on the path of spirituality, there is no attachment to people and their possessions, and that their emotions towards their house burning down or a wedding of a close one are neutral as they are supposed to be detached from them. In fact, spiritual people take active interest in the lives of their loved ones and are part of their joys and sorrows. They en every emotion and do not go emotionally overboard.

It is assumed that spiritual people need to live a simple life with no luxury because a poorer way of life is traditionally equated with being highly spiritual. But the cornerstones of spirituality include the feeling of abundance and prosperity. Others believe that spiritual people look down upon earning money, and this has led to setting low goals for success and wealth creation. This does not imply that greediness is acceptable. A spiritual person is one who can live a luxurious life or a spartan life but remains the same at his or her core.

They are supposed to be perennially in a state of calm with nothing affecting them. Fear, anxiety and stress are said to be non-existent in their life and that their life is a bed of roses. This is completely untrue as life throws the same experiences of happiness, pain, joy, loss and love towards everyone, it is the ability to deal with them that sets people apart. Spiritual people are often seen as happy people as they have learnt the art of living life, that is to accept whatever comes their way and experience every emotion to the fullest. Adi Shankaracharya, the greatest of philosophers and a monk too shed a tear when he lost his mother.

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