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Today’s topics include Google’s four measures to prevent and remove online terror content, Ponemon’s first-measured decline in the average cost of a data breach worldwide, Windows Server moving to a semi-annual feature update schedule, and Machine Groups coming to the Microsoft Operations Management Suite.
On Sunday Google’s general counsel Kent Walker outlined four measures his company is taking to remove existing terror content from its online properties, and to prevent new such content from being posted.
The first step is to dedicate additional engineering resources and video analytics technology to remove and prevent extremist content from being posted on its properties. Step 2 is to expand its YouTube Trusted Flagger program to weed out potentially—but not clearly—offensive material. Third, Google will begin taking a tougher stance on videos that contain potentially inflammatory and supremacist content, even if they don’t blatantly violate content policies. Finally, Google-parent Alphabet will employ its Jigsaw technology incubator to develop social campaigns against hate and radicalization.
These measures will expand upon policies already in place to handle offensive content.
For years the cost of data breaches has been on the rise, according to the Ponemon Cost of a Data Breach Study. But for the first time, the most recent release of the report indicates that costs may have gone down.
Globally the study reported that the average cost of a data breach is now $3.62 million—a 10 percent year-over-year decrease from the 2016 report. The average cost of a lost or stolen record globally is $141. However, health care industry breaches are much more costly at $380 per record.
Although the cost of data breaches was down globally, not every region was lucky enough to experience a downturn in costs. The U.S., for instance, saw a 5 percent year-over-year increase in the average cost of a data breach. Wendi Whitmore, global lead of IBM X-Force IRIS, attributed this to U.S. regulations on cyber-security.
Windows Server is poised to join Windows 10 and Office with a semi-annual feature update schedule starting this fall, Erin Chapple, general manager of Windows Server at Microsoft announced in a blog post.
Customers who hope to innovate at a more rapid pace will be pleased with the announcement, Chapple explained. They will now be able to do so using the server system software’s software-defined data center capabilities and its application container and microservices components.
The Microsoft executive also assured users that Windows IT management solutions will keep up with the more frequent Windows Server updates. System Center will participate in the new release timetable as well.
Microsoft Operations Management Suite gained some new features this spring, including Service Map and Machine Groups.
The Service Map feature generates a real-time dependency map that encompasses servers, processes and third-party processes. It allows users to quickly visualize complex business IT service environments, even if they span multiple data centers and clouds.
Machine Groups, meanwhile, allows administrators to further fine-tune their Service Maps. The new feature lets users create a single, configurable map off all the servers involved in delivering a business service. Any time business requirements change, users can quickly add or remove servers to reflect any alterations.