NEWS
Amazon introduces palm signature innovation
Amazon ’ s physical retail team has announced a new innovation called Amazon One . Amazon One is a convenient and contactless way for people to use their palm to make everyday activities like paying at a store , presenting a loyalty card , entering a location like a stadium or badging into work , more effortless .
The service is designed to be highly secure and uses custom-built algorithms and hardware to create a person ’ s unique palm
signature . Amazon will offer the technology in select Amazon Go stores , where Amazon One will be added to the store ’ s entry gate as a convenient choice for customers to use to enter the store to shop .
In most retail environments , Amazon One could become an alternate payment or loyalty card option with a device at the checkout counter next to a traditional point of sale system .
Amazon said on its blog : “ We take data security and privacy seriously , and any sensitive data is treated in accordance with our long-standing policies . With this in mind , we designed Amazon One to be highly secure .
“ For example , the Amazon One device is protected by multiple security controls and palm images are never stored on the Amazon One device . Rather , the images are encrypted and sent to a highly secure area we custom-built in the cloud where we create your palm signature .”
Texas teams up with FireEye to tackle ransomware
FireEye , an intelligence-led security company , has announced that it is working with the Texas Department of Information Resources ( DIR ) through Carahsoft ’ s DIR contract DIR-TSO-4288 and DIR ’ s Bulk Purchase Agreement # BP2020-028 to offer cybersecurity defenses to Texas public sector agencies .
While ransomware victims span nearly every geographical region and industry , attacks on state and local municipalities have become especially pervasive .
This is likely due to the fact that threat actors know the disruptive and destructive impact that these targeted ransomware incidents can have on critical operations of these high-availability organizations . DIR facilitates contracts for state and local government entities , putting master contracts in place for technology products and services at discounted prices . Through the end of 2020 , FireEye security products and Mandiant Solutions services are available to all Texas agencies , county governments , cities and school districts through DIR ’ s Bulk Purchase Initiative for Endpoint Detection and Response ( EDR ) solutions .
“ DIR has made resources available to the Texas public sector market to effectively combat the evolving threat of ransomware , and the need for these resources became even more apparent following last August ’ s ransomware attack on multiple local governments across Texas ,” said Amanda Crawford , DIR Executive Director .
“ With these contracts for robust cybersecurity tools and services , we ’ re enabling Texas government entities to efficiently strengthen their ransomware defenses .”
16 INTELLIGENTCIO www . intelligentcio . com