How Holiday Shoppers Can Protect Their Information Against Cyberattacks
*By Tracey Cheek*
The holiday season is here again ー and as consumers buy and spend, more personal information is being exposed online.
The number and severity of cyberattacks are on the rise, and both consumers and businesses need protection. Shane Wall, chief technology officer at HP and global head of HP Labs sat down with Cheddar on Monday to discuss the state of cybersecurity heading into the new year.
“It continues to be dynamic,” said Wall on cyberattacks. “The number of attacks we’ve seen are accelerating. Keeping up with that continues to be a big challenge for us tech providers.”
Hackers are getting smarter, and attacks could come from a variety of sources, said Wall.
“It could be nation-state hackers, it could be individual hackers,” said Wall.
As for the motivations behind the attacks, he said they vary.
“We’ve seen a lot of extortion pieces that go on, or it could just be fame," he said. "They just want to be known.”
In this environment, consumers need to protect themselves, and that starts with selecting a secure device. “When you make a device choice, you’re making a security choice,” Wall told Cheddar. “So choose carefully the device that you use. Make sure you look underneath to make sure they actually have all the right security pieces in place."
He said consumers online should always make sure they are shopping at trusted websites, and advised against opening any emails that aren't from a known sender.
Tech giants have to get into the mind of a hacker to prevent attacks, especially at a moment when the nature of cyberattacks is constantly changing.
“Now we’re seeing very dynamic attacks that are actually using artificial intelligence and machine learning in order to find and probe capabilities," Wall said. “As a result, on our end, we need to turn to things like artificial intelligence and machine learning in order to combat the bad guys.”
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/hps-chief-technology-officer-on-the-state-of-cybersecurity).
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
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A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
