Claire Wang

The 2016 Dyn Attack and its Lessons for IoT Security

On October 21, 2016, the largest distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack took place, shutting down most of the Internet, including Twitter, Amazon, GitHub, and the New York Times.[1]  The attack targeted Dyn, a company that services a large share of the internet’s domain name system (DNS) infrastructure, and lasted for most of the day.… Read more The 2016 Dyn Attack and its Lessons for IoT Security

Using Big Data to Fight Credit Card Fraud

According to research payments group Javelin, 15.4 million consumers experienced identity theft or fraud in 2016, amounting to more than $16 billion worth of theft.[1] As fraudulent credit card purchases grow, the onus is on credit card and payments companies to take action: the Fair Credit Billing Act states that credit card owners are liable… Read more Using Big Data to Fight Credit Card Fraud

The Need for Caution in Government Use of AI

To date, machine learning has been used primarily to determine product offerings: What movies should Netflix recommend its users? What products should Amazon recommend? However, certain tech companies are now marketing machine learning applications to governments and public agencies. For example, tech firm Predpol uses “real-time epidemic-type aftershock sequence crime forecasting” and historical crime data… Read more The Need for Caution in Government Use of AI

The Future of Retail may be in the Cloud

The retail industry has transformed significantly over the past few decades, and retailers are starting to understand that they cannot simply rely on traditional brick-and-mortar strategies. McKinsey consultant Stefan Niemeier explains, “[Business technology] will be a major change for traditional store-based retail. Consider a big-box format with a 35 percent gross margin and 3 percent… Read more The Future of Retail may be in the Cloud

Bringing Social Responsibility back to Tech

In recent years, research has emerged on how technology is inhibiting our ability to focus, encouraging smartphone and digital addiction, and enabling social isolation.[1] In addition to this research, news articles have come out about how tech giants have engaged in unsavory practices in the name of profit. This past year, Facebook underwent a senate… Read more Bringing Social Responsibility back to Tech