The KIT ─ Knowledge & Information Technology
No. 188 - 16 March 2017
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In This Issue
Industrial Internet in Washington
Privacy Standard for the IoT
IICF
Cyberthreats and Elections
Top-5 Supercomputer video
Seen Recently
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Industrial Internet and Cherry Blossoms
The next meetings of the Object Management Group (OMG) and the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) will both be held next week in the same location, the Hyatt at Reston Town Center, near Washington's Dulles Airport. While most of the IIC sessions are reserved for members, there will be three important public events during the week:

Individually or together, the three events will provide great insights into key concerns and opportunities at the crossroads of the Internet of Things and information security. You can still register for these upcoming events by following the three links above.

Privacy Standard for the Internet of Things
What data are the sensors in your car, your home thermostats, or your Amazon Echo gathering, and where are they sending it?

Consumerist, a division of Consumer Reports, announced on March 6 that it is leading an effort to develop a "new open-source privacy standard for the Internet of Things."

The standard itself is a useful compilation of areas of concern, including security, privacy, ownership, governance and compliance. Those areas are divided down to three levels, with a total of 35 "tests." Some areas are still undefined, but that's precisely the point of organizing a crowdsourcing effort.

We find that this effort falls short of the definition of a standard. Some criteria are defined in vague and subjective terms, such as "the software is not overly complex" or "privacy controls exist and are effective." These statements are not standards, but guidelines at best. If the crowdsourcing effort results in much greater precision, then it may be useful. Otherwise, it will be too easy for device manufacturers to claim that they comply without any agreed-upon way to verify the claims.
The Industrial Internet Connectivity Framework
The IIC just published the Industrial Internet Connectivity Framework. Among other things, the new document clarifies the IIoT connectivity stack and defines a connectivity reference architecture for data sharing.
Cyberthreats and Elections
France conducted in the last few months two rounds of tests of an Internet voting system in preparation for its June 2017 parliamentary elections. This facility was of particular interest to the expatriate population. After the tests were conducted, the plans for Internet voting were canceled due to concerns about cyberattacks. It is hard not to see in this a reflection of the controversy surrounding the last U.S. election, although in such a politically charged topic, there have been insinuations that the decision was likely based on calculations that the expats located farthest from polling centers might be the most opposed to the party currently in power.

Cybersecurity expert Bruce Schneier, a longtime opponent of electronic voting, wrote in his blog: "Some good election security news for a change!"
The Top-5 Supercomputer Video
If you're curious about what the top supercomputers in the world actually look like, this Techrepublic video will show you glimpses of the beasts -- after you manage to skip through and close the multiple annoying publicity clips.

Featured are Cori (National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center in Berkeley), Sequoia (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), TITAN (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), Tianhe-2 (National Supercomputer Center, Guangzhou), and Sunway TaihuLight ((National Supercomputer Center, Wuxi), which is currently number 1.
Seen Recently...
"The UK is a beachhead into Europe for many US service providers due to language, cultural and time zone preferences. This will change [...] Ireland and the Netherlands are already popular alternatives likely to gain further."