Intelligent Authentication Platform - Costs and Benefits

Benefits

Security and confidentiality is very important, especially now that transactions can be made with a couple of mouse clicks. Hackers take advantage of this and people have become more and more concerned for the security of their online transactions and digital information. Without security, recent developments such as online banking would be useless.

Intelligent Authentication Platform addresses security problems by adding another layer of protection. Permission to make transactions or accessing information/ websites does not solely depend on entering the correct password. How you type, your location and other gathered data are also verified in order to gain access.

Intelligent Authentication Platform Software is beneficial because it adds another layer of security without requiring you to purchase other software, hardware or peripherals. It also doesn't require you to input additional information.

Costs

Since this software is not freeware, you have to buy it in order to use it. People on the go who access their accounts from different locations can also experience problems since the software takes into account their location before it grants them access. However, location is only one of fourteen factors that determines whether you gain access to the account so problems related to this should be very minimal. This software can also encourage people to be lax when it comes to their passwords. They can leave it lying around or they can use passwords that are very easy to crack.

Intelligent Software Assistant - Costs and Benefits

Benefits

Having an intelligent software assistant can be very beneficial. You can pass along your menial and routine work to it, thus freeing up a lot of your time and leaving you to pursue more productive things. For example, you can ask it to purchase plane tickets, make reservations, ask for the weather forecast and so much more. Once it is fully developed, it can also aid you in making decisions. It can also help you to become more organized. The intelligent software assistant can help you be more efficient and it can also minimize labor costs since it can take the place of personal assistants.

Costs

However, developing intelligent software assistants can be very costly in terms of time, money and other resources. It requires a lot of research so the initial version might cost a lot, thus consumers might not be able to afford it. Also, it may require additional hardware or even software in order to function. It is a very complicated software so it might need a lot of memory and take up a lot of space. It also needs an internet connection since it can only answer your queries or perform actions by looking it up in the internet. Although the current prototype is still far from it, later versions could threaten the jobs of many people such as personal assistants and secretaries.

Intelligent Software Assistant

Intelligent Software Assistant

Wouldn't it be great if you can delegate tasks to your computer instead of getting on your computer to do the task? Wouldn't it be convenient if you can ask your computer to look for a restaurant near your area and make a reservation? It would free up a lot of your time if your computer or mobile phone could make plane reservations for you instead of having to log in to their website or wait on the phone for a reservation agent to take your call. These are just some of the things that a personal assistant software developed by Siri, can do. At the moment, it is still in the early stages and can only perform simple tasks. However, there are great possibilities for this software in the business sector, particularly in the banking industry, once it is fully developed.



Being in the banking industry means doing a lot of research. Bankers need to research on industries, people, court cases and so much more. It takes up a lot of their time and prevents them from doing more important things such as marketing, talking to possible clients, making client calls, etc. If our company can utilize a more developed version of this software, it would definitely make the account officers more productive.


"Adam Cheyer, cofounder of Silicon Valley startup Siri, envisions a new way for people to interact with the services available on the Internet: a "do engine" rather than a search engine. Siri is working on virtual personal-assistant software, which would help users complete tasks rather than just collect information." (Morgenthaler)

"Siri traces its origins to a military-funded artificial-intelligence project called CALO, for "cognitive assistant that learns and organizes," that is based at the research institute SRI International. The project's leaders--including Cheyer--combined traditionally isolated approaches to artificial intelligence to try to create a personal-assistant program that improves by interacting with its user. Cheyer, while still at SRI, took a team of engineers aside and built a sample consumer version; colleagues finally persuaded him to start a company based on the prototype. Siri licenses its core technology from SRI" (Morgenthaler)

The artificial-intelligence tasks behind Siri's responses (from Morgenthaler):

1. "The user can ask a broad question like this because Siri has information that gives clues about what the user intends. For example, the software might store data about the user's location, schedule, and past activities. Siri can deal with open-ended questions within specific areas, such as entertainment or travel."
2. "Siri pulls information relevant to the user's question from a variety of Web services and tools. In this case, it checks the weather, event listings, and directories of local attractions and uses machine learning to select certain options based on the user's past preferences. Siri can connect
to various Web applications and then integrate the results into a single response."
3. "Siri interprets this reply in the context of the existing conversation, using it to refine the user's request."
4. "The software offers specific suggestions based on the user's personal preferences and its ability to categorize. Because Siri is task-oriented, rather than a search engine, it offers to buy tickets that the user selects."
5. "By now, the conversation has narrowed enough that all the user has to do is click on his choice."
6. "Siri compiles information about the event, such as band members, directions, and prices, and structures it in a logical way. It also handles the task of finding out what's available and getting the tickets."

Sources:

http://sanjeevjaiswal.com/archives/60

http://www.morgenthaler.com/content/Ventures/Portfolio%2520News/Siri%2520Named%2520Top%252010%2520Emerging%2520Tech%2520of%25202009.pdf

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1549467/intelligent_software_assistant_by_adam.html

Intelligent Authentication Platform

Intelligent Authentication Platform



Information security is very important, especially in the banking industry. The advent of online banking has brought ease and convenience when making transactions. However, it has also brought many threats such as identification theft. Despite high-tech firewalls, anti-virus software, phishing filters and other software, keeping information secure is still a big problem. Many people choose not to do online banking because they are afraid that someone will gain access to their account.

People often choose passwords that can be easily cracked. They choose the name of their kids or their birthday which can be easily guessed by hackers. However, even strong passwords with alphanumeric characters are also susceptible to attacks.

There are a lot of companies that are trying to offer solutions to these problems. They are launching new technologies to increase security and protection with added hardware such as fingerprint scanners.

However, one company has solved this problem without any added hardware or user input. Apart from ensuring that the correct password is entered, its software will also monitor how it is typed in and who is typing it, making your log-in more secure.

A company in Boston, Delfigo Security, offers a software that claims can remedy this. Ther software called DSGateway Authentication Platform looks at how a user types each character and it also collects other subtle clues that "creates an additional layer of security without the need for extra equipment or user actions. As a user enters her name and password, JavaScript records her typing pattern along with other information, such as her system configuration and geographic location. When the user clicks "submit," her data is sent to the Web server and, provided that the username and password are correct, the additional information is passed on to Delfigo. The company's system then evaluates how well this information matches the behavior patterns of the appropriate authorized user. Delfigo's algorithms build up a profile of each user during a short training period, combing 14 different factors. The company's president and CEO, Ralph Rodriguez, developed the necessary algorithms while working as a research fellow at MIT. Rodriguez notes that recording multiple factors is crucial to keeping the system secure without making it unusable. If the user types a password with one hand, for example, while holding coffee in the other, the system must turn to other factors to decide how to interpret the variation, he says. If she does this every morning, the system will learn to expect to see this behavior at that time of day." (Technology Review)

"The idea that a password should completely succeed or completely fail "is an old paradigm that should go away," says Rodriguez. Even if the system sees something strange about the way that a user enters her password, for example, it just assigns a confidence level to that log-in attempt. Access levels can be configured depending on this confidence level. For example, if a user logs in from an odd location, lowering the system's confidence, it might allow her to see her account balance but restrict the funds that she is able to transfer. If the user needs to increase her confidence factor at that moment, Rodriguez says, she could answer additional security questions or have a one-time password sent to her mobile phone or via e-mail." (Technology Review)

"DSGateway contains a number of features and benefits that appeal to the C-Suite, Business Owners and IT Staff.
- Reduced Fraud " Delfigo utilizes multiple factors of authentication, ranging from biometrics to geo-location to GPS tracking, making it highly unlikely that a fraudster can compromise all that goes into validating authenticity of an individual using the Delfigo solution
- Simple Distribution and Implementation " Designed as a cloud solution requiring no client downloads or tokens DSGateway is an efficient solution to deploy in any network or application
- Enhanced Visibility & Administration" With an event-driven architecture that can monitor risks in real-time and on demand analytics and dashboards, the solution provides immediate visibility into issues enabling it to prevent identity theft before it happens
- Low TCO " DSGateway's innovative architecture, lack of additional hardware (such as tokens), user-friendly manageability and competitive price point combine to present unmatched TCO in an authentication solution
- Supports Industry Compliance " Delfigo Security helps organizations reduce their business compliance risks, by meeting regulatory mandates for industries
- Easy to Use " Users do not require training or need to change any behaviors or usage patterns to realize the full benefits of DSGateway
- Configurable " The platform is easily configured to match user profiles, roles, and other characteristic" (Dark Reading)


Sources:

http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?ch=specialsections&sc=smarterit&id=23008

http://www.delfigosecurity.com/

http://www.darkreading.com/security/intrusion-prevention/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218500330&subSection=End+user/client+security

My experience in building and customizing the blog site

I have a multiply account and I'm very familiar with its interface. I found the site easy to use despite the many things that you can customize. When we were given this assignment, I wanted to try a different blog server, just to compare the interface. I first signed up for an account with Wordpresscom. However, I found it very difficult to navigate and I found it difficult to customize my blog. I'm not sure if you can customize the background but I didn't see any links that indicated I could do so. I didn't find it to be user-friendly and I found the site unattractive. That's why I opted to try Blogger.com.

So far, Blogger.com seems to be okay. The interface is similar to Multiply and the site is more attractive than Wordpress. I suppose Wordpress is more of a "journal" wherein the focus is on what you write and not the embelishments. I like Blogger better because it is more attractive, user-friendly and you can customize a lot of things. It's also very easy to sign up for an account. With just a few easy steps, you can have your own Blogger account. I simply had to type in my e-mail address, the username that I wanted and my password. It didn't ask me for other personal information such as my country, age, gender, etc. You can edit this later on.

I also found it easy to customize the blog. There's a tab at the top of the page where you can edit the layout. You can pick a template, edit the font colors and you can even edit the HTML code for your background. This is also the first time I've encountered a feature called "Monetize" wherein you can actually earn if people click on the advertisements in your site. I think this is a really good feature and it gives Blogger an edge over the other blog servers.