As I write this article, a group calling themselves The Phantom Squad have declared that they intend to take down both the Xbox Live and Playstation PSN networks on Christmas Day, and sustain the attack for a week. They claim its to expose the continued lack of security from Microsoft and Sony, the former who was hit this time last year by another group called Lizard Squad. Of course, this will be a major disruption to consumers globally who have purchased a new console for the festive season but as the well known activist group Anonymous succinctly put it, “…if you worry about not being able to play games on Christmas you need to re-evaluate priorities.”

A hacker is someone who seeks and exploits weaknesses in a computer system or computer network. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, such as profit, protest, challenge, enjoyment, or to evaluate those weaknesses to assist in removing them. – Wikipedia

Given the focus on the ever increasing deluge of data being generated by consumers and devices, and the exponential information potential touted by trends such as the Internet Of Things, cybersecurity and data protection is becoming more paramount. But every year the data breaches get larger, more sophisticated and ever more costlier. According to a joint study by IBM and Ponemon conducted this year, the average cost paid for each lost or stolen record containing sensitive and confidential information increased 6 percent, jumping from $145 in 2014 to $154 in 2015. The lowest cost per lost or stolen record is in the transportation industry, at $121, and the public sector, at $68. On the other hand, the retail industry’s average cost increased dramatically, from $105 last year to $165. Consider the latest hacks that have hit the headlines so far:
Ashley Madison breach hit 37m users
Malware installed on over 2,000 cash registers hit over 56m customers at Home Depot
The European Central Bank had its website hacked, with personal information including email addresses and contact data stolen
Kirkwood Community College’s website was hacked this year, exposing 125,000 social security numbers of applicants over an 8 year period
Not all threats are from the outside

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This year has seen a number of advances in the field of bioarchaeology, the study of ancient human bones, as well as plenty of interesting case studies that show us that people in the past were not that unlike us. In reviewing some of the top themes and stories of this past year, it becomes clear that researchers are getting better and better at understanding people and events that weren’t written down in history, by making bones spill their secrets. Here are some of the top stories that interested me this year:

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With a reported tie-up between Google’s self-driving car efforts and the automaker Ford, the era of autonomous vehicles is getting closer. The impact is likely to shake up the balance of power in the global auto industry and among the technology elite. At stake is nothing less than trillions of dollars.

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The biggest gaming letdowns of the year, all in one tidy list.

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Transitioning to Oracle Mobile Cloud Service has allowed the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority to submit traffic accident reports in near real time, allowing crews to clear a scene sometimes in only minutes instead of hours.

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