What I'm Reading 4/28/2020 - Extrapolating From The Stories: Coronavirus Should Be A Wake-up to Businesses to Adjust Their Practices, Also Some Cybersecurity Stuff

Medium - The New Hot Startups Will Be Camels, Not Unicorns -

(S)tartups outside Silicon Valley have been proving a different model of success. In emerging markets are companies we can learn from because they have survived harsh business climates with less capital and ecosystem support. These startups are more akin to camels for their ability to adapt to multiple climates, survive without sustenance for months, and withstand harsh conditions. And unlike unicorns, camels are not imaginary creatures. They are real, and they are resilient.

 The Verge - The algorithms big companies use to manage their supply chains don’t work during pandemics -

Even during a pandemic, Walmart’s supply chain managers have to make sure stores and warehouses are stocked with the things customers want and need. COVID-19, though, has thrown off the digital program that helps them predict how many diapers and garden hoses they need to keep on the shelves.

Normally, the system can reliably analyze things like inventory levels, historical purchasing trends, and discounts to recommend how much of a product to order. During the worldwide disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the program’s recommendations are changing more frequently. “It’s become more dynamic, and the frequency we’re looking at it has increased,” a Walmart supply chain manager, who asked not to be named because he didn’t have permission to speak to the media, told The Verge.

 Threatpost - GDPR Compliance Site Leaks Git Data, Passwords -

A website that gives advice on privacy regulation compliance has fixed a security issue that was exposing MySQL database settings — including passwords — to anyone on the internet.

...

The issue was “easily found, quickly fixed, so a result all round,” said Vangelis Stykas and Joe Durbin, researchers with Pen Test Partners, in a Monday post. “However, the irony of a EU-funded web site about GDPR having security issues isn’t lost on us.”

 TechCrunch - NY attorney general calls out Amazon's 'inadequate' COVID-19 measures and 'chilling' labor practices -

The New York attorney general’s office reportedly sent a sternly-worded letter to Amazon telling the company that the measures it has taken regarding the COVID-19 pandemic “are so inadequate that they may violate several provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act,” and firing outspoken workers sends “a threatening message to other employees.”

Towards Data Science -  How to Get a Job with Python -

There are so many websites out there offering job listings for different fields of jobs. Even though you might be at a certain position you should always look for a job and that can get boring. But here comes a simple solution in order to get through so many of those job offers with ease!
We are going to build an easy Python script to get job listings and filter them to your likings.

 BBC - Coronavirus: Has Sweden got its science right? -

In Stockholm, the epicentre of the virus so far, cases have largely plateaued, although there was a spike at the end of this week, put down partly to increased testing.
There is still space in intensive care units and a new field hospital at a former conference venue is yet to be used.

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Sweden, with a population of 10 million, remains amongst the top 20 in the world when it comes to the total number of cases, even though it mostly only tests those with severe symptoms. More widespread checks on key workers are now being introduced.
It has higher death rates in relation to its population size than anywhere else in Scandinavia. 

The Startup -  Security Concerns for 2020 — Some Dude Says -

It’s been a quiet few months, so I expect 2020 to be much noisier for ransomware and other attacks, especially fileless malware and more complicated malware variants. This will be further exacerbated by the upcoming Windows 7 end of life. With the advancement of cloud computing, I expect network topology to come into play more. The continued growth of connected devices and the general Internet of Things (IoT) will further add vectors for these attacks. To round all of it off, we have Kevin Mitnick’s favorite, good old social engineering, except this time technology has added deep fakes into the mix.

Fox - ‘Secret Church’ event hit by ‘cyberattack’ preventing people from watching it live -

A Virginia pastor's "Secret Church" service was the target of an apparent cyberattack, preventing more than 50,000 participants worldwide from logging in and attending in real time.

David Platt, the pastor of McLean Bible Church in Vienna, Va., hosted the six-hour event on Friday night, which focused on "the way Christians relate to the government."

Al Jazeera - Trump was forewarned about coronavirus threat: Report -

The repeated warnings were included in the president's daily brief, which for weeks tracked the worldwide spread of the virus, raising the alarm about its potential consequences, the Post said.

One official told the US newspaper that by mid to late January, the coronavirus was being mentioned more frequently as one of the report's core articles or as an "executive update".

Stratechery - The Anti-Amazon Alliance -

That, though, points to an obvious market-based response: 3rd-party merchants, particularly those with differentiated products and brands, should seek to leave Amazon’s platform sooner-rather-than-later. It is hard to be in the Anti-Amazon Alliance if you are asking Amazon to find you your customers, stock your inventory, package your products, and deliver your goods; there are alternatives and — now that Google is all-in — the only limitation is a merchant’s ability to acquire and keep customers in a world where their products are as easy to buy as bad PR pitches are easy to find.

The Verge - Sen. Josh Hawley calls for a criminal antitrust probe into Amazon -

In his letter to Attorney General William Barr, Hawley presses the Justice Department to open an investigation into Amazon’s data tactics that were detailed in a report from The Wall Street Journal last week. In this report, the Journal outlined several instances in which Amazon employees peered into the sales data from independent sellers in order to develop its own competing, private label products.

“These practices are alarming for America’s small businesses even under ordinary circumstances,” Hawley wrote. “But at a time when most small retail businesses must rely on Amazon because of coronavirus-related shutdowns, predatory data practices threaten these businesses’ very existence.”

 Dark Reading - What's Your Cybersecurity Architecture Integration Business Plan? -

Omdia believes every organization using more than a handful of enterprise cybersecurity products should have a technology strategy and tactical approach for integrating their product architectures.

That effort should start with a business plan. Like any new business initiative, this should serve as the written rationale for what your integration objectives are, why you want to achieve them, what your desired end result looks like, and how to justify the cost.