Needlis in the Enterprise Collaboration Services Industry

Needl

needl

Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . THE SPINDLE, THE SHUTTLE, AND THE NEEDLE THE SPINDLE, THE SHUTTLE, AND THE NEEDLE There was once a girl whose father and mother died while she was still a little child. All alone, in a small house at the end of the village, dwelt her godmother, who supported herself by spinning, weaving, and sewing. The old woman took the forlorn child to live with her, kept her to her work, and educated her in all that is good. When the girl was fifteen, the old woman became ill, called the child to her bedside, and said, “Dear Daughter, I feel my end drawing near. I leave you the little house, which will protect you from wind and weather, and my spindle, shuttle, and needle, with which you can earn your bread.” Then she laid her hands on the girl’s head, blessed her, and said, “Only preserve the love of God in your heart, and all will go well with you.” Thereupon she closed her eyes, and when she was laid in the earth, the maiden followed the coffin, weeping bitterly, and paid her the last mark of respect. And now the maiden lived quite alone in the little house, and was industrious, and span, wove, and sewed, and the blessing of the good old woman was on all that she did. It seemed as if the flax in the room increased of its own accord, and whenever she wove a piece of cloth or carpet, or had made a shirt, she at once found a buyer who paid her amply for it. So that she was in want of nothing, and even had something to share with others. About this time, the Son of the King was traveling about the country looking for a Bride. He was not to choose a poor one, and did not want to have a rich one. So he said, “She shall be my wife who is the poorest, and at the same time the richest.” When he came to the village where the maiden dwelt, he inquired, as he did wherever he went, who was the richest and also the poorest girl in the place? They first named the richest; the poorest, they said, was the girl who lived in the small house quite at the end of the village. The rich girl was sitting in all her splendor before the door of her house, and when the Prince approached her, she got up, went to meet him, and made him a low curtsey. He looked at her, said nothing, and rode on. When he came to the house of the poor girl, she was not standing at the door, but sitting in her little room. He stopped his horse, and saw, through the window on which the bright sun was shining, the girl sitting at her spinning-wheel, busily spinning. She looked up, and when she saw that the Prince was gazing in, blushed all over her face, let her eyes fall, and went on spinning. I do not know whether, just at that moment, the thread was quite even; but she went on spinning until the King’s Son had ridden away again. Then she stepped to the window, opened it, and said, “It is so warm in this room!” but she still looked after him as long as she could see the white feathers in his hat. Then she sat down to work again in her own room and went on with her spinning. And a saying which the old woman had often repeated when she was sitting at her work, came into her mind, and she sang these words to herself: “Spindle, my Spindle, haste, haste thee away, Here to my house bring the wooer, I pray.” And what do you think happened? The spindle sprang out of her hand in an instant, and out of the door. And when, in her astonishment, she got up and looked after it, she saw that it was dancing out merrily into the open country, and drawing a shining golden thread after it. Before long, it had entirely vanished from her sight. As she had now no spindle, the girl took the weaver’s shuttle in her hand, sat down to her loom, and began to weave. The spindle, however, danced continually onward, and just as the thread came to an end, reached the Prince. “What do I see?” he cried; “the spindle certainly wants to show me the way!” He turned his horse about, and rode back with the golden thread. The girl was, however, sitting at her work singing: “Shuttle, my Shuttle, weave well this day, And guide the wooer to me, I pray.” Immediately the shuttle sprang out of her hand and out by the door. Before the threshold, however, it began to weave a carpet which was more beautiful than the eyes of man had ever yet beheld. Lilies and roses blossomed on both sides of it. And on a golden ground in the centre green branches ascended, under which bounded hares and rabbits. Stags and deer stretched their heads in between them. Brightly-colored birds were sitting in the branches above. They lacked nothing but the gift of song. The shuttle leapt hither and thither, and everything seemed to grow of its own accord. As the shuttle had run away, the girl sat down to sew. She held the needle in her hand and sang: “Needle, my Needle, sharp-pointed and fine, Prepare for a wooer this house of mine.” Then the needle leapt out of her fingers, and flew everywhere about the room as quick as lightning. It was just as if invisible spirits were working. They covered tables and benches with green cloth in an instant, and the chairs with velvet, and hung the windows with silken curtains. Hardly had the needle put in the last stitch, than the maiden saw through the window the white feathers of the Prince, whom the spindle had brought thither by the golden thread. He alighted, stepped over the carpet into the house, and when he entered the room, there stood the maiden in her poor garments, but she shone out from them like a rose surrounded by leaves. “You are the poorest and also the richest,” said he to her. “Come with me, you shall be my Bride.” She did not speak, but she gave him her hand. Then he kissed her, and led her forth, lifted her on to his horse, and took her to the royal castle, where the wedding was solemnized with great rejoicings. The spindle, shuttle, and needle were preserved in the treasure-chamber, and held in great honor. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm (2016). Grimm's Fairy Tales. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022, https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/52521/pg52521-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html.

THE SPINDLE, THE SHUTTLE, AND THE NEEDLE

Hello! We are developers from the Navigine company. We decided to test the Wi-Fi RTT technology and share the results with you. What is Wi-Fi RTT Wi-Fi RTT (Round-trip time) is a brand new technology that allows locating devices with unprecedented sub-meter accuracy. Basically, it measures the distance between a device and Wi-Fi routers which is way more accurate than using a GPS signal. The latter can’t provide an acceptable level of accuracy at all when it comes to indoor positioning. Wi-Fi RTT outperforms RSSI-based methods as well, thanks to reduced latency and better accuracy. The Use Today, this technology is the next step to improve services that use indoor positioning. We expect that its implementation will become a better solution for many industries. Wi-Fi RTT is applicable for tracking vehicles and cargo within warehouses and production plants. Comparing to BLE, this technology provides enhanced accuracy and reduced latency, making processes more rapid and reducing delays. It is effective for public hotspots as well, such as offices and malls, airports, exhibitions and not only. Indoor navigation is the solution users need for making their visits to public places more comfortable and enjoyable. Through this, they can plan their time effectively and find locations they need immediately. The Advantages Our solution goes further with unique algorithms that enhance the basic capabilities of Wi-Fi RTT. demonstrates a submeter accuracy in checkpoints 95% of the time and around 30 cm accuracy 50% of the time. The positioning engine is a particle filter combining Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR), based on inertial sensors readings, and Wi-Fi RTT readings for correction. Meanwhile, the dynamic test shows that delay in position estimation does not exceed one second. The latter result is achieved by complementing Wi-Fi RTT measurements with PDR via particle filter. Semi-static test in our office The technology is not just an innovation in itself, but also a practical solution that improves business efficiency and customer experience. Wi-Fi RTT provides longer distance measurements and can be integrated into existing Wi-Fi network infrastructure. Current status Now, it is too early to refer to any cases, while we are currently working on raising experts interest from LinkedIn. We can see the real need for this technology, so the first implementations are coming soon in Q1 2020. Today, we have confirmed orders from a big carrier and one logistics company. Why Wi-Fi RTT? The industries using indoor positioning have to realize that often BLE is not the solution that meets their needs. Wi-Fi RTT is a significantly more relevant technology for many cases. Our solution based on Wi-Fi RTT delivers clear advantages for customers, including high accuracy, low latency, ease of use and integration. With just 2 weeks between order and integration, it is one of the most rapid and flexible solutions. The combination of high accuracy, availability, and low price, can make the technology an Indoor positioning market leader.

A Needle in a Haystack: How Wi-Fi RTT Takes Indoor Positioning to the Next Level

Finding enterprise use cases worth development dollars Earlier this year, the GSMA, the world’s most influential telecom consortium, published a paper detailing Some of them were compelling. Others, less so. fifteen blockchain use cases for mobile network operators . As an , I was happy to see this kind of attention given to my still-nascent field. (Is all press good press?) But as a founder whose ability to buy Chipotle burritos rests on how seriously and successfully telecom carriers adopt blockchain technology, the addition of those less compelling use cases had me worried. entrepreneur in the telecom and blockchain space The sad truth is that the blockchain world is rife with misinformation, poorly-thought-out applications, and centralized tech pretending it’s “de-”. If left to their own devices, I could imagine carriers attempting the use cases I saw as less promising and being forever turned off of blockchain. So, although it’s against my very nature as a native Midwesterner, I see no other alternative to raining on this particular parade. As Warren Buffett wisely said in his : '17 shareholder letter The less the prudence with which others conduct their affairs, the greater the prudence with which we must conduct our own. In this article, I’ll attempt to be a voice of prudence. The applications that the GSMA proposes range from great and world-changing to fundamentally flawed, and I’ll explore four of them in the sections that follow. In so doing, I’ll draw out lessons worth remembering not only in telecom but also in broader enterprise blockchain R&D. A quick note on methodology: as an IDEO CoLab Fellow last winter, I learned that new tech is most interesting when it is desirable (i.e., adds real value for real people), feasible (i.e., technologically possible), and viable (i.e., good business). Check out IDEO’s explanation here if you’re curious, but it’s easiest to just witness them in action. You’ll get it. #1: Smart contracts for 5G network management “To realise the 5G promise of ubiquitous access across various networks, CSPs will need to handle heterogeneous access nodes and diverse access mechanisms. Selecting the fastest access node for every user or machine will be a central challenge in the future. …Rules and agreements between the various access providing networks can be coded into autonomous smart contracts. These contracts can be dynamic in nature wherein any time a policy needs to be changed, only the contract code needs to be changed.” The GSMA’s first use case falls prey to a classic problem of outside-in entrepreneurship — it describes a solution that every consumer wants but no business will offer. Is it to connect to any network freely and get the best value for the best service? Of course! I don’t care who gives me four bars of LTE service as long as I can reliably stream the #7-ranked Michigan basketball game in the back of my Uber. desirable But from the carrier’s point of view, this solution is neither feasible nor viable. On the technological side, the use case makes a number of critical leaps into still-unknown areas of blockchain tech, but far more damning is the business critique: why would carriers ever give up control of their customers? Carriers have built empires by leveraging their network assets to attract customers and reduce churn. Would they really buy into a protocol that forces them to auction for every data session, text, and call? feasibility viability Sounds tautological, but it’s surprisingly easy to forget. Yes, real-time bidding for connectivity would be amazing. But if it ever exists, it will only be after a prolonged battle with operators the world over. The lesson here is for prospective entrepreneurs: keep the enterprise in mind when designing enterprise blockchain products. #2: IOT connectivity “While localised networks in for instance a manufacturing line can provide great benefits, self-organised global supply chains powered by IOT can help streamline processes that require a lot of paperwork and governance. This would shift the focus from centralised IOT platforms (in technology and governance) to self-governed mesh networks… IOT can also be used for automatic tracking for quality and conditional parameters during transports, switching of ownership and provenance use cases.” The GSMA offers up three use cases in the IOT space. Unfortunately, they all fall prey to the same problem — they’re smart, and should probably happen, but they probably shouldn’t happen on a blockchain. These use cases are : IOT management via blockchain is a use case well-explored by startups and large enterprises alike. They may even prove to be : IOT is a huge and growing industry, devices will get smarter and smaller over time, and managing devices efficiently is a huge, valid concern. feasible viable The problem arises, though, when we consider the of blockchain in this context given the problems we are asking it to solve. desirability As I understand it, the problem is that we can’t get good data about products flowing through a manufacturing line or a multinational supply chain, so we’re asking blockchain to help. Walmart, for instance, now mandates that farms that supply their stores leafy green vegetables enter “ ” that they’ve build in conjunction with IBM. detailed information about their food into a blockchain database But wouldn’t that “detailed information” be just as useful in a normal database? In my mind, this type of supply chain management is a poor use of blockchain. If you can’t trust your supply chain partners (or much less, the folks on your manufacturing line) to produce accurate data, it doesn’t matter whether you use a blockchain, a database, or a stone tablet to store it: your customers are still going to . Garbage in, garbage out. (Or, due to blockchain’s immutability, it’s more like garbage in, garbage forever.) get E. coli from your lettuce Blockchain is expensive, slow, and non-private. It costs significant time and resources to write to a blockchain. Barriers to entry are high. (Do Walmart’s farmers now have to own wallets or accounts with IBM?) The lesson here is never to use blockchain when a normal database will do. This is not to say that blockchain won’t have a place in IOT; I think it will. But I’m willing to bet that device security turns out to be a better use case than provisioning or self-maintaining supply chains, because the former is a better fit to the unique constraints and benefits of blockchain. #3: Fraud prevention The telecom industry has not yet found a way to effectively and sustainably prevent fraud. In a general sense, working together to combat interoperator fraud is a good way to start. Blockchain could for instance be used to govern access to fraud detection information shared between operators…another angle is fraud caused by delays in sharing [call detail records] between operators. As blockchain works in real-time, using a shared administration of network activity could help identity plausible fraudulent connections faster. Smart contracts could be deployed to actively enforce network usage compliance rules and help us resolve inter operator disputes easier. Surprise twist: I actually this upcoming use case! In fact, I like it so much that I’ve been working on it for the past year with . (Is that cheating?) like drect.ly From a standpoint, blockchain has some clear advantages over other solutions in fraud prevention. In fact, it’s so good that you get to (justifiably) recite the holy text of blockchain use cases: desirability This is a case when mutually-distrustful actors need to coordinate to maintain a shared version of the truth for an economically-valuable digital record. That sentence is why blockchain was created; in this use case, we’ve just replaced the economically-valuable digital record of bitcoin ownership to a record of which telecoms have provided how much coverage to which roaming customers. Those records, it turns out, are incredibly valuable (and therefore, if managed well, can sustain a business model). Every year, telecom carriers lose over $38 billion to fraud; even a relatively small dent in that number is large in absolute terms. viable My own incredible bias notwithstanding, I do recognize some challenges here with . Billions of records are exchanged daily, which poses scalability problems. These records expose significant, closely-held data about network usage and subscriber behavior, which poses privacy concerns. Governance is challenging, for it’s unclear how centralized my ownership of the code base makes this project. And how can you get bad actors to sign onto a platform that demands higher responsibility? feasibility All that said, these are solvable problems. And perhaps that’s another lesson: ensure that your use case is a great fundamental fit with the unique value prop of blockchain technology — and then prove the feasibility haters wrong. If you think about it, that’s really the only way that technology advances. any #4: Hosted services Distributed Ledger and/or Blockchain network operators are responsible for configuring the network and granting access to network participants. In general, they specify the use case(s) that the network is serving, and are often involved in managing the network in terms of software upgrades, arbitration services, etc. A network can be operated by a single entity or a federation of multiple, separate entities. As a strategy consultant at Deloitte, I helped write a . It generated over 100 million views before being lost to the sands of business-thought-pieces past, but I’ll always remember it as the first time that I learned John Hagel’s concept of innovation “ .” trends report on ecosystems thinking antibodies The SparkNotes version of Hagel’s idea is that antibodies (i.e., agents of resistance) arise in big organizations whenever change is coming. They fight for the preservation of the status quo that helped them rise to power, and, even if well-intentioned, they often stifle the speed of change by insisting that old rules, norms, and values govern fundamentally new contexts. For example, a new business unit might be shut down because it’s cannibalizing sales of the core product; that is judged by the old rule of “protect the core,” rather than the new reality that any player could release the cannibalizing product and it’s better to optimize for growth. In the blockchain context, antibodies take the form of centralized services masquerading as blockchain technology. In the old world, businesses want efficiency and control — but Proof of Work is deliberately inefficient, and blockchain networks are intentionally decentralized. When I read a use case like the “hosted services” from above, where blockchains are treated like permissioned databases, I can’t help but remember Hagel’s antibodies. The whole point of blockchain technology is to make public commitments that are impossible to reverse; to open up previously siloed networks; and to radically decentralize power, code, and economic value accrual. So, my final lesson is this: You’ll want to do so — believe me, as someone who has built these systems — but if you do, you’ll be further from the real promise of blockchain technology and closer to designing a really bad database. After living in a centralized world, decentralization feels innately wrong. But as we enter this new age of decentralized technology, we ought to remember that it’s okay to break all of the old rules. never surrender decentralization when designing blockchain use cases. In fact, that’s the whole point. To connect with Christian, reach out on Twitter ( @cdkeil ) or via email at christian [at] drect.ly.

Needles in the Blockchain Haystack

How do you find the job candidate who’s an exact fit for your organization? How do find the person you are going to marry? How do you locate the right house for you and your family? How about a pet that’s been missing? Worse yet, a child who’s been missing? As a society, we spend a lot of time looking for things. Individuals search for apartments to rent, cars to buy, and romantic partners to date. Businesses search for customers, employees, and suppliers. . Our goal is to enable people to use incentive programs and in order to solve some important problems facing the world today. We believe, in particular, that we can help people Although we tend to approach these searches as if they are unique, we at nCent believe that they appear distinct on the surface but are often subject to similar dynamics on a meta level blockchain technology find higher quality things in a fraction of the time and more efficiently than they might expect. Some search problems, like finding the closest Italian restaurant, are easy to solve. , for example, is more challenging because it may be unclear where to start and how to efficiently gather information. It’s obviously a high stakes situation, because it involves the welfare of a child — quite a bit different then satisfying a pasta hankering. But other search problems are more difficult and involve higher stakes. Finding a missing child Difficult searches are called problems. “needle in haystack” One of our guiding principles at nCent is our belief that these “haystack” problems can be optimally solved by combining decentralized networks, blockchain technology, and the right incentives programs. A ‘proof of concept’ for this approach happened in when DARPA (USA defense research agency) placed ten red balloons in secret locations around the U.S. and offered $40,000 to the first team to locate them all. The winning team solved this search problem by offering recursive incentives: Anyone who either correctly identified the location of a red balloon or someone whose information led to a person who identified the location of a red balloon was rewarded. For example, if Person A referred Person B who referred Person C who correctly identified the location of a red balloon, then all three people in this chain would get rewarded in some capacity. 2009 referred Even if you don’t know where the needle is in the haystack, you are still incentivized to help by referring others to get closer. If the tail end of your subtree finds the needle, you too will be rewarded. Everyone who contributes to the network can be absolutely sure that if their contribution is valuable, their reward will be commensurate with this value. This means that the person who finds the missing child the person who spread the word to the finder’s social media network will be rewarded. The person who refers a successful candidate for a specialized job the person who informed the referrer will be rewarded. These programs can reduce their overall cost with (Larger payouts for those who are “closer” in the chain to the final goal) Utilizing blockchain technology in this process enables the network to be transparent and to be audited by anyone at any time. and and recursive payout structures . These recursive programs are scalable and when designed correctly, have an upper bound on the cost of sponsoring them. Recursive incentives motivate people to inform other people of the search problem. When executed properly, these networks grow quickly and organically, increasing the statistical probability of finding the target. In fact, we believe that recursive incentives, where every node of the successful chain is rewarded, become increasingly more valuable as the search problem becomes more difficult. Spam is another common problem that we will address in a forthcoming post: The biggest hurdle to solving a haystack problem is growing the search network quickly enough so that the chance of identifying the needle increases exponentially. “Cashout: What Does it Mean to be Spammed with Money?” As the tail end of the network is further removed from the origin of the network, the spread of information will be more efficient than any other search process implemented in the marketplace. . The incentive structures implemented on our blockchain will be modular enough to apply to many types of search problems. The inclusion of “decentralized networks” and “blockchains” might sound like tech jargon, but in reality it’s just the underlying tech that enables you to give “asking your friends for help” a global reach! We fully recognize that each case will come with its own idiosyncrasies, ranging from economic constraints of the searcher to the psychological realities of how people respond to incentives To learn more about our work, email me directly at kk@ncnt.io . To stay in the nCent loop, hear me tweet and join our international telegram channel .

How We Can Find the Needle in a Haystack, Together

Ever since the Seattle’s Space Needle installed an HD 360 webcam on the top of the needle, I have been fascinated by the footage captured. Over the past few months, I put together a time-lapse video of what the 360 webcam captured over the last 3 years. Check it out below, and continue reading for more details about it and to learn how it was made. How was it made? I started with two full panoramas a day for the last two years, more than 2000 panos. Then, the sequence was stabilized, as the camera shakes and moves over time, either by being knocked, or because of the wind and other forces of nature. The final step was to smooth temporally the sequence, to remove the variation due to weather and lighting conditions. The video below visualizes the process, but see the last section of this FAQ for more technical details. What is the ghost cruise ship in front of downtown? In the summer months, large cruise ships dock into the Seattle’s waterfront for one or two days a week. Because the cruise ship is only about a quarter of the time there, the temporal smoothing represents it as it was a 75% transparent, and therefore, it looks like a ghost cruise ship! Cruise ships appear as ghosts in the Seattle waterfront, as they only spend a couple of days a week in port. Is Mount Rainier visible in the time-lapse? Yes! But barely. The atmospheric conditions have to be very clear in order to see Mount Rainier from the Space Needle, which is more than 80 miles away. The temporal regularization produces a “moving average” effect, which allows one to see it better in sunny periods. However, the mountain almost disappears from the time-lapse during the cloudy periods. Mount Rainier appears in the time-lapse, though very faint (contrast enhanced). Note how the mountain has more snow during the winter months. Why are the shadows of some buildings moving ? The shadows cast by the buildings around Denny Ave are clearly visible during the summer months, as Seattle is very sunny. They move as the position of the sun at the capture times, 10:30 am and 2:30 pm, rises in the sky around the summer solstice. Shadows moving around the summer solstice. Also note the streets taking yellowish and gray colors as the seasons go by. What are other cool bits in the time-lapse? There are countless details that are interesting to watch! Here are some of my favorites: Skyscrapers popping up in the northeast end of Downtown. Most of the area is restricted to 400 feet / 40-story towers, and thus all look the same height. A tree on the lower right corner of Denny Park turns yellow in the spring before turning green, and loses its leaves before the other trees in the park — what kind of tree is it? Boats don’t always dock in the same position in the grain terminal. Also see the seasonal activity in the Interbay port terminal. An old industrial building is demolished in South Lake Union, and a new apartment building appears, all within 18 months. Seattle is one of the fastest growing cities in the US. Double shadows cast by McCaw Hall, due to the images used for the time-lapse being taken at 10:30 am and 2:30 pm (see technical details in the next section) Boat shows extend the marina into the South tip of Lake Union twice a year for a brief period of time. What is going on with the cars on the top floor of this parking garage in Queen Anne? They seem to stay in the same spot for months at a time. Have you done other time-lapse videos? Yes, a few years ago I presented a method to generate time-lapse videos from Internet photos. To create the Seattle time-lapse, I used the same technique to smooth the sequence temporally. Check out the video below! How many photos were used to make the time-lapse? I used 2166 panoramas that correspond to two photos a day, taken at 10:30 am and 2:30 pm, every day for the last three years. Some of the photos are missing, probably because the camera was temporarily offline. What is the original size of the time-lapse in pixels? The time-lapse video is the same size as each panorama from the 360 webcam, i.e. 8283 pixels wide by 1080 pixels tall, about 9 megapixels. How were the images processed? The processing pipeline involves two steps: First, the raw panoramas images are motion stabilized using an optical flow technique, as the camera shakes and moves throughout the sequence due to wind and other natural forces. I chose a reference panorama and warped slices of all images to the reference panorama using CPM optical flow package ( , ). paper github Second, the stabilized sequence is temporally smoothed to remove flicker due to weather and lighting conditions. I use the technique shown in my previous work on time-lapse mining from internet photos ( ). paper The processing happens in slices of 512 pixels (17 in total), and each slice takes takes 20 minutes for motion stabilization and one hour for temporal regularization, that is implemented in pycuda and runs on a GPU.

Seattle 3 Year Time-lapse Video from the Space Needle

Pinpointing Root Causes of Application Performance Problems in Dynamic Environments Pinpointing the root cause of application performance problems in a dynamic environment often resembles a complicated game of hide-and-seek. A familiar analogy is that it’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack. This characterization illustrates the challenge but isn’t especially helpful in offering solutions. So, if the root cause of an application problem is the “needle” and the application environment is the “haystack,” how exactly would we go about restoring peak performance? Taking the analogy literally is actually a pretty good way to explore the various approaches to resolving application performance problems in dynamic, elastic, and transient infrastructure environments. So, exactly how would you go about finding a needle in a haystack? 1. Eliminate the haystack Probably the fastest way to find the needle is to burn the haystack. Or dumping the hay into a pool of water and waiting for the needle to sink to the bottom would also work. If we were really talking about needles and haystacks, fine — but we’re not. There are fundamental business reasons why more and more companies are turning to dynamic cloud-based deployments in the first place. We can pretty much reject the option of returning to monolithic, static infrastructure where identifying application performance cause-and-effect relationships is more straightforward. 2. Rummage for the needle manually We could sift through the pile of hay, strand by strand, until we find the needle. That’s basically the way traditional (APM) tools work. They throw a massive collection of data at us (albeit usually in nicely formatted charts and graphs) and require us to comb through it all to figure what went wrong. Actually finding the needle remains a laborious manual process. Somebody somewhere has to pore over the charts and graphs, make sense of the data, and connect the dots to discover the root cause. Such handwork analysis can take hours — even days. application performance monitoring That’s too long when application problems are leading to disgruntled customers. Of course, things would go faster if we assigned more staff to tackle the problem: the more people sifting through the hay, the sooner we’d find the needle. But convening a war-room assembly to interpret the data is still a labor-intensive, time-consuming effort. Already most CIOs are frustrated that so many man-hours are spent on troubleshooting instead of innovating and optimizing. Furthermore, and perhaps more significant, today’s liquid environments — where millions of dependencies are changing on the fly from moment to moment — are simply too complex and too fast-moving, with too many performance data points, for humans to analyze in a timely manner. It would take more people than any business has at its disposal to detect causal relationships among so much data and identify the component that’s causing the problem. 3. Locate the general area of the needle Using a metal detector or an X-ray would narrow down the approximate location of the needle within a haystack. This is more efficient than looking through the entire pile, but it’s still a lot of work. We still have to manually sift through the hay — just not as much. Similarly, a handful of modern APM solutions get us a step closer. Discovery agents collect and correlate myriad metrics and performance data points from various distributed elements across the application environment. The data is consolidated and presented in a unified, integrated “single pane of glass” view. We now have a clear, comprehensive picture of the of the performance problem, but we haven’t diagnosed the The hard work is still left to us. We still have to pore through charts and graphs of data — just not as much. Modern APM displays the data within a more meaningful framework that helps us narrow down our focus. symptoms root cause. Now, imagine the difficulty when the needle is constantly on the move. That’s exactly what’s happening with today’s highly dynamic environments. Servers are perpetually coming and going, auto-scaling up and down as needs dictate. Container technology and microservices architecture are even more transient — moving from host to host — and generate even more metrics. With our applications now having so many moving parts, trying to keep up with them and their topology by dissecting a plethora of charts and graphs is literally beyond human capabilities. Dynamic applications have millions of dependencies that need to be analyzed, and they’re ever changing. No sooner do we think we have a handle on how everything is working together than the landscape changes and we’re back to square one. Present-day application environments change too fast and too often for even the most talented troubleshooters. Even a relatively simple containerized environment like this one, with only 142 hosts, has more dependencies than a human being can track without software assistance. 4. Extract the needle automatically Ultimately, the best way to find the needle (especially if it won’t sit still) is to use a powerful magnet to pull it right out of the haystack and deliver it into your hands. In our analogy, a next-generation solution would be such a “magnet.” It zeroes in on an application problem’s root cause automatically, rendering time-consuming manual analysis unnecessary — the same way a magnet obviates the need to sift through the pile of hay. artificial intelligence–powered APM Artificial intelligence (AI) enables computers to do what they do best: absorb huge amounts of information and make sense of it faster and more thoroughly than is humanly possible. It applies sophisticated algorithms and context-rich diagnostics to detect and correlate causal relationships among data with millions of dependencies in microseconds. In essence, AI-enhanced monitoring analyzes the problem the same way we humans would, only faster. Artificial intelligence is able to perform almost instantaneously the analytical “heavy lifting” that takes us humans hours or days. From theory to reality: Dynatrace APM Artificial intelligence has been defined as “being able to perceive its environment and apply cognitive functions such as learning and problem-solving.” has been built on artificial intelligence so that it is able to Dynatrace APM auto-discover all components of the full technology stack end to end from the customers’ web browsers all the way down to the host infrastructure — map out the entire IT in an interactive visual display environment identify the millions of dependencies among websites, applications, services, processes, hosts, , and cloud infrastructure networks learn how it all works together and what constitutes normal behavior automatically detect, analyze, and prioritize anomalies and performance problems actually recommend solutions to the root cause of those problems And AI allows Dynatrace to do all this at a speed, scale, and precision that no human could ever match. Dynatrace gets to “know” applications. Its proprietary Smartscape technology continuously auto-discovers and monitors every aspect of every application. Sophisticated algorithms learn normal application performance patterns and proactively flag anomalies. The AI auto-adjusts baselines dynamically in real time to avoid false positives caused by preset static alerting thresholds. Application performance problems are seldom isolated, one-time events, and they’re usually symptoms of a larger issue. Dynatrace looks at all other transactions that used the same components around the same time to see if they also experienced problems. Artificial intelligence correlates events throughout the full technology stack — client side, server side, infrastructure level — to identify analogous issues and detect causal relationships. AI diagnostics analyze the vast amount of data collected to pinpoint the exact component that’s causing the problem. In today’s increasingly complex and fluid IT environments, interpreting data points with millions of dependencies in order to determine underlying casual relationships is more than humans can master by themselves. Only artificial intelligence can take the colossal volume of data and translate it into actionable solutions before problems hit customers. See for yourself what Dynatrace can do. Dynatrace offers a — the complete full-blown version, not a stripped-down demo — that auto-discovers and visually maps out your entire technology stack within minutes. free trial

Finding the Needle in a Haystack

It's currently 14:30, February 28th, 2023, while I'm writing this update to the challenge. I'm going to make it short. We didn't make it. We actually didn't even get anywhere close to making it. It was a complete failure of a challenge. Okay, okay, that's properly a bit too gloomy. It was kind of expected that we wouldn't make any money after the month was over. But what we didn't receive in terms of monetary gains we got in (quoting the great (scam) entrepreneur Tai Lopez) knowledge. We also decided to make some adjustments to the challenge to keep it going, let's break it down. What Went Wrong First thing first, if you attempt to do this challenge, don't select the shortest month of the year to do a 1 Month 1 Dollar challenge. That's just shooting yourself in the foot. Additionally, don't pick the same month when you've planned holidays with your girlfriend, thinking you can just do a little bit of work. Especially, don't plan two holidays in the shortest month of the year for this challenge. I'm only half joking here, but seriously, we didn't give this challenge the focus and energy it required. We should have picked another month when we both could focus, at least 40 hours a week fully on the project. Next up, and this is the biggest one, we started outreach too late. We did get some early promising results by doing (personalized) outreach on LinkedIn. I think we might have reached out to around 50 people in total which resulted in ~8 getting back to us, and out of those ~8 people, 1 wanted to jump on a call with us, showing some interest in the product. The excitement quickly died down when we discovered that the person didn't really get our value proposition. Both good and bad, we have new information we can react to, and it helps point us in the right direction. However, we didn't get any new calls or follow-ups after this. It could be due to people just being busy but I would guess more that we didn't pursue this aggressively enough. What Did We Learn There is something about learning a new skill where it only really manifests itself in your mind when you try to actually do that skill. Most of this advice is already flooded on the internet, in start-up/bootstrapping forums, etc. But, basically, it can be boiled down to: Get a landing page out there quickly | Forces you to describe your product and makes it more concrete.


Write down your assumptions from the beginning | Continuously test and adjust them to new information.


Reach out to people even when you have a half-baked notion of your product. The first two points are pretty self-explanatory; if you're not sure what is meant by point 2, check out the original post. I do think the third point is the main learning from this challenge. You got to focus on what actually moves the needle and pushes you towards a profitable product, which means getting people to give you money. It's extremely comfortable to just build build build (especially as software engineers) while having wet dreams about all the monthly reoccurring revenue you're going to receive in the end. But that is, on average, not really a productive strategy even though it might feel like it. Sure, all your assumptions could be spot on and your big-bang release is going to be a raving success. Most are just not. So, speak to more people, look up people in relevant positions/groups on LinkedIn, find people following your competitors on Twitter, scour those Facebook groups, and write to people. Also, make sure to read The Mom Test. A Blank Piece of Paper Was it all bad and with no successful experiences? Not at all, one process that really helped us kick this off was the habit of continuously writing down ideas each day. There is something strange about the blank page effect; it can stare about at you for hours on end, almost paralyzing your ability to get started. Should I start with X? Should I include Y? But what about that incredibly important Z? It's seriously frustrating, and it was something that both Rasmus and I were feeling a bit anxious about before starting the project. For the past ~2 months, we have been meeting up once a week to discuss ideas, problems, businesses, and everything under the sun related to bootstrapping companies. I myself had been trying to (and somewhat succeeding) write down 10 ideas a day, and you quickly come to realize: ideas are not that hard to get. It's definitely a muscle that can be trained with consistency just like, well, pretty much anything. Most of that comes out as dog shit, like my brilliant idea of uber but for walking dogs - list where you want to go, and a dog will walk there with you, not exactly a Zero to One idea. It did give us a list of 200+ ideas to start from, which means, 200+ ideas that can be combined, modified, thrown away, or lead you down new paths to even better ideas. The tiniest bit of exploration sparked new ideas which led us to ask new questions that we hadn't considered before. You do see this a lot on forums like indiehackers where people, on a quite consistent basis, will be asking how people generate ideas. And every time, you will see the same (more or less) generic advice: solve your own problems
look for problems at work/with clients or what issues are your friends having These never worked well for me, mainly because I forgot to actually think about these things while doing my work. So, it felt like nothing was actually occurring to me, and I was left with no viable product ideas, and therefore, didn't really build anything. Making a habit out of writing down 10 ideas a day did work, however, so if you're struggling with this give it a try. You'll soon start thinking about potential products consistently. Change of Direction Is it over? No, but we're making some adjustments. It will no longer be a 1 Month 1 Dollar challenge but instead: 1 Year 1 Noodle. This is basically just to say that the challenge will continue in the sense that we will keep trying to get our hands on that sweet magical internet money. And then post an update once in a while. We'll continue working on the product for the foreseeable future until we either get some traction or kill it; it's definitely too early to kill it. If you want to check it out, it can be found here databayz. Outside of the challenge, I have also been working on another project to help do customer discovery on Reddit: This Week On Reddit. The process for this is going to be roughly the same as described above, outreach outreach outreach. But more on that in a later post. It's currently 14:30, February 28th, 2023, while I'm writing this update to the challenge . I'm going to make it short. We didn't make it. We actually didn't even get anywhere close to making it. It was a complete failure of a challenge. challenge Okay, okay, that's properly a bit too gloomy. It was kind of expected that we wouldn't make any money after the month was over. But what we didn't receive in terms of monetary gains we got in (quoting the great (scam) entrepreneur Tai Lopez) knowledge . We also decided to make some adjustments to the challenge to keep it going, let's break it down. knowledge knowledge What Went Wrong First thing first, if you attempt to do this challenge, don't select the shortest month of the year to do a 1 Month 1 Dollar challenge. That's just shooting yourself in the foot. Additionally, don't pick the same month when you've planned holidays with your girlfriend, thinking you can just do a little bit of work. Especially, don't plan two holidays in the shortest month of the year for this challenge. two I'm only half joking here, but seriously, we didn't give this challenge the focus and energy it required. We should have picked another month when we both could focus, at least 40 hours a week fully on the project. Next up, and this is the biggest one, we started outreach too late. We did get some early promising results by doing (personalized) outreach on LinkedIn. I think we might have reached out to around 50 people in total which resulted in ~8 getting back to us, and out of those ~8 people, 1 wanted to jump on a call with us, showing some interest in the product. The excitement quickly died down when we discovered that the person didn't really get our value proposition. Both good and bad, we have new information we can react to, and it helps point us in the right direction. However, we didn't get any new calls or follow-ups after this. It could be due to people just being busy but I would guess more that we didn't pursue this aggressively enough. What Did We Learn There is something about learning a new skill where it only really manifests itself in your mind when you try to actually do that skill. Most of this advice is already flooded on the internet, in start-up/bootstrapping forums, etc. But, basically, it can be boiled down to: Get a landing page out there quickly | Forces you to describe your product and makes it more concrete. Write down your assumptions from the beginning | Continuously test and adjust them to new information. Reach out to people even when you have a half-baked notion of your product. Get a landing page out there quickly | Forces you to describe your product and makes it more concrete. Get a landing page out there quickly | Forces you to describe your product and makes it more concrete. Write down your assumptions from the beginning | Continuously test and adjust them to new information. Write down your assumptions from the beginning | Continuously test and adjust them to new information. Reach out to people even when you have a half-baked notion of your product. Reach out to people even when you have a half-baked notion of your product. The first two points are pretty self-explanatory; if you're not sure what is meant by point 2, check out the original post . I do think the third point is the main learning from this challenge. You got to focus on what actually moves the needle and pushes you towards a profitable product, which means getting people to give you money. original post It's extremely comfortable to just build build build (especially as software engineers) while having wet dreams about all the monthly reoccurring revenue you're going to receive in the end. But that is, on average, not really a productive strategy even though it might feel like it. Sure, all your assumptions could be spot on and your big-bang release is going to be a raving success. Most are just not. So, speak to more people, look up people in relevant positions/groups on LinkedIn, find people following your competitors on Twitter, scour those Facebook groups, and write to people. Also, make sure to read The Mom Test . The Mom Test A Blank Piece of Paper Was it all bad and with no successful experiences? Not at all, one process that really helped us kick this off was the habit of continuously writing down ideas each day. There is something strange about the blank page effect; it can stare about at you for hours on end, almost paralyzing your ability to get started. Should I start with X? Should I include Y? But what about that incredibly important Z? It's seriously frustrating, and it was something that both Rasmus and I were feeling a bit anxious about before starting the project. For the past ~2 months, we have been meeting up once a week to discuss ideas, problems, businesses, and everything under the sun related to bootstrapping companies. I myself had been trying to (and somewhat succeeding) write down 10 ideas a day, and you quickly come to realize: ideas are not that hard to get. It's definitely a muscle that can be trained with consistency just like, well, pretty much anything. Most of that comes out as dog shit, like my brilliant idea of uber but for walking dogs - list where you want to go, and a dog will walk there with you , not exactly a Zero to One idea. uber but for walking dogs - list where you want to go, and a dog will walk there with you It did give us a list of 200+ ideas to start from, which means, 200+ ideas that can be combined, modified, thrown away, or lead you down new paths to even better ideas. The tiniest bit of exploration sparked new ideas which led us to ask new questions that we hadn't considered before. You do see this a lot on forums like indiehackers where people, on a quite consistent basis, will be asking how people generate ideas. And every time, you will see the same (more or less) generic advice: indiehackers solve your own problems look for problems at work/with clients or what issues are your friends having solve your own problems look for problems at work/with clients or what issues are your friends having These never worked well for me, mainly because I forgot to actually think about these things while doing my work. So, it felt like nothing was actually occurring to me, and I was left with no viable product ideas, and therefore, didn't really build anything. Making a habit out of writing down 10 ideas a day did work, however, so if you're struggling with this give it a try. You'll soon start thinking about potential products consistently. Change of Direction Is it over? No, but we're making some adjustments. It will no longer be a 1 Month 1 Dollar challenge but instead: 1 Year 1 Noodle . Year 1 Noodle This is basically just to say that the challenge will continue in the sense that we will keep trying to get our hands on that sweet magical internet money. And then post an update once in a while. We'll continue working on the product for the foreseeable future until we either get some traction or kill it; it's definitely too early to kill it. If you want to check it out, it can be found here databayz . databayz Outside of the challenge, I have also been working on another project to help do customer discovery on Reddit: This Week On Reddit . The process for this is going to be roughly the same as described above, outreach outreach outreach. But more on that in a later post. This Week On Reddit

One Month One Dollar - Part 2: What Went Wrong

Crypto Regulation in 2024: 5 Key Updates You Need to Know

ক্রিপ্টো রেগুলেশন 2024: 5 মূল আপডেট আপনার জানা দরকার

Krypto-Regulierung 2024: 5 wichtige Updates, die Sie kennen müssen

Regulación criptográfica 2024: 5 actualizaciones clave que necesita saber

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Businesses today face the challenges of external threats, but internal threats are not left out either. An organization can suffer from dangers within; it could be through devious goals or carelessness. Insider threats can cause noticeable damage to the operation, finances, and reputation of a company. A Cybersecurity Insiders report reveals that 74% of companies are at least moderately vulnerable to insider threats. This piece analyzes practical steps to protect your business against these inward threats safeguarding an organization's security position and strength. Internal Threats Awareness Businesses need to be highly concerned about insider threats, as they exploit the security from within. Understanding insider threats is important as there is no one-size-fits-all definition of "insider threat," but rather several different forms in which it can manifest. Types of Insider Threats - Malicious Insiders: This is a threat that is caused by dishonest insiders who try to harm the organization on purpose by leaking confidential information, stealing data, infiltrating systems for their benefit, or causing extensive damage to the company. - Negligent Insiders: Careless insiders inadvertently harm as a subset of this type causes damage due to being unaware and faulty. They might manage sensitive data poorly, become prey to phishing scams, or simply fail to follow security procedures leading to unintended data breaches. - Compromised Insiders: These are valuable (and exploitable) employees whose credentials have been disclosed by predators on the web. Since the threat actors have already got their access to do potential damage, there is no need for a direct connection! Understanding Motives and Triggers Behind Insider Threats - Financial Gain: Your employees may even be tempted to sell sensitive information out of financial gains and other similar fraudulent activities. - Retaliation: Disgruntled employees who are unhappy in their employment, or perceive themselves as being treated unfairly might seek to retaliate. - Ideological Beliefs: An actor launches an insider attack as a result of ideological beliefs (e.g., to affect company X in order that it endorse position Y). - Lack of Awareness: Insiders who just do not know are a different matter, needless breaches caused simply by lack of awareness and training. - Outside Threat: Cyber criminals can blackmail or force employees to collude with them in their plans. Employees can be blackmailed or forced to assist cyber attackers with their malicious activities. Identifying Potential Insider Threats You need to be able to identify what these insider threats look like; this way, you can take the necessary steps to prevent them within your business. Here is how to spot the signs and make it right before it's too late. Insider threat-susceptible employees have various behavioral changes that raise flags. Look out for recurring arguments with co-workers, increased stress, and immediate financial issues accompanied by mysterious loyalty shifts. These behaviors might point to someone likely to be a threat due to external influences or personal problems. There are indications that the work may be facing a new threat. If you detect anything which may include logging in at odd hours of the day or using authorized devices as needed to access critical data, such irregular trends can help locate trouble before it even becomes a hurdle. Observation is key in the identification of insider threats. Using watchdog tools monitors the movement of files, emails, and odd activities. Maintaining employee confidentiality is key, but as long as monitoring practices are fair and transparent they can end up serving both the employees' mutual interests as well as those of the company. Operational data analytics and machine learning are advanced technologies that can search through a mass depository of data, allowing for the identification of anomalous activities above what any number of human observers could ever locate. Regularly training the models on new data is likely to make them more effective at identifying potential risks. Implementing Effective Security Policies To ensure the protection of sensitive data and continuity in business, establishing an effective security policy is essential. You can implement these policies efficiently through: 1. Creating a Sophisticated Insider Threat Detection Program Develop a comprehensive insider threat detection program. This has to do with monitoring the activities of employees by using advanced analytics to identify irregularities and set up alarms for suspicious activities. Being proactive will recognize threats before they cause danger. 2. Establishing Clear Policies and Procedures for Handling Sensitive Data It is important to have clear policies and methods for managing sensitive information. Specify what makes a piece of information sensitive and make rules for its entry, storage, and transfer. Ensure all employees understand these rules and the importance of complying with them. 3. The Importance of Background Checks and Vetting Processes Carrying out thorough checks and examination processes is important when it comes to cybersecurity for small businesses and big organizations too. Before hiring, perform a thorough background check, and verify the integrity and reliability of potential employees. Review these checks regularly to ensure continuous loyalty. 4. Regularly Updating and Enforcing Security Protocols Safety measures should be flexible, not static. Update your safety measures often to cater to new threats and vulnerabilities. A periodic training session should be conducted to keep employees updated on the latest security practices and ensure compliance with standard procedures. Employee Education and Training Consistent cybersecurity awareness training sessions keep employees updated on new threats and best practices to avoid them. These sessions should be very engaging and updated frequently to address new security challenges. Employees must understand why cybersecurity and data protection are vital. By highlighting the potential risks and impacts of data breaches, you can foster a sense of responsibility and vigilance among your staff. Encourage a sense of responsibility and caution among your employees by making employees understand the importance of data protection and cyber security, and also enlighten them on the consequences that come with cyber threats. Establishing a culture of security involves incorporating cybersecurity practices into day-to-day routine. There should be open discussions with employees about security and good practices, ensuring that everyone from the top to entry-level employees stays committed to maintaining a secure workspace. Technological Solutions to Mitigate Insider Threats Leveraging these advanced cybersecurity tools and software can help protect your business from cyber threats. 1. Utilizing Advanced Cybersecurity Tools and Software For identifying and getting rid of insider threats, advanced cybersecurity tools are integral to providing comprehensive protection by observing, identifying, and responding to questionable activities within your network. 2. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) IDS monitors network traffic for irregular activities and keeps you alert to potential insider threats. By finding anomalies, IDS facilitates fast response to prevent damage. 3. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Solutions DLP solutions protect sensitive information from being accessed or shared inappropriately. It monitors data transfers and ensures that critical information remains secure, reducing the risk of insider threats. 4. User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) User and Entity Behavior Analytics tools examine the behavior of users and entities within your network. By establishing baseline behavior patterns, UEBA can detect deviations from normal behaviors that may indicate insider threats; this proactive approach allows you to address issues before they escalate. Response and Recovery Strategies Here’s a simple guide to developing effective response and recovery strategies for insider threats. 1. Developing an Incident Response Plan Creating a customized incident response plan specific to insider threats is essential. This plan should outline clear steps and assign roles to team members to ensure a swift and organized response. 2. Immediate Steps After Identifying an Insider Threat After detecting an insider threat, act fast; isolate affected systems, change access credentials, and begin an internal investigation. Quick action can prevent further damage and loss. 3. Communicating With Affected Parties In this situation, effective communication is very important. Bring it to the attention of both customers and employees and be transparent about the incident immediately. Addressing the issue without avoidance can help manage public relations and maintain trust. 4. Post-Incident Analysis and Future Defense After finding a solution to the incident, carry out a post-incident analysis to identify the root cause and security vulnerabilities. Use these insights to strengthen your defenses and update your incident response plan to protect your business in the future. Safeguarding Your Business From Insider Threats To ensure the security of your business from insider threats you need a proactive approach that should also be an adequate mix of tough policies, advanced technologies, and constant employee treason. Insight into the various forms of insider threats, combined with robustly executed security and a vigilant culture can significantly mitigate those risks. Be vigilant, prioritize security, and continually update your approaches to ensure that your business is well-protected inside as well as outside. Feature image source Businesses today face the challenges of external threats, but internal threats are not left out either. An organization can suffer from dangers within; it could be through devious goals or carelessness. Insider threats can cause noticeable damage to the operation, finances, and reputation of a company. A Cybersecurity Insiders report reveals that 74% of companies are at least moderately vulnerable to insider threats. This piece analyzes practical steps to protect your business against these inward threats safeguarding an organization's security position and strength. 74% of companies Internal Threats Awareness Businesses need to be highly concerned about insider threats, as they exploit the security from within. Understanding insider threats is important as there is no one-size-fits-all definition of "insider threat," but rather several different forms in which it can manifest. Types of Insider Threats - Malicious Insiders : This is a threat that is caused by dishonest insiders who try to harm the organization on purpose by leaking confidential information, stealing data, infiltrating systems for their benefit, or causing extensive damage to the company. - Malicious Insiders - Negligent Insiders : Careless insiders inadvertently harm as a subset of this type causes damage due to being unaware and faulty. They might manage sensitive data poorly, become prey to phishing scams, or simply fail to follow security procedures leading to unintended data breaches. - Negligent Insiders - Compromised Insiders : These are valuable (and exploitable) employees whose credentials have been disclosed by predators on the web. Since the threat actors have already got their access to do potential damage, there is no need for a direct connection! - Compromised Insiders Understanding Motives and Triggers Behind Insider Threats - Financial Gain : Your employees may even be tempted to sell sensitive information out of financial gains and other similar fraudulent activities. - Financial Gain - Retaliation: Disgruntled employees who are unhappy in their employment, or perceive themselves as being treated unfairly might seek to retaliate. - Retaliation: - Ideological Beliefs : An actor launches an insider attack as a result of ideological beliefs (e.g., to affect company X in order that it endorse position Y). - Ideological Beliefs - Lack of Awareness: Insiders who just do not know are a different matter, needless breaches caused simply by lack of awareness and training. - Lack of Awareness: - Outside Threat : Cyber criminals can blackmail or force employees to collude with them in their plans. Employees can be blackmailed or forced to assist cyber attackers with their malicious activities. - Outside Threat Identifying Potential Insider Threats Identifying Potential Insider Threats You need to be able to identify what these insider threats look like; this way, you can take the necessary steps to prevent them within your business. Here is how to spot the signs and make it right before it's too late. Insider threat-susceptible employees have various behavioral changes that raise flags. Look out for recurring arguments with co-workers, increased stress, and immediate financial issues accompanied by mysterious loyalty shifts. These behaviors might point to someone likely to be a threat due to external influences or personal problems. There are indications that the work may be facing a new threat. If you detect anything which may include logging in at odd hours of the day or using authorized devices as needed to access critical data, such irregular trends can help locate trouble before it even becomes a hurdle. Observation is key in the identification of insider threats. Using watchdog tools monitors the movement of files, emails, and odd activities. Maintaining employee confidentiality is key, but as long as monitoring practices are fair and transparent they can end up serving both the employees' mutual interests as well as those of the company. Operational data analytics and machine learning are advanced technologies that can search through a mass depository of data, allowing for the identification of anomalous activities above what any number of human observers could ever locate. Regularly training the models on new data is likely to make them more effective at identifying potential risks. Implementing Effective Security Policies To ensure the protection of sensitive data and continuity in business, establishing an effective security policy is essential. You can implement these policies efficiently through: 1. Creating a Sophisticated Insider Threat Detection Program Develop a comprehensive insider threat detection program. This has to do with monitoring the activities of employees by using advanced analytics to identify irregularities and set up alarms for suspicious activities. Being proactive will recognize threats before they cause danger. 2. Establishing Clear Policies and Procedures for Handling Sensitive Data It is important to have clear policies and methods for managing sensitive information. Specify what makes a piece of information sensitive and make rules for its entry, storage, and transfer. Ensure all employees understand these rules and the importance of complying with them. 3. The Importance of Background Checks and Vetting Processes Carrying out thorough checks and examination processes is important when it comes to cybersecurity for small businesses and big organizations too. Before hiring, perform a thorough background check, and verify the integrity and reliability of potential employees. Review these checks regularly to ensure continuous loyalty. cybersecurity for small businesses 4. Regularly Updating and Enforcing Security Protocols Safety measures should be flexible, not static. Update your safety measures often to cater to new threats and vulnerabilities. A periodic training session should be conducted to keep employees updated on the latest security practices and ensure compliance with standard procedures. Employee Education and Training Consistent cybersecurity awareness training sessions keep employees updated on new threats and best practices to avoid them. These sessions should be very engaging and updated frequently to address new security challenges. Employees must understand why cybersecurity and data protection are vital. By highlighting the potential risks and impacts of data breaches, you can foster a sense of responsibility and vigilance among your staff. Encourage a sense of responsibility and caution among your employees by making employees understand the importance of data protection and cyber security, and also enlighten them on the consequences that come with cyber threats. Establishing a culture of security involves incorporating cybersecurity practices into day-to-day routine. There should be open discussions with employees about security and good practices, ensuring that everyone from the top to entry-level employees stays committed to maintaining a secure workspace. Technological Solutions to Mitigate Insider Threats Leveraging these advanced cybersecurity tools and software can help protect your business from cyber threats. 1. Utilizing Advanced Cybersecurity Tools and Software For identifying and getting rid of insider threats, advanced cybersecurity tools are integral to providing comprehensive protection by observing, identifying, and responding to questionable activities within your network. 2. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) IDS monitors network traffic for irregular activities and keeps you alert to potential insider threats. By finding anomalies, IDS facilitates fast response to prevent damage. 3. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Solutions DLP solutions protect sensitive information from being accessed or shared inappropriately. It monitors data transfers and ensures that critical information remains secure, reducing the risk of insider threats. 4. User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) User and Entity Behavior Analytics tools examine the behavior of users and entities within your network. By establishing baseline behavior patterns, UEBA can detect deviations from normal behaviors that may indicate insider threats; this proactive approach allows you to address issues before they escalate. Response and Recovery Strategies Here’s a simple guide to developing effective response and recovery strategies for insider threats. 1. Developing an Incident Response Plan Creating a customized incident response plan specific to insider threats is essential. This plan should outline clear steps and assign roles to team members to ensure a swift and organized response. 2. Immediate Steps After Identifying an Insider Threat After detecting an insider threat, act fast; isolate affected systems, change access credentials, and begin an internal investigation. Quick action can prevent further damage and loss. 3. Communicating With Affected Parties In this situation, effective communication is very important. Bring it to the attention of both customers and employees and be transparent about the incident immediately. Addressing the issue without avoidance can help manage public relations and maintain trust. 4. Post-Incident Analysis and Future Defense After finding a solution to the incident, carry out a post-incident analysis to identify the root cause and security vulnerabilities. Use these insights to strengthen your defenses and update your incident response plan to protect your business in the future. Safeguarding Your Business From Insider Threats To ensure the security of your business from insider threats you need a proactive approach that should also be an adequate mix of tough policies, advanced technologies, and constant employee treason. Insight into the various forms of insider threats, combined with robustly executed security and a vigilant culture can significantly mitigate those risks. Be vigilant, prioritize security, and continually update your approaches to ensure that your business is well-protected inside as well as outside. Feature image source Feature image source source

How to Protect Your Business From Insider Threats

So let’s start! Tell us a bit about yourself. For example, name, profession, and personal interests. Hi👋, I am Darshani Persadh. I don’t know… can I call myself a ‘Quantum Engineer’ now?! I’m the Technical co-founder at a tech startup called DARJYO. Though I qualified as a Software Engineer in ‘05, I still feel like I don’t know what I am doing in this industry - let’s just say the imposter syndrome is strong with this one. My personal interests include: Procaffeinating (n). The tendency to not start anything until I’ve had coffee Watching ARB videos! My relationship with my sister includes the exchange of cat & dog videos, so you & I both know those algorithmic recommendations  of “educational“ reels are coming to a feed near me. 60-second Shorts & Reels created by the Tech Gods had me in mind coz’ I have the attention span of a goldfish; I can go from ‘not finish painting the owl on my wall’ to ‘forget replying to a message coz I read it from the notification tray’. Interesting! What was your latest HackerNoon Top story about? My latest HackerNoon opus was titled Bits to Qubits: Decoding my dive into the IBM Quantum Challenge 2024 Big ups to HackerNoon for keeping the cat videos flowing my side. Do you usually write on similar topics? If not, what do you usually write about? Do I stick to the Quantum lane? 😐ehhhhhh! Mostly, yeah! I am fascinated by the bridge between bleeding-edge tech and real-world applications. Quantum computing, AI, and the ever-shifting Blockchain landscape are my usual haunts. But sometimes, I like to veer off-course and chat about the startup rollercoaster - the highs, the lows, and my questionable life choices. Great! What is your usual writing routine like (if you have one?) Quirky as my viewing preferences are, I’m afraid inspiration strikes - often during those aforementioned blooper sessions. But I am disciplined, so when it does, I lock myself away in a quiet abyss (early mornings or late nights work best). Coffee is my constant companion on these intellectual journeys I tend to reflect on. Being a writer in tech can be a challenge. It’s not often our main role, but an addition to another one. What is the biggest challenge you have when it comes to writing? Oh forget writing, when I speak to normal people, I have to hear “I don’t understand what she just said.“ So, that’s a balancing act on its own. I think the biggest hurdle when engaging is finding that sweet spot between brain-freezing technical details and making them digestible for everyone. Imagine explaining rocket science to a particularly curious squirrel - that’s a Chip & Dale struggle, but hey, it’s a challenge that keeps things interesting. What is the next thing you hope to achieve in your career? There is truly so much to do and discover, & I don’t believe we were given enough time to live on earth and achieve them all. I am pushing quantum computing past the event horizon of theoretical possibilities! I would love to develop a groundbreaking product that uses this mind-bending tech to solve real-world problems in a way no one’s seen before. Bonus points for the Educator in me if I get to mentor the next gen of tech-blazers - while I leave a legacy of footprints along the way. Wow, that’s admirable. Now, something more casual: What is your guilty pleasure of choice? Guilty Pleasure? Do I have to tell you? Fine, besides hip-hop music & eating really good, two things really. Firstly, my dad made me watch The Deer Hunter when I was just 4 (something ‘bout Catch22 life lessons), and the impact of this film deeply remained with me, so I’ve found that I’d much rather watch War, Army, Navy, Marine, Airforce, Military movies. I occasionally indulge in the dystopian Netflix offerings, think American Gods - even better, Altered Carbon. I can disappear into those fictional worlds faster than you can say “needlecast.“ Secondly, as much as I love procrastinating with a good cup of coffee, there’s just magic in a perfectly brewed spicy chai on a rainy day. Do you have a non-tech-related hobby? If yes, what is it? My life beyond binary code; this is contradictory as it gets coz being in tech, I hate my phone with a passion! I’m quite simple. I love deep conversations after trekking up a mountain coz’ peaking is a breath of fresh air. There’s a certain Zen-like calmness that comes from being surrounded by nature, away from the relentless ping of notifications. Again, thanks to my Dad, I have #AfricanWanderlust, so exploring the stunning landscapes around Africa is my go-to travel activity - good for the body and soul. What can the HackerNoon community expect to read from you next? What… You want more of my sparkling Dev experiences? I could talk about insights from case studies I’m working on - or just me, VS Code, and those never-ending side projects I have no idea how I started, but still look like fun. All things tech-related I guess? I mean I speak at least 5 languages; English, Sass, Sarcasm, Truth, and Love I got it from my Mamma. And while the sass flows freely in my brain as I weave it into my writing that’s a whole new experiment and one I wasn’t sure HackerNoon would appreciate. But hey if you can handle my Quantum ramblings, you can handle a little bit of sass, right? If not, it’s ok, coz my sister likes this Beta version of me, anyway! What’s your opinion on HackerNoon as a platform for writers? HackerNoon is a haven for tech enthusiasts and writers alike. I’ve been consuming knowledge from here a lot longer than I’ve been writing. The community is vibrant, the content is top-notch, and the freedom to explore niche topics is like finding a unicorn in the server room. A valuable resource for both writers and readers, that’s for sure. Thanks for taking time to join our “Meet the Writer” series. It was a pleasure. Do you have any closing words? Thanks, I’m having a blast. To all the readers and aspiring writers out here, never stop learning, never stop creating. Tech is an ever-evolving, playground and there’s always something new to learn, so keep exploring & pushing boundaries … coz’ curiosity never did kill that cat😜 So let’s start! Tell us a bit about yourself. For example, name, profession, and personal interests. Hi👋, I am Darshani Persadh. I don’t know… can I call myself a ‘Quantum Engineer’ now?! I’m the Technical co-founder at a tech startup called DARJYO. Though I qualified as a Software Engineer in ‘05, I still feel like I don’t know what I am doing in this industry - let’s just say the imposter syndrome is strong with this one. My personal interests include: Procaffeinating (n). The tendency to not start anything until I’ve had coffee Procaffeinating (n). The tendency to not start anything until I’ve had coffee Watching ARB videos! My relationship with my sister includes the exchange of cat & dog videos, so you & I both know those algorithmic recommendations  of “educational“ reels are coming to a feed near me. Watching ARB videos! 60-second Shorts & Reels created by the Tech Gods had me in mind coz’ I have the attention span of a goldfish; I can go from ‘not finish painting the owl on my wall’ to ‘forget replying to a message coz I read it from the notification tray’. 60-second Interesting! What was your latest HackerNoon Top story about? My latest HackerNoon opus was titled Bits to Qubits: Decoding my dive into the IBM Quantum Challenge 2024 Bits to Qubits: Decoding my dive into the IBM Quantum Challenge 2024 Bits to Qubits: Decoding my dive into the IBM Quantum Challenge 2024 Big ups to HackerNoon for keeping the cat videos flowing my side. Do you usually write on similar topics? If not, what do you usually write about? Do I stick to the Quantum lane? 😐ehhhhhh! Mostly, yeah! I am fascinated by the bridge between bleeding-edge tech and real-world applications. Quantum computing, AI, and the ever-shifting Blockchain landscape are my usual haunts. But sometimes, I like to veer off-course and chat about the startup rollercoaster - the highs, the lows, and my questionable life choices. Great! What is your usual writing routine like (if you have one?) Quirky as my viewing preferences are, I’m afraid inspiration strikes - often during those aforementioned blooper sessions. But I am disciplined, so when it does, I lock myself away in a quiet abyss (early mornings or late nights work best). Coffee is my constant companion on these intellectual journeys I tend to reflect on. Being a writer in tech can be a challenge. It’s not often our main role, but an addition to another one. What is the biggest challenge you have when it comes to writing? Oh forget writing, when I speak to normal people, I have to hear “I don’t understand what she just said.“ speak So, that’s a balancing act on its own. I think the biggest hurdle when engaging is finding that sweet spot between brain-freezing technical details and making them digestible for everyone. Imagine explaining rocket science to a particularly curious squirrel - that’s a Chip & Dale struggle, but hey, it’s a challenge that keeps things interesting. and What is the next thing you hope to achieve in your career? There is truly so much to do and discover, & I don’t believe we were given enough time to live on earth and achieve them all. I am pushing quantum computing past the event horizon of theoretical possibilities! I would love to develop a groundbreaking product that uses this mind-bending tech to solve real-world problems in a way no one’s seen before. Bonus points for the Educator in me if I get to mentor the next gen of tech-blazers - while I leave a legacy of footprints along the way. Wow, that’s admirable. Now, something more casual: What is your guilty pleasure of choice? Guilty Pleasure? Do I have to tell you? Fine, besides hip-hop music & eating really good, two things really. Firstly, my dad made me watch The Deer Hunter when I was just 4 (something ‘bout Catch22 life lessons), and the impact of this film deeply remained with me, so I’ve found that I’d much rather watch War, Army, Navy, Marine, Airforce, Military movies. I occasionally indulge in the dystopian Netflix offerings, think American Gods - even better, Altered Carbon . The Deer Hunter The Deer Hunter (something ‘bout Catch22 life lessons), War, Army, Navy, Marine, Airforce, Military American Gods American Gods Altered Carbon Altered Carbon I can disappear into those fictional worlds faster than you can say “needlecast.“ Secondly, as much as I love procrastinating with a good cup of coffee, there’s just magic in a perfectly brewed spicy chai on a rainy day. Do you have a non-tech-related hobby? If yes, what is it? My life beyond binary code; this is contradictory as it gets coz being in tech, I hate my phone with a passion! this is contradictory as it gets coz being in tech, I hate my phone with a passion! I’m quite simple. I love deep conversations after trekking up a mountain coz’ peaking is a breath of fresh air. There’s a certain Zen-like calmness that comes from being surrounded by nature, away from the relentless ping of notifications. Again, thanks to my Dad, I have #AfricanWanderlust , so exploring the stunning landscapes around Africa is my go-to travel activity - good for the body and soul. #AfricanWanderlust What can the HackerNoon community expect to read from you next? What… You want more of my sparkling Dev experiences? I could talk about insights from case studies I’m working on - or just me, VS Code, and those never-ending side projects I have no idea how I started, but still look like fun. All things tech-related I guess? I mean I speak at least 5 languages; English, Sass, Sarcasm, Truth, and Love I got it from my Mamma. I got it from my Mamma. And while the sass flows freely in my brain as I weave it into my writing that’s a whole new experiment and one I wasn’t sure HackerNoon would appreciate. that’s a whole new experiment But hey if you can handle my Quantum ramblings, you can handle a little bit of sass, right? If not, it’s ok, coz my sister likes this Beta version of me, anyway! What’s your opinion on HackerNoon as a platform for writers? HackerNoon is a haven for tech enthusiasts and writers alike. I’ve been consuming knowledge from here a lot longer than I’ve been writing. The community is vibrant, the content is top-notch, and the freedom to explore niche topics is like finding a unicorn in the server room. A valuable resource for both writers and readers, that’s for sure. Thanks for taking time to join our “ Meet the Writer ” series. It was a pleasure. Do you have any closing words? Meet the Writer Thanks, I’m having a blast. To all the readers and aspiring writers out here, never stop learning, never stop creating. Tech is an ever-evolving, playground and there’s always something new to learn, so keep exploring & pushing boundaries … coz’ curiosity never did kill that cat😜

Meet the Writer: HackerNoon's Contributor Darshani Persadh, Quantum Engineer

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Everyone has issues with some member of their family at some point in their lives. It is not an ideal situation for anyone, and it takes more away from you than the situation itself is worth. Some of us have the foresight to see the issue and are able to address them before it gets worse. Then there are others who let past situations define their future with their loved ones and it ends in regret and sadness. This Father’s Day has come and gone, and this is the first Father’s Day I have had without a father. It’s also the first Father’s Day that I have thought of others who do not have a father and the struggles that they have. There are a lot of people in the world who are missing out on the knowledge and wisdom passed down from father to son. This article is from me to you as a gift for this year’s Father’s Day. I will share with you what I was taught as a child and how it helped shape me into the man I am today. “You only have one shot, and you better make it count”. One of our family traditions is hunting. I am one of kids that went to grandma’s house with the living room full of deer head trophies. I am sure there are a lot of you out there that have the same family decorations. Most of them belonged to my grandfather. He was a WWI veteran and an expert marksman. Every time he picked up a firearm, I would stop whatever I was doing and watch in amazement. I was a kid and really didn’t know much about firearms, but I knew I wanted to be just like him. The day came that I got my “shot”. I was a teenager and was able to participate in hunting for the first time. My grandfather bought me a single shot 12 gauge to practice with and eventually hunt with. I just had to get my grandfather’s approval after proving I was going to be safe. This was also followed by going to a firearms course and getting a permit. This involved many days of target practice and black and blue shoulder pain. After finishing my class and getting my permit, my grandfather agreed to take me hunting with him in the morning. This was a big moment for me as a kid and as an adult now. I loved my grandfather and him inviting me to something was an amazing feeling. Morning came and my grandmother woke me up. I put on all my clothes and my boots. I went into the kitchen and my grandpa was sitting at the table dressed and ready. We sat for a few minutes, but he didn’t waste any time and we got ready to head out for our first hunt. We rode into the darkness of morning till we reached the tree stand. My grandfather wanted me to have his tree stand for my first hunt. His tree stand was considered to be the “Cadillac” to my family members. He watched me climb up the tree stand and get settled in. He gave me a Snickers bar if I got hungry and he gave me one bullet. I asked him if I needed more because one didn’t seem like enough. He replied, “You only need one bullet, and you better make it count”. Needless to say, I hunted for 4 years and never killed anything. I just wasn’t good at it and really didn’t like sitting in the woods when I could have been doing exciting things. The one bullet speech never left my mind. I used it later in my life when it came to jobs, life and opportunities. The jest of it is, if something great happens in your life, go for it and don’t look back. “You only have one shot, and you better make it count”. “Return it better than when you borrowed it”. I followed my grandpa everywhere he went. He owned a 91-acre farm that was passed down from the Great Depression. It was a small farm that consisted of cows, pigs, ducks, geese, rabbits and dogs. It kept him very busy, and he loved and lived the family farm. The day came that my grandpa let me work with him in his workshop. His workshop was full of all kind’s tools and retro memorabilia from the 40’s and on. He had an old metal fridge that was full of nuts and bolts and other items. He had a wood stove that would keep the place warm when the winters came. It was a sacred place to the family and being invited in was a blessing to anyone he asked. He was working on something that had broken and asked me to help. I was really excited and couldn’t wait to get started. I also did not have a clue what I was doing. He showed me all the tools and what was going to be needed to fix what was broken. I watched with amazement of every turn of a wrench and every move my grandpa would make. I also didn’t repeat any word he ever said in the shop. When we finished, he asked me to put back all the tools. He didn’t tell me where they go because he wanted me to become familiar with what tools look like and what they go with. As I placed a wrench on a shelf, he stopped me. He said, “Do you see how this wrench looks?”. I said yes, its dirty. He says, “Anytime you borrow something, return it better than when you borrowed it”. He then cleans the wrench and places it back on the shelf. He was never mean or upset when it came to lessons, and I was always wanting to learn more. Recently, a neighbor told me to borrow his zero-turn mower when it came to mowing my yard. He wanted to help me from roasting in the sun when it came time to mow. I own a lot and a half and have two children. An hour outside while my wife is watching kids can be a very long time for a person. Especially when one of them is Autistic. 😂 I took him up on his offer and mowed my yard in under 40 minutes. It made my life so much easier, and I was very thankful for him. Once I was done with the yard, I washed and dried the mower and returned it. My neighbor was shocked that I took the time to wash his mower. I replied that my grandfather taught me “Return it better than when you borrowed it”. I have never forgot this important lesson and always try to practice it when I can. When life brings you situations like this, always apply it and it will be returned to you in full. “Talk is cheap, whiskey costs money”. When I was a teenager, I was able to keep up with my grandpa. I was able to farm with him as well as walks, gardening, shooting and anything he wanted. Things were getting fun for me because he always saw me as an equal. Every once and a while, I would challenge him to a shooting contest with an old Coke can. Just like they did in the old John Wayne movies…without coke. He loved John Wayne films and anything cowboy. I placed the coke can on a post and walked away. I said you only get one shot to knock the can off the post and you win. We took a few paces back and got ready. I said I was going to win, and I was going to brag about it all day. He said, “Talk is cheap, whiskey costs money”. I didn’t know what that meant at the time. I was the first to shoot and missed. When it came to grandpas turn, it took one shot, and it was over. In life you are going to be faced with many decisions that will challenge you. Be ready to stand by your word and try your best. A man is only as good as his word. Even if you fail at trying, you at least have to show up and try. I hope that these brief memories help and guide you this Father’s Day. Know that you are loved and are needed and people like you. Always love your family through everything. Be the person that is there no matter what happens in life and pay attention to the lessons taught. You never know when your last lesson will be. All the best. Everyone has issues with some member of their family at some point in their lives. It is not an ideal situation for anyone, and it takes more away from you than the situation itself is worth. Some of us have the foresight to see the issue and are able to address them before it gets worse. Then there are others who let past situations define their future with their loved ones and it ends in regret and sadness. This Father’s Day has come and gone, and this is the first Father’s Day I have had without a father. It’s also the first Father’s Day that I have thought of others who do not have a father and the struggles that they have. There are a lot of people in the world who are missing out on the knowledge and wisdom passed down from father to son. This article is from me to you as a gift for this year’s Father’s Day. I will share with you what I was taught as a child and how it helped shape me into the man I am today. “You only have one shot, and you better make it count”. One of our family traditions is hunting. I am one of kids that went to grandma’s house with the living room full of deer head trophies. I am sure there are a lot of you out there that have the same family decorations. Most of them belonged to my grandfather. He was a WWI veteran and an expert marksman. Every time he picked up a firearm, I would stop whatever I was doing and watch in amazement. I was a kid and really didn’t know much about firearms, but I knew I wanted to be just like him. The day came that I got my “shot”. I was a teenager and was able to participate in hunting for the first time. My grandfather bought me a single shot 12 gauge to practice with and eventually hunt with. I just had to get my grandfather’s approval after proving I was going to be safe. This was also followed by going to a firearms course and getting a permit. This involved many days of target practice and black and blue shoulder pain. After finishing my class and getting my permit, my grandfather agreed to take me hunting with him in the morning. This was a big moment for me as a kid and as an adult now. I loved my grandfather and him inviting me to something was an amazing feeling. Morning came and my grandmother woke me up. I put on all my clothes and my boots. I went into the kitchen and my grandpa was sitting at the table dressed and ready. We sat for a few minutes, but he didn’t waste any time and we got ready to head out for our first hunt. We rode into the darkness of morning till we reached the tree stand. My grandfather wanted me to have his tree stand for my first hunt. His tree stand was considered to be the “Cadillac” to my family members. He watched me climb up the tree stand and get settled in. He gave me a Snickers bar if I got hungry and he gave me one bullet. I asked him if I needed more because one didn’t seem like enough. He replied, “You only need one bullet, and you better make it count”. Needless to say, I hunted for 4 years and never killed anything. I just wasn’t good at it and really didn’t like sitting in the woods when I could have been doing exciting things. The one bullet speech never left my mind. I used it later in my life when it came to jobs, life and opportunities. The jest of it is, if something great happens in your life, go for it and don’t look back. “You only have one shot, and you better make it count”. “Return it better than when you borrowed it”. I followed my grandpa everywhere he went. He owned a 91-acre farm that was passed down from the Great Depression. It was a small farm that consisted of cows, pigs, ducks, geese, rabbits and dogs. It kept him very busy, and he loved and lived the family farm. The day came that my grandpa let me work with him in his workshop. His workshop was full of all kind’s tools and retro memorabilia from the 40’s and on. He had an old metal fridge that was full of nuts and bolts and other items. He had a wood stove that would keep the place warm when the winters came. It was a sacred place to the family and being invited in was a blessing to anyone he asked. He was working on something that had broken and asked me to help. I was really excited and couldn’t wait to get started. I also did not have a clue what I was doing. He showed me all the tools and what was going to be needed to fix what was broken. I watched with amazement of every turn of a wrench and every move my grandpa would make. I also didn’t repeat any word he ever said in the shop. When we finished, he asked me to put back all the tools. He didn’t tell me where they go because he wanted me to become familiar with what tools look like and what they go with. As I placed a wrench on a shelf, he stopped me. He said, “Do you see how this wrench looks?”. I said yes, its dirty. He says, “Anytime you borrow something, return it better than when you borrowed it”. He then cleans the wrench and places it back on the shelf. He was never mean or upset when it came to lessons, and I was always wanting to learn more. Recently, a neighbor told me to borrow his zero-turn mower when it came to mowing my yard. He wanted to help me from roasting in the sun when it came time to mow. I own a lot and a half and have two children. An hour outside while my wife is watching kids can be a very long time for a person. Especially when one of them is Autistic. 😂 I took him up on his offer and mowed my yard in under 40 minutes. It made my life so much easier, and I was very thankful for him. Once I was done with the yard, I washed and dried the mower and returned it. My neighbor was shocked that I took the time to wash his mower. I replied that my grandfather taught me “Return it better than when you borrowed it”. I have never forgot this important lesson and always try to practice it when I can. When life brings you situations like this, always apply it and it will be returned to you in full. “Talk is cheap, whiskey costs money”. When I was a teenager, I was able to keep up with my grandpa. I was able to farm with him as well as walks, gardening, shooting and anything he wanted. Things were getting fun for me because he always saw me as an equal. Every once and a while, I would challenge him to a shooting contest with an old Coke can. Just like they did in the old John Wayne movies…without coke. He loved John Wayne films and anything cowboy. I placed the coke can on a post and walked away. I said you only get one shot to knock the can off the post and you win. We took a few paces back and got ready. I said I was going to win, and I was going to brag about it all day. He said, “Talk is cheap, whiskey costs money”. I didn’t know what that meant at the time. I was the first to shoot and missed. When it came to grandpas turn, it took one shot, and it was over. In life you are going to be faced with many decisions that will challenge you. Be ready to stand by your word and try your best. A man is only as good as his word. Even if you fail at trying, you at least have to show up and try. I hope that these brief memories help and guide you this Father’s Day. Know that you are loved and are needed and people like you. Always love your family through everything. Be the person that is there no matter what happens in life and pay attention to the lessons taught. You never know when your last lesson will be. All the best.

Dear Dad.

The Hidden Hand: Is Paper Bitcoin Suppressing BTC Prices?

লুকানো হাত: কাগজের বিটকয়েন কি বিটিসি দামকে দমন করছে?

Die verborgene Hand: Drückt Papier-Bitcoin den BTC-Preis?

La mano oculta: ¿El Bitcoin de papel está suprimiendo los precios de BTC?

La main cachée : le papier Bitcoin supprime-t-il les prix du BTC ?

छिपा हुआ हाथ: क्या कागजी बिटकॉइन बीटीसी की कीमतों को दबा रहा है?

隠れた手：紙のビットコインは BTC の価格を抑制しているのか？

숨겨진 손: 종이 비트코인이 BTC 가격을 억제하고 있나요?

A mão oculta: o Bitcoin de papel está suprimindo os preços do BTC?

Скрытая рука: бумажный биткойн подавляет цены на BTC?

Gizli El: Kağıt Bitcoin BTC Fiyatlarını Baskılıyor mu?

Bàn tay ẩn giấu: Bitcoin giấy có đang cản trở giá BTC không?

隐藏的手：纸质比特币正在抑制 BTC 价格吗？

Hi, I’d like to share with us an old note I wrote back in 2018 about memes and their importance on public opinion and the well-being of people, especially younger generations. I wrote it back in high school, where I studied computer science, and a few months after getting out of a mental hospital due to long-term problems with alcoholism and depression, which led me to start writing a journal to help me keep my thoughts and getting some hatred out on the paper to ease my mind. It started as a daily routine and led to writing some other “longer stories” like the following: “Meaning of Life”, “What are emotions”, “What is happiness”, “Why I hate humanity” and few others. If any of you are interested in reading more from me at the time, let me know in the comments, and I’ll translate them and post them. First things first I’m gonna show you the unedited version that I wrote at the time (only visually formatted for better reading), and afterward, I will say my current opinion on the topic. So, let’s get to it… Every one of us knows this modern trend – meme, taken from Greek cinema – imitate. Mostly to make others laugh, or at least most of us see it this way. But what if it isn’t like that? To this day, I like memes and present myself as a meme-lord. This probably changed today. Memes have been with us for a long time, as we have known them today since 2015, I think. But finally today I thought that maybe we don’t see memes as we should. I saw memes as most of you do, just some kind of fun that makes other members of this community laugh and/or distract others from everyday stress. But today I saw context, that alone means nothing, but it connected with other things. Corn meme – trend of July 2018. A year ago, there was a famous meme with a futuristic girl holding corn with the text, “This meme is from the future. You don’t get it yet.” Back then, we all saw it as just another template for making more memes. Last week I saw on Reddit post which content could be summed as “from tomorrow everyone upvote very meme with corn.” And as was written, it happened. From this day, these “corn memes” have been unstoppable. A few days later, I saw another post that said – “Someone goes back in time and posts this meme to mess up with people,” with a picture of the futuristic girl with corn. After two days, I started to think about it. I was surprised about what I’d discovered, but it was still okay. More important were thoughts that started coming to my mind afterward. Most young people see memes online every day. Even ads are inspired by memes nowadays, and this made me think. What if memes aren’t just random templates made to make us laugh but have “deeper meaning.” A lot of memes nowadays are about low self-esteem or depression. It shows us the wrong side of the world, etc. In the past, there was no internet, and people then were referred only to what they saw in their surroundings. But today, we have the internet, and everyone who is curious is able to get to know about everything he wants to. What if some meme templates are made to regulate our thoughts? For example, corn meme to make corn more saleable and inflation of it. Memes about low mental stability keep young brains from thinking about the real world around them. What if some sort of memes were just made by the Illuminati (insert your favorite shadow organization) to make us submissive sheep? Kids then were not as depressed as today; what if memes are the reason for this massive self-confidence loss? Some sort of fame is even created through memes (e.g., Trump). As my dear roommate, J.J., said after a debate about this topic: **M. E. M. E. = Manipulate Encoded Media’s Expression Just think about it. So what do I think now..? I couldn’t agree more with the author, clever man (corny attempt at being funny). No, but seriously, there’s more than this article showing the increase in mental health issues in younger generations due to social media, memes included. About the “from the future” meme - it could have been just a well-thought plan for karma farming and creating verifiable accounts for whatever purpose there is, or it was indeed from the future (who knows how many lizards, aliens, demons, and God knows what else walks between us every day). Or maybe it was just a coincidence, and I’m looking for something that ain’t there. Needless to say, whatever is true, it’s important to note that it’s necessary to make sure you are feeling alright, and if you are feeling depressed, anxious, excluded from society or so, try to think about what content you are consuming and try to encapsulate yourself in a bubble made of positive things and vibes. :) And what do you think..? I’ll be glad for any tips on writing, your thoughts on the topic or whatever you gotta say either towards be or the article, thanks for reading! Hi, I’d like to share with us an old note I wrote back in 2018 about memes and their importance on public opinion and the well-being of people, especially younger generations. I wrote it back in high school, where I studied computer science, and a few months after getting out of a mental hospital due to long-term problems with alcoholism and depression, which led me to start writing a journal to help me keep my thoughts and getting some hatred out on the paper to ease my mind. It started as a daily routine and led to writing some other “longer stories” like the following: “Meaning of Life”, “What are emotions”, “What is happiness”, “Why I hate humanity” and few others. If any of you are interested in reading more from me at the time, let me know in the comments, and I’ll translate them and post them. First things first I’m gonna show you the unedited version that I wrote at the time (only visually formatted for better reading), and afterward, I will say my current opinion on the topic. So, let’s get to it… Every one of us knows this modern trend – meme, taken from Greek cinema – imitate. Mostly to make others laugh, or at least most of us see it this way. But what if it isn’t like that? To this day, I like memes and present myself as a meme-lord. This probably changed today. Memes have been with us for a long time, as we have known them today since 2015, I think. But finally today I thought that maybe we don’t see memes as we should. I saw memes as most of you do, just some kind of fun that makes other members of this community laugh and/or distract others from everyday stress. But today I saw context, that alone means nothing, but it connected with other things. Corn meme – trend of July 2018. I saw memes as most of you do, just some kind of fun that makes other members of this community laugh and/or distract others from everyday stress. Corn meme July 2018. A year ago, there was a famous meme with a futuristic girl holding corn with the text, “This meme is from the future. You don’t get it yet.” Back then, we all saw it as just another template for making more memes. Last week I saw on Reddit post which content could be summed as “from tomorrow everyone upvote very meme with corn.” And as was written, it happened . From this day, these “corn memes” have been unstoppable. A year ago, there was a famous meme with a futuristic girl holding corn with the text, “This meme is from the future. You don’t get it yet.” You don’t get it yet.” Reddit post which content could be summed as “from tomorrow everyone upvote very meme with corn.” Reddit it happened A few days later, I saw another post that said – “Someone goes back in time and posts this meme to mess up with people,” with a picture of the futuristic girl with corn. After two days, I started to think about it. I was surprised about what I’d discovered, but it was still okay. More important were thoughts that started coming to my mind afterward. Most young people see memes online every day. Even ads are inspired by memes nowadays, and this made me think. What if memes aren’t just random templates made to make us laugh but have “deeper meaning.” A lot of memes nowadays are about low self-esteem or depression. It shows us the wrong side of the world, etc. In the past, there was no internet, and people then were referred only to what they saw in their surroundings. But today, we have the internet, and everyone who is curious is able to get to know about everything he wants to. What if some meme templates are made to regulate our thoughts? Most young people see memes online every day. Most young people see memes online every day. Even ads are inspired by memes nowadays, “deeper meaning.” memes nowadays are about low self-esteem or depression. It shows us the wrong side of the world, etc. some meme templates are made to regulate our thoughts? For example, corn meme to make corn more saleable and inflation of it. Memes about low mental stability keep young brains from thinking about the real world around them. For example, What if some sort of memes were just made by the Illuminati (insert your favorite shadow organization) to make us submissive sheep? Kids then were not as depressed as today; what if memes are the reason for this massive self-confidence loss? Some sort of fame is even created through memes (e.g., Trump). As my dear roommate, J.J., said after a debate about this topic: ** M. E. M. E. = Manipulate Encoded Media’s Expression M. E. M. E. = Manipulate Encoded Media’s Expression Just think about it. So what do I think now..? I couldn’t agree more with the author, clever man ( corny attempt at being funny ). No, but seriously, there’s more than this article showing the increase in mental health issues in younger generations due to social media, memes included. About the “from the future” meme - it could have been just a well-thought plan for karma farming and creating verifiable accounts for whatever purpose there is, or it was indeed from the future (who knows how many lizards, aliens, demons, and God knows what else walks between us every day). Or maybe it was just a coincidence, and I’m looking for something that ain’t there. corny attempt at being funny increase in mental health issues in younger generations due to social media, memes included. Needless to say, whatever is true, it’s important to note that it’s necessary to make sure you are feeling alright, and if you are feeling depressed, anxious, excluded from society or so, try to think about what content you are consuming and try to encapsulate yourself in a bubble made of positive things and vibes. :) And what do you think..? I’ll be glad for any tips on writing, your thoughts on the topic or whatever you gotta say either towards be or the article, thanks for reading!

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