Cisco said Friday it's buying Kenna Security. Combining Kenna’s “vulnerability management” expertise with Cisco’s SecureX “threat intelligence” platform can help reduce the cyber risk “attack surface” and the time it takes to detect cyberattacks and respond, it said. “As we shift to a work-from-anywhere model, employees are connecting to the network with company-owned and personal devices and are increasingly reliant on cloud technologies,” said Cisco. “These trends have significantly expanded the attack surface and increased the complexity of security.” The transaction is expected to close in fiscal Q4, said Cisco.
An Amazon Photos services outage that began Tuesday prevented North American accounts from “uploading and viewing photos and videos through our apps,” the company emailed customers Thursday. “Our services are now fully restored. Please be assured that your content is safe and secure.” Amazon didn’t respond to questions about what caused the outage.
The Commerce Department, National Institute of Standards and Technology and FTC will lead a pilot consumer labeling program to educate the public on the security of IoT devices under President Joe Biden’s cybersecurity executive order. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., praised the IoT provision in the EO, saying it follows their legislation, the Cyber Shield Act. The EO directs Commerce to develop cyber benchmarks for devices like baby monitors, home assistants, smart locks, cameras, cellphones and laptops, the lawmakers noted.
Cisco is buying Socio Labs for its event technology platform, it said Wednesday, citing the hybrid event model emerging from the pandemic. Combining Socio Labs’ platform with Cisco’s Webex will enable large-scale, multi-session hybrid events and conferences with livestreaming, sponsorship, networking and advanced analytics. The Socio Labs team will join the Webex customer experience team (see personals section of this issue). The deal is expected to be completed in Cisco’s fiscal Q4 ending in July.
Zigbee Alliance rebranded as Connectivity Standards Alliance and renamed Project Connected Home over IP as Matter. Silicon Labs jumped on Tuesday's announcement, saying its wireless technologies are available for development of Matter products that support Thread, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Telemedicine will save the healthcare industry $21 billion a year globally by 2025, increasing from $11 billion in 2021, reported Juniper Research Monday. Savings will be confined to developed nations where access to required devices and internet connectivity is most prevalent along with the proliferation in telehealth services, it said. Juniper predicts that more than 80% of savings by 2025 will be attributable to North America and Europe. It estimates that 348 million telehealth visits took place in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, compared with 280 million in 2019. “The activities of third party healthcare service developers will be crucial in accelerating the deployment of emerging telemedicine services, and increasing the uptake amongst healthcare providers,” said Juniper.
Facebook should abandon plans to launch Instagram Kids, the National Association of Attorneys General wrote the company Monday, citing harms posed to young social media users (see 2104050035). Forty-four AGs -- from states, Washington, D.C., and territories -- argued social media can be harmful to children physically and emotionally, citing concerns about cyberbullying, Facebook’s “checkered” past and kids’ inability to navigate platforms. "As every parent knows, kids are already online,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. “We want to improve this situation by delivering experiences that give parents visibility and control over what their kids are doing.” The company is consulting experts and looks forward to working with legislators and regulators, Facebook said. It committed to “not showing ads in any Instagram experience we develop for people under the age of 13.”
Walmart will buy telehealth provider MeMD as a complement to its Walmart Health brick-and-mortar locations, said the retailer Thursday. “People expect omnichannel access to care, and adding telehealth to our Walmart Health care strategies allows us to provide in-person and digital care.” Walmart Health bills itself as offering primary care, optometry, dental and lab services at affordable prices. The MeMD transaction is expected to close in “coming months.” Transaction terms weren't disclosed. The company didn't respond to questions Friday about whether it plans to keep the MeMD branding after the transaction is complete.
The FTC 4-0 finalized its nonmonetary settlement with a photo app that allegedly “deceived consumers” about face scanning technology and retention of user photos and video (see 2101110027), the agency announced Friday. Everalbum allegedly failed to delete photos and videos from deactivated accounts when it promised to remove the content. It faces $43,280 fines for future violations and is required to delete content from deactivated accounts. Everalbum is "excited to move forward" with a "mindful tone," said a spokesperson. "We take our role as face recognition technology provider very seriously, and are committed to the ethical development and use of this important technology" in accordance with company principles and guidance.
PayPal believes the “shift” in consumer behavior to e-commerce will stay “essentially unchanged in a post-COVID world,” said CEO Dan Schulman on a Q1 call Wednesday. “Consumers have expanded their digital lives into a seamless online and off-line experience.” Shaping a future “where everyone can participate fully in this new digital paradigm has never been more important,” he said. PayPal transactions in the quarter reached about 4.4 billion, growing 34% year over year, said Schulman. It added 14.5 million net new active accounts, ending the quarter with 392 million, up 21% from Q1 2020, he said. It expects to exceed 400 million active accounts by the end of Q2, he said.