IT in Canada June/July 2017

ERIC JACKSCH

Report: Cyber Threats to Canada’s Democratic Process P.10

MARY ANN YULE

Why mobile devices in business need a reinvention P.16

June/July 2017 VOLUME 8 NUMBER 2

INSIGHT FOR TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONALS

INTERNET OF THINGS IN HEALTHCARE AND INSURANCE INDUSTRIES

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Contents

Vol 8 No 2 June/July 2017

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DEPARTMENTS

4 Editorial 6 News 10 Security Shelf 18 How to

FEATURES

8 How the Internet of Things is changing the insurance industry 9 Toronto hospital eyes indoor wayfinding, IoT with 802.11ac Wave 2 14 Review of Canon Scanfront 400 16 Why mobile devices in business need a reinvention 20 Four benefits of managing corporate taxes with the cloud 21 Private cloud or public cloud? The story of Dropbox and Netflix 22 Talk to government about your tech 23 The role of AI in cybersecurity

COVER STORY: How the Internet of Things is changing the insurance industry

Online Extras: www.itincanadaonline.ca

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MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF INSIGHT FOR TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONALS

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: ANTHONY BARTOLO, KEVIN CRAIG, ERIC JACKSCH, ADAM MITCHELL, NABEEL SHERIF, MARY ANN YULE SALES MARCOM, OPERATIONS MANAGER: SANDRA SERVICE

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IoT is more than just about 50 billion connected devices Fifty billion devices connected by 2020 – that’s the figure often quoted in many stories about the Internet of Things.

For a time, it certainly made for an attention grabbing headline. However, the real impact of IoT in our lives goes far beyond the numbers.

The image of being swamped by thousands of endpoint devices, each a potential attack vector is probably already sending chills down the spine of a chief security officer or an IT administrator. On the other hand, the same prospect might cause a marketer to salivate.

It’s all about context. And that’s what you’ll find in some of the stories of the latest digital edition of IT in Canada.

We’re looking at how IoT is creating an impact on two industries.

Adam Mitchell is president of Mitchell & Whale Insurance Brokers Ltd. - a family-run business operating since 1948. In his piece, HOW THE INTERNET OF THINGS IS CHANGING THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY, Adam walks us through some of the ways IoT is transforming a centuries-old industry.

Adam discusses how new IoT trends such as usage-based telematics, fitness trackers, and connected home security systems are not only helping insurance companies more accurately predict risks, but are also prompting these businesses to create new services for their customers.

In the article, TORONTO HOSPITAL EYES INDOOR WAYFINDING, IOT WITH 802.11AC WAVE 2 we look at how the Scarborough and Rogue Hospital is employing IoT to overcome the limitations of its legacy network in order to deploy devices and services that would improve the efficiency of its personnel and enhance the digital experience of patients and visitors.

This edition is packed with a wide variety of articles targeted at both decision makers and users for large enterprise and SMB organizations.

If you’re in the market for a fast and dependable desktop scanner, Marcello Sukhdeo’s review of Canon’s imageFORMULA ScanFront 400 scanner is well worth a look. Marcello’s puts the ScanFront 400 through the paces to find out for you if the machine is up to snuff with typical tasks it’s bound to confront in today’s busy connected office.

Mary Ann Yule, president of HP Canada, discusses how our continually evolving mobile culture is transforming the work place. In her piece WHY MOBILE DEVICES IN BUSINESS NEED A REINVENTION, Mary Ann recommends that Canadian businesses revamp their approach to business mobility.

Kevin Craig, managing director of Concur Canada lays out the ways cloud technology can make a significant difference for businesses in the area of expenses and corporate filing.

Craig’s article, FOUR BENEFITS OF MANAGING CORPORATE TAXES WITH THE CLOUD, provides some handy advice on how you can use the power of the cloud to make complex corporate tax filing tasks much easier.

And finally, we are excited to announce TechGov. TechGov is a new event that our sister publication Canadian Government Executive is hosting this November. It is designed to showcase the technological advancements being made in our rapidly changing world that our government can adopt to better serve Canadians. Learn more about this event on page 22.

We hope you enjoy this issue. Have a fantastic summer.

J. Richard Jones Editor-in-Chief

4 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2017

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IN THE NEWS

By Nestor Arellano

Lazaridis Institute, Hockeystick launch data platform for tech startups “In addition to creating over 150 jobs in our

It’s often said that Canada’s technology startup sector is never in want for innovative talent but it’s consistently held back by the lack of access to investors.

The Lazaridis Institute for the Management of Technology Enterprises at Wilfrid Laurier University has partnered with financial market data network Hockeystick in launching a national data platform that aims to change all that.

The platform will capture and track growth metrics for Canadian companies and provide effective tool resource-strapped startups and scale-ups with an effective tool that will help them find programs and funding opportunities in less time than it takes now.

The platform is also intended to make it easier for accelerators to identify startups that meet their program parameters and to provide provincial and federal governments with requisite detailed metrics.

Bytown Consulting was engaged by the Lazaridis Institute to create the logic and analysis framework for their Scale-Up Program which guides what data are collected, which metrics are important, how the collected data are analysed into meaningful results, and how those results are tracked and reported over time.

Bardish Chagger, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Small Business and Tourism, and Member of Parliament for Waterloo, announced today that the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), through a non-repayable contribution, will provide funding of up to $2.5 million to the Lazaridis Institute for the national data scale-up platform.

6 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2017

communities, the platform will help provide entrepreneurs across Canada with the tools they need to reach their full potential, become investment-ready, and compete on the global stage,” said Chagger.

“For the first time, it will be possible to obtain a comprehensive picture of the evolution of Canadian companies from early to late stages, giving Canada a world-leading competitive advantage in innovation, and invaluable insights into why companies fail or succeed,” said Kim Morouney, executive director of the Lazaridis Institute and associate dean of the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics. “By standardizing the collection and tracking of data across every incubator and accelerator, the platform will provide normalized data over the long term.”

“Our solution has already been adopted by top funders wanting insight into their portfolio companies,” said Raymond Luk, founder, and CEO of Hockeystick. “With this initiative, the Lazaridis Institute has enabled every innovation organization to do the same. This will have far-reaching benefits to enable innovation and growth in Canada.”

The Lazaridis Institute is focused on helping Canadian technology companies grow through programs like its Scale-Up Program, through front-line training like its Tech Sales Apprenticeship program, and through a global network of business and technology experts who provide mentorship and networking opportunities.

Hockeystick’s financial data network connects a company’s financial data directly to the venture capital, private equity, and innovation ecosystems. The network is used by fund managers and analysts use to track, compare and predict company performance.

Top Canadian funders and over 12,000 companies already use Hockeystick’s software.

The platform will capture comprehensive, standardized data that will facilitate the selection and reporting processes for a wide variety of programs. It will provide a direct feedback loop to its users over a secure network.

Users will have the option to share private data in order to gain visibility with potential sources of support and investment with no added cost in time or effort.

A smartphone that lasts for two weeks on a single charge

By Marcello Sukhdeo

One of the biggest issues with smartphones or as a matter of fact, any mobile device, is the battery life.

I have been perplexed with this issue since the smartphone era began, over a decade ago and still today we have not seen any significant improvement in battery capacity to last more than a day or two days to the maximum.

But to my utter amazement, I stumbled across a smartphone that claims to have the largest battery capacity in the world and will last 10 to 15 days under normal use. That is not a typo nor is there a missing decimal point between the digits. The battery on this phone lasts for almost two weeks.

Meet the OUKITEL K10000 Pro, a smartphone with a battery capacity of 10,000mAh with “intelligent power consumption management” that provides a smart standby mode. Not only that, the K10000 Pro has a flash-charge chipset that can charge this huge battery in three and a half hours.

Another incredible feature is that it works as an OTG to “reserve charge multiple devices at the same time” according to the OUKITEL website. With a full battery, the K10000 Pro can charge three iPhone 6s Plus and still has 10 per cent battery power remaining. Not only can you use the K10000 as your main smartphone but you can charge other phones or tablets with it.

The phone has a full steel body with angular curves that provides a comfortable grip. It comes with a 5.5-inch HD display with a 1280 x 720 resolution screen and a 86 per cent screen to body ratio. It has a 13MP rear and a 5MP front camera and runs on Android OS. At this time pricing is not available but the phone is expected to be released in June and will not be available in North America. If you would like one, you’ll need to make your purchase online.

IN THE NEWS

Salesforce seeks to help cloud partners grow through US$50-M venture fund Salesforce Ventures, investment arm of cloud solutions firm Salesforce.com is rolling out a US$50 million fund aimed at assisting its cloud consulting partners to grow their businesses faster.

Salesforces hopes its new systems integrator Trailblazer Fund and SI Trailblazer Alliance Initiative will enable its partners rapidly built up their expertise and capability to deploy Salesforce’s product line. The SI Trailblazer Fund will provide the next generation of cloud consulting companies with the capital required to build and scale their Salesforce services capabilities, the company said.

New SI Trailblazer Fund investments include: • 7Summits: As a leading online community consulting partner focused on the social community space and the Salesforce Community Cloud, 7Summits will use this investment to further fund its growth plans.

shops and a partner onboarding specialist, consulting partners can join the Salesforce Partner Program and get ramped up quickly.

• Marketing and sales mentorship: Portfolio consulting companies can learn marketing best-practices with courses delivered by Salesforce experts; use partner marketing specialist to build custom marketing plans; and access Marketing Development Funds (MDF).

• Implementation guidance: With mentoring from tenured partners and assistance in developing Salesforce solutions (including Fullforce and Lightning Bolt), portfolio companies are empowered to deliver successful implementations—creating thriving businesses.

Consulting firms associated with Salesforce are seeing their businesses grow by more than 50 per cent each year, however, in-

creased demands for consulting services has created increased demand for “new partners that can provide the additional skilled capacity to deploy the full family of Salesforce offering to customers,” the company said.

Demand for cloud services is a huge opportunity for Salesforce partners. Recent figures from analyst firm IDC indicates that Salesforces and its partner ecosystem are on track to generate more than $389 billion and create 1.9 million new jobs worldwide by 2020, according to the cloud company.

“Growing customer demand for Salesforce has created a critical need for more Salesforce-trained consulting partners as part of the thriving ‘Salesforce Economy,’” said Tyler Prince, executive vice-president worldwide alliances, and go-to-market innovation, at Salesforce. “The new SI Trailblazer Fund and SI Trailblazer Alliance Initiative will help fuel our consulting partner ecosystem and empower the next generation of high-growth cloud consultancies.”

• Arxxus: Arxxus is a leading provider of Salesforce professional services in Australia that will leverage this investment to further expand its services capacity in the mid-market sector and its expertise in the public sector.

• ATG: ATG provides quote-to-cash (CPQ) advisory and implementation services, and will leverage the investment to continue providing CPQ and billing expertise, services, training and tools to leading Salesforce partners as they build their practices across North America, EMEA and APAC.

The SI Trailblazer Alliance Initiative will provide SI Trailblazer portfolio companies with access to a wide-range of concierge resources, training, and tools including: • Accelerated onboarding experience: With guided interactive training through Trailhead, priority access to boot camps and workJune/July 2017 IT in Canada Online / 7

IoT

By Adam Mitchell

HOW THE INTERNET OF THINGS is changing the insurance industry

T

he Internet of Things (IoT) is upon us and it’s already changing the way we work, rest and play. By 2025 there will be an explosion of data from a pervasive IoT network connecting just about everything from cars to bridges to buildings to wearable devices.

With today’s nascent IoT growing rapidly, the insurance sector is responding. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2015 63 per cent of insurance CEOs reported that IoT will be strategically important to their organization.

In many cases, it already is.

On the road: usage-based telematics and insurance (UBI) Usage-based insurance (UBI) devices monitor driving habits – acceleration, hard braking, time of day on the road. The promise of reduced insurance premiums gives drivers an incentive to drive more carefully. UBI is also a more equitable way of pricing car insurance: demonstrably safer drivers get lower rates.

In Canada and worldwide, there are 230 active UBI insurance programs with 12 million connected customers.

Desjardins General Insurance Group (DGIG) was the first Canadian insurer to widely offer UBI in Ontario and Quebec. Its Ajusto program offered customers a discount of up to 25 per cent. Since 2015, they have also offered a sophisticated Ajusto smartphone app which provides a more complete and balanced evaluation of driver behaviour using more factors, including speed and cornering.

Other companies now have UBI programs of their own and in England, mobile network operator O2 claims to be the first mobile phone company there to offer car insurance with the launch of its IoT-based 8 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2017

monitoring service, O2 Drive. The app also enables customers to earn points and purchase products and services.

At home: monitored home security systems Home security systems are also now by default connected to the Internet since the value of monitoring is in the speed of response.

Motion-triggered security cameras and sensors can monitor for break-ins, fire and even basement floods with an email or test alert.

Allstate Home offers a 25 per cent reduction in Insurance Premiums for the first year when customers sign up for two years with Rogers Smart Home Monitoring Plan. In the U.S., State Farm® and Liberty Mutual Insurance customers may get insurance premium discounts if they opt for Canary, a home security system that connects to the Cloud.

Health: fitness trackers Taking the lead from auto insurance carriers, life and healthcare insurers also offer UBIconnecting IoT devices like FitBit to track clients’ activity and offer discounts or rewards for healthy behavior. Some insurance carriers are so enamoured of the benefits, they are giving clients free fitness trackers if they sign up for a policy.

In Canada, Manulife rewards clients who use fitness trackers, get flu shots and go to the doctor with discounts.

Future applications could include blood analysis to predict heart attacks or issues with sugar levels, and provide proactive alerts.

On the Insurer Side: big data brings big savings All that data being collected by cars, home

security sensors, wearable monitors and a myriad of other public sources has great value. Big data analysis can be mined for predictive outcomes, and in turn can help insurers set better pricing levels while mitigating risk, the core essential of the insurance business model.

Rather than compile actuarial tables which extrapolate risk based on historical data, real-time analysis of massive data from the IoT allows predictive risk analysis and more preventative, proactive strategies to mitigate that risk.

All this adds up not just to a major shift in technology usage and customer connectivity, but also a shift in how insurance companies manage their business lines.

There’s another area which IoT is opening up and that’s the relationship between the insurance carrier and the customer. With personalized data and personalized policies, interactions with clients increase.

Thus, I believe the rigid, siloed, productbased portfolios will give way to liquid services which adapt continuously to meet customers’ changing needs. Insurance companies will learn to function successfully within an ecosystem of partners. This will involve sharing customers and their data as well as developing new skills, such as partner management.

Further, I’m convinced the role of IoT in insurance will continue to grow as carriers become more tech-savvy and as many more millions of devices and sensors connect via the Internet, creating a torrent of data to be mined for hidden gems – and thus monetized.

Adam is president of Mitchell & Whale Insurance Brokers Ltd., a family-run business operating since 1948. Based in Whitby, the company is licensed throughout the province and works with customers across Ontario.

IoT

By Nestor Arellano

Planned service rollouts

Toronto hospital eyes indoor wayfinding, IOT WITH 802.11AC WAVE 2

S

carborough and Rouge Hospital has implemented the new Wi-Fi standard 802.11ac Wave 2 with hopes to open up gigabit possibilities for its network to support enhanced services such as indoor location and support for Internet of Things devices.

Aruba Networks, working with Telus Canada helped Scarborough and Rouge complete a Wave 2 network rollout at its Birchmount and General site in was is being touted by the company as “Canada’s first full 802.11ac Wave 2 hospital network.”

Scarborough and Rouge Hospital was created in 2016 with the merger of Scarborough Hospital in Toronto’s east end and Rouge Valley Health Services in the west. With the combined workforce of more than 5,000 staff, 1,000 physicians, and 1,000 volunteers, the hospital’s information services saw the need to upgrade the facilities’ network infrastructure to meet current and future needs such as the deployment of mobile device capability for physicians and nurses, bedside mobile workstations, wireless access, and indoor location services for visitors and patients.

Why wade into Wave 2 Gigabit Internet is currently one of the hottest broadband technologies because it is more than 150 times faster than the global average of 6.3 Mbps. The latest Wave 2 upgrade of 802.11ac is important because of its potential to kick up data throughout rate to 2.34 Gbps

from Wave 1’s maximum of 1.3 Gbps.

Apart from this, Wave 2 advantage is able to support multi-user multiple input, multiple output (MU-MIMO) – this means Wave 2 can use spectrum more efficiently and allow connected devices to more easily get on and off the network. It’s an ideal capability if an organization intends to support IoT devices.

Scarborough and Rouge Hospital wants to overcome the limitations of its legacy network in order to deploy devices and services that would improve the efficiency of its personnel and enhance the digital experience of patients and visitors.

“With our previous wireless network, we encountered a number of limitations, including its inability to deliver the speed required to efficiently use newer mobile medical equipment, such as ultrasound devices for sending images, IV pumps for infusion data, and clocks for time updates,” said Gary Lam, manager of technical services for the hospital’s Birchmount and General sites.

Working with Telus, the hospital issued an RFP and conducted a competitive and comprehensive procurement process that included site surveys and some internal Proof of Concept (POC) trials evaluating the existing infrastructure with the proposed Aruba solution.

Telus designed the layout of the access point locations, provided technical implementation, and delivered professional and integration services.

Scarborough and Rouge Hospital implemented an Aruba Mobile-First Platform that consists of Aruba 320 Series 802.11ac Wave 2 access points, Aruba Mobility Controllers, and AirWave Network Management.

Prior to the implementation, the hospital was already using the ClearPass Policy Manager for authentication of devices onto their network.

With its new deployment, they are now considering using ClearPass for guest wireless access and BYOD onboarding.

Scarborough and Rouge Hospital also plans to deploy a full range of HPE core, top of rack, and edge switching solutions in its General and Birchmount sites.

The integrated security in the Aruba Mobility Controllers and Access Points helped the hospital save time and the cost of purchasing and deploying additional layers said Lam. Some of the proposed initiatives the hospital is now looking into include: • Wayfinding to allow staff, patients, and visitors to navigate hospital facilities • Patient kiosks • Asset tracking for wheelchairs, infusion pumps, and other medical equipment • Lam said the Aruba APs with their built-in BLE beacons will be ideal for asset tracking.

Should you jump to Wave 2 now?

Even as some organizations gear up for the Wave 2 implementation, development of a new standard called 802.11 ax is now underway.

The ax standard is designed to improve overall spectral efficiency, especially for dense deployment scenarios. It is predicted to have a top speed of around 10 Gbps and it is due for release in 2019.

Should organizations move to Wave 2 now or wait for ax?

The answer probably depends on where the organization’s network is at now and where the organization wants to go.

If the organization is still using a/b/g/n gear, then probably it needs to upgrade sooner. If an organization has just implemented Wave 1, there’s likely no need to rush to Wave 2.

For other organizations, Wave 2 could be the best ticket for the moment.

“When we undertook this network overhaul, we wanted to be sure that whatever we deployed would not need to be ripped out and replaced in a few years,” said Lam. “Basically, we needed to prepare for anything the industry could throw at us for the next five years. Our Aruba network is helping us ensure that we’re ready to meet that challenge.”

June/July 2017 IT in Canada Online / 9

SECURITY SHELF

By Eric Jacksch

REPORT: CYBER THREATS TO CANADA’S DEMOCRATIC PROCESS

T

he Communications Security Establishment (CSE) released a report recently warning that cyber capabilities will likely be used in an attempt to influence the Canadian democratic process. In light of events during the recent American and French elections, this report is accurate, credible, and most importantly, gives Canadians time to prepare.

The CSE report, Cyber Threats to Canada’s Democratic Process, highlights three aspects of the democratic process that are likely to be targeted: Elections, political parties and politicians, and media.

While election processes vary across federal, provincial/territorial, and municipal jurisdictions, the report examines three essential and common phases: registering voters, voting, and disseminating results. While some of these processes are still paper-based, others rely on electronic systems. Key threats detailed in the report include preventing citizens from registering, preventing voters from voting, tampering with election results, and stealing the voter database.

According the report, “While there is a risk that cyber capabilities could be used to covertly change the vote count and lead to a different election winner, we assess that this would be very challenging for an adversary to accomplish if elections were conducted in a manner that includes cybersecurity best practices and paper processes that occur in parallel. In general, it is likelier that adversaries would use cyber capabilities to disrupt the voting process in order to sow doubt among voters about the fairness of the election.”

More specifically, with respect to the upcoming 2019 federal election, the report points to areas of higher risk: “Federal elections are largely paper-based and Elections Canada has a number of legal, procedural, and information technology measures in place, which mitigate cyber threats. We assess that it is nearly certain that, regarding Canada’s democratic process at the federal level, political parties and politicians, and the media are more vulnerable than the elections themselves.”

10 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2017

Political parties and politicians are obvious targets. In the US, hackers believed to be associated with Russia compromised DNC computers and released private emails.

Similar scenario played out during the final days of the recent French election.

“During the electoral process, voters are judging and assessing political parties and politicians as they decide who will get their vote. Political parties and politicians try to persuade voters using specific messages and ideas. Adversaries may try to obtain damaging information to gain control over individuals and/or sway public opinion against them.”

According to the report, the primary threats against politicians are: cyberespionage, blackmail, embarrassing or discrediting a political target, and stealing or manipulating the voter or party database.

An almost unlimited number of attack scenarios are possible. For example, if emails are stolen, blackmail may be attempted and it is trivial to alter emails or mix fabricated emails amongst real ones prior to releasing them to the media. Journalists, and sites such as Wikileaks, may be leveraged in an attempt to increase the perceived legitimacy of the information.

Traditional and social media are also targets. While hacking the voter list or compromising political party computers remain serious threats, manipulating the media could be easier, less risky, and more effective. The report explains: “Meaningful political participation in Canada’s democratic process depends on the public having access to a broad spectrum of information and competing political viewpoints. Nowadays, Canadians mostly get their information online – either through traditional media establishments, social media, or both. It is also online where most Canadians contribute their own views on the political issues of the day.

The concern arises if foreign adversaries use cyber capabilities to try to covertly influence Canada’s media environment.

Adversaries could achieve this through a

thorough understanding of how traditional media and social media work and how Canadians consume information. The existence of foreign influence, or the perception of such, could shape the opinions of voters and reduce the trust that Canadians have in the information they are getting.

Adversaries could use social media to spread lies and propaganda to a mass audience at a low cost. Adversaries could masquerade as legitimate information providers, blurring the line between what is real and what is disinformation. They could do so by hijacking social media accounts, or they could create websites or new social media accounts that purport to be trustworthy producers or disseminators of news and information.”

For example, “According to media reports, French intelligence believes that social botnets were used to influence the presidential election. Certain social media accounts, the same ones that were active during last year’s US election, were promoting false and defamatory information against a leading candidate.”

Botnets and troll farms are of particular concern due to their ability to amplify messages on social media. “Some adversaries will use ‘troll farms’ – groups of people who are paid to spread propaganda on comment sections of traditional media websites, as well as Twitter, Facebook, and anywhere else they can reach their audience. In a similar manner, adversaries use social botnets – a series of computers that are all coordinated by one user. A single individual can harness hundreds or even thousands of accounts in order to amplify his/her message, artificially giving rise to the appearance of public consensus in support of a particular view.”

CSE should be commended on this report; it objectively examines threats to the Canadian democratic process and explains various cyber attack scenarios in non-technical terms. Effectively addressing cyber threats requires a multi-pronged, multi-layered approach. Public awareness, including this report, is an excellent first step.

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SECURITY SHELF

I

n the wake of the WannaCry outbreak, corporate executives, IT professionals, and journalists have been bombarded by cybersecurity product vendors. The message, “if only you had bought our product you would have been protected,” smacks of shameless opportunism.

Outside the cybersecurity realm, sales and marketing professionals display significantly more tact. Following serious highway pileups, automobile manufacturers do not announce that people would have fared better in new safer cars. In the aftermath of terrorist attacks, defence vendors do not launch advertising campaigns to proclaim that their products could have saved lives. Yet when businesses, including hospitals, are crippled by malware, cybersecurity product vendors rush to their megaphones.

The inconvenient truth many vendors choose to ignore is that plenty of WannaCry victims had anti-malware software installed.

Sixteen UK hospitals were impacted. It is inconceivable that none of them had antivirus software. Using outdated Windows XP certainly did not help, but organizations running supported Windows operating systems with mainstream, centrally managed, up-to-date endpoint protection suites regularly fall victim to ransomware infections.

Due diligence, best practices, and compliance requirements effectively mandate enterprise-wide anti-malware deployments.

In all but the smallest of companies, a centralized console is the only manageable 12 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2017

way to monitor endpoint protection status.

CISOs face a dilemma: failing to deploy endpoint protection is negligent, yet many popular products are proving ineffective against rapidly evolving malware threats.

Many anti-virus deployments provide more business value by placing checkmarks on compliance checklists than by actually stopping malware infections.

Despite vendor claims of advanced heuristics and cloud-based intelligence, most antivirus products remain primarily signature based, rendering them effective against legacy nuisance infections, but incapable of stopping more dangerous advanced malware threats. Constant signature updates are are a hassle for customers, but provide a recurring revenue stream to the companies that supply them.

Expensive dynamic analysis systems often fail to live up to their marketing claims; they remain too easy for malware to evade, and detecting malware after it has already passed into the organization is claimed as a success. Malware capable of autonomous lateral attack movement, such as WannaCry, highlights how little security value many products actually provide.

A key challenge in cybersecurity is poor information sharing. Few, if any, victimized organizations are willing to discuss the defences they had in place when a security event occurred. If this information were to become public, it could assist future attackers, and it has the potential to adversely

By Eric Jacksch

impact the organization’s image.

A carefully implemented global security event clearinghouse could collect information and report on the efficacy of various controls and products. But governments have demonstrated that they can not be trusted with sensitive corporate security information, corporate IT budgets are too thin to support such an initiative, and security product developers have no incentive to participate. In the absence of scrutiny, security software vendors are free to make unsubstantiated claims, protected by software licence agreements that shield them from any liability.

Some cybersecurity vendors, primarily startups, are rising to the challenge with innovative solutions. Malware detection based on machine learning is poised to displace signature-based products. Execution control that leverages policy-based whitelisting shows promise, but developers must make these products much easier to deploy and manage.

These new solutions will take some time to gain acceptance, but they are the future of endpoint protection. They also threaten the large install base of traditional signaturebased antivirus products, and at least one major vendor has responded with borderline predatory pricing practices to retain market share.

It is only fair to recognize some good behaviour during the WannaCry outbreak.

While the exploit was apparently stolen from the NSA, the agency did warn Microsoft, who in turn issued a patch for supported systems a month before the outbreak.

When it became clear that unsupported Windows XP systems were being infected and crippling businesses, Microsoft, under no obligation to do so, quickly released a patch. One security researcher, who could have easily sold his findings to a single antimalware vendor, halted the attack for several days, clearly acting for the greater good.

But overall, the industry’s response to WannaCry is an affront to both the profession and to businesses struggling to protect themselves from this criminal malware assault.

The cybersecurity industry must do better.

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REVIEW

By Marcello Sukhdeo

THE CANON IMAGEFORMULA SCANFRONT 400:

T

A fast and secure network scanner

he Canon imageFORMULA ScanFront 400 is a compact, fast and versatile networked document scanner that is small enough to sit on your desk or in any corner of your office and yet powerful to support multiple users while scanning to several destinations at the same time.

Its 10.1-inch WSVGA TFT LCD touch panel display provides a tablet-like experience along with the option to operate with a mouse and keyboard when connected through its USB 2.0 ports.

I’ve spent the last few weeks using this scanner in our office but before I give more details of my review, I would like to emphasize that this is a “networked” scanner that does not connect directly to a single PC nor has wireless capabilities.

1 Design and Functions With its trays closed, the ScanFront 400 has a measurement in HWD of 9.06-inch x 12-

inch x 11.1-inch and weighs 9.92 pounds.

It has a detachable automatic document feeder (ADF) and a folding tray that acts as a cover for the LCD touch panel. When both trays are drawn-out, the scanner doubles in size but yet small enough to fit on desks.

The rear of the scanner has a Kensington Slot that can be used to physically secure it with a key chain or lock to prevent theft, a 24 V DC power connector, a LAN port to connect Ethernet network cable and two USB ports that can be used to connect a USB mouse and a USB keyboard. On the right side is another USB port that can be used to connect a USB flash drive.

The ScanFront 400 feeder can hold up to 60 sheets and can scan documents between 14 to 57 pounds in weight to six destinations – E-mail, FTP, Fax, Shared Folder, USB memory and Printer – which can be selected on the 10.1-inch touch screen.

1

2 14 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2017

2 Setup After connecting the Ethernet cable and power cord, the scanner can be booted up by pressing the power button which is conveniently located on the front next to the touch screen. Boot up time was about 1 minute and 15 seconds. The home screen has the icons for the six different destinations to where documents can be scanned to along with a sidebar which provides access to the Administrator settings. In here you can setup users, address book, configure the device, update system settings, access system administration functions, setup server details, view operation history and setup certificates and private key.

Updating the administrator settings was somewhat complicated and tedious due to the wide range of options and technical details needed to complete the setup. To get this up and running you need to be knowledgeable in networking and have some level of

REVIEW technical comprehension. The setup instructions are documented in the manual which came with the scanner but it was not useful as it relates to an older version of the operating system that was quite different than the one installed on the scanner. I later came across a revised soft copy of the manual on the CD that was provided. Even with this updated copy of instructions the setup was still difficult to complete. I would recommend that you hand this over to your system administrator to assist in setting up the scanner.

3 Performance After overcoming the initial hump in setup, scanning was a breeze. Scanning to the different destinations was fast, quiet and secure.

I received some remarkable results that were even better than the ratings of the scanner.

At 150 dpi, both in colour and black and white, it scanned 50 pages per minute (ppm) in single-sided or simplex mode, and 102 images per minute (ipm) which is doubledsided or in the duplex mode.

When scanned at 300 dpi, I noticed that there was a lag and the output was 32 ppm for both colour and black and white. At 600 dpi, the scanner was able to complete only 5 pages per minute.

One thing to note when scanning thinner sheets at a lower dpi is that the output tray does not act as a good catchment to stack the document scanned together resulting in it being scattered.

I did some tests on business cards as well, for which the ScanFront 400 was able

to complete the scanning of 80 cards per minute. The caveat here though is that due to the thickness of the business cards only about 40 cards could be placed on the document feed tray. Scanning of plastic cards was fast which is a good feature to have for maintaining a digital copy of driver’s license and credit cards to suit the purposes of different industries.

The ScanFront 400 is capable of processing up to 6,000 sheets per day at up to 200 dpi and can scan both sides of a document through a single pass which saves time.

In addition, the device can scan different document types, different thickness, cards and passports. For passport scanning, it is recommended to use the optional carrier sheet which protects the document while at the same time ensures performance.

Tests conducted for Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in converting scans to editable text at 150 dpi produced quite a few errors for 8 and 10 points type but when scanned at 300 dpi, there were no errors.

Overall, the scanning performance is impressive and I like how the touch-screen gives a preview of scanned documents which makes it easier to ensure that information is captured accurately.

4 Uses and Security The ScanFront 400 allows users to capture documents in both field and office locations in a smooth and secure manner which can be shared through the six different destinations. Industries that can benefit from this

type of scanner includes manufacturing, financial, banking, legal services, insurance, healthcare and others due to the ease of capture and distribution as well as the security that comes with being a network scanner.

Through the Administration tool, IT managers can manage and control up to 1,000 ScanFront devices and view status, update firmware, back-up and restore configurations. This scanner also supports LDAP over SSL (LDAPS) to keep communications secure between device and LDAP servers and supports log-in device access.

Pros • Very fast scanning • Good text recognition • Supports many users • Scan to six destinations • Large tablet-like display

Cons • Complicated setup • Needs raised edges on output tray to keep sheets neatly stacked The bottom line is that the Canon imageFORMULA ScanFront 400 scanner may be difficult to setup but it provides fast, quiet and secure scanning to six different destinations and offers a fast text recognition and conversion to editable text. The beautiful 10.1-inch touch-screen display provides a preview of scanned documents while acting as an intuitive interface for the operating system.

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4 June/July 2017 IT in Canada Online / 15

RESELLER

By Mary Ann Yule

Why mobile devices in business need

A REINVENTION Millennials are often credited with popularizing the choose your own device (CYOD) movement and changing enterprise mobility plans at Canadian organizations of all sizes.

16 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2017

B

ut several years into the CYOD trend the digital age generation, known for living on mobile apps and using their mobile devices for everything, are no longer driving business mobility plans.

Recent internal HP Inc. research, conducted last year and surveying 700 small and large business customers across the globe, found that over 60 per cent of end users reach for their smart phone first even when other devices are nearby. “Mobile first� is now trending across all generations and has become the new normal in the workplace. Smart business leaders know this, just as they’ve always known mobility offer huge potential to increase employee productivity, boost employee satisfaction and reduced technology costs.

But has this resulted in widespread, successful CYOD policies among Canadian businesses?

In many cases, the answer is no.

Some industry observers such as IDC Canada attribute the mixed results of enterprise

RESELLER THE STRATEGY NEEDS TO BE GEARED TOWARD GIVING EMPLOYEES –IN THE OFFICE, ON THE ROAD AND AT HOME – SEAMLESS ACCESS TO THE PEOPLE, APPS AND DATA THEY NEED.

mobility to challenges that include poorly formulated CYOD policies and less-thancompelling mobile enterprise apps. In its recent Enterprise Mobility in Canada report, the analyst firm found that 59 per cent of Canadian organizations have not deployed any internal mobile apps, and that 62 per cent have no plans to accelerate development with mobile enterprise app platforms.

This data suggest that many Canadian organizations are not taking “mobile first” as seriously as they should and are missing increased productivity gains in the process.

But while the aversion of Canadian enterprises to building and deploying mobile apps is surprising, the obstacle to an effective business mobility plan might be the devices themselves.

Many Canadians are using three or more mobile devices on the job, meaning a lot of work for IT staff and huge device management and procurement costs. Given

the crush of mobile devices at work, it’s no wonder that IT teams in Canada have struggled to roll out enterprise mobile apps and take full advantage of mobility’s potential benefits.

But forget the IT teams for a second and consider the crush on productivity.

Employees are continually stopping and starting throughout their work day, sending data back and forth across three or four different devices. The work environment today is full of transitions – going from desk to a meeting, from a meeting to a client’s office, and then back to the office for a brainstorming session with colleagues.

“Mobile first” isn’t effective if it’s followed by “desktop second” or “USB drive third.”

For instance, if a retailer arms all of its staff with tablets or smart phones to better serve customers, but still need them to re-input that data on additional end user devices behind the checkout counter or in the back office, that’s the model of inefficiency.

Canadian businesses need to take a new approach to business mobility if they want to meet the needs of their current and future workforce and remain competitive. The strategy needs to be geared toward giving employees –in the office, on the road and at home – seamless access to the people, apps and data they need.

This is essential because seamless is everything in a “mobile first” world and too many devices can comprise that experience and kill productivity in the process.

A few years ago, technology manufacturers sought to address this widening gap between personal and professional technology needs with Pocket PCs and personal digital assistants. However, the concept was ahead of its time, as these devices lacked the processing power, external display capabilities and app selection.

But this is changing.

Mobile chip performance and network speeds are closing-in on traditional desktops and laptops – increasing 300 per cent in the last three years alone. Data is everywhere with the cloud. And mobile security is coming along rapidly with impressive safeguards being offered at the hardware, device and operating system layers.

This is opens the door to new businessfocused mobile devices that will be able to rival other computing machines in raw processing power, but with modern design aesthetics. The new 3-in-1 category – a device which can act as a phone or tablet and dock into PC when needed – might fit the bill for organizations looking to build a “mobile first” experience.

This new device category is important to Canadian business because they can cut down the amount of devices they need to buy and support, while employees can use their mobile devices in more versatile and productive ways. For example, a salesperson should be able to use their Salesforce app on the go and then head into the office, connect that handheld mobile device to a large screen and keyboard dock and work away with the rest of the team.

And if the organization’s important inhouse software doesn’t yet have a mobile version available, the IT department should be able to virtualize the desktop application to deliver the app and its content quickly and securely.

Desktop apps are hard to handle in a mobile focused world, so the ability to virtualize a desktop app is particularly crucial for organizations and their IT teams to deliver key apps to the mobile devices of their employees without porting them over or building them again from scratch – both of which will require significant time and resources.

At the end of the day, the mobile business computing devices of the future need to address the fact that employees are carrying too many devices, cables and chargers in their bags – while at the same time, giving employees a secure, simple and seamless user experience that is consistent anywhere they take the device.

Canadian organizations that deliver on the needs of a “mobile first” workforce will be well poised to attract tomorrow’s industry leaders, keep their talented people happy, and ultimately keep pace with the competition.

Mary Ann Yule is the President of HP Canada.

June/July 2017 IT in Canada Online / 17

HOW TO HOW TO

TACKLING THE DRAGON – Converting a Java Based Game to Universal Windows Platform

H

amilton Ontario based Thrive games have been working on their lead game, Dragon of Legends for sometime with aspirations of delivering their game to the Steam platform. The game uncovers countless mysteries of the past as players battle across platforms in a vibrant 2D world inspired

by Celtic and Norse mythology. Our team recently met with the team at Thrive games as they also had expressed interest in having their proprietary game engine utilized on multiple platforms (PC, OSX, Linux, iOS and Android) in order to stay committed to making our game accessible to everyone.

The Java app platform has been the platform of choice for the team at Thrive Games to architect their Norse tale to share with the world. While Java games could easily be deployed on Steam, the team was looking for a way to offer Dragon of Legends on other platforms without incurring long development cycles. Being a Kickstarter funded start-up, Thrive Games needed a cost-effective way to reach gamers on other platforms like Windows.

In a collaborative effort, our teams came together to futher the time Thrive games had invested building the proprietary game engine and graphics on Java to be enjoyed on the Universal Windows Platform via a multitude of Windows based devices.

The following was required to be completed to accomplish this: 1. Convert the JAR file to a non-dependant package file to be converted 2. Convert the created Win32 application to a UWP app 3. Submit the completed UWP game to the Windows Marketplace In addition to the above core goals, the team’s stretch goal was to complete the conversation of the Dragon of Legends UWP game in a span of 1 day.

Led by Technical Evangelist Mickey MacDonald, the team’s 1st task was to build the JAR package file from the libGDX game engine’s output using Gradle. To do this the team ran Gradle from the command line with the command: gradlew desktop:dist Next the team preformed a few steps to 18 / IT in Canada Online June/July June/July 2017 2017

obfuscate the project to help protect the game assets and code from being extracted from the final release. This was accomplished by using ProGuard, and performing the following steps: 1. Construct a config file (config.pro) file.

This file lists all the classes, fields, and methods, that need to be kept and/or that their names need to be keptNOTE: Refer to https://www.guardsquare.com/ en/proguard/manual/ for more details on how this is accomplished 2. Once the config file is created, the team ran ProGuard from the command line, using the command: java -jar proguard. jar @config.pro Once the obfuscating process had completed we then had a JAR package that could be used for release. The next step was to the create a Win32 executable application. This was completed by using cross-platform Java executable wrapper Launch4j. This wrapper allows a packaged Java application to be run just like a native Win32 application, packaging all dependencies with it, including the JRE (Java Runtime Environment) needed.

The steps taken to create the executable in Launch4j are as follows: 1. Launch Launch4J and make sure you are on the Basic tab 2. On the Output File* input: Browse for the destination where you want your EXE file to be name via this “desktop/…../ProjectName.exe“ 3. On the Jar* input: Browse and locate the jar file you want to convert in your PC 4. On the Icon input: Locate your ico file for the icon 5. Go to the JRE tab 6. On the Min JRE version input: type in: 1.4.0 7. Click on the gear icon on the top and press save (destination preferably in output file destination, name – “ProjectName”) 8. Press the Play button next to and the Jar file should be converted to EXE Once completed, the newly created Win32 executable could now be converted to a UWP application using the Desktop Bridge kit. The conversion process itself was done manually due to the game’s lack of installer

By Anthony Bartolo

and the developer’s knowledge of the files needed to operate the game. The following steps were completed to convert the Win32 app to a UWP app manually: 1. Download and installed the Window 10 Software Development Kit 2. Create the appxmanifest.xml manually NOTE: detailed steps found here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/porting/desktop-to-uwpmanual-conversion 3. Open the Command Prompt in administrator mode 4. Navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x86 5. Entered the following command: MakeAppx pack /d “Path to Files” /p “Application Name”.appx Creation of the appx package of the game is now completed. The following steps were then completed to certificate sign and install the application on the local machine for testing.

1. Opened the Command Prompt in administrator mode 2. Navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x86 3. Create a certificate to sign the appx NOTE: detailed steps found here https:// msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/jj835832(v=vs.85).aspx 4. Use the SignTool to sign the application with the created certificate NOTE: detailed steps found here https:// msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/jj835835(v=vs.85).aspx 5. The certificate is then installed on the testing computer 6. Double click the appx and install the application The process of embedding the dependencies, like the JRE in the final build were a challenge. After some careful consideration and research, the team decided on using Launch4j to address this. Launch4j allowed the team to create a lightweight Windows native executable which allowed bundling of the JRE and any other libraries or dependencies without the need to modify any existing code or infrastructure.

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CLOUD

By Kevin Craig

Four benefits of managing

CORPORATE TAXES WITH THE CLOUD

C

loud services have revolutionized business management, providing connected solutions to manage information and simplifying processes to save organizations time and money.

They offer businesses agility and better use of resources so they can maximize time spent on crucial functions, while reducing time spent on cumbersome tasks.

One area where cloud technology can make a significant difference is with expenses and corporate tax filing. Not only is filing taxes mandatory, but it gives businesses an opportunity to recoup some costs by claiming input tax credits (ITCs) to recover Value Added Tax (VAT) paid throughout the year.

Filing correctly can maximize credits claimed, however filing incorrectly can potentially flag an organization for audit with the Canada Revenue Agency. Worse still, if a business hasn’t correctly tracked and filed all the information it needs to support its claims, an audit can be a lengthy and stressful process. If the audit uncovers mistakes, consequences can be costly and in some cases, result in criminal convictions.

Cloud-based expense reporting offers 20 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2017

businesses many advantages that can simplify tax time. Automated solutions like Concur help businesses easily comply with tax regulations by managing employee expenses throughout the year and tracking the information needed during tax time. This helps businesses file taxes efficiently and with accuracy to avoid mistakes. Here are four ways cloud based solutions can help businesses at tax time.

Keeping track of complex VAT systems: Recovering the credits and refunds an organization is eligible for is complicated, and can leave organizations prone to costly mistakes in the process. Cloud-based expense software allows businesses to easily capture receipts and tax details and track these throughout the year. The software can also

BUSINESSES SHOULD LOOK FOR WAYS TO EMBRACE AUTOMATION ACROSS BUSINESS FUNCTIONS AND HARNESS THE POWER THE CLOUD CAN AFFORD.

calculate tax based on gross expenditure, expediting and simplifying the process for employees.

Preventing common mistakes: Audits regularly target employee reimbursements and allowances because these are areas where companies regularly make mistakes.

Businesses can recover GST spent on employee expenses, but there are certain documentation requirements organizations must meet before they can claim these as ITCs. If information is missing, organizations may choose to use prescribed simplified factors to determine ITCs. However, once an orga nization chooses to use the simplified factor method, it must use it for the entire fiscal year and must apply the same method consistently within each category of reimbursed expenses. Expense software can help manage this to prevent discrepancies and inconsistencies. For example, Concur will require a business to choose the method it wants to use to calculate ITCs, and the choice will be applied to all expenses for every employee.

Minimizing issues: There are different rates and factors that go into expense reports and claiming credits. A cloud-based expense management system will track all the various rates and factors, plus potential restrictions and other issues that can arise. Not only will this minimize issues, but it will help ensure issues that do come up can be addressed properly.

Set it and forget it: Once an automated system to track expenses has been set up and the parameters have been evaluated for accuracy, there is no need to re-visit the rates or calculations. The exception is if there are changes in government legislation or administration.

Traditionally complex tasks like corporate tax filing are made drastically easier by the power of cloud technology. Businesses should look for ways to embrace automation across business functions and harness the power the cloud can afford.

Kevin Craig is the Managing Director of Concur Canada.

By Nabeel Sherif

CLOUD

PRIVATE CLOUD OR PUBLIC CLOUD? THE STORY OF DROPBOX AND NETFLIX

A

s more and more businesses start to move to cloud and realize both the potential efficiency of cloud as well as the financial benefits of the model, the questions most of them are asking is less about “should I move to the cloud”, and increasingly “what sort of cloud model matches best with my business model”.

Especially when talking about cloud IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), the type of Cloud deployment you choose can have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the business and on IT costs in general.

When it comes to IaaS, the big question most people start with is whether to deploy on a private cloud or to completely outsource and go with public cloud options, in particular, the global hyper-scale providers (Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Compute Engine). In general, businesses require a mix of public and private infrastructure, depending on the technical and business needs of the project. To guide that decision, I often tell businesses to look at the stories of Dropbox and Netflix, two companies that started with one cloud deployment model and over time moved to the other.

Dropbox, a service that provides cloud storage to both consumers and businesses, originally started on AWS – that is, all their IT infrastructure was procured on a public cloud. Over the past year or so, Dropbox has started to migrate production into their own private datacentres and infrastructure. Conversely, Netflix, which started on private infrastructure, moved their entire operations to Amazon in 2016. What drove each of these decisions?

Although there are many factors involved in both cases, the short answer is workload volatility. Despite both being massive IT businesses, the IT usage patterns for Dropbox and Amazon are quite different.

Let’s look at Netflix first: One of the biggest challenges for a media provider like Netflix is dealing with spikes in demand: in Netflix’s case, any time a popular new movie or series is launched, the demand for their services can increase exponentially. In a private cloud or traditional IT world, Netflix would have to “provision for peak” – that is, invest in compute and network that matches their highest level of demand, which is probably two to three times their baseline demand. To build out such a cloud would require massive upfront investment, and the fact

is that most of the time that extra capacity would sit idle, costing the company without driving any additional revenue or value.

By moving to public cloud, Netflix can take advantage of the scalability and utility pricing of public Cloud, allowing them to pay for spikes in usage only when usage is actually spiking, and allowing them to greatly reduce network and compute costs overall.

In contrast, Dropbox has a much more predictable usage model – users of Dropbox are accessing their files and personal content as needed, not on a release or premiere schedule like a TV show! So, it’s very easy for Dropbox to plan and predict increases in demand.

They know how many users a month join their service, and they know how much data each user has in their account and around how much they will add over a given a period of time.

As a result, Dropbox has great predictability of workloads, and at the scale and sophistication level they are at, the cost and management effort to procure and add new capacity as required are less than the cost of using a public cloud provider that has to bake in their own margin.

Ultimately, the decision to go private or public is going to be based on several factors. Security, compliance and regulation and internal skill sets and culture will always be factors in making the right IT decision. But when moving to the cloud, understanding one’s workload patterns, as well as the impact it can have on utility compute and network costs, is critical to making the most effective decision for your needs.

Nabeel Sherif is the creator and lecturer for University of Toronto’s Cloud Computing Certificate program. He is also the cloud product manager at Q9, a division of Bell Canada.

June/July 2017 IT in Canada Online / 21

AI

By Marcello Sukhdeo

TALK TO GOVERNMENT ABOUT YOUR TECH

T

he last few years have proven that the business world cannot function without technology. If a business is not compliant with the ever-changing technological capabilities of today, then it is doomed to be left behind.

This is a truism for government as well.

Over the decades, technology has been grafted into governments around the world so as to provide their citizens with better service. Today, technology is no longer an additive part of the equation but rather has progressed in becoming an essential component that is vital for the daily operations of governments. And now, technology in government and industry is evolving further with the advancement of AI and the security risks it poses.

In November of this year, a new tech event for government will be launched to address technology needs, challenges and solutions so as to better manage and mitigate risks and problems of the ongoing digital transformation within government. Also, it will serve as a platform for tech companies to share with government new and emerging technologies, not only in respect to AI but other areas like cloud and IoT, that can offer better, secure and faster service to citizens.

Recently, I spoke with J. Richard Jones, President and Group Publisher of Canadian Government Executive and IT in Canada about this event, which CGE will be hosting.

Q: There are many tech events happen-

ing quite frequently today. Why this sort of event and how is it different from the rest?

We feel that there is a very strong need for a high-quality technology conference in Ottawa. One that reflects the kind of quality that Canadian Government Executive media is known for. It is about having an open dialogue between government and industry by bringing them in the same room to discuss concerns, issues and propose solutions to these problems. That is why we are launching a brand-new event called TechGov, which will take place in Ottawa on November 7th and 8th.

22 / IT in Canada Online June/July 2017

Q: Can you give us some more details about the format of this event?

Perhaps, I should start off by describing what TechGov is not. It’s not a trade show and it’s not a traditional event. Although, it borrows from the successful formula of the annual Canadian Government Executive summit that we produce every year, which most public sector executives are familiar with.

It’s much more than that. It’s fresh, it’s going to offer dynamic engagement opportunities that are new and of course, there will be high-quality speakers and content over two days. So, there will be plenty of time for story swapping and peer to peer interaction.

Q: What is unique about this event that attendees can take away?

Recently, I was asked by an up and coming “young pro” for a description of the event as we joked back and forth at a reception. And I said well, are you familiar with the chip dip called “one heluva a good dip” and he said yes. And I said. Well, the dip is really good, isn’t it? And he said, oh yes, in fact, it’s addictive. And I said yes, it can be. I continued on, this event’s mandate could be described in a similar manner. Our goal is to create “one heluva a good tech conference” and for those who have sampled this chip dip know that it is so good that you can’t forget it. That said, it’s calorically rich so I warn the reader in advance, it’s not something to sample on a regular basis.

But this is also the point of our show, it’s going to be once a year and the experience will be so rewarding and impactful that you will look forward to it while not forgetting it.

Q: Who should attend this event?

If you’re a public-sector executive or technology executive trying to implement technology strategies in order to solve business issues then you need to be there. If you are planning ahead and want to hear about the latest trends, product and solution opportunities and want to discuss challenges with your peers, then you need to be there.

And finally, if you need just the solution

facts from technology solution providers to make purchase decisions in the next 6-12 months, then you need to be there. We are going to implement a speed dating approach that allows attendees to get information and data takeaways without delay.

Q: Is this event limited to public sector employees only?

No, this conference will have a blend of high-profile public sector executives which is the audience of Canadian Government Executive as well as private sector executives. This is to encourage dialogue between government and industry. I’m sure that this will make for a great information exchange.

Q: What about tech companies, how can

they take advantage of this opportunity?

We are doing things differently with this conference. We are focusing on providing opportunities for tech companies to highlight their technology solutions to an audience that has an interest in this. Through this conference, we are providing fresh and compelling partnership opportunities that will demonstrate ROI. What you need to note is that we are bypassing the traditional trade show floor concept and replacing it with a much more targeted and granular approach to working with executives.

By participating in this event, it is a winwin strategy for a company as their expertise will help public sector executives solve technology challenges while hearing about government needs. It really eliminates the guess work and noise that can often frustrate both parties involved. Let’s face it, technology providers want to help by offering the right solution and service. Public sector executives want to hear about solutions that can help them to do their jobs. It’s not about picking up T-shirts and stress balls.

Q: Where can someone go to learn more about this event?

Please visit TechGov.ca website to learn more.

AI

By Nestor Arellano

AI

The role of in cybersecurity

H

ow can artificial intelligence and machine learning help organizations with the cybersecurity challenges they face?

There are numerous examples of how AI algorithms have helped companies solved operations and business problems. With the ability of AI technologies to churn through and analyze vast amounts of data from a variety of sources, a growing number of organizations are eyeing the possibility of integrating AI into their cyber defence strategies, according to a white paper produced cybersecurity solutions provider Reveelium Inc. Reveelium has developed a behaviourbased cybersecurity solution. Reveelium analyzes billions of system events and logs, in real-time, on a daily basis. It can identify occurring anomalies in a system’s behaviour and determine which ones are most likely to become security threats.

Helping CSOs, CISOs and other IT and security decision makers come up with a solution to gain better visibility into the vast amounts of data bombarding the typical enterprise organizations is a key area where AI technology can help.

Monitoring, tracking and understanding big data. Recognizing the potential threats and suspicious activities from the information logs generated by sensors, endpoint devices and by security and identity management infrastructures. These are tasks that would normally require a large IT team. However, AI and machine learning technologies can streamline the process and cut down the time to identify cyber threats and stop them in their tracks before they can do any damage.

“The main advantage for AI is that it can do better and faster what humans do today,”

according to the Reveelium white paper.

“Extracting value from data was, up until now, made difficult by various technical and financial barriers. With the emergence of new, more affordable analytical technologies, these barriers are gradually disappearing.”

Automating the process of detecting malicious behaviours can be accomplished by using two methodologies, according to Reveelium.

The first approach concerns learning how to recognize attacks. This method requires that data streams be previously categorized and separated, for instance, between “normal” and “malicious.”

Once trained, the models can indicate the class to which each newly analyzed behavior belongs to.

While the method shows a high predictive ability, it has two notable drawbacks, according to Reveelium: • The approach requires a representative volume of data to be collected (users must specify the type of behaviour associated with each analyzed data stream sample).

A base of various attacks and history of all behaviour associated with each analyzed data must be available.

• Although the method is capable of detecting similar (but not identical) attacks to those observed during the training phase, the approach is not able to detect new attack strategies.

The second approach aims to group analyzed data flows via similarity. This method makes it possible to highlight how several behavioural groups were formed. The approach makes it possible to highlight how behavioural groups are formed. Under-

represented groups (groups with fewer elements) are assigned to abnormal (in statistical terms) behaviour groups.

“In order to distinguish the difference between groups of adnormal behaviour (illegal, suspicious, malicious, etc, it is necessary to take contextual information into account,” according to Reveelium. “Failing this, the analysis will trace a significant number of false alarms (identifying legitimate but unexpected behaviour).”

Both types of approaches can lead to a high predictive result. According to Reveelium the key elements to choosing and AIbased solution are: • Detection rate of known threat patterns • False positive rates • Ability to interact with existing tools within an infrastructure • Detection rates of unknown threats (advanced persistent threats, advance malware, and viruses) Of course, there is also the fear that cyber criminals will begin using AI. Just as the technology helps IT and security teams automate the data extractions and analytics, hackers can employ AI to rapidly target specific users and zero in on the types of data to steal. Artificial intelligence, for instance, can help cyber criminals develop more effective phishing attacks by helping them more accurately analyze a target person’s online communication patterns.

Find out more about how your organization can use artificial intelligence to boost its cybersecurity capability, go to https://www. reveelium.com/en/whitepaper/ to access the AI for Cybersecurity: Technology Breakthrough white paper from Reveelium.

June/July 2017 IT in Canada Online / 23

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