Tag: Verizon

In early July of this year, one of the largest known data breaches to date occurred that stripped files from a Shanghai police database. The hacker responsible claimed to have stolen terabytes of data relating to as many as one billion Chinese citizens. Known as ChinaDan, the hacker asked for a ransom in digital currency roughly equivalent to $200,000. While it isn’t clear how he got access to the data, it seems likely it could be related to the same method used to gather most of it: social...

SAN FRANCISCO—Dedrone, a market leader in smart airspace security, today announced the appointment of Balaji Tamirisa as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Daniel Anixt as General Counsel. In his new role, Tamirisa will oversee the continued expansion of Dedrone’s suite of technologies, working to ensure Dedrone remains the No. 1 solution for airspace security in the world. The company is leveraging its recent funding round to expand Tamirisa’s team, hiring several key positions...

NEW YORK—Verizon and Apollo Global Management, Inc. announced last week that Apollo Funds has entered into an agreement to acquire Verizon Media for $5 billion. Verizon will retain a 10 percent stake in the company, which will be known as Yahoo at the close of the transaction and continue to be led by CEO Guru Gowrappan. “We are excited to be joining forces with Apollo,” said Gowrappan in the announcement. “The past two quarters of double-digit growth have demonstrated...

BOSTON—BriefCam announced that its advanced video analytics software platform will serve as the analytics engine for Verizon’s Intelligent Video solution. The comprehensive monitoring service from Verizon helps law enforcement and security teams keep public and private facilities secure with near real-time, actionable data from video content. “Leveraging its award-winning network, Verizon is creating a best-in-class solution to enable the protection of all facilities in a...

OGDEN, Utah—Freeus, LLC, a wholesale mobile personal emergency response system (mPERS), announced the launch of the next generation of Belle®mPERS, certified on the Verizon 4G LTE network. This device offers the same low-maintenance, easy-to-use features as previous Belle products, along with state-of-the-art hardware and firmware, and IP67 water-resistance.“We are proud to offer the next generation of Belle to provide a solution for the forthcoming 3G turndown,” said Freeus COO,...

Matt Cain, 38Senior investigator—corporate security, VerizonNew YorkWorking as the senior investigator for one of the largest telecommunications providers in the world is something that Matt Cain said has been very rewarding.“Originally, I wanted to be in law enforcement but I took a position in LP catching shoplifters while going to college and never looked back,” he explained. “The more I learned about the industry, the more I learned I had a niche and I moved up very quickly.”He...

Professional security companies proudly point to the good service they give consumers as an important differentiator between them and their giant cableco and telecom competitors. And a new consumer satisfaction survey suggests they don't have to worry about losing that edge to the Cable Guy anytime soon—because it shows new dips for Time Warner Cable and Comcast, and AT&T and DIRECTV don't fare too well, either. The American Customer Satisfaction Index released its annual measure of the communications...

It was big news in 2011 when Verizon got into home security/home automation with the launch of its Home Monitoring and Control service, which did not have a professional monitoring component. Now there's an even bigger buzz because it has now apparently discontinued the $9.99 per month DIY product. Verizon this past October stopped accepting new orders for the product, although it is continuing to let existing FiOS subscribers continue with it, according to the FierceCable website. I haven't heard...

AT&T's 2012 announcement that it would phase out 2G service left most in the alarm industry, well, unfazed. With wireless technology, such changes come with the territory. Moreover, it's not the alarm industry but the mobile phone industry that dictates network “sunsets.” As Lou Fiore, Chairman of the Alarm Industry Communications Commission, put it in a recent conversation: “As long as you go cellular, there is no endgame here.” A few months after the initial announcement,...

AUSTIN, Texas—The penetration rate for U.S. residential intrusion alarm products will increase by 5 percent to 8 percent during the next three years, aided by the entrance of the new telecom and cableco players in the market, according to a recent study by IMS Research, now part of IHS.Adi Pavlovic, security and fire analyst for IHS, told Security Systems News that it's too early to tell how much the new players already have increased the penetration rate, which has been stalled at about 20...