Writings by Kurt M. Watkins

What Does Recent SEC Ruling Mean for Bitcoin? The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently denied an application to create an exchange-traded fund (ETF) tied to the price of Bitcoin. In its decision, the agency cited the lack of regulatory oversight capabilities for the cryptocurrency. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who are long-established supporters of Bitcoin, were behind […]

Yahoo Breach Offers Two Important Cybersecurity Lessons Yahoo Inc.’s cybersecurity woes continue to offer lessons for New York and New Jersey businesses. The company’s 2014 security breach, which impacted more than 500 million accounts, lowered the value of the company in its acquisition by Verizon and recently resulted in the resignation of the company’s top […]

Cybersecurity to be regarded as “Cyber Risk Management” in 2017 The technological innovations of 2017 and the pre-existing problems of technology to this point will force business managers to adapt or fail. It will no longer be sufficient to take an out of sight, out of mind, approach to how computers or the internet works. […]

65% of Banks Plan to Implement Blockchain Technology In the Near Future Blockchain has become a buzzword in the financial industry. According to a recent IBM survey, 65 percent of banks plan to implement the technology in the next three years. While blockchain has the potential to revolutionize the way businesses conduct transactions, it is […]

Will the Federal Government Establish Policy Regarding Blockchain Technology? The Federal Reserve Board recently published a research paper entitled, “Distributed Ledger Technology in Payments, Clearing and Settlement.”  While not necessarily groundbreaking, the report signals that the federal government is moving towards establishing a national policy regarding blockchain technology.Several years ago, the Federal Reserve indicated that […]

Businesses and individuals subject to white-collar investigations don’t just have to worry about the FBI knocking on their office door. The proposed amendment to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 41 took effect December 1, 2016, and gives judges authority to grant the government a warrant to hack a computer located anywhere. Proposed Amendments to […]

What Could These Proposed Cyber Security Standards Mean For Your Business? New York-based financial companies will not be the only ones required to strengthen their cybersecurity practices. Federal regulators recently unveiled proposed rules that would apply to all large banks.Specifically, the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), and the Office of the […]

What is Cryptocurrency? Cryptocurrency is such a new technology that not much is known about it. In fact, most people who have some familiarity with it only have a rough understanding of bitcoin, which is just one form of cryptocurrency. In the eyes of many, the technology still resides in the dark web — a […]

Election Cyber Security: The Lay of the Land This November’s election cycle is shaping up to be the most tumultuous in recent history. With a public already on edge, it must confront another, possibly more significant problem, greater than the polarization of political views in this country. The issue at hand is the security and integrity of the vote, […]

The Real and Hidden Risks of Pokémon Go As Pokémon Go exploded onto the software scene, the physical dangers of users walking into traffic, trespassing onto other people’s property, and even abandoning their children in search of the imaginary beasts caused alarm to many. However, these are just a few of the real risks of […]

The Beginning of Mobile Cyber Security Regulation? For the first time, the FTC and FCC have joined forces to visit the domain of mobile device security. Although traditionally occupied by cyber security technicians and their superiors, it doesn’t look like the FTC/FCC will be leaving anytime soon in their campaign to launch mobile cyber security regulation. On Monday, the […]

Experts have long warned about the exposure of industrial control systems to cyber attack. These systems, like those used in our electrical grid, usually are not regularly updated. Their failure would cause significant social disruption. They are the soft underbelly of our modern world. For example, Stuxnet exploited a Siemens industrial controller not designed to […]