Tag Archive for: americas

SG Americas Securities LLC Reduces Holdings in Zscaler as the Company Outperforms Expectations in Recent Earnings Report

/in


On September 19, 2023, investment firm SG Americas Securities LLC revealed a significant decrease in its holdings of Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS) shares during the second quarter. According to the company’s latest Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Zscaler saw a reduction of 64.1%, equivalent to selling 49,646 shares. As a result, the fund now possesses 27,800 shares of the company’s stock. The total value of these remaining shares at the time of filing was estimated to be $4,067,000.

This decrease in SG Americas Securities LLC’s stake in Zscaler demonstrates a significant shift in their investment strategy within the technology sector. Typically, such moves speak volumes about an investor’s outlook on a particular company or industry.

Earlier this month, Zscaler released its quarterly earnings results for the period ending September 5th. The company exceeded analysts’ expectations by reporting earnings per share (EPS) of $0.64 compared to consensus estimates of $0.49 EPS, representing an increase of $0.15 EPS.

During this quarter, Zscaler generated revenue totaling $455 million, surpassing analysts’ projected revenue of $430.38 million. This marks a substantial growth rate of 43% compared to the same quarter last year when considering revenue figures alone.

Moreover, it is worth noting that Zscaler struggled with negative financial performance indicators such as negative return on equity and negative net margin during this reporting period. These factors reveal potential concerns about profitability and operational efficiency within the organization.

Despite these challenges, research analysts anticipate that Zscaler will post -1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year when considering all quarters combined.

Zscaler holds significant importance within the technology sector due to its specialization in cloud-based security services and solutions aimed at safeguarding enterprise networks and data. As the reliance on cloud computing and remote work continues to expand, companies like Zscaler are well-positioned to capitalize on this growing market.

Investors closely monitor the financial…

Source…

America’s original hacking supergroup creates a free framework to improve app security

/in


Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc), a hacking group known for its activist endeavors, has built an open source tool for developers to build secure apps. Veilid, launched at DEF CON on Friday, includes options like letting users opt out of data collection and online tracking as a part of the group’s mission to fight against the commercialization of the internet.

“We feel that at some point, the internet became less of a landscape of knowledge and idea sharing, and more of a monetized corporate machine,” cDc leader Katelyn “medus4” Bowden said. “Our idea of what the internet should be looks more like the open landscape it once was, before our data became a commodity.”

Similar to other privacy products like Tor, cDc said there’s no profit motive behind the product, which was created “to promote ideals without the compromise of capitalism.” The group emphasized the focus on building for good, not profit, by throwing slight shade at a competing conference for industry professionals, Black Hat, held in Las Vegas at the same time as DEF CON. “If you wanted to go make a bunch of money, you’d be over at Black Hat right now,” Bowden said to the audience of hackers.

The design standards behind Veilid are “like Tor and IPFS had sex and produced this thing,” cDc hacker Christien “DilDog” Rioux said at DEF CON. Tor is the privacy-focused web browser best known for its connections to the “dark web,” or unlisted websites. Run as a non-profit, the developers behind Tor run a system that routes web traffic through various “tunnels” to obscure who you are and what you’re browsing on the web. IPFS, or the InterPlanetary File System, is an open-source set of protocols behind the internet, mainly used for file sharing or publishing data on a decentralized network.

The bigger Veilid gets, the more secure it will be as well, according to Rioux. The strength doesn’t come from the number of apps made on the framework, but by how many people use the apps to further the routing of nodes that make up the network. “The network gains strength by a single popular app,” Rioux said. “The big Veilid network is supported by the entire ecosystem not just your app.” In the…

Source…

Biden-Harris Administration Launches New Efforts to Strengthen America’s K-12 Schools’ Cybersecurity

/in


Biden-Harris Administration is announcing new actions and private commitments to bolster the nation’s cyber defense at schools and protect hard-working American families

Administration leaders, school administrators, educators, and education technology providers will convene at the White House to discuss how to strengthen the nation’s schools’ cybersecurity amidst growing ransomware attacks

The United States has experienced an increase in cyberattacks that have targeted the nation’s schools in recent years.  In the 2022-23 academic year alone, at least eight K-12 school districts throughout the country were impacted by significant cyberattacks – four of which left schools having to cancel classes or close completely.  Not only have these attacks disrupted school operations, but they also have impacted students, their families, teachers, and administrators.  Sensitive personal information – including, student grades, medical records, documented home issues, behavioral information, and financial information – of students and employees were stolen and publicly disclosed. Additionally, sensitive information about school security systems was leaked online as a result of these attacks. Today, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, joined First Lady Jill Biden, to convene school administrators, educators and private sector companies to discuss best practices and new resources available to strengthen our schools’ cybersecurity, protect American families and schools, and prevent cyberattacks from disrupting our classrooms.

According to a 2022 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, the loss of learning following a cyberattack ranged from three days to three weeks, and recovery time can take anywhere from two to nine months.  Further, the monetary losses to school districts following a cyber incident ranged from $50,000 to $1 million. That is why the Biden-Harris Administration has had a relentless focus on securing our nation’s critical infrastructure since day one, and continues to work tirelessly to provide resources that enable the U.S.’s more than 13,000 school districts to better protect…

Source…

The Growing Scope of America’s Cyber Security Threats

/in


SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW – With a new Homeland Security task force underway, designed to examine threats posed by both Beijing and ever-more potent forms of artificial intelligence, bigger – and perhaps even existential – questions are being hashed out about the evolving landscape of hazards that confront U.S. policymakers. It is clear they extend well beyond America’s usual battery of adversaries, according to Colonel Candice E. Frost, Commander of the Joint Intelligence Operations Center at U.S. Cyber Command.

China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, are not only joined by a growing crop of cybercriminals, “proxy actors, executed by actors in Russia, or elsewhere in other domains,” but also criminals without political affiliations – many of whom increasingly benefit from AI-powered technologies, such as ChaptGPT, that can reshape the very nature of both business and national security.

“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62

Access all of The Cipher Brief‘s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+Member.

Source…