News Hub | News Direct

Communications

Advertising Communications Graphic Design Internet Marketing Media Publishing SEO
Article thumbnail News Release

CMMC Center of Excellence Announces Engagement Agreement with itSM Solutions

Interoperability Clearinghouse

The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Center of Excellence ( CMMC COE ), hosted by the Information Technology Acquisition Advisory Council (IT-AAC), a public-private partnership serving the public and private sectors for more than 15 years, is excited to announce a partnership with itSM Solutions, a global consortium of academic, government and industry thought leaders working together to create training and technology solutions that enable enterprises to design, operationalize and automate a cybersecurity risk management program based on the best practice publications created by the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST), the International Standards Organization (ISO), the Center for Internet Security (CIS) and the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) of the Treadway Commission. This unique partnership will extend efforts to identify and include proven capabilities within the CMMC COE Marketplace to improve cybersecurity protection and resilience for the global defense industrial base network of contractors, vendors, and suppliers. itSM has created an innovative, turnkey NIST 800-171 FastTrack Readiness Program that will provide DIB companies with an affordable, fixed price cybersecurity risk management solution that will deliver the cybersecurity risk management outcome expected by the Department of Defense. The FastTrack program will include accredited certification training, online mentoring from industry experts plus an online Integrated Risk Management (IRM) platform that will seamlessly integrate all cybersecurity and IT Risk and Compliance functions into a powerfully automated assessment and program management solution. The executed Engagement Agreement establishes a collaborative engagement between itSM Solutions and the CMMC COE to partner in the furthering of their respective and complementary missions and objectives regarding the adoption, use, and expansion of CMMC based cybersecurity practices, risk management, and compliance for the DIB contractor, vendor, and supplier community of providers creating a broader CMMC ecosystem globally to improve security and resilience. Specific actions will include: The co-development of CMMC advisory services, cyber training and education programs to accelerate CMMC certification, increase cyber adoption and improve cyber protection & resilience. Co-sponsor symposiums, training programs and podcasts leveraging their combined cyber and IT expertise. Host regular working groups, with other partners, to enable collaboration and communications. Source qualified CMMC/ cyber professionals to serve as advocates. Establish an independent Industry Cyber Security Advisory Council with peer organizations to advise and educate leaders across government and industry on the continued evolution and effectiveness of CMMC. “This is exciting opportunity for us”, said Mr. John Weiler, Chairman of the Board at CMMC Center of Excellence, “This new partnership will further help advance the goals and objectives for improving the supply chain security and resilience of the US Department of Defense (DoD)”. “itSM Solutions is proud to partner with the CMMC COE on this very exciting initiative,” stated Mr. Rick Lemieux, Managing Partner and Chief Revenue Officer at itSM Solutions. “We look forward to collaborating with the COE on solutions that will not only get DIB companies ready for CMMC certification but also provide them with the skills and tools necessary to manage cybersecurity risk management as they would any other business function”. The CMMC-COE ( http://cmmc-coe.org ) and itSM Solutions partnership will focus on bringing together the many disparate cyber and national security communities of interest to reduce complexity, improve awareness, and accelerate industry effort to become more cyber resilient against the growing threats from nation states and criminal enterprises. The CMMC-COE establishes both a Market Place and Knowledge Clearinghouse that will include resources that support the overall effort, including white papers; tutorials; recorded webcasts; presentations; and more that will help reduce the cost and burden on small and medium size contractors already struggling from the impact of COVID. For more information on the CMMC COE, please visit http://cmmc-coe.org email info@cmmc-coe.org or call 703-863-3766 For more information on itSM Solutions, please visit https://www.itsmsolutions.com/ About Us ---------- CMMC-COE.ORG is a unique non-profit public-private partnership, with a vision to accelerate Cybersecurity Maturity Model (CMM) adoption, and reduce time & cost for security compliance for our partners by leveraging commercial best practices, CMMC standards, and innovative solutions for a measurable success. Our mission, focused on DOD mission objectives, cost containment and expeditious CMMC compliance, is to help the DIB improve cyber posture and resilience, and simplify its acquisition. The CMMC-COE is hosted by the Information Technology Acquisition Advisory Council (IT-AAC), a public/private partnership (P3) chartered in 2007 as an honest broker to reach outside the confines of the Federal IT advisories that lack dynamic reach into the Global IT Market, and dedicated to the adoption of commercial IT management standards of practice and innovations emanating from the Global IT market. Team IT-AAC has already demonstrated the value of its decade long investment, and provides a unique value to agencies seeking to achieve accelerate the transformation of legacy processes and systems. Our Just-in-Time SMEs apply an innovative suite of Technology Business Management and Agile Acquisition Processes needed to assure the business value of commercial IT. The Interoperability Clearinghouse (ICH), is the managing partner that make up the 24 NGO/SDO organizations that make up the IT-AAC. ICH provides the contract vehicles, clearances, and critical resources proven to guide sustainable, measurable and repeatable processes needed to drive better investment decisions as the speed of mission need, while aligning existing processes, methods and workforce with IT reform mandates contained in Clinger Cohen Act, FITARA, IT MGT Act, EO13838. Contact Details Bob Dix +1 703-975-6633 bob.dix@it-aac.org Company Website https://cmmc-coe.org

January 25, 2021 06:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

Article thumbnail News Release

RADWARE RESEARCH: API ABUSE IS A LEADING THREAT; ENTERPRISES ARE UNPREPARED FOR BOT TRAFFIC

Radware

Radware ® (NASDAQ: RDWR), a leading provider of cybersecurity and application delivery solutions, today released its 2020-2021 State of Web Application Security Report. The report revealed that global organizations are struggling to maintain consistent application security across multiple platforms, and they are also losing visibility with the emergence of new architectures and the adoption of Application Program Interfaces (APIs). A major factor in these challenges was the need to adjust rapidly to a new remote working and customer engagement model that resulted from the pandemic, leaving decision-makers little or no time to conduct adequate security planning. According to Michael Osterman of Osterman Research, “With 2020’s rapid cloud migration, we were surprised to see the pervasiveness across organizations of dangerous levels of insecurity in mobile and cloud-based apps, as well as APIs.” “With more than 70% of respondents reporting that their production apps have already left the data center, ensuring the security and integrity of these data and applications is becoming more challenging, particularly in multi-cloud environments,” said Gabi Malka, Chief Operating Officer for Radware. “This migration, in combination with an increased reliance on APIs and the addition of unsecured mobile apps, has been a boon to criminals, leaving them ahead on the cybersecurity curve. While respondents who have already moved to the public cloud and have several apps exposed to APIs seem to understand the risks, those that haven’t seem perilously complacent.” Among specific findings in the report are the following: API’s Are the Next Big Threat There is a growing dependence on, and increased reliance on, web-enabled applications in the form of APIs. A wide variety of sensitive data types are processed by APIs, such as user credentials, payment information, social security numbers, etc. API abuses are expected to become the most frequent attack vector. As such, API security is the most critical hole enterprises should patch in 2021. Nearly 40% of organizations surveyed reported that more than one-half of their applications are exposed to the internet or third-party services via APIs. Some 55% of organizations experience a DoS attack against their APIs at least monthly, 49% experience some form of injection attack at least monthly, and 42% experience an element/attribute manipulation at least monthly. Enterprises Unprepared for Bot Traffic Bot management is also a major concern because enterprises are not prepared to properly manage bot traffic. While web application firewalls offer important defensive capabilities to detect and prevent attacks against APIs and the like, bot management tools offer a robust defense against sophisticated bot attacks. And they give security teams a better grasp on dealing with a variety of threats and attacks. The report revealed that only 24% of organizations have a dedicated solution to distinguish between a real user and a bot. Moreover, only 39% of those surveyed have confidence in their understanding of what’s going on with sophisticated bad bots. Mobile Apps Far Less Secure Mobile apps played a critical role during 2020 as most information workers were shifted to at-home work, and as most use mobile apps for entertainment, social interaction, education, and shopping. However, mobile app development is highly insecure. This is true, in part, because mobile apps are more commonly developed by third parties. This research found that only 36% of mobile apps have security fully integrated, and a large proportion have either minimal or no security (22%). As a result, until mobile apps security is treated seriously, we expect to see more – and more serious – incidents that use the mobile channel for attacks. That in turn will likely put more pressure on enterprises to secure mobile apps and not leave consumer data exposed to hackers. Security Staff Is Not the Prime Decision Maker Despite the threats outlined in the report, security is not a first priority in application development practices. In approximately 90% of surveyed organizations, security staff is not the prime influencer on application development architecture nor the budget. Some 43% of companies surveyed said security should not interrupt the end-to-end automation of the release cycle. This creates a situation in which the very people responsible for security have little control over how apps are developed. DDoS Attacks Aren’t Going Away The most common Bot attack is Denial-of-Service, taking different shapes. Some 86% said they have experienced such an attack, with a third of them reporting weekly occurrences and 5% seeing them daily. Denial-of-service at the application layer is frequently in the form of HTTP/S floods. Nearly 60% of organizations experience an HTTP flood at least once per month or more. To read the full report, please visit https://www.radware.com/resources/complete-protection/ METHODOLOGY Radware engaged Osterman Research to conduct a survey with 205 decision-makers and influencers in organizations that have a minimum of 1,000 employees. The median number of employees at the organizations surveyed was 2,200. The primary job functions of the individuals surveyed included network security, DevOps/DevSecOps, network operations, and related roles, application development, application security, and various other IT and related roles. The majority of those surveyed are either in senior management or management roles. including in executive positions. About Radware Radware ® (NASDAQ: RDWR), is a global leader of cybersecurity and application delivery solutions for physical, cloud, and software-defined data centers. Its award-winning solutions portfolio secures the digital experience by providing infrastructure, application, and corporate IT protection and availability services to enterprises globally. Radware’s solutions empower enterprise and carrier customers worldwide to adapt to market challenges quickly, maintain business continuity and achieve maximum productivity while keeping costs down. For more information, please visit www.radware.com. Radware encourages you to join our community and follow us on: Facebook, LinkedIn, Radware Blog, Twitter, YouTube, Radware Mobile for iOS and Android. ©2021 Radware Ltd. All rights reserved. Any Radware products and solutions mentioned in this press release are protected by trademarks, patents and pending patent applications of Radware in the U.S. and other countries. For more details please see: https://www.radware.com/LegalNotice/. All other trademarks and names are property of their respective owners ### Safe Harbor Statement This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements made herein that are not statements of historical fact, including statements about Radware’s plans, outlook, beliefs or opinions, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “estimates,” “plans,” and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “should,” “would,” “may” and “could.” For example, when we say that “we expect to see more – and more serious – incidents that use the mobile channel for attacks. That in turn will likely put more pressure on enterprises to secure mobile apps and not leave consumer data exposed to hackers”, that is a forward-looking statement. Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and actual results, expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, could differ materially from Radware’s current forecasts and estimates. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: the impact of global economic conditions and volatility of the market for our products; natural disasters and public health crises, such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic; our ability to expand our operations effectively; timely availability and customer acceptance of our new and existing solutions; intense competition in the market for cybersecurity and application delivery solutions and in our industry in general and changes in the competitive landscape; outages, interruptions or delays in hosting services or our internal network system; our dependence on independent distributors to sell our products; undetected defects or errors in our products or a failure of our products to protect against malicious attacks; the availability of components and manufacturing capacity; the ability of vendors to provide our hardware platforms and components for our main accessories; our ability to attract, train and retain highly qualified personnel; and other factors and risks over which we may have little or no control. This list is intended to identify only certain of the principal factors that could cause actual results to differ. For a more detailed description of the risks and uncertainties affecting Radware, refer to Radware’s Annual Report on Form 20-F, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the other risk factors discussed from time to time by Radware in reports filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and, except as required by applicable law, Radware undertakes no commitment to revise or update any forward-looking statement in order to reflect events or circumstances after the date any such statement is made. Radware’s public filings are available from the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov or may be obtained on Radware’s website at www.radware.com. Contact Details Deborah Szajngarten +1 201-785-3206 deborah.szajngarten@radware.com Company Website https://radware.com/

January 20, 2021 06:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

Article thumbnail News Release

TeamSnap Health Check COVID-19 Screening Tool Receives 2021 Big Innovation Award

TeamSnap

TeamSnap announced today its industry leading Health Check COVID-19 screening tool has been named a winner in the 2021 BIG Innovation Awards presented by the Business Intelligence Group. This annual business awards program recognizes organizations, products, and people that are bringing new ideas to life in innovative ways. TeamSnap has also confirmed the expansion of the popular Health Check platform with teams and organizations now able to customize screening questions to better align with regional health requirements. TeamSnap Health Check debuted in August 2020 free to all users as part of the company’s ongoing effort to support sports organizations and teams in the safe return to team play. TeamSnap users can easily access COVID-19 screening questions on any iOS or Android mobile device. Overall, almost 10 million Health screenings have been performed on TeamSnap. “Like many companies and organizations, TeamSnap has evolved and innovated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We designed and quickly launched Health Check to help teams, clubs, leagues and associations manage a daunting COVID-19 screening process,” said Dave DuPont, Founder and CEO, TeamSnap. “It is gratifying to know that so many sports organizations are taking the necessary precautions and are trusting TeamSnap Health Check to manage the continuous screening process to help ensure a safe return to play.” TeamSnap Health Check is the first COVID-19 screening tool to be fully embedded into a sport management platform. While maintaining user privacy, administrators can track reports and notify members of any possible COVID-19 exposure. TeamSnap Health Check is being used extensively across all sports with soccer, hockey and football clubs ranking as the top users. Health Check is part of TeamSnap’s comprehensive strategy to help sports organizations navigate the pandemic while keeping athletes and their families, and everyone involved in sports safe. TeamSnap has been tracking live engagement data for the return to play across North America. The company has also created a resource hub that gives families access to the necessary information to Return to Sports with Confidence. #YouthSports #HealthCheck About TeamSnap Since our formation in 2009, TeamSnap has been single-mindedly focused on taking the work out of play. 24 million coaches, administrators, players and parents rely on TeamSnap's powerful and easy-to-use tools for communication, scheduling, payment collection and registration, organizing every sport and group activity in the world. For more information, visit www.TeamSnap.com. Contact Details Greg +1 416-458-3591 greg.mcisaac@teamsnap.com Company Website https://www.teamsnap.com/

January 19, 2021 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time

Article thumbnail News Release

CMMC Center of Excellence & CMMC COE EU Announce Memorandum of Understanding with Gerico Security SRL of Italy

Interoperability Clearinghouse

The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Center of Excellence ( CMMC COE ), hosted by the Information Technology Acquisition Advisory Council (IT-AAC), a public-private partnership serving the public and private sectors for more than 15 years, in collaboration with the UK’s Parava Security Solutions representing the CMMC-COE in Europe, is excited to announce a partnership with Gerico Security SRL through a Memorandum of Understanding to expand presence across Italy and Europe. This unique partnership represents an agreement to jointly drive education, awareness, and adoption of the CMMC standard and other cybersecurity measures to improve protection and resilience of the global supply chain that supports the Defense Industrial Base network of contractors, partners, vendors, and suppliers around the world. Through this bold collaboration, the parties will pursue initiatives that are mutually beneficial and deemed critical to the broad adoption and embrace of the CMMC, NIST standards, and cybersecurity best practices including: Sourcing of Senior qualified CMMC/Cyber professionals (both DoD and industry) serving as distinguished guest lecturers in selected events and seminars. Co-sponsorship of selected/approved webinars to gain a prospective on technology and business trends and giving insight to help propagate innovation that leads to crafting better industry proposals in response to DoD requirements. Co-Developing CMMC/Cyber Training and Education programs that will accelerate CMMC certification AND improved cyber protection and resilience “This is exciting opportunity for us”, said Mr. John Weiler, Chairman of the Board at CMMC Center of Excellence, “This new partnership will further help advance the goals and objectives for improving the supply chain security and resilience of the US Department of Defense (DoD)”. “This is a great moment for the deployment of cyber security and CMMC for the European Defense Industry Base. said Andy Watkin-Child of Parava Security Solutions, who also leads the CMMC COE EU. Having Gerico as a Partner in Italy brings their unique cyber security skills to support companies within one of Europe’s Largest Defense Partners deploy CMMC and cyber Security”. “We are proud of the strategical and cultural relationship between our Countries within which this agreement can be considered to be a missing peace. In an era of asymmetric cyber warfare, cybersecurity is the primary defense tool of the western industrial systems and, we believe that the CMMMC model will be used within both the defense and civilian sectors”, said Mr. Giustino Fumagalli, CEO of Gerico Security. Gerico Security SRL is the CMMC’s reference point in Italy. Through the CMMC-COE and PARAVA agreement, Gerico is aimed at supporting the main defense parties on both sides of the Atlantic and is aimed at defining and achieving high levels of cybersecurity both on large and small Italian companies belonging to the DoD’s Defense Industrial Base. Gerico Security is an Italian center of excellence in advisory on information & cyber security, business continuity, internal and third-party audit and security inspection activities. Gerico supports private organizations in business process certifications through the provision of turn-key projects of Governance Risk & Compliance. For more information on the CMMC COE, please visit http://cmmc-coe.org email info@cmmc-coe.org or call 703-863-3766 For more information on the CMMC COE EU, please visit https://cmmc-eu.com/ For more information about Parava Security Solutions, please visit https://www.parava.org/ For further information about Gerico Security, please visit www.gerico-sec.it or send an email to info@gerico-sec.it About Us ---------- CMMC-COE.ORG is a unique non-profit public-private partnership, with a vision to accelerate Cybersecurity Maturity Model (CMM) adoption, and reduce time & cost for security compliance for our partners by leveraging commercial best practices, CMMC standards, and innovative solutions for a measurable success. Our mission, focused on DOD mission objectives, cost containment and expeditious CMMC compliance, is to help the DIB improve cyber posture and resilience, and simplify its acquisition. The CMMC-COE is hosted by the Information Technology Acquisition Advisory Council (IT-AAC), a public/private partnership (P3) chartered in 2007 as an honest broker to reach outside the confines of the Federal IT advisories that lack dynamic reach into the Global IT Market, and dedicated to the adoption of commercial IT management standards of practice and innovations emanating from the Global IT market. Team IT-AAC has already demonstrated the value of its decade long investment, and provides a unique value to agencies seeking to achieve accelerate the transformation of legacy processes and systems. Our Just-in-Time SMEs apply an innovative suite of Technology Business Management and Agile Acquisition Processes needed to assure the business value of commercial IT. The Interoperability Clearinghouse (ICH), is the managing partner that make up the 24 NGO/SDO organizations that make up the IT-AAC. ICH provides the contract vehicles, clearances, and critical resources proven to guide sustainable, measurable and repeatable processes needed to drive better investment decisions as the speed of mission need, while aligning existing processes, methods and workforce with IT reform mandates contained in Clinger Cohen Act, FITARA, IT MGT Act, EO13838. Contact Details Bob Dix +1 703-975-6633 bob.dix@it-aac.org Company Website https://cmmc-coe.org

January 19, 2021 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

Article thumbnail News Release

Hankook Tire Partners with Tableau Software for Next Generation Business Intelligence

Hankook Tire America Corp.

- Advancing office digitalization through innovative data analysis platform and reporting systems - Furthering digital transformation as a leading technology company of the fourth industrial revolution Global leading tire company Hankook Tire is further driving its digital transformation by partnering with the leading analytics platform, Tableau Software. Through this partnership, Hankook will be equipped with advanced data analytics and agile user interface platform for next generation business intelligence. Taking the initiative to further develop its digital capabilities, Hankook is pursuing a digitalization of its office through Tableau’s data-driven analytics platform. Known for its easy to use functions such as the Tableau Prep (intuitive data handling through drag-and-drop) and the calculated field function which helps user to process the data into a more usable form, Tableau enhances data based decision and visual analysis. Based on Tableau’s software platform, Hankook created a standard database processing algorithm which enabled accumulation of globally-scattered data, expediting the decision-making process. As a result, analyzing and reporting tasks has been minimized and more time can now be allocated to deriving valuable insights from a business perspective Hankook is also looking to make developments more sophisticatedly and quickly while reflecting the modification and upgrade requests from relevant teams in real-time. An actual case where the development time has been reduced 75% has already been reported for Hankook – this is based on the time it takes to create the dashboard UI from Tableau after developing a prototype model for standardized reporting to final usage. “Through the partnership with Tableau Software, Hankook is redefining the way we work by bringing a whole new level of efficiency to data analysis and reporting,” says Sooil Lee, President of Hankook Tire America Corp. “We are one step closer to securing a leading position in digital transformation. We will continue innovative changes to be fully ready for what future beholds.” Hankook plans to strengthen its standing as a global premium brand by innovating the way it operates as well as enhancing its digital capabilities. Hankook has been developing the Virtual Compound Design (VCD) system, a predictive model for tire compound properties using artificial intelligence (AI), as well as the Automatic Inspection Process based on AI and digital sensor. Most recently, Hankook has jointly developed the Road Hazard Prediction & Detection Solution with SK Planet and the company is working closely with KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), one of the top science and technology universities in Asia, on future technologies and industry-academic cooperation to accelerate digital transformation. About Tableau Tableau helps people see and understand data. Tableau’s self-service analytics platform empowers people of any skill level to work with data. From individuals and non-profits to government agencies and the Fortune 500, tens of thousands of customers around the world use Tableau to get rapid insights and make impactful, data-driven decisions. See how Tableau can help you by downloading the free trial at www.tableau.com/trial. About Hankook Tire America Corp. Hankook Tire America Corp. is a growing leader in the U.S. tire market, leveraging investments in technology, manufacturing and marketing to deliver high-quality, reliable products that are safer for consumers and the environment. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, Hankook America markets and distributes a complete line of high-performance and ultra-high-performance passenger tires, light truck and SUV tires as well as medium truck and bus tires in the United States. Hankook Tire America is a subsidiary of Hankook & Company Co., Ltd., a Forbes Global 2000 company headquartered in Seoul, Korea. Contact Details Mollie Holman +1 646-746-5611 mholman@brodeur.com Company Website https://www.hankooktire.com/us/

January 19, 2021 09:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

Article thumbnail News Release

Minuteman Press Franchise in Fairfield, CT Empowers Local Businesses to Grow Sales During COVID-19

Minuteman Press International Inc

“We are busier than ever and that is becoming true for those we serve. Everything is coming back and people are enthusiastic to move forward and grow.” Minuteman Press in Fairfield, CT is a locally owned design, marketing, and printing franchise that has remained open as an essential business during the COVID-19 pandemic. Owners Cheryl Camarato and Susan Wybiral have worked hard for nearly ten years as business owners to get where they are today, and they weren’t going to let anything get in their way. Cheryl explains, “Over the last four years we took our sales to incredible heights. We have mentored businesses of all sizes and we are proud of our operations and business growth both before the pandemic and during it.” Cheryl continues, “The beginning of COVID-19 was a scary time for everyone, but we made fast moves to remain open and strengthen our clients’ connections so they could survive and eventually resume growth.” From her words to real world actions, her full staff was hard at work within weeks. A grateful community of entrepreneurs, graduates and families were well on their way developing new ways for keeping life and prosperity in Fairfield. “What I did was shut the door and worked,” Cheryl explains. A lot of people were very happy Minuteman Press in Fairfield was still working on their behalf while they were under unbelievable pressure. “We got an email that said, ‘Thank God you are still working!’ and it was from a large landscaping customer with 90 locations. We take care of design and print, advising on strategy for all of them. I’d say we do postcard mailings for them to the amount of 40,000 per week, give or take.” Cheryl’s reputation for meeting complex situations head-on empowers her capabilities as a problem-solver. “Challenging times are opportunities for us to utilize our full-range of technology. We help our clients by leveraging our products and services as well as the combined years of experience Susan and I have rerouting businesses into success stories, even against the odds.” They are unmatched when it comes to taking calculated risks and they share this talent with everyone who entrusts them with projects. As it turns out, Cheryl has an uncanny ability to come out on the winning side of tough decisions during a time when it’s difficult to calculate because facts are still developing. As the world opens back up, she and Susan are part of the reason the local economy is becoming revitalized. “We bought our center with skillsets perfectly matched to make it all work and developed a healthy relationship with our franchise family over the years, too.” She adds, “My wife and I went to our system-wide World Expo in Las Vegas and I met so many great people from headquarters as well as other franchise owners from around the world. We knew we would never have a slow time because our industry is filled with options that we can extend to our customers. We have recently added another large format machine, a heat press and have been printing floor graphics and doing vehicle wraps. So, while the holidays were bonkers around here with orders as might be expected, we are also busy right now. Our restaurants, small business owners, local government and non-profits are coming to us for help and we have them all covered. We do not have slow periods and we can see the good effects of our work in action all around the area.” Cheryl reduced spending immediately and used her innate and earned business intelligence to bolster her bottom line. She called and visited her customer base to check on their welfare and help them strategize. “We remained open and busy because print is an essential business, so we did a great deal of work for the town, including the parks department which needed health and safety signage without delay. Then, we were sensitive to local families hoping to celebrate graduations. So, we designed printed options like lawn signs and put them online, including Esty as a way to create a special tradition and help our area preserve this rite of passage.” The thoughtful designs were met with $15,000 worth of sign orders and happy families. “It was a strong sales month for us in the middle of lockdowns. We remained positive and somehow, we pulled it off. We took care of signage for between six and eight grammar schools, the same number of middle schools plus public works and the board of education. People really needed help preserving monumental moments and businesses needed help adjusting to unusual hours. Signage was in high-demand and our business never slowed down.” Cheryl is humble about her role as mentor, but her reputation for being there for clients grows even as she models how to handle emergencies. Susan is a production master and takes care of the latest technology their modern printing center houses. Cheryl says, “I am on the money end of our business and with that came the decision to diversify years ago. We made wise equipment decisions that allow us to take care of clients in-house the majority of the time and we never stop devising new ways to make real connections with target audiences. The response is a stronger, more enduring business no matter which industry our client represents.” Four years ago, Cheryl and Susan took an A-frame sign and cut it into the shape of a t-shirt, advertising customized apparel. “Within an hour people came in asking if we could print customized t-shirts. We knew we would work to make sure our clients’ options in marketing was not limited, so we provided things some people might not expect from a ‘print shop.’ During the COVID-19 challenge our efforts really paid off as we are able, for instance, to welcome our construction and landscaping customers into much more than they realized they could use to grow business.” Today there are still uncertainties but Cheryl keeps her finger on the pulse of each brand under her care. She has helped them all make swift adjustments. “We move and groove an go on to the next thing while a lot of other printers just print basics. For example, we have a ton of construction companies and when their owners come in, they come in asking for work orders. We then show them how we can letter their trucks and provide A-frame signs, branded facemasks and an entire marketing strategy to take them around hurdles reaching customers.” “Every time I provide a freshly printed, branded facemask as a sample, I get an order for up to several hundred,” she says. It is how Minuteman Press in Fairfield meets the reality of what her community faces and helps make it possible to keep buying and selling. She adds, “We move quickly and when people were working from home and under stress, we used our status as an essential business to create a bridge between their restricted activity and the message they need to keep in front of target audiences.” Her commitment is firm and her approach to sales is no-nonsense but Cheryl’s devotion to the success of every project entrusted to her staff at Minuteman Press in Fairfield is deeply personal. This is met with lasting gratitude as she concludes, “We are busier than ever and that is becoming true for those we serve. Everything is coming back and people are enthusiastic to move forward and grow.” For more information on Minuteman Press in Fairfield, CT, visit https://www.fairfield-ct.minutemanpress.com. To learn more about #1 rated Minuteman Press franchise opportunities, visit https://minutemanpressfranchise.com. Contact Details Chris Biscuiti +1 631-249-1370 cbiscuiti@mpihq.com Company Website https://minutemanpressfranchise.com

January 18, 2021 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

Image
Article thumbnail News Release

CMMC Center of Excellence Announces Memorandum of Understanding with Women in Cybersecurity Mid Atlantic

Interoperability Clearinghouse

The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Center of Excellence ( CMMC COE ), hosted by the Information Technology Acquisition Advisory Council (IT-AAC), a public-private partnership serving the public and private sectors for more than 15 years, is proud to announce a Memorandum of Understanding with the Women in Cybersecurity Mid Atlantic affiliate. This unique partnership will extend efforts to advance the goals and objectives for improving the cyber and supply chain security and resilience of the US Department of Defense (DoD) global Defense Industrial Base (DIB) network of contractors, suppliers, and vendors. The executed MOU establishes a cooperative agreement between the Women in Cyber Security Mid Atlantic and CMMC COE to partner in the furthering of their respective and complementary missions and objectives regarding the adoption, use, and expansion of CMMC based cybersecurity practices for the DIB contractor community and the information and communication technology community creating a broader CMMC ecosystem to improve security and resilience. Specific actions will include: The co-development of CMMC advisory services, cyber training and education programs to accelerate CMMC certification, increase cyber adoption and improve cyber protection & resilience. Expand and drive diversity across the cybersecurity workforce Co-sponsor symposiums, training programs and podcasts leveraging their combined cyber and IT expertise. Host regular working groups, with other partners, to enable collaboration and communications. Establish an independent Industry Cyber Security Advisory Council with peer organizations to advise and educate leaders across government and industry on the continued evolution and effectiveness of CMMC Through this exciting partnership, the CMMC-COE ( www.cmmc-coe.org ) will also focus on bringing together the many disparate cyber and national security communities of interest to reduce complexity, improve awareness, and accelerate industry effort to become more cyber resilient against the growing threats from nation states and criminal enterprises. The CMMC-COE establishes both a Market Place and Knowledge Clearinghouse that will include resources that support the overall effort, including white papers; tutorials; recorded webcasts; presentations; and more that will help reduce the cost and burden on small/medium size contractors already struggling from the impact of COVID. The CMMC-COE partner network will be sharing a wide range of capabilities from member organizations, including; cyber standards frameworks, education, solution architectures, cyber mentoring, workforce, and other elements needed to scale to the demands of the entire DIB market place in the US and abroad (400,000+ contractors). “This is exciting opportunity for us”, said Mr. John Weiler, Chairman of the Board at CMMC Center of Excellence, “This new partnership will further help advance the goals and objectives for improving the supply chain security and resilience of the US Department of Defense (DoD)”. “The WiCyS Mid-Atlantic is excited to team with the CMMC COE in efforts to enhance the overall security of the defense industrial base supply chain. This partnership clearly demonstrates the CMMC COE’s commitment to a diverse cybersecurity workforce, which is key to defending the nation’s cyber critical infrastructure. Creative and inclusive teaming is essential to the CMMC’s success!”, said Ms. Diane M Janosek, Founder and Senior Advisor, Women in Cybersecurity Mid-Atlantic. WiCyS is a non-profit membership organization with national reach that is dedicated to bringing together women in cybersecurity from academia, research and industry to share knowledge, experience, networking and mentoring. The initiative was created through an NSF grant (Award # 1303441 ) by Dr. Ambareen Siraj at Tennessee Tech University in 2012, and has grown into a wonderful alliance among academia, government and industry. WiCyS offers mentoring, learning, networking and career development to women at all stages of their cybersecurity careers. Whether you are a student just considering a career in cybersecurity or an experienced leader in the cybersecurity workforce, WiCyS provides tangible benefits and a supportive community. The Women in Cybersecurity Mid-Atlantic Affiliate (WiCyS MAA) is a regional affiliate that covers the geographic areas: South New Jersey, South-East Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, and Northern Virginia, and will continue to undertake activities to promote recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in cybersecurity. For more information on the CMMC COE, please visit http://cmmc-coe.org email info@cmmc-coe.org or call 703-863-3766 For more information on the Women in Cybersecurity Mid Atlantic, please visit https://www.wicysmidatlantic.org/ About Us ---------- CMMC-COE.ORG is a unique non-profit public-private partnership, with a vision to accelerate Cybersecurity Maturity Model (CMM) adoption, and reduce time & cost for security compliance for our partners by leveraging commercial best practices, CMMC standards, and innovative solutions for a measurable success. Our mission, focused on DOD mission objectives, cost containment and expeditious CMMC compliance, is to help the DIB improve cyber posture and resilience, and simplify its acquisition. The CMMC-COE is hosted by the Information Technology Acquisition Advisory Council (IT-AAC), a public/private partnership (P3) chartered in 2007 as an honest broker to reach outside the confines of the Federal IT advisories that lack dynamic reach into the Global IT Market, and dedicated to the adoption of commercial IT management standards of practice and innovations emanating from the Global IT market. Team IT-AAC has already demonstrated the value of its decade long investment, and provides a unique value to agencies seeking to achieve accelerate the transformation of legacy processes and systems. Our Just-in-Time SMEs apply an innovative suite of Technology Business Management and Agile Acquisition Processes needed to assure the business value of commercial IT. The Interoperability Clearinghouse (ICH), is the managing partner that make up the 24 NGO/SDO organizations that make up the IT-AAC. ICH provides the contract vehicles, clearances, and critical resources proven to guide sustainable, measurable and repeatable processes needed to drive better investment decisions as the speed of mission need, while aligning existing processes, methods and workforce with IT reform mandates contained in Clinger Cohen Act, FITARA, IT MGT Act, EO13838. Contact Details Bob Dix +1 703-975-6633 bob.dix@it-aac.org Company Website https://cmmc-coe.org

January 14, 2021 06:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

Article thumbnail News Release

International Payments Executive & Fintech Counsel Joins Chia Network Board of Directors ~ Chuck Stoops brings significant regulatory and corporate governance experience

Chia Network

Chia Network, Inc. ("Chia" or the "Company"), a state-of-the-art global open-source decentralized blockchain and smart transaction platform, today announced the appointment of Chuck Stoops to its board as a non-executive independent director. A seasoned executive, Mr. Stoops brings to Chia more than 20 years of experience in global financial services and technology organizations. Previously Mr. Stoops served as Chief Legal Officer of Rakuten Europe, including its European banking subsidiary; in various senior roles at PayPal, including Deputy CFO/Head of Tax in Silicon Valley and later EU Legal Counsel/Chief Data Protection Officer based in Europe. Additionally, Mr. Stoops served as Head of Finance International for Netflix; as a member of Skype’s senior finance leadership team prior to the company’s sale to Microsoft; and also as Associate General Counsel for Ask.com. Mr. Stoops has also served as a member of various corporate Boards of Directors for eBay, PayPal, BlackBerry (RIM) and others and has deep expertise in corporate governance, financial reporting and controls. At present, Mr. Stoops is developing a new challenger banking project in Luxembourg. He holds a BA from Washington and Jefferson College and two law degrees: an LL.M. from Georgetown Law School and a J.D. from Pepperdine. "We are delighted to welcome Mr. Stoops to Chia Network's Board of Directors," said Bram Cohen, Founder and CEO of the Company. "He brings a strong track record of business leadership, a customer-centric approach to decentralized technology, and a wealth of regulatory, security and data protection experience in the international payments industry. His expertise will be helpful as Chia launches its innovative enterprise-grade digital money platform. We look forward to benefiting from Mr. Stoops' insights and perspectives." "It is an honor to join the Board of Chia Network at this incredibly exciting time. As the Company prepares for its mainnet launch in Q1 2021, blockchain enabled cryptocurrency is gaining traction with a broader cross section of institutional investors,” said Mr. Stoops. "Since inception, the ‘early internet pioneers’ who founded Chia have already achieved significant milestones in terms of public node count currently estimated at over 1500, ranking Chia Network as a top 15 blockchain. I look forward to contributing my broad organizational experience with leading global disruptors to help Chia grow and further its mission. I am equally excited at the prospect of commercializing Chia’s technology and delivering long-term value to its shareholders." Mr. Stoops joins Bram Cohen and Gene Hoffman to become the third board member of Chia Network, whose board of directors and officers served as senior executives of BitTorrent, eMusic.com, Vindicia, PGP, Inc., Overstock.com, Razor Gaming, Skullcandy and other innovative companies. About Chia Network Chia Network, founded by Bram Cohen who invented the peer-to-peer BitTorrent protocol, is a state-of-the-art open-source decentralized blockchain and smart transaction platform. Using the first new secure Nakamoto consensus algorithm invented since Bitcoin, Chia Network aims to operate an eco-friendly, more secure and user-friendly payment system for cross border payments, issuing financial assets, lending, escrow payments, institutional custody, and distributed identity. Chia’s “Proof of Space and Proof of Time”-based blockchain reduces waste in “Proof of Work”-based blockchains. Built to run Chialisp, the company’s newly developed on-chain smart transaction programming language, Chia’s blockchain allows its users to build and execute smart contracts and enable peer-to-peer applications. Chia believes that “digital money” should be easier to use than cash, harder to lose, and nearly impossible to steal. The Company is funded by leading venture capitalists including Slow Ventures, a16z, Naval Ravikant, Galaxy Digital, Greylock, True Ventures, MetaStable, Stillmark, DCM, and others. The Company’s Advisors include Dr. Dan Boneh, Research Partner at a16z and Applied Cryptography Professor at Stanford University; and Dr. Krzysztof Pietrzak, Cryptography Professor of IST Austria; and Ms. Katie Haun, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Investor Relations Contact: Gretchen Lium. For more information, visit https://chia.net and connect with us on Twitter ( @chia_project ), Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Contact Details Gretchen Lium +1 303-638-9185 gretchen@chia.net Company Website https://www.chia.net/

January 14, 2021 05:57 AM Eastern Standard Time

Article thumbnail News Release

Pencil doubles returns for brands with next generation ads created by AI

Stockwood Strategy

Online video ads can now be generated by artificial intelligence (AI), while learning what resonates with audiences, in order to deliver better results for brands. This innovation is being pioneered by Pencil, the Creative AI company, with the launch of its Machine Generated Creative (MGC) platform. US online sales reached almost $800 billion in 2020, up by 32% year-over-year fuelled by the pandemic*. Over ten million advertisers bought over $80 billion of Facebook ads last year, and research consultancy Nielsen has estimated that creative design can drive almost half of campaign performance. Learning Pencil’s MGC video ads, which are each unique and can be generated in 1 minute, have dozens of creative parameters which can be tracked and analysed through the Pencil platform. Using historic ad performance data, Pencil is able to understand what in the ad is resonating with customers. It can then generate new batches of ad ideas which are new and distinct, but which share winning characteristics with past winners. In this way Pencil learns what works while continuously exploring new ideas that might resonate with audiences. For example, a flashlight brand using Pencil may generate a first batch of ads and find that those pitching battery life outperform those pitching brightness. The brand may then generate more ads exploring how battery life is important when keeping a flashlight in the car for emergencies. Performance Pencil analysed over 100 campaigns that used MGC video ads over the past 6 months and found the best MGC ads delivered an average return on ad spend (ROAS) 2x that of other ads the brands were running. One brand’s MGC campaign delivered 7x higher ROAS. Will Hanschell, CEO and co-founder of Pencil commented: “Great ad campaigns are born from many creative ideas that are distilled down to a few. We are doing exactly this, extremely quickly, using AI. In launching MGC, we want to bring speed, insights and new ideas to marketing teams who care about both the creativity and the results of their ads - that means all marketing teams. Our platform uses the same brainstorm and refine process that creative teams have always used, which means creative teams can collaborate with the platform or use it to automate their day-to-day experimentation.” “Video ads have been dominating marketing campaigns around the world, even more so in 2020 as businesses have pivoted to ecommerce and social channels to engage new customers. The Pencil platform allows brands affordable access to the most powerful AI technology available today to deliver badly needed growth for their businesses, from day one.” Technology Pencil leverages proprietary technology to generate ad video, derive insights and make predictions, as well as integrating the OpenAI API to generate ad copy. The OpenAI API provides access to GPT-3, one of the world’s most powerful language models. Pencil is among the first companies approved to use it commercially. This approval requires strict criteria in AI safety and ethics. GPT-3 allows Pencil to go beyond generating product descriptions, and begin to generate entirely new narratives around a brand or product. For example, pitching a flashlight in an ad by first establishing that working in the dark can be dangerous. This makes Pencil’s ads more compelling to potential customers, and therefore more effective for brands. “Our ads are able to learn from what works for the people - like you or me - who see them and click on them. Our platform gives brands a tool to build a deep understanding of what’s working, what isn’t and what they should try next. We are generating ideas and campaigns that self-learn, providing brands with new insights and a way forward to grow their businesses. With the 2x better results we’ve already achieved at 10x less time and cost, we believe AI will be as fundamental to creativity in the future as the pencil was in the past.” adds Will Hanschell Ends *eMarketer, US Ecommerce Growth Jumps to More than 30% About Pencil Pencil is a Creative AI company on a mission to generate unexpected ideas that get results. Pencil generates ads that learn to perform, delivering the return on ad spend that helps brands scale their businesses. Pencil invented Machine Generated Creative (MGC), a new way of making ads that algorithmically optimises for creative novelty, brand relevance and return on advertising spend. It always starts from a human brief and it always involves total human editorial control. Pencil’s MGC platform generates ads in minutes and has been shown to generate ads that double returns for brands. Pencil was founded in 2018 with a team from Google, Facebook and Uber and is backed by Sequoia, Wavemaker Partners, Singapore Innovate and Entrepreneur First. Contact Details Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://www.trypencil.com/

January 12, 2021 06:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

Image
1 ... 205206207208209