Best Practice for Lifecycle Crypto Key Management
Organisations utilising cryptography for securing confidential information have the choice of hardware and software based solutions depending on the nature of the data in need of encryption. Arguably, the weakest link in the chain is the cryptographic keys used to encrypt and decrypt the data. This is due to the constantly increasing processing power of today’s computers and the length of time it may take to compromise the keys through an exhaustive key search. Therefore, these organisations must regularly revoke, update and distribute the keys to the relevant parties in order to reduce the risk of internal and external threats.
Many sectors, including banking and governmental, have the time consuming task of tracking and managing ever-increasing numbers of keys to ensure the right keys are in the right place at the right time. The vast amounts of keys needed for the daily operations of applications using crypto will lead to an army of administrators if the keys are managed manually. Hence, automated key management systems are now a necessity for these organisations if they are to keep on top of the workload, and reduce their admin costs.
Key management will come in many variations with some more suitable for enterprise settings while others are more scalable, designed for the huge numbers of keys as utilised in the banking industry. Different requirements need different solutions, however, there are some general issues which must be addressed if the implementation of such systems are to be successful in terms of functionality, compliance, availability and keeping costs at a minimum. A short list of best practice procedures is below:
• De-centralise encryption and decryption
• Centralised lifecycle key management
• Automated key distribution and updating
• Future proof – supporting multiple standards, e.g. PCI DSS, Sarbanes-Oxley and FIPS 140-2
• Support for all major hardware and software security modules to avoid vendor tie-in
• Flexible key attributes to eliminate paperwork
• Comprehensive searchable tamper evident audit logs
• Transparent and streamlined processes
• Base on open standards to Minimise development time when integrating new applications
With a system combining these elements, key management can eliminate many of the risks associated with human error and intentional attacks on the confidential data. It may also allow the flexibility for providing security for applications which might otherwise have been deemed too costly for cryptography.
Regardless of industry or solution an organisation may choose, the above list, at the very least, should be the cornerstone of any key management system, to not only enable a high level of security but to improve processes and provide short and long term savings.
The Beginners Guide to Crypto Currency Exchange
Cryptocurrency Exchange or Digital Currency Exchange is a business that involves the exchange of cryptocurrency with other assets such as money or any other digital currency. It is a web service that provides electronic transactions in electronic forms and taking fees for them.
Any transactions or operations to Digital Currency Exchange can be made through debit and credit cards, postal money order or any other kinds of money transfer. This article is about discussing the various cryptocurrency exchanges which facilitate crypto currency trading for beginners and what they offer in terms of availability, ease of use, security, deposit/withdrawal methods and fees. We hope this guide to cryptocurrency trading can help you get started with cryptocurrency exchanges.
Coinbase/GDAX
Coinbase is one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges based in San Francisco, California. It is available in 32 countries and currently serves over 10 million customers. Launched in 2012, it has an easy to use interface that makes Digital Currency Exchange an easy task for a non-technical person. It is also available for both iOS and Android. Unfortunately, Coinbase doesn’t provide crypto currency mining for beginners and is only an exchange.
As of now, it offers four coins, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin. It exchanges digital currency with US dollars, Euros and Great British Pounds. With minimum transfer fees, Coinbase has never experienced any security breach which makes it a perfect platform for digital currency exchange. In addition to that, Coinbase also offers a fully-fledged advanced exchange called GDAX. It offers more advanced features and different and better trading fees than Coinbase.
Bitstamp
Bitstamp is another platform that provides digital currency exchange. It is relatively easy to use and offers more advanced features via TradeView. Bitstamp offers coins such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and ripple. It exchanges digital currency with US dollars and Euro. You can put into practice all the latest crypto currency trading techniques in this exchange.
It offers Flat deposits via bank transfers and supports debit/credit cards. Perhaps the only drawback one can find in Bitstamp is slightly high fees and the fact that it suffered one security breach in 7 years of its operation. Nonetheless, it is one the most reliable exchanges. It is available in both iOS and android.
Gemini
Gemini is a UK based company launched in 2015 by Winklevoss twins. It is available in few countries including U.S, Canada, Hong-Kong, Singapore and South Korea. One of the downsides to this platform is that it is not particularly user friendly. So, beginners are not recommended to use this platform.
It offers two coins and 1 FLAT currency Bitcoin Cash, Ehtereum and US Dollars. Gemini follows strict protocols when it comes to security and as of 2018, it has not encountered a single security breach thus making it one of the most secure and reliable digital currency platform. However, it is important to have digital currency investment strategies before you start trading.
Digital Ticks
Digital ticks is a modern crypto exchange that aims to be a game changer in this sector. They have implemented many of the latest techniques which makes it easy for anyone to get started with trading.
It has a unique feature called a Single Portfolio View that would enable the traders to see all the holding positions on one single portfolio. It would be easy for traders to make informed decisions regarding the cryptocurrency exchange by using this unique feature. It also supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Dashcoin.
Kraken
Kraken is one of the oldest cryptocurreny exchange platform. Launched in 2011, kraken is the biggest exchange in terms of volume and liquidity for EUR trading pairs. It serves worldwide including the US.
Kraken offers a variety of coins including Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Monero, Augur, Litecoin and many more. It also supports deposit/withdrawals via bank transfers and cryptocurrencies. Having a not so friendly user interface, it also suffers from stability and performance issues but nonetheless, it is good platform for cryptocurrency exchanges.
Bitfinex
Bitfinex is the largest cryptocurrency exchange platform. Launched in 2012, it has an easy to use interface and offers advanced number of features such as margin trading, margin funding etc. It is available for both iOS and android platforms. It offers BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC, IOTA, XMR and NEO.
Just like the previous cryptocurrency exchanges, it supports withdrawals using US dollars and Euros via bank transfers. Bitfinex has suffered two security breaches, the first one was in May 2015, which resulted in a loss of $330,000. And the second one on August 2016 that resulted in a loss of worth $72 million.
EtherDelta
EtherDelta is a decentralized exchange that directly supports peer to peer connection. It is very different from the previously discussed cryptocurrency exchanging platform. Here, funds are held in a smart contract on a Ethereum network which you are solely responsible for depositing and withdrawing from. Currently, EtherDelta only supports Ehtereum based tokens.
EtherDelta has a rather confusing interface that makes it difficult for users to perform cryptocurrency exchange operations. In one occasion, someone tried to buy 750 Kyber for 0.007 ETH each but ended up buying 0.007 KNC at 750 ETH.
Conclusion
After looking at the various cryptocurrency exchanging platforms, we can safely say that Coinbase and Bitstamp stands out in terms of its good features like security, user friendly interface, multiple withdraws/transfer methods and many more.
Simplifying your social media lifestyle
Almost everybody today ‘who is able to use computers’ has an account with any one of the social media platforms. Many would even have more than two accounts and sometimes even three profiles as well. The idea behind creating social media profiles is to connect with friends, family and colleague, and also to create new friends so that they can share, upload and explore information, pictures or information respectively. But at the speed in which social media siteshave been progressing, it sometimes gets very difficult to stay up-to-date. Many people would easily spend more than two hours a day just checking updates on multiple social media sites and also sharing updates and pictures on multiple platforms.
All of this can become easier if you could manage all of them from a single dashboard. Which means, if you could have the ability to receive and send updates on multiple social media platforms without requiring signing in and signing out from every single platform, then social media would become easier and faster and it will save time as well. This is the major reason why many people are now using Mylife.com. When using Mylife.com, you do not need to flip through accounts or social media profiles, all you need to do is sign in to your Mylife.com account and access all your social media profiles at the same time. Apart from social media platforms you can also connect your e-mail to Mylife.com. The quality of the service provided by this site is so high that very few people have ever requested for a Mylife.com refund Mylife.com refund.
You can also use Mylife.com to find details about the people you are suspicious of. Not everybody discloses themselves completely. But because social media is being used so much, people share information about their self and forget about it. A lot of this information can be found out with the help of the search tools provided by Mylife.com. This is another feature that has stopped people from requesting for a Mylife.com refund. Using the search tools many have reconnected to their high school friends and found old neighbors and friends they thought they had forever lost. Social media not only connects you with your old friends, colleagues or family member it also provide you information about various other things like companies, employers, business etc. It also gives you opportunity to show you talent to other people.