Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 34 | Page 19

NEWS

‘ Momo ’ game threatens young Internet users

Pure Storage positioned as a Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for solid-state arrays for fifth consecutive year

Mohammad Amin Hasbini , Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab

Kaspersky Lab has issued guidance to parents following reports about a disturbing game targeting young WhatsApp users . Momo is reportedly pitting youngsters against anonymous users , who may spur them to commit violent or suicidal acts . The premise of the game is to challenge teens to communicate with an unknown user , who will send them violent and disturbing photos along with threats if they do not comply with the commands and tasks , which are to be completed within a particular time-frame .

The game has spread across social media platforms . It has also been likened to ‘ Blue Whale ’, another suicide game that gained notoriety earlier this year , and has been linked to the death of a 12-year-old girl in South America .
Mohammad Amin Hasbini , Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab , said : “ Luckily , there are security solutions and parental control programmes that can be used to monitor a child ’ s activity on the Internet , or how much time they are spending online . However , parents should always pay close attention to any abnormal signs their child might exhibit .
Although authorities are making an effort to restrict access to harmful games and content , new sources spring up equally rapidly and it is impossible to shut down every threat .

Pure Storage has improved its position within the Leaders Quadrant of the July 2018 Magic Quadrant for Solid- State Arrays .

Pure Storage , the all-flash storage platform that helps innovators build a better world with data , is best positioned on the completeness of vision axis and on the ability to execute axis in the Leaders quadrant .
Over the past year , Pure Storage has continued to innovate and push boundaries . In May 2018 at its third annual user conference , Pure // Accelerate , the company unveiled its vision for the future of infrastructure design – a Data Centric Architecture . The company also launched AIRI , the industry ’ s first
Charles Giancarlo , CEO , Pure Storage
integrated AI-ready infrastructure for deploying deep learning at scale .
“ Innovation is the cornerstone of Pure Storage and we ’ re proud to set the pace and direction of the storage market . We did this first by bringing all-flash storage to the mainstream and now by leading in NVMe and purpose-built solutions for AI ,” said Charles Giancarlo , CEO , Pure Storage .
“ We are especially pleased to be recognised for the fifth straight year by Gartner in this Magic Quadrant . From our perspective , we are investing heavily to continue to lead this category and delivering to our customers a data-centric architecture that enhances and simplifies their ability to use data for intelligence and advantage .” • www . intelligentcio . com INTELLIGENTCIO
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