Online Info Blog: Cyber Deterrence

Cyberattackers pose many threats to a wide range of targets. Russia, for example, was accused of hacking Democratic Party computers throughout the year, interfering with the U.S. presidential election. Then there was the unknown attacker who, on a single October day, used thousands of internet-connected devices, such as digital video recorders and cameras compromised by Mirai malware, to take down several high-profile websites, including Twitter.

Deterrence focuses on making potential adversaries think twice about attacking, forcing them to consider the costs of doing so, as well as the consequences that might come from a counterattack. There are two main principles of deterrence. The first, denial, involves convincing would-be attackers that they won’t succeed, at least without enormous effort and cost beyond what they are willing to invest. The second is punishment: Making sure the adversaries know there will be a strong response that might inflict more harm than they are willing to bear.

Cybersecurity aids deterrence primarily through the principle of denial. It stops attacks before they can achieve their goals. This includes beefing up login security, encrypting data and communications, fighting viruses and other malware, and keeping software updated to patch weaknesses when they’re found.

Kaori Fuchi Advisors Client Testimonials

Katsuya Watanabe, Partner and Tax Accountant, Tax Gym Watanabe Katsuya Accounting Office. Manages own accounting office, works as tax accountant who does more tax review than a tax inspector. Ms. Fuchi has helped me with cases such as a soccer player’s international tax consulting, corporation’s international tax consulting, and incorporation of a company in foreign country. She exchanges information with accounting firms in Asian locations such as Hong Kong, and I admire how up to date she is in various matters. She had a career in a major tax firm and her work is very thorough - I imagine all the clients are satisfied with her work.

Yoko Mashima, Representative Notary Public, Mashima Notary Public Office. Manages notary public office specialized on handling foreigners’ affairs. Ms. Fuchi is very dynamic, participating in variety of activities and is expanding her scope to overseas. She is also full of ideas, and extremely fast in turning those ideas into reality. So working with her is very stimulating. Most of my clients are from overseas, and even in the present environment where a tax accountant who can properly explain to client in English is scarce, I can introduce Ms. Fuchi to my client with sense of confidence.

Ayano Morimoto, Representative Judicial Scrivener, M.D. Law Office. Provides legal service across boarders. People might have image of a tax accountant as a difficult person, but Ms. Fuchi is always cheerful; I have never seen her in a bad mood. It is not hard to imagine that clients find it easy to ask for help from her. As our office cater to foreign companies and foreigners living in Japan, it is great to have Ms. Fuchi who can cheerfully answer questions on international taxation system and questions asked in English, so we rely on her a lot.

Miyuki Tsuboi, Certified Social Insurance and Labor Consultant, Representative Director, HR Advisory Services. Among the many companies that claims to be “supporting global business”, I felt Ms. Fuchi’s tax and consulting was the one with the most guts and that I could cooperate with her in business immediately. Soon after our encounter, I had a case where Ms. Fuchi assisted as an emergency help. The first meeting with a Spanish company that has launched its renewable energy business in Japan recently and knew nothing about Japan took over four hours, but Ms. Fuchi was flexible in her handling of the meeting, and explained about the Japanese taxation system very patiently.

Tyre Auto Southbourne Group regular check-ups on car systems

Extending the lifespan of your car and maintaining its worthwhile value involves regular maintenance. And to better the condition of your car, you need the quality service of a car service provider. Your car definitely needs their innovative tools and distinct techniques, along with their years of expertise in handling cars. Individuals, especially car owners, should also value their cars and take care of them properly. Tyre&Auto Southbourne Group enumerated below some car parts that need regular check-ups:

Catalytic converters

A catalytic converter was released in 1993 and was then included in all petrol exhaust systems. It is specifically designed to reduce the harmful effects of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen being released into the atmosphere each day. The dangerous effects of those toxic gases could be reduced by catalytic converters by converting them into water vapour and far less harmful gases. Catalytic converters can last for a fair period of time but still needs regular check-ups according to Tyre&Auto Southbourne Group. You may contact your respected car service provider to help you in this matter to avoid being cheated.

Brakes

Seeking the skills of brake experts? Tyre&Auto Southbourne Group has it. With their expertise, you can obtain a cost-effective brake maintenance service and more. Make sure to have your brakes checked at least twice a year to ensure the best performance for average or above average annual mileage cars. You can choose from the broad range of brake systems that Tyre&Auto Southbourne depots offer to their customers for car and light commercial vehicles. Free check-ups are also available at their depots where they provide a digital measurement of wear on brake pads, discs, drums and shoes, a complete list of the actual condition of your braking system, and a no-obligation price quote for the works needed to be done.

Tyres

Tyres replacement is also important because it could maintain the good performance of your car along with ensuring the safety of everyone else. You can apply the tips of your car service provider in choosing the proper size and the type of tyres your car needs. Tyres are labelled specifically based on different factors, such as the date and place they were manufactured, load capacity, size, and speed.

Erie Insurance Can Cover Hail Damage

“Most homeowner’s policies provide coverage for damage by hail,” says Terry McConnell, vice president, Personal Lines Underwriting, at Erie Insurance. “Just note there may be restrictions as far as a separate hail deductible that may apply.”

McConnell says the average financial cost of hail damage to a home can be around $10,000. That varies depending on the length of the storm, the size of the hail, the amount of damage done to the roof and the siding, and the condition of those structures before the storm began. A directional storm, hitting only one side of a home or roof, will affect that number as well.

McConnell advises homeowners take a proactive approach toward protecting their homes from hail damage. “Don’t use your insurance policy as a maintenance policy,” he cautions, “as this could expose you to surcharges that come with filing claim.”

Instead, McConnell says you should inspect your roof yourself before a storm hits. Roofs with higher-quality shingles ward off hail damage better than roofs with low-cost shingles. Likewise, newer roofs hold up better to hail damage than deteriorated roofs. If your home is in a hailstorm and you suspect it suffered hail damage, McConnell says you should contact your insurance agent to inform them of the situation.

Oakmere Wealth Management Advisors Team

Jacky Roberts, Practice Manager

After a varied background in Manufacturing I have finally settled on a career in Financial Services. When I first came to Oakmere Wealth Management it was clear that the company was a fun and dynamic place to work and I was delighted to join the team. My own strengths are liaising with our clients and building up good working relationships, which I love doing. I believe that the client should always come first, as the business would not be here without them. I’m kept busy outside of work with my two daughters and I love to travel and go on holiday as often as I can. I’ve recently taken up running, I love to cycle around the beautiful Cheshire country paths and also throw a mean punch at my boxercise classes.

Penny Williams, Business Development Manager

Penny joined Oakmere Wealth Management in October 2013 from a Business Development background. Penny is our Business Development Manager providing marketing support to Carla, managing social media and client events. She also provides administration and para planning support to the business. She is currently working towards the CII Certificate in Financial Planning. She is married with 2 children and enjoys in her spare time playing netball, running and meeting up with friends.

Alison Balmer, Administrator

I have come from a background of Estate Agency and Lettings and Management, managing over 350 properties in the local area. My role at Oakmere Wealth Management as office Administrator and meeting and greeting the clients. I work as part of a team to help provide our clients with a professional ongoing financial planning experience. When I'm not working I enjoy Interior Design, keeping fit, walking and socialising with family and friends.

Kaori Fuchi Tax and Consulting Services

Kaori Fuchi Tax and Consulting is renowned for providing professional and client-friendly services such as tax consulting and tax compliance services to mainly foreign companies and individuals.

For many foreign companies, the Japanese tax system and regulations can be complex and difficult to understand. Our company offers full tax and accounting services so that foreign businesses can concentrate on their operations. We also offer responsive and efficient services such as bookkeeping and payroll.

Tyre&Auto Southbourne Group - benefits of a good exhaust control

Today, living also involves dealing with pollution; especially to those people living in major cities, and because of the frequent use of cars and other modes of transportation in those places, having a smoky environment is quite normal. If there were good effects the modern society gave to us, it also had bad effects. With constant use of combustion engines, its damaging outcomes still linger in our environment. Millions of people are prone to its harmful consequences and chances of being suffocated are high due to the fumes expelled into the environment by large numbers of vehicles each day. Tyre&Auto Southbourne Group listed below some of the benefits of having a good exhaust control:

Noise level becomes minimal

A proper design and installation of an exhaust pipe system can reduce noise pollution, and with the help of a professional car servicing company, this could be achieved with lesser trouble. A broken exhaust pipe could also lead to increased noise levels, so it requires the immediate repair of a professional car service provider like Tyre&Auto Southbourne Group.

Passengers are free from direct exhaust

Car exhausts were built at the tail end of a car, or raised high up, for a reason – and that is to keep the direct exhaust away from the passengers, or to support the escape of exhaust fumes into the atmosphere. Call a car service provider to determine any clogging or leaks to guarantee a more comfortable ride, because this predicament might cause the exhaust to enter through the windows or holes in the chassis.

Erie Insurance: Insurance Fraud

Even with ERIE’s special investigators on the job, we can’t fight the battle alone. That’s why Erie Insurance has the Fraud Finders program. Learn more about what you can do to help:

•   Taking a stand against insurance fraud – Join the first lines of defense against the crime of insurance fraud.

•   What you can do about insurance fraud – Start by protecting yourself and your family. Learn more.

•   The cost of fraud – How does the cost compare to other expenses? Find out.

•   Fraud Finders: A message from Phil Friday – Meet Phil Friday. His job is to investigate insurance claims.

Tokyo MK Taxi Group: How to order a taxi

We will accept your order at the call center. 24 hours, 365 days correspondence. Please feel free to tell us your requests, requests etc. From 10 minutes elapsed time meter wait if you can acknowledge to be a, it is also possible to wait as it is.

Please contact the driver or call center to that effect.  If you there is no communication, it judges the cancellation we will. If you need to arrange again please order again. Order to carry out the rapid dispatch to more customers, thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Orders may not be accepted depending on the order status etc. If it is you specify the desired arrival time, but to confirm the pick-up vehicle to your designated time to the original, there is a case of arrival to the time of hope due to the impact of such traffic conditions, the weather is late. Please give us your time with plenty of time. When you order by phone so as not earnestly of apologize mistake thank you.

Tokyo MK Taxi Group Telephone Interpreter Service

We offer complimentary telephone interpreter services for our entire fleet of cars. Skilled translators are available by telephone to ensure peace of mind.

Hours of operation: 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Languages: English, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish.

Internal Free Wi-Fi Spot

Wi-Fi is available for use in our ‘premium’ (i.e. high-grade) taxi and in all hire cars.
Look for the following sticker!
Enjoy extremely high-speed connections on PCs, as well as smart phones, tablets, and other devices.
Connecting is very easy. Simply reference the “how to use” sheet placed in the car.
The Wi-Fi service is, of course, complimentary.

Non-smoking car

TOKYO MK TAXI is all vehicles Non-smoking car.

Online Info Blog: Visa will buy CardinalCommerce

Cardinal’s payments platform analyzes 400 points of data in each online transaction to reduce fraud. “The acquisition will enable more secure, seamless payments, whether made through a browser, mobile app or connected device, and will help Visa’s clients and merchant partners accelerate digital commerce,” Visa said in a statement. Visa already provides Cardinal’s services to merchants and acquirers through its CyberSource merchant and acquirer unit. Visa says its global business will help Cardinal expand its international client roster.

“By helping merchants, acquirers and issuers better distinguish between good and bad transactions, Visa is in an even better position to strengthen consumer trust in digital payments, help merchants grow their businesses and accelerate innovation in commerce,” says Mark Nelsen, senior vice president of risk and authentication products at Visa. CardinalCommerce aims to improve communication about consumers between online retailers and banks, thus making it easier to authorize online purchases.

CEO Mike Keresman said in July that Cardinal holds 63 patents, all proprietary inventions that the company developed. Among retailer clients, he says, there often is a divide between what they know about a consumer and what a financial institution knows. Retailers typically have one set of data about a customer, while banks have their own data. Cardinal’s payments services marry those data sets so that online retailers and banks can have more confidence that online transactions are legitimate.

Cardinal’s payments platform analyzes 400 points of data at each transaction to reduce fraud. Keresman says the company monitors 750,000 merchant identification numbers, which are what banks and other financial institutions use to identify businesses; plus bank identification numbers, which are the first six numbers of a credit card used to identify the issuing financial institution. Together these ID numbers help to verify a customer’s identity when they make an online purchase.

Mercury Capital Advisors: Hedge Funds Gain Ground

Though fund managers face a demanding client base in insurers, which require much more transparency and detailed reporting than other institutional investors, the insurance marketplace still is new enough to hedge funds that managers may see few competing peers, says the report from Patpatia & Associates. That could mean opportunities for forwardthinking hedge fund managers. “It’s still a comparatively underserved market,” says Bill Limburg, senior associate at Patpatia. “We believe there is room for firms that take a more solutionsbased approach to gain assets and share.”

The report outlines how insurers pulled back from hedge funds in the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown, but then “steadily rebounded.” Insurance company assets invested in hedge funds totaled $11.1 billion in 2009, but nearly doubled to hit $21.1 billion by 2013, the most recent year data was available. Insurance companies have traditionally invested almost all of their general account assets in fixed income securities, though many have been slowly adding equities in recent years and, even more recently, alternatives. Especially in the low yield postcrisis environment, some insurance companies see hedge funds as a way to get a little extra alpha, though most observers say it’s mainly about gaining diversification.

Insurers are also raising their exposure to other alternatives, notably private equity, but not by as much: allocations to hedge funds “have grown at an 11.4% CAGR from 2008, surpassing private equity allocation growth in the same time period” of 8.9%, the report says. Multistrategy “remains the most popular choice” for insurers, with 32% of investors holding such funds, according to Patpatia’s report, though this figure is down from 43% in 2008. Secondmost popular is longshort equity, although this too may not be as dominant: “Some [investors] expressed that it will not be their preferred focus moving forward,” the report says.

SC Advisors Wycliffe Bible Translators Project

Wycliffe, like Campus Crusade, had been based in California and was contemplating a move of its US operations to a less costly location. Jay and his team arranged for Wycliffe to acquire the necessary acreage from land and options held by Campus Crusade and began the development of Wycliffe’s $35 million, 140,000 square foot headquarters campus.

Wycliffe’s location and building site presented some significant challenges. Over 1,000,000 cubic feet of on-site earth work was required. Jay’s team was also responsible for a tri party agreement to rebuild three plus miles of Moss Park Road into a four lane roadway, a $6 million project that had to be completed before Wycliffe’s headquarters could open.

These challenges were successfully met, along with the program management, due diligence and construction management and closeout required to complete the project. The result was a beautiful and functional headquarters campus that includes the Dayspring Discovery Center, an interactive learning center where Wycliffe’s vision is shared with thousands of visitors every year.