Set and forgetImage by ThinkstockWe talked to a host of tech experts about the state of security in the internet of things world, and found out the good, the bad, and the very ugly.Under attack by ... cameras?Image by ThinkstockTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Corporate chaosImage by peteThe supply chain upon which modern multinational commerce depends was thrown into chaos earlier this year when South Korea's Hanjin Shipping filed for bankruptcy. Dozens of container ships with hundreds of crew and thousands of pounds of cargo onboard were essentially stranded at sea, as ports barred the ships' entry for fear that they wouldn't be able to pay for docking services.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Corporate chaosImage by peteThe supply chain upon which modern multinational commerce depends was thrown into chaos earlier this year when South Korea's Hanjin Shipping filed for bankruptcy. Dozens of container ships with hundreds of crew and thousands of pounds of cargo onboard were essentially stranded at sea, as ports barred the ships' entry for fear that they wouldn't be able to pay for docking services.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
1. Let two become one—safelyImage by PexelsStephen Boyer, CTO and co-founder of BitSight, knows one of the biggest threats to your company's tech security: the possibility that it might buy another company. He points to a survey from West Monroe Partners that found that 40% of acquiring companies discovered a cybersecurity problem in an acquired company—after a deal went through. It probably shouldn't be surprising that, in a 2014 survey from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, a staggering 78% of respondents said cybersecurity is not analyzed in-depth as part of due diligence in an acquisition.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
1. Let two become one—safelyImage by PexelsStephen Boyer, CTO and co-founder of BitSight, knows one of the biggest threats to your company's tech security: the possibility that it might buy another company. He points to a survey from West Monroe Partners that found that 40% of acquiring companies discovered a cybersecurity problem in an acquired company—after a deal went through. It probably shouldn't be surprising that, in a 2014 survey from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, a staggering 78% of respondents said cybersecurity is not analyzed in-depth as part of due diligence in an acquisition.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The great DNC email caperImage by REUTERS/Mark KauzlarichThe tech news cycle dovetailed with the political news cycle last week when first emails and then voice mails from the Democratic National Committee were released via WikiLeaks. And with the possibility of Russian involvement, the incident went from a domestic squabble to a potentially international incident.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The great DNC email caperImage by REUTERS/Mark KauzlarichThe tech news cycle dovetailed with the political news cycle last week when first emails and then voice mails from the Democratic National Committee were released via WikiLeaks. And with the possibility of Russian involvement, the incident went from a domestic squabble to a potentially international incident.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
No need to fightImage by Flickr/Peretz Partensky/REMIXEDIt's a familiar scenario: your security team wants—needs—to lock down part of your enterprise's network. And yet the network team resists you at every turn. Don't they understand that security is paramount? Do they want to get hacked?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Theater of the absurdImage by REUTERS/Mario AnzuoniThe term "security theater" was coined to describe the array of security measures at U.S. airports -- taking off shoes, patting down children and the elderly -- that project an image of toughness without making commercial aviation any safer. But the man who came up with the phrase is famous cybersecurity expert Bruce Schneier, and it could just as easily apply to a number of common tech security measures. We talked to an array of tech experts to discover what security technologies are often just for show.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Theater of the absurdImage by REUTERS/Mario AnzuoniThe term "security theater" was coined to describe the array of security measures at U.S. airports -- taking off shoes, patting down children and the elderly -- that project an image of toughness without making commercial aviation any safer. But the man who came up with the phrase is famous cybersecurity expert Bruce Schneier, and it could just as easily apply to a number of common tech security measures. We talked to an array of tech experts to discover what security technologies are often just for show.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
When the world was newImage by National Security AgencyToday, IT security is a deadly serious business. But in the early days of computing, the stakes were a bit lower. Maybe it's just that we're seeing it through a nostalgic lens, but the computer breaches in the '70s, '80s, and '90s just seemed a bit more ... fun? We spoke to some people who were there, who enjoyed reminiscing about a gentler era, whether they were the ones hacking or the ones being hacked.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The $30,000 lockImage by Library of CongressEighteenth century British engineer Joseph Bramah invented a lock that, he was sure, could never be picked. He was so sure that he offered 200 guineas (roughly $30,000 today) to anyone who could defeat it. Cris Thomas, a 21st-century strategist at Tenable Network Security, calls this one of the first bug bounties in history. The lock remained seemingly impregnable for more than 67 years, until an American locksmith named Alfred Charles Hobbs defeated it in 1851, prompting a contemporary observer to remark that "the mechanical spirit, however, is never at rest, and if it is lulled into a false state of listlessness in one branch of industry, and in one part of the world, elsewhere it springs up suddenly to admonish and reproach us with our supineness."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The OS that took over the worldImage by David Marsh/FlickrLet's just get this out of the way: this isn't the year of Linux on the desktop. That year will probably never arrive. But Linux has gotten just about everywhere else, and the Linux community can take a bow for making that happen. Android, based on the Linux kernel, is so prevalent on mobile devices that it makes the longstanding desktop quest seem irrelevant. But beyond Android there are a number of places where you can find Linux that are truly odd and intriguing, and by "places" we mean both strange devices and weird geographical locations. This slideshow will show you that it's always the year of Linux pretty much everywhere.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Hardly trivialImage by Mahender G/FlickrAs computers grow ever more powerful, we humans have to figure out where we still remain superior. Here's one suggestion: although the Internet is full of endless reams of data, it takes a human mind to suss through it all and determine what qualifies as interesting to other humans. Thus, we at ITworld present you with the following anecdotes about technology and the Internet, guaranteed to have been selected by the human hand and eye to pique your interest. Hopefully robots won't take this job for another few years.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
O PioneersImage by Baker County Tourism/FlickrWe think of IT as an essential corporate function today, driven by desire for profits. But computers largely emerged out of government- and university-funded research, much of it initially driven in the 1940s by the effort to win World War II -- in Britain, to break Nazi codes, and in the U.S., to produce artillery firing tables.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Old but unable to be forgottenImage by U.S. Census Bureau/WikipediaIn May, Rhode Island politics was roiled by the revelation that the state Department of Human Services's attempt to move away from its outdated InRhodes computer system wasn't going to happen. If you know anything about major government computer rollouts, you know this wasn't the first time this had happened, either; a state legislator compared it to "a similar situation as we have with the DMV where we had to practically get people out of nursing homes to come keep our old programs working."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Don't let wonky tech get you down!Image by Denimadept/WikipediaLife would be simpler if every piece of technology we dealt with worked in an obvious and straightforward way. Life would also be a lot duller.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
AOL, back on the marketImage by REUTERS/Brendan McDermidAn unexpected merger between AOL and a storied incumbent? You'd be forgiven for thinking you'd gone back to the turn of the century, but no, that happened earlier this month. Whatever the reasons behind the AOL-Verizon merger -- for all the talk of AOL's content offerings, its advertising platform may be the big prize -- at a mere $4.4 billion dollars the deal is a pale shadow of the $164 billion blockbuster AOL-Time Warner merger that marked the height of dot-com hubris.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
AOL, back on the marketImage by REUTERS/Brendan McDermidAn unexpected merger between AOL and a storied incumbent? You'd be forgiven for thinking you'd gone back to the turn of the century, but no, that happened earlier this month. Whatever the reasons behind the AOL-Verizon merger -- for all the talk of AOL's content offerings, its advertising platform may be the big prize -- at a mere $4.4 billion dollars the deal is a pale shadow of the $164 billion blockbuster AOL-Time Warner merger that marked the height of dot-com hubris.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Politics and technology: An uneasy relationshipImage by Happyme22/WikipediaThomas Jefferson was an inventor and Herbert Hoover was an engineer, but other presidents, candidates, and politicians have had a more, shall we say, fraught relationship with technology. Ronald Reagan, for instance, joked into a live microphone about "outlawing Russia forever" at the height of the Cold War in 1984. But with technology becoming an ever more important part of our daily lives, so too will some of the inevitable slew of political gaffes we'll encounter over the next 18 months of campaigning come in tech form. And we here at ITworld promise to keep track of them all! Here's a bunch to get you started; we'll update as more arise, and feel free to let us know if you read about one you think should be included.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Josh Fruhlinger