When Sun Microsystems said, "The network is the computer," it might have been talking about the Internet of Things, which was little more than an idea at the time. Today, more machines than ever are talking to other machines, and computing is being distributed across far-flung networks.Onetime Sun CEO Scott McNealy sees some of the legendary company's vision coming to fruition in an IoT "data bus" from a small Silicon Valley outfit called Real-Time Innovations. On Tuesday, McNealy became the first member of RTI's Advisory Board.RTI's data bus is middleware for delivering the right information at the right time to all the people and systems that need it. The software runs on meshed computing nodes that can be a small as a microcontroller, and it uses several kinds of network connections to make sure the data gets through.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With voting on a module system for Java set to close within the Java community, a high-ranking official at Oracle is again defending the plan amid criticism from Red Hat.Modularity is the main feature in Java 9, which is due to arrive July 27—if the disagreement over modularization does not hold up the release. Oracle's Mark Reinhold, chief architect in the company's Java platform group, sent out an email on an openjdk mailing list Monday, arguing the issues being brought up have already been covered.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Craig Diangelo was an IT worker at Northeast Utilities in Connecticut until he completed training his H-1B-visa-holding replacement. He was one of about 200 who lost their jobs in 2014 after two India-based IT offshore outsourcing firms took over their work at what is now called Eversource.Diangelo, at first, was quiet, bound by severance agreements signed with the company. Then he started speaking out. Craig Diangelo
Craig DiangeloTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you think you're immune from a scary exploit found in Intel's Active Management Technology just because you're a consumer, think again.The exploit, disclosed on May 1, lets bad actors bypass authentication in Intel's remote management hardware to take over your PC. This hardware, built into enterprise-class PCs, lets IT administrators remotely manage fleets of computers—install patches and software, and even update the BIOS as though they were sitting in front of it. It is, in essence, a God-mode.Here's the fine print: Many early news reports said "consumer PCs are unaffected." But what Intel actually said was, "consumer PCs with consumer firmware" are unaffected.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Security, trust and data integrityImage by ThinkstockThe emergence of IoT is altering our personal technology security paradigm and is a game-changer in customer/business interaction, in part due to the wide scope of available data and sheer number of devices collecting this data. McKinsey & Company estimates the IoT ecosystem will generate $6 trillion in value by 2025. Successful IoT offerings rely on the perception of benefit they can deliver to businesses and consumers while creating a proportionate foundation of security, trust, and data integrity. There are important ways that IoT technology can reduce data security risk while improving customer experience in a connected world.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Technology offers some of the highest paying and diverse jobs of any industry. While traditional tech roles like software engineer and product manager are still in high demand as CIOs struggle to find skilled IT pros, roles in sales, marketing and business development all offer healthy salaries and an alternate path into the industry.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
ServiceNow is bringing enhanced machine-learning capabilities to its Now Platform for business process automation to help customers prevent outages, automatically route service requests, and predict and benchmark IT performance.The AI capabilities will be offered through the upcoming Intelligent Automation Engine, announced at the company's Knowledge conference in Orlando Tuesday. The move strengthens ServiceNow's base in IT management while making further inroads into other areas of the enterprise.The machine-learning capabilities will be brought into ServiceNow's cloud services for security, customer service, and HR. The Intelligent Automation Engine's algorithms are based on technology the company acquired through its purchase of DxContinuum in January.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Wi-Fi’s explosive growth is gaining even more momentum.Recently the Wi-Fi Alliance launched a certified program for “meter-level accuracy for indoor device location data” using its technology. Now, that location add-on tool is about to be joined by a kind of three-dimensional, Wi-Fi-derived holographic imaging. Both use the ubiquitous Wi-Fi data network we’ve come to know and love.Holographic Wi-Fi is a way to create three-dimensional images of spaces. It’s achieved by coupling Wi-Fi radio with graphical holograms.+ Also on Network World: Wi-Fi expanding to indoor location services +
Some uses for the technology could be tracking products as they’re manufactured and move along in the production process, as well as searching for victims buried in collapsed buildings, say researchers from the Technical University of Munich who are developing the system.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Low-cost smartphones like the Moto G5 introduced a few months ago are shipping with soon-to-be-outdated chips from Qualcomm, which has announced successor chips.Qualcomm on Monday introduced the Snapdragon 630 and 660, which are massive upgrades to chips used in low-cost smartphones introduced over the last six months or so.And in a few months, you'll be able to buy low-cost smartphones with these new chips, with prices starting at US$200. The handsets will feature LTE download speeds equivalent to that in the iPhone 7 and have graphics processors capable of capturing 4K video.Additionally, the low-cost smartphones will charge up faster than ever. The chips support Qualcomm's Quick Charge 4, and smartphones can charge up to 50 percent in just 15 minutes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Aaron Gach wasn't expecting U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to demand to search his smartphone when he returned to San Fransisco from Belgium in February.The artist and magician, a U.S. citizen, had just attended an art event near Brussels and was targeted for advanced screening by CBP after his flight landed in the U.S. During a series of questions from CBP agents ("Did you pack your bag yourself?"), they repeatedly asked to search his smartphone, Gach said."Do you understand that if you choose not to unlock your phone we may need to detain your other personal effects?" one agent told him, according to a description of the encounter that Gach posted online.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
During the past two years, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has targeted ever larger numbers of travelers' smartphones and laptops for searches as they cross the border into the country.U.S. courts have generally upheld a so-called border search exception to the Constitution's Fourth Amendment, allowing CBP to search electronic devices without a court-ordered warrant. In April, a group of lawmakers introduced legislation to require warrants to search devices owned by U.S. citizens and other legal residents, but for now, the law allows for warrantless device searches.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Char-Broil Performance TRU Infrared 450 3-Burner Cart Gas Grill is currently discounted a significant 40% to just $155, making it a worthy consideration for the upcoming Father's day. If I'm reading it correctly, $155 puts this 4-burner 450 model at $35 cheaper than the lesser 2-burner 300 model. Double-check my math, but I'm feeling good about this one. It would appear that you're getting a lot for your money at this price. The grill features an electronic ignition, infrared technology for faster and more even heating, a 10,000 BTU side-burner, durable porcelain-coated grates, and a generous 450 square-inch cooking surface. If you want or need a new grill at a very respectable price, see this deal now on Amazon. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Hackers compromised a download server for HandBrake, a popular open-source program for converting video files, and used it to distribute a macOS version of the application that contained malware.The HandBrake development team posted a security warning on the project's website and support forum on Saturday, alerting Mac users who downloaded and installed the program from May 2 to May 6 to check their computers for malware.The attackers compromised only a download mirror hosted under download.handbrake.fr, with the primary download server remaining unaffected. Because of this, users who downloaded HandBrake-1.0.7.dmg during the period in question have a 50/50 chance of having received a malicious version of the file, the HandBreak team said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability is about as bad as it gets. And if it is in Windows, then a multitude of people are at risk until it is patched.The question is, though, if the existence of a critical flaw is disclosed shortly before Patch Tuesday, will Microsoft scramble to immediately close that hole or will the company sit on it and wait out the 90-day disclosure deadline? We will find out tomorrow on Patch Tuesday if Microsoft took immediate action to close a “crazy bad” RCE flaw in Windows that was discovered by Google’s zero-day finders.On the cusp of the weekend, Google Project Zero researcher Tavis Ormandy sent out an alarming tweet. He and fellow Project Zero researcher Natalie Silvanovich had discovered not just an RCE in Windows, but the “worst Windows remote code exec in recent memory.” He went so far as to call it “crazy bad.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
“Move in or get out.”That was the injunction handed down to IBM’s marketing team just two months ago. Admittedly, the news wasn’t delivered in quite such austere terms. But the result was the same.Forcing employees who work remotely to move their families and lives onsite is a bold move. Three weeks ago, I dove into the rationale behind hardline no-remote-working policies and made a data-driven defense based on responses from 25,234 workers found in The Changing World of Work: A Global Survey.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) this week said the plague it calls the Business Email Compromise continues to rack-up victims and money – over 40,000 worldwide victims and $5 billion in the latest count.+More on Network World: FBI/FTC: Watch those e-mails from your “CEO”+The BEC scam is typically carried out by compromising legitimate business e-mail accounts through social engineering or computer intrusion to conduct unauthorized transfers of funds, the IC3 stated. Most victims report using wire transfers as a common method of transferring funds for business purposes; however, some victims report using checks as a common method of payment. The fraudsters will use the method most commonly associated with their victim’s normal business practices. The scam has evolved to include the compromising of legitimate business e-mail accounts and requesting Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or Wage and Tax Statement (W-2) forms for employees, and may not always be associated with a request for transfer of funds, the IC3 stated.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With Windows 10 already deployed on more than 400 million computers, it’s hard to argue with its success. But the fastest adoption rate of any Windows release has thus far played out predominantly on consumer devices. The enterprise tells a different story, with organizations still mostly on Windows 7. But the change is coming fast. Brad Anderson, corporate vice president at Microsoft, recently announced that 86 percent of enterprises will upgrade to Windows 10 within three to four years; of these, organizations 47 percent said they will upgrade in the next 12 months.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
The boss gets tipped off that an employee might be leaving the company and in so doing is trying to grab as many clients as possible to take with him to his new job. The company brings in computer forensic specialists to look through the employee’s actions online to find the evidence before confronting the employee.Alfred Demirjian, president and CEO of computer forensic company TechFusion, has seen that and many other scenarios in the 30 years he has been in the business--anything from an employee sabotaging a former company through hijacking an email account to misusing the internet on company time. Commercial software allows his company to dig deep into an employee’s social media postings and texts, or to track them by GPS if they have a company-owned smartphone.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It’s safe to say that no one likes change.It makes us uncomfortable and puts us in positions that we are not familiar with. This is certainly true in our personal lives, but it’s also true in our jobs. It seems every time there is some kind of major technology shift everything changes, and IT needs to adapt, adopt new best practices, and develop new skills. Think back to the transition from mainframes to PC computing, TDM voice to VoIP, and physical servers to virtualization. Each of these seismic shifts required IT organizations to completely change the way they operate.The enterprise WAN is in the midst of a major transformation, requiring network managers and administrators to do things differently and to develop new skills. The key to developing a plan for the new world is to understand the new rules of networking in the digital era. Below are five “rules of the road” for the WAN in the digital era:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
New products of the weekImage by Aspect SoftwareOur roundup of intriguing new products. Read how to submit an entry to Network World's products of the week slideshow.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here