About a year ago, Donald Trump publicly called for a boycott of Apple products following Apple's refusal to help the FBI access data from an iPhone 5c that belonged to one of the San Bernardino terrorists. To be fair, Apple was willing to help, but was unwilling to create a custom version of iOS that would have allowed the FBI to circumvent some of iOS' built-in security features.Apple's refusal to cower to the FBI bothered Trump to such an extent that he even referenced it during a stop on his campaign tour last year."First of all, Apple ought to give the security for that phone," Trump said. "What I think you ought to do is boycott Apple until such time as they give that security number."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Backup Plus Ultra Slim Portable Drive is one of Seagate's thinnest and most eye-catching portable hard drives. Available in stunning gold and platinum colors- style meets storage- and easily slips into your backpack along with your other essentials. At 9.6mm thin, capacity is not sacrificed with 1TB and 2TB options-bring your most important files and head out the door. Back up and manage your favorite files from your computer, tablet and mobile devices using the Seagate Dashboard. Run a one-click backup or schedule an automatic backup plan to help protect your files. Convenient tools for local, mobile, cloud and social media backup at the ready. With high-speed USB 3.0 and 2.0 connectivity, you can depend on seamless plug-and-play functionality. And the USB bus-power eliminates the need for an external power supply, letting you access your files while on the move. The Lyve mobile and desktop app gives you the ability to access a single, consolidated and personalized photo and video library. When you purchase a Backup Plus Ultra Slim Portable Drive, you get 200GB of OneDrive cloud storage for 2 years (US$95 value). The Backup Plus Portable Drive averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Continue reading
As April brings the best college basketball teams together for the final leg of March Madness, college basketball is in full swing. With all this attention on the top teams and programs in country, there is more than one parallel between data center managers and NCAA basketball coaches.Their management techniques and job descriptions often align: optimizing lineups to ensure they have the best team on the floor in the final seconds of a big game, or stressing teamwork and cooperation during tight deadlines, outages or other time-sensitive situations. Coaches and data center managers play a similar role to ensure their team (or infrastructure) is ready to perform when it matters most.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Halt and (don’t) catch fireImage by SamsungThis April 21, you can lay your hands – safely this time – on Samsung’s latest flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. They’re both unsurprisingly impressive devices, and Samsung’s going to be hoping that they can restore the company’s fortunes in the wake of the Note 7 debacle and legal troubles at home, and in advance of Apple’s anticipated iPhone 8 or iPhone X release later this year. Check it out.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The source code for a new Trojan program that targets banking services has been published online, offering an easy way for unskilled cybercriminals to launch potent malware attacks against users.The Trojan is called Nuclear Bot and first appeared for sale on underground cybercrime forums in early December for $2,500. It can steal and inject information from and into websites opened in Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome and can also open a local proxy or hidden remote desktop service.These are all features commonly seen in banking Trojans, as they're used by attackers to bypass the security checks of online bank websites to perform fraud. For example, the proxy and remote desktop functionality allows hackers to initiate rogue transactions through the victims' browsers after they have been tricked into providing the second authentication factor.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft has been cautious about making its Surface product line available worldwide. It tests devices in specific markets, sees how they do, and if the response is good, ships them to those areas.The company appears to have have received a strong response, in particular, to its Surface Studio, Surface Book devices and Surface Dial, which will soon be available in many Asian and European countries.The expanded availability of these devices was announced on the same day Microsoft said it would release Windows 10 Creators Update on April 11.The Surface Book with Performance Base, one of the devices that will be more broadly available, is a high-performance laptop that can also be a tablet. The screen pops out from the keyboard base to be a tablet. In a review, PC World concluded the device was powerful and easy to use, but had some design issues and was heavy.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
After spending 13 years working in systems administration and network and desktop support, Simeon Holloway had reached a crossroads in his career.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Whenever I speak with companies starting to research SD-WANs, the question about testing invariably comes up. Like probably any enterprise device, SD-WANs are filled with features. And as with any major WAN acquisition, testing those features prior to purchase is incredibly important. SD-WAN vendors have their own nuances and strengths. You need to be sure those strengths align with your environment.RELATED: SD-WAN: What it is and why you will use it one day
As an edge device, there’s very little in terms of packet processing that needs to be tested in an SD-WAN node. But that doesn’t mean SD-WAN node testing isn’t important. Here are some tips for what you can look for when running your proof of concept (POC) from my buddy DC Palter, CEO at network testing simulator company Apposite Technologies, and our experiences here at SD-WAN Experts.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The state of online security is darn dreadful. At least if you look at the results from the IBM Security’s 2017 IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index released today which contains myriad depressing nuggets such as:
The number of records compromised grew a historic 566% in 2016 from 600 million to more than 4 billion -- more than the combined total from the two previous years.
In one case, a single source leaked more than 1.5 billion records [see Yahoo breach].
In the first three months of 2016, the FBI estimated cybercriminals were paid a reported $209 million via ransomware. This would put criminals on pace to make nearly $1 billion from their use of the malware just last year.
In 2016, many significant breaches related to unstructured data such as email archives, business documents, intellectual property and source code were also compromised.
The most popular types of malcode we observed in 2016 were Android malware, banking Trojans, ransomware offerings and DDoS-as-a-service vendors. Since DDoS tools are mostly sold as a service and not as malware per se, we will focus here on banking Trojans, Android malware and ransomware.
In December 2016, a malware developer with an ongoing banking Trojan Continue reading
Hot Logic Mini averages 4.8 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 1,800 people (87% rate a full 5 stars: read recent reviews). A cross between a lunch bag and an oven, this personal, portable cooker is great for the office, job site, the campsite, the car, or anywhere you have an outlet. The Hot Logic Mini will prepare fresh-cooked hot meals, reheated meals or perfectly cooked prepackaged meals without overcooked edges or frozen centers. Whether you're cooking uncooked, frozen chicken breasts with fresh beans on top or reheating last night's pizza, HotLogic will cook it and hold its temperature until you're ready to eat. Its typical list price of $39.95 has been reduced, for now, to $29.95. See this deal now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Last week, Amazon Prime Air released dramatic video of a drone delivering bottles of sunscreen in a test at Amazon's MARS conference in a controlled environment at Palm Springs International Airport in California.Pretty cool stuff, even if the company has already demonstrated the ability to complete actual commercial drone deliveries in the United Kingdom.
But my longstanding skepticism for the practicality of drone deliveries hasn’t diminished. More than two years ago, for example, I listed 10 reasons Amazon's drone delivery plan still won't fly.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Against my better judgment, I'm going to share a few tidbits from a vendor survey — one of those marketing schemes that have become the bane of my existence as a tech journalist (See: "Right back at you vendors: OUR independent study of YOUR independent research")But I figured you'd want to know what superpowers your peers desire, since I'm sure that's a discussion you and your colleagues have had at some point or another (my superpower would be to dodge vendor survey pitches).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Perhaps nowhere is the challenge of keeping up with the onslaught of wireless devices greater than in the small-to-midsized companies with little or no IT expertise to handle it.That’s the target for Cisco’s latest line of 802.11ac Wave 2-based wireless products which include scalable Aironet wireless access points and a new version of Cisco’s Mobility Express software to manage the whole environment.+More on Network World: When the Internet Engineering Task Force meets this week in Chicago it will have a new chair – Cisco Fellow Alissa Cooper +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Samsung's new Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones look beautiful, and are loaded with new features that could make an upgrade worthwhile.The handsets are superfast and 4K capable, and also herald the arrival of new technologies like Bluetooth 5 and LTE gigabit modems.We take a look inside the handsets and see how they have improved from the Samsung Galaxy S7.Screen size is biggerThe Galaxy S8 has a 5.8-inch screen, while the S8+ has a 6.2-inch screen, which are larger than the 5.5-inch S7 and the 5.7-inch Note 7. The screen resolution is 2960 x 1440 pixels, a slight uptick from S7's 2560 x 1440-pixel screen. Samsung was able to increase the S8 screen size by cutting the home button, and also adding to the height. The screen area now constitutes 83 percent of the S8 front surfaces.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Lookout researchers warned of a campaign involving fake ransomware attacks that attempt to extort money from users of mobile Safari. Victims are accused of accessing illegal pornography and the browser appears to be locked up unless a “ransom” is paid.“Your device has been locked for illegal pornography,” the message stated on a site with security agency icons such as NSA and Interpol at the bottom of the page. An overlay pop-up warned that Safari “cannot open page” with “OK” underneath the message. However, the dialog would not go away no matter how many times the victim tapped “OK.”Lookout said, “Each time he tapped ‘OK’ he would be prompted to tap ‘OK’ again, effectively putting the browser into an infinite loop of dialog prompts that prevented him from using the browser.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft, Google and IBM face difficult challenges in winning early enterprise adopters of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Microsoft AI Research Vice President Peter Lee shed some like on how Microsoft will meet those challenges when we met at this week’s MIT Technology Review EmTech Digital conference.Lee began with the same explanation that he gave to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Nadella, a former research engineer, does not need to have technology spoon fed to him, but he does need to understand the framework used to manage the future of the vertical industries transferred to the stewardship of Microsoft’s AI group. It is a big bet, amounting to 6,000 employees or one-fourth of the company and includes leading industry businesses such as healthcare, education, automotive, finance and retail. A very big bet on the future of AI, indeed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Privacy advocates haven't given up the fight after the U.S. Congress voted to allow ISPs to sell customers' browsing histories and other personal information without their permission.On Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted 215 to 205 to strike down ISP privacy regulations approved by the Federal Communications Commission only months ago. House's passage of a resolution of disapproval followed a Senate vote to pass the same resolution days earlier. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the Republican-pushed bill. But Senator Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said he will introduce new legislation to require the FCC to pass new ISP privacy rules.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A report issued this morning by the Pew Research Center and Elon University said that online interactions will continue to be shaped by trolling and mistrust, according to a survey of digital scholars and futurists.More than four in five of the 1,537 respondents surveyed said that the tone of communication via online media like social networks and discussion sites would either become more unhinged over the next decade or stay roughly the same.ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Microsoft's Docs.com is sharing dangerously sensitive personal files and information + 5 burning questions with new IETF Chair and Cisco Fellow Alissa CooperTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
F5 Networks is said to be lining up to acquire Brocade’s virtual Application Delivery Controller (ADC) business, the latest hunk of Brocade’s IP suite to be sold off to meet the terms of Brocade’s $5.5 billion acquisition by Broadcom, a deal announced last November. Brocade sold its Ruckus Wireless and ICX Switch business to Arris International in February for $800 million.The latest divestiture -- reported by companies contacted by the private equity firm shopping the ADC asset -- is said to involve Brocade’s Virtual Traffic Manager, formerly known as the SteelApp Traffic Manager. Brocade had acquired the technology from Riverbed in 2015 for an undisclosed fee, and Riverbed itself had acquired the tech from Zeus Technologies in 2011 for $140 million.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple yesterday patched a bug in the iOS version of Safari that had been used by criminals to spook users into paying $125 or more because they assumed the browser was broken.The flaw, fixed in Monday's iOS 10.3 update, had been reported to Apple a month ago by researchers at San Francisco-based mobile security firm Lookout."One of our users alerted us to this campaign, and said he had lost control of Safari on his iPhone," Andrew Blaich, a Lookout security researcher, said in a Tuesday interview. "He said, 'I can't use my browser anymore.'"The criminal campaign, Blaich and two colleagues reported in a Monday post to Lookout's blog, exploited a bug in how Safari displayed JavaScript pop-ups. When the browser reached a malicious site implanted with the attack code, the browser went into an endless loop of dialogs that refused to close no matter who many times "OK" was tapped. The result: Safari was unusable.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here