Common criminals, not state-sponsored hackers, carried out the massive 2014 data breach that exposed information about millions of Yahoo user accounts, a security firm said Wednesday.Yahoo has blamed state actors for the attack, but it was actually elite hackers-for-hire who did it, according to InfoArmor, which claims to have some of the stolen information. The independent security firm found the alleged data as part of its investigation into "Group E," a team of five professional hackers believed to be from Eastern Europe.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Frost & Sullivan recently declared that the “enterprise wide area networking (WAN) space is going through a major transformation”.
As any enterprise IT and networking executive well knows, voice video and data are continuing to drive WAN demand, but there are even more challenging applications coming to the fore. As Frost & Sullivan notes, “the growing penetration of cloud computing, big data applications, and mobility applications are dictating new requirements on the enterprise.”
So what’s needed to relieve pressure on the corporate network? According to the report, a hybrid VPN approach that leverages the best of Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) VPNs and public internet-based IPSec VPNs is the direction enterprises are moving in or at least evaluating.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Networking is difficult to manage, cost consuming and subject to huge security concerns. More and more administrators would just as soon pass off some of the core responsibilities for keep their networks operating properly and safely.The typical enterprise today is either managing or outsourcing a bewildering array of WAN hardware that includes switches, routers, load balancers, VPNs, accelerators and firewalls – essentially a separate device for each core network function.Recently, an IDG Research Services survey revealed that 75 percent of respondents would value the ability to offload installing, configuring, and running network hardware. That aligns with an overall trend to rely more on managed service providers for key business processes, which, according to research published by consulting and research firm Everest Group, now represents a global market of $1.5 billion .To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With the iPhone 7 now available in stores, it was only a matter of time before we began looking ahead towards Apple’s 2017 iPhone model. While Apple traditionally follows a tick-tock strategy for iPhone updates wherein they release a standalone numerical model and then follow it up with an ‘s’ model, there are rumblings that Apple’s iPhone next year will be called the iPhone 8.Rumors of Apple’s plan to call its 2017 iPhone the iPhone 8 as opposed to the iPhone 7s first emerged earlier this year. Now, a few months later, we now have even more evidence that Apple’s next-gen iPhone will be the iPhone 8.According to a report from Business Insider, an Apple employee at Apple’s offices in Herzilya, Israel relayed that they are already referring to the upcoming iPhone internally as the iPhone 8.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The next generation of the bestselling Fire TV Stick. The most powerful with the fastest Wi-Fi and most accurate voice search of any streaming media stick–now with the Alexa Voice Remote. Enjoy over 7,000 apps, games, and Alexa skills including Netflix, Hulu, HBO NOW, YouTube, Amazon Video, NBC, WatchESPN, Disney, and more. Launch and control content with the included Alexa Voice Remote. Simply say, “Play Game of Thrones” or “Launch Netflix” and Alexa will respond instantly. Plus, play music, find movie show times, order a pizza, and more—just ask. Activate your All-New Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote by October 31st and receive 1 month of Sling TV, 2 Months of Hulu, and a $10 Amazon Video Credit. See this deal now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Just leave the slim and trim Blackout Buddy in your wall socket and you’ll never be in the dark. It automatically turns on when the power goes out so that you can easily locate it. Then, fold away the prongs and you've got yourself a flashlight. A very bright idea from the American Red Cross. Flip a switch and the Blackout Buddy also doubles as an LED nightlight, so you can keep your kids' rooms, hallways, or kitchen always illuminated. The Blackout Buddy keeps itself charged and provides up to 4 hours of light when needed. It averages 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 1,300 people on Amazon (read reviews). Its typical list price of $17.50 has been reduced 26% to just $13.01.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The proliferation of robots completing manual tasks traditionally done by humans suggests we have entered the machine automation age. And while nothing captures the imagination like self-directing machines shuttling merchandise around warehouses, most automation today comes courtesy of software bots that perform clerical tasks such as data entry.Here’s the good news: Far from a frontal assault on cubicle inhabitants, these software agents may eventually net more jobs than they consume, as they pave the way for companies to create new knowledge domain and customer-facing positons for employees, analysts say.The approach, known as robotic process automation (RPA), automates tasks that office workers would normally conduct with the assistance of a computer, says Deloitte LLP Managing Director David Schatsky, who recently published research on the topic. RPA's potential will grow as it is combined with cognitive technologies to make bots more intelligent, ideally increasing their value to businesses. Globally, the RPA market will grow to $5 billion by 2020 from just $183 million in 2013, predicts Transparency Market Research.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A Washington, D.C. think tank on Wednesday hosted the first event to feature representatives from both sides of the LTE-U debate since a contentious agreed testing framework was created several weeks ago.The panelists included representatives from Broadcom, Verizon, Comcast, T-Mobile and consumer advocate Public Knowledge. The event was moderated by the director of the wireless future project at New America’s Open Technology Institute, Michael Calabrese, and kicked off with presentations from Josh Breitbart, a senior adviser for broadband to New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio, and Kevin Robinson, vice president of marketing for the Wi-Fi Alliance.+ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Nutanix CEO skewers box-based hyperconvergence rivals + BlackBerry stops making hardware, but BlackBerry phones live onTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Just in time for the biggest election in the history of democracy, a three-judge federal appeals court has told the state of New Hampshire that it cannot prevent voters from taking a selfie with their completed ballot.News of the decision comes via a tweet from executive editor of the Manchester Union-Leader:
In August 2015, a different judge had overturned New Hampshire’s ban on ballot selfies, but the elected officials of the “Live Free or Die” state inexplicably decided to appeal that decision to a higher court. Their argument is that ballot selfies encourage vote buying by allowing the selfie-taker to provide evidence that he or she voted as the buyer instructed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
AMD wants its new Polaris GPUs to dazzle gamblers in Las Vegas using electronic devices.Qualcomm, meanwhile, wants its embedded Snapdragon chips to be installed in robots, drones, and smart devices used in homes and for commercial applications.For both chipmakers, the internet of things market is becoming too big to ignore. The companies this week announced CPUs and GPUs adapted from PCs and mobile devices for use in IoT devices.AMD adapted its Polaris GPU architecture, which is used in discrete GPUs and PC chips, for the IoT sector. Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 600E and 410E are compact chips originating from the company's mobile processor designs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Crowdfunded on Indiegogo, the revolutionary Fizzics System improves the flavor and taste of ordinary canned, bottled and growler beer (accommodates up to a full 64oz growler). Fizzics technology enhances the carbonation and aroma of beer while providing a smooth, creamy, full-body flavor and taste without the use of additives or chemicals. The device enhances the flavor and taste of all beer styles, including IPAs, Pilsners, Brown Ales, Stouts, Porters, Lagers, and more. It promises to deliver fresh from the tap taste, anytime, anywhere. The Fizzics beer system averages 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon (read reviews) and its typical list price of $200 is currently reduced 25% to $150. Learn more about the Fizzics system, or buy it now, on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Containers remain one of the hottest trends in technology thanks to the new ways they’re allowing developers to write new applications.
Canonical – the developer of the Linux-based Ubuntu operating system – today is hopping on the container management bandwagon by integrating its popular OS with Kubernetes, an open source project for managing containers at scale.
+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: As Adobe inks deal with Microsoft Azure, Amazon looms +
Canonical has been on the leading edge of developing container technology thanks to its heavy focus on Linux. Canonical has developed LXC and LXD, both of which are container platforms. In addition to supporting those open source tools, Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth says his goal is to make Ubuntu a platform for using many different higher-level container management tools too, including Kubernetes. To that end, the company has plans to integrate Ubuntu with Docker Swarm and Mesos’s Mesosphere too.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Dangerous celebritiesIntel has reeled off the 10th annual McAfee Most Dangerous Celebrities list based on likelihood of getting hit with a virus or malware when searching on the celebs’ names. “Consumers today remain fascinated with celebrity culture and go online to find the latest pop culture news,” said Gary Davis, chief consumer security evangelist at Intel Security. “With this craving for real-time information, many search and click without considering potential security risks.” Last year, DJ Armin van Buuren was #1.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The picture below was snapped in a mall – we don’t know which mall – by an eagle-eyed Reddit user who couldn’t help but notice that a kiosk set up to sell the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was being guarded by a pair of fire extinguishers.For obvious reasons. Imgur/via Reddit
Many are having a good giggle about the photo. None of them work for Samsung, of course.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Hard on the heels of the discovery of the largest known data breach in history, Cloudera and Intel on Wednesday announced that they've donated a new open source project to the Apache Software Foundation with a focus on using big data analytics and machine learning for cybersecurity.Originally created by Intel and launched as the Open Network Insight (ONI) project in February, the effort is now called Apache Spot and has been accepted into the ASF Incubator."The idea is, let's create a common data model that any application developer can take advantage of to bring new analytic capabilities to bear on cybersecurity problems," Mike Olson, Cloudera co-founder and chief strategy officer, told an audience at the Strata+Hadoop World show in New York. "This is a big deal, and could have a huge impact around the world."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In leading recording studios around the world, music that will soon be heard everywhere is first heard through Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers. With these P5 mobile hi-fi headphones, the sound you hear is completely natural – as close to the sound of the original recording as they can possibly take you. There are no gimmicky effects like exaggerated bass or artificially enhanced treble, which become tiring with extended listening. A closed-back design with rigid metal faceplates and sealed earpads ensures that all the detail and dynamic range of your music is kept intact, while preserving just enough ambient sound to give you a sense of place. Perfect for listening to music on the go, P5's high-quality sound and luxury materials are supported by smart design and user-friendly features. The P5s average 4 out of 5 stars from over 280 people on Amazon (read reviews). Their typical list price is $241.53, but if you buy them recertified you save 30% and get them for just $167.99. B&W recertified products have been tested and updated to ensure they meet Bowers & Wilkins high quality standards, and all recertified products come with a two-year warranty. See the recertified P5s now on Continue reading
I am currently embarking on a quest to make my entire life as private and secure as possible—while still having a good time and enjoying the fruits of the modern world. In this article, I won’t go into why I am doing this. For that, see my article introducing this endeavor.What I’d like to talk about right now are some pretty high-level things—laying out the ground rules, if you will, for what I’m trying to accomplish.First, let me start by saying none of this is about open source or free software. Licensing of software, while extremely important, is not the focus here. This is about privacy and security and absolutely nothing else.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you are going to be dressing up in a costume for Halloween, you might want to avoid dressing like a creepy clown, considering the sinister clown hysteria sweeping the nation. You don’t want to wear a clown costume in Kentucky where a sheriff contacted the FBI and Homeland Security over the “creepy clown” threat. In fact, in Gallatin County, Kentucky, the sheriff warned that people behind “clown threats” might face charges of “inducing panic and terroristic threatening.”Pennywise from Stephen King’s It really ruined clowns for a lot of people, changing their opinion of clowns from funny or cute to scary and creepy as can be. When the evil clown craze first started cranking up, some people suggested the clown sightings were pranks tied to some sort of promotion for the upcoming film It. Others suggested the clown sightings were inspired by Rob Zombie’s film 31, which includes kidnapped hostages trying to survive a violent game against a gang of sadistic clowns.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
BlackBerry is getting out of the hardware business, but this isn’t the end of BlackBerry phones—or at least not yet.As part of its quarterly earnings report on Tuesday, the company announced that it would soon end all hardware development. Instead, BlackBerry phone production and design will be outsourced to third parties.“We are focusing on software development, including security and applications. The company plans to end all internal hardware development and will outsource that function to partners,” BlackBerry CEO John Chen said in a written statement.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
UPS operates in more than 220 countries and territories with more than 1,800 facilities, with a delivery fleet of over 100,000 ground vehicles and over 500 aircraft (both owned and charter). So when the company’s vice president of IT Kim Felix talks about the challenge of building a business intelligence system to manage UPS’s transportation network, you can imagine the size and scale of data she’s dealing with — 8,700 events per second, every second of the day, Felix says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)