Information Centric Networking (ICN) is receiving increasing interest in the context of future wireless networks. So, what is ICN? Why is it important and will it have a role in next generation 5G networks? I think it will and for some very good reasons.ICN is a research area that dates back to about 2006 and has been cooking for over a decade. It defines a new way of inter-networking or, as I see it, a very natural next step now for the internet—if it is done right.The principles and essential architecture of today’s internet are rooted in the system that was created for simple file transfers some 40-plus years ago. The internet has, of course, evolved within this restrictive construct, and the media consumption experience you most likely enjoy today is as much a function of carefully choreographed Content Delivery Networks (CDN) as the old internet client-server model. CDNs and the careful management of content (aka information) are essential to the smooth functioning that we perceive today.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There’s a 62 percent chance of an earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area in the next 30 years, according to the U.S. Geological Service. But no one knows when or where the next big one might be. So, when I heard of startup offering an early-warning service for earthquakes, I wanted to learn more.It’s a tough problem to solve. Thousands of widely dispersed sensors are needed, as an earthquake could originate anywhere. To be effective, an early-warning service also needs a dependable communication network and fast analysis. Take a look at what happened when the last "big one" struck the San Francisco Bay Area.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Hackers behind the Bangladesh bank heist created malware to compromise the SWIFT financial system. Security researchers said the malware allowed attackers to modify a database logging the bank’s activity over the SWIFT network, to delete records of outgoing transfer orders and to intercept incoming transfer confirmation messages, and to manipulate both account balance logs and a printer used to make hard copies of the transfer orders.The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is a cooperative owned by 3,000 financial institutions. SWIFT software is supposed to securely send and receive information about financial transactions; the messaging platform is reportedly used by 11,000 banks worldwide. SWIFT admitted to Reuters that it was aware of malware targeting its client software “Alliance Access,” which is not used by all 11,000 banks.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
False positives are a scourge in cyberattack detection partly because of the way machine learning detects attacks. It’s done through what’s called anomaly detection where the artificial intelligence (AI) searches for code that isn’t as expected.That “tends to trigger false positives,” says MIT News, writing about a new AI platform that its scientists say will alleviate the trip-ups.The way they want to do it is to simply add humans to the mix. “Distrust of the system” means results have “to be investigated by humans, anyway,” MIT News says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Fitbit's Aria WiFi smart scale is a great add-on for anyone using a Fitbit to track progress towards their fitness goals. The current 17% discount shaves $22.64 off its regular $129.95 list price, so you can buy it now on Amazon for $107.31 (see this item on Amazon). The Fitbit Aria will accurately track weight, % body fat, and Body Mass Index (BMI) for up to 8 users. Using WiFi, data is automatically uploaded to your Fitbit account, so you can graph and track your progress easily and privately online.The product averages 3.5 out of 5 stars from over 4,500 people on Amazon (see reviews). Click over to Amazon for more information and to review buying options for the discounted Fitbit Aria smart scale.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Confirming that there really are no original ideas left, I had the thought that the Raspberry Pi Foundation might want to come out with Raspberry Pi berets to honor the musician Prince (and his song "Raspberry Beret") in the wake of his recent death. But sure enough, a Google search reveals that someone already came up with this idea a year ago.
MORE: RIP Prince, a legendary musician with a complicated Internet history
Albeit, the idea was actually a 2015 April Fool's joke on the website Hackaday. "Now, the partnership we’ve all been waiting for: the Raspberry Pi Foundation and [The Artist Formerly Known As... ] are teaming up to produce a line of Pi-based wearable electronics. The first product from this new, fashionable line of electronics is beyond anything you would expect. It’s called the Raspberry Beret, and it’s shaping up to be a Revolution in wearables."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Fortinet is embarking on a mission for some of its firewalls and other products and those of third-party vendors to work together to boost security across core networks, remote devices and the cloud.Called Fortinet Security Fabric, the architecture relies on direct communications inherent among certain of its own products (such as the FortiGate next-generation firewall, FortiWeb Web application firewall, FortiMail email security and FortiSandbox advanced threat protection system) as well as with those of other vendors via APIs.Each third-party device can participate in sharing information depending on the capabilities of its API, says John Maddison, Fortinet’s senior vice president of products and solutions.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
New productsThe open source cloud computing market descends on Austin, Texas, this week for the OpenStack Summit, the twice a year conference that showcases the platform and plans for its future. Check out some of the coolest products and services from the show.HPE Helion OpenStack 3.0Key features: Helion OpenStack 3.0, HPE’s latest OpenStack platform release, features enhancements designed to deliver improved configurability and tighter controls to maximize operational efficiency, without vendor lock-in, for easier private cloud deployment. More info.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The hackers who stole US $81 million from Bangladesh's central bank likely used custom malware designed to interfere with the SWIFT transaction software used by many financial institutions.The attackers attempted to transfer $951 million out of Bangladesh Bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February, but most of the transfers were blocked before completion. The attackers did manage to send $81 million to accounts in the Philippines, and that money is still missing.Researchers from BAE Systems have recently come across several malware components that they believe are part of a custom attack toolkit that was likely used in the heist.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This week a famous pitcher who clearly should have known better, lost his very high paying job at ESPN. It reminded me how many kids fresh out of college undid all of those years in school by getting fired for doing something similar.9. Avoid being a prankster. Every office has one and every once in a while things go terribly wrong. There are some legendary pranks like taking one CEO’s Ferrari apart and then reassembling it in his office. I’m still a little bit awed about that one; and if you are part of a team of top engineers in the company you might get away with it, if you are a first year employee and you even scratch said Ferrari you’ll likely be toast. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen someone being escorted off campus saying something to the effect of, “it was just a prank.” To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
When the software audit request came from Adobe two years ago, Margaret Smith (not her real name) thought it was business as usual. As a governance risk and compliance specialist for a Fortune 500 company, she was used to getting audited several times each year.“Usually these things start out friendly,” she says. “We get a request for an audit, and there’s some negotiation involved. They want do an on-site audit or request specific employee IDs, and we say no. But this time they came out swinging. Within two weeks they were threatening to bring in the lawyers.”[ To build or to buy IT applications? InfoWorld sheds light on this eternal questions. | Get the latest insight on the tech news that matters from InfoWorld's Tech Watch blog. ]
Smith’s firm, a maker of consumer goods, had licensed at least 55 different Adobe products in offices around the globe. Now the software maker was accusing her firm of using far more software than it had a right to.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. government believes the Internet of Things (IoT) has enormous economic potential across all industries. Its machine-to-machine technologies can reduce automobile-related injuries, usher in an era of precise weather forecasting and automate all types of processes.But what impact will IoT have on jobs? Will it create more than it destroys? And what happens to all the data devices generate?With those kinds of issues at stake, the U.S. Department of Commerce is now seeking public comment on the "benefits, challenges and potential roles for the government in fostering the advancement of the Internet of Things." There are 28 questions, and multiple sub-parts to some questions. It's a long list.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Being a CIO isn't an easy job, not when hackers are coming at you from all sides trying to get their hands on that sweet, sweet data. It’s especially nerve-racking because one breach can turn a company from a respectable business to one that looks like it protects its information with a layer of Swiss cheese. Here are four things keeping CIOs up at night – and ways to help them fall back asleep again – or at least into a light doze instead of staring at the ceiling waiting for a hacker to break through.1. Dude, where's my data?
Andrew Hay, CISO for DataGravity, says one concern might seem a simple one: "the lack of data awareness that organizations have in terms of where information is stored and what type of sensitive information is accessible by people who shouldn't have it," he says. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Wi-Fi hardware vendors are coming out with new cloud-based solutions, primarily to ease the remote management of wireless networks. However, they typically only support their own hardware. Here we take a look at three cloud-based solutions that support wireless routers and access points from multiple vendors.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
New products of the weekOur roundup of intriguing new products. Read how to submit an entry to Network World's products of the week slideshow.Array Networks APV1600Key features: The APV1600, a fifth-generation application delivery controller (ADC) appliance runs Array’s Version 8.6 software to achieve industry-leading Layer-4 (3.7Gbps), Layer-7 (3Gbps) and SSL (2100TPS) benchmarks for throughput and connection speed. More info.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The latest bi-annual survey data of OpenStack users shows a continuing march of the open source cloud software into mainstream of enterprises, but also the project’s continued challenges related to ease of deployment and management.+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: Cool products at OpenStack Austin Summit +One thing that’s clear is that interest in OpenStack continues to grow rapidly. The project is made up of 20 million lines of code; more than 585 companies have supported OpenStack in some way, and the OpenStack Foundation counts almost 40,000 people actively engaged in the community.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Six years ago over two days engineers from Rackspace and NASA met in Austin, Texas, for the very first OpenStack Summit. Six years later, OpenStack is returning to its roots.As it does so, OpenStack has cemented itself as the dominant open source IaaS platform. But at the same time, more proprietary offerings from vendors like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and VMware still seem to reign in the broader market.+More on Network World: 15 most powerful OpenStack companies | OpenStack by the numbers: Who’s using open source clouds and for what? +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A reminder not to put Barclays analyst Mark Moskowitz on your A List if you plan to have an iPhone 7 party – though you might want to put him at the top of the list for the iPhone 8 in 2017.The market watcher has issued a note to investors this week, according to Fortune, in which he says the iPhone 7 smartphone that Apple will reportedly launch later this year will be devoid of “any must-have form factor changes” compared to the iPhone 6s.MORE: Best iPhone 7 Design Concepts of 2016To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In my last few posts I’ve pondered the issue of how insecure WordPress installations have become. Here’s an interesting thing to try if you run a Wordpress site; install the 404 to 301 plugin and in its settings check the “Email notifications” option and enter an email address in the “Email address” field. Now, whenever a nonexistent URL is requested, you’ll get notified and, at least for me, it’s been pretty interesting to see how hackers attempt to enter my WordPress installations. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. no longer requires Apple’s assistance to unlock an iPhone 5s phone running iOS 7 used by the accused in a drug investigation, stating that an “individual provided the passcode to the iPhone at issue in this case.”
The Department of Justice has withdrawn its application in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
DOJ had earlier appealed to District Judge Margo K. Brodie an order from Magistrate Judge James Orenstein, ruling that Apple could not be forced to provide assistance to the government to extract data from the iPhone 5s.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here