Effective network troubleshooting requires experience and a detailed understanding of a network’s design. And while many great network engineers possess both qualities, they still face the daunting challenge of manual data collection and analysis.The storage and backup industries have long been automated, yet, for the most part, automation has alluded the network, forcing engineering teams to troubleshoot and map networks manually. Estimates from a NetBrain poll indicate that network engineers spend 80% of their troubleshooting time collecting data and only 20% analyzing it. With the cost of downtime only getting more expensive, an opportunity to significantly reduce the time spent collecting data is critical.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This contributed piece has been edited and approved by Network World editorsPossession is nine-tenths of the law, right? But thanks to blockchain, this old adage may no longer be a viable way to settle property disputes.Artists and enterprises alike have long struggled to prove ownership of their work after it has been disseminated, especially when it is uploaded online. What if there was a way to use technology to reliably track asset provenance with absolute certainty, from creation to marketplace and beyond? The reality is that this is already possible with the help of blockchain, and the benefits to the enterprise are many.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.There still really aren’t many enterprise run-time security tools for containers available, which has skewed the conversation toward establishing defensive barriers prior to run-time – during the build, integration, and deployment stage.Of course, with rapidly evolving technology like containers, it can be all too easy to overlook the most basic security concerns, so, really, any focus at all is welcome. Efforts pointing out the security advantages of digitally signing container images at build time, and scanning them before they are pushed to the registry, should indeed be heard. The OS should be hardened and attack surfaces should be trimmed where possible. Solutions like Seccomp and AppArmor that introduce security profiles between containers and the host kernel ought to be implemented.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Gray Hall, CEO of Alert Logic, cut his teeth delivering enterprise-class services when he started VeriCenter, one of the earliest managed hosting companies. Hall eventually sold that company to SunGard Data Systems in 2007, and in 2009 joined Alert Logic where he has since driven revenue growth 12x. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix recently caught up with Hall to learn more about Alert Logic and the security-as-a-service movement.Lets start with a brief background on the company.Alert Logic was founded in 2002 -- the founders are still with us today in very key roles – and the original vision was to bring together SaaS and managed security services, starting with Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS). Sourcefire had been around for a long time, they were the gorilla in the space (now owned by Cisco), but Sourcefire is a very advanced product and most of our customers would say it’s expensive, complex, and you need a lot of expertise to make it work. It’s only as good as the content you feed it and once you reconfigure your network, you have to do it all over again … tuning, configuration, etc.To read this article in full Continue reading
The MP3 file format, the one that helped the iPod become a mainstream and iconic device, is now officially dead.According to a new report via NPR, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits has stopped providing licenses for MP3 technology, noting that more superior audio formats have rendered the MP3 obsolete. Speaking to NPR, the Fraunhofer Institute said AAC has since become the "de facto standard for music download and videos on mobile phones."A statement on the matter reads:
We thank all of our licensees for their great support in making mp3 the de facto audio codec in the world, during the past two decades.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Sometimes, if you want something badly enough, you need to get off your lazy tuchus and make it happen yourself. For years now, I've been hoping and pining (and often complaining and whining) about how much I want Linux-powered... everything. Not Android. Not ChromeOS. Real Linux. The kind of Linux you have full control over—the sort you'd install on your desktop PC. And when I say "everything," I mean everything. The set-top box connected to my TV. My game consoles (including handheld game consoles). Tablets. PDAs. Home server. The works. All of it. Running Linux and free software. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) for years has been a promising approach to protecting data while it’s being computed on, but making it fast enough and easy enough to use has been a challenge.The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, which has been leading the Department of Defense’s examination of this topic, recently awarded research and development firm Galois a $1M contract to explore ways to bring FHE to programmers. The goal, says Galois Principal Investigator Dr. David Archer, is making FHE “practical and usable,” and his outfit is working with researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology on this front via the Rapid Machine-learning Processing Applications and Reconfigurable Targeting of Security (RAMPARTS) initiative. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Charge your device and PowerCore Fusion's internal battery via a wall outlet, then take it with you for up to 3 phone charges -- any place, any time. In the wall or on-the-go, Anker's exclusive PowerIQ and VoltageBoost technologies ensure that all devices receive their fastest possible charge. Also features a foldable plug to ensure maximum portability. At the moment, its list proce of $50.99 is reduced 57% on Amazon to just $21.99. See the discounted Anker PowerCore 5000 on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Your business is hit with a ransomware attack. Or your ecommerce site crashes. Your legacy system stops working. Or maybe your latest software release has a major bug. These are just some of the problems that ecommerce, technology and other companies experience at one time or another.The issue is not if a problem – or crisis – occurs, but how your company handles it when it does. Manage the problem poorly, you risk losing customers, or worse. Handle a crisis promptly and professionally, you can fend off a public relations disaster and might even gain new customers.So what steps can businesses take to mitigate and effectively manage an IT-related crisis? Here are eight suggestions.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Thousands of organizations from around the world were caught off guard by the WannaCry ransomware attack launched Friday. As this rapidly spreading threat evolves, more cybercriminals are likely to attempt to profit from this and similar vulnerabilities.As a ransomware program, WannaCry itself is not that special or sophisticated. In fact, an earlier version of the program was distributed in March and April and, judging by its implementation, its creators are not very skilled.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Today is likely to be painful for many organizations all over the world that took the weekend off and are returning to the work-week to find hundreds or thousands of computers on their networks encrypted by WannaCry ransomware, which surfaced Friday and has been propagating ever since.Estimates by law enforcement agency Europol estimated yesterday that more than 200,000 computers in 150 countries were infected, but with the worm continuing to spread to vulnerable Windows machines, that number will surely rise.For those whose machines have not been infected, here’s what you need to do right away:
Apply the Microsoft patch that will thwart the attack. It’s available here.
If you can’t do that because you haven’t tested whether the patch will affect your software build, disable Server Message Block 1 (SMB1) network file sharing. That’s where the flaw is that it attacks.
Consider closing firewall port 139, 445 or both because these are the ports SMB uses.
Longer term, to guard against similar future attacks you should:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In the future, your Samsung vacuum cleaner, robot or washing machine will run on an OS called Tizen RT, slated to be introduced and detailed on Tuesday.The OS for smart devices and gadgets -- in other words, internet of things (IoT) devices -- will be introduced by Samsung at its Tizen Developers Conference, which will be held in San Francisco starting Tuesday.Samsung will share the architecture and future release schedule for Tizen RT at the conference. A number of sessions are being held on how to deploy and update the OS across devices.The real-time OS is a slimmed-down version of the mainstream Tizen OS, which is being used in Samsung TVs, smartphones, Gear smartwatches and other devices. Though it is an open-source OS, Samsung is its biggest backer.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
I live my life in two worlds. The most visible world, at least to this audience, involves spending lots of time in Silicon Valley and the U.S. generally and conversing with the technology illuminati—those who “get” technology, the cloud and what it can offer the world.In my other life, I live in a small (like, tiny) rural village in deepest, darkest New Zealand. I’m surrounded by fine folk, the so-called “salt of the earth” who make a living from the land, sheep, grapes and the rural sector generally. To these folks, technology is simply another tool to add to the arsenal of tools they have at their disposal.+ Also on Network World: Deep dive on AWS vs. Azure vs. Google cloud storage options +
For these people, cloud isn’t always an already-adopted opportunity. Rather they use a variety of technology products and services. I have a friend who runs an agricultural service business whose operational software is a DOS-based solution. While this may have friends in the technology world rolling their eyes and shaking their heads, it is the reality of the “real world.” As an aside, I’ve said for the longest time that technology companies Continue reading
A Windows-on-ARM PC is getting closer to reality. Microsoft showed off a prototype mini-desktop with an ARM processor running Windows 10 at last week's Build conference, with the PC running applications like Office.The PC was shown in a video posted on the Channel 9 website. The presenters reinforced Microsoft's previous message saying that all x86 applications will work on Windows-on-ARM PCs.Microsoft has maintained that the experience on Windows 10-on-ARM PCs will be similar to x86 laptops, but many questions remain. One revolves around whether Windows 10-on-ARM PCs will support Windows Mixed Reality headsets.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Last week Dell and EMC held its first joint customer event since the two tech giants merged. The not-so-originally named Dell-EMC World was a forum for the newly formed company to showcase how it can help its customers navigate the complex world of digital transformation.The final keynote of the event was by the always-entertaining and equally brilliant Chad Sakac, head of the Converged Platform group. He entertained the crowd by flying onto the stage dressed as Captain Canada, a superhero from the 1970s.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It is sickening when people prove “no good deed goes unpunished” to be true. I’m looking at you, British tabloids, because it was mean, stupid and very irresponsible to dox the guy who discovered the first WannaCry ransomware kill switch and thereby stopped thousands of old Windows machines from becoming infected.He goes by MalwareTech on Twitter and has an avatar of a cat wearing sunglasses. If he wanted to use his real name and picture, then he would have. Clearly, he values privacy and tries to maintain at least some degree of anonymity.Yet after being hailed as a hero for discovering a kill switch as WannaCry ransomware swept across globe, shady journalists doxed him. They dug into everything they could find online about MalwareTech, including trying to pry information from his friends.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Microsoft on Sunday said a software vulnerability stolen from the U.S. National Security Agency has affected customers around the world, and described the spread of the WannaCrypt ransomware on Friday in many countries as yet another example of the problems caused by the stockpiling of vulnerabilities by governments.Referring to the attack as a “wake-up call,” Microsoft’s President and Chief Legal Officer, Brad Smith wrote in a blog post that governments have "to consider the damage to civilians that comes from hoarding these vulnerabilities and the use of these exploits."The ransomware, also called WannaCry or Wana Decryptor, works by exploiting a vulnerability in some older versions of Windows. It has been suspected for some time now that the malware came from a cache of hacking tools reportedly stolen by hacking group Shadow Brokers from the NSA and leaked on the internet. WannaCry is said to take advantage of a NSA hacking tool, called EternalBlue, that can make it easy to hijack unpatched older Windows machines.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Over the years I've been tempted to buy all sorts of ridiculous things from sites such as Recycled Goods and eBay and, for various reasons such as lacking enough room (and spousal approval) to get a rotovap setup going in the kitchen, I've managed to restrict myself to a few small, reasonably sane acquisitions. Other people, for example, Connor Krukosky, not only laugh at temerity such as mine but go big with hardly a second thought.A couple of years ago, at the age of 18, Krukosky who has what we'll call "a passion" for collecting and restoring vintage computers, spotted a posting on a mailing list announcing that an decade-old IBM Z890 mainframe was being sold by Rutgers University and the bidding was at a measly $100. Krukosky was immediately interested and bid, winning the beast for the handsome sum of $237.39.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Enough with the iPhone 8 (or iPhone X) rumors: News about the 10th anniversary Apple iPhone seems to be getting real...PROCESSOR IN PRODUCTION
Much of the speculation about the expected 5.8-inch iPhone 8 of late has been about delays and more delays, but a report from DigiTimes that has been picked up by a slew of others states that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has started cranking out the main processors for the much anticipated iOS device. The presumed 10nm A11 system-on-chips would likely show up in the iPhone 8 as well as expected iPhone 7s and 7s Plus phones. While Apple uses multiple suppliers for other components, such as modems, TSMC is believed to be the only A11 supplier.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here