This past weekend at SXSW, two Congressmen suggested that the U.S. create a cybersecurity reserves system, similar to the National Guard, but the idea has received a mixed welcome from the cybersecurity community.According to House Rep. Will Hurd, a Republican from Texas, a national cybersecurity reserve could help strengthen national security and bring in a diversity of experience. Hurd, who has a degree in computer science from Texas A&M, has served as an undercover CIA officer and has worked as a partner at cybersecurity firm FusionX.He has been pitching the idea of a Cyber National Guard for a while, and has suggested that the government could forgive student loan debt for those who serve. It would also help ensure a cross-pollination of experience between government and industry.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
As it promised, Microsoft has stopped issuing updates for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users whose PCs run Intel's seventh-generation processors (codename Kaby Lake), AMD's seventh-generation processors (Bristol Ridge), and Qualcomm's 8996 processor or newer. It's also likely that AMD's new Ryzen processor is included in that list. Bristol Ridge is a slightly older processor made on an older core design.Mainstream support for Windows 7 ended on January 2015, but extended support—in other words, patches—is supposed to continue until January 2020. Support for Windows 8.1 runs through next year and support ends in 2023. However, Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 PCs running these new CPUs will not scan for updates or download them from Windows Update. Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users with new processors who run the Windows Update tool get one of two messages. The first is straightforward: To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Researchers at Cornell University have developed a new type of radio-on-a-chip that could mean cheaper, more flexible wireless systems. Smartphone makers could, for example, use the technology to make a single model of each phone that works anywhere in the world.Single-chip radios have become a popular choice for communications hardware in the last decade because most characteristics of the radio are determined through software, not discrete hardware components. For this reason, they are often referred to as software-defined radios.But software can only do so much. In many transceiver devices -- ones that transmit and receive -- an array of filters is needed to protect the sensitive receiver circuity from signals being transmitted. Those signals can be up to a billion times more powerful that the ones being received, so without the filters, the radio would be overwhelmed and useless.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
To make our lives easier, digital experiences have become much more interconnected and the volume of personal data captured in the cloud is growing exponentially. While these trends make us more productive, they can also make security breaches much more damaging. Once a hacker gains access to one aspect of your digital life, he can easily reach across multiple applications and accounts, laying a path of destruction and heartache.Today’s mobile and digital experiences need authentication strategies that keep up with the constantly changing digital ecosystem, and simple passwords are not enough.Authentication must be fast, easy to use
Multifactor authentication strategies are growing in popularity, but the tradeoff of usability and security is a constant balancing act. If authentication solutions are not simple, quick and easy, users will find ways around them. And if they are not secure, hackers will quickly exploit weaknesses. Sophisticated smart authentication strategies are coming to market that are less visible and easier to use than messaging-based two-factor authentication approaches or biometrics. Approaches such as behavioral biometrics and adaptive authentication are leveraging data and sophisticated algorithms to create more secure and easier-to-use experiences.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please Continue reading
President Donald Trump's federal budget outline released Thursday represents a major shift in U.S. priorities. It would increase defense spending, boost immigration enforcement and include in seed money for a wall along the southern border.It does all of that, in part, by cutting science funding.[ Further reading: The march toward exascale computers ]
Science and technology groups are warning that U.S. leadership will suffer if the budget, which would cover the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, is adopted.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Regardless of your home’s size or shape, these 3 powerful Luma devices work together to create an extremely fast, ultra-secure surround WiFi network that’s customized for your home. No more fiddling with extra WiFi extenders to manage dead spots and weak zones. Luma puts you in control. With a few simple taps, you can pause the internet, filter what your kids are looking at online, or set house rules for your network. Luma also secures your devices and neutralizes threats, keeping you in control of your network. The Luma whole house WiFi system averages 4 out of 5 stars from over 1,100 people on Amazon (read recent reviews), where its typical list price of $399 has been reduced 31% to $275.95. See this deal now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
I couldn’t attend the RSA Conference this year, but many cybersecurity professionals and my ESG colleagues told me that incident response (IR) automation and orchestration was one of the hottest topics in the halls of the Moscone Center—through the bar at the W hotel and even at the teahouse on the garden at Yerba Buena. Was this rhetoric just industry hype? Nope. This buzz is driven by the demand side rather than suppliers. In truth, cybersecurity professionals need immediate IR help for several reasons:1. IR is dominated by manual processes. Let’s face it, IR tasks such as fetching data, tracking events or collaborating with colleagues depend upon the organizational, communications and technical skills of individuals within the security operations team. These manual processes ultimately get in the way of overall IR productivity.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In most businesses, data grows rapidly, voraciously consuming storage as it does so and ratcheting up expenses. Sometimes it seems impossible to keep it under control.However, there is a difference between the Blob and storage that puts you in the driver’s seat. Data didn’t arrive on earth courtesy of a meteorite. We create it by ourselves every day. If we produced the problem, we should be able to defend against it and its associated costs. Here are some ways you can improve storage efficiency.1. Tier your data
Wouldn’t it be nice if business unit leaders would come to you and say, “I need a sub-millisecond response time on my reads and writes for this application,” plus inform you of all their other requirements? That would make it easy to determine the IT resources you should assign to an application. The truth, however, is that in many cases, business leaders don’t know what they need. They just want to make sure that the application does not slow down operations in their department.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
I can be a pretty pessimistic guy. I’m fairly convinced that the Internet of Things spells certain doom for mankind, and I’ve made a habit of standing in front of large rooms full of people simply to tell them how much I think “Linux sucks.” If you were to call me a Negative Nancy, you wouldn’t be far off.To make matters worse, I’m about to publish three new articles—each of them extremely pessimistic and gloomy—over the next week. otal “sky is falling, we’re all gonna die” sort of stuff.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A vulnerability patched in the web-based versions of encrypted communications services WhatsApp and Telegram would have allowed attackers to take over accounts by sending users malicious files masquerading as images or videos.The vulnerability was discovered last week by researchers from Check Point Software Technologies and was patched by the WhatsApp and Telegram developers after the company privately shared the flaw's details with them.The web-based versions of WhatsApp and Telegram synchronize automatically with the apps installed on users' phones. At least in the case of WhatsApp, once paired using a QR code, the phone needs to have an active internet connection for WhatsApp messages to be relayed to the browser on the computer.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft Teams is now live – and on by default – for Office 365 subscribers with Business Essentials, Business Premium and Enterprise plans.Teams is Microsoft’s answer to Slack, with an emphasis on Office 365 integration. Teams is automatically tied to tools such as Outlook, SharePoint, OneNote and Skype for Business. With Skype tie-ins, for example, Teams users can move from text-based chatting to a voice or video call, directly within the Teams app.
RELATED: 4 reasons Microsoft Teams will kill Slack… and 4 reasons it won’tTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Twitter Counter, a third-party analytics service, appears once again to have provided a gateway for hackers to post messages to high-profile Twitter accounts.An unlikely number of Twitter users suddenly learned to speak Turkish on Wednesday, posting an inflammatory message in the language replete with Nazi swastikas.Among those posting the message were the Twitter accounts of Forbes magazine, the Atlanta Police Department, and Amnesty International, one of the few hacked accounts one might expect to speak Turkish.Fears that these accounts had all been hacked were quickly allayed, when Twitter identified a third-party app as being to blame.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
MongoDB 3.4 continues the trend of databases building out support for a range of conceptual data models over the same underlying data store. This multimodel approach aims to deliver a single database that can be used to store data as documents, tables, and graphs simultaneously. The benefit to the user is a dramatically simplified infrastructure when compared to a polyglot persistence model, which might entail managing three or four separate data stores to satisfy those different use cases.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Advanced computing experts at the National Security Agency and the Department of Energy are warning that China is "extremely likely" to take leadership in supercomputing as early as 2020, unless the U.S. acts quickly to increase spending.China's supercomputing advances are not only putting national security at risk, but also U.S. leadership in high-tech manufacturing. If China succeeds, it may "undermine profitable parts of the U.S. economy," according to a report titled U.S. Leadership in High Performance Computing by HPC technical experts at the NSA, the DOE, the National Science Foundation and other agencies.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With the onrush of connected internet of things (IoT) devices, distributed denial-of-service attacks are becoming a dangerous trend. Similar to what happened to DNS service provider Dyn last fall, anyone and everyone is in the crosshairs. The idea of using unprotected IoT devices as a way to bombard networks is gaining momentum.The advent of DDoS-for-hire services means that even the least tech-savvy individual can exact revenge on some website. Step on up to the counter and purchase a stresser that can systemically take down a company.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
IT salaries continue to rise, but many tech workers are still well above the national median income, new research from compensation and salary data solutions company Paysa shows that many tech workers are still underpaid.Paysa used machine learning and AI to examine more than five million resumes of tech and engineering professionals from their salary database and compared their education, experience, skills, work history and current salary to their market value for identical available roles, says Chris Bolte, CEO of Paysa.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Keep SXSW weirdImage by Caitlin McGarryAustin is already a weird place, but during South by Southwest, the weirdness grows exponentially. Big brands thirsty for attention and tiny startups looking to pitch the hot new app compete to see who can capture the SXSW audience of techies and creatives. The brand presence was more subdued this year than in the past, but that didn’t make the stunts any less bananas. Here are the 8 that made me stop in my tracks.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Android and iOS may be destined to do battle forever, but when it comes to apps, the relationship is a little friendlier. Countless iOS users enjoy Google’s services on their iPhones, and in fact, the acclaimed Gboard keyboard actually began its life as an iOS exclusive before making its way to the Play Store several months later.But while Apple hasn’t been nearly as generous with its offerings, it does offer Apple Music and Beats Pill as a concession to former Beats Music subscribers. However, there’s a load of untapped potential in the Play Store. After all, Apple doesn’t just sell iPhones, and many Android users have other Cupertino-made products that they use on a regular basis. So here are some Apple apps I’d love to see show up in the Play Store:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
From professional networking sites and job boards to online applicant systems, technology has revolutionized recruitment, profoundly changing how employers and recruiters find potential candidates. For example, applicant tracking systems and new AI software can help HR departments manage the massive influx of resumes they receive daily, says Michael Fauscette, chief research officer at G2 Crowd, a business software review platform. But, while technology can offer easy solutions, it often has a way of creating new problems in the process."The new AI-powered systems can do a great job sorting through candidates, but the risk is that non-traditional candidates or candidates with unusual experience that might be a very good fit could fall through the rules-based system, even one that learns and improves with 'experience'," he says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
AT&T Wireless customers who tried to reach 911 in the evening hours of Wednesday, March 8, were left stranded in more than a dozen major cities. Based on unconfirmed, but widespread reports, the problem may have affected callers nationwide, with AT&T only sending out tweets again and again, stating:
[AT&T is aware] of issue affecting some calls to 911 for wireless customers. Working to resolve ASAP. We apologize to those affected.
With no root cause offered, several public safety agencies and citizens were left confused on what to do. In what has become a natural reaction to any traumatic event, both the general public and several agencies took to Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets on the web as the go-to place for help, as well as an outlet for frustration—with many announcing their intentions to switch carriers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here