Microsoft earlier this month quietly extended the life of Windows 10's debut edition, the version launched in July 2015.Rather than end support for Windows 10 v. 1507 -- Microsoft labels the OS by year and month -- in March, as announced last year, the company will issue the version's final security updates in May, probably May 9, that month's Patch Tuesday.[ Further reading: Support family and friends with Windows 10’s new Quick Assist app ]
The new date was posted as a revision to a mid-January blog post by Nathan Mercer, a senior product marketing manager for Microsoft. In the original entry, Mercer had tapped March 26 as the end of 1507 "servicing," a company synonym for updating and patching.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
What happens if a bad actor turns off your heat in the middle of winter, then demands $1,000 to turn it back on? Or even holds a small city’s power for ransom? Those kinds of attacks to personal, corporate, and infrastructure technology were among the top concerns for security experts from the SANS Institute, who spoke Wednesday during the RSA conference in San Francisco.+ MORE FROM RSA: Hot products at RSA 2017 +Some of these threats target consumers directly, but even the ones that target corporations could eventually “filter down” to consumers, though the effects might not be felt for some time.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Swedish network giant Ericsson will have a lot of prospective 5G equipment to show to gearheads at Mobile World Congress later this month, but the future cloud capabilities it demonstrates may be just as important for a subscriber’s experience.In addition to fast broadband speeds, Ericsson’s technologies for next-generation networks will be able to guarantee enterprises the same type of service around the world and shift applications to the edge of a network to shrink transmission delays, the company said in an MWC preview on Wednesday.Those concepts aren’t brand new, but building the back-end infrastructure to support them – much of it defined by software – is part of the ongoing move toward true 5G deployments coming around the end of this decade.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
All too often the latest gadget is a solution looking for a problem that doesn't exist. You won't believe (we still can't believe) the piece of utter rubbish at number one in our list of the most useless gadgets of all time.We've listed the products in only a rough order (although our #1 most useless product is an absolute belter), and we've given each a uselessnes score out of 5 in which 1 could be conceivably of some use, and 5 is a chocolate tea pot. And, yes, we are more than happy to say that the Apple Watch makes the list - you are of course entitled to disagree.Most useless products of all time #17: Gear 2
Face facts, Samsung fans. Samsung has a unique way of reacting when a new product category appears (or when Apple hints that it might make a new category device). It floods the market with products of various flavours, sees what works and then concentrates only on the winners. And so it is with smartwatches.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The office of the futureImage by JAKO5D via PixabayThe workplace environment known as “the office” has gone through a good deal of change over the years. Consider the timeline of props: Typewriters. Switchboards. File cabinets. Mimeographs. Desktop computers. Fax machines. Cubicles. Exercise desks. Nap stations. The coffee maker seems to have endured. And, of course, the stapler.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
New U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions may disagree about whether there is a shortage of skilled IT workers in America, as he has asserted at hearings over the past two years, but talk to most CISOs and they will confirm that when it comes to cybersecurity talent in particular, the skills shortage is very real.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Controlling BYODImage by PexelsFor years, organizations have turned to Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions with the hope of wrapping their arms around BYOD. MDM is a technology that enables organizations to control every aspect of a mobile device, from permitted apps to outbound communications. But with that complete control comes the potential for abuse.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In today's digital, technology-driven marketplace, a company's greatest competitive advantage is its ability to offer an incredible customer experience. But delivering that starts in what, on first blush, seems like an unlikely place: with your software development teams."We've all been there, right? You're trying to do your job, get work done and the software you're using isn't working right. Or it has a glitch or a bug that you have to work around. Or it doesn't have quite the right set of features for your needs, though it might be close. It makes everything more frustrating, more difficult, and then you're not working efficiently or effectively," says Greg Law, CEO and co-founder of software quality startup Undo.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Human resources is, by definition, all about managing people — historically considered the softer side of business. But companies are increasingly tying staffing decisions directly to specific business problems, strategies and goals, an approach popularized in part by tech companies such as Google. And to do that, they need data — lots of data.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
A new presidential administration usually fires up political passions from those on the winning and losing sides of the recent election.Bitter and cynical partisanship is sadly the norm, but it isn’t very constructive. Genuine civic engagement, however, can both empower you and encourage others to lobby and engage with your government about issues that matter.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: How to use public Wi-Fi hotspots safely
The big question for anyone considering doing something as simple as contacting an elected official or lobbying for or against a bill is knowing where to start. It’s another of those questions your Android smartphone can help you answer, although you don’t want to end up on 200 mailing lists that do nothing but ask for donations.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Paying ransom to a cyber extortionist holding enterprise data hostage might seem like a poor idea in principle but sometimes it might the best, or even only, option for extricating your organization from a crisis.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
U.S. legislators have reintroduced bills that would place curbs on warrantless access by the government to electronically generated geolocation information of Americans, including on the use of cell-site simulators that can capture cellphone data.Bicameral legislation introduced Wednesday, called the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act, aims to create clear rules for when law enforcement agencies can acquire an individual’s geolocation information, generated from electronic devices like smartphones, GPS units and Wi-Fi equipped laptops.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Vendors at this week's RSA cybersecurity show in San Francisco are pushing artificial intelligence and machine learning as the new way to detect the latest threats, but RSA CTO Zulfikar Ramzan is giving visitors a reality check."I think it (the technology) moves the needle," he said on Wednesday. "The real open question to me is how much has that needle actually moved in practice?"It's not as much as vendors claim, Ramzan warned, but for customers it won't be easy cutting through the hype and marketing. The reality is that a lot of the technology now being pushed isn’t necessarily new.In particular, he was talking about machine learning, a subfield in A.I. that’s become a popular marketing term in cybersecurity. In practice, it essentially involves building algorithms to spot bad computer behavior from good.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The internet of things needs to be regulated and soon before it becomes even more of a tool to facilitate cyberattacks, and that means coming up with civic-minded technologists to help formulate government policies, security expert Bruce Schneier told an RSA Conference 2017 audience.+More on Network World: RSA: Watch out for a new weapon - your own data | Hot products at RSA 2017 +The problem is governments lack the technological expertise to understand the mindset of the makers of IoT devices and the markets in which they are sold.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Unleash the next generation in power with the EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G3 Power Supply. Based on the award winning G2 series Power Supplies from EVGA, This power supply features 80 PLUS Gold rated efficiency, and clean, continuous power to every component. The ECO Thermal Control Fan System offers fan modes to provide zero fan noise during low load operations. This provides improved efficiency for longer operation, less power consumption, reduced energy costs and minimal heat dissipation. This power supply is highly rated with 4.6 out of 5 stars from over 3,000 people (read reviews). It's typical list price of $129.99 has been reduced 23% to $99.99 . See the discounted power supply now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you want to have a digital business, you need a modern network. Just follow the steps in this blog series.
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The Windows Insider program has been an important program for Microsoft, soliciting feedback from thousands of individual customers to help with the development and debugging of Windows 10. Now the company has launched an equivalent program for corporate users.Dubbed the Windows Insider Program for Businesses — or WIP4Biz, for short -- Microsoft is aiming to get more business involvement in the feedback process. At its recent NexTech Africa conference, the company recommended that SMBs and enterprise customers should run Windows 10 Insider Preview builds on 1% of their systems to see what's coming in future builds and prepare for them.Now, at the company's Ignite show in Australia, Bill Karagounis, the Windows 10 OS Fundamentals Director, formally announced WIP4Biz. According to Neowin, which must have had someone at the show, a major goal of WIP4Biz is to "make Insider systems and capabilities more friendly and easier to fit into your business environments."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Ransomware is increasingly becoming a problem for companies, and the CEO of a leading computer security company says he fears 2017 could see entire companies shut down until they pay up, or risk losing all their data.Ransomware works by infiltrating a computer with malware and then encrypting all the files on the disk. The user is presented with a limited time offer: Lose all your data or send money with the promise your data will be unlocked. The fee typically varies from a few tens of dollars to hundreds of dollars and often has to be transmitted in Bitcoin.The problem began on a fairly small scale, targeting individual users, but has been growing. Last year, a hospital in Los Angeles admitted to paying $17,000 to get its system unlocked, and a report in October said ransomware cases were on course to quadruple in 2016 over the previous year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The responsibilities of information security are rapidly changing as enterprises digitize. Technology now enables business strategy and is transforming product, channels, and operations. In this new context, information security is expected to take a strategic role by helping business leaders understand the security implications of their digital strategies; support a quicker pace of technology exploitation and experimentation; and govern a larger, more varied project portfolio.Digitization has spurred three company-wide shifts, creating the need for three associated new information security roles.Shift 1: Strategy over governance
Information security increasingly plays a larger role in advising business partners on strategy. A key driver is the growing difficulty of executing digital strategies securely. Technology enablement of product, channel, and operations introduces new potential vulnerabilities that can only be spotted by information security’s keen eye. More business leaders are recognizing security’s centrality; in fact, CEB data shows that 81 percent of boards of director review information security matters in most or every meeting (disclosure: I work for CEB).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Amazon Web Services got off to a slow start in January, taking its time to sleep off the New Year’s festivities. But the cloud provider got up to speed by the end of the month, launching a handful of new products for its customers to work with.Last year, the cloud provider launched 1,017 new features, according to the fourth-quarter earnings report Amazon released last month. Here’s the breakdown of what you need to know about Amazon’s January news:IoT Buttons dash into the enterprise
Last year, Amazon launched Dash buttons to consumers, small devices that people could program to reorder household products from the online retailer with a press. Now, the company is letting enterprises create their own.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here