Not so true anymoreImage by ThinkstockIt is sort of like those commercials that stated it must be true because I read it on the internet. There are long held beliefs that have gone unchallenged and accepted. Then there are those who put their head in the sand with such statements as “I don’t need to protect my network, there is nothing worth stealing.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Among the new features that Microsoft rolled out with last month's Anniversary Update to Windows 10 is an app called Quick Assist -- a remote-access tool that is especially designed to work with Windows 10 systems. As you likely know, remote-access applications allow two computers to connect over the internet so that a person at one of them can remotely control the other. In this way, the person controlling the computer remotely can diagnose or fix a problem with it -- for example, by running an anti-malware program or uninstalling a troublesome hardware driver.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
SAP has bought IoT software developer Plat.One, marking the start of a plan to invest US$2 billion in the internet of things over the next five years.Some of those billions will be spent on the creation of IoT development labs around the world, SAP said Wednesday. It already has plans for such labs in Berlin, Johannesburg, Munich, Palo Alto, Shanghai and São Leopoldo in Brazil. The company is also rolling out a series of "jump-start" and "accelerator" IoT software packages for particular industries, to help them monitor and control equipment.Another compoent of SAP's IoT plan is to acquire new businesses, the latest of which is Plat.One. This company makes a platform that helps smart devices talk to one another and with a central database, translating between the different protocols they use to communicate. Plat.One says it manages 200,000 devices for 25 enterprise customers, including three telecommunications companies: BT, T-Systems and Telecom Italia.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
How do you get started using the cloud?For some organizations, cloud usage has already begun by someone in the company - whether they know it or not. But to have a successful cloud deployment, it’s helpful to have a plan.Consultancy Cloud Technology Partners is one of many companies that help customers adopt public IaaS cloud computing resources. CloudTP says the following 10 tips are key for a successful cloud rollout.1. Alignment workshopsAfter a company has made a decision to use IaaS cloud computing services, it’s helpful to have a level-set meeting with important stakeholders at the company to get everyone on the same page. Typical groups involved in this meeting would be security managers, finance and procurement professionals, infrastructure engineers, operations workers and third-party consultants. Typically a senior IT manager or CIO leads the process. It’s important to have a clear message to this group of why the cloud is being explored.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Echo Dot is a hands-free, voice-controlled device that uses Alexa to play & control music (either on its own, or through a connected speaker/receiver), control smart home devices, provide information, read the news, set alarms, and more. Right now Amazon is discounting 3 bundles featuring an all new Echo Dot:
17% off Echo Dot + Philips Hue Starter KitTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Stiff EU copyright proposals that theoretically ban memes, gifs and even pictures of some landmarks are the target of a campaign backed by Firefox browser maker Mozilla, which has encouraged a campaign of digital civil disobedience it’s calling Post Crimes.Post Crimes is centered on a web app that lets users mock up selfies of themselves in front of several European landmarks, then send them as postcards to EU lawmakers to ridicule the proposed copyright laws.+ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: 802.11ad is the fastest Wi-Fi that you might not ever use + Swift CEO reveals three more failed attacks on banking networkTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
SAP Crystal Reports software is the de facto in reporting, and it's currently discounted 10%, through Friday, if you use the code CRYSTAL10 at checkout. With SAP Crystal Reports you can create powerful, richly formatted, dynamic reports from virtually any data source – delivered in dozens of formats, in up to 24 languages. A robust production reporting tool, SAP Crystal Reports turns almost any data source into interactive, actionable information that can be accessed offline or online, from applications, portals and mobile devices.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Wyoming’s 250-person Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) group knew it had a good thing in its Enterprise Extensible Code Library, but it chose to keep things under wraps outside of the state until last week when members of that team attended an annual confab for state government CIOs.It was at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) convention in Orlando that the ETS code library project was honored with a Recognition Award for Enterprise IT Management Initiatives, and the inquiries from other states and organizations started streaming in.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you want to fashion a smart gadget, robot, or drone with wireless capabilities on the cheap, a US$9.99 development board from Orange Pi will help you reach that goal.The Orange Pi i96 shouldn't be confused with the $35 Raspberry Pi 3, which is much more powerful and can be a full-fledged Linux PC. The smaller Orange Pi has limited horsepower and is targeted at smart gadgets, drones, and internet of things devices.If you want to create a gadget to show off at a Maker Faire event, the Orange Pi i96 is the kind of board you'll rely on. The board was first announced at the Linaro Connect conference, happening this week in Las Vegas.For its price and target market, the Orange Pi has features not found on competitive boards. It includes Wi-Fi, 4GB of flash storage, and 2GB of RAM. It also has a micro-SD slot, a micro-USB connection, and includes the Linux-based Ubuntu OS.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Like PCs, developer boards like Raspberry Pi are getting more horsepower to run faster applications and 4K graphics.Take the Mediatek X20 Development Board, which started shipping for US$199 this week. It is crammed with the latest mobile chips that give the developer board PC-like computing power.It has a 10-core Mediatek X20 chip, which is being used in new mobile devices from companies like Meizu and LeEco. The board comes with Android 6.0, and it's not yet known if it will be upgraded to Android 7.0.There still isn't much need for 10 CPU cores in smartphones or tablets, but the developer board could put the chip to good use. Quad core chips are considered powerful enough for handsets.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This device from Anker is small enough to fit in your glove box, but packs enough power to jump start your 3L gas or 2.5L diesel engine a whopping 15 times on a single charge. Advanced safety features ensure total protection against reverse polarity, surges and short circuits. So there's no risk in hooking it up wrong or backwards like with traditional jump starters. It also has two built-in USB charging ports for your mobile devices, and comes with an 18-month warranty. It averages 4.5 out of 5 stars from 1,000 people on Amazon (read reviews), and its list price has been reduced to just $59. See the discounted Anker car jump starter on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The formidable processing power and analytical tools available in public clouds could make industrial IoT more effective and less expensive. But bringing IoT data into the cloud takes more than a network connection.On Tuesday, two companies moved to help enterprises adapt their IoT data for popular cloud services. OSIsoft introduced its PI Integrator for Microsoft Azure, and Particle announced a custom integration with Google Cloud Platform.While some large enterprises with sensitive IoT data do all their analytics in-house, public clouds offer greater scale and better security than many organizations can achieve on their own, MachNation analyst Dima Tokar said. And more advanced analytics, including better error correction, in some cases can give enterprises the same insights with fewer sensors, he said. Trading hardware for software -- especially the cloud-based kind -- typically means savings.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Over the years I’ve done a number of—let’s just call them “experiments in computering”—where I attempt to use my computers in such a way that is outside of my comfort zone. Living entirely in a terminal. Getting rid of all Google software and services. Using nothing but a version of FreeDOS. That sort of thing. I typically give myself the simple goal of “do it for 30 days, and see how it goes.” In the process, I always learn something—about what I like, about what is possible. And even if I don’t learn a cotton-pickin’ thing of value, it’s still kinda fun—kinda. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Security researchers have discovered more ransomware under development, namely one paying homage to Voldemort and another featuring Donald Trump, as well as one variant currently targeting servers and yet a different ransomware hitting government agencies and education institutions.Let’s start with the ransomware that has moved past development into actively locking up computers.DXXD ransomware targeting serversOn Bleeping Computer forums, there were reports of servers being hit with DXXD ransomware. After a file has been encrypted, “dxxd” is added to the end of a filename such as myimportantfile.jpgdxxd.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
When I was young, I made three plastic models. One was of a car—a '57 Chevy. Another was of a plane—a Spitfire. And a third was of the Darth Vader TIE Fighter. I was so proud of them. Each one was just like the real thing. The wheels turned on the car, and the plane’s propeller moved when you blew on it. And of course, the TIE Fighter had Darth Vader inside.When I went to work on the internet, I had to measure things. As I discussed in my last post, Measure cloud performance like a customer, when you measure on the internet you need to measure in ways that are representative of your customers’ experiences. This affects how you measure in two ways. The first is the perspective you take when measuring, which I talked about last time. The second way is the techniques you use to perform those measurements. And those techniques are, in effect, how you make a model of what you want to know. Those childhood plastic models turn out to offer some solid guidance after all.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Security blogger Brian Krebs says a massive distributed denial-of-service attack that took down his Web site last week was likely the consequences for his outing of two Israelis who ran a DDoS-for-hire business.+More on Network World: The IoT is uranium+The pair, whom he identifies as Itay Huri and Yarden Bidani, both 18, were arrested in Israel at the request of the FBI six days after Krebs posted his blog and are now under house arrest.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
These days, practically every household needs a computer. Even if your job doesn’t require you to peddle presentations after hours, everything from shopping to budgeting to keeping in touch with friends is a vastly more convenient with a keyboard and mouse. And who can resist the occasional foray into the spectacular world of YouTube “fail” videos?PCs can be expensive, though. That’s why hundreds of millions of people rely on 5-year-old-plus computers. For many folks, PCs are appliances rather than toys—pricey tools that are replaced only when they break, and reluctantly even then.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Super mobile workerImage by ThinkstockWe are entering the age of “supermobility,” in which mobile devices will provide all of the tools and technology that employees need to be productive on the go. And while workplace flexibility and convenience are at an all-time high, super-mobile employees are actually putting enormous amounts of company data at risk.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Nation-states and savvy criminal hackers don’t pull uninformed, spur-of-the-moment smash-and-grab jobs on data networks. They reconnoiter and position themselves to slowly implement precise surgical maneuvers to exfiltrate your information treasures. Most of these attackers are capable of ensuring you remain unaware of their movements until it is to their benefit for you to know.High-profile attacks that leveraged extended dwell time inside the networks of large retail chains such as Target are examples of how hackers farm or manage victim organizations in this manner.Hackers farm their targets by maintaining a veiled presence in sensitive places in and around government and enterprise networks, revealing their position in a calculated way at an optimal time to achieve some strategic goal, says Danny Rogers, CEO at Terbium Labs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This is the final entry in our series on the 20 Critical Security Controls devised by the Center for Internet Security (CIS) as best practices to help the public and private sectors tighten their cybersecurity.We started down the path of building a solid security foundation by taking inventory of hardware and software, we looked at vulnerability assessment and administrative privileges, and we discussed how to build malware defenses. We also explored how to create a data recovery plan, how to protect your data, and the importance of monitoring and training employees.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here