Multi factorsSince we last reviewed two-factor authentication products, the market has moved beyond two-factor authentication toward what is now being called multi-factor authentication. One of the key features being new types of hardware-based tokens. Here are individual reviews of nine MFA products. See the full review.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Perhaps the biggest surprise in our review of nine multi-factor authentication products is that physical tokens are making a comeback. Many IT managers were hoping that software-based tokens, which are easier to deploy and manage, would make hardware tokens extinct.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Due to numerous exploits that have defeated two-factor authentication, either by social engineering, remote access Trojans or various HTML injection techniques, many IT departments now want more than a second factor to protect their most sensitive logins and assets.In the three years since we last reviewed two-factor authentication products, the market has responded, evolving toward what is now being called multi-factor authentication or MFA, featuring new types of tokens.For this review, we looked at nine products, five that were included in our 2013 review, and four newcomers. Our returning vendors are RSA’s Authentication manager, SafeNet’s Authentication Service (which has been acquired by Gemalto), Symantec VIP, Vasco Identikey Authorization Server, and TextPower’s SnapID app. Our first-timers are NokNok Labs S3 Authentication Suite, PistolStar PortalGuard, Yubico’s Yubikey and Voice Biometrics Group Verification Services Platform.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It can be painful enough stretching out iPhone rumors for a year or two, but a new report suggests Apple is changing its cycle for major iPhone refreshes from 2 years to 3. In other words, yes, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus could be as boring as headlines have claimed.Nikkei reports that a slowing smartphone market and a lack of room for enhancements have forced Apple to change its ways. Nikkei says look to 2017 if you want excitement:"On the other hand, the 2017 model will likely involve major enhancements and design changes, including adoption of an organic electroluminescent display. The new device will also be able to create more complex tactile vibrations on the display because of a tiny, but high-performance motor equipped inside."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In an announcement that was rather sudden though perhaps not all that surprising, Tony Fadell on Friday said that he will be stepping down as the CEO of Nest. A legendary Silicon Valley figure, Fadell is not only credited as being the man behind the creation of the iPod but also played an important role in the early development of the iPhone. Following his departure from Apple in 2008, Fadell went on to co-found Nest where the company received numerous accolades for its thermostat.In early 2014, Google agreed to purchase Nest for $3.2 billion. At first glance, the acquisition seemed to be a smart strategic move, especially given the push towards smart appliances in the home. But over the past few years, Nest hasn't exactly performed up to expectations. In recent months, we've seen reports of employee discontent along with reports that the higher ups at Google were expecting more product rollouts from the Nest team.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Everyone who has a personal story about Muhammad Ali is sharing it today, including this remarkable anecdote from Dan Bricklin, father of the spreadsheet, originally posted online in 1999.
“For those of you too young to remember Ali as the most famous person in the world, let me tell you about the one time I saw him in person. I was at Ben Rosen / Esther Dyson's PC conference in Palm Springs, California; January 1983, I think. Ali was attending a fighter's training camp at the same hotel. We were walking to some event outside. I was next to Steve Jobs and maybe Bill Gates was there. Ali walked down the street. I just remember how we all stopped to watch, mouths open, even Steve. I remember how well he carried himself and his tailored clothes. It made our industry seem small -- here were our top people and all we could do was stand and stare as ‘the Greatest’ walked by oblivious to us and our industry.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Quantum computing's full potential may still be years away, but there are plenty of benefits to be realized right now.So argues Vern Brownell, president and CEO of D-Wave Systems, whose namesake quantum system is already in its second generation.Launched 17 years ago by a team with roots at Canada's University of British Columbia, D-Wave introduced what it called "the world's first commercially available quantum computer" back in 2010. Since then the company has doubled the number of qubits, or quantum bits, in its machines roughly every year. Today, its D-Wave 2X system boasts more than 1,000.The company doesn't disclose its full customer list, but Google, NASA and Lockheed-Martin are all on it, D-Wave says. In a recent experiment, Google reported that D-Wave's technology outperformed a conventional machine by 100 million times.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft this week filed another lawsuit in federal court accusing unidentified individuals with stealing its software by illegally activating more than 1,000 copies of Windows 7, Vista and 8, and Office 2010 and 2013.The suit, filed with a Seattle court on Wednesday, was the latest in a string of cases opened by the Redmond, Wash. company in an effort to quash piracy."Microsoft's cyberforensics have identified over one thousand product activations originating from IP address 66.51.73.111 ('the IP Address'), which is presently assigned to Earthlink Inc., and which, on information and belief, is being used by the Defendants in furtherance of the unlawful conduct alleged herein," Microsoft's lawyers wrote in the complaint.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The SoundLink Color from Bose is designed to be portable and durable, while still delivering the full, rich sound you would expect from Bose. Pairing is easy with simple voice prompts, and the unit can be paired with two devices, so when the first stops the second one can play. It comes in several stylish colors, has an auxiliary input jack for non-Bluetooth devices, and delivers up to 8 hours of music on a single charge. The speaker averages 4.5 out of 5 stars from nearly 5,000 customers (read reviews) and can be purchased at 10% off its regular listing price ($116 - See on Amazon).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it one thousand times. Traditional security controls are no longer effective at blocking cyber-threats so enterprise organizations are deploying new types of security defenses and investing in new tools to improve incident detection and response.Unfortunately, this can be more difficult than it seems. Why? Effective Incident detection and response depends upon security analytics technology and this is where the confusion lies. It turns out that there are lots of security analytics tools out there that approach this problem from different angles. Given this reality, where the heck do you start?Based upon lots of qualitative and quantitative research, I’m finding that many large organizations with experienced security teams tend to jump into security analytics by focusing their effort on the network for several reasons:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Twitter briefly entertained the idea of a merger with Yahoo, and senior Twitter staff met Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer to discuss a possible deal.The companies met "several weeks ago," sources told the New York Post, but Twitter broke off the talks soon after, the newspaper reported Thursday night.Yahoo put its core Internet business up for sale in December, after giving up hope of finding a tax-efficient way of selling its 15.4 percent stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.com.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Prominent Windows PC makers, including Acer, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo, have made "egregious" omissions in the software updaters they bundle with notebooks that leave customers at risk from attack by cyber-criminals, a security firm contended."It's 2016," said Steve Manzuik, director of security research at Duo Security, in an interview. "[These updaters show] a lack of basic security measures that you should use."Earlier this week, Duo published a report detailing an examination of 10 Windows laptops from five OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) -- Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo -- that focused on the software updating tools the vendors pre-loaded on their machines.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Demand for slate-shaped tablets is declining even faster than expected.
For all of 2016, global tablet shipments will drop by 9.6% over 2015, market research firm IDC forecast this week, marking the second straight year of decline. In March, IDC had forecast a decline of 6% for this year.
The decline will occur even when newer detachable tablets, often called 2-in-1s, are included with slate tablets, IDC said.
"The impact of the decline of slates is having a bigger impact, faster than we thought. They are not coming back," said IDC analyst Jean Phillippe Bouchard in an interview.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
IT monitoring software probes various parts of the infrastructure -- servers, networks and applications -- and alerts IT about problems before they can cause an outage that affects the business. According to IT managers in the IT Central Station community, the most important criteria to consider when choosing infrastructure monitoring software include compatibility with existing infrastructure and customizable views.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
While its fellow tech giants work on autonomous, self-driving cars, Microsoft has opted out of a similar pursuit and instead is taking a strategy of working with car makers and other vendors in the market. Peggy Johnson, the head of business development for the company, made these comments at the Converge technology conference hosted by The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong Friday. She had been asked about whether Microsoft would follow in Google and Apple's footsteps in making self-driving cars. In the case of Google, that project is well-known. In the case of Apple, it's all rumor.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
For the first time since LTE technology hit the mainstream in 2012, the worldwide market for carrier wireless equipment has declined, according to a report released today by IHS Technology.The decline, moreover, is a sharp one, the report said – the global market for macrocell infrastructure dropped by 18% in the first quarter of 2016, down to $10 billion overall. The mobile infrastructure sector in general was down 8% in the same time frame, and LTE equipment specifically dropped by 23% on a quarterly basis.+ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Human error biggest risk to health IT + Oracle employee says she was sacked for refusing to fiddle with cloud accountsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Had enough of those perky and quirky wireless phone provider commercials from the likes of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile? Comedian Amy Schumer takes direct aim at these inane promos in a new episode of Comedy Central's Inside Amy Schumer (warning: a bit on the NSFW side of things...)
MORE: 6 Techiest Commercials from Super Bowl 50 | Wi-Fi hotspot block persists despite FCC crackdownTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices. Click here to subscribe. In a nod to the benefits of containers, the financial services giant Goldman Sachs Group has announced it's in the midst of a year-long project to move 90% of its software into containers. The shift involves some 5,000 applications as well as the firm's software infrastructure.As reported in The Wall Street Journal, Don Duet, the co-head of Goldman Sachs' technology division, says this move will create a better software environment for his company. The staff of more than 8,000 software developers can focus on creating new products and tools, while the runtime process is automated, thus reducing labor and infrastructure costs. In addition, the use of containers will create standards for packaging and distributing different kinds of software.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The European Commission has signed a landmark agreement with the U.S. in its quest to legitimize the transatlantic flow of European Union citizens' personal information.No, it's not the embattled Privacy Shield, which the Commission hopes to conclude later this month, but the rather flimsier-sounding umbrella agreement or, more formally, the U.S.-EU agreement "on the protection of personal information relating to the prevention, investigation, detection, and prosecution of criminal offenses."It covers the exchange between EU and U.S. law enforcers, during the course of their investigations of personal data including names, addresses and criminal records. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, European Commissioner for Justice Vĕra Jourová and Dutch Minister for Security and Justice Ard van der Steur signed the agreement in Amsterdam on Thursday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Last month, Arista Networks put the core router market in the crosshairs with it’s Universal Spine (http://www.networkworld.com/article/3049140/router/arista-takes-aim-at-core-router-market-with-universal-spine.html) system. This week Arista complimented this by announcing a Universal Leaf network platform powered by its new 7280R switch series. The products leverage the Broadcom Jericho chipset which is optimized for 100 Gig-E, deep buffers and routing. Arista has been one of the more aggressive vendors with respect to using a leaf-spine architecture to be the backbone of a modern data center, so it makes sense that it would try and push the evolution of both the leaf and spines.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here