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Category Archives for "Networking"

IDG Contributor Network: Fashion meets technology: A new era in wearables evolution

Disclosure: I am employed by Qualcomm Technologies.Ten years from now, when we read about technology history, 2017 will be seen as a turning point in the evolution of wearables — when fashion met technology. Luxury brands used to think about novel fabrics, materials and designs when discussing technology advancements for their watches, glasses, hand bags and clothing. Now the minds behind the latest fashions consider the richness and responsiveness of their devices as well as the software user experience.Smartwatches are taking center stage in this convergence of style and technology. The arrival of fashion smartwatches began in 2015 with launches from such brands as Fossil, Michael Kors and Tag Heuer. This year, in the days leading up to Baselworld — the premier event for the world’s watch and jewelry industry, celebrating its 100th anniversary — we saw a plethora of smart timepiece announcements. At the show, there were smartwatch introductions from Diesel, Emporio Armani, Fossil, GC, Guess, Hugo Boss, Michael Kors, Misfit, Montblanc, Movado, Tag Heuer and Tommy Hilfiger.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Reflections on Three Years on the ISOC Board of Trustees

Editor's Note: At the Internet Society’s Annual General Meeting in June 2017, Gihan Dias will be leaving the Board.  Thank you Gihan for your service and contributions.


Although I have been a Trustee of the Internet Society for three years now, my relationship with ISOC goes back much further – to 1995 when I attended the ISOC networking workshop for developing countries, held in Prague, Czech Republic. It was a really fantastic experience. Not only did we learn how to build the Internet, but we also met many of the people who actually built it!

Gihan Dias

Crowdfunding campaign to buy stolen NSA hacking tools from Shadow Brokers

The idea of crowdfunding to raise enough money to buy NSA-linked hacking tools from the Shadow Brokers is picking up steam and making some people steam.The price tag for getting hold of stolen Equation Group hacking tools is 100 Zcash. When I started the article about the Shadow Brokers revealing details about its June dump of the month subscription service, the cost of 100 Zcash was equal to $22,779. By the time I finished writing, it was equal to $23,251. As I start this article, 100 Zcash is equal to $24,128. By tomorrow, the first day to subscribe to the Shadow Brokers monthly dump service, Zcash will likely cost even more dollars. If you don’t have that kind of money, but want to partake in the spoils of the June dump, then maybe crowdfunding is the way to go?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Crowdfunding campaign to buy stolen NSA hacking tools from Shadow Brokers

The idea of crowdfunding to raise enough money to buy NSA-linked hacking tools from the Shadow Brokers is picking up steam and making some people steam.The price tag for getting hold of stolen Equation Group hacking tools is 100 Zcash. When I started the article about the Shadow Brokers revealing details about its June dump of the month subscription service, the cost of 100 Zcash was equal to $22,779. By the time I finished writing, it was equal to $23,251. As I start this article, 100 Zcash is equal to $24,128. By tomorrow, the first day to subscribe to the Shadow Brokers monthly dump service, Zcash will likely cost even more dollars. If you don’t have that kind of money, but want to partake in the spoils of the June dump, then maybe crowdfunding is the way to go?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

A lack of IoT security is scaring the heck out of everybody

Enterprises aren’t yet managing the risks posed by the swelling wave of IoT technology very well, according to a study released today by the Ponemon Institute.The study, which surveyed 553 enterprise IT decision-makers, found that 78% of respondents thought that it was at least somewhat likely that their organizations would experience data loss or theft enabled by IoT devices within the next two years.+ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: How John Deere developed one of the best GPS locators in the world + A Skunk Works with tractors: Inside John Deere’s IoT-innovation unitTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Millennials, P2P payments and FinTechs: what banks should be watching in 2017

A 2016 CapGemini study found that customers believed that their banking experience had improved. They were, in general, happy about the experience they received at their retail banks — a credit to the investment and energy that has been put into transforming front end processes and services. Despite those gains, however, there were two worrying signs. Namely the younger generations — millennials — still scored low on customer experience and gains in customer experience didn’t translate into increased profit.So what does that mean for retail banks in 2017? There’s still work be done, and 2017 might just be the year to do it. Here’s our take on the three things that retail banks should double down on in the year ahead.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Internet Society and African Union Commission Launch Internet Infrastructure Security Guidelines for Africa

The first ever Internet Infrastructure Security Guidelines for Africa (“the Guidelines”) was launched at the African Internet Summit (AIS2017) in Nairobi, Kenya on 30 May 2017. The Guidelines are developed by the Internet Society jointly with the African Union Commission (AUC) and advances four essential principles of Internet infrastructure security -- Awareness, Responsibility, Cooperation, and adherence to Fundamental Rights and Internet Properties. It aims to help African Union States in approaching their cyber security preparedness and is a significant first step in producing a visible and positive change in the African Internet infrastructure security landscape. 

Dawit Bekele

IDG Contributor Network: What kind of workspaces do employees want?

Chat apps. Hotdesks. Smart machines. In most offices, it’s easy to see how technology is redefining and transforming the modern workplace.But technology isn’t the only force driving changes. Culture plays a significant role, too. For example, today’s employees are less and less inclined to disassociate their work lives from their personal lives. Remember when the stereotype for going to work was “punching in” a timecard and adopting some kind of 9-to-5 work persona (h/t Dolly Parton)? Employees no longer want to be typecast like that; they don’t necessarily want to surrender their identities at the office door.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Nothing new to (Wanna)Cry about

The WannaCry outbreak has been troubling in many regards – exposing flaws, and opening doors to much finger-pointing and blaming that have gone well beyond the handling and disclosure of nation-state cyber weapon stockpiling.The attackers likely had a good idea of how quickly and widely the attack would spread, evidenced by the fact that their ransom demand was created in 28 languages, suggesting that they had very high expectations of the success of their attack.WannaCry targeted Microsoft systems that were not running the latest patches, and older versions of Windows such as Windows XP, which is still widely deployed in the NHS despite being 16 years old and no longer supported by Microsoft, except under custom contracts.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Nothing new to (Wanna)Cry about

The WannaCry outbreak has been troubling in many regards – exposing flaws, and opening doors to much finger-pointing and blaming that have gone well beyond the handling and disclosure of nation-state cyber weapon stockpiling.The attackers likely had a good idea of how quickly and widely the attack would spread, evidenced by the fact that their ransom demand was created in 28 languages, suggesting that they had very high expectations of the success of their attack.WannaCry targeted Microsoft systems that were not running the latest patches, and older versions of Windows such as Windows XP, which is still widely deployed in the NHS despite being 16 years old and no longer supported by Microsoft, except under custom contracts.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco rolls out Cisco Enterprise Agreement for software

Software is now dominating IT spending.My research shows that the combination of SaaS and on-premises software is now a $650 billion market that has seen a steady growth of 6 percent per annum over the past five years. Today, almost all areas of IT are sold at least partially as software, including applications, security, storage and network infrastructure. Software is agile, enables rapid innovation and is a key component of digital transformation.This is one reason why enterprise agreements (EAs) for software have become increasingly popular with corporate buyers. Enterprise agreements are software site licenses that are issued to a large company that brings consistency to pricing and allows for the widespread use of the application throughout the company. EAs have become a common option for almost every large software company today.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco rolls out Cisco Enterprise Agreement for software

Software is now dominating IT spending.My research shows that the combination of SaaS and on-premises software is now a $650 billion market that has seen a steady growth of 6 percent per annum over the past five years. Today, almost all areas of IT are sold at least partially as software, including applications, security, storage and network infrastructure. Software is agile, enables rapid innovation and is a key component of digital transformation.This is one reason why enterprise agreements (EAs) for software have become increasingly popular with corporate buyers. Enterprise agreements are software site licenses that are issued to a large company that brings consistency to pricing and allows for the widespread use of the application throughout the company. EAs have become a common option for almost every large software company today.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here