How to succeed despite these terrible tech managers

No amount of free sodas and beer Fridays are going to wash away the taste of bad leadership. If your dream development gig is turning into a nightmare and your projects are suffering, it might be time to manage up your boss—before your career takes a turn in the ditch.Management guru and author Peter Drucker said that “only three things happen naturally in organizations: friction, confusion, and underperformance. Everything else requires leadership.”[ Find out how to get ahead with our career development guide for developers. | Give in to the dark side: 10 steps to becoming a horrible IT boss. | Keep up with hot topics in programming with InfoWorld’s App Dev Report newsletter. ] While there are truly great leaders in IT, not all inspire confidence. Worse, you can’t always choose who will lead your team. But you can always map out new paths in your career. With that in mind, here is a look at some prototypically bad managers you may have already encountered in your engineering departments, with tips on how to deal with each of them. In the meantime, keep your head on a swivel and read on.To read this article in Continue reading

Expert tips for managing your cloud data

When oncologists at Carolinas HealthCare System go before a tumor board review to discuss patient cases, they are looking for feedback on treatment plans and clinical trials. During their presentations, the doctors show their peers genetic data, pathology reports, lab results and physicians' notes -- all of which is at their fingertips because it is stored in a Hadoop cloud on Microsoft Azure.Cloud security governance processes must also be considered, as well as aligning corporate security requirements with compliance and privacy laws, especially when it comes to personal information, says Forrester's Shey.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

How to install Windows on an external drive

Thanks to the speed of USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt 3 connections, it’s now possible for an external hard drive to match the read and write speeds of an internal drive. Combine that with a proliferation of external SSDs, and for the first time, running Windows off an external drive is viable.There are a few reasons you might want to do that: You have a work laptop that you’re not allowed to make many changes to, but you want to take games or other non-work sanctioned software with you when you travel. You want to run multiple operating system installations on the same machine, but don’t have enough space to split your internal drive into multiple partitions. You’re running an enterprise version of Windows that comes with the Windows To Go feature, and have a certified installation drive, so you can create a portable installation that will work on any computer. Before we start, let’s get the bad news out of the way: Windows will refuse to install on an external drive if it knows that’s what you’re doing. But there are a few ways around this, including emulation via tools like VMWare. The easiest workaround is an application Continue reading

Email security appears grounded as attacks continue to take flight

Recently inboxes have been hit by the so-called “airline phishing attack.” It is a new take on an old phishing email. It uses multiple techniques to capture sensitive data and deploy an advanced persistent threat (APT).Barracuda Networks has seen this attack with several of its customers, especially in industries that deal with frequent shipping of goods or employee travel, such as logistics, shipping, and manufacturing. The attacker will either impersonate a travel agency or even an employee in HR or finance who is sending an airline ticket or e-ticket. The email will be constructed to appear inconspicuous.The attacker will have researched his target, selecting the airline, destination and price so that these details look legitimate in the context of the company and the recipient, Barracuda reports. After getting the employee to open the email, an APT embedded in an email attachment goes into action. The attachment is typically formatted as a PDF or DOCX document. In this attack, the malware will be executed upon opening the document. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Email security appears grounded as attacks continue to take flight

Recently inboxes have been hit by the so-called “airline phishing attack.” It is a new take on an old phishing email. It uses multiple techniques to capture sensitive data and deploy an advanced persistent threat (APT).Barracuda Networks has seen this attack with several of its customers, especially in industries that deal with frequent shipping of goods or employee travel, such as logistics, shipping, and manufacturing. The attacker will either impersonate a travel agency or even an employee in HR or finance who is sending an airline ticket or e-ticket. The email will be constructed to appear inconspicuous.The attacker will have researched his target, selecting the airline, destination and price so that these details look legitimate in the context of the company and the recipient, Barracuda reports. After getting the employee to open the email, an APT embedded in an email attachment goes into action. The attachment is typically formatted as a PDF or DOCX document. In this attack, the malware will be executed upon opening the document. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Top 5 email security best practices to prevent malware distribution

A trusted channelImage by ThinkstockEmail is a critical enterprise communication tool synonymous with sending important documents quickly and efficiently between employees, managers, HR, finance, sales, legal, customers, supply chain and more. That said, organizations often don’t understand that the file types used every day to share important information – standard files like Word docs, Excel spreadsheets and PDFs – are also the most common attack vectors widely used for the distribution of malware. For cybercriminals, it’s often too easy to target a user with a spoofed email or phishing attack, and trick them into opening an infected attachment that appears to be legitimate.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Top 5 email security best practices to prevent malware distribution

A trusted channelImage by ThinkstockEmail is a critical enterprise communication tool synonymous with sending important documents quickly and efficiently between employees, managers, HR, finance, sales, legal, customers, supply chain and more. That said, organizations often don’t understand that the file types used every day to share important information – standard files like Word docs, Excel spreadsheets and PDFs – are also the most common attack vectors widely used for the distribution of malware. For cybercriminals, it’s often too easy to target a user with a spoofed email or phishing attack, and trick them into opening an infected attachment that appears to be legitimate.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How company culture can make or break your business

If there's one big lesson to be learned from the recent revelations about ridesharing startup and Silicon Valley darling Uber's culture, it's this: Culture can be a four-letter word if it is ignored. Culture can be a four-letter word if is toxic. And toxic cultures kill more businesses than recessions. And it is liable to kill Uber too, says Steven L. Blue, president and CEO of Miller Ingenuity and author of American Manufacturing 2.0: What Went Wrong and How to Make It Right.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT Resume Makeover: Transitioning from IT pro to IT leader

Once you reach the senior level of your career, the time comes where you need to change how you approach the resume writing process. As a seasoned professional in a leadership role, you need to focus less on your technical skills and more on defining your value proposition.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Can the IoT transform loading operations?

Transporting freight operates at a massive scale in the U.S., most of it hauled by trucks that are the lifeblood of the American economy. But the trailers those trucks are hauling typically have a load efficiency of 70 to 75 percent, says Tom Bianculli, CTO of Zebra Technologies. The remaining 25 to 30 percent is air.But smart environments powered by the internet of things (IoT) can change that, Bianculli says. Zebra's new SmartPack Trailer offering, announced at ProMat 2017 in Chicago today, uses sensors on the dock doors of distribution facilities, which peer into each trailer using a combination of 3D depth-sensing technology and a conventional megapixel camera.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT service providers get low marks on innovation

Nearly half (48 percent) of the customers of IT service providers aren't satisfied with the service they’re getting, according to Everest Group’s global survey of 132 enterprises. That figure includes 25 percent who are “highly unsatisfied.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

69% off Halo 5: Guardians Limited Edition Physical Disc, For Xbox One – Deal Alert

Experience the most dramatic Halo story to date in a 4-player cooperative epic that spans three worlds. Challenge friends and rivals in new multiplayer modes: Warzone, massive 24-player battles, and Arena, pure 4-vs-4 competitive combat.

Internet@MySchool – a pilot project connecting Yemeni schools in Sanaa and Aden

Encryption critical for protecting mobile device data

If your mobile device contains any personal or private data, then it's crucial you protect it. In many cases, mobile devices contain sensitive information that, if breached, can cause significant problems for the users.For example, more people are storing copies of their driver’s license, employer data, insurance details, social security card, bank account information and passwords on their mobile device. Even personal pictures can be a major security concern. When applying for loans, instead of faxing, many people take pictures of important financial documents and email them to the requestor but do not delete the pictures from their phone.One very critical step you can take to secure this is to encrypt your mobile data.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Encryption critical for protecting mobile device data

If your mobile device contains any personal or private data, then it's crucial you protect it. In many cases, mobile devices contain sensitive information that, if breached, can cause significant problems for the users.For example, more people are storing copies of their driver’s license, employer data, insurance details, social security card, bank account information and passwords on their mobile device. Even personal pictures can be a major security concern. When applying for loans, instead of faxing, many people take pictures of important financial documents and email them to the requestor but do not delete the pictures from their phone.One very critical step you can take to secure this is to encrypt your mobile data.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

What is serverless computing?

In this animation, Network World explains some of the concepts of serverless computing, and how it represents the next phase of cloud computing for Internet of Things applications and products.

BrandPost: Why Cross-Domain Capabilities Matter for Automation: Two Business Scenarios

The digital economy has IT up against the wall. Lines of business are focused on boosting innovation and enhancing the customer experience through digital transformation initiatives, but network complexity can be a significant obstacle for IT. According to one study, 75% of CIOs admit that the network is impacting their organization’s ability to achieve business goals, with an estimated 35% of all network downtime attributed to human error.This problem has understandably led IT to embrace automation in each technology domain, including the network, as a means of accelerating service delivery. But automating service delivery within each domain alone isn't enough. There must be seamless automation across the entire data center, or the ability to perform consistently and efficiently will suffer serious setbacks. It’s this growing need for agility and operational efficiency that ultimately validates the business case for introducing open, cross-domain automation capabilities.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Announcing the New NSX Community at VMUG!

If you want to go fast, go alone.

If you want to go far, go together.

The premise behind this saying is the reason why VMware and VMUG are excited to announce the creation of the NSX community at VMUG.  The education, certification, and adoption of new technologies can be met with fear and uncertainty as legacy traditions get challenged.  By building a community, we can provide strength in numbers that can facilitate learning and help people develop a mindset of embracing the people, process, and tooling challenges that come with VMware NSX.

This new community will be dedicated to network and security virtualization.  It will serve as a robust resource for individuals who are motivated to learn more about VMware NSX and its tremendous impact on the data centers of today and tomorrow.  VMware NSX is at the core of next-generation enterprise solutions for IT automation, micro-segmentation, application availability, and cross-cloud architecture.  The community will offer an opportunity for Q&A with NSX experts and product managers, special community content, discussions with peers, and much more.

The launch of the NSX community at VMUG comes ripe with inherent benefits, but in order to show our Continue reading

Announcing the New NSX Community at VMUG!

This new community will be dedicated to network and security virtualization.

A Cisco Router Speed Test