Standing Up to a Dangerous New Breed of Patent Troll

On March 20th, Cloudflare received our first patent infringement claim: Blackbird Tech LLC v. Cloudflare, Inc. Today we’re filing our Answer to that claim in a federal court in Delaware. We have very strong arguments we will present in the litigation, mostly because the patent asserted against us does not have anything to do with our technology.

• The infringement claim is not a close one. The asserted patent, US 6453335 (‘335 patent) was filed in 1998, and describes a system for monitoring an existing data channel and inserting error pages when transmission rates fall below a certain level. Nothing from 1998—including the ’335 patent—comes close to describing our state-of-the-art product that is provisioned via DNS, speeds up internet content delivery, and protects against malicious attackers. Our technology is innovative and different, and Cloudflare’s technology has about 150 patents issued or in process.

• We also expect to show that the patent itself is invalid. For example, if the ’335 patent is read broadly enough to cover our system (which shouldn’t happen), it would also cover any system where electronic communications are examined and redacted or modified. But this is not new. Filtering products performing similar functions were around long before Continue reading

Project Jengo: Cloudflare’s Prior Art Search Bounty

Jengo Fett by Brickset (Flickr)

As readers of this blog likely know, especially if you read this post, Cloudflare has been sued by a dangerous new breed of patent troll, Blackbird Technologies, asserting a very old and very vague patent. And we know we are not alone in being frustrated about the way that such patent trolls inhibit the growth of innovative companies. Cloudflare is asking for your help in this effort, and we’re putting our money where our mouth is.

Patent trolls take advantage of a system they assume is tilted in their favor, where they can take vague technology patents issued years ago and apply them as broadly as imaginable to the latest technology. And they do this without the limitations of having to show the original patent holder would have actually exercised the patent, because most of them don’t, at all. Patent trolls think they can sit back and pick off settlements from companies because their lawsuits are a nuisance and the costs of defending those suits are considerable.

Changing this dynamic and leveling the playing field is going to require an entirely new approach. Fighting such strong, though perverse, economic incentives is going Continue reading

Up to 60% Savings on Steam Gaming Gear With These Active Discounts – Deal Alert

Save 60% on Steam Link The Steam Link allows existing Steam gamers to expand the range of their current gaming set up via their home network. Just connect your Steam PC or Steam Machine to your home network, plug into a TV, and stream your games to the Link at 1080p. It's a #1 best seller on Amazon where it averages 4 out of 5 stars from 800 people, and its typical list price of $50 has been discounted to $20.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT work gets The Onion treatment

Is it possible that a writer at The Onion has previously toiled as a network engineer … or systems administrator? He or she at least did their homework to produce a “story” headlined: “Network Engineer Would Be Systems Manager If He Could Do It All Over Again.”From the “story.” Reflecting wistfully on what he might have made of himself had he chosen a different profession, Dynatrend Solutions network engineer Alan Miller said Wednesday that he would be a systems manager if he had the chance to go back and do it all over again.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT work gets The Onion treatment

Is it possible that a writer at The Onion has previously toiled as a network engineer … or systems administrator? He or she at least did their homework to produce a “story” headlined: “Network Engineer Would Be Systems Manager If He Could Do It All Over Again.”From the “story.” Reflecting wistfully on what he might have made of himself had he chosen a different profession, Dynatrend Solutions network engineer Alan Miller said Wednesday that he would be a systems manager if he had the chance to go back and do it all over again.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT work gets The Onion treatment

Is it possible that a writer at The Onion has previously toiled as a network engineer … or systems administrator? He or she at least did their homework to produce a “story” headlined: “Network Engineer Would Be Systems Manager If He Could Do It All Over Again.”From the “story.” Reflecting wistfully on what he might have made of himself had he chosen a different profession, Dynatrend Solutions network engineer Alan Miller said Wednesday that he would be a systems manager if he had the chance to go back and do it all over again.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

SIEM: Remains an Enterprise Security Architecture Requirement

Earlier this week, I posted a blog about changes cybersecurity technology procurement changes at enterprise organizations.   According to ESG research, enterprises are consolidating the number of cybersecurity vendors they do business with and purchasing security products designed for integration (note: I am an ESG employee). Eventually, CISOs will buy more products from fewer vendors, leading to the rise of a few enterprise-class cybersecurity technology vendors that dominate the space.  These vendors will offer tightly integrated cybersecurity technology architectures that span across applications, host systems, networks, and cloud-based assets, offering capabilities for threat analysis/investigations as well as prevention, detection, and response.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

SIEM remains an enterprise security architecture requirement

Enterprises are changing their cybersecurity technology procurement habits and consolidating the number of cybersecurity vendors they do business with and purchasing security products designed for integration, according to ESG research. Eventually, CISOs will buy more products from fewer vendors, leading to the rise of a few enterprise-class cybersecurity technology vendors that dominate the space.  These vendors will offer tightly integrated cybersecurity technology architectures that span across applications, host systems, networks and cloud-based assets, offering capabilities for threat analysis/investigations, as well as prevention, detection and response.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

SIEM remains an enterprise security architecture requirement

Enterprises are changing their cybersecurity technology procurement habits and consolidating the number of cybersecurity vendors they do business with and purchasing security products designed for integration, according to ESG research. Eventually, CISOs will buy more products from fewer vendors, leading to the rise of a few enterprise-class cybersecurity technology vendors that dominate the space.  These vendors will offer tightly integrated cybersecurity technology architectures that span across applications, host systems, networks and cloud-based assets, offering capabilities for threat analysis/investigations, as well as prevention, detection and response.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco taps into AI, collaboration with $125M MindMeld buy

Cisco said it would target collaboration applications first with artificial intelligence technology it will get from buying MindMeld for $125 million.The deal, announced today, is Cisco’s third in two weeks and nets the company MindMeld’s AI platform which lets customers to build intelligent, conversational interfaces for any application or device with its proprietary machine learning (ML) technology. Specifically, MindMeld develops what it calls Deep-Domain Conversational AI which essentially allows customers to embed voice commands in any applications and services.+More Cisco news On Network World: Cisco patches critical IOS security fault found after CIA WikiLeaks dump+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Intel’s Itanium, once destined to replace x86 in PCs, hits end of line

It's the end of the line for Intel's Itanium chip, a troubled processor family that spawned many product delays and bad blood between HP and Oracle.Intel on Thursday started shipping its latest Itanium 9700 chip, code-named Kittson, in volume. It's the last of the Itanium chips, which first appeared in early 2001.Beyond Kittson, there will be no more chips coming from the Itanium family, an Intel spokesman said in an email. That ends a tumultuous, 16-year journey for Itanium, which Intel once envisioned as a replacement for x86 chips in 64-bit PCs and servers.Support for Itanium has dwindled over the past decade, which has led to its gradual death. Server makers stopped offering hardware, software development stalled, and Intel has been openly asking customers to switch to x86-based Xeon chips.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Intel’s Itanium, once destined to replace x86 in PCs, hits end of line

It's the end of the line for Intel's Itanium chip, a troubled processor family that spawned many product delays and bad blood between HP and Oracle.Intel on Thursday started shipping its latest Itanium 9700 chip, code-named Kittson, in volume. It's the last of the Itanium chips, which first appeared in early 2001.Beyond Kittson, there will be no more chips coming from the Itanium family, an Intel spokesman said in an email. That ends a tumultuous, 16-year journey for Itanium, which Intel once envisioned as a replacement for x86 chips in 64-bit PCs and servers.Support for Itanium has dwindled over the past decade, which has led to its gradual death. Server makers stopped offering hardware, software development stalled, and Intel has been openly asking customers to switch to x86-based Xeon chips.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Conservative group takes credit for anti-net neutrality comments

A conservative group took credit for a barrage of anti-net neutrality comments posted on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's website this week, but it denied generating fake activism.The Center for Individual Freedom said it did not use a bot to generate comments after news reports raised questions about the legitimacy of the posts. Between Monday and early Wednesday afternoon, the FCC had received more than 128,000 comments duplicating the language provided by CFIF.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Conservative group takes credit for anti-net neutrality comments

A conservative group took credit for a barrage of anti-net neutrality comments posted on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's website this week, but it denied generating fake activism.The Center for Individual Freedom said it did not use a bot to generate comments after news reports raised questions about the legitimacy of the posts. Between Monday and early Wednesday afternoon, the FCC had received more than 128,000 comments duplicating the language provided by CFIF.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Ad network takes steps to reduce fraud

The fraud rates for online ads are scary, with advertisers losing billions of dollars each year.Last week, Pixalate released a report showing that 35 percent of U.S. desktop ad impressions sold through programmatic advertising networks are fraudulent. Programmatic ads are those purchased through online networks, often through automatic bidding systems, instead of directly from individual publishers.U.S. advertisers spent more $25 billion on programmatic online ads last year, meaning that about $8 billion is lost to fraud.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Ad network takes steps to reduce fraud

The fraud rates for online ads are scary, with advertisers losing billions of dollars each year.Last week, Pixalate released a report showing that 35 percent of U.S. desktop ad impressions sold through programmatic advertising networks are fraudulent. Programmatic ads are those purchased through online networks, often through automatic bidding systems, instead of directly from individual publishers.U.S. advertisers spent more $25 billion on programmatic online ads last year, meaning that about $8 billion is lost to fraud.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco ISE: Device Profiling

Looking for a Tool to Create Device Configurations from Templates

One of my readers sent me this question:

Other than using Excel (and of course an automation tool) any suggestions for a tool to create device config for some 200 customer VRFs from a standard template?

You need three things to get the job done:

Intel concerned about name of John McAfee’s privacy phone

Intel has told a court that MGT Capital Investments has gone ahead with the announcement of the “John McAfee Privacy Phone,” even though the company that proposes to change its name to “John McAfee Global Technologies” has previously said that it did not plan to launch products and services under the McAfee mark.The chipmaker claims it acquired the mark when it bought McAfee Inc. in 2011, and has used and promoted it for security products, services, and publications for consumers and businesses. Security expert John McAfee has stated that he did not sign away rights to his personal name.Intel spun off last month its security business as a separate company, called McAfee, in which it now owns 49 percent of the equity, with the balance owned by investment firm TPG. The federal court had earlier refused John McAfee and MGT Capital a preliminary injunction until the resolution of the dispute on Intel’s transfer of marks and related assets containing the word McAfee as part of the spin-out.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Intel concerned about name of John McAfee’s privacy phone

Intel has told a court that MGT Capital Investments has gone ahead with the announcement of the “John McAfee Privacy Phone,” even though the company that proposes to change its name to “John McAfee Global Technologies” has previously said that it did not plan to launch products and services under the McAfee mark.The chipmaker claims it acquired the mark when it bought McAfee Inc. in 2011, and has used and promoted it for security products, services, and publications for consumers and businesses. Security expert John McAfee has stated that he did not sign away rights to his personal name.Intel spun off last month its security business as a separate company, called McAfee, in which it now owns 49 percent of the equity, with the balance owned by investment firm TPG. The federal court had earlier refused John McAfee and MGT Capital a preliminary injunction until the resolution of the dispute on Intel’s transfer of marks and related assets containing the word McAfee as part of the spin-out.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here