Technology Short Take #78

Welcome to Technology Short Take #78! Here’s another collection of links and articles from around the Internet discussing various data center-focused technologies.

Networking

• The rise of the disaggregated network operating system (NOS) marches on: this time, it’s Big Switch Networks announcing expanded hardware support in Open Network Linux (ONL), upon which its own NOS is based.
• The Pivotal Engineering blog has an article that shows how to use BOSH with the vSphere CPI to automate adding servers to an NSX load balancing pool.
• Mircea Ulinic has a nice article describing the combination of NAPALM and Salt for network automation.
• Here’s a post by Ron Fuller on changing the IP address of NSX Manager.

Servers/Hardware

Nothing this time around, sorry!

Security

• As part of some research around my Linux migration, I came across this write-up on how to do encrypted instant messaging on OS X with Adium and Off the Record (OTR). I’ve been using OTR with Adium for a while so this wasn’t new to me, but I wanted to share it here for others who may not be familiar with the solution. (I use OTR with Adium on OS X, and OTR with Pidgin on my Fedora Linux Continue reading

Google open source TensorFlow 1.0 debuts – vies for platform status

Google Brain announced release 1.0 of its machine learning (ML) library yesterday at the TensorFlow Developer Summit in Mountain View. ML is a method of programing computers with data to make highly reliable predictions, instead of creating a program in a language like Java, C# or Python.ML is a more efficient method of solving problems such as image recognition, language translation and ranking things like comments and recommendations. Google, along with Facebook, IBM and Microsoft has used ML internally to solve problems like ranking search results.A little over a year ago Google released TensorFlow based on its experience with its proprietary ML library, DistBelief. TensorFlow is in use within Google with about 4,000 source code directories including TensorFlow model description files. It is used in many applications including Google Search, Maps and Gmail’s spam filter.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google opens source TensorFlow 1.0 debuts – vies for platform status

Google Brain announced release 1.0 of its machine learning (ML) library yesterday at the TensorFlow Developer Summit in Mountain View. ML is a method of programing computers with data to make highly reliable predictions, instead of creating a program in a language like Java, C# or Python.ML is a more efficient method of solving problems such as image recognition, language translation and ranking things like comments and recommendations. Google, along with Facebook, IBM and Microsoft has used ML internally to solve problems like ranking search results.A little over a year ago Google released TensorFlow based on its experience with its proprietary ML library, DistBelief. TensorFlow is in use within Google with about 4,000 source code directories including TensorFlow model description files. It is used in many applications including Google Search, Maps and Gmail’s spam filter.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

You can now use Google Authenticator and any TOTP app for Two-Factor Authentication

Since the very beginning, Cloudflare has offered two-factor authentication with Authy, and starting today we are expanding your options to keep your account safe with Google Authenticator and any Time-based One Time Password (TOTP) app of your choice.

If you want to get started right away, visit your account settings. Setting up Two-Factor with Google Authenticator or with any TOTP app is easy - just use the app to scan the barcode you see in the Cloudflare dashboard, enter the code the app returns, and you’re good to go.

Importance of Two-Factor Authentication

Often when you hear that an account was ‘hacked’, it really means that the password was stolen.

If the media stopped saying 'hacking' and instead said 'figured out their password', people would take password security more seriously.

— Khalil Sehnaoui (@sehnaoui) January 5, 2017

Two-Factor authentication is sometimes thought of as something that should be used to protect important accounts, but the best practice is to always enable it when it is available. Without a second factor, any mishap involving your password can lead to a compromise. Journalist Mat Honan’s high profile compromise in 2012 is a great example of the importance of two-factor authentication. When Continue reading

Internet Society speaks out against proposed password disclosure requirements

Why (or where) many security programs fail

At RSA 2017, CSO’s Steve Ragan chats with security expert Ira Winkler about where many security programs are failing within companies, as well as his concept of “advanced persistent security.”

PC prices will continue to go up due to shortage of components

PC prices are going up due to a shortage of a number of components, and the situation isn't expected to change in the coming quarters.A shortage of DRAM, SSDs, batteries, and LCDs have conspired to drive up PC prices, Gianfranco Lanci, corporate president and chief operating officer at Lenovo, said during an earnings call on Thursday.The cost of purchasing these components is going up, which is triggering PC prices to also rise, said Lanci, a PC industry veteran. The shortage of components like memory will continue, Lanci said.As component supplies shrink, PC prices will rise, said Mikako Kitagawa, an analyst at Gartner. Moreover, PC makers are raising prices to squeeze more profits out of the shrinking PC market, Kitagawa said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Charter Jumps Into 5G Testing as Part of Its Mobile Ambitions

Charter activated an MVNO agreement with Verizon.

OPNFV Tests its Software on OCP Hardware

It married open source software with open source hardware.

Israeli soldiers hit in cyberespionage campaign using Android malware

More than 100 members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the majority of them stationed around the Gaza strip, fell victim to a cyberespionage attack that used malicious Android applications to steal information from their mobile devices.The attack campaign started in July and continues to date, according to researchers from antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab, who cooperated in the investigation with the IDF Information Security Department.The Israeli soldiers were lured via Facebook Messenger and other social networks by hackers who posed as attractive women from various countries like Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. The victims were tricked into installing a malicious Android application, which then scanned the phone and downloaded another malicious app that masqueraded as an update for one of the already installed applications.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Israeli soldiers hit in cyberespionage campaign using Android malware

More than 100 members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the majority of them stationed around the Gaza strip, fell victim to a cyberespionage attack that used malicious Android applications to steal information from their mobile devices.The attack campaign started in July and continues to date, according to researchers from antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab, who cooperated in the investigation with the IDF Information Security Department.The Israeli soldiers were lured via Facebook Messenger and other social networks by hackers who posed as attractive women from various countries like Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. The victims were tricked into installing a malicious Android application, which then scanned the phone and downloaded another malicious app that masqueraded as an update for one of the already installed applications.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Got a license for that YouTube channel?

Justin Chandler was shocked and confused when he was given a citation for operating a business out of his home without first obtaining a license. Unlike many people who run home-based businesses, Chandler doesn’t actually sell anything. In fact, he doesn’t even provide a service. He does, however, run a successful YouTube channel, which, according to officials in Cobb County, Georgia, means Chandler qualifies as a small business owner. —The Stream

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SD-WANs get IPv6 support from Versa

Software Defined Networking vendor Versa this week added support for IPv6 to its SD-WAN and security packages.According to Kumar Mehta, founder and CDO of Versa Networks by supporting IPv4 and IPv6 for SD-WAN and SD-Security, customers will have the flexibility to design their WAN under IPv4 today and protect it from obsolescence as they switch over to IPv6 in the future.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

SD-WANs get IPv6 support from Versa

Software Defined Networking vendor Versa this week added support for IPv6 to its SD-WAN and security packages.According to Kumar Mehta, founder and CDO of Versa Networks by supporting IPv4 and IPv6 for SD-WAN and SD-Security, customers will have the flexibility to design their WAN under IPv4 today and protect it from obsolescence as they switch over to IPv6 in the future.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

SD-WANs get IPv6 support from Versa

Software Defined Networking vendor Versa this week added support for IPv6 to its SD-WAN and security packages.According to Kumar Mehta, founder and CDO of Versa Networks by supporting IPv4 and IPv6 for SD-WAN and SD-Security, customers will have the flexibility to design their WAN under IPv4 today and protect it from obsolescence as they switch over to IPv6 in the future.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft expands developer features for its Teams chat app

Third-party developers have new tools to play with when building integrations with Microsoft’s Teams group chat app. The company announced a pair of new developer-oriented features on Thursday, aimed at giving greater utility to services that work with Teams.Using the Microsoft Bot Framework, developers can now build bots that interact with users inside a channel, in addition to interacting with users in one-on-one private chats. In addition, developers integrating their applications directly into tabs within the Teams client can now give users a way to link their colleagues to content buried deep in the integrated app.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How the Cyber Threat Alliance works to fight cybercrime

At RSA 2017, Derek Manky, Global Security Strategist at Fortinet, talks about the mission and goals of the Cyber Threat Alliance, which shares malware information between members to improve defenses in the cybersecurity space.

How blockchain can help drive cybersecurity

At RSA 2017, security expert Konstantin Karagiannis (CTO at BT North America) gives Network World an overview of blockchain security and how it could help shape the future of cybersecurity.

Triangle Network Engineers

I’m speaking at the Triangle Network Engineers meeting on the 9th of March; click below to find out more.

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CIO sees mobile platform as patient engagement cure

St. Luke’s Healthcare Systems is tucking several mobile applications for its patients into a platform typically used by professional sports stadiums. Picking a platform designed to help fans find their seats and order hot dogs and beer may seem odd for a hospital system tasked with delivering patient care, but CIO Deborah Gash insists on providing people the convenience they are accustomed to getting from entertainment, retail and other sectors.In other words, Gash wants to treat patients more like valued customers than like, well, patients. "Consumers demand the ability to have more convenient ways to interface with their healthcare providers," says Gash, who joined the organization 25 years ago, spending nearly 11 of those years as CIO.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here