The Internet is Hostile: Building a More Resilient Network

In a recent post we discussed how we have been adding resilience to our network.

The strength of the Internet is its ability to interconnect all sorts of networks — big data centers, e-commerce websites at small hosting companies, Internet Service Providers (ISP), and Content Delivery Networks (CDN) — just to name a few. These networks are either interconnected with each other directly using a dedicated physical fiber cable, through a common interconnection platform called an Internet Exchange (IXP), or they can even talk to each other by simply being on the Internet connected through intermediaries called transit providers.

The Internet is like the network of roads across a country and navigating roads means answering questions like “How do I get from Atlanta to Boise?” The Internet equivalent of that question is asking how to reach one network from another. For example, as you are reading this on the Cloudflare blog, your web browser is connected to your ISP and packets from your computer found their way across the Internet to Cloudflare’s blog server.

Figuring out the route between networks is accomplished through a protocol designed 25 years ago (on two napkins) called BGP.

BGP allows interconnections between Continue reading

Reaction: Issue a press release

Ladies and gentlemen, start your crystal balls—it is close to the end of the year, that favorite time of prognosticators and analysts everywhere to tell us what is going to be “hot” and “not” next year. But before you drop out of a good conversation with your family, or sitting around the dinner table eating one more piece of pie, let me ask—have you ever checked on last year’s predictions?

Here is a favorite of mine: “Books will soon be obsolete in schools.” So up to the minute, right? So in touch with the reality of today. Only it’s not. This is Thomas Edison in 1913. While I wasn’t alive back then to read the papers, I can assure you I’ve heard many other folks make the same prediction in the intervening years. The way these sorts of predictions normally work is this:

• Choose a technology that seems directly related to an existing way of doing things. The current way of doing things, or the current technology, needs to be widespread, recognizable, and somehow seen as “fundamental.” In the modern networking world, routers would be an equivalent.
• Choose a date that is just far enough ahead to seem Continue reading

Patel Gets $5.5M Payout to Leave Cisco

Patel was a 19-year veteran of Cisco.

How to crack the coding challenge

Even for the most seasoned software engineer or developer with a background education in computer science or engineering, completing a coding challenge or a technical screening can be nerve-wracking. Now, imagine you’re a self-taught developer -- the anxiety levels skyrocket.But formal education in computer science, software programming and/or engineering is not mandatory, and in the current IT talent war, the need for those credentials is diminishing further. Many self-taught coders are just as competent as those with a formal degree. The trick is getting past the unconscious biases levied against those without a degree.“From talking to self-taught programmers, I’ve found that one of their biggest sources of fear is the knowledge that they don’t have a degree. Non-traditional candidates are really intimidated by technical screenings, coding interviews, because they’ve been made to feel they’re not qualified without that computer science degree. But I don’t feel that’s true,” says Gayle Laakmann McDowell, founder of technical career consulting firm CareerCup and author of Cracking the Coding Interview.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Beware dodgy data analysis

Data science is having its 15 minutes of fame.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

5 screen-sharing apps offer easy collaboration

5 collaboration apps worth a lookImage by ThinkstockThe modern office has changed drastically in the last 10 years, which means the way we collaborate has evolved as well. Whether your company has remote workers, international offices or employees who are always on the road, you need fast and easy ways to stay connected. There are plenty of apps that promise to help you collaborate with colleagues, whether you need basic messaging, video chat, remote access or screen-share capabilities. We previously wrote about these 15 apps for collaboration, but here are five more worthy contenders to consider.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Samsung apologizes for the exploding Note7 with a full-page ad

In an effort to show full contrition for the Note7 debacle, Samsung took out a full-page ad in three newspapers Tuesday to apologize.The ad appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. The letter is attributed to Gregory Lee, the president and CEO of Samsung Electronics North America. Rurik Bradbury Samsung is really sorry that its phones are blowing up. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Adobe fixes flaws in Flash Player and Adobe Connect

Adobe Systems has released scheduled security patches for its widely used Flash Player software as well as the Adobe Connect web conferencing platform, which is  popular in enterprise environments.The Flash Player security updates fix nine critical vulnerabilities that could be exploited remotely to execute malicious code on computers. All of them were privately reported by researchers through Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative, an exploit acquisition program.Users should upgrade to Flash Player 23.0.0.207 for Windows and Mac and to Flash Player 11.2.202.644 for Linux. The Flash Player builds bundled with Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11 will be upgraded automatically through those browsers' update mechanisms.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Adobe fixes flaws in Flash Player and Adobe Connect

Adobe Systems has released scheduled security patches for its widely used Flash Player software as well as the Adobe Connect web conferencing platform, which is  popular in enterprise environments.The Flash Player security updates fix nine critical vulnerabilities that could be exploited remotely to execute malicious code on computers. All of them were privately reported by researchers through Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative, an exploit acquisition program.Users should upgrade to Flash Player 23.0.0.207 for Windows and Mac and to Flash Player 11.2.202.644 for Linux. The Flash Player builds bundled with Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11 will be upgraded automatically through those browsers' update mechanisms.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

15% off LifeStraw Personal Water Filter – Deal Alert

Having a LifeStraw Personal Water Filter at hand provides access to clean, safe drinking water whenever needed.  Weighing only 2 oz. (54g), LifeStraw is the perfect water filter for hiking and camping. LifeStraw uses advanced 0.2 micron hollow fiber membrane technology.  This highly efficient method of filtration requires no chemicals, batteries, or moving parts and can be easily backflushed to clean the filter. Perfect for a vehicle or home emergency kit.  The LifeStraw averages 4.7 out of 5 stars from over 5,200 people (read reviews). Its typical list price of $20 has been reduced to $17.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Carnegie Mellon researchers visualize way to fend off DDoS attacks

Following the massive DDoS attack that last month that targeted DNS provider Dyn and temporarily knocked Twitter, Netflix and other big names off the Internet, we were bombarded with pitches from vendors begging to offer their expert opinions on the matter while extolling the virtues of their solutions that naturally would have safeguarded organizations.Now, a couple of weeks later, Carnegie Mellon's CyLab Security and Privacy Institute too is touting research that it says shows that the tools really needed to stymie such attacks are on the way. Somehow, this seems more believable than some of the all-to-eager vendor claims, though it doesn't appear the tools will quite be ready to fly for imminent DDoS attack candidates, such as 2016 U.S. Presidential Election-related sites and Black Friday 2016 websites.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Carnegie Mellon researchers visualize way to fend off DDoS attacks

Following the massive DDoS attack that last month that targeted DNS provider Dyn and temporarily knocked Twitter, Netflix and other big names off the Internet, we were bombarded with pitches from vendors begging to offer their expert opinions on the matter while extolling the virtues of their solutions that naturally would have safeguarded organizations.Now, a couple of weeks later, Carnegie Mellon's CyLab Security and Privacy Institute too is touting research that it says shows that the tools really needed to stymie such attacks are on the way. Somehow, this seems more believable than some of the all-to-eager vendor claims, though it doesn't appear the tools will quite be ready to fly for imminent DDoS attack candidates, such as 2016 U.S. Presidential Election-related sites and Black Friday 2016 websites.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Blocking DDoS at Domain Registration

PREDATOR which stands for ‘Proactive Recognition and Elimination of Domain Abuse at Time-Of-Registration,’ is based on the notion that criminals need to obtain many domains to ensure profitability and attack agility, leading to abnormal registration behaviors such as burst registrations and textually similar names. “The intuition has always been that the way that malicious actors use online resources somehow differs fundamentally from the way legitimate actors use them,” says Princeton University computer science professor Nick Feamster — one of the researchers who worked on the project. “We were looking for those signals: what is it about a domain name that makes it automatically identifiable as a bad domain name?” —CircleID

The post Worth Reading: Blocking DDoS at Domain Registration appeared first on 'net work.

After protest, Lenovo brings Linux compatibility to Yoga 900 and 900S

Lenovo created a stir when it said the Yoga 900 and 900S hybrids would work only with Windows, not Linux. The company has now changed its stance, bringing Linux support to those PCs.The PC maker earlier this month issued a BIOS update so Linux can be loaded on Yoga 900, 900S and IdeaPad 710 models.The BIOS update adds an AHCI (Advance Host Controller Interface) SATA controller mode so users can load Linux on the laptops.This is a Linux-only BIOS, meaning it should be used only by those who want to load the OS. If you want to continue with Windows, do not load the firmware.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Android patches fix Drammer RAM attack, but not Dirty Cow exploit

Google released a new monthly batch of security patches for Android, fixing a dozen critical vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to compromise devices. One of the mitigated issues is a bit-flipping attack against memory chips that could lead to privilege escalation, but a more widespread rooting vulnerability in the Linux kernel remains unpatched.While Google releases firmware updates for its Nexus and Pixel devices on the first Monday of every month, the security patches are shared with third-party device manufacturers one month in advance and are also contributed later to the Android Open Source Project to benefit the entire ecosystem.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Android patches fix Drammer RAM attack, but not Dirty Cow exploit

Google released a new monthly batch of security patches for Android, fixing a dozen critical vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to compromise devices. One of the mitigated issues is a bit-flipping attack against memory chips that could lead to privilege escalation, but a more widespread rooting vulnerability in the Linux kernel remains unpatched.While Google releases firmware updates for its Nexus and Pixel devices on the first Monday of every month, the security patches are shared with third-party device manufacturers one month in advance and are also contributed later to the Android Open Source Project to benefit the entire ecosystem.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: CloudMunch delivers its DevOps insights

Pretty much every large enterprise, at least those that realize the world is kind of in a state of change, is thinking about how to make their organization more agile. They’re also quickly reading Marc Andreessen’s famous Wall Street Journal piece from a few years ago, "Why Software Is Eating The World."Hopefully, they’re then putting these two themes, agility and innovation, through software together and deciding that key to remaining competitive is arming their technology teams with the tools, processes, freedoms and cultures to do good stuff.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

French plan for biometric database of 60 million people sparks outcry

When the French government quietly announced, in the middle of a holiday weekend, the merging of two files to create a megadatabase holding the biometrics of almost 60 million French citizens, it was clearly hoping to avoid an outcry. It failed. Among those lining up to criticize the government's move are its own minister of state for the Digital Sector and Innovation, and the National Digital Council, a body created by the government to provide independent recommendations on all matters relating to the effect of digital technologies on society and the economy. Minister of State Axelle Lemaire told French journalists the megadatabase used 10-year-old technology and had real security problems.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

French plan for biometric database of 60 million people sparks outcry

When the French government quietly announced, in the middle of a holiday weekend, the merging of two files to create a megadatabase holding the biometrics of almost 60 million French citizens, it was clearly hoping to avoid an outcry. It failed. Among those lining up to criticize the government's move are its own minister of state for the Digital Sector and Innovation, and the National Digital Council, a body created by the government to provide independent recommendations on all matters relating to the effect of digital technologies on society and the economy. Minister of State Axelle Lemaire told French journalists the megadatabase used 10-year-old technology and had real security problems.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Network Troubleshooting: TCP SACK Analysis