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Category Archives for "Networking"

IDG Contributor Network: Securing the breach trumps breach prevention

In my prior posts, I discussed both the changing face of data breaches and the reality distortion field surrounding today’s IT security professionals when they talk about effective ways to combat data breaches. Three things we know for certain, though, is that data breaches are not going away, our adversaries are continuing to innovate and attack, and the costs of a breach are becoming more tangible.Just this month, Verizon claimed the massive hack on Yahoo caused irreparable harm to the tech company in terms of customer trust, possibly allowing the wireless provider to withdraw from or renegotiate the terms of its $4.83 billion acquisition agreement. Also, in October, the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office hit TalkTalk with more than $400,000 in fines for its 2015 cyber attack.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Dealing with multiple service providers: A necessary evil

It takes a technologically nimble and well-managed enterprise to take advantage of today’s fast-changing market conditions. Eschewing the plodding, monolithic business models of the past, today’s best-run businesses rely on interchangeable, best-of-breed approaches that allow them to adapt on the fly and seize market opportunities others miss.Multi-sourcing brings speed, but also complications At the heart of such speed and agility is the practice of multi-sourcing, a business model that has been on the rise for many years and is now considered a secular trend. But many enterprises still struggle with managing and integrating so many service streams to achieve their desired business outcomes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Dealing with multiple service providers: A necessary evil

It takes a technologically nimble and well-managed enterprise to take advantage of today’s fast-changing market conditions. Eschewing the plodding, monolithic business models of the past, today’s best-run businesses rely on interchangeable, best-of-breed approaches that allow them to adapt on the fly and seize market opportunities others miss.Multi-sourcing brings speed, but also complications At the heart of such speed and agility is the practice of multi-sourcing, a business model that has been on the rise for many years and is now considered a secular trend. But many enterprises still struggle with managing and integrating so many service streams to achieve their desired business outcomes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

FCC tells ISPs to get customer permission before sharing sensitive info

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has passed rules requiring broadband providers to receive opt-in customer permission to share sensitive personal information, including web-browsing history, geolocation, and financial details with third parties.The FCC on Thursday voted 3-2 to adopt the new broadband privacy rules, which also include requirements that ISPs promptly notify customers of serious data breaches.Broadband customers need transparency and control over how their data is used, said Jessica Rosenworcel, one of three Democratic commissioners voting for the rules. Broadband providers are increasingly sharing customer data with third-party companies such as advertising networks and analytics firms, she said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

FCC tells ISPs to get customer permission before sharing sensitive info

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has passed rules requiring broadband providers to receive opt-in customer permission to share sensitive personal information, including web-browsing history, geolocation, and financial details with third parties.The FCC on Thursday voted 3-2 to adopt the new broadband privacy rules, which also include requirements that ISPs promptly notify customers of serious data breaches.Broadband customers need transparency and control over how their data is used, said Jessica Rosenworcel, one of three Democratic commissioners voting for the rules. Broadband providers are increasingly sharing customer data with third-party companies such as advertising networks and analytics firms, she said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Death of Transit?

I was struck at a recent NANOG meeting just how few presentations looked at the ISP space and the issues relating to ISP operations and how many were looking at the data centre environment. If the topics that we use to talk to each other are any guide, then this is certainly an environment which appears to be dominated today by data centre design and the operation of content distribution networks. And it seems that the ISP function, and particularly the transit ISP function is waning. It’s no longer a case of getting users to content, but getting content to users. Does this mean that the role of transit for the Internet’s users is now over?

IDG Contributor Network: The growing importance of the network in the digital-first economy

What happens when you have great experiences with a brand? For most people it captivates them, changes their thinking and resets their expectations.I had the opportunity to work at Walt Disney World in the central reservations department, taking phone calls from families, travel agents and special events coordinators who all wanted to share in the trademarked Disney magic. At my core I was a salesperson, leveraging a well-structured process to guide “guests” to the highest-revenue resort rooms.+ Also on Network World: How the 'digitization of everything' will become a reality + I had the opportunity to see first hand the value of a great customer experience. People from around the globe travel thousands of miles to get a slice of the Disney “guest” experience. And somehow the theme, view or location of a hotel room most people will spend little to no waking hours in matters. It matters only because it’s part of the experience and therefore not rationalized independently.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

ServiceNow enables businesses to embrace the cloud

The cloud has been mainstream now for over a decade, but adoption has been spotty as businesses experimented and learned what kind of benefits it can provide. Over the past couple of years, digital transformation has become a top initiative for business leaders, causing IT executives to look for ways to be more agile and dynamic. This has increased the adoption of cloud as not just a cheaper alternative to traditional, on-premises computing but rather a strategic alternative that can pay big dividends. We are rapidly approaching a cloud “tipping point” where there will be more workloads and applications in the cloud than in an organization’s private data center. This week ServiceNow, a company that has enabled many organizations to make the shift to cloud, announced some interesting survey data, as well as a new solution for businesses that are thinking cloud-first. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

No need to shoot down drones! Many of them can now be hijacked

A security researcher has devised a method of hijacking a wide variety of radio- controlled airplanes, helicopters, cars, boats and other devices that use a popular wireless transmission technology.The attack was developed by Jonathan Andersson, manager of the Advanced Security Research Group at Trend Micro DVLabs, and targets a "wideband, frequency-agile 2.4GHz signal protocol" called DSMx. This protocol is used in radio-control (R/C) toys, including in drones, that are owned by millions of users.Andersson's attack exploits weaknesses in DSMx and was presented in detail Wednesday at the PacSec security conference in Tokyo. The researcher built a device that he dubbed Icarus, using off-the-shelf electronic components and software-defined radio (SDR). With it, he can take over the control of drones or other R/C devices and lock out their real owners in seconds.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

No need to shoot down drones! Many of them can now be hijacked

A security researcher has devised a method of hijacking a wide variety of radio- controlled airplanes, helicopters, cars, boats and other devices that use a popular wireless transmission technology.The attack was developed by Jonathan Andersson, manager of the Advanced Security Research Group at Trend Micro DVLabs, and targets a "wideband, frequency-agile 2.4GHz signal protocol" called DSMx. This protocol is used in radio-control (R/C) toys, including in drones, that are owned by millions of users.Andersson's attack exploits weaknesses in DSMx and was presented in detail Wednesday at the PacSec security conference in Tokyo. The researcher built a device that he dubbed Icarus, using off-the-shelf electronic components and software-defined radio (SDR). With it, he can take over the control of drones or other R/C devices and lock out their real owners in seconds.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

DARPA looking to develop drone destroying, personnel protection system

Looking to protect military personnel from a swarming drone attack is the goal behind a new system that the researchers from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are set to develop.The three-phase program, called Mobile Force Protection will in the next few years potentially develop a prototype system that could sense an attack, identify the attacker and then use a number of techniques, from communications jamming to capturing mid-flight any attacking drones. DARPA says it will offer $3 million for each phase 1 developer.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

DARPA looking to develop drone destroying, personnel protection system

Looking to protect military personnel from a swarming drone attack is the goal behind a new system that the researchers from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are set to develop.The three-phase program, called Mobile Force Protection will in the next few years potentially develop a prototype system that could sense an attack, identify the attacker and then use a number of techniques, from communications jamming to capturing mid-flight any attacking drones. DARPA says it will offer $3 million for each phase 1 developer.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Qualcomm agrees to buy NXP for over $37 billion

Microprocessor maker Qualcomm is spending its way out of a stagnating mobile phone industry, offering to buy NXP Semiconductors, a company with a strong position in automotive chips, for more than US$37 billion.Qualcomm formalized its offer Thursday, barely a month after rumors began circulating that a deal was in the offing.NXP has only just digested its own multibillion acquisition, of Freescale Semiconductor, which closed in December 2015.The combination of Qualcomm and NXP will have annual revenue of around $35 billion, Qualcomm said. That's still well behind the $55 billion Intel reported for its full fiscal year 2015, although catching up.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT spending on ‘innovation’ is now a priority

Businesses are increasing their spending on technology, with cloud services as the big beneficiary. Hardware and software spending is declining as spending on cloud services rises, particularly on SaaS, according to the most recent annual survey from the Society for Information Management (SIM). Analytics/business intelligence and cybersecurity are the top two IT spending priorities, something that has been true for the several years. But marching into this mix now is "innovation" spending, an IT category signaling business expectations for IT.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Review: 7 PDF editing tools for iOS and Android

The PDF format has long been the standard for legal papers, forms and other documents -- as a result, iOS and Android phones and tablets tend to come with basic PDF readers. However, many users need to do more than just read PDFs -- they need to create and edit PDFs on the move. In this roundup, I look at what I consider the most useful PDF editors for mobile devices.PDF Expert 5To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

11 things Android phone makers should copy from the Pixel

School is in sessionGoogle has turned up the heat on its Android partners by controlling every aspect of software and hardware for its Pixel line. While it doesn't have every single feature you'd find in comparably-priced phones from LG, Samsung, HTC, or Sony, it does so many things right that it's currently the phone to beat.Here are some of the things we like about the Pixel that we hope to see in future premium phones.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IBM: In 5 years, Watson A.I. will be behind your every decision

LAS VEGAS -- In the next five years, every important decision, whether it's business or personal, will be made with the assistance of IBM Watson. That's the vision of IBM president and CEO Ginni Rometty, in a keynote speech at IBM's World of Watson conference Wednesday. Watson, the company's artificial intelligence-fueled system, is working in fields like health care, finance, entertainment and retail, connecting businesses more easily with their customers, making sense of big data and helping doctors find treatments for cancer patients. The Watson system is set to transform how businesses function and how people live their lives. "Our goal is augmenting intelligence," Rometty said. "It is man and machine. This is all about extending your expertise. A teacher. A doctor. A lawyer. It doesn't matter what you do. We will extend it."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here