Archive

Category Archives for "Networking"

University’s IT outsourcing could trigger discrimination lawsuit

A group of laid-off IT workers at the University of California, San Francisco may resort to filing a lawsuit against the school, accusing it of discrimination by outsourcing their jobs to an all Indian staff. It's a legal tactic that U.S. IT workers are increasingly considering to try and block employers from allegedly replacing their jobs with foreign workers.  In the case of UCSF, the school is dismissing 49 permanent employees from its IT department and contracting the work to outside firms. But in doing so, the school is also getting rid of a diverse staff comprised of Americans from various ethnicities, and replacing them with Indian workers from one of the contractors, the laid-off workers said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

University’s IT outsourcing could trigger discrimination lawsuit

A group of laid-off IT workers at the University of California, San Francisco may resort to filing a lawsuit against the school, accusing it of discrimination by outsourcing their jobs to an all Indian staff. It's a legal tactic that U.S. IT workers are increasingly considering to try and block employers from allegedly replacing their jobs with foreign workers.  In the case of UCSF, the school is dismissing 49 permanent employees from its IT department and contracting the work to outside firms. But in doing so, the school is also getting rid of a diverse staff comprised of Americans from various ethnicities, and replacing them with Indian workers from one of the contractors, the laid-off workers said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

AI beating humans? Not in my lifetime, says Google’s cloud chief

The head of Google's cloud business says she doesn't expect machine intelligence to exceed that of humans during her lifetime, despite recent rapid progress that has surprised many.Diane Greene, who turns 61 this year, said that while researchers are making strides in programming intelligence into computers, there's still a long way to go."There is a lot that machine learning doesn’t do that humans can do really, really well," she said on Tuesday at the Code Enterprise conference in San Francisco.Her remarks came hours after Google said Greene's division had hired two leading machine learning and artificial intelligence experts: Fei-Fei Li, who was director of AI at Stanford University, and Jia Li, who headed up research at Snap, the operator of SnapChat.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

BrandPost: How business goals can be foundation for branch office networking with SD-WAN

Connecting branch offices to a business wide area network (WAN) is time-consuming and often disrupts IT operations. Branch office connectivity has long posed a challenge for geographically distributed organisations, a problem that multiplies as they enter new markets or expand within existing ones. But now, emerging software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) technology is resolving remote office connection issues and delivering substantial cost savings. Until SD-WAN emerged, configuring or even changing WAN infrastructure at branch offices could prove a nightmare, given its distributed nature and the remote touch points involved. Attempts at delivering the ‘lean’ branch office have sometimes resorted to public cloud services that might fail to meet IT requirements for performance, security and more.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

46% off VIAIR 85P Portable Air Compressor – Deal Alert

Maintaining proper tire pressure improves gas mileage and the lifespan of your tires, and also cuts down on the likelihood of a blowout or the unexpected flat that may leave you stranded. The Viair 85P is a small 12-volt portable air compressor with a built-in LED work light that lets you inflate your vehicle's tires quickly and quietly by simply plugging it into your vehicle's power port (cigarette lighter adapter). It's small enough to keep in your trunk, and features a 10-foot cord, a built-in pressure guage, and a max working pressure of 60psi. It averages 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 1,300 people (read reviews). Currently discounted 46% off its list price of $69.93, putting it at just $38. See it now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IBM sets up test range to practice fighting nightmare cyber battles safely

IBM Security has launched a network-emulation environment where corporate teams can play out attack scenarios so they are better prepared for incidents they might face in the real world.The facility, called a cyber range (as in shooting range), provides a place for enterprises to practice incident-response, not only for their IT and IS staffs but also for company directors, C-level executives, corporate counsel, human resources pros, public relations staff – anyone who might be drawn into an actual cyber emergency.+More on Network World: IBM: Many companies still ill-prepared for cyber attacks+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IBM sets up test range to practice fighting nightmare cyber battles safely

IBM Security has launched a network-emulation environment where corporate teams can play out attack scenarios so they are better prepared for incidents they might face in the real world.The facility, called a cyber range (as in shooting range), provides a place for enterprises to practice incident-response, not only for their IT and IS staffs but also for company directors, C-level executives, corporate counsel, human resources pros, public relations staff – anyone who might be drawn into an actual cyber emergency.+More on Network World: IBM: Many companies still ill-prepared for cyber attacks+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

39% off LOOP International Travel Plug with USB Charging and Power Bank – Deal Alert

If you travel internationally, or know someone who does, this may be one to consider. LOOP Electronics travel adapter is an all-in-one travel plug that not only keeps you powered in over 150 countries, but also includes dual USB charging ports and a battery backup (power bank) for when you need power or charging but can't locate a plug. The adapter has a built-in fuse, is made of fire-resistant materials, and comes with an 18-month warranty. It currently averages 4 out of 5 stars from 230 customers (read reviews). With a regular list price of $40, it's currently discounted to just $24.45. See this discounted travel plug now on Amazon to learn more and explore buying options.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Congress members try to grasp enormity of IoT DDoS attacks

Today I watched an interesting Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing about “Understanding the Role of Connected Devices in Recent Cyber Attacks.” The attacks refer to when insecure IoT devices infected with Mirai malware hammered DNS provider Dyn in October.The hearing included testimony, as well as submitted prepared remarks, from Dale Drew (pdf), CSO and senior vice president of Level 3 Communications; crypto and privacy guru Bruce Schneier (pdf); and Dr. Kevin Fu (pdf), who helped shock the world years ago by saying pacemakers and implantable cardiac defibrillators were vulnerable to hackers. You can read the experts’ testimonies for specific concerns and suggestions, but this is primarily based on paraphrased commentary during the hearing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Congress members try to grasp enormity of IoT DDoS attacks

Today I watched an interesting Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing about “Understanding the Role of Connected Devices in Recent Cyber Attacks.” The attacks refer to when insecure IoT devices infected with Mirai malware hammered DNS provider Dyn in October.The hearing included testimony, as well as submitted prepared remarks, from Dale Drew (pdf), CSO and senior vice president of Level 3 Communications; crypto and privacy guru Bruce Schneier (pdf); and Dr. Kevin Fu (pdf), who helped shock the world years ago by saying pacemakers and implantable cardiac defibrillators were vulnerable to hackers. You can read the experts’ testimonies for specific concerns and suggestions, but this is primarily based on paraphrased commentary during the hearing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

MikroTik RouterOS new feature – Loop Protect

 

‘Loop Protect’ – New feature in 6.37rc24

Long-time MikroTik users have been after better loop prevention mechanisms for quite a while now. Rapid STP within bridges was the only feature available up until Fall of 2016 and now MikroTik has released Rapid Spanning Tree in hardware for switched ports as well as a new Loop Protect feature that seems to serve the same function as Cisco’s Loop Guard but not utilize spanning tree to detect the loop. MikroTik’s version compares the source MAC of the loop protect frame with the MAC of the interface it is received on and if they match, it will disable the port until the timer expires and check again for the existence of a loop.

This feature was introduced in 6.37rc24 on August 31st, 2016.

LoopProtect-changelog

http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Loop_Protect

Use cases for ‘Loop Protect’

Loop protect seems to be designed more as an edge port protocol since it physically disables the port upon detection of a loop, whereas STP will leave the port physically active but logically block traffic on that path.  Some potential use cases for enabling this feature could include:

  • Edge port on a MikroTik device facing the end subscriber equipment Continue reading

MikroTik RouterOS new feature – Loop Protect

 

‘Loop Protect’ – New feature in 6.37rc24

Long-time MikroTik users have been after better loop prevention mechanisms for quite a while now. Rapid STP within bridges was the only feature available up until Fall of 2016 and now MikroTik has released Rapid Spanning Tree in hardware for switched ports as well as a new Loop Protect feature that seems to serve the same function as Cisco’s Loop Guard but not utilize spanning tree to detect the loop. MikroTik’s version compares the source MAC of the loop protect frame with the MAC of the interface it is received on and if they match, it will disable the port until the timer expires and check again for the existence of a loop.

This feature was introduced in 6.37rc24 on August 31st, 2016.

LoopProtect-changelog

http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Loop_Protect

Use cases for ‘Loop Protect’

Loop protect seems to be designed more as an edge port protocol since it physically disables the port upon detection of a loop, whereas STP will leave the port physically active but logically block traffic on that path.  Some potential use cases for enabling this feature could include:

  • Edge port on a MikroTik device facing the end subscriber equipment Continue reading