British navy sends robots to sea in military exercise

The Royal Navy is testing just how much robot craft can do by themselves in military exercises off the British coast.Operation Unmanned Warrior 16 is a chance for allied nations and the defense industry to show off their latest maritime autonomous systems, as part of a broader military exercise called Joint Warrior."Fire and forget" torpedoes capable of homing in on the noise emitted by a target -- then sinking it -- have been around since World War II, but the systems involved in this exercise are less offensive.More than 50 craft are taking part this week, including uncrewed helicopters and underwater vehicles, and an autonomous rigid inflatable boat (RIB). They will perform tasks such as surveillance, intelligence-gathering and mine countermeasures.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

GlobalSign certificate revocation error leaves websites inaccessible

Users around the world have had trouble accessing some HTTPS websites due to an error at GlobalSign, one of the world's largest certificate authorities.As part of a planned exercise, GlobalSign revoked one of its cross-certificates that allowed end-user certificates to chain to alternate root certificates. GlobalSign operates multiple roots, which are trusted in browsers and operating systems by default, and links them together through these cross-certificates.The revocation of such a certificate was interpreted by some browsers and systems also as a revocation of the intermediate certificates that chained back to it. This was not really the case or the company's intention.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

GlobalSign certificate revocation error leaves websites inaccessible

Users around the world have had trouble accessing some HTTPS websites due to an error at GlobalSign, one of the world's largest certificate authorities.As part of a planned exercise, GlobalSign revoked one of its cross-certificates that allowed end-user certificates to chain to alternate root certificates. GlobalSign operates multiple roots, which are trusted in browsers and operating systems by default, and links them together through these cross-certificates.The revocation of such a certificate was interpreted by some browsers and systems also as a revocation of the intermediate certificates that chained back to it. This was not really the case or the company's intention.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Game-Changing Questions to Ask Before You Deploy SDN

Before you deploy SDN, consider asking these questions.

IT attrition could help address the cybersecurity skills shortage

When it comes to the cybersecurity skills shortage, ESG research reveals the following: Forty-six percent of organizations claim that they have a “problematic shortage” of cybersecurity skills. This represents an increase of 18 percent compared to 2015.  A vast majority (87 percent) admit that it is “very difficult,” “difficult,” or “somewhat difficult” to recruit and hire cybersecurity professionals. Yup, there is a definite shortage of cybersecurity professionals available, so recruiters are tripping over each other as they try to poach talent from their existing employers.  According to a recently published report by ESG and the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA), 46 percent of cybersecurity professionals are solicited to consider other cybersecurity jobs by various types of recruiters at least once per week! This situation has led to salary inflation and massive disruption. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT attrition could help address the cybersecurity skills shortage

When it comes to the cybersecurity skills shortage, ESG research reveals the following: Forty-six percent of organizations claim that they have a “problematic shortage” of cybersecurity skills. This represents an increase of 18 percent compared to 2015.  A vast majority (87 percent) admit that it is “very difficult,” “difficult,” or “somewhat difficult” to recruit and hire cybersecurity professionals. Yup, there is a definite shortage of cybersecurity professionals available, so recruiters are tripping over each other as they try to poach talent from their existing employers.  According to a recently published report by ESG and the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA), 46 percent of cybersecurity professionals are solicited to consider other cybersecurity jobs by various types of recruiters at least once per week! This situation has led to salary inflation and massive disruption. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The case against the VMware-AWS deal

There will always be antagonists.In the hours that passed after VMware and Amazon Web Services announced one of the most significant recent partnerships in the cloud market, pundits on social media raised questions about what the arrangement means for enterprise customers.+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: Winners and losers from the big VMware-AWS Pact | Oops, news of the VMware-AWS deal leaked early on a VMware Blog +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Ask Me About My Beez! A Look at NetBeez, 18 Months On.

I was first introduced to NetBeez at Networking Field Day 9, where I saw an interesting monitoring product using Raspberry Pi-based agents and a cloud-based management and reporting console. That was back in February 2015, but I met with NetBeez a second time at Networking Field Day 12 in September 2016. Eighteen months is plenty of time to make some significant updates, so I’m going to look at the current product from a capabilities perspective and also see how it works when using it in anger. As background it may be worth reading my review of NetBeez from June 2015 first.

NetBeez Overview

By way of a refresher, the NetBeez product is made of two parts:

• an Agent (aka a Beez, which always sounds odd to say because Beez sounds like it should be the plural form of the noun);
• a web management portal to which the agents send their data and from which the agents are managed and their uploaded data are analyzed.

The Agents

• FastEthernet – As I saw at NFD9, the FastEthernet Beez agent is a Raspberry Pi in a case with a NetBeez logo on it, and the micro-SD card slot is covered by Continue reading

Packet Blast: Top Tech Blogs, Oct. 14

Transforming Enterprise Communications Infrastructure

University IT employees fighting for jobs question security

Data security is a simmering issue in offshore outsourcing. The offshore workers who staff help desks, call centers and manage systems are accessing data in the U.S. The University of California IT employees, who will soon lose their jobs to overseas workers, are trying point this out.The IT employees say workers in India will have access to UCSF medical and financial information as well as to files with research and study data. The data will reside on hardware based in the U.S.They believe the university has an obligation to disclose its plans to the broader university community and give researchers, in particular, options about who can access this data.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

University IT employees fighting for jobs question security

Data security is a simmering issue in offshore outsourcing. The offshore workers who staff help desks, call centers and manage systems are accessing data in the U.S. The University of California IT employees, who will soon lose their jobs to overseas workers, are trying point this out.The IT employees say workers in India will have access to UCSF medical and financial information as well as to files with research and study data. The data will reside on hardware based in the U.S.They believe the university has an obligation to disclose its plans to the broader university community and give researchers, in particular, options about who can access this data.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

31% off SanDisk Ultra Fit 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive – Deal Alert

From a global leader in flash memory technology, the SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 Flash Drive is an ultra-small, low-profile drive with a storage capacity of 128GB, and enough speed to transfer a full-length movie in less than 30 seconds. It's a #1 Amazon Best Seller in its category with 4 out of 5 stars from over 2,500 people (read reviews). Its typical list price of $40 has been reduced 31% to just $28. See the discounted Flash Drive from SanDisk now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

31% off SanDisk Ultra Fit 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive – Deal Alert

From a global leader in flash memory technology, the SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 Flash Drive is an ultra-small, low-profile drive with a storage capacity of 128GB, and enough speed to transfer a full-length movie in less than 30 seconds. It's a #1 Amazon Best Seller in its category with 4 out of 5 stars from over 2,500 people (read reviews). Its typical list price of $40 has been reduced 31% to just $28. See the discounted Flash Drive from SanDisk now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

31% off SanDisk Ultra Fit 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive – Deal Alert

From a global leader in flash memory technology, the SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 Flash Drive is an ultra-small, low-profile drive with a storage capacity of 128GB, and enough speed to transfer a full-length movie in less than 30 seconds. It's a #1 Amazon Best Seller in its category with 4 out of 5 stars from over 2,500 people (read reviews). Its typical list price of $40 has been reduced 31% to just $28. See the discounted Flash Drive from SanDisk now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google, IBM, and others team up to hasten data transfers in computers

Computational workloads are growing, and processors, memory, and storage are getting faster at a blazing pace. Emerging technologies could leave computers choking for bandwidth.The potential chokepoint worries companies like Google, IBM, Samsung, and Dell, which are moving to remedy the problem. New specifications from two new consortia will bring data unprecedented boosts in data transfer speeds to computers as early as next year.OpenCAPI Consortium's connector specification will bring significant bandwidth improvements inside computers. OpenCAPI, announced Friday, will link storage, memory, GPUs, and CPUs, much like PCI-Express 3.0, but will be 10 times faster with data speeds of 150GBps (gigabytes per second).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Fast Linux Packet Forwarding with Thomas Graf on Software Gone Wild

We did several podcasts describing how one could get stellar packet forwarding performance on x86 servers reimplementing the whole forwarding stack outside of kernel (Snabb Switch) or bypassing the Linux kernel and moving the packet processing into userspace (PF_Ring).

Now let’s see if it’s possible to improve the Linux kernel forwarding performance. Thomas Graf, one of the authors of Cilium claims it can be done and explained the intricate details in Episode 64 of Software Gone Wild.

HP to cut up to 4,000 jobs in next three years

HP Inc. is cutting between 3,000 to 4,000 jobs over the next three years as part of a restructuring plan worked out by the company.The PC and printer firm, which was created about a year ago after Hewlett-Packard was split into two companies, said in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday that it expects about “3,000 to 4,000 employees to exit between fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2019.”The company's "printing business is challenged right now but the PC business is hitting on all cylinders," said Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst of Moor Insights & Strategy. “The PC Group is gaining market share, increasing profits and innovating more than I have seen in years,” he added.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Note7 will cost Samsung another $3 billion in profit

The fallout from the Note7 debacle, which is expected to take a big chunk out of Samsung’s third-quarter profit, will keep hurting its business into next year, the company said. The fourth-quarter impact on Samsung Electronics' operating profit will be "in the mid-2 trillion won range," the company said in a press release early Friday. Using the midpoint of 2.5 trillion South Korean won, that would be about US$2.2 billion. The damage will continue in the first quarter of next year, with an impact of about 1 trillion won, Samsung said. The company announced Tuesday it had permanently stopped production of the Note7. It had launched a recall of the phone just weeks after it went on sale because of fires and explosions that destroyed some of the devices. Then, some replacement units it sent out as part of the recall had the same problem.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Survey says many companies want to phase out passwords

Don't be surprised if your company decides to do away with password logins. A new survey has found that most organizations are leaning toward phasing out password authentication.The results comes from Wakefield Research, which surveyed 200 IT decision makers in the U.S. last month. Sixty-nine percent of the respondents said they will probably do away with passwords completely in the next five years.Password login systems, though commonplace, are too vulnerable to hacking, according to SecureAuth, the company that commissioned the study. Not surprisingly, SecureAuth sells alternatives to password-based logins.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here