Hottest Enterprise Networking & IT Startups of 2016

The billions of dollars invested in cloud, wireless, big data, security and other networking startups in 2015 means that enterprise IT shops will have plenty of new products and services from which to choose.On the heels of that year of the megadeal ($100M or more) and Unicorn (private companies valued at $1B or more), it will be interesting to see how funding for network and IT startups shakes out in 2016. We'll keep track of 2016 funding announcements of possible interest to enterprise IT pros here, so bookmark this page and check back for updates. As we spot trends, we'll roll up collections of like companies and highlight them as well, as we did here for big data and analytics firms.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Hottest Enterprise Networking & IT Startups of 2016

The billions of dollars invested in cloud, wireless, big data, security and other networking startups in 2015 means that enterprise IT shops will have plenty of new products and services from which to choose.On the heels of that year of the megadeal ($100M or more) and Unicorn (private companies valued at $1B or more), it will be interesting to see how funding for network and IT startups shakes out in 2016. We'll keep track of 2016 funding announcements of possible interest to enterprise IT pros here, so bookmark this page and check back for updates. As we spot trends, we'll roll up collections of like companies and highlight them as well, as we did here for big data and analytics firms.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Preventing Malicious Request Loops

The web is an collaborative ecosystem. Web standards exist to ensure that participants of the network behave in a predictable way. If network participants deviate from the established standards then there can be unintended consequences. This blog post is about one of these unintended consequences.

A group of researchers recently published a paper "Forwarding Loop Attacks in the Content Delivery Networks" describing what can happen when web services interact in a non-compliant way. They describe an attack where a malicious user can force multiple service providers to send each other an unending stream of requests in a loop. This request loop can result in resource exhaustion and denial of service at the service provider. This paper also demonstrated that the attack is practical, and can be performed using a large list of service providers.

CloudFlare's service has been modified to be standards-compliant with respect to HTTP proxying. However, fixing the vulnerability that enables this attack requires all proxy services to conform to the same standards. If even one service provider is non-compliant, the attack can still be carried out against compliant services. In this post, we will describe the attack and explain how a proxy services can go from being Continue reading

Ukranian hacker who tried to frame security expert now facing jail time

Brian Krebs, author of the Krebs on Security blog, has made a name for himself by exposing some of the most dangerous characters in the cybercrime underworld. And he has paid a price for doing so, including being the target of a SWAT attack.Several years ago, Krebs also incurred the wrath of a Ukrainian hacker, Sergey Vovnenko, who responded to the unwanted publicity Krebs provided him by trying to frame the journalist for heroin possession. Krebs writes on his blog:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Review: Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 4

In November, Microsoft released Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 4. With the final release due out in the second half of this year, TP4 gives us the latest look at where Microsoft's flagship operating system is heading. There are several interesting spots to look at and some licensing news that is controversial. I put the release through its paces for around a month; here are my observations.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Google creates fix for zero-day kernel flaw, says effect on Android is greatly exaggerated

After being caught off guard by the disclosure of a serious flaw in the Linux kernel this week, Google has quickly developed a patch for Android and shared it with device manufacturers.It might take weeks for device makers to start releasing firmware updates that include the fix, but that's not a huge problem since, according to Google's assessment, the flaw doesn't affect many Android devices to begin with.The privilege escalation vulnerability allows attackers to gain full control over Linux-based systems if they have access to a limited account or trick users into running a malicious application. It was found by researchers from Israeli threat defense start-up Perception Point.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Storage Trends To Watch In 2016

Healthcare IT execs fear loss of life due to hacked medical devices or networks

Today, Veracode released "The State of Web and Mobile Application Security in Healthcare," made possible after Veracode, along with the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), surveyed 200 healthcare IT executives. The exploitation of vulnerabilities in apps was the greatest concern among those healthcare IT execs.Veracode reported, "Survey respondents cited the potential for loss of life due to compromised networks or medical devices, brand damage due to theft of patient information and regulatory enforcement as their top fears related to such security breaches."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Setting IT Priorities For 2016

Verizon Joins ONOS With an Eye Toward 5G

Verizon is especially interested in M-CORD.

IPv6 Address Allocation Is Operating System-Specific

The breadth of address allocation options available in IPv6 world confuses many engineers thoroughly fluent in IPv4, but it also gives operating system developers way too many options… and it turns out that different operating systems behave way differently when faced with the same environment.

2016-01-21: In the meantime, Luka got further details on Windows behavior, and Enno Rey provided a few additional links.

Fight for privacy of students, cellphone users moves to US states

The fight for privacy is moving to U.S. states with 16 states and the District of Columbia introducing legislation on Wednesday that address issues such as requiring permission before student data is shared for non-educational purposes and the requirement of warrants before using cell site simulators to track phone users.“A bipartisan consensus on privacy rights is emerging, and now the states are taking collective action where Congress has been largely asleep at the switch,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which coordinated the initiative, in a statement. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Ukrainian power companies are getting hit with more cyberattacks

A number of Ukrainian power companies are seeing fresh cyberattacks following ones in December that briefly knocked out power for tens of thousands of customers. Security vendor Eset said on Wednesday that the attacks use a different kind of malware, prompting questions about whether the same group or groups are involved. "The malware is based on a freely available open-source backdoor – something no one would expect from an alleged state-sponsored malware operator," wrote Robert Lipovsky, a senior malware researcher with Eset. The new finding deepens the mystery over who is targeting the Ukrainian companies.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

OpenStack Finds a Place in Operators’ NFV Deployments

OpenStack summarizes its NFV work.

FireEye to grow intelligence capabilities with iSight Partners deal

FireEye has acquired Texas-based iSight Partners for $200 million, a deal that executives say will give FireEye stronger intelligence on cybercriminal and hacking groups before they strike.The transaction, announced Wednesday, closed on Jan. 14.FireEye started with an end-point protection product aimed at filtering out malware before it entered a company's network. But the company has sought to expand its range of services through acquisitions as cybersecurity has become an ever-increasing concern -- and a more lucrative business.In early 2014, it bought Mandiant, a computer security company that specializes in investigating cyberattacks. The victims of some of the largest data breaches in memory, including Target, have retained Mandiant's services.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Preparing IT for the ‘gig economy’

In the next 10 years, companies will regularly tap into a vast pool of independent contractors to get work done on a crowdsourced, pay-as-you-go basis, according to research supported by the Society for Information Management’s Advanced Practices Council.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Open Networking: The Eject Button

Those of us that weren’t born in the iPod era used to have physical music and movie media like cassette tapes, vinyl, CDs, minidisc, VHS and almost Beta Max. The idea was that you could take this media and play it on any compatible player and in some cases record too. Ok, I know the concept is almost the same with digital media, but there is something nostalgic about physical things.

Focussing on the mighty cassette tape, the medium that young teenagers used to woo their targets with heart felt mix tapes, it was possible to buy cassettes of different record time lengths and different materials for quality. Cassette decks were integrated in to boom boxes, Sony Walkmans, all in one HiFi units and of course, the more quality HiFi separate devices along with supposed studio quality devices. To give it some more background, these devices would have support electronics like headphone amplifiers, graphic equalisers, high speed dubbing (for fast transfer between decks), microphone amplifier circuits and even motorised loading and eject mechanisms. See the vague similarity between this and networking? No, I thought not. The cassette much like interchangeable networking components is removable. It’s transportable and although the tape Continue reading

IDG Contributor Network: Data center outages increasingly caused by DDoS

Think housing your servers in a data center rather than squeezing them under your desk is a bulletproof solution?Well, they might be safer in a data center, but believe it or not, some of the same pitfalls that can create trouble in the office can affect those secure data centers too. Namely UPS failure, human error, and cybercrime.'Unplanned' UPS system failure is still the principal cause of "unplanned data center outages," according to a new report.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Data center outages increasingly caused by DDoS

Think housing your servers in a data center rather than squeezing them under your desk is a bulletproof solution?Well, they might be safer in a data center, but believe it or not, some of the same pitfalls that can create trouble in the office can affect those secure data centers too. Namely UPS failure, human error, and cybercrime.'Unplanned' UPS system failure is still the principal cause of "unplanned data center outages," according to a new report.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Subdermal wearables could unlock real possibilities for enterprise IoT

It looks like a slick Jedi move, but it's actually the Internet of Things: When Hannes Sjöblad wants to pay for coffee, he waves his hand in front of the pay station. When he wants to open a door, he waves his hand in front of the digital lock. When he wants to start his car, he waves his hand in front of the ignition. No, he's not Obi-Wan Kenobi saving two rebel droids; Sjöblad is a famous Swedish bodyhacker who has implanted electronics, including a passive Near-Field Communications (NFC) transmitter, into his own hand. So, instead of using his smartphone or smartwatch to activate a payment terminal, a wave of the hand gets the job done.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here