Full Stack Journey 073: Finding And Following Technical Passion Projects
Today's Full Stack Journey podcast welcomes software engineer Kat Morgan to discuss finding and following passion projects---which for Kat include KubeVirt and UOR Framework. Scott and Kat have a technical and entertaining conversation about how pursuing passion projects can inform, shape, and create career opportunities.
How Cloudflare helps protect small businesses
Large-scale cyber attacks on enterprises and governments make the headlines, but the impacts of cyberattacks can be felt acutely by small businesses that struggle to keep the lights on during normal times. In this blog, we’ll share new research on how small businesses, including those using our free services, have leveraged Cloudflare services to make their businesses more secure and resistant to disruption, along with a real story about how Cloudflare makes a tangible impact for small business customers.
Research has indicated that 43% of cyber attacks target small businesses [Source: Institute for Security and Technology, Blueprint for Ransomware Defense, 2022]. Small businesses face many of the same cybersecurity challenges as larger organizations, but with fewer resources to plan, design, and manage their IT systems and security protections. Most small businesses say they don’t have the personnel to address IT security adequately or appropriately [Source: Ponemon Institute, 2018 State of Cybersecurity in Small & Medium Size Businesses].
Your local florist, fitness studio, café, or pet shop is likely using a wide variety of cloud-based SaaS apps to stay open for customers, including online accounting software, booking systems, point-of-sale credit card readers, inventory management systems, content management Continue reading
The Montgomery, Alabama Internet Exchange is making the Internet faster. We’re happy to be there.
Part of the magic of the Internet is in tens of thousands of networks connecting to each other all across the world in an effort to share information more efficiently. Cloudflare is a member of 279 Internet Exchanges (IX for short), but today we want to highlight one such dot on the global Internet map: the Montgomery, Alabama Internet Exchange, called MGMix. Thanks to the hard work of local leaders and the participation of dozens of networks (including Cloudflare), the Internet in Alabama works better today than it did before the IX launched.
Understanding IXs
Before we talk more about Alabama in particular, let's take a step back to understand the critical role that Internet Exchanges play in our global Internet. In a simple model of exchanging Internet traffic, one person is on their laptop and requests content on a website, uses a video conferencing application, or wants to securely connect to their workplace from home. The person, or “client” in technical terms, is generally using a traditional Internet Service Provider, who they pay to access everything on the Internet. On the other hand, whatever the user is trying to reach – the website, API endpoint, or security service – Continue reading
Cloudflare expands Project Pangea to connect and protect (even) more community networks
In July 2021, Cloudflare announced Project Pangea to help underserved community networks get access to the Internet for free. Today, as part of Impact Week, we’re excited to expand this program to support even more communities by relaxing the technical requirements to participate.
Previously, in order to be eligible for Project Pangea, participants would need to bring at least a /24 block of IP space for Cloudflare to advertise on their behalf (referred to as “Bring Your Own IP”). But everyone should have secure, fast, and reliable access to the Internet, without being gated by costly network resources like IPv4 space. Starting now, participants no longer need to bring a /24 in order to access Pangea services: Internet connectivity, DDoS protection, network firewalling, traffic acceleration, and more, are available for free for eligible networks.
How is Project Pangea helping community networks?
The Internet Society, or ISOC, describes community networks as “when people come together to build and maintain the necessary infrastructure for Internet connection.” Most often, community networks emerge from need, and in response to the lack or absence of available Internet connectivity.
Cloudflare’s global network, which spans more than 275 cities across the world, provides Continue reading
The US government is working on an “Internet for all” plan. We’re on board.
Recently, the United States Department of Commerce announced that all 50 states and every eligible territory had signed on to the “Internet for All'' initiative. Internet for All is the US government’s $65 billion initiative to close the Digital Divide once and for all through new broadband deployment and digital equity programs. Cloudflare is on a mission to help build a better Internet, and we support initiatives like this because we want more people using the Internet on high-throughput, low-latency, resilient and affordable Internet connections. It’s been written often since the start of the pandemic because it’s true: it isn’t acceptable that students need to go to a Taco Bell parking lot to do their homework, and a good Internet connection is increasingly important for doing adult jobs as well.
The Internet for All initiative is the result of $65 billion in broadband-related funding appropriated by the US Congress as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). It’s been called a “once in a generation” funding opportunity, and compared with the Rural Electrification Act which brought power lines to rural America in the 1930s. The components of the broadband portion of the Infrastructure bill are:
- \$42. Continue reading
Project Safekeeping – protecting the world’s most vulnerable infrastructure with Zero Trust
This post is also available in 简体中文, 日本語, 한국어, Deutsch, Français and Español.
Under-resourced organizations that are vital to the basic functioning of our global communities face relentless cyber attacks, threatening basic needs for health, safety and security.
Cloudflare’s mission is to help make a better Internet. Starting December 13, 2022, we will help support these vulnerable infrastructure by providing our enterprise-level Zero Trust cybersecurity solution to them at no cost, with no time limit.
It is our pleasure to introduce our newest Impact initiative: Project Safekeeping.
Small targets, devastating impacts
Critical infrastructure is an obvious target for cyber attack: by its very definition, these are the organizations and systems that are crucial for the functioning of our society and economy. As such, these organizations cannot have prolonged interruptions in service, or risk having sensitive data exposed.
Our conversations over the past few months with government officials in Australia, Germany, Japan, Portugal, and the United Kingdom show that they are focused on the threat to critical infrastructure, but resource constraints mean that their attention is on protecting large organizations – immense financial institutions, hospital networks, oil pipelines, and airports. Yet, the small critical infrastructure organizations that Continue reading
DPU Hype Considered Harmful
The hype generated by the “VMware supports DPU offload” announcement already resulted in fascinating misunderstandings. Here’s what I got from a System Architect:
We are dealing with an interesting scenario where a customer had limited data center space, but applications demand more resources. We are evaluating whether we could offload ESXi processing to DPUs (Pensando) to use existing servers as bare-metal servers. Would it be a use case for DPU?
First of all, congratulations to whichever vendor marketer managed to put that guy in that state of mind. Well done, sir, well done. Now for a dose of reality.
DPU Hype Considered Harmful
The hype generated by the “VMware supports DPU offload” announcement already resulted in fascinating misunderstandings. Here’s what I got from a System Architect:
We are dealing with an interesting scenario where a customer had limited data center space, but applications demand more resources. We are evaluating whether we could offload ESXi processing to DPUs (Pensando) to use existing servers as bare-metal servers. Would it be a use case for DPU?
First of all, congratulations to whichever vendor marketer managed to put that guy in that state of mind. Well done, sir, well done. Now for a dose of reality.
How I Overcame My Fear of Commit(ment)
This is a retelling of a presentation I gave at work. In it, I describe a mechanism I've started using to raise the quality of artifacts I check into version control.
Is Secured Routing a Market Failure?
The Internet largely operates in a space defined by markets rather than an intricate framework of regulation. Using a lens of market dynamics and looking at the level to which market-based incentives exist for actors, is the adoption of routing security heading in the direction of market failure? If so, then how should we respond?Network Break 411: Cisco Revamps Certification Schedules; FTC Says Game Over For Microsoft’s Activision Bid
Take a Network Break! On today's episode we cover a new certification roadmap from Cisco, speculate on the future of corporate office space, and delve into an FTC lawsuit that aims to stop Microsoft's $69 billion purchase of game developer Activision. We also cover Broadcom financial results and space networking stories from Apple and SpaceX.
The post Network Break 411: Cisco Revamps Certification Schedules; FTC Says Game Over For Microsoft’s Activision Bid appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Network Break 411: Cisco Revamps Certification Schedules; FTC Says Game Over For Microsoft’s Activision Bid
Take a Network Break! On today's episode we cover a new certification roadmap from Cisco, speculate on the future of corporate office space, and delve into an FTC lawsuit that aims to stop Microsoft's $69 billion purchase of game developer Activision. We also cover Broadcom financial results and space networking stories from Apple and SpaceX.Learn Vi As A Network or Sysadmin Today?
TL;DR: If you’re a sysadmin or network administrator who doesn’t know vi/vim, I wouldn’t worry about it. Nano as a Linux/Unix editor will suffice in just about every situation you’re likely to be involved in.
Vi (and its successor, vim) is a text editor commonly used on Unix-like systems like Linux, the BSDs, and MacOS (I’m not getting into a what is/isn’t Unix discussion). If it’s remotely Unix-like, typing “vi” will likely get you vi, vim, or another variant. You can pretty much count on vi being there.
When I started as a Unix admin back in the 1990s, primarily working with Solaris and SunOS, knowing your way around vi is what I would classify as an essential skill. The other editors were pico (easy to learn) and Emacs (very high learning curve). Vi versus Emacs was one of the first technology “religious” wars.
I don’t have much experience with Emacs. I gave it a go in the late 1990s at one point, but found the learning curve too discouraging. Besides, I could already do everything I needed to with vi and Emacs users didn’t seem to be able to do something I couldn’t do. It felt like to me Continue reading
Tech Bytes: Redefining Secure Remote Access With Fortinet’s SASE Solution (Sponsored)
Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we explore sponsor Fortinet’s Secure Access Service Edge, or FortiSASE, offering, including the FortiClient agent, what cloud-delivered security services are available, SASE use cases, and more. Our guest is Nirav Shah, VP of Products at Fortinet.
The post Tech Bytes: Redefining Secure Remote Access With Fortinet’s SASE Solution (Sponsored) appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Tech Bytes: Redefining Secure Remote Access With Fortinet’s SASE Solution (Sponsored)
Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we explore sponsor Fortinet’s Secure Access Service Edge, or FortiSASE, offering, including the FortiClient agent, what cloud-delivered security services are available, SASE use cases, and more. Our guest is Nirav Shah, VP of Products at Fortinet.Advanced Technology on Display at AWS re:Invent
AWS showcased some real-life examples of many of its advanced technologies in the Expo Hall at the recent AWS re:Invent conference.Expanding Area 1 email security to the Athenian Project
This post is also available in 简体中文, Deutsch, Français and Español.
Election security encompasses a wide variety of measures, including the protection of voting machines, election office networks, voter registration databases, and other systems that manage the electoral process. At Cloudflare, we have reported on threats to state and local governments under the Athenian Project, how we prepare political campaigns and state parties under Cloudflare for Campaigns for election season, and our work with organizations that report on election results and voting rights groups under Project Galileo.
Since the 2022 US midterm elections, we have been thinking about how we help state and local governments deflect larger cyber threats that target the election community and have been analyzing the biggest problems they are facing. In October 2022, Jen Easterly, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said, “The current election threat environment is more complex than it has ever been.” Amid threats, intimidation toward election workers, and cyber attacks against election infrastructure and operations, preparing for elections is no easy task.
At Cloudflare, our mission is to help build a better Internet. The Internet plays a key role in promoting democracy and ensuring Continue reading
Two months later: Internet use in Iran during the Mahsa Amini Protests
A series of protests began in Iran on September 16, following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini — a 22-year-old who had been arrested for violating Iran’s mandatory hijab law. The protests and civil unrest have continued to this day. But the impact hasn’t just been on the ground in Iran — the impact of the civil unrest can be seen in Internet usage inside the country, as well.
With the proliferation of smartphones and the ubiquity of the Internet that has resulted, it’s no longer simply the offline world impacting the Internet; what happens on the Internet is impacting the offline world, too. For that reason, it’s not surprising that in order to limit the spread of the protests — both news of it happening and the further organization of civil unrest — the Iranian government introduced limits on the Internet. This included banning certain social media and communications tools: most notably including Instagram and WhatsApp, which are estimated to be used by over 50% of the Iranian population.
But despite the threat that the protests pose, and the Internet’s enabling role in them, it has not been cut off altogether. In fact, from the perspective of Cloudflare, Continue reading