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Free-Form Discussion at CLEUR

I was fortunate enough to be invited out to Milan, Italy for Cisco Live Europe, and we had a few interesting discussions about a multitude of topics. One of them was more free-form than the others, and focused on defining SDN, what it’s value is, and where that value is most realized.

Check out this video recording of the session; it was good to get a few perspectives from non-networkers, since I’m sure their perspective is different from the network administrator’s as it pertains to the ongoing shift in this industry:

For the record, it’s not fair to say that VLAN provisioning takes two weeks, even after change approval. What the server administrator is usually asking for is an entirely new logical network, and there’s much that has to happen in order to do this, the easiest of which is tagging the server port on the ToR. These networks have dependencies, like IP space, firewall and load balancer contexts. Sometimes, routing configurations have to be changed. Is the current provisioning model optimal, or even acceptable? Of course not - that’s why I’m focusing on the newer, more automated methods. However, there’s more than meets the eye here.

I also want Continue reading

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Israel targeted by malware packaged with pornographic video

Israeli institutions have been targeted by an Arab-speaking hacker group that sought to extract sensitive documents, according to Trend Micro.The campaign, which Trend called Operation Arid Viper, focused on sending phishing emails to targets. Those emails came with malware packaged with a short pornographic video, according to the company’s report.The phishing emails were sent to targets including a government office, infrastructure providers, a military organization and academic institutions in Israel and Kuwait.The attacks “targeted professionals who might be receiving very inappropriate content at work and so would hesitate to report the incident,” Trend wrote. “These victims’ failure to act on the threat could have then allowed the main malware to remain undiscovered.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Device Naming Conventions – What’s in a Name

Choosing a device hostname seems trivial to say the least. However, from multiple design meetings, this is a topic that tends to drag on...

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NASA probing contest for spacecraft that capture, manipulate small orbiting objects

NASA NASA this week began exploring a Centennial Challenge program that would require contestants to build spacecraft capable of catching, capturing, and manipulating small objects in space at high speeds.The idea is such spacecraft could take part in Mars, moon, asteroid or other missions that require sample gathering.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Networking Field Day – Afterthoughts – NetBeez & Wireless Monitoring

Well, Networking Field Day 9 has ended, it was a very quick, fun and informative three days. I have to start by giving NetBeez a lot of respect for the great presentation, and I that same I almost want to apologize for the suggestions and feedback that we (All the delegates) bombarded them with during […]

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What’s in a typo? More evidence tying North Korea to the Sony hack

A security company in the U.S. has provided further evidence that last year’s devastating hacking attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment was carried out by a group with ties to North Korea.The FBI has already named North Korea as the source of the attack, but some security experts have been skeptical, in part because the FBI didn’t disclose all the details of its investigation.Security firm CrowdStrike is among those who believe North Korea was the culprit, and on Tuesday it presented another piece of evidence to support that claim.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Yahoo has reasons of its own to help mobile developers

Yahoo, one of Silicon Valley’s aging giants, wants to show it’s got the goods for today’s mobile app developers.On Thursday, the company will hold its first-ever mobile developer conference. The daylong event in San Francisco shows the company wants to develop lucrative relationships with developers and put mobile at the center of its turnaround effort.The event will feature talks by top Yahoo executives, including CEO Marissa Mayer, and deep dives into Yahoo’s technology services for mobile apps. A critical part of those services is Flurry, a mobile analytics and advertising company Yahoo acquired last year. Flurry tracks more than 600,000 apps worldwide, providing information on app performance and users that can aid in ad targeting.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Free-Form Discussion at CLEUR

I was fortunate enough to be invited out to Milan, Italy for Cisco Live Europe, and we had a few interesting discussions about a multitude of topics. One of them was more free-form than the others, and focused on defining SDN, what it’s value is, and where that value is most realized. Check out this video recording of the session; it was good to get a few perspectives from non-networkers, since I’m sure their perspective is different from the network administrator’s as it pertains to the ongoing shift in this industry:

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Free-Form Discussion at CLEUR

I was fortunate enough to be invited out to Milan, Italy for Cisco Live Europe, and we had a few interesting discussions about a multitude of topics. One of them was more free-form than the others, and focused on defining SDN, what it’s value is, and where that value is most realized. Check out this video recording of the session; it was good to get a few perspectives from non-networkers, since I’m sure their perspective is different from the network administrator’s as it pertains to the ongoing shift in this industry:

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Russian extradited to US for hacks that stole 160 million credit card numbers

A Russian man accused of high-profile cyberattacks on Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Heartland Payment Systems and 7-Eleven has been extradited to the U.S. and appeared in court in Newark, New Jersey, Tuesday.Vladimir Drinkman, 34, of Syktyykar and Moscow, Russia, was charged for his alleged role in a data theft conspiracy that targeted major corporate networks and stole more than 160 million credit card numbers, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release. Drinkman was arrested in the Netherlands in June 2012 and had been detained there.Drinkman appeared Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and entered a plea of not guilty to 11 counts he faces. His trial is scheduled to begin in April.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Wireless carriers aren’t complying with cellphone unlocking agreement

Sina Khanifar, a technology fellow at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a long-outspoken advocate for cellphone unlocking, recently reviewed the major U.S. wireless carriers' policies and practices since they reached a voluntary agreement to unlock former customers' smartphones so they can switch carriers.You might be surprised to learn that most carriers are not sticking to the agreement very well.A little background on the policy – after years of criticism from relatively niche technology and privacy advocates, by late 2013 the wireless carriers found themselves the targets of mainstream criticism for their refusal to unlock former customers' smartphones. This, of course, prevented customers from switching carriers and often forced them to sign new contracts with them. Even the White House called for reform on the issue, and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler threatened to impose new regulations on the practice if the industry didn't voluntarily change its unlocking policies. The carriers chose the latter and, through a letter from wireless trade organization CTIA, promised to reach an agreement.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Competition, new rules to spur West African electronic financial services

New regulations, competition and product diversity are likely to help boost digital financial services across the eight West African Economic and Monetary Union countries.Making financial services available and affordable to all segments of the population, especially those excluded by income level, political instability, gender, location, or education, has been a major topic over the past few years in Africa.The availability of financial services to those who historically not had access to them—so-called financial inclusion—is essential for widespread economic growth, according to the African Development Bank (ADF). However, Africa has been lagging behind other continents in this area, with less than one out of four adults holding an account at a formal financial institution, according to an ADF report, “Financial Inclusion in Africa.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Competition, new rules to spur West African electronic financial services

New regulations, competition and product diversity are likely to help boost digital financial services across the eight West African Economic and Monetary Union countries.Making financial services available and affordable to all segments of the population, especially those excluded by income level, political instability, gender, location, or education, has been a major topic over the past few years in Africa.The availability of financial services to those who historically not had access to them—so-called financial inclusion—is essential for widespread economic growth, according to the African Development Bank (ADF). However, Africa has been lagging behind other continents in this area, with less than one out of four adults holding an account at a formal financial institution, according to an ADF report, “Financial Inclusion in Africa.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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IBM puts software and cloud at the center of storage

The future of storage may not be in storage itself, but in the intelligence to manage it.Major storage vendors and startups alike are now pushing software-defined systems spanning anything from a set of arrays to a whole enterprise. On Tuesday, IBM placed a big bet on this trend, announcing the first product in a portfolio called IBM Spectrum Storage and saying it will invest $1 billion in storage software over the next five years.The strategy will see IBM offer its traditional storage systems in software form so customers can choose to buy them as appliance, software or service. The first Spectrum Storage product out of the gate is IBM Spectrum Accelerate, software that’s based on the company’s own XIV high-end storage appliance.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Arabic cyberespionage group attacking Middle Eastern, other targets

An Arabic cyberespionage group has attacked thousands of high-profile targets in Egypt, Israel, Jordan and other countries for the past two years, cybersecurity vendor Kaspersky Lab said.The cybermercenaries, which the vendor dubbed the Desert Falcons, has stolen more than 1 million files from 3,000 victims in more than 50 countries, Kaspersky Lab said Tuesday. The group, likely native Arabic speakers, began in 2011, with the first infections coming in 2013, the company said.Targeted countries include Algeria, Lebanon, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East, and the U.S., Russia, France and Sweden beyond the region, Kaspersky said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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From the Desk of Jarrod Mills :: Updated R&S Material is on the Way!

Over the next few months, several enhancements and upgrades to the CCIE Routing and Switch product line will be rolled out. I am currently doing a thorough review of the Volume 1 Workbook to ensure that every topic within the Version 5 Blueprint is thoroughly tested and validated. Shortly thereafter, I will be editing and compiling the complete Volume 2 Mock Lab workbook with 5 full 8-hour labs. These labs will fully prepare students for success on the rigorous Cisco CCIE lab exam.

After listening to the feedback of current and prospective students, I realized that the Troubleshooting and Diagnostic Sections were a stumbling block for many and that these sections were under-represented in the current training program. As a result, new Troubleshooting and Diagnostic workbooks are currently under development with a target completion date within the next 2 months. The Troubleshooting workbook will contain 50 tickets that are similar in difficulty to the tickets the student will experience in the Cisco lab exam. Similarly, the Diagnostic workbook will also contain 50 issues and be designed to allow students to hone their skills, and become confident in their ability to identify and choose the correct solution(s) in this section of Continue reading

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Twitter improves security for shared accounts

Twitter is giving users what it thinks is a safer way to handle shared access to an account without compromising the login.Users of TweetDeck, the popular dashboard system for the site, will be able to share access to Twitter accounts without sharing passwords. That adds a useful layer of security for businesses that use Twitter, by eliminating the need to disseminate passwords among employees.Some high-profile Twitter accounts like those belonging to Newsweek magazine and the U.S. military’s Central Command have been hacked in recent months. Shared passwords are an obvious weak point for corporate social media accounts, as they increase the likelihood of unauthorized access.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Most memorable SNL tech skits & bits

In the wake of SNL celebrating its 40th anniversary this past weekend (complete with a free SNL 40 iOS app), we take a trip back through some of Saturday Night Live's most memorable techie skits and bits. Feel free to hit me up if there are good ones I missed (I purposely left out a few NSFW ones).With smartphones, computers and the Internet going mainstream in recent years, tech has become a much more prevalent subject on the late night show.Google Glass Tech's diversity problemTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Review: Nvidia’s Android-powered Shield tablet is actually great for gaming

Over the past few years, I have become increasingly reliant on Android-powered tablets for a large majority of my daily activities: general browsing, social media and email, and even for the majority of my entertainment (music and movie watching).But gaming…gaming is the one area in which Android has just never really embedded itself in my home. Sure, I play some Android games here and there, but I still own dedicated, non-Android powered consoles. Part of the reason is the lack of big, Triple-A quality games available for Android; there are some, but not as many as competing gaming platforms. The other part is the lack of great gaming hardware.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Networking Field Day at Cumulus Networks – Recap

Networking Field Day is not your typical event; it is an interactive forum where vendors present to selected networking industry experts.

Feb 11, 2015 was our first Networking Field Day at Cumulus Networks and as many have commented, it was “very informational” and an “excellent” presentation. So, for those of you that could not make it, here is the recap with the recordings.

Being an atypical event, #NFD9 had to start off differently with…. a grandiose entrance from the delegates in a limo and some first-class espressos powered by the Cumulus Networks team before getting off to an exciting 2hours forum.

Cumulus Networks Overview

Kicking off the session was JR Rivers (@JRCumulus), Co-founder and CEO of Cumulus Networks for a straight conversation and great anecdotes on Cumulus Networks and what makes Cumulus Linux different. “Cumulus Linux is fundamentally & unashamedly Linux!” What sets Cumulus Networks apart from others? The responsibility to take patches upstream, the real partnerships, being an enabler rather than a gatekeeper.

Data Center Architectures

What architectures are best suited for today’s date center network? And how does Cumulus Networks make it easier to build networks? Dinesh Dutt (@ddcumulus), Chief Continue reading