Research: Even Password Complexity is a Tradeoff

Stronger passwords are always better—at least this is the working theory of most folks in information technology, security or otherwise. Such blanket rules should raise your suspicions, however; the rule11 maxim if you haven’t found the tradeoff, you haven’t looked hard enough should apply to passwords, too.

Dinei Florêncio, Cormac Herley, and Paul C. Van Oorschot. 2016. Pushing on string: the ‘don’t care’ region of password strength. Commun. ACM 59, 11 (October 2016), 66-74. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/2934663

Begin with this simple assertion: complex passwords are primarily a guard against password guessing attacks. Further, while the loss of a single account can be tragic for the individual user (and in some systems, the loss of a single password can have massive consequences!), for the system operator, it is the overall health of the system that matters. There is, in any system, a point at which enough accounts have been compromised that the system itself can no longer secure any information. This not only means the system can no longer hide information, it also means transactions within the system can no longer be trusted.

The number of compromised accounts varies based on the kind of system in view; effectively breaching Continue reading

We’re Giving Away A One Year All Access Pass!

Did you know INE Inc. Is partnering with Aviator Brewing in this years Hops for Hope Competition to raise money for Children’s Flight of Hope?



To aid us in our efforts we’re offering a chance to win a FREE All Access Pass if you donate to this great cause. From now until July 31st donate $25 or more to Children’s Flight of Hope and you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a one year All Access Pass on us! Click Here to donate!


What is Hops for Hope?

Triangle Hops for Hope is a fundraising event that pairs corporate teams with local breweries to create an original beer and raise money for charity. Teams showcase their creations to hundreds of attendees at an epic beer competition on September 22, 2018 at the Raleigh Beer Garden. It’s the perfect opportunity to mix corporate social responsibility, employee engagement, and support local craft breweries.

All proceeds benefit Children’s Flight of Hope, a 501(c)(3) organization that provides air transportation for children to access specialized medical care. Last year’s event raised more than $70,000 for CFOH!

If you’re in the Raleigh-Durham area and want to buy tickets to this event you can do so Continue reading

IDG Contributor Network: The vital role of technology in the Thai cave rescue mission

Twelve boys and their coach trapped in a cave deep underground with dwindling air and the danger of being flooded by rising water levels. How did a determined international team find and rescue the boys? How did sophisticated geographical information systems (GIS), IoT sensors and 3D simulations assist the rescuers?Tham Luang Nang Non is six mile long underground cave complex in Thailand’s Chiangrai province. A boy’s soccer team was reported missing in July 2018. Thai Navy SEAL divers' found them in a cave that could only be reached after a six hour underground journey in the dark, swimming through narrow tunnels and climbing boulders. An international rescue teams with experts from Thailand, China, Japan, Australia, the US and Britain were able to rescue them.To read this article in full, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Are you ready for 5G?

The demand is there. The hype is there. But is the world really ready for 5G?In one sense, the answer is, “absolutely.” The fifth-generation of wireless broadband technology will bring an exponential increase in data speeds that will change how people interact with the internet. For example, download time for an HD movie could go from an hour to a few seconds. 5G can also power up remote surgery. And some say truly autonomous vehicles aren’t possible without it. 5G will connect a higher density of devices, people and things in smaller areas – faster and with lower latency than ever. It promises to inspire an astounding array of innovations and new services.To read this article in full, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Are you ready for 5G?

The demand is there. The hype is there. But is the world really ready for 5G?In one sense, the answer is, “absolutely.” The fifth-generation of wireless broadband technology will bring an exponential increase in data speeds that will change how people interact with the internet. For example, download time for an HD movie could go from an hour to a few seconds. 5G can also power up remote surgery. And some say truly autonomous vehicles aren’t possible without it. 5G will connect a higher density of devices, people and things in smaller areas – faster and with lower latency than ever. It promises to inspire an astounding array of innovations and new services.To read this article in full, please click here

The Week in Internet News: Startup Cash for Spy-o-T

Investing in hacking IoT: A startup in Israel has raised $12.5 million in investments to help governments hack the Internet of Things and other technologies, Forbes reports. What could go wrong? Toka says it’ll provide spy tools for whatever device its clients require, with a special focus on the IoT.

Encryption wars, part 348: U.S. FBI Director Christopher Wray says legislation allowing law enforcement agencies access to encrypted devices may be necessary if the government and private vendors cannot come to a compromise, Cyberscoop reports. The FBI has, for several years, complained that its investigations are hampered by encrypted devices, although many security experts say encryption backdoors will make us all less safe.

AI for good: More than 2,000 Artificial Intelligence experts have signed a pledge saying they will not participate in the development of legal, autonomous weapons systems, Gizmodo reports. Autonomous weapons posed a “clear and present danger to the citizens of every country in the world,” the pledge says.

Clamping down: The government in Iraq shut down the Internet for two days in response to protests there, CircleID says. The government ordered the disconnection of the fiber backbone that carries traffic for most of the country Continue reading

Examining Linux system performance with dstat

Want to do a quick performance check on your Linux system? You might want to take a look at the dstat command. Dstat provides valuable insights into Linux system performance, pretty much replacing a collection of older tools such as vmstat, netstat, iostat, and ifstat with a flexible and powerful command that combines their features.With this one command, you can look at virtual memory, network connections and interfaces, CPU activity, input/output devices and more. In today's post, we'll examine some dstat commands and see what they can show you about your systems. [ Two-Minute Linux Tips: Learn how to master a host of Linux commands in these 2-minute video tutorials ] Dstat options and defaults First, let's start with a fairly simple command. With the dstat -c (CPU) option, dstat displays CPU stats. In the example below, we're asking for two-second intervals and six reports.To read this article in full, please click here

Network Break 194: Amazon Spooks Switch Vendors; Big Switch Brings VPCs On Prem

Take a Network Break! Today we’re joined by guest John Fruehe. Amazon sent shock waves through the networking industry on rumors it might sell whitebox switches to the enterprise. The cloud giant says it has no current plans, but we examine other ways AWS might get into your network.

AWS adds EC2 instances to its Snowball edge storage device, and Big Switch Networks rolls out new software to enable VPC-like networking in your private data center.

A British government agency dings Huawei on national security, Deutsche Telekom joins Linux Foundation Networking, and Cato Networks adds identity routing to its SD-WAN offering.

Last but not least, Cisco releases more than two dozen security advisories, and Microsoft rakes in the money in its fourth quarter and fiscal 2018 financial reports.

Get links to all these news stories below.

Sponsor: Packet Pushers Ignition

The Packet Pushers have launched a brand new membership site called Ignition. Ignition offers free and premium memberships and hosts exclusive content for subscribers, including videos, reports, blogs, and more. Check it out at ignition.packetpushers.net.

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Exclusive: Amazon denies it will challenge Cisco with switch sales – MarketWatch

Video: Amazon To Sell Whitebox ? Analysis and Thinking Because Continue reading

How SD-WAN will make the cloud much, much bigger

Though I no longer actively participate in it as a pioneering player in the networking space I have always kept a watchful eye on the market and I am seeing yet another disruptive force known as SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide-Area Networking) finally gaining momentum.For starters, SD-WAN is an extension of Software-Defined Networking (SDN). As the term implies, SDN aims to automate (virtualize) various network functions that are currently touch-heavy.[ Related: SD-WAN: What it is and why you will use it one day ] Network architects talk about separating the control plane from the data plane ad nauseum but that is just the starting point. The ability to virtualize numerous network functions from a central location and thus create an abstraction layer in a manner that is custom-tailored for each enterprise – and, by extension, perhaps for each user - has been the Holy Grail of networking for years if not decades. Tom Nolle, president of CIMI Corporation and a longtime proponent of all things SDN, is spot on when he states that: "SD-WAN is absolutely critical, because it is the vehicle most likely to bring true virtualization to networking. Without virtualization in the network, virtualization in the Continue reading

How SD-WAN will make the cloud much, much bigger

Though I no longer actively participate in it as a pioneering player in the networking space I have always kept a watchful eye on the market and I am seeing yet another disruptive force known as SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide-Area Networking) finally gaining momentum.For starters, SD-WAN is an extension of Software-Defined Networking (SDN). As the term implies, SDN aims to automate (virtualize) various network functions that are currently touch-heavy.[ Related: SD-WAN: What it is and why you will use it one day ] Network architects talk about separating the control plane from the data plane ad nauseum but that is just the starting point. The ability to virtualize numerous network functions from a central location and thus create an abstraction layer in a manner that is custom-tailored for each enterprise – and, by extension, perhaps for each user - has been the Holy Grail of networking for years if not decades. Tom Nolle, president of CIMI Corporation and a longtime proponent of all things SDN, is spot on when he states that: "SD-WAN is absolutely critical, because it is the vehicle most likely to bring true virtualization to networking. Without virtualization in the network, virtualization in the Continue reading

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