Critical Xen hypervisor flaw endangers virtualized environments

A critical vulnerability in the widely used Xen hypervisor allows attackers to break out of a guest operating system running inside a virtual machine and access the host system's entire memory.This is a serious violation of the security barrier enforced by the hypervisor and poses a particular threat to multi-tenant data centers where the customers' virtualized servers share the same underlying hardware.The open-source Xen hypervisor is used by cloud computing providers and virtual private server hosting companies, as well as by security-oriented operating systems like Qubes OS.The new vulnerability affects Xen 4.8.x, 4.7.x, 4.6.x, 4.5.x, and 4.4.x and has existed in the Xen code base for over four years. It was unintentionally introduced in December 2012 as part of a fix for a different issue.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google says its AI chips smoke CPUs, GPUs in performance tests

Four years ago, Google was faced with a conundrum: if all its users hit its voice recognition services for three minutes a day, the company would need to double the number of data centers just to handle all of the requests to the machine learning system powering those services.Rather than buy a bunch of new real estate and servers just for that purpose, the company embarked on a journey to create dedicated hardware for running machine- learning applications like voice recognition.The result was the Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), a chip that is designed to accelerate the inference stage of deep neural networks. Google published a paper on Wednesday laying out the performance gains the company saw over comparable CPUs and GPUs, both in terms of raw power and the performance per watt of power consumed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

First In-Depth Look at Google’s TPU Architecture

Four years ago, Google started to see the real potential for deploying neural networks to support a large number of new services. During that time it was also clear that, given the existing hardware, if people did voice searches for three minutes per day or dictated to their phone for short periods, Google would have to double the number of datacenters just to run machine learning models.

The need for a new architectural approach was clear, Google distinguished hardware engineer, Norman Jouppi, tells The Next Platform, but it required some radical thinking. As it turns out, that’s exactly

First In-Depth Look at Google’s TPU Architecture was written by Nicole Hemsoth at The Next Platform.

Enterprise Ready Software from Docker Store

Docker Store is the place to discover and procure trusted, enterprise-ready containerized software – free, open source and commercial.

Docker Store is the evolution of the Docker Hub, which is the world’s largest container registry, catering to millions of users. As of March 1, 2017, we crossed 11 billion pulls from the public registry!  Docker Store leverages the public registry’s massive user base and ensures our customers – developers, operators and enterprise Docker users get what they ask for. The Official Images program was developed to create a set of curated and trusted content that developers could use as a foundation for building containerized software. From the lessons learned and best practices, Docker recently launched a certification program that  enables ISVs, around the world to take advantage of Store in offering great software, packaged to operate optimally on the Docker platform.

Docker Hub

The Docker Store is designed to bring Docker users and ecosystem partners together with

  • Certified Containers with ISV apps that have been validated against Docker Enterprise Edition, and comes with cooperative support from Docker and the ISV
  • Enhanced search and discovery capabilities of containers, including filtering support for platforms, categories and OS.
  • Self service publisher workflow and interface to facilitate Continue reading

Cisco/AppDynamics upgrade broadens DevOps role in app management game

Cisco’s AppDynamics this week rolled out a developer toolkit that will let corporate development teams quickly build and measure the business impact of Web and mobile applications.The AppDynamics Developer Toolkit will feature a variety of languages and diagnostic tools that let application teams measure the business impact of new programs.+More on Network World: Cisco closes AppDynamics deal, increases software weight+“We expect that the developers toolkit will help customers take real-time application performance data and tie it to business outcomes,” said Matt Chotin, product marketing chief at AppDynamics “It will help enterprises break down silos, become more collaborative and get DevOps more involved in making the business innovative.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Is it crazy to be afraid of password managers?

I admit it: Like most people, I’m terrible at passwords. Too often I use too-simple passwords, and I don’t always come up with a new one for every site and service I log into. Then, when I do come up with a strong, unique password, I often forget it entirely and have to request an email to reset it—typically to something either too easy to guess or something I’ll instantly forget again.+ Also on Network World: Stop using password manager browser extensions + That’s why password managers exist. They’re designed to let you enter a single, secure password in one place and then generate new, strong passwords for every application where you need one.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Is it crazy to be afraid of password managers?

I admit it: Like most people, I’m terrible at passwords. Too often I use too-simple passwords, and I don’t always come up with a new one for every site and service I log into. Then, when I do come up with a strong, unique password, I often forget it entirely and have to request an email to reset it—typically to something either too easy to guess or something I’ll instantly forget again.+ Also on Network World: Stop using password manager browser extensions + That’s why password managers exist. They’re designed to let you enter a single, secure password in one place and then generate new, strong passwords for every application where you need one.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IoT garage door opener disabled over bad review, then re-enabled after backlash

When you take a chance and buy internet of insecure things devices, you already have to accept apps that have crazy overreaching permissions if you want your smart devices to work—and hope any vulnerabilities discovered will be patched. But should you have to worry about ticking off the device maker and having your device remotely disabled?There are all kinds of services and products that do not offer customer support on a Saturday night, which is frustrating when something goes wrong over the weekend and you need help. In the case of IoT garage door opener Garadget, unhappy customer Robert Martin wrote on a Garadget support thread:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

iPhone 8 Rumor Rollup: Fresh spate of delayed shipment speculation swirls; plus, good pricing news

Speculation is heating up again this week regarding the possibility that Apple might delay the arrival of its iPhone 8 (or iPhone X) smartphone until October or November due to technical issues related to the lamination of its new curved OLED displays as well as with its 3D sensing system.Apple historically has released its new flagship iPhones in September, but scuttlebutt in the supply chain says things could be otherwise in 2017. Speculation is that Apple could roll out its 7s and 7s Plus phones in September, with the high-end iPhone 8 becoming available shortly afterwards.MORE: Apple's Mobility Partner Program comes out of hidingTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Zdravo, Beograde! Cloudflare network spans 30 European cities

CC-BY 2.0 image by De kleine rode kater

Since Cloudflare began with our very first data center in Chicago, we are especially excited that our expansion takes us to its sister city. Where the Sava meets the Danube, Belgrade (Serbia) is home to Cloudflare’s 107th data center.

Пошто је Клаудфлер почео са првим дата центом у Чикагу посебно смо узбуђени што нас је наше ширење одвело у побратимљен град. Тамо где се Сава улива у Дунав, Београд, у Србији је дом Клаудфлеровог 107. дата центра.

Pošto je Cloudflare počeo sa prvim data centrom u Čikagu posebno smo uzbuđeni što nas je naše širenje odvelo u pobratimljen grad. Tamo gde se Sava uliva u Dunav, Beograd, u Srbiji je dom Cloudflare-ovog 107. data centra.

As a member of the Serbian Open Exchange, the leading internet exchange point in the country, we are excited to help make 6 million websites even faster for nearly 6 million Internet users. Belgrade is seeing growth in employment across the technology industry, ranging from the Microsoft Development Center to Serbian gaming company Nordeus to startups such as TeleSkin and Content Insights.

Као члан Serbian Open Exchage-а, водећег internet exchange-a у Србији, драго нам Continue reading

IDG Contributor Network: The evolution of data center segmentation

Data center transformation has delivered better resource utilization, scalability and automation for data center environments. While software-defined networking (SDN) and automation platforms can tie in network security, the options have been largely inflexible and static, limiting the amount of security automation that can be delivered. This has become even more apparent as DevOps environments continue to grow.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: Understanding Software-Defined Networking Micro-segmentation as a concept has been around for several years. It has recently become more mainstream with organizations now dedicating budgets and personnel to micro-segmentation projects. Micro-segmentation itself is really an evolution in network security. While many of the concepts (i.e. private VLANs) have been around for years, the implementation and use of these has evolved with micro-segmentation.   To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Good-bye Internet pioneers. Hello, Oath?

After its acquisition of Yahoo wraps up, Verizon plans to place AOL and Yahoo under the umbrella of a new company, called Oath.AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong on Monday announced the move on Twitter, writing, "Billion+ Consumers, 20+ Brands, Unstoppable Team. #TakeTheOath. Summer 2017."AOL, which owns the Huffington Post, Engadget and TechCrunch, will pool all of the properties with Yahoo under the Oath umbrella, according to Armstrong, in an interview with CNBC."This is a sad thing for everyone who remembers when Yahoo and AOL were riding high," said Dan Olds, an analyst for OrionX. "For many people, AOL was their first experience with the Internet and was probably their first email address. A lot of people's first experience with Internet search, and other services, was probably with Yahoo. Unfortunately, the companies couldn't keep up with the ever-changing competition and fell into the backwaters of the Internet."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: The evolution of data center segmentation

Data center transformation has delivered better resource utilization, scalability and automation for data center environments. While software-defined networking (SDN) and automation platforms can tie in network security, the options have been largely inflexible and static, limiting the amount of security automation that can be delivered. This has become even more apparent as DevOps environments continue to grow.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: Understanding Software-Defined Networking Micro-segmentation as a concept has been around for several years. It has recently become more mainstream with organizations now dedicating budgets and personnel to micro-segmentation projects. Micro-segmentation itself is really an evolution in network security. While many of the concepts (i.e. private VLANs) have been around for years, the implementation and use of these has evolved with micro-segmentation.   To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: The evolution of data center segmentation

Data center transformation has delivered better resource utilization, scalability and automation for data center environments. While software-defined networking (SDN) and automation platforms can tie in network security, the options have been largely inflexible and static, limiting the amount of security automation that can be delivered. This has become even more apparent as DevOps environments continue to grow.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: Understanding Software-Defined Networking Micro-segmentation as a concept has been around for several years. It has recently become more mainstream with organizations now dedicating budgets and personnel to micro-segmentation projects. Micro-segmentation itself is really an evolution in network security. While many of the concepts (i.e. private VLANs) have been around for years, the implementation and use of these has evolved with micro-segmentation.   To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

After Congress revokes Internet privacy rules, downloads double of VPN-equipped Opera browser

Opera Software today boasted that the number of new U.S. users of its namesake browser more than doubled days after Congress voted to repeal restrictions on broadband providers eager to sell customers' surfing history.Opera debuted a VPN -- virtual private network -- a year ago, and finalized the feature in September. A VPN disguises the actual IP address of the user, effectively anonymizing the browsing, and encrypts the data transmitted to and from sites, creating a secure "tunnel" to the destination.By using a VPN, U.S. users block their Internet service providers (ISPs) from recording their online activity.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

After Congress revokes Internet privacy rules, downloads double of VPN-equipped Opera browser

Opera Software today boasted that the number of new U.S. users of its namesake browser more than doubled days after Congress voted to repeal restrictions on broadband providers eager to sell customers' surfing history.Opera debuted a VPN -- virtual private network -- a year ago, and finalized the feature in September. A VPN disguises the actual IP address of the user, effectively anonymizing the browsing, and encrypts the data transmitted to and from sites, creating a secure "tunnel" to the destination.By using a VPN, U.S. users block their Internet service providers (ISPs) from recording their online activity.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here