Houston we have a problem!


Of the many undesirable results of the Space Program is the fetishization of the "mission control center", with it's rows of workstations facing a common central screen. Ever since, anybody with any sort of mission now has a similar control center.

It's a pain for us in the cybersecurity community because every organization wants a "security operations center" laid out the same way. The point of he room isn't to create something that's efficient for working, but one that will impress visitors. The things done to impress customers can often make an already difficult job even more difficult.




I point this out because of the "glowing globe" picture from President Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia. It's supposed to celebrate the opening of the "Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology" (http://etidal.org). Zoom the camera out a bit, and you can see it's the mission control center from hell.


Manually counting, I see three sides, each with slightly more than 100 workstations/employees, or more than 300 in total. I don't know if they intend all three sections to focus on the same sets of problems, or if they are split into three different tasks (e.g. broadcast TV vs. Continue reading

SAP has designs on new government business

Steve Ballmer's latest hobby, USAfacts.org, cast a spotlight on the effectiveness of local, state and federal governments when it launched in April. Its easy-to-read dashboards allow ordinary citizens to compare government's performance of its core missions with spending at all levels.In a roundabout way, that's made the former Microsoft CEO something of an evangelist for companies like SAP, which has released a new cloud service to help public sector organizations manage their spending.USAfacts and OpenGov, a young company offering financial reporting, budgeting and publishing tools for the public sector, are stirring interest in ERP tools for government, and that's creating opportunities for SAP to get involved in the sales cycle, according to Darren Koch, SAP's chief product officer for small and medium-size businesses. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

25% off Pac-Man Connect and Play With 12 Classic Games – Deal Alert

Bandai's Pac-Man Connect and Play brings back your favorite classic video games right to your television. Connect the included cords directly into your television A/V jacks, and head back in time. Featuring 12 Classic games like: Pac-Man, Pac-Man Plus, Bosconian, Galaxian, Mappy, Super Pac-Man, Galaga, Dig Dug, New Rally X, Pac & Pal and Xevious. Not to mention, Pac-Man 256, which offers fans the chance to play the coveted level once made unavailable due to a bug in the program of the supposedly never-ending game. The list price of $19.99 has been reduced 25% down to $14.96 on Amazon, where it's currently listed as a #1 Best Seller. Get your Father's Day shopping done right now. See this deal on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Security debt

Just like organizations can build up technical debt, so too can they also build up something called “security debt,” if they don’t plan accordingly… In the past, security used to be ignored by pretty much everyone, except banks. But security is more critical than it has ever been because there are so many access points. We’ve entered the era of Internet of Things, where thieves can just hack your fridge to see that you’re not home.

The post Worth Reading: Security debt appeared first on rule 11 reader.

Nvidia gives glimpse of the future at its GPU Technology Conference

Historically, GPUs have been used in graphics-heavy processes such as video games. It’s fair to say that to serious gamers, Nvidia-based graphics cards have become the de facto standard. However, as I pointed out previously, GPUs have become increasingly more important in applications such as artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) and analytics.I was fortunate to attend Nvidia’s annual GPU Technology Conference last week, and the keynote from CEO Jensen Huang was perhaps the most innovative future-looking session I have seen in a long time.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

60% off AUKEY USB-C to HDMI Adapter, 4k 1080p Support – Deal Alert

Compatible with the new Macbooks, Chromebooks and more, this reversible connector from Aukey is USB-C to HDMI. Mirror or extend your display and experience the lightning fast data transfer speeds that come with this new generation of USB technology. The adapter's typical list price of $39.99 has been reduced 60% down to just $15.99. See this deal on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Under The Hood Of Google’s TPU2 Machine Learning Clusters

As we previously reported, Google unveiled its second-generation TensorFlow Processing Unit (TPU2) at Google I/O last week. Google calls this new generation “Google Cloud TPUs”, but provided very little information about the TPU2 chip and the systems that use it other than to provide a few colorful photos. Pictures do say more than words, so in this article we will dig into the photos and provide our thoughts based the pictures and on the few bits of detail Google did provide.

To start with, it is unlikely that Google will sell TPU-based chips, boards, or servers – TPU2 …

Under The Hood Of Google’s TPU2 Machine Learning Clusters was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

Netgear NightHawk R7000 routers now collect user data

Netgear makes some popular routers, but do you really want the company behind your model of router to collect data such as your IP address and MAC address? If the answer is no, then you need to disable the "analytics" data collection.Netgear’s NightHawk R7000 router, dubbed as “best-selling” and “top-rated” router on Amazon, is now collecting users’ data. Not just Wi-Fi information, but also information about connected devices, MAC address and IP. The data collection was enabled in the latest firmware update.A Slashdot user spotted the change after Netgear updated its data collection policy. A support article—“What router analytics data is collected and how is the data being used by Netgear?—states:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Netgear NightHawk R7000 routers now collect user data

Netgear makes some popular routers, but do you really want the company behind your model of router to collect data such as your IP address and MAC address? If the answer is no, then you need to disable the "analytics" data collection.Netgear’s NightHawk R7000 router, dubbed as “best-selling” and “top-rated” router on Amazon, is now collecting users’ data. Not just Wi-Fi information, but also information about connected devices, MAC address and IP. The data collection was enabled in the latest firmware update.A Slashdot user spotted the change after Netgear updated its data collection policy. A support article—“What router analytics data is collected and how is the data being used by Netgear?—states:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Save 24% on Amazon’s Echo Dot By Buying Certified Refurbished Right Now – Deal Alert

Echo Dot is a hands-free, voice-controlled device with a small built-in speaker—it can also connect to your speakers or headphones over Bluetooth or through a 3.5 mm audio cable to deliver stereo sound to the speakers you choose. Dot connects to the Alexa Voice Service to play music, make calls, send and receive messages, provide information, news, sports scores, weather, and more—instantly. Echo Dot can hear you from across the room, even while music is playing. When you want to use Echo Dot, just say the wake word “Alexa” and Dot responds instantly. If you have more than one Echo or Echo Dot, Alexa responds intelligently from the Echo you're closest to with ESP (Echo Spatial Perception). Buying a certified refurbished Dot typically saves you 10%, but right now Amazon is offering a 16% discount on that discount, so you'll be paying just $37.99 -- a total 24% discount over its "brand new" counterpart. Amazon's certified refurbished program ensures you'll receive a product that looks and functions good as new, complete with a warranty, so there's not much to worry about here. See this deal on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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