FTC warns on “Can you hear me now” robocall: Hang up!

The Federal Trade Commission this week issued a warning about the irritating and illegal “Can you hear me now?” robocall scam making the rounds on phones across the country. The FTC says it has received hundreds of complaints on the calls which could end up being part of a scam to get your money. +More on Network World: U.S. Marshals warn against dual phone scams+ The Better Business Bureau described the scam earlier this year: “By replying ‘yes,’  ‘sure,’ or other agreeable response, the scammer records the call and uses that sound bite to authorize unwanted charges to the scammers benefit. “It seems like an innocent question, but it can cause undue financial burdens and stress. The scam caller may already have your financial information, which is how they authorize a payment and, if you dispute a charge, the scammer has doctored the recording to make it seems as though you agreed to it.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

FTC warns on “Can you hear me now” robocall: Hang up!

The Federal Trade Commission this week issued a warning about the irritating and illegal “Can you hear me now?” robocall scam making the rounds on phones across the country. The FTC says it has received hundreds of complaints on the calls which could end up being part of a scam to get your money. +More on Network World: U.S. Marshals warn against dual phone scams+ The Better Business Bureau described the scam earlier this year: “By replying ‘yes,’  ‘sure,’ or other agreeable response, the scammer records the call and uses that sound bite to authorize unwanted charges to the scammers benefit. “It seems like an innocent question, but it can cause undue financial burdens and stress. The scam caller may already have your financial information, which is how they authorize a payment and, if you dispute a charge, the scammer has doctored the recording to make it seems as though you agreed to it.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco security researcher: Ransomware crowd big on customer service

Cisco Senior Security Researcher Brad Antoniewicz often gets asked whether those who take people’s computers hostage with ransomware actually hold up their end of the bargain and decrypt files when victims pay by bitcoin. “They’re in it to make money…Good customer service is important to these people,” he said, and not at all tongue in cheek, during his lunchtime address on the opening day of SecureWorld Boston this week. Antoniewicz, sporting a RUN DNS t-shirt reflecting his position with the Cisco Umbrella (formerly OpenDNS) team, dove into the topic of ransomware variants like Cerber as part of a broader talk on “An Anatomy of an Attack” and the elaborate ecosystem behind cyberattacks. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco security researcher: Ransomware crowd big on customer service

Cisco Senior Security Researcher Brad Antoniewicz often gets asked whether those who take people’s computers hostage with ransomware actually hold up their end of the bargain and decrypt files when victims pay by bitcoin. “They’re in it to make money…Good customer service is important to these people,” he said, and not at all tongue in cheek, during his lunchtime address on the opening day of SecureWorld Boston this week. Antoniewicz, sporting a RUN DNS t-shirt reflecting his position with the Cisco Umbrella (formerly OpenDNS) team, dove into the topic of ransomware variants like Cerber as part of a broader talk on “An Anatomy of an Attack” and the elaborate ecosystem behind cyberattacks. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: 3 reasons to hire a cognitive developer in 2017

Help Wanted: Seeking Cognitive DeveloperIf the history of technology has taught us anything, it’s that change is constant. We’ve seen it with the birth of the computer, the internet, the cloud and now artificial intelligence (AI).As technology evolves, so does the role of developers who have become embedded in the fabric of these changing technologies. The developer of today is very different than the developer of three years ago and perhaps unrecognizable to the developer a decade ago. Driving the democratization of technology, developers are constantly evolving to continuously innovate and move with changing paradigms.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

53% off Jaybird X2 Sport Wireless Bluetooth Headphones – Deal Alert

With a regular list price of $149.99, the current discount makes the Jaybird X2 Sport is now available with a 53% discount for this deal. Features include: Premium Bluetooth Audio For Skip-Free Music Outdoors 8 Hours of Music + Calls With Complete Remote Controls Secure Over/Under-Ear Fit Options Lifetime Sweat proof Warranty Includes Comply Premium Sport Memory Foam Ear Tips, Patented Secure-Fit Ear Fins, Friction-Fit Silicone Sport Carrying Case, Silicone Ear Tips, Charging Cable & Cord Management Clips. Jump to Amazon now for additional details, and to explore buying options.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Wozniak discusses robots, design, and Apple’s origins

More than 40 years after founding Apple Computer, Steve Wozniak has a lot to say about the early days of the world's richest company -- and about technology, learning, and being a born engineer.On stage at the IEEE TechIgnite conference in Burlingame, California, on Wednesday, he gave a glimpse into how a tech legend thinks.On open source In the early Seventies, Wozniak read about phone phreaking, in which "phreakers" made free phone calls by using electronics to mimic the tones used for dialing each number. To learn how to do it, he went to the only place he knew that had books and magazines about computers: The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. He went on a Sunday and walked right in. "The smartest people in the world don't lock doors," Wozniak said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

CW@50: Data storage goes from $1M to 2 cents per gigabyte (+video)

When Computerworld was founded in 1967, a 1-megabyte hard drive would have set you back by $1 million.Today, that same megabyte of capacity on a hard disk drive (HDD) costs (about two cents.Through those five decades, data storage was seen as little more than a support technology, when in actuality has always been one of five tech pillars -- like processors and software -- underpinning our modern computer systems, said Owen Melroy, vice president of Media Components at Western Digital Corp. (WD).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

10 alarming examples of AI gone wild

Going rogue! 10 scary examples of AI gone wildImage by geralt via PixabayScience fiction is lousy with tales of artificial intelligence run amok. There's HAL 9000, of course, and the nefarious Skynet system from the "Terminator" films. Last year, the sinister AI Ultron came this close to defeating the Avengers, and right now the hottest show on TV is HBO's "Westworld," concerning the future of humans and self-aware AI.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Enterprises misaligning security budget, priorities

Imagine paying for a small lock on your house every year. Burglars continue to break in despite what you think is a strong security deterrent. You spend the same amount every year on this inadequate security despite the different products on the market that promise to protect your home better.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

How to stop insider threats

Watch what leaves the officeImage by ThinkstockEmployee turnover is common, as is the practice of employees taking sensitive and confidential data with them when they leave, particularly data that they were involved in generating. This creates a significant risk for employers whose data was misappropriated, resulting in potential data breaches that can trigger regulatory actions or legal actions, as well as a variety of other consequences. Most employers are not adequately prepared to deal with the aftermath of employee data theft and many do not take the steps necessary to mitigate these risks before they occur.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to stop insider threats

Watch what leaves the officeImage by ThinkstockEmployee turnover is common, as is the practice of employees taking sensitive and confidential data with them when they leave, particularly data that they were involved in generating. This creates a significant risk for employers whose data was misappropriated, resulting in potential data breaches that can trigger regulatory actions or legal actions, as well as a variety of other consequences. Most employers are not adequately prepared to deal with the aftermath of employee data theft and many do not take the steps necessary to mitigate these risks before they occur.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to choose a prepaid mobile data plan

Data-only SIM cards can give you freedom from two-year contracts and high-priced smartphone hardware. They're also great if you're travelling internationally, or if you have an old smartphone or LTE-enabled tablet that you want to use off-contract.These seven pre-paid SIM cards will give you plenty of options, whether you're travelling internationally, looking for talk and text or just want monthly data.Things to know before you buy Compatibility can get confusing when you start considering pre-paid SIM cards, but the most important thing you'll need to know is whether your device is GSM or CDMA. If you aren't sure what the difference is, this article from DigitalTrends lays it out clearly. Some devices, including newer models of the iPhone, can operate on both GSM and CDMA -- but it can get complicated depending on your carrier.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Experts: US needs a federal CISO

Last week, the Trump administration announced the appointment of a White House cybersecurity coordinator. That's a good first step, security experts say, but the government also needs to have a federal CISO."It's a big leadership vacancy," said Sanjay Beri, CEO and co-founder at cloud security vendor Netskope.The job of a federal CISO is very new -- it was only created last year and filled in September with the appointment of retired brigadier general Gregory Touhill. He was previously the deputy assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications at the Department of Homeland Security.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Experts: US needs a federal CISO

Last week, the Trump administration announced the appointment of a White House cybersecurity coordinator. That's a good first step, security experts say, but the government also needs to have a federal CISO."It's a big leadership vacancy," said Sanjay Beri, CEO and co-founder at cloud security vendor Netskope.The job of a federal CISO is very new -- it was only created last year and filled in September with the appointment of retired brigadier general Gregory Touhill. He was previously the deputy assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications at the Department of Homeland Security.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

KAUST Hackathon Shows OpenACC Global Appeal

OpenACC’s global attraction can be seen in the recent February 2017 OpenACC mini-hackathon and GPU conference at KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science & Technology) in Saudi Arabia. OpenACC was created so programmers can insert pragmas to provide information to the compiler about parallelization opportunities and data movement operations to and from accelerators. Programmers use pragmas to work in concert with the compiler to create, tune and optimize parallel codes to achieve high performance.

Demand was so high to attend this mini-hackathon that the organizers had to scramble to find space for ten teams, even though the hackathon was originally …

KAUST Hackathon Shows OpenACC Global Appeal was written by Nicole Hemsoth at The Next Platform.

Windows 10 Creators Update: Microsoft removes, depreciates features specific to IT professionals

Microsoft is in the process of finalizing the Windows 10 Creators Update, preparing new builds for what will eventually become Release Candidates (RC). Windows Insiders could get the first RC as early as next week, while the final version is expected to roll out to all Windows 10 users starting in April. With the change in strategy, Microsoft is shipping much more ambitious new functionality in its updates. It is delivering the equivalent of what it used to call Service Packs, minus the cumulative bug fixes, at a rate of one to two every year. RELATED: 11 hidden tips and tweaks for Windows 10 The Creators Update, so named because it's targeting creative professionals above all, has a wide range of new features, such as: To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Look before you leap: 4 hard truths about IoT

Most technologies go through a stage when everything seems possible. Personal computers in the early 1980s, the internet in the late 1990s and mobile apps around the beginning of this decade were like that.But so was the first unboxing of a Galaxy Note 7. In time, either suddenly or gradually, reality sets in.The internet of things still looks promising, with vendors and analysts forecasting billions of connected devices that will solve all sorts of problems in homes and enterprises. But the seams are starting to show on this one, too. As promising as the technology is, it has some shortcomings. Here are a few.BAD DATAIoT systems are only as good as the data they capture, and some of it is not great.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Look before you leap: 4 hard truths about IoT

Most technologies go through a stage when everything seems possible. Personal computers in the early 1980s, the internet in the late 1990s and mobile apps around the beginning of this decade were like that.But so was the first unboxing of a Galaxy Note 7. In time, either suddenly or gradually, reality sets in.The internet of things still looks promising, with vendors and analysts forecasting billions of connected devices that will solve all sorts of problems in homes and enterprises. But the seams are starting to show on this one, too. As promising as the technology is, it has some shortcomings. Here are a few.BAD DATAIoT systems are only as good as the data they capture, and some of it is not great.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Friends more than frenemies? Splunk and New Relic team up

Things were so simple in the old days when it was easy to place vendors. New Relic was firmly and squarely focused on performance monitoring. It helps organizations gain visibility into how their applications and infrastructure are working so that they can make decisions or take actions based on performance.Splunk was in an entirely different space and was all about allowing organizations to ingest a huge amount of their data in order to run analytics over that data. In doing so, Splunk promised to give organizations more visibility about what was going on.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here