Experts split on how soon quantum computing is coming, but say we should start preparing now

Whether quantum computing is 10 years away -- or is already here -- it promises to make current encryption methods obsolete, so enterprises need to start laying the groundwork for new encryption methods.A quantum computer uses qubits instead of bits. A bit can be a zero or a one, but a qubit can be both simultaneously, which is weird and hard to program but once folks get it working, it has the potential to be significantly more powerful than any of today's computers.And it will make many of today's public key algorithms obsolete, said Kevin Curran, IEEE senior member and a professor at the University of Ulster, where he heads up the Ambient Intelligence Research Group.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Experts split on how soon quantum computing is coming, but say we should start preparing now

Whether quantum computing is 10 years away -- or is already here -- it promises to make current encryption methods obsolete, so enterprises need to start laying the groundwork for new encryption methods.A quantum computer uses qubits instead of bits. A bit can be a zero or a one, but a qubit can be both simultaneously, which is weird and hard to program but once folks get it working, it has the potential to be significantly more powerful than any of today's computers.And it will make many of today's public key algorithms obsolete, said Kevin Curran, IEEE senior member and a professor at the University of Ulster, where he heads up the Ambient Intelligence Research Group.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Top 5 VPN services for personal privacy and security

Virtual private networks (VPNs) encrypt internet connections between two points, to secure them from casual snoopers and hackers. These VPN services are particularly useful when accessing the internet from an untrusted location, such as a hotel, café or coworking space.A plethora of modern VPN services, with dedicated connectivity apps, have put an end to the maddening manual configuration VPNs once required. No two VPN offerings are alike, however, and it can be a challenge to find the right VPN. Here's a look at some of the top VPNs for privacy and security.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Top 5 VPN services for personal privacy and security

Virtual private networks (VPNs) encrypt internet connections between two points, to secure them from casual snoopers and hackers. These VPN services are particularly useful when accessing the internet from an untrusted location, such as a hotel, café or coworking space.A plethora of modern VPN services, with dedicated connectivity apps, have put an end to the maddening manual configuration VPNs once required. No two VPN offerings are alike, however, and it can be a challenge to find the right VPN. Here's a look at some of the top VPNs for privacy and security.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Top 5 VPN services for personal privacy and security

Virtual private networks (VPNs) encrypt internet connections between two points, to secure them from casual snoopers and hackers. These VPN services are particularly useful when accessing the internet from an untrusted location, such as a hotel, café or coworking space.A plethora of modern VPN services, with dedicated connectivity apps, have put an end to the maddening manual configuration VPNs once required. No two VPN offerings are alike, however, and it can be a challenge to find the right VPN. Here's a look at some of the top VPNs for privacy and security.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Don’t make risk and compliance the enemy of financial services innovation and reinvention

The financial services industry lives with a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it is at the heart of everything from economic health and growth to the daily reality of how consumers pay for housing, transportation or even a coffee on the go to start their day.Because our world is powered by transactions, both consumers and businesses alike look to the financial services industry to constantly innovate. That’s the good part of the mixed blessing: the opportunity to improve and reinvent. + Also on Network World: Financial services firm adopts agile for digital development + On the other hand, there is a constant challenge around juggling changes. In an era when financial institutions are more highly regulated than ever before, risk and compliance mandates add an entirely new level of complexity.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Don’t make risk and compliance the enemy of financial services innovation and reinvention

The financial services industry lives with a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it is at the heart of everything from economic health and growth to the daily reality of how consumers pay for housing, transportation or even a coffee on the go to start their day.Because our world is powered by transactions, both consumers and businesses alike look to the financial services industry to constantly innovate. That’s the good part of the mixed blessing: the opportunity to improve and reinvent. + Also on Network World: Financial services firm adopts agile for digital development + On the other hand, there is a constant challenge around juggling changes. In an era when financial institutions are more highly regulated than ever before, risk and compliance mandates add an entirely new level of complexity.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

7 things Amazon needs to do in 2017

As you may have noticed, 2016 was a very good year for Amazon, pretty much across the board. Amazon Web Services’ cloud business soared, growing insanely fast, dwarfing its competitors and generating big profits. On the retail side, Amazon dominated the holiday season, even as it experimented with drone deliveries and other shipping innovations. Known for its online sales, Amazon finally introduced retail stores as well. And the company’s voice-powered assistant, Echo, clearly outshone Apple’s Siri and forced Google to play catchup with Google Home.  As one report noted: To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Generating OSPF, BGP and MPLS/VPN Configurations from Network Data Model

Over a month ago I decided to create a lab network to figure out how to solve an interesting Inter-AS MPLS/VPN routing challenge. Instead of configuring half a dozen routers I decided to develop a fully-automated deployment because it will make my life easier.

I finally got to a point where OSPF, LDP, BGP (IPv4 and VPNv4) and MPLS/VPN configurations are created, deployed and verified automatically.

Read more ...

Looking Back: 2016 Project Report Card

As I’ve done for the last few years, in early 2016 I published a list of my planned personal projects for the year. In this post, I’d like to look back on that list of projects and grade myself on my progress (or lack of progress, if that is the case). Even though 2016 isn’t over yet, it’s close enough to the end of the year that things won’t change that much before 2017 is upon us.

For reference, here’s the list of planned 2016 projects:

  1. Complete a new book (again)
  2. Make more open source contributions
  3. Expand my knowledge and use of Python
  4. Expand my knowledge, use, and focus on public cloud services
  5. Complete a “wildcard project”

Let’s look at each of these planned projects and see how I fared.

  1. Complete a new book (again): Well—in the spirit of total honesty and transparency—this was a major failure. Not only did I fail to complete the network automation book I’ve been working on with Matt Oswalt and Jason Edelman, but the other book project I had planned also did not go anywhere. Granted, the circumstances preventing the second book project were outside my control, but the fact remains I still did Continue reading

“From Putin with Love” – a novel by the New York Times

In recent weeks, the New York Times has written many stories on Russia's hacking of the Trump election. This front page piece [*] alone takes up 9,000 words. Combined, the NYTimes coverage on this topic exceeds the length of a novel. Yet, for all this text, the number of verifiable facts also equals that of a novel, namely zero. There's no evidence this was anything other than an undirected, Anonymous-style op based on a phishing campaign.


The question that drives us

It's not that Russia isn't involved, it's that the exact nature of their involvement is complicated. Just because the hackers live in Russia doesn't automatically mean their attacks are directed by the government.

It's like the recent Islamic terrorist attacks in Europe and America. Despite ISIS claiming credit, and the perpetrators crediting ISIS, we are loathe to actually blame the attacks directly on ISIS. Overwhelmingly, it's individuals who finance and plan their attacks, with no ISIS organizational involvement other than inspiration.

The same goes for Russian hacks. The Russian hacker community is complicated. There are lots of actors with various affiliations with the government. They are almost always nationalistic, almost always pro-Putin. There are many individuals and Continue reading

The weirdest, wackiest and coolest sci/tech stories of 2016

A significantly zany yearImage by Reuters/ Thomas PeterAs we close out the year and look at some of the, shall we say more interesting, stories of the year we find quite a tech collection. Everything from NASA’s poop challenge and the most significant advances in Ethernet’s illustrious history to the rise of robot doctor overlords. Take a look at 30 of the year's weirdest, wackiest and coolest sci/tech stories.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The weirdest, wackiest and coolest sci/tech stories of 2016

A significantly zany yearImage by Reuters/ Thomas PeterAs we close out the year and look at some of the, shall we say more interesting, stories of the year we find quite a tech collection. Everything from NASA’s poop challenge and the most significant advances in Ethernet’s illustrious history to the rise of robot doctor overlords. Take a look at 30 of the year's weirdest, wackiest and coolest sci/tech stories.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Nokia and Apple trade accusations in patent lawsuits

An international patent dispute has broken out between Apple and Nokia over the Finnish mobile network vendor's licensing terms for the widely used H.264 video codec and other technologies.Nokia on Wednesday filed lawsuits against Apple in Germany and in the U.S., alleging that the smartphone giant has infringed 32 of its patents.Nokia's five lawsuits follow an Apple lawsuit filed in California Tuesday. The U.S. company accused Nokia of working with patent assertion firms Acacia Research and Conversant Intellectual Property Management to "extract and extort exorbitant revenues unfairly and anticompetitively" from Apple and other smartphone makers. Nokia was not named as one of eight defendants in the Apple lawsuit.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Need a holiday recipe? AllRecipes and Microsoft Azure cloud have you covered

Wondering what to have for Christmas dinner? AllRecipes.com will be a popular site to check this holiday season … and this year it’s using Microsoft Azure’s cloud.AllRecipes, founded in 1997 and owned by Meredith Corp., has undertaken a two-year migration to Azure, the IaaS public cloud. AllRecipes services 1.5 billion visitors each year who view an average of 95 recipes per second, 66% of which are done on mobile devices.The company’s load is cyclical: On a Sunday afternoon there is 60% more traffic on the website compared to a Monday morning. Just like a retailer, the holiday season is AllRecipe’s crunch time. Eight weeks in November and December including five days in particular – Christmas, Thanksgiving, the day before each and the Super Bowl – create the largest surge in traffic.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Driverless infrastructure

It turns out machines can deploy software much better than humans can. Why? Because software deployment is a set of mechanical procedures that can be driven by a declarative language. It is a process primed for a systematic approach done right, and reproducibly. This is especially important as patches and security fixes are applied to software — a ritual that should be repeatable and seamless. —The New Stack

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