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Some notes on space heaters (GPU rigs)

So I carried my GPU rig up to my bedroom to act as a space heater. I thought I'd write some notes on it.

This is a "GPU rig", containing five graphics cards. Graphics cards have highly parallel processors (GPUs) with roughly 10 times the performance of a CPU -- but only for highly parallel problems.

Two such problems are password cracking [*] and cryptocurrency mining.


Password cracking is something cybersecurity professionals regularly need to do. When doing a pentest, or assessment, we'll get lists of passwords we need to crack. Having a desktop computer with a couple of graphics cards is a useful thing to have.

There are three popular cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and ZCash. Everyone is using ASICs for Bitcoin, so you can't mine them on a GPU any more, but GPUs are still useful for Ethereum and ZCash.

The trick to building a rig with lots of GPU is to get a PCIe 1x extender, so that you can mount the card far away from the motherboard for better cooling. They cost around $10 each. You then need to buy a motherboard with lots of PCIe slots. One with lots of 1x slots will do Continue reading

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Fabric Extension (FEX) Cheat Sheet Released

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Fabric Extension (FEX) Cheat Sheet Released

Here is the Cisco FEX Cheat Sheet on Nexus platform, Fabric Extender (FEX for short) is a companion to a Nexus 5K to 9K switch. The FEX, unlike a traditional switch, has no capability to store a forwarding table or run any control plane protocols. It relies on its parent 5K/6K/7K/9K to perform those functions. As the name implies, the FEX “extends” the fabric (ie, the network) out towards the edge devices that require network connectivity.

If you found a bug or want new content to be added, please report it!

Click here to download FEX Cheat Sheet

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Smart teddy bears involved in a contentious data breach

If you own a stuffed animal from CloudPets, then you better change your password to the product. The toys -- which can receive and send voice messages from children and parents -- have been involved in a data breach dealing with more than 800,000 user accounts.The breach, which grabbed headlines on Monday, is drawing concerns from security researchers because it may have given hackers access to voice recordings from the toy's customers. But the company behind the products, Spiral Toys, is denying that any customers were hacked. "Were voice recordings stolen? Absolutely not," said Mark Myers, CEO of the company.Security researcher Troy Hunt, who tracks data breaches, brought the incident to light on Monday. Hackers appear to have accessed an exposed CloudPets' database, which contained email addresses and hashed passwords, and they even sought to ransom the information back in January, he said in a blog post.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Smart teddy bears involved in a contentious data breach

If you own a stuffed animal from CloudPets, then you better change your password to the product. The toys -- which can receive and send voice messages from children and parents -- have been involved in a data breach dealing with more than 800,000 user accounts.The breach, which grabbed headlines on Monday, is drawing concerns from security researchers because it may have given hackers access to voice recordings from the toy's customers. But the company behind the products, Spiral Toys, is denying that any customers were hacked. "Were voice recordings stolen? Absolutely not," said Mark Myers, CEO of the company.Security researcher Troy Hunt, who tracks data breaches, brought the incident to light on Monday. Hackers appear to have accessed an exposed CloudPets' database, which contained email addresses and hashed passwords, and they even sought to ransom the information back in January, he said in a blog post.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Qualcomm details plans for Windows 10 PCs with Snapdragon 835

Qualcomm has big plans to bring back ARM to Windows 10 PCs, and there is a chance that its Snapdragon 835 could support Windows Holographic for VR headsets.The company is already working with major PC makers for using Windows 10 with Snapdragon 835, its latest chip introduced in Sony's Xperia XZ smartphone at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.The response to Windows 10 with Snapdragon 835 has been positive, and the grim memories of Windows RT -- a colossal failure in bringing ARM to PCs -- have remained in the past, said Keith Kressin, senior vice president of product management at Qualcomm Technologies."The goal is to get something credible out, show people why it's different from RT. Show that it's Windows 10 -- there isn't a second version of Windows 10," Kressin said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Five Functional Facts About OSPF

It's funny, in my experience, OSPF is the most widely used interior gateway protocol because it “just works” and it's an IETF standard which means it inter-ops between different vendors and platforms. However, if you really start to look at how OSPF works, you realize it's actually a highly complex protocol. So on the one hand you get a protocol that likely works across your whole environment, regardless of vendor/platform, but on the other you're implementing a lot of complexity in your control plane which may not be intuitive to troubleshoot.

This post isn't a judgement about OSPF or link-state protocols in general. Instead it will detail five functional aspects of OSPF in order to reveal-at least in part-how this protocol works, and indirectly, some of the complexity lying under the hood.

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Starting a task at startup in Flask

Flask includes a Python decorator which allows you to run a function before the first request from a user is processed. The problem I had is that the function doesn’t get run until after a user has visited a page for the first time. This article describes a way to solve that. If you haven’t heard of Flask before it’s a Python microframework for web applications. With Flask you can create small or large websites. While this article isn’t a getting started guide for Flask, it will include a complete working application. Continue reading

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Space X to zoom two citizen astronauts to the moon

Space X today said two unnamed private citizens have paid the company a “significant deposit” to fly them to the moon and back to Earth.“We expect to conduct health and fitness tests, as well as begin initial training later this year. Other flight teams have also expressed strong interest and we expect more to follow. Additional information will be released about the flight teams, contingent upon their approval and confirmation of the health and fitness test results,” Space X stated.Space X said the mission will take place after the space company launches its unmanned Dragon (Version 2) spacecraft to the International Space Station later this year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Space X to zoom two citizen astronauts to the moon

Space X today said two unnamed private citizens have paid the company a “significant deposit” to fly them to the moon and back to Earth.“We expect to conduct health and fitness tests, as well as begin initial training later this year. Other flight teams have also expressed strong interest and we expect more to follow. Additional information will be released about the flight teams, contingent upon their approval and confirmation of the health and fitness test results,” Space X stated.Space X said the mission will take place after the space company launches its unmanned Dragon (Version 2) spacecraft to the International Space Station later this year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Up to 30% Discount On Otterbox Cases For iPhone, Galaxy and Other Devices – Deal Alert

Otterbox is currently having a winter sale, and they've discounted many of their popular cases up to 30% for a limited time. Commuter, Defender, Symmetry series and more are included, in various colors and for various phone models including iPhone 6 and various Galaxy models. Jump over to the Otterbox winter sale page to explore options and current discounts available.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Boat relying on an iPad for navigation crashes into a ferry after Wi-Fi goes out

The iPad is undoubtedly a versatile device, but there's no getting around the fact that Apple's tablet has its fair share of limitations. A few months back, a U.K. sailor named David Carlin learned this the hard way after deciding it might be a good idea to navigate a 50-foot World War II boat he was steering via his trusty iPad. Things started out smoothly enough, but as relayed via a recent report in the Metro, navigation became tricky if not downright impossible once Carlin's iPad dropped its Wi-Fi signal. From there, a series of errors ensued as Carlin's boat, completely devoid of direction, blindly entered the U.K.'s busiest shipping lane where it promptly crashed into a cargo ferry. From there, Carlin's boat was a goner and began to sink. Ultimately, Carlin had to make a Mayday call and wait for rescuers to help him out.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Boat relying upon an iPad for navigation crashes into a ferry after Wi-Fi goes out

The iPad is undoubtedly a versatile device, but there's no getting around the fact that Apple's tablet has its fair share of limitations. A few months back, a UK sailor named David Carlin learned this the hard way after deciding it might be a good idea to navigate a 50-foot World War II boat he was steering via his trusty iPad.Things started out smoothly enough, but as relayed via a recent report in the Metro, navigation became tricky if not downright impossible once Carlin's iPad dropped its Wi-Fi signal.From there, a comedy of errors ensued as Carlin's boat, completely devoid of direction, blindly entered the UK's busiest shipping lane where it promptly crashed into a cargo ferry. From there, Carlin's boat was a goner and began to sink. Ultimately, Carlin had to make a Mayday call and wait for rescuers to help him out.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Google shifts on email encryption tool, leaving its fate unclear

Google is asking developers to take over its effort to make end-to-end email encryption more user-friendly, raising questions over whether it'll ever become an official feature in the company’s browser.On Friday, the search giant said its email encryption tool, originally announced in 2014, was no longer a Google product. Instead, it's become a "full community-driven open source project," the company said in a blog post.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Google shifts on email encryption tool, leaving its fate unclear

Google is asking developers to take over its effort to make end-to-end email encryption more user-friendly, raising questions over whether it'll ever become an official feature in the company’s browser.On Friday, the search giant said its email encryption tool, originally announced in 2014, was no longer a Google product. Instead, it's become a "full community-driven open source project," the company said in a blog post.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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VR-controlled robot demonstrates 5G ultra-low latency at Mobile World Congress

At Mobile World Congress this morning, Deutsche Telecom, SK Telecom and Ericsson showed a telepresence-controlled robot prototype to demonstrate the capabilities of 5G wireless networks, software-defined networks (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV).The point made is 5G’s ultra-low latency delivered end to end with SDN and NFV will enable new real-time use cases for industrial services, autonomous cars and the Internet of Things (IoT). Within a 5G radio access network (RAN), 5G can deliver sub-1ms latency. But a loaded RAN or traversing a network between RANs can add tens of milliseconds—too much for control applications that require synchronization over distances.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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VR-controlled robot demonstrates 5G ultra-low latency at Mobile World Congress

At Mobile World Congress this morning, Deutsche Telecom, SK Telecom and Ericsson showed a telepresence-controlled robot prototype to demonstrate the capabilities of 5G wireless networks, software-defined networks (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV).The point made is 5G’s ultra-low latency delivered end to end with SDN and NFV will enable new real-time use cases for industrial services, autonomous cars and the Internet of Things (IoT). Within a 5G radio access network (RAN), 5G can deliver sub-1ms latency. But a loaded RAN or traversing a network between RANs can add tens of milliseconds—too much for control applications that require synchronization over distances.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Coolest new Android phones at Mobile World Congress 2017

MWC 2017 Smartphone CentralImage by LenovoNo, Apple isn’t at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona teasing its iPhone 8 and Samsung isn’t formally unveiling its Galaxy S8, but plenty of other big name vendors are using the annual wireless network confab to show off their latest and greatest Android smartphones. (This roundup includes reporting from IDG News Service.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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What is web-scale networking?

If you’ve heard the buzz in the networking world lately, or if you’ve been paying attention to the back-to-back launches by Cumulus Networks as of late, then you’ve probably heard the term, “web-scale networking.” But what does that actually mean?

The term web-scale networking is inspired by data center giants like Facebook and Google. The industry looked at data centers like theirs and asked, “what are they doing that we can mimic at a smaller scale?” By analyzing these organizations and the benefits they receive from their tactics, the term “web-scale” was born. Essentially, web-scale refers to the hyperscale website companies that have built private, efficient and scalable cloud environments.

Web-scale networking: a definition

Web-scale networking is simply a modern architectural approach to infrastructure. The differentiating components are taken from the key requirements that large data center operators use to build smart networks. Businesses can design cost-effective, agile networks for the modern era by adhering to these three constructs:

• Open and modular
• Intelligence in software
• Scalable and efficient

These three constructs essentially comprise web-scale networking.

While compute has advanced through leaps and bounds with the convergence to private, public and hybrid clouds, networking has notoriously lagged behind. An Continue reading

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Worth Reading: SHA-1 collision found

Cryptographic hash functions like SHA-1 are a cryptographer’s swiss army knife. You’ll find that hashes play a role in browser security, managing code repositories, or even just detecting duplicate files in storage. Hash functions compress large amounts of data into a small message digest. As a cryptographic requirement for wide-spread use, finding two messages that lead to the same digest should be computationally infeasible. Over time however, this requirement can fail due to attacks on the mathematical underpinnings of hash functions or to increases in computational power. —Google Security Blog

The post Worth Reading: SHA-1 collision found appeared first on 'net work.