Serverless computing’s future is now – and why you should care

Although vendor-written, this contributed piece does not advocate a position that is particular to the author’s employer and has been edited and approved by Network World editors. Serverless computing, a disruptive application development paradigm that reduces the need for programmers to spend time focused on how their hardware will scale, is rapidly gaining momentum for event-driven programming. Organizations should begin exploring this opportunity now to see if it will help them dramatically reduce costs while ensuring applications run at peak performance. For the last decade, software teams have been on a march away from the practice of directly managing hardware in data centers toward renting compute capacity from Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS) vendors such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. It is rare that a software team creates unique value by managing hardware directly, so the opportunity to offload that undifferentiated heavy lifting to IaaS vendors has been welcomed by software teams worldwide.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Mobile security firm offers cash to hackers for their old exploits

Mobile security firm Zimperium has launched an exploit acquisition program that aims to bring undisclosed attack code for already patched vulnerabilities out in the open.Paying for old exploits might seem like a waste of money, but there are technical and business arguments to justify such an acquisition system and they ultimately have to do with the difference between exploits and vulnerabilities.A vulnerability is a software defect with potential security implications, while an exploit is the actual code that takes advantage of that bug to achieve a specific malicious goal, often by bypassing other security barriers along the way.In practice, many vulnerabilities that get reported to vendors are not accompanied by working exploits. Showing that a programming error can lead to memory corruption is typically enough for the vendor to understand its potential implications -- for example, arbitrary code execution.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Mobile security firm offers cash to hackers for their old exploits

Help Wanted: Stitching a Federated SDN on OpenStack with EVPN

I am working with a client that has a rather unique problem and I’m looking for help on the possible solution.

For unusual, but practical, reasons there is a need to deploy three SDN solutions.

VMware Integrated OpenStack with NSX
Mirantis OpenStack with OpenContrail
BGP-EVPN for existing and future

What I need help with is the stitching these different overlays together so that high bandwidth (>500Gbps), low latency (<5ms) data can flow in between virtual and physical networks.

There is no alignment to a hardware vendor and will buy whatever hardware can meet the requirements based on its software features.

SDN Federation in 3 parts (24-01-2017, 11-15-21).png

Questions

I know that each of these solution supports VXLAN overlay and can be terminated (VTEP) in hardware. But which hardware ? What operating systems ? What protocols are used for any given hardware/software platform ?
What is the configuration of the VTEP devices and can they be integrated into an orchestration (self-developed) ? What APIs are used to configure the VTEP instances ?
What are the performance considerations around VTEP ?
Is is practical to stitch a BGP-EVPN physical underlay to an SDN overlay such as NSX or OpenContrail ?

Discussion

I would be interested in talking to anyone who could offer advice and input Continue reading

Worth Reading: Running from DDoS

As we look back over 2016, one of the most obvious stories will be the dramatic rise in the weaponization and size of DDoS attacks. At the beginning of 2016 we noted the largest attack being approximately 500Gbps. In the later months of 2016, we saw the monetization of multiple IoT-based botnet DDoS attacks that were close to breaking the 1 Tbps mark. —Arbor

The post Worth Reading: Running from DDoS appeared first on 'net work.

Cisco unveils Tetration 2.0, focuses on application security

The middle of last year, Cisco held an event in New York to release its newest product, Tetration. The product moved Cisco into the analytics market, with the information being used to help customers better understand application performance and improve data center security. This week, Cisco announced the next version of Tetration Analytics, which is focused at providing security at the application layer. Cisco also released some new deployment options to make it easier for customers to get started with Tetration. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco unveils Tetration 2.0, focuses on application security

iPhone sales get one-time windfall from Samsung Note 7 woes

During Apple’s earnings report last night, CEO Tim Cook did not mention why Apple squeaked by with 3 percent revenue growth. Almost every product category he spoke about was predicated with the words “record setting.” But a closer look reveals, Cook’s praise might be overstated, and Apple’s quest to produce another iPhone-scale new product to reignite growth continues.Radio Free Mobile’s Richard Windsor explained in an early-morning report from London what Cook did not. iPhone shipments at higher prices were driven by the defection of Samsung Galaxy Note customers due to the recall of the Note 7.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Witcher dev, XBOX 360 ISO & PSP ISO forums hacked: Over 4.4 million accounts exposed

Well it’s bad news for some gamers and modders, about 4.5 million of them, as three different forums were hacked. If you are looking for the silver lining in the dark breach cloud, then none of the hacks were recent; the flipside? The email addresses, usernames and passwords have been “out there” since as far back as September 2015.The Witcher fans started receiving breach notifications from Have I Been Pwned, but the CD Projekt Red forum was compromised in March 2016. Have I Been Pwned Nearly 1.9 million CD Projekt Red accounts were exposed; Have I Been Pwned numbered the burned accounts at 1,871,373.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Witcher dev, XBOX 360 ISO & PSP ISO forums hacked: Over 4.4 million accounts exposed

IPv6 Q&A For The Home Network Nerd

I was a guest on the Daily Tech News Show, episode 2957A. We chatted about the news of the day, then had an IPv6 discussion aimed at folks who are curious, but haven’t had a chance to work with v6 yet. My goal was to dispel FUD and spread the gospel of IPv6 to the nerdy public.

For those of you that listened to the show, here’s the text I’d prepped. We didn’t get to all of this when recording, so you might find more information here to inspire your IPv6-related Google-fu.

What are the benefits to me as a general consumer of IPv6? (beyond having fifteen bajillion addresses)

In a certain sense, there is little tangible benefit for consumers. Addressing is largely transparent to general consumers. I think many consumers don’t know or care about the IPv4 address assigned to their gear. They care whether or not they can access the Internet resource they are trying to access.

For the more tech savvy, IPv6 does indeed bring fifteen bajillion addresses, so to speak. And while that doesn’t seem like a big deal, it is. For example, most of us at home have gear obscured by NAT. This makes us feel more secure Continue reading

Veteran IT Journalist, Jeffrey Burt, Joins The Next Platform as Senior Editor

We are thrilled to announce the full-time addition of veteran IT journalist, Jeffrey Burt to The Next Platform ranks.

Jeffrey Burt has been a journalist for more than 30 years, with the last 16-plus year writing about the IT industry. During his long tenure with eWeek, he covered a broad range of subjects, from processors and IT infrastructure to collaboration, PCs, AI and autonomous vehicles.

He’s written about FPGAs, supercomputers, hyperconverged infrastructure and SDN, cloud computing, deep learning and exascale computing. Regular readers here will recognize that his expertise in these areas fits in directly with our coverage …

Veteran IT Journalist, Jeffrey Burt, Joins The Next Platform as Senior Editor was written by Nicole Hemsoth at The Next Platform.

TLS 1.3 explained by the Cloudflare Crypto Team at 33c3

Nick Sullivan and I gave a talk about TLS 1.3 at 33c3, the latest Chaos Communication Congress. The congress, attended by more that 13,000 hackers in Hamburg, has been one of the hallmark events of the security community for more than 30 years.

You can watch the recording below, or download it in multiple formats and languages on the CCC website.

The talk introduces TLS 1.3 and explains how it works in technical detail, why it is faster and more secure, and touches on its history and current status.

The slide deck is also online.

This was an expanded and updated version of the internal talk previously transcribed on this blog.

TLS 1.3 hits Chrome and Firefox Stable

In related news, TLS 1.3 is reaching a percentage of Chrome and Firefox users this week, so websites with the Cloudflare TLS 1.3 beta enabled will load faster and more securely for all those new users.

The last few days

You can enable the TLS 1.3 beta from the Crypto section of your control panel.

TLS 1.3 toggle

Nominations Open for the Next Class of Internet Hall of Fame Inductees

Do you know someone who has played a significant role in the development and advancement of the open, global Internet? Organizations and individuals from around the world are invited to submit nominations to the Internet Hall of Fame.

2017 marks a significant milestone for the Internet Society as we celebrate 25 years of dedication to an open, secure Internet that benefits all people throughout the world. The Internet has come a long way since its earliest days, and the Internet Hall of Fame honors a select group of visionaries and innovators who were instrumental in the Internet’s development and advancement along the way.

Ms. Kathryn Brown

Six runtime threat detection and response tips for container security

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.

Security for containers has evolved quite substantially over the past year, but there is still a lot of education that needs to be done. The key point being that the biggest difference in this new paradigm is that everything is based on continuously delivered, micro-service based, applications. The fact that the technology enabler for that paradigm is containers is really less of an issue.

When it comes to containerized applications, everyone seems to be in agreement - statically analyzing what an application can do inside a container and rejecting non-security compliant images and/or vulnerable images is a must. However, no matter how good a job you do with vulnerability scanning and container hardening, there are unknown bugs and vulnerabilities that may manifest in the runtime and cause intrusions or compromises. That is why it’s so important to outfit your system with real-time threat detection and incident response capabilities.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Six runtime threat detection and response tips for container security

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach. Security for containers has evolved quite substantially over the past year, but there is still a lot of education that needs to be done. The key point being that the biggest difference in this new paradigm is that everything is based on continuously delivered, micro-service based, applications. The fact that the technology enabler for that paradigm is containers is really less of an issue. When it comes to containerized applications, everyone seems to be in agreement - statically analyzing what an application can do inside a container and rejecting non-security compliant images and/or vulnerable images is a must. However, no matter how good a job you do with vulnerability scanning and container hardening, there are unknown bugs and vulnerabilities that may manifest in the runtime and cause intrusions or compromises. That is why it’s so important to outfit your system with real-time threat detection and incident response capabilities.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: IoT is all business

IoT—Internet of Things: Talk about a broad term. It’s like air—it’s everywhere, and everyone knows it’s important, but there’s no consistent way to discuss it.Bill Cosby, back when he was associated with comedy, poked fun at the different perspectives of air. He said philosophy majors ponder why air exists, but physical education majors know that air exists to fill volleyballs, basketballs and footballs.Clearly, it’s a matter of perspective, so let me attempt to organize the IoT opportunity into three containers: consumer, government and enterprise.+ Also on Network World: IoT is the ‘new industrial revolution,’ says Vodafone + The consumer stuff is going to be big, but dull. Yes, there will be some big developments in products such as thermostats and toothbrushes. I may even buy a few. But that’s not what excites me about IoT. The consumer sector will be limited for two reasons.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Review: Amped Wireless ALLY Plus

The latest “whole home coverage” system to cross paths with the Cool Tools testing team is from Amped Wireless. The ALLY Plus system includes a router and extender unit that looks a bit like a wireless mesh system (since both units have somewhat the same design), but in fact is more in line with a traditional router/extender offering. However, like those wireless mesh systems, the ALLY Plus is installed via mobile app that makes setup go quicker for those non-techie types. In addition, features such as in-depth parental controls and a security partnership with AVG means device protection for all clients connecting through the router.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Tap DANZing for Visible Cloud Networking

Networking is running blind. It is akin to driving a car in the fog at night without street lights, signs or a navigation system. Simply put, it’s a scary visibility problem, and it impacts the security and availability of the network. When coupled with massive shifts to virtualization, containerization, cloud-native applications and unstructured data, the insatiable telemetry demand is exponential. Every architect is looking for modern analytical methods of networking to gain visibility for millions of devices, data or events efficiently and consistently.

IDG Contributor Network: Avi Networks shows you don’t need special hardware to load balance

A trend that has grown over the past decade or so to become pretty much the default view of infrastructure is to “software-ize” functionality that was formerly the domain of specialist hardware.It all started (arguably) with the idea of virtualization. Instead of needing a physical server for every task, software would allow numerous virtual servers to run on a piece of physical kit. The upshot of virtualization of servers was that far greater efficiencies could be generated, and utilization rates went from being dismal to almost absolute. All good outcomes if you’re worried about the economics of technology.+ Also on Network World: Is infrastructure relevant in a software-defined world? + But it wasn’t just compute that got this dose of software goodness. Next came storage, then networking. And seemingly the sky is the limit as to what parts of infrastructure can be made virtual. (And in the next realm of innovation, we have serverless computing where, in effect, stuff happens without even having to think about servers—physical or virtual. But that’s another story.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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