Lenovo’s ThinkPad P71 will work with HTC, Oculus VR headsets

Lenovo's ThinkPad P71 is one superfast laptop that can work with HTC's Vive and the Oculus Rift VR headsets.It's technically a workstation and is targeted at professionals creating VR content, editing movies, or running engineering applications. Headsets are needed to create VR content.The laptop, which weighs 3.4 kilograms, has a 17-inch screen and is equipped with Intel's latest Xeon E3-v6 mobile chips, based on the Kaby Lake architecture. It can be configured with an Nvidia mobile Quadro GPU like the P5000M, which aid in the content creation and virtual reality experiences.The laptop will be available in April, starting at US$1,849. The laptop by default comes with an HD screen but can be configured with a 4K screen. It also supports a Thunderbolt 3 slot.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

DDoS Ransom: An Offer You Can Refuse

DDoS ransom

Cloudflare has covered DDoS ransom groups several times in the past. First, we reported on the copycat group claiming to be the Armada Collective and then not too long afterwards, we covered the "new" Lizard Squad. While in both cases the groups made threats that were ultimately empty, these types of security events can send teams scrambling to determine the correct response. Teams in this situation can choose from three types of responses: pay the ransom and enable these groups to continue their operations, not pay and hope for the best, or prepare an action plan to get protected.

Breaking the Ransom Cycle

We can’t stress enough that you should never pay the ransom. We fully understand that in the moment when your website is being attacked it might seem like a reasonable solution, but by paying the ransom, you only perpetuate the DDoS ransom group’s activities and entice other would be ransomers to start making similar threats. In fact, we have seen reports of victim organizations receiving multiple subsequent threats after they have paid the ransom. It would seem these groups are sharing lists of organizations that pay, and those organizations are more likely to be targeted again in Continue reading

Samsung scraps a Raspberry Pi 3 competitor, shrinks Artik line

Samsung has scrapped its Raspberry Pi 3 competitor called Artik 10 as it moves to smaller and more powerful boards to create gadgets, robots, drones, and IoT devices.A last remaining stock of the US$149 boards is still available through online retailers Digi-Key and Arrow.Samsung has stopped making Artik 10 and is asking users to buy its Artik 7 boards instead."New development for high-performance IoT products should be based on the Samsung Artik 710, as the Artik 1020 is no longer in production. Limited stocks of Artik 1020 modules and developer kits are still available for experimentation and small-scale projects," the company said on its Artik website.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

You’ll see right through this iPhone 8 concept design

Designers are really trying to outdo each other in early 2017, pumping out Apple iPhone 8 design concept videos at a rapid pace in advance of an expected iPhone 8 (or iPhone 10 or iPhone X?) release in the fall. The latest to grab attention -- with more than 61K views on Youtube as of this writing -- envisions a transparent smartphone screen.The design for the iPhone 7 follow-on comes courtesy of Georgy Pashkov via ConceptsiPhone. Featured design elements beyond the transparent screen (with optical sensor) include an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor and piezeoelectric speaker.As for the likelihood of a transparent screen on the actual iPhone 8? Highly unlikely, say Apple watchers. Though advances in Harry Potter-like invisibility cloaks are for real.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

You can now make smart gadgets and IoT devices that use Bluetooth 5

In a few months, Bluetooth 5 will finally arrive in smartphones and tablets. But you can already test the technology on developer boards being shipped by hardware makers.Bluetooth 5 is a major step ahead for the venerable technology, which was introduced in 1999 to hook up devices wirelessly. It is two times faster than predecessor Bluetooth 4.2, has four times longer range, and boasts cool new connectivity features.It can transfer data at speeds of up to 2Mbps (bits per second) and has a realistic range of 120 meters. The range could be even longer in a clear line of sight, the standards setting organization Bluetooth Special Interest Group said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Why managing trust is critical for digital transformation

Digital disruption has demolished more than 50% of the Fortune 500 since 2000 Technology is creating new online-only companies—i.e., Kickstarter for funding, Sofi for lending and Venmo for payments. The digital disruption and, more important, its pace continues to disrupt long-established business models. Incumbents, not wanting to become another cautionary tale of digital disruption, are making radical changes to their businesses to focus on online and mobile channels.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Why managing trust is critical for digital transformation

Digital disruption has demolished more than 50% of the Fortune 500 since 2000 Technology is creating new online-only companies—i.e., Kickstarter for funding, Sofi for lending and Venmo for payments. The digital disruption and, more important, its pace continues to disrupt long-established business models. Incumbents, not wanting to become another cautionary tale of digital disruption, are making radical changes to their businesses to focus on online and mobile channels.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Whitebox networking – coming soon to an edge near you?


What is whitebox networking and why is it important?

whitebox-switch_500px-wide

A brief history of the origins of whitebox

One of the many interesting conversations to come out of my recent trip to Network Field Day 14 (NFD14) hosted by Gestalt IT was a discussion on the future of whitebox. As someone who co-founded a firm that consults on whitebox and open networking, it was a topic that really captivated me and generated a flurry of ideas on the subject. This will be the first in a series of posts about my experiences and thoughts on NFD14.

Whitebox is a critical movement in the network industry that is reshaping the landscape of what equipment and software we use to build networks. At the dawn of the age of IT in the late 80s and early 90’s, we used computing hardware and software that was proprietary – a great example would be an IBM mainframe.

Then we evolved into the world of x86 and along came a number of operating systems that we could choose from to customize the delivery of applications and services. Hardware became a commodity and software became independent of the hardware manufacturer.

ONIE – The beginning of independent network Continue reading

Whitebox networking – coming soon to an edge near you?


What is whitebox networking and why is it important?

whitebox-switch_500px-wide

A brief history of the origins of whitebox

One of the many interesting conversations to come out of my recent trip to Network Field Day 14 (NFD14) hosted by Gestalt IT was a discussion on the future of whitebox. As someone who co-founded a firm that consults on whitebox and open networking, it was a topic that really captivated me and generated a flurry of ideas on the subject. This will be the first in a series of posts about my experiences and thoughts on NFD14.

Whitebox is a critical movement in the network industry that is reshaping the landscape of what equipment and software we use to build networks. At the dawn of the age of IT in the late 80s and early 90’s, we used computing hardware and software that was proprietary – a great example would be an IBM mainframe.

Then we evolved into the world of x86 and along came a number of operating systems that we could choose from to customize the delivery of applications and services. Hardware became a commodity and software became independent of the hardware manufacturer.

ONIE – The beginning of independent network Continue reading

Mitigating DDoS

Your first line of defense to any DDoS, at least on the network side, should be to disperse the traffic across as many resources as you can. Basic math implies that if you have fifteen entry points, and each entry point is capable of supporting 10g of traffic, then you should be able to simply absorb a 100g DDoS attack while still leaving 50g of overhead for real traffic (assuming perfect efficiency, of course—YMMV). Dispersing a DDoS in this way may impact performance—but taking bandwidth and resources down is almost always the wrong way to react to a DDoS attack.

But what if you cannot, for some reason, disperse the attack? Maybe you only have two edge connections, or if the size of the DDoS is larger than your total edge bandwidth combined? It is typically difficult to mitigate a DDoS attack, but there is an escalating chain of actions you can take that often prove useful. Let’s deal with local mitigation techniques first, and then consider some fancier methods.

  • TCP SYN filtering: A lot of DDoS attacks rely on exhausting TCP open resources. If all inbound TCP sessions can be terminated in a proxy (such as a load balancer), Continue reading

RSA Conference 2017: Security analytics and operations

So far, I’ve written two blogs about my expectations for the upcoming RSA Security Conference next week. The first blog was about my outlook for endpoint security, while the second focused on network security. I am also in the middle of a big research project on security analytics and operations right now and believe that many independent technologies will be integrated into a comprehensive architecture that ESG calls SOAPA (i.e. security operations and analytics platform architecture).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

RSA Conference 2017: Security analytics and operations

So far, I’ve written two blogs about my expectations for the upcoming RSA Security Conference next week. The first blog was about my outlook for endpoint security, while the second focused on network security. I am also in the middle of a big research project on security analytics and operations right now and believe that many independent technologies will be integrated into a comprehensive architecture that ESG calls SOAPA (i.e. security operations and analytics platform architecture).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Security Analytics and Operations at RSA

So far, I’ve written two blogs about my expectations for the upcoming RSA Security Conference next week.  The first blog was about my outlook for endpoint security while the second focused on network security. I am also in the middle of a big research project on security analytics and operations right now and believe that many independent technologies will be integrated into a comprehensive architecture that ESG calls SOAPA (i.e. security operations and analytics platform architecture).  Here’s another blog where I define the SOAPA architecture and all the consolidating piece parts.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Hacker takes out dark web hosting service using well-known exploit

A hacker is proving that sites on the dark web, shrouded in anonymity, can easily be compromised.    On Friday, the unnamed hacker began dumping a sizable database stolen from Freedom Hosting II onto the internet, potentially exposing its users. The hosting service, Freedom Hosting II, was known for operating thousands of sites that were accessible through the Tor browser; the "dark web" is essentially the encrypted network comprising Tor servers and browsers. But on Friday, the service appeared to be down. Its main landing page was replaced with a message saying that it had been hacked. Allegedly, Freedom Hosting II had been hosting child pornography sites, though its anonymous operator claimed to have a zero-tolerance policy toward such content, according to the hacker behind the breach.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Hacker takes out dark web hosting service using well-known exploit

A hacker is proving that sites on the dark web, shrouded in anonymity, can easily be compromised.    On Friday, the unnamed hacker began dumping a sizable database stolen from Freedom Hosting II onto the internet, potentially exposing its users. The hosting service, Freedom Hosting II, was known for operating thousands of sites that were accessible through the Tor browser; the "dark web" is essentially the encrypted network comprising Tor servers and browsers. But on Friday, the service appeared to be down. Its main landing page was replaced with a message saying that it had been hacked. Allegedly, Freedom Hosting II had been hosting child pornography sites, though its anonymous operator claimed to have a zero-tolerance policy toward such content, according to the hacker behind the breach.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

What’s keeping enterprises from using G Suite?

While Google has spent the past year trying to woo enterprises to its G Suite productivity apps, it’s still the underdog compared to Microsoft Office, at least among large businesses. So what’s keeping it from broader appeal?One of the biggest hurdles for Google achieving broader enterprise adoption is just the fact that the company’s products aren't identical to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and other Microsoft Office apps, Gartner Senior Research Analyst Joe Mariano said."Enterprises have been ingrained in the Microsoft stack for essentially the beginning of time, it feels like," Mariano said. "[Enterprises] have problems shifting away from that, because they have a lot of investments, either in customizations or how they're using the tools."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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