IDG Contributor Network: Data protection and security: What’s in store for 2017?

Every second, new updates occur in the world of technology. Information is easier to access, online searches load faster, and mobile and web payments are now simplified and common. Consumers and companies want the ability to do everything online—store documents, make payments, brainstorm ideas for expansion and growth—using remote servers and cloud-storing software.On the flip side, this demand for instant access and connectivity means ample opportunities for hackers to score. In response, technology developers are working at record speeds to keep data secure.+ Also on Network World: 2017 breach predictions: The big one is inevitable + But it isn’t an easy task. Consumers want the feeling of added security, but they don't want to deal with extra steps to protect themselves. Case in point, you have passwords for apps and logins to bank accounts, credit cards, Starbucks, and more on your phone. Now, with Apple's Touch ID, you can set up access with a single login method—your fingerprint. Is that more or less secure? Or is it simply preferred because of its ease of use? All a hacker needs to do is replicate your fingerprint and they have instant access.To read this article in full or to Continue reading

IDG Contributor Network: Data protection and security: What’s in store for 2017?

Every second, new updates occur in the world of technology. Information is easier to access, online searches load faster, and mobile and web payments are now simplified and common. Consumers and companies want the ability to do everything online—store documents, make payments, brainstorm ideas for expansion and growth—using remote servers and cloud-storing software.On the flip side, this demand for instant access and connectivity means ample opportunities for hackers to score. In response, technology developers are working at record speeds to keep data secure.+ Also on Network World: 2017 breach predictions: The big one is inevitable + But it isn’t an easy task. Consumers want the feeling of added security, but they don't want to deal with extra steps to protect themselves. Case in point, you have passwords for apps and logins to bank accounts, credit cards, Starbucks, and more on your phone. Now, with Apple's Touch ID, you can set up access with a single login method—your fingerprint. Is that more or less secure? Or is it simply preferred because of its ease of use? All a hacker needs to do is replicate your fingerprint and they have instant access.To read this article in full or to Continue reading

IDG Contributor Network: Salesforce’s Patrick Flynn: IT key to improving data center sustainability

One of the fundamental tenets of efficient IT and its achievement is inclusion of a variety of stakeholders within IT and the data center. But it also involves engaging and understanding finance, risk and sustainability.Patrick Flynn, director of sustainability at Salesforce, is a known figure at conferences, committees and working groups. His TED Talk, Mankind’s BIGGEST Story, is a compelling reflection on infrastructure and the internet in the larger context of history and purpose. Flynn is also a key proponent of the Future of Internet Power initiative.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Attackers start wiping data from CouchDB and Hadoop databases

It was only a matter of time until ransomware groups that wiped data from thousands of MongoDB databases and Elasticsearch clusters started targeting other data storage technologies. Researchers are now observing similar destructive attacks hitting openly accessible Hadoop and CouchDB deployments.Security researchers Victor Gevers and Niall Merrigan, who monitored the MongoDB and Elasticsearch attacks so far, have also started keeping track of the new Hadoop and CouchDB victims. The two have put together spreadsheets on Google Docs where they document the different attack signatures and messages left behind after data gets wiped from databases.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Attackers start wiping data from CouchDB and Hadoop databases

It was only a matter of time until ransomware groups that wiped data from thousands of MongoDB databases and Elasticsearch clusters started targeting other data storage technologies. Researchers are now observing similar destructive attacks hitting openly accessible Hadoop and CouchDB deployments.Security researchers Victor Gevers and Niall Merrigan, who monitored the MongoDB and Elasticsearch attacks so far, have also started keeping track of the new Hadoop and CouchDB victims. The two have put together spreadsheets on Google Docs where they document the different attack signatures and messages left behind after data gets wiped from databases.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Dictionary: Despondent

Despondent: a deep dejection arising from the conviction of the uselessness of further effort.

A perfect word of current state of Enterprise IT.

Definition of despondent : feeling or showing extreme discouragement, dejection, or depression

despondent : in low spirits from loss of hope or courage

The post Dictionary: Despondent appeared first on EtherealMind.

4 Critical Internet Questions The G20 Leaders Will Debate in 2017

More proof the cloud is winning big

One way to track the growth of cloud computing is to follow the investments in the infrastructure and equipment that make it run. That’s why IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Cloud IT Infrastructure Tracker is so revealing.The cloud is growing faster According to the IDC report, total spending on IT infrastructure products—including server, enterprise storage and Ethernet switches—for use in cloud environments will grow a healthy 18 percent this year to top $44 billion. Meanwhile, IDC said, investment in old-school non-cloud architecture equipment will actually decline by more than 3 percent in 2017.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

More proof the cloud is winning big

One way to track the growth of cloud computing is to follow the investments in the infrastructure and equipment that make it run. That’s why IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Cloud IT Infrastructure Tracker is so revealing.The cloud is growing faster According to the IDC report, total spending on IT infrastructure products—including server, enterprise storage and Ethernet switches—for use in cloud environments will grow a healthy 18 percent this year to top $44 billion. Meanwhile, IDC said, investment in old-school non-cloud architecture equipment will actually decline by more than 3 percent in 2017.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

6 tips to find and retain freelance tech workers

It's easier than ever to take on freelance work thanks to apps and sites dedicated to connecting temp workers with hiring companies. On the employer side, hiring freelancers can help fill gaps in skills and expertise without hiring a full-time employee. However, while finding qualified freelance talent is one step, retaining your best workers and establishing a reliable base of gig-workers takes time and effort.In the case of Darren Kall, managing director of Specific Clairity, a UX design consulting company, his business relies entirely on freelance UX designers, engineers and experts. The company builds and runs customized teams of UX workers for clients and using freelancers lets them cherry-pick specific skills to suit each project.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Trump turns to H-1B advocates for advice

In his campaign for president, Donald Trump tapped into the viral anger over H-1B use. The outsourcing of high-skill jobs is a "tremendous threat," he said. Disney workers who trained visa-holding replacements spoke at some of his rallies.But soon after the election, President-elect Trump assembled a 16-member team of CEO-level executives to advise him on job creation, including many from firms that send jobs overseas and have advocated for an H-1B cap increase.[To comment on this story, visit Computerworld's Facebook page.]To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Stratoscale shows you how to run your own Amazon ‘region’

Stratoscale is a small company with a very big ambition: to turn your datacenter into an Amazon Web Services (AWS) region. Forget OpenStack, forget VMware. Stratoscale aims to help IT shops get beyond device-level virtualization and deliver the same app-friendly building blocks AWS provides. In the process, the company promises to cut the cost of operating datacenters by more than 80 percent.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Stratoscale shows you how to run your own Amazon ‘region’

Stratoscale is a small company with a very big ambition: to turn your datacenter into an Amazon Web Services (AWS) region. Forget OpenStack, forget VMware. Stratoscale aims to help IT shops get beyond device-level virtualization and deliver the same app-friendly building blocks AWS provides. In the process, the company promises to cut the cost of operating datacenters by more than 80 percent.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Is antivirus getting worse?

Is anti-virus software getting worse at detecting both known and new threats?Earlier this week, Stu Sjouwerman, CEO of security awareness training company KnowBe4, looked at the data published by the Virus Bulletin, a site that tracks anti-virus detection rates. And the numbers didn't look good.Average detection rates for known malware went down a couple of percentage points slightly from 2015 to 2016, he said, while detection rates for zero-days dropped in a big way - from an average of 80 percent down to 70 percent or lower.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Is antivirus getting worse?

Is anti-virus software getting worse at detecting both known and new threats?Earlier this week, Stu Sjouwerman, CEO of security awareness training company KnowBe4, looked at the data published by the Virus Bulletin, a site that tracks anti-virus detection rates. And the numbers didn't look good.Average detection rates for known malware went down a couple of percentage points slightly from 2015 to 2016, he said, while detection rates for zero-days dropped in a big way - from an average of 80 percent down to 70 percent or lower.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cumulus Offers Turn-Key Hardware/Software on EdgeCore Switch

This arrangement won't impact its relationships with other hardware vendors.

Switches coming out this year will drive open networking forward

Two moves by open networking vendors this week are likely to chip a little bit more off the monolith of proprietary, appliance-like equipment that still moves most packets around enterprise data centers.On Thursday, network OS supplier Cumulus Networks introduced turnkey switches based on standard hardware from Edgecore Networks running Cumulus software. They’re designed to allow customers who are new to open networking to get started quickly and easily.Earlier in the week, on the cutting edge of the movement, Barefoot Networks announced that Edgecore and another Taiwan-based manufacturer called WNC would start shipping switches that use the company’s fully programmable chips.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Switches coming out this year will drive open networking forward

Two moves by open networking vendors this week are likely to chip a little bit more off the monolith of proprietary, appliance-like equipment that still moves most packets around enterprise data centers.On Thursday, network OS supplier Cumulus Networks introduced turnkey switches based on standard hardware from Edgecore Networks running Cumulus software. They’re designed to allow customers who are new to open networking to get started quickly and easily.Earlier in the week, on the cutting edge of the movement, Barefoot Networks announced that Edgecore and another Taiwan-based manufacturer called WNC would start shipping switches that use the company’s fully programmable chips.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Software may be eating the world, but Cumulus Networks is still keen on hardware

I’ve been following Cumulus Networks almost since its inception. The company was co-founded by J.R. Rivers, something of a legend in the networking space. Cumulus Networks’ raisan d’etre was to provide an open source operating system (eponymously called Cumulus Linux) that organizations could install on different networking hardware devices and, in doing so, gain all the benefits of software-defined networking (SDN) without any of the hassles of proprietary and locked-down software.It was a compelling story (at least for this commentator). And given the credibility that Rivers bought to the table, I was sold.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Software may be eating the world, but Cumulus Networks is still keen on hardware

I’ve been following Cumulus Networks almost since its inception. The company was co-founded by J.R. Rivers, something of a legend in the networking space. Cumulus Networks’ raisan d’etre was to provide an open source operating system (eponymously called Cumulus Linux) that organizations could install on different networking hardware devices and, in doing so, gain all the benefits of software-defined networking (SDN) without any of the hassles of proprietary and locked-down software.It was a compelling story (at least for this commentator). And given the credibility that Rivers bought to the table, I was sold.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here