25% to 30% of users struggle with identifying phishing threats, study says

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices.  Click here to subscribe.   Humans are often the weak link in any cybersecurity defense. People behave unpredictably because we are sometimes driven by emotion and by an innate desire to trust and please other people. Also, we tend to take the path of least resistance, even if that path inadvertently creates a cybersecurity risk. Attackers understand these human traits, which is why they are frequently successful in exploiting people to get around more predictable machine-based defenses. As an example, consider phishing. It’s estimated that globally, 8 million phishing email messages are opened every day, and of those, 800,000 recipients of the malicious messages click on the embedded links. Ten percent of the people who click on a link actually give their information, such as login credentials for personal applications or their employer’s applications.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

25% to 30% of users struggle with identifying phishing threats, study says

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices.  Click here to subscribe.   Humans are often the weak link in any cybersecurity defense. People behave unpredictably because we are sometimes driven by emotion and by an innate desire to trust and please other people. Also, we tend to take the path of least resistance, even if that path inadvertently creates a cybersecurity risk. Attackers understand these human traits, which is why they are frequently successful in exploiting people to get around more predictable machine-based defenses. As an example, consider phishing. It’s estimated that globally, 8 million phishing email messages are opened every day, and of those, 800,000 recipients of the malicious messages click on the embedded links. Ten percent of the people who click on a link actually give their information, such as login credentials for personal applications or their employer’s applications.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Skills deficit hampers IoT growth in 2017

The allure of IoT is strong. Companies are eager to explore the potential for connected products and business processes. But technologies and use cases for the IoT vary wildly, and the vendor landscape is rapidly changing, warns research and advisory firm  Forrester. Adding to the hurdles IT teams face is the demand for IoT skills – including data analytics, security and wireless networking expertise – that are already in short supply in many organizations. IoT technology uses new network protocols, hardware and specialized software, and successful deployments will require expertise in business transformation, data science, cybersecurity, and industrial automation.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Multiple DNS providers and DDoS

How can your company continue to make its website and Internet services available during a massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against a DNS hosting provider? In light of last Friday’s attack on Dyn’s DNS infrastructure, many people are asking this question. One potential solution is to look at using multiple DNS providers for hosting your DNS records. —The Internet Society

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49% off Microsoft Foldable Keyboard for iOS, Android, and Windows devices – Deal Alert

This folding keyboard from Microsoft pairs with any combination of 2 iPads, iPhones, Android, Windows tablets, and Windows Phones. It features a water repellent keyset and fabric to protect against accidents. Unfold to turn on, and fold to turn off. Pairs quickly and reliably with Bluetooth 4.0 technology. Its built-in rechargeable battery lasts up to 3 months on a single charge. It currently averages 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon (read reviews) from nearly 200 reviewers, and its list price of $100 is currently reduced to $50. See the discounted Microsoft keyboard now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5 ways enterprise networkers can – and can’t – be like webscale stars

Everybody wants to be a winner. One way to get there is to follow the leaders.In networking these days, big cloud companies like Google and Facebook are at the top of their game. They run giant data centers, continually launch and modify large-scale applications, and don’t seem to be bound to big system vendors. Many ordinary enterprises would love what the internet heavyweights have: standardized networks that can support any application without administrators having to configure a lot of proprietary hardware.Conveniently, some of those cutting-edge companies offer parts of their technology to others through open-source specifications. But there are limits to how well a company in the insurance or machine-tool business can emulate world-changing tech giants. It turns out no one can just become Google, at least not overnight.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5 ways enterprise networkers can – and can’t – be like webscale stars

Everybody wants to be a winner. One way to get there is to follow the leaders.In networking these days, big cloud companies like Google and Facebook are at the top of their game. They run giant data centers, continually launch and modify large-scale applications, and don’t seem to be bound to big system vendors. Many ordinary enterprises would love what the internet heavyweights have: standardized networks that can support any application without administrators having to configure a lot of proprietary hardware.Conveniently, some of those cutting-edge companies offer parts of their technology to others through open-source specifications. But there are limits to how well a company in the insurance or machine-tool business can emulate world-changing tech giants. It turns out no one can just become Google, at least not overnight.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Physics Code Modifications Push Xeon Phi Peak Performance

In the worlds of high performance computing (HPC) and physics, seemingly straightforward challenges are frequently not what they seem at first glance.

For example, doing justice to an outwardly simple physics experiment involving a pendulum and drive motor can involve the need to process billions of data points. Moreover, even when aided by the latest high performance technology, such as the Intel Xeon Phi processor, achieving optimal compute levels requires ingenuity for addressing unexpected coding considerations.

Jeffery Dunham, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Natural Sciences at Middlebury College in Vermont, should know. For about eight years, Professor Dunham …

Physics Code Modifications Push Xeon Phi Peak Performance was written by Nicole Hemsoth at The Next Platform.

Career – The Value Of a Degree

I often get asked for career advice and the value of certifications. We live in a rapid pace world and people often look for the shortest path to success. They are trying to use the Dijkstra algorithm on their careers ?

This post is not a “People with degrees are better than others” post and is written from my perspective as a network architect. I do believe though that the skills I will describe here are applicable to all networking/IT jobs and will be even more relevant further down the road. Here is some of the value I see in a degree based on that you get a degree in a relevant discipline at a good university and that you have the willingness to learn.

Consume information – Working in IT means you need to consume a lot of information. For topics that you aren’t familiar with you need to be able to know where to look for information, what to do with the information and be able to draw a conclusion based on this information. IT is moving at a more rapid pace than ever and people that can’t consume a lot of information will struggle stay relevant in the Continue reading

Is the smartwatch market tanking or on a long, slow climb?

Analysts disagree drastically over the health of the smartwatch market. Some say the market is tanking. Others say there are favorable signs and predict healthy smartwatch shipments and sales in coming years.In late October, market research firm IDC said smartwatch shipments in the third quarter declined by 51% from the same quarter of 2015. The total shipped in the third quarter was 2.7 million, IDC said.By comparison, research firm Canalys on Thursday said smartwatch shipments were up 60% for the third quarter of 2016 compared with the same quarter a year ago. That resulted in 6.1 million units shipped in the latest quarter, Canalys said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to speed up Windows 7 Update scans—forever

Microsoft has changed the way it deploys patches, adding a new twist to an old problem. For many folks, Windows 7 Update scans still take hours—even days. How do you knock your Win7 machine upside the head, so it will find new patches in less than glacial time? We have a new Microsoft-sanctioned approach that only needs to be tempered a little.Note that, in the new patching paradigm, even those who manually download monthly security patches (“Group B”) still need to use Windows Update, if only for .Net patches, Office patches (for those who don’t have Office Click-to-Run), and other patches that don’t arrive as part of the Security-only Update. See, for example, this month’s KB 3200006 and KB 3199375, for Internet Explorer.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cloud adoption keeps moving ahead, survey says

Companies continue their migration of both applications and computing infrastructure to the cloud at a steady pace. They have moved 45% of their applications and computing infrastructure to the cloud already, and they expect well over half of their IT environment to be cloud-based by 2018, according to a recent IDG Enterprise survey of 925 IT decision makers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

How to approach your first day as CSO

The situation often dictates how to approach a new job. Did the company just have a humiliating experience with a data breach? Did they not have a CSO previously and that is why they are looking for security help to lock down their network? If during the job interview, there was a blunt plea for help then most new hires would come in guns a blazin’ to get things under control quickly. But in most scenarios, CSOs interviewed said there is a general time period to examine the culture of the company to help in getting a grasp of what needs to be done.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to approach your first day as CSO

The situation often dictates how to approach a new job. Did the company just have a humiliating experience with a data breach? Did they not have a CSO previously and that is why they are looking for security help to lock down their network?If during the job interview, there was a blunt plea for help then most new hires would come in guns a blazin’ to get things under control quickly. But in most scenarios, CSOs interviewed said there is a general time period to examine the culture of the company to help in getting a grasp of what needs to be done.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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