Worth Reading: W3C at the crossroads

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has a hard decision to make: a coalition including the world’s top research institutions; organizations supporting blind users on three continents; security firms; blockchain startups; browser vendors and user rights groups have asked it not to hand control over web video to some of the biggest companies in the world. For their part, those multinational companies have asked the W3C to hand them a legal weapon they can use to shut down any use of online video they don’t like, even lawful fair use. —EFF

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What the mainstream media didn’t tell you about fake news

If fake news reports by the mainstream news media are true, all it takes to create fake news are some clever Romanian or Macedonian teenagers with malicious intent and a website—and shazam the fake news propagates throughout Facebook. The reality is SEO, backlinks, paid promotion and other content strategies play a key role.It is odd that mainstream news media would miss the most critical issue because after all, organic and paid promotion of internet traffic is what has put most of them on financial life support.How fake news starts Promotion starts with a fake news site with a credible URL name, such as realtruenews.org, probably built with WordPress and themed to look like a real news site. The end goal is to get tens or hundreds of thousands of gullible people to share the stories onto Facebook. Gullible reporters help, too.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

DNS provider ChangeIP cites MySQL database crash for days-long outage

ChangeIP, which refers to itself as a "rockstar, low-cost and high-touch web host," has hit a sour note with customers over the past few days. The company on Monday afternoon reported that it "suffered a system wide DB failure that cascaded to all of our DB systems. Restore been on going since yesterday [Sunday, Dec. 11]." ChangeIP said that due to the size of its MySQL database, recovery was taking longer than anticipated and it was hard to say when a total restore would take place. Early on Tuesday (eastern time), the company said its DNS service had been restored, but that it was still working to restore its database and get web, dynamic DNS and control panel functions back in working order.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Convert ASP.NET Web Servers to Docker with Image2Docker

A major update to Image2Docker was released last week, which adds ASP.NET support to the tool. Now you can take a virtualized web server in Hyper-V and extract a Docker image for each website in the VM – including ASP.NET WebForms, MVC and WebApi apps. 

image2docker

Image2Docker is a PowerShell module which extracts applications from a Windows Virtual Machine image into a Dockerfile. You can use it as a first pass to take workloads from existing servers and move them to Docker containers on Windows.

The tool was first released in September 2016, and we’ve had some great work on it from PowerShell gurus like Docker Captain Trevor Sullivan and Microsoft MVP Ryan Yates. The latest version has enhanced functionality for inspecting IIS – you can now extract ASP.NET websites straight into Dockerfiles.

In Brief

If you have a Virtual Machine disk image (VHD, VHDX or WIM), you can extract all the IIS websites from it by installing Image2Docker and running ConvertTo-Dockerfile like this:

Install-Module Image2Docker
Import-Module Image2Docker
ConvertTo-Dockerfile -ImagePath C:\win-2016-iis.vhd -Artifact IIS -OutputPath c:\i2d2\iis

That will produce a Dockerfile which you can build into a Windows container image, using docker build.

How It Works

The Image2Docker Continue reading

IDG Contributor Network: How business growth relates to business infrastructure

With the U.S. Presidential election over, there is now talk about infrastructure investment, and by that, most people mean roads and bridges.But not so fast. The most important infrastructure of a modern economy or a modern business is the digital infrastructure. And it’s in worse shape than our roads and bridges. Most of today’s networks were put in place 20 years ago, well before the debilitating forces of cloud, big data, social, mobile computing, and most recently the Internet of Things (IoT) eroded their effectiveness and caused data traffic congestion.+ Also on Network World: Digital transformation: Not your grandfather’s bank + Sure, these networks still work—they still chug along, even if they’re slower and more vulnerable than we’d like. And let’s face it; it’s human nature to take an "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it" approach. But that approach didn’t work in the 1990s for the brick-and-mortar businesses as the internet era emerged, and it won’t work today for any company that needs to digitally transform and do business in the network age.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: How business growth relates to business infrastructure

With the U.S. Presidential election over, there is now talk about infrastructure investment, and by that, most people mean roads and bridges.But not so fast. The most important infrastructure of a modern economy or a modern business is the digital infrastructure. And it’s in worse shape than our roads and bridges. Most of today’s networks were put in place 20 years ago, well before the debilitating forces of cloud, big data, social, mobile computing, and most recently the Internet of Things (IoT) eroded their effectiveness and caused data traffic congestion.+ Also on Network World: Digital transformation: Not your grandfather’s bank + Sure, these networks still work—they still chug along, even if they’re slower and more vulnerable than we’d like. And let’s face it; it’s human nature to take an "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it" approach. But that approach didn’t work in the 1990s for the brick-and-mortar businesses as the internet era emerged, and it won’t work today for any company that needs to digitally transform and do business in the network age.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Zen and the art of security

I’m a Zen heretic, and so also is my sense of systems security.A very cogent citation describes the folly of it all. The people who install toolbars, click on random stuff and feel like they won something when they downloaded the free app are too plentiful, and security is too tough to understand—even PGP. Bringing up the bottom is as important as extending the top. We don’t ritualize security because that would be too tough, to impolite to do. Your mother did not teach you to use complex passwords and to change them as frequently as your underwear. Given some people I know, it’s a wonder they passed the “p@55w0rd” rubric they were trained to use.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Zen and the art of security

I’m a Zen heretic, and so also is my sense of systems security.A very cogent citation describes the folly of it all. The people who install toolbars, click on random stuff and feel like they won something when they downloaded the free app are too plentiful, and security is too tough to understand—even PGP. Bringing up the bottom is as important as extending the top. We don’t ritualize security because that would be too tough, to impolite to do. Your mother did not teach you to use complex passwords and to change them as frequently as your underwear. Given some people I know, it’s a wonder they passed the “p@55w0rd” rubric they were trained to use.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Wi-Fi chip cannibalizes ambient Wi-Fi signals for power

Harvesting electromagnetic energy from thin air to develop self-sustaining Internet of Things (IoT) communications may become reality thanks to a new technology called HitchHike. The goal is to reduce the need for continual maintenance of the expected billions of IoT installations. Researchers say they’re close to the finish line. Worst case scenario, they say they’ll be able to get Wi-Fi chips to run for 10 years on the same, small battery.“HitchHike is the first self-sufficient Wi-Fi system that enables data transmission using just micro-watts of energy, almost zero,” claims Pengyu Zhang, a Stanford researcher, in a recent press release from the school.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Netgear starts patching routers affected by a critical flaw

Networking device manufacturer Netgear released firmware updates for several router models in order to patch a critical vulnerability that's publicly known and could be exploited by hackers.The vulnerability was disclosed by a researcher Friday and affects multiple Netgear router models, many from the company's Nighthawk series. The company initially confirmed the flaw in three models -- R6400, R7000, R8000 -- but it has since expanded the list to include five more.The models confirmed to be affected so far are: R6250, R6400, R6700, R7000, R7100LG, R7300, R7900 and R8000. This list might not be complete as Netgear continues to analyze the flaw's impact to its entire router portfolio.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Netgear starts patching routers affected by a critical flaw

Networking device manufacturer Netgear released firmware updates for several router models in order to patch a critical vulnerability that's publicly known and could be exploited by hackers.The vulnerability was disclosed by a researcher Friday and affects multiple Netgear router models, many from the company's Nighthawk series. The company initially confirmed the flaw in three models -- R6400, R7000, R8000 -- but it has since expanded the list to include five more.The models confirmed to be affected so far are: R6250, R6400, R6700, R7000, R7100LG, R7300, R7900 and R8000. This list might not be complete as Netgear continues to analyze the flaw's impact to its entire router portfolio.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Netgear starts patching routers affected by a critical flaw

Networking device manufacturer Netgear released firmware updates for several router models in order to patch a critical vulnerability that's publicly known and could be exploited by hackers.The vulnerability was disclosed by a researcher Friday and affects multiple Netgear router models, many from the company's Nighthawk series. The company initially confirmed the flaw in three models -- R6400, R7000, R8000 -- but it has since expanded the list to include five more.The models confirmed to be affected so far are: R6250, R6400, R6700, R7000, R7100LG, R7300, R7900 and R8000. This list might not be complete as Netgear continues to analyze the flaw's impact to its entire router portfolio.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

64% Off Etekcity Lasergrip 1080 Non-contact Digital Laser Infrared Thermometer – Deal Alert

There are some things you just don't need -- until the price plummets to under $20 and then you can't grab your wallet fast enough. The Etekcity Lasergrip 1080 Digital Infrared Thermometer Temperature Gun aims with a laser while instantly measuring the temperature of almost anything you can shoot it at. List price is $49, but with the current 64% off deal you can snag it for just $17.88. The gun gets 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 2,300 reviewers (read reviews). Check electrical components, oven & fridge temps, check for drafts, find a frozen pipe, see if your beer is cold enough (because you can, that's why) -- at $17.88 it might pay for itself in just a few hours of wandering around the house. The Lasergrip 1080 has a measurable range of -58F to 1,022F (can display in celsius as well) and is powered by a 9-volt battery. If you've always wanted to check temps with lasers, see this heavily discounted item now at Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

AirMap, DigiCert to issue digital certificates for drones

Drones will start getting digital identification certificates under a new service being launched on Tuesday that hopes to bring trust and verification to the skies.The Drone IDs will be SSL/TLS certificates from DigiCert issued through AirMap, a provider of drone flight information data, and will first be available to users of Intel's Aero drone platform.Under the system, drone owners receive the digital ID in the form of an SSL/TLS certificate when they register for AirMap services. The ID is different from the identification number issued to drone owners by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and isn't part of any government scheme.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

AirMap, DigiCert to issue digital certificates for drones

Drones will start getting digital identification certificates under a new service being launched on Tuesday that hopes to bring trust and verification to the skies.The Drone IDs will be SSL/TLS certificates from DigiCert issued through AirMap, a provider of drone flight information data, and will first be available to users of Intel's Aero drone platform.Under the system, drone owners receive the digital ID in the form of an SSL/TLS certificate when they register for AirMap services. The ID is different from the identification number issued to drone owners by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and isn't part of any government scheme.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cloudflare Acquires Eager to Reimagine Apps

In 2011 we launched the Cloudflare Apps platform in an article that described Cloudflare as “not ... the sexiest business in the world.” Sexy or not, Cloudflare has since grown from the 3.5 billion pageviews a month we were doing then to over 1.3 trillion per month today. Along the way, we’ve powered more than a million app installations onto our customer’s websites.

For the last 6 years Cloudflare has been focused on building one of the world’s largest networks. The importance of that work has not left as much time as we would have liked to improve our app platform. With just 21 apps, we knew we were not delivering all that our marketplace could offer.

About six months ago, we were introduced to the team at Eager. Eager was building its own app store for installation onto any website. They impressed us with their ability to enable even the most non-technical website owner to install powerful tools to improve their sites through a slick interface. Eager’s platform included the features we wanted in our marketplace, like the ability to preview an app on a user's site before installing it. Even better, Eager had a powerful app Continue reading

Cybersecurity skills aren’t taught in college

Cybersecurity is a growing concern across the globe and businesses are eager to build secure products and keep corporate data safe. The only problem is that cybersecurity is a relatively new skill, and there just aren't enough qualified candidates to go around.When Intel and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) surveyed 775 IT decision makers, 82 percent expressed a concern for the cybersecurity skills shortage. It's reached a point where the government has created the National Initiative for Cybersecurity and Studies (NICS) to help address the growing need for cybersecurity professionals, starting by getting kids introduced to cybersecurity as early as middle school.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cybersecurity skills aren’t taught in college

Cybersecurity is a growing concern across the globe and businesses are eager to build secure products and keep corporate data safe. The only problem is that cybersecurity is a relatively new skill, and there just aren't enough qualified candidates to go around.When Intel and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) surveyed 775 IT decision makers, 82 percent expressed a concern for the cybersecurity skills shortage. It's reached a point where the government has created the National Initiative for Cybersecurity and Studies (NICS) to help address the growing need for cybersecurity professionals, starting by getting kids introduced to cybersecurity as early as middle school.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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