White House: Small satellites bring “Moore’s Law” into space

Small satellites, sometimes called cubesats or just smallsats are a very popular way of getting inexpensive communications and surveillance into space quickly.Looking to bolster that notion, the White House recently revealed a number of program that it says will help drive the use of smallsats even further. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced what it called the “Harnessing the Small Satellite Revolution” initiative, which basically brings together National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce, and other Federal agencies, to promote and support government and private use of small satellites for remote sensing, communications, science, and the exploration of space. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

White House: Small satellites bring “Moore’s Law” into space

Small satellites, sometimes called cubesats or just smallsats are a very popular way of getting inexpensive communications and surveillance into space quickly.Looking to bolster that notion, the White House recently revealed a number of program that it says will help drive the use of smallsats even further. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced what it called the “Harnessing the Small Satellite Revolution” initiative, which basically brings together National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce, and other Federal agencies, to promote and support government and private use of small satellites for remote sensing, communications, science, and the exploration of space. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The enterprise wish-list for the hybrid cloud

If you know how to drive one car, you know how to drive pretty much any car. The gas pedal is always on the right and brake on the left. Push the turn signal up to go right and down to go left. Whether it’s a Ford or a Toyota, you don’t need to relearn how to drive each car.Public cloud should be the same way, argues Bob Wysocki, CTO of Digital Infrastructure for General Electric and a member of the Open Networking User Group (ONUG). This week at ONUG’s annual fall meeting in New York a key theme is making it easier for enterprises to use public IaaS cloud services. Earlier this year ONUG created a new Hybrid Cloud Working Group that has created a sort of wish-list of what enterprise customers from GE, Pfizer, Citigroup and Gap would like to see from public cloud vendors to achieve easier usability.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Answers to ‘Is the internet broken?’ and other Dyn DDoS questions

The massive DDoS attacks that took down internet address-translation service Dyn and its customers last week raise a lot of need-to-know questions about the overall security of online infrastructure and its performance.While the attacks were ultimately mitigated and have subsided, the means for carrying out others are still viable and could crop up at any time with other targets. Here are some questions and answers that address what happened, how it happened, whether it could happen again and what the consequences might be.Is the internet broken?No, or at least not any more than it was before. It’s made up of a system of independent vendors and institutions working cooperatively to provide access to sites around the world. Each works in its own best interests but also cooperates with the others to make the system work for everybody. Like any such system, it’s got flaws and weaknesses. The Dyn attackers targeted some of these vulnerabilities and exploited them for maximum effect.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Answers to ‘Is the internet broken?’ and other Dyn DDoS questions

The massive DDoS attacks that took down internet address-translation service Dyn and its customers last week raise a lot of need-to-know questions about the overall security of online infrastructure and its performance.While the attacks were ultimately mitigated and have subsided, the means for carrying out others are still viable and could crop up at any time with other targets. Here are some questions and answers that address what happened, how it happened, whether it could happen again and what the consequences might be.Is the internet broken?No, or at least not any more than it was before. It’s made up of a system of independent vendors and institutions working cooperatively to provide access to sites around the world. Each works in its own best interests but also cooperates with the others to make the system work for everybody. Like any such system, it’s got flaws and weaknesses. The Dyn attackers targeted some of these vulnerabilities and exploited them for maximum effect.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Annual Security Survey – Call for Participation

It’s that time again! Arbor Networks is opening its 12th annual Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report survey. Findings from this survey are compiled and analyzed to provide insights on a comprehensive range of issues from threat detection and incident response to staffing, budgets and partner relationships.  A copy of the report will be sent to all participants. We […]

LEGO builds on its Mac project

The old way of doing IT at The LEGO Group was very much “we decide how you work,” said Michael Loft Mikkelsen. But things are changing at the family-owned company based in Billund, Denmark. One big change is the growing number of Mac users among the 17,000 worldwide LEGO employees. Driving the change is LEGO’s corporate mission.“We have one overarching mission: to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow. That’s our single most important goal,” said Loft Mikkelsen, infrastructure engineer at LEGO. “To create these fantastic products, we need an IT infrastructure that’s agile, scalable and robust enough to keep up with our development and growth.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Lost Year: Back to Work

2015 was tough just no getting around it.  I started the year working with an amazing team as the CTO of a company I really believed in and the COO of the company that was supposed to be my future.  By the end of 2015 I had been through 3 jobs (all of my own …

Physical RAM attack can root Android and possibly other devices

Researchers have devised a new way to compromise Android devices without exploiting any software vulnerabilities and instead of taking advantage of a physical design weakness in RAM chips. The attack technique could also affect other ARM and x86-based devices and computers.The attack stems from the push over the past decade to pack more DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) capacity onto increasingly smaller chips, which can lead to memory cells on adjacent rows leaking electric charges to one another under certain conditions.For example, repeated and rapid accessing of physical memory locations -- an action now dubbed "hammering" -- can cause the bit values from adjacent locations to flip from 0 to 1 or the other way around.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Physical RAM attack can root Android and possibly other devices

Researchers have devised a new way to compromise Android devices without exploiting any software vulnerabilities and instead taking advantage of a physical design weakness in RAM chips. The attack technique could also affect other ARM and x86-based devices and computers. The attack stems from the push over the past decade to pack more DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) capacity onto increasingly smaller chips, which can lead to memory cells on adjacent rows leaking electric charges to one another under certain conditions. For example, repeated and rapid accessing of physical memory locations -- an action now dubbed "hammering" -- can cause the bit values from adjacent locations to flip from 0 to 1 or the other way around.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

66% off KMASHI 15000mAh External Battery Power Bank – Deal Alert

KMASHI's 15,000mAh power bank can charge any 2 smartphones, tablets or USB devices simultaneously at high speed, and several times over without needing to be recharged. It currently averages 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 7,700 customers (read reviews). With the current 66% discount you can buy it on Amazon for just $17. See it now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Chinese firm recalls camera products linked to massive DDOS attack

A Chinese electronics component maker is recalling 4.3 million internet-connected camera products from the U.S. market amid claims they may have played a role in Friday's massive internet disruption.On Monday, Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology said it was recalling earlier models of four kinds of cameras due to a security vulnerability that can make them easy to hack."The main security problem is that users aren't changing the device's default passwords," Xiongmai said in a Chinese-language statement posted online.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Chinese firm recalls camera products linked to massive DDOS attack

A Chinese electronics component maker is recalling 4.3 million internet-connected camera products from the U.S. market amid claims they may have played a role in Friday's massive internet disruption.On Monday, Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology said it was recalling earlier models of four kinds of cameras due to a security vulnerability that can make them easy to hack."The main security problem is that users aren't changing the device's default passwords," Xiongmai said in a Chinese-language statement posted online.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Despite concerns, analysts expect an OK for AT&T-Time Warner deal

Prominent U.S. politicians quickly raised concerns about the proposed $85.4 billion merger of AT&T and Time Warner, but some analysts expect it to pass regulatory muster after a lengthy review."The big question is how a new presidential administration will try to make a mark with its handling of the deal, but I expect whoever is elected will essentially wave [in approval] as it goes by," said Bill Menezes, an analyst at Gartner.Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, both voiced concerns about the deal, while a Senate Judiciary subcommittee has already vowed to hold a hearing on the matter in November.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here