Improve IT security: Start with these 10 topics

You want to be more responsible about IT security in your organization, but where do you start? May I suggest your first step be understanding these topics more thoroughly. This is list isn’t exhaustive. It’s only a beginning:1. DNS and DNSSEC: The biggest games in cyber war are hitting DNS providers. DNS can be compromised in many simple ways, but Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) thwarts these—at the cost of understanding how it works, how to deploy it and how it’s maintained. There are ways to understand if your own organization is threatened with DDoS attacks. Study them. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Keith Ohlfs, man behind macOS pinwheel & much more, passes away at 52

Ohlfs family Keith Ohlfs Keith Ohlfs, a talented software UX designer whose claims to fame included working on the operating system at the heart of Steve Jobs' NeXT Computer systems, has died at the age of 52 from a heart attack.Ohlfs five years ago posted the video seen below in which NeXT Computer debuts in 1988, 8 years before Apple bought the company and adopted many of its concepts in OS X/macOS. Ohlfs created the animation that the computer used to introduce itself and Jobs wrote the text. "Steve was a huge inspiration in my life and his passion was for uncompromising form and function that has shaped my vision for the future of design and technology," Ohlfs wrote.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft cleans house at the Windows Store

Microsoft announced earlier this year that it would remove applications from the Windows Store that do not comply with the age rating policies the company had adopted. The age rating policy is based on appropriate age and content ratings administered by the International Age Ratings Coalition (IARC) rating system. Microsoft said these ratings are about the suitability of the content in the app, rather than the age of the target audience for your app.  Well, it meant what it said. A large number of applications have been removed from the Windows Store, with reports ranging from 90,000 apps and games to more than 100,000. Given the Windows Store has (or had) 329,000 apps, that's about one-third of the total apps. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

System76 brings Ubuntu to $699 laptop with Kaby Lake chips

If Windows 10 isn't your cup of tea, System76 has a new Ubuntu laptop with Intel's Kaby Lake chip that won't burn your wallet.The 14-inch Lemur laptop starts at $699, a more affordable price for cost-sensitive users than Dell's Ubuntu-based XPS 13 Developer Edition, which starts at $949."We don't have any Mac tax or Windows tax that goes into [Lemur]," said Ryan Sipes, community manager at System76.Despite having a free OS, Dell's XPS 13 laptop has been criticized for being more expensive than the XPS 13 with Windows 10, which starts at $799.99. The Lemur is has many features in common with the XPS 13 DE, though it isn't as slick-looking.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The State of HPC Cloud in 2016

We are pleased to announce that the first book from Next Platform Press, titled “The State of HPC Cloud: 2016 Edition” is complete. The printed book will be available on Amazon.com and other online bookstores in December, 2016. However, in the meantime, supercomputing cloud company, Nimbix, is backing an effort to offer a digital download edition for free for this entire week—from today, October 31 until November 6.

As you will note from looking at the Next Platform Press page, we have other books we will be delivering in a similar manner this year. However, that this is the …

The State of HPC Cloud in 2016 was written by Nicole Hemsoth at The Next Platform.

Mozilla plans to rejuvenate Firefox in 2017

Mozilla last week named its next-generation browser engine project and said it would introduce the new technology to Firefox next year.Dubbed Quantum, the new engine will include several components from Servo, the browser rendering engine that Mozilla has sponsored, and been working on, since 2013. Written with Rust, Servo was envisioned as a replacement for Firefox's long-standing Gecko engine. Both Servo and Rust originated at Mozilla's research group."Project Quantum is about developing a next-generation engine that will meet the demands of tomorrow's web by taking full advantage of all the processing power in your modern devices," said David Bryant, the head of Firefox engineering, in a piece published Thursday on Medium.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Dyn’s DDoS Reveals IoT Weak Points

The massive internet outage last Friday that took out Twitter, GitHub, Spotify and others, was caused by a tsunami of incoming requests to Dyn, the DNS service provider supporting these companies. Where did all these requests pour in from? Hacked CCTV video cameras, digital video recorders and other IoT devices. The Internet of Things has arrived. And it brings huge security issues. —The New Stack

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IBM deploys machine learning to bolster online banking security program

Behavioral biometrics that uses machine learning is behind new features being added to IBM’s Trusteer Pinpoint Detect platform, which financial institutions use to head off crooks who may have stolen the username and password of legitimate account holders.The new feature looks for anomalies between legitimate users’ normal mouse gestures and those of the current user, and over time refines the accuracy of its analysis, says Brooke Satti Charles, Financial Crime Prevention Strategist for IBM Security.That analysis creates a risk score that banks can use to decide whether an ongoing transaction is fraudulent and trigger an alert. The institutions have to decide what to do about the alerts, but they could cut off the transaction or require further ID before the customer is allowed to continue, she says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IBM deploys machine learning to bolster online banking security program

Behavioral biometrics that uses machine learning is behind new features being added to IBM’s Trusteer Pinpoint Detect platform, which financial institutions use to head off crooks who may have stolen the username and password of legitimate account holders.The new feature looks for anomalies between legitimate users’ normal mouse gestures and those of the current user, and over time refines the accuracy of its analysis, says Brooke Satti Charles, Financial Crime Prevention Strategist for IBM Security.That analysis creates a risk score that banks can use to decide whether an ongoing transaction is fraudulent and trigger an alert. The institutions have to decide what to do about the alerts, but they could cut off the transaction or require further ID before the customer is allowed to continue, she says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: The Micro:bit Educational Foundation gives students a digital headstart

What do you do after your firm gets bought for $32 billion?For Zach Shelby and Jonny Austin, the answer was clear. They’d give back and help others. They decided the most impact could be made by engaging more young students with technology.How can kids without technical backgrounds be taught how to invent with technology? How could teachers be enabled to support their students? How could the program be made affordable and scale globally?Their approach is simple and impactful.How the Micro:bit Education Foundation started Shelby and Austin worked at ARM Holdings until its acquisition by Softbank in July 2016. They left to found the Micro:bit Education Foundation, which builds upon a proven BBC micro:bit program. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

CCDE – CCDE Practical Studies – Practice Lab 1 by Martin Duggan

One of the most challenging aspects when studying for the CCDE practical is to find scenarios to practice with. It’s difficult to find a scenario that has enough background information, requirements and constraints to emulate the experience of the real practical. Writing a full scale scenario is very time consuming and challenging. You have to find a good story, make it believable and challenging enough. The scenario must also be somewhat realistic.

I’m happy to announce that my friend Martin Duggan has released a new scenario for the CCDE practical. Martin and I studied for the CCDE together and passed on the same day. Martin is well known in the industry and holds a CCIE in RS and works as a network architect at AT&T. He is a Cisco Press author and has authored the CCIE RS Practice Labs Bundle. I have been a technical reviewer for this scenario and based on my experience this is one of the best quality scenarios I’ve seen.

These are some of the things that I think Martin has done really well to make this scenario as realistic as possible.

Background information – The scenario contains more background information than some of the other Continue reading

Dell/EMC, SnapRoute reinforce OpenSwitch networking features

Looking to broaden the qualities of its open source stack, the OpenSwitch project said SnapRoute and Dell EMC will add new features to its network operating system.Specifically, the new contributions include: SnapRoute’s open source network stack and management services, which support a modular, hardware independent NOS, accessible through a complete set of APIs. Dell EMC’s OS10 Open Edition, which represents an open, disaggregated base subsystem incorporating hardware and platform abstraction layers for networking switching applications. On top of OS 10 base module run application modules which include traditional Layer 2/3 networking functions and other IP, fabric, security, and management and automation tools from Dell, Linux, third-parties and the open source community. “OpenSwitch is now one step closer to providing the data center community with an open source network operating system that enables organizations to focus on developing innovative networking solutions, which can exploit Cavium’s extensible switch architecture to address rapidly changing market needs," said Albert Fishman, Linux Foundation OpenSwitch project marketing chair and senior technical marketing manager of Cavium Switching Platform Group.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Dell/EMC, SnapRoute reinforce OpenSwitch networking features

Looking to broaden the qualities of its open source stack, the OpenSwitch project said SnapRoute and Dell EMC will add new features to its network operating system.Specifically, the new contributions include: SnapRoute’s open source network stack and management services, which support a modular, hardware independent NOS, accessible through a complete set of APIs. Dell EMC’s OS10 Open Edition, which represents an open, disaggregated base subsystem incorporating hardware and platform abstraction layers for networking switching applications. On top of OS 10 base module run application modules which include traditional Layer 2/3 networking functions and other IP, fabric, security, and management and automation tools from Dell, Linux, third-parties and the open source community. “OpenSwitch is now one step closer to providing the data center community with an open source network operating system that enables organizations to focus on developing innovative networking solutions, which can exploit Cavium’s extensible switch architecture to address rapidly changing market needs," said Albert Fishman, Linux Foundation OpenSwitch project marketing chair and senior technical marketing manager of Cavium Switching Platform Group.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

43% off NETGEAR AC750 WiFi Range Extender – Deal Alert

Boost the range of your existing WiFi and create a stronger signal in hard-to-reach areas with a WiFi range extender like this one from Netgear, which is highly rated and currently discounted 43% on Amazon. . This compact AC750 wall-plug WiFi booster delivers AC dual band WiFi up to 750 Mbps, and is small and discreet, easily blending into your home decor. Well over 13,000 people have reviewed the AC750 on Amazon (read reviews) and have given it an average of 4 out of 5 stars. Right now its list price of $70 has been reduced to $40. See it now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

43% off NETGEAR AC750 WiFi Range Extender – Deal Alert

Boost the range of your existing WiFi and create a stronger signal in hard-to-reach areas with a WiFi range extender like this one from Netgear, which is highly rated and currently discounted 43% on Amazon. . This compact AC750 wall-plug WiFi booster delivers AC dual band WiFi up to 750 Mbps, and is small and discreet, easily blending into your home decor. Well over 13,000 people have reviewed the AC750 on Amazon (read reviews) and have given it an average of 4 out of 5 stars. Right now its list price of $70 has been reduced to $40. See it now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IBM, LEGO offer Macs as recruiting tool

In a job-seeker’s market, employers will do everything they can to attract and retain skilled talent. For some companies, that extends to the technology they offer to employees.At IBM, employees can now choose Apple devices, thanks to an initiative launched in June of 2015. In the first few months of the user-choice program, IBM deployed 30,000 Macs to its workforce. Today, IBM has 90,000 Macs deployed and is on pace to exceed 100,000 by year end.The Mac@IBM program is part of a larger effort to transform company culture, according to Fletcher Previn, vice president of Workplace as a Service at IBM.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

snaproute Go BGP Code Dive (13): Finding the tail of the update chain

Just in time for Hallo’ween, the lucky thirteenth post in the BGP code dive series. In this series, we’re working through the Snaproute Go implementation of BGP just to see how a production, open source BGP implementation really works. Along the way, we’re learning something about how larger, more complex projects are structured, and also something about the Go programming language. The entire series can be found on the series page.

In the last post in this series, we left off with our newly established peer just sitting there sending and receiving keepalives. But BGP peers are not designed just to exchange random traffic, they’re actually designed to exchange reachability and topology information about the network. BGP carries routing information in updated, which are actually complicated containers for a lot of different kinds of reachability information. In BGP, a reachable destination is called an NLRI, or Network Layer Reachability Information. Starting with this code dive, we’re going to look at how the snaproute BGP implementation processes updates, sorting out NLRIs, etc.

When you’re reading through code, whether looking for a better understanding of an implementation, a better understanding of a protocol, or even to figure out “what went wrong” on Continue reading

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