IDG Contributor Network: Consumer drones get fixed wings

As holiday gadget season kicks in, we are about to be inundated with gift ideas. And for those used to seeing, or indeed flying quadcopter drones, looking as one would imagine aerial food mixers to appear with four motors and props at the end of four arms, there’s a new form-factor—tailless, single-wing drones.At hobbyist flying fields, more of the fuselage-lacking wing-style drones, reminiscent of Northrop’s B2 stealth bomber, are appearing. And while multi-rotors are by no means off the field, some of the more experienced flyers have taken to piloting and/or building flying wings.Existing model aircraft designers include TBS and Zeta.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Regular password changes make things worse

Security experts have been saying for decades that human weakness can trump the best technology.Apparently, it can also trump conventional wisdom.Since passwords became the chief method of online authentication, conventional wisdom has been that changing them every month or so would improve a person’s, or an organization’s, security.Not according to Lorrie Cranor, chief technologist of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), who created something of a media buzz earlier this year when she declared in a blog post that it was, “time to rethink mandatory password changes.” To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft sets Windows 10 subscriptions at $7

Microsoft announced in July that it planned to offer a version of Windows 10 on a monthly subscription rate for enterprise customers, and today it officially launched Windows as a Service through its Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) network.Businesses of any size can now subscribe to Windows 10 Enterprise E3, its official name, for $7 per user per month. In its announcement, Microsoft described E3 this way: "Windows 10 Enterprise E3 was designed for businesses that handle sensitive customer data (such as credit card or social security numbers), operate in regulated industries, or create and monetize intellectual property. These businesses need enterprise-grade security and management capabilities found in the Windows 10 Enterprise edition, such as Device Guard, Credential Guard and Managed User Experience." To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

FairWare ransomware infects servers through exposed Redis instances

Days after reports that a new ransomware attack was deleting files from web servers, security researchers determined that some of the affected servers were hacked through insecure deployments of the Redis database.Over the past week, reports popped up on support forums about web servers being wiped clean and hosting a ransom note through which attackers offered to return the deleted files in exchange for two bitcoins (around US$1,150). Experts from tech support forum BleepingComputer.com dubbed the new threat FairWare.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

FairWare ransomware infects servers through exposed Redis instances

Days after reports that a new ransomware attack was deleting files from web servers, security researchers determined that some of the affected servers were hacked through insecure deployments of the Redis database.Over the past week, reports popped up on support forums about web servers being wiped clean and hosting a ransom note through which attackers offered to return the deleted files in exchange for two bitcoins (around US$1,150). Experts from tech support forum BleepingComputer.com dubbed the new threat FairWare.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Unrest in Gabon leads to Internet shutdown

A second day of rioting in Gabon after the recent election is accompanied by an Internet blackout. Residents of the capital, Libreville, reported that Internet access had been cut and we can confirm that we saw a sudden shutdown of Internet access from Gabon to sites that use CloudFlare.

These three graphs show the major networks inside Gabon shutting off suddenly with a minuscule amount of traffic making it through.

The charts show that Internet access shutdown at different times for different networks. At the time of writing the Internet appears to be almost completely cut off in Gabon.

Panne d'Internet au Gabon après l'élection

Un deuxième jour d'émeutes au Gabon après l'élection récente est accompagnée d'une panne d'Internet. Les résidents de la capitale, Libreville, ont indiqué que l'accès à Internet avait été coupé et CloudFlare peut confirmer que nous avons vu un arrêt brutal de l'accès Internet du Gabon vers nos sites.

Ces trois graphiques montrent que les grands réseaux à l'intérieur du Gabon étaient coupé soudainement.

Les graphiques montrent que l'arrêt de l'accès à Internet à des moments différents pour les différents réseaux. Au moment de la rédaction de l'Internet semble être presque complètement coupé au Gabon.

Romanian hacker Guccifer sentenced to 52 months in US prison

A Romanian hacker known as Guccifer has been sentenced to 52 months in prison after breaking into internet accounts of about 100 U.S. citizens, including government officials.The 44-year-old Marcel Lehel Lazar was sentenced on Thursday. He was extradited from Romania and brought to court in the U.S., where he pleaded guilty to the hacking-related charges in May.From Oct. 2012 to Jan. 2014, Lazar targeted the email and social media accounts of his U.S.-based victims, as a way to steal their personal information and email messages. That included hacking a family member of two former U.S. presidents and several former U.S. officials.  “In many instances, Lazar publicly released his victims’ private email correspondence, medical and financial information and personal photographs,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Romanian hacker Guccifer sentenced to 52 months in US prison

A Romanian hacker known as Guccifer has been sentenced to 52 months in prison after breaking into internet accounts of about 100 U.S. citizens, including government officials.The 44-year-old Marcel Lehel Lazar was sentenced on Thursday. He was extradited from Romania and brought to court in the U.S., where he pleaded guilty to the hacking-related charges in May.From Oct. 2012 to Jan. 2014, Lazar targeted the email and social media accounts of his U.S.-based victims, as a way to steal their personal information and email messages. That included hacking a family member of two former U.S. presidents and several former U.S. officials.  “In many instances, Lazar publicly released his victims’ private email correspondence, medical and financial information and personal photographs,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Docker Forks the Open Source Bubble

The magic of open source.

If I’ve heard this once, I’ve heard it a thousand times.

Put the software “out there,” and someone, somewhere, will add features because they need or want them, fix bugs because they’ve run into them, and generally just add value to the software you’ve created for free.

This is why, I’m told, open source is so much better than open standards—isn’t open standards just another name for a bogged down, broken process where vendors try to run in fourteen different directions at once? Where customers really aren’t heard for the din of careers being made, and technical solutions far too often take a back seat to political considerations? Open source is going to ride in and save the day, I’m told, making all complex software free and better.

reaction-02Unicorns. No, seriously. Or maybe you prefer frogs on stilts. It doesn’t work this way in the real world. If any project, whether it be an open source project or an open standard, gains enough community buy-in, it will succeed. If any project, whether it be an open source project or an open standard, doesn’t gain community buy-in, it is dead—no matter which company supports it, Continue reading

Last.fm breach from 2012 affected 43 million users

Stolen data obtained from music site Last.fm back in 2012 has surfaced, and it looks like hackers made off with accounts belonging to more than 43 million users.That's according to LeakedSource, a repository for data breaches that obtained a copy of the stolen data. Included in the trove are users' names, email addresses and passwords secured with an aging hashing algorithm called MD5, LeakedSource reported in a blog post on Thursday.Last.fm hasn’t responded so far to a request for comment. The music service reported the breach four years ago and asked all its users to change their passwords immediately. It never made clear how many accounts were affected, however, or the hashing method it used to secure the passwords.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Last.fm breach from 2012 affected 43 million users

Stolen data obtained from music site Last.fm back in 2012 has surfaced, and it looks like hackers made off with accounts belonging to more than 43 million users.That's according to LeakedSource, a repository for data breaches that obtained a copy of the stolen data. Included in the trove are users' names, email addresses and passwords secured with an aging hashing algorithm called MD5, LeakedSource reported in a blog post on Thursday.Last.fm hasn’t responded so far to a request for comment. The music service reported the breach four years ago and asked all its users to change their passwords immediately. It never made clear how many accounts were affected, however, or the hashing method it used to secure the passwords.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

NSX, and its new chief, take center stage at VMWorld

July 23, 2012 was a big day for VMware. It was the day the company, which up until then had been known mostly for bringing server virtualization to the enterprise, entered the networking market. By spending $1.26 billion to buy startup Nicira, VMware got something else too: Martin Casado, considered one of the forefathers of the software defined networking movement. Fast forward to Feb. 24, 2016 and it was another big day for VMware. It was the day Casado left the company for a position at Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Thrust into the spotlight to replace Casado on the day of his amicable departure was Rajiv Ramaswami, a former executive at Broadcom and Cisco who now leads VMware's networking and security business unit. This week at VMWorld in Las Vegas Ramaswami and VMware's network virtualization product, NSX, took center stage.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Survey reveals desire and constraints of enterprise network modernization

There’s broad recognition among enterprises of the need for network modernization, but many decision-makers are constrained by the prospect of capital equipment outlays, proving a solid return on investment, or fear of being locked into a proprietary solution. Those are key findings in a soon to be published survey conducted by IDG Research Services. One third of IT decision-makers think it’s highly likely their organizations will modernize their network connectivity strategies over the next year and another 46 percent indicate there’s some likelihood. Today, virtually every enterprise places a premium on flexibility and agility, and few are willing to commit to long-term, costly outlays for network technology that can’t adapt to their future needs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Survey reveals desire and constraints of enterprise network modernization

There’s broad recognition among enterprises of the need for network modernization, but many decision-makers are constrained by the prospect of capital equipment outlays, proving a solid return on investment, or fear of being locked into a proprietary solution. Those are key findings in a soon to be published survey conducted by IDG Research Services. One third of IT decision-makers think it’s highly likely their organizations will modernize their network connectivity strategies over the next year and another 46 percent indicate there’s some likelihood. Today, virtually every enterprise places a premium on flexibility and agility, and few are willing to commit to long-term, costly outlays for network technology that can’t adapt to their future needs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

“Guccifer” gets 52 months in prison for hacking crimes

The U.S. Department of Justice today said Marcel Lazar, aka hacker “Guccifer,” was sentenced today to 52 months in prison for unauthorized access to a protected computer and aggravated identity theft.+More on Network World: FBI: Bank robbery? There’s an app for that+Lazar, originally from Romania, was extradited to the U.S. earlier this year and was awaiting this sentencing for breaking into the email and social media accounts of various U.S. officials including former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell as well as a the daughter of former President George H.W. Bush.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

“Guccifer” gets 52 months in prison for hacking crimes

The U.S. Department of Justice today said Marcel Lazar, aka hacker “Guccifer,” was sentenced today to 52 months in prison for unauthorized access to a protected computer and aggravated identity theft.+More on Network World: FBI: Bank robbery? There’s an app for that+Lazar, originally from Romania, was extradited to the U.S. earlier this year and was awaiting this sentencing for breaking into the email and social media accounts of various U.S. officials including former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell as well as a the daughter of former President George H.W. Bush.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

BrandPost: Bringing Flexibility to the WAN

By Joe Faranetta MPLS (multi-protocol label switching) VPNs have long been recognized as a preferred option for dedicated, high performance connectivity over a wide area network (WAN), such as linking data centers or branch offices that require high volume and reliability. But smaller groups and individual workers typically were offloaded to the public internet, primarily utilizing the IPsec suite of protocols to create a VPN link. The MPLS VPN is a high-speed, single-carrier-operated network. An enterprise can directly link any of its MPLS VPN sites directly and at high speeds, without going through the public internet routing process where data packets can travel circuitous routes and often require retransmission of lost packets.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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