Top cities not tops in wireless networks, testing shows

Each of the nation's largest wireless carriers brag about having a great network, but comprehensive testing shows that network performance varies significantly from city to city.RootMetrics recently posted its latest rankings for the top 125 U.S. metro areas, which show that the two biggest U.S. cities rank pretty low. New York came in at 59th, while Los Angeles came it at 99th.The nation's third-largest city, Chicago, did well for a big city and was ranked fifth. Atlanta, the ninth-largest city, ranked third. No other top-10 city finished in the top 10 rankings.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Black Hat: Kaminsky says Trump is a troll.

Donald Trump is a troll looking to say whatever will stir up the most people, according to security expert Dan Kaminsky who delivered the keynote at Black Hat today.“Don figures out what people don’t want to hear,” and then he says it, Kaminsky said in an interview after his speech.+More on Network World: Black Hat: Be wary of HTTP/2 on Web servers | Follow all the stories from Black Hat +“It’s not that Donald Trump is the worst troll ever, it’s just that the American public has never been trolled so effectively. The reaction is the point.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Black Hat: Kaminsky says Trump is a troll.

Donald Trump is a troll looking to say whatever will stir up the most people, according to security expert Dan Kaminsky who delivered the keynote at Black Hat today.“Don figures out what people don’t want to hear,” and then he says it, Kaminsky said in an interview after his speech.+More on Network World: Black Hat: Be wary of HTTP/2 on Web servers | Follow all the stories from Black Hat +“It’s not that Donald Trump is the worst troll ever, it’s just that the American public has never been trolled so effectively. The reaction is the point.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft Edge browser gets extensions and Adblock Plus support

It's quite a day for Microsoft Edge and the few people who use it. Thanks to the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Edge will finally gain support for extensions. And by supporting extensions, one of the first out of the gate is Adblock Plus, that bane of advertisers everywhere.Edge can now use extensions for both Chrome and Firefox. To get extensions, open Edge and click on the menu icon, the three horizontal dots in the upper-right corner. Next, select Extensions from the drop-down menu. It's near the bottom. This will open a new window with extensions you already have installed and a link labeled "Get Extensions from the Store."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Why compliance is a necessary evil

At the BSides Las Vegas event (a precursor to Black Hat), CSO's Steve Ragan chats with Yvette Johnson, the Governance, Risk & Compliance Lead at Pindrop, about how security compliance needs to be more than just another box to check.

AT&T Selects Radcom’s Virtual Probe for its Integrated Cloud

AT&T moves service assurance to the cloud.

Mobile Broadband – Trending Technologies

For me and for most of Mobile broadband professionals, we are used to meeting the Telco Vendors such as Ericsson, Huawei, Cisco, Nokia, etc. It was a mind-shift for me personally when I started to meet RedHat, Mirantis, & Vmware as a part of the NFV talks and I was really surprised that a company like RedHat […]

The post Mobile Broadband – Trending Technologies appeared first on Cisco Network Design and Architecture | CCDE Bootcamp | orhanergun.net.

How companies are training tomorrow’s IT leaders

Companies face demographic change as Baby Boomers continue their steady departure from the workplace. At the same time, recruiting and retaining employees to work in large companies is becoming more difficult as freelance and entrepreneurial ventures become more popular, especially among Millennials. These challenges make attracting and developing talent critical for organizations that seek to keep pace.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

IDG Contributor Network: Machine learning, automation and human ‘ramp-up’ coming

Tech industry CEOs are extremely concerned about their products’ relevancies in the next few years, so they are concentrating on innovation as a strategy, according to a new survey.The way they intend to move forward is by developing a combined human and digital labor force, says accountancy and advisor KPMG, which conducted the survey.By that, it means deploying automation and cognitive machine learning digitization, but also building a human workforce geared towards constant innovation.+ Also on Network World: Turns out machine learning is a champ at fixing buggy code +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Recharging your devices via solar power just got cooler

Over the past few years, I've tried out a several solar-powered recharging devices, usually in conjunction with summer gift guides or other outdoor gadget projects. For the most part, the solar chargers were big, bulky things that required a lot of heavy lifting in order to recharge your much smaller smartphone, and didn’t seem worth the extra effort in lugging it around on your travels. One exception - the very cool solar-powered flashlights and other devices that incorporate the hand-crank generator. GoalZero, one of the leaders in the solar power market, has upped its game a bit. This week at the Outdoor Retailer Expo in Salt Lake City, the company showed off some new devices aimed at shrinking the size and bulkiness of those solar panels.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco, Nokia, and Ciena Make List of Top SDN Vendors

IHS says operators will use a variety of suppliers to avoid being locked in by a vendor.

New PCs will be more desirable with Windows 10 Anniversary Update

Windows 10 was expected to save the slumping PC market, but it hasn't. PC shipments are still declining, and people haven't bought new hardware just to get Windows 10.But the Windows 10 Anniversary Update has features that will make new hardware desirable. Moreover, the period to upgrade for free to Windows 10 from older versions has ended, and analysts believe people will buy a new PC instead of shelling out $119.99 to $199.99 for a Windows 10 license.PC makers hope for nothing more than the death of Windows 7, which some users -- especially businesses -- have been hanging on to. Companies like Lenovo and HP are slowly getting rid of lingering Windows 7 Professional PC models, which will ultimately force holdover users to Windows 10. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

10 Cisco/Microsoft Hybrid UC Deployment Options

Who Will Ericsson Pick to Fill Hans Vestberg’s Shoes?

Odds are the company will pick another Swede.

27% off Belkin QODE Ultimate Keyboard Case for iPad Air – Deal Alert

Turn your iPad Air into a laptop with the Belkin QODE Ultimate Keyboard Case. The well-spaced keys offer the movement and response of a laptop keyboard, making emails and word processing far easier and more comfortable than typing on a tablet's touchscreen. Smart sensing technology automatically turns the keyboard on when you need to use it, and off when you don't. The case supports multiple viewing angles to help you find the most comfortable position for watching videos or reading blogs. Made of aircraft grade aluminum, the lightweight keyboard acts as a cover offering exceptional protection for your iPad Air while the case prevents it from being scratched. Averages 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 750 people (read reviews). It's list price of $130 has been reduced significantly to just over $94. See it now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Black Duck Opens a Research Center for Open Source Security

Black Duck's technology scans a software repository, checking for license-compliance issues and known vulnerabilities.

53% off Inateck USB 3.0 Dual-Bay Hard Drive Cloning Station – Deal Alert

This gadget from Inateck will duplicate any 2.5 inch or 3.5 inch SATA HDD/SSD drive quickly and automatically without the need for a computer, by just pushing a button. Once cloning has started, an LED indicator shows you 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% completion status. Or don't kick off the cloning process, and the unit allows you to move files freely between drives as you would an external HDD/SSD. Built-in safeguards protect against overheating, overvoltage, current leaks, short circuits, peak voltage, and other disturbances to ensure safe data access and transfers. The unit currently averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 720 customers (read reviews). With a typical list price of $79.99, this 53% off deal puts it at just $37.99. See the discounted Inateck HDD/SSD cloning station now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The People Versus Security

It all comes back to people. People are the users of the system. They are the source of great imagination and great innovation. They are also the reason why security professionals pull their hair out day in and day out. Because computer systems don’t have the capability to bypass, invalidated, and otherwise screw up security quite like a living, breathing human being.

Climb Every Mountain

Security is designed to make us feel safe. Door locks keep out casual prowlers. Alarm systems alert us when our home or business is violated. That warm fuzzy feeling we get when we know the locks are engaged and we are truly secure is one of bliss.

But when security gets in our way, it’s annoying. Think of all the things in your life that would be easier if people just stopped trying to make you secure. Airport security is the first that comes to mind. Or the annoying habit of needing to show your ID when you make a credit card purchase. How about systems that scan your email for data loss prevention (DLP) purposes and kick back emails with sensitive data that you absolutely need to share?

Security only benefits us when it’s Continue reading

Is build back? The Fall of the General Purpose CPU

There's a meme out there that hardware is dead. Maybe not. Hardware is becoming more specialized as the general purpose CPU can't keep up. The tick-tock cycle created by Moore's law meant designers had a choice: build or buy. Make your own hardware to deep inspect 1gps of network traffic (for example) and release later or use an off-the-shelf CPU and release sooner.

Now in the anarchy of a Moore's lawless it looks like build is back. Jeff Dean is giving a talk at #scaledmlconf where he talks about this trend at Google.

CPU@jackclarkSF: Jeff Dean says Google can run its full Inception' v3 image model on a phone at about 6fps. And specialized ASICs are coming. 

And Mo Patel captured this slide from the talk:

Stealing payment card data and PINs from POS systems is dead easy

Many of the large payment card breaches that hit retail and hospitality businesses in recent years were the result of attackers infecting point-of-sale systems with memory-scraping malware. But there are easier ways to steal this sort of data, due to a lack of authentication and encryption between card readers and the POS payment applications.POS systems are specialized computers. They typically run Windows and have peripherals like keyboards, touch screens, barcode scanners and card readers with PIN pads. They also have specialized payment applications installed to handle transactions.One of the common methods used by attackers to steal payment card data from PoS systems is to infect them with malware, via stolen remote support credentials or other techniques. These malware programs are known as memory or RAM scrapers because they scan the system's memory for credit card data when it's processed by the payment application on the POS system.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here