Edward Snowden has developed an iPhone case meant to kill surveillance

National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden has come up with a concept iPhone case that could prevent the government from finding your location. Smartphones, while incredibly useful, are also the “perfect tracking device,” Snowden wrote in a co-authored paper that covers his research. Governments can monitor a user’s location through the radio signals from the phone and this can put journalists, activists, and rights workers in danger, he warned. On Thursday, Snowden and hacker Andrew Huang presented a possible solution. It’s called “the introspection engine,” and it’s designed to alert the user if and when the phone’s radio signals are turned on.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google Cloud’s Machine Learning APIs Hit Beta

Google hopes AI will make its cloud offering more competitive.

FBI needs to beef-up high-tech cyber threat evaluations says DoJ Inspector General

The FBI needs to identify and categorize cyber threats more quickly than it currently does in an effort to stay out in front of current and emerging cyber threats.+More on Network World: FBI: The top 3 ways Congress could help fight tenacious cyber threats+That was the general observation of a report out this week from the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General which found that while the FBI has an annual process, known as Threat Review andPrioritization (TRP), to identify the most severe and substantial threats and direct resources to them, the process employs subjective terminology that is open to interpretation, and as such does not prioritize cyber threats in an objective, data-driven, reproducible, and auditable manner.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

FBI needs to beef-up high-tech cyber threat evaluations says DoJ Inspector General

The FBI needs to identify and categorize cyber threats more quickly than it currently does in an effort to stay out in front of current and emerging cyber threats.+More on Network World: FBI: The top 3 ways Congress could help fight tenacious cyber threats+That was the general observation of a report out this week from the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General which found that while the FBI has an annual process, known as Threat Review andPrioritization (TRP), to identify the most severe and substantial threats and direct resources to them, the process employs subjective terminology that is open to interpretation, and as such does not prioritize cyber threats in an objective, data-driven, reproducible, and auditable manner.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Focusing on Security in the SGiLAN

Virtualization of the SGiLAN in mobile networks through the use of converged platforms can improve security.

Motorola’s Moto Z smartphone redefines the meaning of mobility

Lately, reviewing Android phones has become difficult—difficult because the quality of the phones has become so consistently good. Android reached parity with iOS with the Kitkat release. Since then the component quality spiked upwards, delivering clear and colorful screens, smooth performance and long battery life at decreasing price points. It leaves the reviewer with little to nitpick over other than the cameras. And recently, the difference in camera quality in all but the economy-tier improved dramatically.The Moto Z Droid and the Moto Z Force change this with Moto Mods, an ingenious way to add hardware features. Management at One Infinite Loop must be wondering how Apple’s designers were caught asleep at the innovation switch.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

PQ Show 86: Making Sense Of CloudRouter

CloudRouter is an open source project built on Linux. Its designed to run in physical and virtual environments, including the cloud, and includes core routing protocols such as BGP and OSPF. The Packet Pushers dig in to find out just what CloudRouter can do. The post PQ Show 86: Making Sense Of CloudRouter appeared first on Packet Pushers.

CIOs question value of Microsoft’s LinkedIn buy

CIOs' views of Microsoft’s blockbuster bid to buy LinkedIn runs the gamut from dismay to cautious optimism. Some IT leaders fret that the $26.2 billion deal won't generate demonstrable value for customers while others are applauding what they see as a smart big data play. "My immediate response was, 'What the hell are they doing?,' says Brian Long, CIO of aerospace parts supplier Pattonair. Long, who views Microsoft's role in the enterprise as an enabler of Office productivity, is concerned that Microsoft suddenly wants a social network that drives sales and marketing endeavors. Long doesn’t think much of Microsoft trying to anticipate where it can tap in professionals' day-to-day life.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Watching: Has SDN lived up to the hype?

This is a recent round table discussion I participated in over at LightReading. My friends over at ECI put this together.

The post Worth Watching: Has SDN lived up to the hype? appeared first on 'net work.

Dell patches critical flaws in SonicWALL Global Management System

Dell has patched several critical flaws in its central management system for SonicWALL enterprise security appliances, such as firewalls and VPN gateways.If left unfixed, the vulnerabilities allow remote, unauthenticated attackers to gain full control of SonicWALL Global Management System (GMS) deployments and the devices managed through those systems.The SonicWALL GMS virtual appliance software has six vulnerabilities, four of which are rated critical, according to researchers from security firm Digital Defense.First, unauthenticated attackers could inject arbitrary commands through the system's web interface that would be executed with root privileges. This is possible through two vulnerable methods: set_time_config and set_dns.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Dell patches critical flaws in SonicWALL Global Management System

Dell has patched several critical flaws in its central management system for SonicWALL enterprise security appliances, such as firewalls and VPN gateways.If left unfixed, the vulnerabilities allow remote, unauthenticated attackers to gain full control of SonicWALL Global Management System (GMS) deployments and the devices managed through those systems.The SonicWALL GMS virtual appliance software has six vulnerabilities, four of which are rated critical, according to researchers from security firm Digital Defense.First, unauthenticated attackers could inject arbitrary commands through the system's web interface that would be executed with root privileges. This is possible through two vulnerable methods: set_time_config and set_dns.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Dell patches critical flaws in SonicWALL Global Management System

Dell has patched several critical flaws in its central management system for SonicWALL enterprise security appliances, such as firewalls and VPN gateways.If left unfixed, the vulnerabilities allow remote, unauthenticated attackers to gain full control of SonicWALL Global Management System (GMS) deployments and the devices managed through those systems.The SonicWALL GMS virtual appliance software has six vulnerabilities, four of which are rated critical, according to researchers from security firm Digital Defense.First, unauthenticated attackers could inject arbitrary commands through the system's web interface that would be executed with root privileges. This is possible through two vulnerable methods: set_time_config and set_dns.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Chromebook shipments are exploding, but not replacing Windows PCs

Chromebook shipment growth will be in the double digits this year, but the devices are not being used as Windows PC replacements, which is what Google had hoped for.Chromebook shipments will jump by about 18 percent this year compared to 2015, according to Mikako Kitagawa, an analyst at Gartner. It will be one of the few areas of growth in an otherwise slumping PC market.In 2015, Chromebook shipments totaled 6.5 million units, so shipments this year could be in the 7.5 million to 8 million range. About 1.65 million Chromebooks shipped in the first quarter of 2016; second quarter numbers weren't yet available.The devices, though, are still a small fragment of the overall PC market, in which unit shipments are expected to reach 290 million units this year. Outside of Chromebooks, the Windows-based 2-in-1 and gaming PC segments are also growing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

On the ‘net: What does a control plane do?

To really understand Software Defined Networks (SDNs), we need to start from a place far different than the top of the current hype cycle. Instead, where we need to start is thinking about what a control plane actually does in a packet switched network. There seem to be just a few specific things involved in what a control plane does… —ECI

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F5 CEO to Retire (Again) as New ADCs Emerge

The Shuttle series points to the future as John McAdam points toward the exit.

IDG Contributor Network: 911 call misrouted by 2,500 miles

An urgent call to 911 from the front desk of an Anchorage, Alaska, hotel was routed to Ontario. Local police authorities blamed it on VoIP telephony services.While VoIP does play a role in the issue, the core problem stems from improper provisioning of the phone service and is something that has happened before, when calls to 911 were routed to Northern 911, an Ontario company.This specialized, privately operated 911 center functions as a "PSAP of last resort," taking calls meant for 911 that otherwise cannot be routed correctly, intercepting them manually. After determining the location of the incident, calls are then extended over trunks to administrative lines.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: 911 call misrouted by 2,500 miles

An urgent call to 911 from the front desk of an Anchorage, Alaska, hotel was routed to Ontario. Local police authorities blamed it on VoIP telephony services.While VoIP does play a role in the issue, the core problem stems from improper provisioning of the phone service and is something that has happened before, when calls to 911 were routed to Northern 911, an Ontario company.This specialized, privately operated 911 center functions as a "PSAP of last resort," taking calls meant for 911 that otherwise cannot be routed correctly, intercepting them manually. After determining the location of the incident, calls are then extended over trunks to administrative lines.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Navigating EU safe harbor

If you’re an organization with trans-Atlantic presence that transmits and stores European citizen data (e.g. employee payroll & HR data, client & prospect data) in the U.S. you will want to pay attention. What we will discuss was administered under the European Union’s Data Protection Directive and a previous EU-U.S. agreement called Safe Harbor. We will cover what happened, what’s next, new rules (and penalties) that are set to go into effect and our recommendations. —Cloud Security Alliance

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HPE’s Itanium server refresh should come in mid-2017

Hewlett Packard Enterprise plans to refresh its Itanium server range around the middle of next year, employing Intel's long-promised "Kittson" successor to the current Itanium 9500 series ("Poulson") chips.News of the server update plans comes from Ken Surplice, category manager for mission-critical solutions at HPE's EMEA server division.Surplice told Dutch website Computable that the company is on schedule to refresh its Integrity servers for HP-UX and OpenVMS with Intel's upcoming Kittson Itanium processors in 2017, and that the servers should be with customers mid-year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

HPE’s Itanium server refresh should come in mid-2017

Hewlett Packard Enterprise plans to refresh its Itanium server range around the middle of next year, employing Intel's long-promised "Kittson" successor to the current Itanium 9500 series ("Poulson") chips.News of the server update plans comes from Ken Surplice, category manager for mission-critical solutions at HPE's EMEA server division.Surplice told Dutch website Computable that the company is on schedule to refresh its Integrity servers for HP-UX and OpenVMS with Intel's upcoming Kittson Itanium processors in 2017, and that the servers should be with customers mid-year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here