Packet Blast: Top Tech Blogs, July 8

Optimize Your Data Center: Use Distributed File System

Let’s continue our journey toward two-switch data center. What can we do after virtualizing the workload, getting rid of legacy technologies, and reducing the number of server uplinks to two?

How about replacing dedicated storage boxes with distributed file system?

In late September, Howard Marks will talk about software-defined storage in my Building Next Generation Data Center course. The course is sold out, but if you register for the spring 2017 session, you’ll get access to recording of Howard’s talk.

Deep Discounts on Amazon Leading Into Prime Day – Deal Alert

For today only Amazon has significant discounts on a few select items, just a small taste of what's to come when Amazon unleashes 100,000+ discounts on "Prime Day" this Tuesday, July 12th, for Amazon Prime members only. If you're not a Prime member, you should at least sign up for the free 30 day trial so you're ready when the deals start to drop: sign up here. The powerful 20000mAh PowerCore 20100 from Anker weighs just 12.5 oz, but fully charges most phones and tablets to 100% several times over without needing to be recharged. It charges the iPhone 6s seven times, the Galaxy S6 five times or the iPad mini 4 twice. Industry leading output of 4.8 amps provides enough power to simultaneously charge any combination of devices at full speed. Surge protection, short circuit protection and more advanced safety features keep your devices safe. For additional peace of mind, the Anker PowerCore 20100 comes with an 18 month warranty and easily accessible customer service. It currently averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 4,500 people (85% rate it 5 stars -- read reviews). Its regular list price of $79.99 has been Continue reading

Google hopes to thwart quantum computers from cracking today’s Internet encryption

The encryption methods used to secure today’s Internet communications won’t be impenetrable forever. More powerful “quantum computers” on the horizon could very well crack them.That’s why Google is testing out new cryptography that computers in the future might not be able to break.  The processing power offered by "hypothetical, future" quantum computers could  be enough to “decrypt any internet communication that was recorded today,” wrote Matt Braithwaite, a Google software engineer in a company blog post on Thursday.This could affect the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol used when visiting websites. Old information, originally meant to be secured for decades, could suddenly become exposed, he added.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google hopes to thwart quantum computers from cracking today’s internet encryption

The encryption methods used to secure today’s internet communications won’t be impenetrable forever. More powerful “quantum computers” on the horizon could very well crack them.That’s why Google is testing out new cryptography that computers in the future might not be able to break.  The processing power offered by "hypothetical, future" quantum computers could  be enough to “decrypt any internet communication that was recorded today,” wrote Matt Braithwaite, a Google software engineer in a company blog post on Thursday.This could affect the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol used when visiting websites. Old information, originally meant to be secured for decades, could suddenly become exposed, he added.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google hopes to thwart quantum computers from cracking today’s internet encryption

The encryption methods used to secure today’s internet communications won’t be impenetrable forever. More powerful “quantum computers” on the horizon could very well crack them.That’s why Google is testing out new cryptography that computers in the future might not be able to break.  The processing power offered by "hypothetical, future" quantum computers could  be enough to “decrypt any internet communication that was recorded today,” wrote Matt Braithwaite, a Google software engineer in a company blog post on Thursday.This could affect the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol used when visiting websites. Old information, originally meant to be secured for decades, could suddenly become exposed, he added.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT spending will shrink worldwide due to Brexit, Gartner predicts

Britain's vote to exit the European Union will depress global IT spending this year, as companies cut back spending over uncertainty about what the future holds, Gartner has predicted. "We're looking at a 2-5 percent reduction in IT spending in the UK," compared to Gartner's previous forecast of a 1.7 percent decline, analyst John-David Lovelock said in an interview. "That's going to be enough to tip the worldwide IT spending negative this year," he said. The "Brexit" vote has led to massive uncertainty about what the future holds economically for Britain and the entire European Union, which means that companies have scaled back on their strategic plans in the fifth-largest IT market in the world.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

When HPC Becomes Normal

Sometimes, it seems that people are of two minds about high performance computing. They want it to be special and distinct from the rest of the broader IT market, and at the same time they want the distributed simulation and modeling workloads that have for decades been the most exotic things around to be so heavily democratized that they become pervasive. Democratized. Normal.

We are probably a few years off from HPC reaching this status, but this is one of the goals that the new HPC team at Dell has firmly in mind as the world’s second largest system maker …

When HPC Becomes Normal was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

FBI chief says Guccifer lied about hacking into Clinton’s email server

A Romanian hacker's claim that he broke into Hillary Clinton's private email server in 2013 was a lie, according to the FBI. Marcel Lehel Lazar, also known as Guccifer, has boasted about the breach to various media outlets, saying in May that it had been "easy."But on Thursday, FBI director James Comey said that Lazar, who is now in U.S. custody, has admitted the claim was false."He admitted that was a lie," Comey said during a congressional hearing on Clinton's use of her own private email server.Lazar, originally from Romania, was extradited to the U.S. and is awaiting sentencing for breaking into the email and social media accounts of various U.S. officials as well as a member of the Bush family.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

FBI chief says Guccifer lied about hacking into Clinton’s email server

A Romanian hacker's claim that he broke into Hillary Clinton's private email server in 2013 was a lie, according to the FBI. Marcel Lehel Lazar, also known as Guccifer, has boasted about the breach to various media outlets, saying in May that it had been "easy."But on Thursday, FBI director James Comey said that Lazar, who is now in U.S. custody, has admitted the claim was false."He admitted that was a lie," Comey said during a congressional hearing on Clinton's use of her own private email server.Lazar, originally from Romania, was extradited to the U.S. and is awaiting sentencing for breaking into the email and social media accounts of various U.S. officials as well as a member of the Bush family.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Understanding ‘transport output’ and ‘access-class’

Several years ago I wrote an article called The Elusive “access-class out” Command. My primary goal was to help CCNA students understand both the behavior of and placement of this command. My friend Anthony Sequeira done a great job in the video that is also shown in my original post. Today, I want to share another command and expand on there behavior.

For all of the demonstrations in this article, the following topology will be used. The router named iosv-2 will be the primary focus and the only place changes will be made.

Topology

Backing up for a moment, there are a couple of messages that might be displayed when an IOS device blocks outbound telnet or ssh sessions from the current exec session. These are demonstrated with a quick configuration of an transport output and access-class restriction.

//the first error is unique depending on
//if ssh or telnet is being used
iosv-2(config)line con 0
iosv-2(config-line)#transport output none
iosv-2(config-line)#do telnet 192.168.0.3
% telnet connections not permitted from this terminal
iosv-2(config-line)#do ssh -l cisco 192.168.0.3
% ssh connections not permitted from this terminal

//now we can re-enable all the protocols
//and demonstrate the other error message
iosv-2(config-line)#transport input all
iosv-2(config-line)#access-list  Continue reading

Facebook to launch OpenCellular, an open-source mobile networking framework

The world’s largest social network today announced that it will launch OpenCellular, a mobile infrastructure platform designed to lower barriers to entry for would-be providers of internet service to the developing world.OpenCellular, in essence, is designed to be a customizable base chassis for a wireless access point, able to connect devices using 2G, LTE or even Wi-Fi. Facebook said that the emphasis in the design process was on keeping the design as modular and inexpensive as possible, as well as making it easy to deploy.+ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Boston is nation’s top tech-talent exporter + Antivirus merger: Avast offers $1.3 billion for AVGTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Facebook to launch OpenCellular, an open-source mobile networking framework

The world’s largest social network today announced that it will launch OpenCellular, a mobile infrastructure platform designed to lower barriers to entry for would-be providers of internet service to the developing world.OpenCellular, in essence, is designed to be a customizable base chassis for a wireless access point, able to connect devices using 2G, LTE or even Wi-Fi. Facebook said that the emphasis in the design process was on keeping the design as modular and inexpensive as possible, as well as making it easy to deploy.+ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Boston is nation’s top tech-talent exporter + Antivirus merger: Avast offers $1.3 billion for AVGTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Wendy’s hack was bigger than thought and exposed credit card data

A data breach that hit Wendy's fast food restaurants was more than three times bigger than originally disclosed and exposed customer credit card data.The company said Thursday that malware installed in point-of-sale systems was discovered at over 1,000 of its franchised U.S. restaurants -- a big jump from the "fewer than 300 stores" it said in May had been affected.Hackers gained access to the machines using remote access credentials of a third-party service provider, Wendy’s said.The breach began in fall 2015 and wasn't discovered until early this year. As part of its investigation, the company discovered a second malware variant had infected its systems.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Wendy’s hack was bigger than thought and exposed credit card data

A data breach that hit Wendy's fast food restaurants was more than three times bigger than originally disclosed and exposed customer credit card data.The company said Thursday that malware installed in point-of-sale systems was discovered at over 1,000 of its franchised U.S. restaurants -- a big jump from the "fewer than 300 stores" it said in May had been affected.Hackers gained access to the machines using remote access credentials of a third-party service provider, Wendy’s said.The breach began in fall 2015 and wasn't discovered until early this year. As part of its investigation, the company discovered a second malware variant had infected its systems.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

GigaSpaces Unleashes New Version of Cloudify Orchestration

It includes plug-ins for all major cloud platforms.

6 ‘data’ buzzwords you need to understand

Take one major trend spanning the business and technology worlds, add countless vendors and consultants hoping to cash in, and what do you get? A whole lot of buzzwords with unclear definitions.In the world of big data, the surrounding hype has spawned a brand-new lingo. Need a little clarity? Read on for a glossary of sorts highlighting some of the main data types you should understand.1. Fast data The shining star in this constellation of terms is "fast data," which is popping up with increasing frequency. It refers to "data whose utility is going to decline over time," said Tony Baer, a principal analyst at Ovum who says he coined the term back in 2012.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Independence from L2 data centers

We’ve all been there. That “non-disruptive” maintenance window that should “only be a blip”. You sit down at the terminal at 10pm expecting that adding a new server to the MLAG domain or upgrading a single switch will be a simple process, only to lose the rack of dual-attached servers and spend the rest of your Thursday night frantically trying to bring the cluster back online. If I never spend another evening troubleshooting an outage caused by MLAG, I’ll die happy! -Cumulus

The post Worth Reading: Independence from L2 data centers appeared first on 'net work.

FTC warning: The IRS does not accept payment in iTunes cards

The Federal Trade Commission issued a warning today about a scam that sounds ridiculous but is nonetheless surprisingly common: Con artists are convincing victims that they’re from the IRS and will accept outstanding payments in the form of iTunes cards.From an FTC blog post: People have told the FTC about scammers who called and demanded iTunes cards as “payment.” Bogus “IRS agents” told people they owed back taxes and would be arrested soon, unless they bought an iTunes card and gave the code to the “agent.” Phony “government grant” officers called and promised a big payout, after the person bought an iTunes card and read the code to the “grant officer.” Other fraudsters told people their grandkids were in jail and the only way to help was — you guessed it — to buy an iTunes card and read the code over the phone. All the stories were false.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

FTC warning: The IRS does not accept payment in iTunes cards

The Federal Trade Commission issued a warning today about a scam that sounds ridiculous but is nonetheless surprisingly common: Con artists are convincing victims that they’re from the IRS and will accept outstanding payments in the form of iTunes cards.From an FTC blog post: People have told the FTC about scammers who called and demanded iTunes cards as “payment.” Bogus “IRS agents” told people they owed back taxes and would be arrested soon, unless they bought an iTunes card and gave the code to the “agent.” Phony “government grant” officers called and promised a big payout, after the person bought an iTunes card and read the code to the “grant officer.” Other fraudsters told people their grandkids were in jail and the only way to help was — you guessed it — to buy an iTunes card and read the code over the phone. All the stories were false.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here