Top-level domain expansion is a security risk for business computers

The explosion of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) in recent years can put enterprise computers at risk due to name conflicts between internal domain names used inside corporate networks and those that can now be registered on the public Internet.Many companies have configured their networks to use domain names, in many cases with made-up TLDs that a few years ago didn't use to exist on the Internet, such as .office, .global, .network, .group, .school and many others. Having an internal domain-based namespace makes it easier to locate, manage and access systems.The problem is that over the past two years, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has approved over 900 gTLDs for public use as part of an expansion effort. This can have unexpected security implications for applications and protocols used on domain-based corporate networks.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Top-level domain expansion is a security risk for business computers

The explosion of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) in recent years can put enterprise computers at risk due to name conflicts between internal domain names used inside corporate networks and those that can now be registered on the public Internet.Many companies have configured their networks to use domain names, in many cases with made-up TLDs that a few years ago didn't use to exist on the Internet, such as .office, .global, .network, .group, .school and many others. Having an internal domain-based namespace makes it easier to locate, manage and access systems.The problem is that over the past two years, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has approved over 900 gTLDs for public use as part of an expansion effort. This can have unexpected security implications for applications and protocols used on domain-based corporate networks.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Six Ways Ansible Makes Docker-Compose Better

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Containers are popular for many reasons. One key reason: container images are easy to build and, once built, don't change.  When Developer A says, "Hey, check out this new application, just download this container image and run it," Developer B doesn't have to ask the question, "How do I configure it?"  Developer B can just download the image and run the container, and enjoy a high likelihood that it will run exactly as Developer A intended.

Until Developer A announces the need for a second, third and fourth container, that is.  A microservices approach advocates for simple containers, sure -- but that also means more of them, all doing different things, and all connecting together... somehow.  So now Developer A needs to tell Developer B "be sure to run all of these containers together, and make sure these two containers share a data volume, and make sure these other two containers have a network link between them, and make sure the REST API for this one is exposed on these ports. Oh, also! Make sure you've got your DNS set up right, because it's all a hilarious dumpster fire if you don't."

Complexity doesn't go away in the container world; it just moves to different Continue reading

Pushing Everyone’s Buttons In IT

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We have officially reached the point in our long and storied IT careers where we, as old fogies, have earned the right to complain about the next generation of users and professionals. Just as the gray beards before us complained about the way we did things, so too is it our turn to moan about the state of affairs. Today, I’d like to point out how driving IT to the point of pushing simple buttons is destroying the way we do things.

Easy Buttons

The fact that IT work has been able to be distilled into a series of simple button pushing exercises is very thrilling. We’ve spent a lot of time and effort building devices and frameworks that take the hard part out of building devices and frameworks. We no longer have to invent languages to build things or hardware to do things. Instead, we can refine our programming capabilities or use general purpose hardware in new combinations to provide environments for our users.

That’s one of the things that is driving people to the cloud. Cloud isn’t just about exciting hardware or keeping your data in other places. It is just as much about predictable, repeatable frameworks and Continue reading

Top 30 AWS cloud services

Amazon Web Services consultancy 2nd Watch this week released the findings of an analysis of 100,000 public cloud instances to determine the 30 most popular services being used. It’s not surprising that AWS’s two core products: compute and storage, lead the pack. 100% of the environments 2nd Watch examined were using Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), the massively scalable object storage service. 99% of customers also were using Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), the on-demand virtual machine service. 100% of customers use AWS Data Transfer, because if you have data in the cloud, you need to transfer it in or out at some point.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

BGP Next-Hop Behaviour in IP and MPLS Networks

One of my CCDE bootcamp students asked a question about next hop in MPLS VPN network. So, I would be very pleased to explain the BGP next hop behaviour both in IP and MPLS network in this post. Let’s start with this IP network shown below (Figure-1). Figure-1 IBGP Next Hop handling in IP networks In […]

The post BGP Next-Hop Behaviour in IP and MPLS Networks appeared first on Cisco Network Design and Architecture | CCDE Bootcamp | orhanergun.net.

HPE to spin out its huge services business, merge it with CSC

In a surprise move Tuesday, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise said it would spin off its enterprise services business and merge it with CSC to create an IT services giant with $26 billion in annual revenue.It's the latest step by CEO Meg Whitman in her effort to turn around one of Silicon Valley's oldest companies. Just last year, Hewlett-Packard split itself into two vendors, with HPE selling data center products and services, and HP Inc. selling PCs.Now, HPE will slice itself up further, doubling down on its bet that a smaller company will be able to move faster and attract new business in a world increasingly dominated by the cloud.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: 26 crazy and scary things the TSA has found on travelers HPE said it expects to complete the "spin-merger" by March 2017. The combined company will be led by Mike Lawrie, CSC's chairman, president and CEO. Whitman will have a seat on the board, and the remaining directors will be nominated half by HPE and half by CSC.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

HPE to spin out its huge services business, merge it with CSC

In a surprise move Tuesday, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise said it would spin off its enterprise services business and merge it with CSC to create an IT services giant with $26 billion in annual revenue.It's the latest step by CEO Meg Whitman in her effort to turn around one of Silicon Valley's oldest companies. Just last year, Hewlett-Packard split itself into two vendors, with HPE selling data center products and services, and HP Inc. selling PCs.Now, HPE will slice itself up further, doubling down on its bet that a smaller company will be able to move faster and attract new business in a world increasingly dominated by the cloud.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: 26 crazy and scary things the TSA has found on travelers HPE said it expects to complete the "spin-merger" by March 2017. The combined company will be led by Mike Lawrie, CSC's chairman, president and CEO. Whitman will have a seat on the board, and the remaining directors will be nominated half by HPE and half by CSC.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to find undervalued tech talent

Andrew Filev, CEO of Wrike, a company that offers task and project management tools, takes a unique approach to recruiting talent. While some companies might go after the most desired talent on the market, Filev prefers to hire the undervalued players, and foster their strengths to create a well-rounded team."'Island of Misfit Toys' is a nickname some of our team gave themselves one day at lunch when they were reflecting on how different their career backgrounds were prior to joining Wrike. These are people who landed at Wrike either without a lot of experience, or with an abundance of experience unrelated to their current positions -- often in jobs where they lacked challenge and growth. Since starting their careers here, they've become key players on our team and many are now in roles as team leaders or program managers, and are also big cultural assets in the company," says Filev.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Five arrested for impersonating the IRS, listen to a recorded scam in progress

Five people have been arrested in Miami who are said to be responsible for scamming 1,500 people out of more than $2 million by impersonating IRS agents. Their scams centered on contacting individual taxpayers out of the blue and demanding payments under the threat of jail time. News of the arrests circulated Tuesday after the Associated Press reported on them. Sources in the Treasury Department said that the five individuals - all Cuban nationals - demanded money from their victims, threatening arrest if the payments were not wired immediately. In recent months, the scammers demanded payment via iTunes gift cards. Scams such as this, Deputy Inspector General Tim Camus told the Washington Post, have become the "largest and most pervasive" the IRS has faced over the last three decades. Some 6,400 victims have reported more than $36 million in losses, some paying up to $5,700 on average.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Five arrested for impersonating the IRS, listen to a recorded scam in progress

Five people have been arrested in Miami who are said to be responsible for scamming 1,500 people out of more than $2 million by impersonating IRS agents. Their scams centered on contacting individual taxpayers out of the blue and demanding payments under the threat of jail time.News of the arrests circulated Tuesday after the Associated Press reported on them. Sources in the Treasury Department said that the five individuals - all Cuban nationals - demanded money from their victims, threatening arrest if the payments were not wired immediately.In recent months, the scammers demanded payment via iTunes gift cards.Scams such as this, Deputy Inspector General Tim Camus told the Washington Post, have become the "largest and most pervasive" the IRS has faced over the last three decades. Some 6,400 victims have reported more than $36 million in losses, some paying up to $5,700 on average.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft kills off another chunk of its smartphone activities

Down, but not out: Microsoft is laying off another 1,850 staff from its smartphone hardware business, but says it isn't leaving the market completely.What's left of the old Nokia business in Finland will be hardest hit by the latest round of lay-offs, with up to 1,350 jobs to go. Microsoft will cut up to 500 more globally, it said Wednesday.Since it bought Nokia's mobile phone activities in 2013, Microsoft has been managing a business in decline. The majority of the staff it acquired from Nokia are gone, and the company's mobile phone market share has stagnated.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Why I stay with Firefox

In a recent Network World column, guest author Susan Perschke discussed why she switched back to the Firefox browser, with its piddling low teens percentage of market share, from the dominant browser, Google Chrome.Perschke illustrated many good reasons to use Firefox, all of them legitimate and valid, but I have two good reasons of my own. Firefox has two feature Chrome just doesn't have.First is the URL bar. Its absence is what kept me away from Chrome in the first place. That and Chrome's constant failure to render certain HTML pages. I like being able to click the pulldown menu and see sites I visit infrequently but not enough to bookmark. My bookmarks are hard enough to manage without saving every page I visit.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here