Is your data safe when it’s at rest? MarkLogic 9 aims to make sure it is

The database landscape is much more diverse than it once was, thanks in large part to big data, and on Tuesday, one of today's newer contenders unveiled an upcoming release featuring a major boost in security.Version 9 of MarkLogic's namesake NoSQL database will be available at the end of this year, and one of its key new features is the inclusion of Cryptsoft’s KMIP (Key Management Interoperability Protocol) technology.MarkLogic has placed its bets on companies' need to integrate data from dispersed enterprise silos -- a task that has often required the use of so-called ETL tools to extract, transform and load data into a traditional relational database. Aiming to offer an alternative approach, MarkLogic's technology combines the flexibility, scalability, and agility of NoSQL with enterprise-hardened features like government-grade security and high availability, it says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Is your data safe when it’s at rest? MarkLogic 9 aims to make sure it is

The database landscape is much more diverse than it once was, thanks in large part to big data, and on Tuesday, one of today's newer contenders unveiled an upcoming release featuring a major boost in security.Version 9 of MarkLogic's namesake NoSQL database will be available at the end of this year, and one of its key new features is the inclusion of Cryptsoft’s KMIP (Key Management Interoperability Protocol) technology.MarkLogic has placed its bets on companies' need to integrate data from dispersed enterprise silos -- a task that has often required the use of so-called ETL tools to extract, transform and load data into a traditional relational database. Aiming to offer an alternative approach, MarkLogic's technology combines the flexibility, scalability, and agility of NoSQL with enterprise-hardened features like government-grade security and high availability, it says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Book Review: Deep Work by Cal Newport

Deep Work by Cal Newport is highly recommended if you are an information worker who is less productive than you wish you were. I recommended Deep Work even more highly if you feel you are productive, but are not producing the sort of work you desperately want to be.

SAP design chief talks details of Apple deal

SAP isn't necessarily known for its design chops or world-class user experience, but the enterprise software giant hopes its new partnership with Apple can change that. "We felt that a partnership with Apple can take that to the next level, both with Apple's expertise in design, but also the ability to optimize those designs natively on iOS devices," says Sam Yen, SAP's chief design officer.Apple and SAP began exploring potential partnerships more than a year ago, according to Yen, and their respective CEOs met in late 2015 to start to formalize the deal. The goal of the pact is to rethink the entire mobile enterprise experience, according to Yen. Apple's iOS is widely used in enterprise, and "76 percent of all global business transactions are done on SAP systems," according to Yen, so it was a "no brainer" for the two companies to combine their strengths.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Enterprise networkers have organized: Here are their demands

A user group for enterprise IT managers is taking on software-defined networking, calling for new technologies they say would better serve enterprise needs.On Tuesday, the Open Networking User Group (ONUG) announced initiatives behind four technologies that it says would help enterprises build and run their networks better.There’s no shortage of platforms and protocols for software-defined infrastructure, including things like OpenFlow, OpenStack and ONOS (Open Network Operating System). But they were developed around the needs of vendors and service providers more than of enterprises, ONUG founder Nick Lippis said. His group wants to push along a few more pieces that aren’t there yet.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Enterprise networkers have organized: Here are their demands

A user group for enterprise IT managers is taking on software-defined networking, calling for new technologies they say would better serve enterprise needs.On Tuesday, the Open Networking User Group (ONUG) announced initiatives behind four technologies that it says would help enterprises build and run their networks better.There’s no shortage of platforms and protocols for software-defined infrastructure, including things like OpenFlow, OpenStack and ONOS (Open Network Operating System). But they were developed around the needs of vendors and service providers more than of enterprises, ONUG founder Nick Lippis said. His group wants to push along a few more pieces that aren’t there yet.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5 security experts share their best tips for ‘fringe’ devices

What is a ‘fringe’ device in IT? For some, it’s a gadget everyone has forgotten about — a printer in a corner office, an Android tablet in a public area used to schedule conference rooms. A fringe device can also be one that’s common enough to be used in the office yet not so common that everyone is carrying one around or has one hooked up to the Wi-Fi every day. As with any security concern, many of these devices are overlooked. There might be security policies and software used to track and monitor iPads and Dell laptops, but what about the old HP printer used at the receptionist’s desk? In a hospital, it might be a patient monitoring device. In a more technical shop, it could be a new smartphone running an alternate operating system.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5 security experts share their best tips for ‘fringe’ devices

What is a ‘fringe’ device in IT? For some, it’s a gadget everyone has forgotten about — a printer in a corner office, an Android tablet in a public area used to schedule conference rooms. A fringe device can also be one that’s common enough to be used in the office yet not so common that everyone is carrying one around or has one hooked up to the Wi-Fi every day. As with any security concern, many of these devices are overlooked. There might be security policies and software used to track and monitor iPads and Dell laptops, but what about the old HP printer used at the receptionist’s desk? In a hospital, it might be a patient monitoring device. In a more technical shop, it could be a new smartphone running an alternate operating system.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

UK court declines to force alleged British hacker to decrypt his data

The U.K.'s National Crime Agency (NCA) failed in its attempt to use what critics described as a legal backdoor to force a suspected hacker to provide the decryption key for data on multiple devices.Lauri Love, 31, was arrested by U.K. authorities in 2013 under suspicion of hacking into computers belonging to multiple U.S. government agencies including NASA, the FBI, the Federal Reserve, and the Army.Love is the subject of separate indictments in courts in New Jersey, New York, and Virginia and faces extradition to the U.S. An extradition hearing is scheduled for the end of June.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

UK court declines to force alleged British hacker to decrypt his data

The U.K.'s National Crime Agency (NCA) failed in its attempt to use what critics described as a legal backdoor to force a suspected hacker to provide the decryption key for data on multiple devices.Lauri Love, 31, was arrested by U.K. authorities in 2013 under suspicion of hacking into computers belonging to multiple U.S. government agencies including NASA, the FBI, the Federal Reserve, and the Army.Love is the subject of separate indictments in courts in New Jersey, New York, and Virginia and faces extradition to the U.S. An extradition hearing is scheduled for the end of June.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

DR versus DIS: What’s the Diff?

OSPF and IS-IS, both link state protocols, use mechanisms that manage flooding on a broadcast link, as well as simplify the shortest path tree passing through the broadcast link. OSPF elects a Designated Router (or DR) to simplify broadcast links, and IS-IS elects a Designated Intermediate System (or DIS—a topic covered in depth in the IS-IS Livelesson I recently recorded). Beyond their being used in two different protocols, there are actually subtle differences in the operation of the two mechanisms. So what is the difference?

Before we dive into differences, let’s discuss the similarities. We’ll use the illustration below as a basis for discussion.

Broadcast network operation in link state protocols

Q1 and Q2 illustrate the operation of a link state protocol without any optimization on a broadcast network, with Q1 showing the network, and Q2 showing the resulting shortest path tree. Q3 and Q4 illustrate link state operation with optimization over a broadcast link. It’s important to differentiate between building a shortest path tree (SPT) across the broadcast link and flooding across the broadcast link—flooding is where the primary differences lie in the handling of broadcast links in the two protocols.

Let’s consider building the SPT first. Both protocols operate roughly the same in this Continue reading

Community is Key

So in case anyone didn’t know, I got to speak at Interop Las Vegas 2016 last week. It was an amazing experience, and I think it changed my professional outlook on a lot of things.  I had never attended a large conference like this before, and it was slightly daunting in that respect, to say […]

The post Community is Key appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Community is Key

So in case anyone didn’t know, I got to speak at Interop Las Vegas 2016 last week. It was an amazing experience, and I think it changed my professional outlook on a lot of things.  I had never attended a large conference like this before, and it was slightly daunting in that respect, to say […]

The post Community is Key appeared first on Packet Pushers.

DHS moves to bolster intrusion/detection for federal networks

Looking to address a substantial shortfall in the government’s major weapon for defending against cyber attacks, the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) said it has added a new intrusion prevention security service to the National Cybersecurity Protection System (NCPS)— also known as Einstein 3A.In a Privacy Impact Assessment, the DHS said the intrusion prevention, a Web Content Filtering system, provides protection at the application layer for web traffic by blocking access to suspicious websites, preventing malware from running on systems and networks, and detecting and blocking phishing attempts as well as malicious web content. This service will be added to the existing E3A intrusion prevention security services that are already in place, the DHS stated.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft expands its Azure cloud platform to South Korea

Microsoft is expanding the global footprint of its cloud platform to South Korea, and it has officially launched its previously announced data center in Canada, the company announced Tuesday. In South Korea, Microsoft's cloud will be getting two new regions, including one in Seoul. They're aimed at serving both customers of the company's Azure cloud platform, and also its other services, including Office 365 and Dynamics CRM Online. Customers also now have full use of two Microsoft Azure regions in Canada, located in Quebec City and Toronto. This announcement is part of Microsoft's ongoing plan to expand the geographic reach of its cloud computing platform. The expansion serves a pair of purposes: meeting the data sovereignty needs of customers, and making it faster for people to access Microsoft's cloud. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Facebook Flow Is An AI Factory Of The Future

We have been convinced for many years that machine learning, the kind of artificial intelligence that actually works in practice, not in theory, would be a key element of the next platform. In fact, it might be the most important part of the stack. And therefore, those who control how we deploy machine learning will, to a large extent, control the nature of future applications and the systems that run them.

Machine learning is the killer app for the hyperscalers, just like modeling and simulation were for supercomputing centers decades ago, and we believe we are only seeing the tip

Facebook Flow Is An AI Factory Of The Future was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

What SWAG will Google I/O 2016 attendees take home?

Next week, Google will show its love for independent software developers by giving them an exclusive first-look at new technologies and early and free access to new hardware at the ninth annual Google I/O conference. Here are a couple of educated guesses at free hardware, which developers call SWAG (something we all get), attendees will take home.Early access hardware giveaways The past is a good predictor of the future. Looking back at earlier I/O shows, Google wanted to give their loyal developers a head start developing for strategic new platforms and bestowed upon them the newest hardware.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Privacy advocates want protections for US residents in foreign surveillance law

Congress should limit the ability of the FBI and other agencies to search for information about U.S. residents in a database of foreign terrorism communications collected by the National Security Agency, privacy advocates say.The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act, which allows the NSA to collect foreign Internet communications, expires in late 2017, and Congress should require that the communications of U.S. residents swept up in the controversial Prism and Upstream programs be protected with court-ordered warrants, privacy advocates told a Senate committee Tuesday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Privacy advocates want protections for US residents in foreign surveillance law

Congress should limit the ability of the FBI and other agencies to search for information about U.S. residents in a database of foreign terrorism communications collected by the National Security Agency, privacy advocates say.The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act, which allows the NSA to collect foreign Internet communications, expires in late 2017, and Congress should require that the communications of U.S. residents swept up in the controversial Prism and Upstream programs be protected with court-ordered warrants, privacy advocates told a Senate committee Tuesday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here