Interop: Ransomware should haunt you all the time

When the ransomware demands come in it’s really too late to come up with a good response plan, so do that as soon as you can, an Interop audience was told.“You need to decide beforehand whether you will pay and under what circumstances,” John Pironti, president of IP Architects, says. “It’s a cost benefit decision in the end.”+More on Network World: FBI: Ransomware threat at all-time high; how to protect company jewels | See all the stories from Interop +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Interop: Ransomware should haunt you all the time

When the ransomware demands come in it’s really too late to come up with a good response plan, so do that as soon as you can, an Interop audience was told.“You need to decide beforehand whether you will pay and under what circumstances,” John Pironti, president of IP Architects, says. “It’s a cost benefit decision in the end.”+More on Network World: FBI: Ransomware threat at all-time high; how to protect company jewels | See all the stories from Interop +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

72% off Cambridge SoundWorks OontZ Angle 3 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker – Deal Alert

The Cambridge SoundWorks OontZ Angle 3 Next Generation Ultra Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker currently averages 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 5,000 people on Amazon (read reviews).  It's regular list price is $99.99, but with the current 72% discount you can get it for just $27.99. The OontZ Angle 3 connects effortlessly to your device via bluetooth. It is designed to be loud and clear, with rich bass delivered through their proprietary passive subwoofer design. IPX5 water resistance makes the unit splashproof, rainproof, dustproof, and sandproof. A good consideration for the beach, poolside, in the outdoor shower, car, boat or golf cart. At only 9 ounces and just 5 inches long, it's very light and easy to fit in a backpack. Its high capacity rechargeable 2200 mAh battery lasts for up to 7 hours of playtime.  Check out the dramatically discounted OontZ Angle 3 from Cambridge Soundworks now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Windows 10 reaches 300 million devices mark

Microsoft announced that Windows 10 surpassed the 300 million devices mark, and that momentum continues despite what some have perceived as a slowdown in installations.Writing on the Microsoft corporate blog, Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of the Windows and Devices Group, said Windows has become “one of the largest online services in less than a year,” an interesting choice of words for an operating system.“We’re seeing people at home, at schools, at small businesses, at large companies and other organizations adopt Windows 10 faster than ever, and use Windows 10 more than ever before,” he wrote.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Qualcomm flaw puts millions of Android devices at risk

A vulnerability in an Android component shipped with phones that use Qualcomm chips puts users' text messages and call history at risk of theft.The flaw was found by security researchers from FireEye and was patched by Qualcomm in March. However, because the vulnerability was introduced five years ago, many affected devices are unlikely to ever receive the fix because they're no longer supported by their manufacturers.The vulnerability, which is tracked as CVE-2016-2060, is located on an Android component called "netd" that Qualcomm modified in order to provide additional tethering capabilities. Malicious applications could exploit the flaw in order to execute commands as the "radio" system user, which has special privileges.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Qualcomm flaw puts millions of Android devices at risk

A vulnerability in an Android component shipped with phones that use Qualcomm chips puts users' text messages and call history at risk of theft.The flaw was found by security researchers from FireEye and was patched by Qualcomm in March. However, because the vulnerability was introduced five years ago, many affected devices are unlikely to ever receive the fix because they're no longer supported by their manufacturers.The vulnerability, which is tracked as CVE-2016-2060, is located on an Android component called "netd" that Qualcomm modified in order to provide additional tethering capabilities. Malicious applications could exploit the flaw in order to execute commands as the "radio" system user, which has special privileges.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

VMware NSX SociaLab is Coming to a City Near You!

VMware NSX is indisputably the most widely deployed software network overlay on the market today, and many companies are realizing the valuable payoff that comes with virtualizing the network to improve security, IT automation and application continuity.

Now is your chance to be taught by VMware NSX experts, in-person, as they guide you through technical features, functions, and business use cases – all while you work directly with the solution. Collaborate with peers and ask the experts questions tailored to your case by signing up for a VMware NSX SociaLab near you.

VMware NSX enables a new policy-driven approach to transform the economics of network and security operations.  Whether you’re a beginner, or you’re already working with the NSX platform, these expert-led, hands-on labs will highlight multiple features of NSX such as:

  • A Software-Defined Data Center Intro
  • NSX Architecture and Components
  • Logical Switching
  • Data Center Security
  • NSX Firewalls
  • Service Composer and the NSX Ecosystem
  • Security Monitoring and Visibility

Bring your own device, join an interactive environment, and attend a free VMware SociaLab NSX event in your city this May-June.

The post VMware NSX SociaLab is Coming to a City Near You! appeared first on The Network Virtualization Blog.

US trade body investigates seven smartphone companies

A U.S. trade body has launched an investigation into seven smartphone companies on charges of patent infringement, which could lead to a ban on the sale of certain phones imported and sold by these vendors in the country.The U.S. International Trade Commission said it had instituted an investigation into devices from a group of mainly Asian companies, including Lenovo and its Motorola subsidiary, Samsung Electronics, ZTE, Sony, LG Electronics, HTC and BlackBerry.The complaint was filed against these companies by Creative Technology of Singapore and its U.S. subsidiary Creative Labs of Milpitas, California, on March 24.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

White House worries about bad A.I. coding

The White House is doing a lot more thinking about the arrival of automated decision-making -- super-intelligent or otherwise.  No one in government is yet screaming "Skynet," but in two actions this week the concerns about our artificial intelligence future were sketched out.The big risks of A.I. are well-known (a robot takeover), but the more immediate worries are about the subtle, or not-so-subtle, decisions made by badly coded and designed algorithms.+ ALSO: How enterprises can use artificial intelligence +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

High-tech moms: Tips for managing family life while steering booming businesses

Happy Mother's Day, Tech Moms!Image by ThinkstockTo help celebrate Mother’s Day, we asked some successful and hard-charging entrepreneurs, who also happen to be moms, to share their insights into managing the many rigors of creating a startup company, all while juggling the daily challenges of parenting. They share how their work lives and home lives sometimes have balance – and sometimes not – and why a strong support network is sacred, and perfection is overrated.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google, Honeywell resolve patent dispute over Nest thermostats

Google and Honeywell have signed a patent cross-license agreement that resolves a long-standing patent dispute over thermostats made by Nest Labs, the home automation startup the Internet giant acquired.The proceedings in the case have been pending in court for about four years, awaiting the results of a reexamination of the patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to court records. The companies said Thursday they believe that the patent accord “promotes product innovation and consumer choice in the market for smart home products.” The financial and other details of the deal between the two companies were not disclosed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Setting Up DC Fabric Simulation With OpenSwitch and GNS3

Note: This article was originally published here.

In the previous post I covered the basics about setting up the OpenSwitch Appliance using GNS3. The setup was fairly simple: two switches connected to each other and exchanging LLDP packets. In this post we will setup a more elaborate network to simulate a DC fabric (although it may be a bit overkill of a setup). The setup will be the basis for the next posts about configuring this fabric using Ansible.

One of the first questions when setting up a complex topology with GNS3 that most people will do is: how do I connect it to the external world outside of the simulation? For VirtualBox machines that we are using, the options are limited. The one I found to work reliably across platforms was to use a NAT connection. This has the disadvantage that we have limited connectivity from the external world toward the internal network, but this could be also a security advantage to prevent accidental propagation of control protocols from our simulated environment.

Since the purpose of this lab is going to be to play with Ansible, we are going to need a Linux machine to run it. So, we will setup the following Continue reading