There’s finally reason to hope in the war against ransomware

Now when ransomware tries to take over your computer, there’s something you can be sides pay up: stop it, buy more time to deal with it or mitigate the damage it might do.These options include both hardware and software approaches IT pros can take to defeat the malware, a group at this weekend’s Security BSides Boston conference was told.By looking at how several variants of ransomware work - CryptoLocker, CryptoWall, Locky, SamSam - researcher Weston Hecker found characteristics of their behavior that could be turned against them.One method goes after the droppers that first infect target machines in preparation for downloading the main malware payloads. Their purpose is to examine the machines for indications that it might be an inhospitable host and to eliminate the roadblocks if possible.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Mininet dashboard

Mininet Dashboard has been released on GitHub, https://github.com/sflow-rt/mininet-dashboard. Follow the steps in Mininet flow analytics to install sFlow-RT and configure sFlow instrumentation in Mininet.

The following steps install the dashboard and start sFlow-RT:
cd sflow-rt
./get-app.sh sflow-rt mininet-dashboard
./start.sh
The dashboard web interface shown in the screen shot should now be accessible. Run a test to see data in the dashboard. The following test created the results shown: 
sudo mn --custom extras/sflow.py --link tc,bw=10 --topo tree,depth=2,fanout=2 --test iperf
The dashboard has three time series charts that update every second and show five minutes worth of data. From top to bottom, the charts are:
  1. Top Flows - Click on a peak in the chart to see the flows that were active at that time.
  2. Top Ports - Click on a peak in the chart to see the ingress ports that were active at that time.
  3. Topology Diameter - The diameter of the topology.
The dashboard application is easily modified to add additional metrics, generate events, or implement controls. For example, adding the following code to the end of the sflow-rt/app/mininet-dashboard/scripts/metrics.js file implements equivalent functionality to the large flow detection Python script described in Mininet flow analytics Continue reading

Stressed? Low energy? The answer is Thync

Stressed? Of course you are. Do you find it hard to chill without a drink or three in the evening? Yep, that’s pretty common when you’re dealing with the kind of pressures IT professionals are often under. And then what about when you get up in the morning? Are you low on energy? How about when it’s 2pm and you’re flagging and there’s the prospect of having to pull an all-nighter to roll out the new whatever-it-is you’re wrestling with? Do you turn to endless cups of coffee or, the gods forfend, do you down endless energy drinks until you have a caffeine high that makes you vibrate like a tuning fork? To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

iPhone 7 Rumor Rollup: ‘actual’ renders; 3 not 2 versions; 4 never-going-to-happens

No one has ever mistaken me for a gadget guy, but the regular author of our “iPhone 7 Rumor Rollup” is unavailable this week so into the breach I step. I do carry an iPhone 5s, but, truth be told, there is close to zero chance that I will be upgrading. Nonetheless, in addition to genuine iPhone 7 rumors I intend to offer here a few suggestions that could conceivably up my upgrade odds.Behold ‘exclusive’ renders The language used by Apple sites to convey the fruits of their rumor farming is an art form in and of itself. Take this headline from GSM Arena: “Exclusive: Apple iPhone 7 renders appear.” Exclusive is self-explanatory, though at times less than accurate. The interesting use here is “appear,” as in out of thin air. This wasn’t the case at all.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

PIM Sparse Mode Vs PIM SSM

One of my students asked me this question a month ago. “What is the difference between PIM Sparse Mode and PIM SSM (Source Specific Multicast)?” But, since I had two CCDE bootcamps in one month, I didn’t have time to answer the question on this platform. By the way I have seen this mis understanding […]

The post PIM Sparse Mode Vs PIM SSM appeared first on Cisco Network Design and Architecture | CCDE Bootcamp | orhanergun.net.

CCDE – My Journey To Becoming Swedens 2nd CCDE

On May the 17th I passed the CCDE practical in Madrid and became Swedens 2nd CCDE, CCDE #20160011. This post describes my journey to passing the CCDE practical in my 1st attempt and the materials that I used to do so.

Let me start by saying that this is a tough exam, a very tough exam. You need to be an expert in RS and SP technologies and there is no instant feedback in the exam, like you would get in the CCIE lab. In the CCIE lab you will see you are missing routes or if your output does not match the output the lab guidelines told you to match. In the CCDE practical there will be very few questions that you are 100% sure that you got the optimal answer. Design is a more subjective skill than implementation. I had several moments where I felt that I could just as well leave because there was no chance I was going to pass the lab. You need to be mentally strong to put those thoughts aside and just keep performing your best throughout the whole exam. You might be doing a lot better than you think.

The first section Continue reading

QNAP NAS also does DAS via Thunderbolt

If you look through the scores of online forums where Network Attached Storage (NAS) systems are discussed, one of the most common user “wants” is for a NAS to simultaneously be a DAS (Direct Attached Storage). It’s a functionality that, at first blush, you might think easy to achieve but it turns out that it really isn’t because it’s not been an available option from any major NAS vendor. I first discovered the market’s desire for a combined NAS and DAS when I was editing video and wondered if I could use the eSATA interface on the QNAP NAS I had in the Gibbs Universal Secret Underground Bunker. It turned out that, in common with other vendors’ implementations, the QNAP’s eSATA ports were host-only interfaces which meant they could only connect to a slave drive.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google’s modular smartphone project sacrificed its original vision to move forward

Google's Project Ara modular smartphone is coming to developers soon, but it's lost a key part of its customization vision along the way. Developers will be able to get their hands on an early release version of Ara by the end of this year, to begin building custom hardware modules for the device, Google announced at its I/O conference Friday. The modules will allow users to customize their phones with hardware like cameras, speakers, and even a rear-facing display. Ara's initial philosophy was to serve as a wholly modular smartphone, which would allow users to customize all of the phone's components, including its processor, battery, network connectivity, and screen. Now, many of those components will be integrated into the Ara "frame," which will still retain space for some customization. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

SWIFT asks its customers to help it end a string of high-profile banking frauds

Financial transaction network SWIFT called on its customers Friday to help it end a string of high-profile banking frauds perpetrated using its network.The SWIFT network itself is still secure, it insisted in a letter to banks and financial institutions. However, some of its customers have suffered security breaches in their own infrastructure, allowing attackers to fraudulently authorize transactions and send them over the SWIFT network, it said.That's the best explanation so far for how authenticated instructions were sent from Bangladesh Bank to the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York over the SWIFT network, ordering the transfer of almost US$1 billion. The Fed transferred around $101 million of that before identifying an anomaly in one of the instructions. Only $20 million of that has so far been recovered.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

SWIFT asks its customers to help it end a string of high-profile banking frauds

Financial transaction network SWIFT called on its customers Friday to help it end a string of high-profile banking frauds perpetrated using its network.The SWIFT network itself is still secure, it insisted in a letter to banks and financial institutions. However, some of its customers have suffered security breaches in their own infrastructure, allowing attackers to fraudulently authorize transactions and send them over the SWIFT network, it said.That's the best explanation so far for how authenticated instructions were sent from Bangladesh Bank to the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York over the SWIFT network, ordering the transfer of almost US$1 billion. The Fed transferred around $101 million of that before identifying an anomaly in one of the instructions. Only $20 million of that has so far been recovered.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

For the elderly, smart homes mean the promise of more freedom

It’s easy to forget that home automation is about more than just gadgets. After all, almost every product you can think of is getting the smart home treatment—from the highly useful, such as automated locks, to the slightly less necessary: smart fridges that solve the formidable problem of telling you when you’re out of milk. But for the elderly, smart tech means more than just a few new toys. It holds the promise of autonomy—being able to stay in homes longer and more safely, which can be completely game-changing.Institutional elderly care, as it currently stands, is imperfect at best. Most pressingly, it’s not affordable. HUD reports that costs for elderly care can range anywhere from $900 to over $5,000 per month. But for all that money, it’s not really all that effective, either. Initial studies indicate that staying in the home—or aging in place, as it’s called—results in remarkably better health outcomes than moving to a care facility, especially when it comes to cognitive ability and depression rates.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft is working on a new digital assistant

Once again a job posting has tipped the hand of a company's product plans. This time it was Microsoft who gave away its intentions. The company appears to be working on an assistant bot that looks an awful lot like Google's new Assistant bot.All due credit goes to Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet for catching it first. The project is called the "Bing Concierge Bot." Unlike Cortana, it makes heavy use of messaging apps, both Microsoft and third-party apps. That's the emphasis from the job posting, which has been removed since Foley discovered it:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Why CISO is the hardest tech role to fill

Companies are under constant threat from cyberattacks and the situation is only getting worse with the rise of ransomware and whaling scams as a variant of phishing, according to recent cybersecurity reports. Yet the shortage of seasoned CISOs, inconsistent policies around compensation and a lack of proper metrics means some companies are under-investing in cybersecurity.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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