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.

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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

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

Intro to Tcl Scripting on Cisco IOS

What is a Tcl Script?  Also known as “tickle”, Tcl (Tool Command Language) is a scripting language commonly used for rapid prototyping, scripted applications, GUIs, and … testing! Cisco IOS has a form of Tcl scripting built in which can be used for automating tests and tasks from within the IOS command line. To begin scripting with Tcl on a Cisco router for example you would first need to enter the Cisco IOS Tcl shell by typing  “tclsh” from the priviledged exec mode (Router# tclsh) which brings the router prompt to Router(tcl)#. If you are able to access this tcl-level mode it means Tcl is supported on your IOS device and you can begin to enter your script commands.

In this post we will see what it takes to use tcl scripting to automate a series of ping commands for testing layer 3 connectivity to multiple IP destinations. Before we get started we should note that it is best to first write out the script in your favorite text editor such as Notepad or Sublime Text. This way we can paste the script into the CLI when it is ready and also save it for future reference and Continue reading

Microsoft tweaks IE11-Edge interoperability in Windows 10

Microsoft yesterday said it will introduce changes in this summer's Windows 10 Anniversary Update to simplify switching from Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) to Edge, and back.The changes will be aimed at enterprises, the only customer group Microsoft recommends running IE11 in the new operating system."We recognize that some enterprise customers have line-of-business applications built specifically for older web technologies, which require Internet Explorer 11," the company said in a Thursday post.INSIDER Review: Enterprise guide to Windows 10 Previously, Microsoft included "Enterprise Mode" in Windows 10, a feature that lets an IT staff limit IE11's operation to specific legacy websites or web apps.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

LightCyber’s attack detection platform distills alerts and generates actionable information  

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices.  Click here to subscribe.  The Ponemon Institute published a report called The Cost of Malware Containment that reveals some interesting statistics—none of which will surprise the people in the trenches who work hard every day to protect their organizations' networks.Ponemon surveyed 630 IT and IT security practitioners who have responsibility for detecting, evaluating and/or containing malware infections within their organization. According to the research, organizations receive an average of nearly 17,000 malware alerts a week. Of these, fewer than 20% (3,218) are considered reliable, meaning the malware poses a genuine threat and should be investigated. And even though more than 3,200 alerts are worthy of investigation, only 4% (705) actually do get investigated.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

LightCyber’s attack detection platform distills alerts and generates actionable information  

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices.  Click here to subscribe.  The Ponemon Institute published a report called The Cost of Malware Containment that reveals some interesting statistics—none of which will surprise the people in the trenches who work hard every day to protect their organizations' networks.Ponemon surveyed 630 IT and IT security practitioners who have responsibility for detecting, evaluating and/or containing malware infections within their organization. According to the research, organizations receive an average of nearly 17,000 malware alerts a week. Of these, fewer than 20% (3,218) are considered reliable, meaning the malware poses a genuine threat and should be investigated. And even though more than 3,200 alerts are worthy of investigation, only 4% (705) actually do get investigated.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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