Review: 4 mid-priced laptops that mean business

Every day an army of business people heads out to offices, meetings and coffee shops, equipped with little more than a smartphone and a laptop. To get the job done, that laptop has to be secure enough to protect sensitive data, rugged enough to bounce around in a backpack, and with enough battery power and performance strength to get through a day of presentations, emails and online chats. All without busting the company budget. Welcome to the world of mid-priced Windows laptops. According to Linn Huang, research director for devices & displays at IDC, today's typical business systems are far from the high-end, high-cost ultraportables and 2-in-1s that usually get media attention.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Power Shell is a powerful malware tool

PowerShell used as a tool in compound malware attacks is becoming more common, with 38% of all attacks seen by IT security vendor CarbonBlack and its partners involving the native Windows scripting language. Ben Johnson Its use is so common in enterprises for legitimate purposes that most security devices and personnel don’t regard it as a threat, says Ben Johnson, the chief security strategist at CarbonBlack.That makes it all the more effective as a component of attacks. Its scripts can run in memory only so it never creates a file on disk, Johnson says. “It creates less noise on the system,” so it’s less likely to draw attention to itself, he adds.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Power Shell is a powerful malware tool

PowerShell used as a tool in compound malware attacks is becoming more common, with 38% of all attacks seen by IT security vendor CarbonBlack and its partners involving the native Windows scripting language. Ben Johnson Its use is so common in enterprises for legitimate purposes that most security devices and personnel don’t regard it as a threat, says Ben Johnson, the chief security strategist at CarbonBlack.That makes it all the more effective as a component of attacks. Its scripts can run in memory only so it never creates a file on disk, Johnson says. “It creates less noise on the system,” so it’s less likely to draw attention to itself, he adds.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Techstars IoT Accelator in NYC open for applications

Startup supporter Techstars has announced that entrepreneurs can now apply to be part of its 15-week IoT Accelerator at the Barclays Rise facility in New York City that starts in September. Applications are due by July 10.The mentorship-driven program will match 10 startups with Internet of Things experts from PwC, GE, Bosch, SAP and Verizon, according to Techstars. Of particular focus will be the Industrial Internet. The partner companies will offer engineering expertise, access to tech platforms and more.MORE: 10 Internet of Things companies to watch | Most Powerful Internet of Things CompaniesTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Teens will sell their personal information for cash, research finds

The equivalent of about $20, or the cost of a large pizza, is the amount of cash British kids would accept in exchange for handing over their personal information, a study has found.IT solutions and managed service firm Logicalis found kids (aged 13-17) were “instinctively digital” and that they fully comprehended the value of their personal information. Not only were the young scoundrels completely au fait with how much their personally identifiable information (PII) was worth, they were quite happy to sell it—if it meant they didn’t have to work.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Fave Raves: 29 tech pros share their favorite IT products

IT favoritesWhen we asked IT pros about their favorite enterprise tech products, their picks included all kinds of hardware, software and cloud services. The common thread? Gear that saves time or money, increases IT agility or tightens security. Read on to find out what these 29 IT pros have to say, in their own words, about their tech favorites.SEE ALSO: 5 must-have network tools | Go-to storage and disaster recovery productsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Go-to storage and disaster recovery products

Drew Como credits his enterprise backup and recovery technology of choice – Veeam Availability Suite -- with helping his company to recover from a disastrous third-party software upgrade.“Once, we had a software vendor who assured us that an upgrade would be quick and easy, so we went ahead with it. In fact, it destroyed a key database,” says Como, who is senior manager of global datacenter platform services at Take-Two Interactive Software. “Everyone panicked, but I said, ‘Hey, I think Veeam’s got this.’ I crossed my fingers, did a restore, and in 15 minutes the entire database was back online.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5 must-have network tools

Software-defined WAN promises a simplified, cost-effective way to manage multiple types of broadband Internet connections. While most enterprises today are only in the very early stages of piloting or implementing SD-WAN, Gartner predicts that by the end of 2019, 30% of enterprises will have deployed SD-WAN technology in their branches, up from less than 1% today. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

5 must-have network tools

Software-defined WAN promises a simplified, cost-effective way to manage multiple types of broadband Internet connections. While most enterprises today are only in the very early stages of piloting or implementing SD-WAN, Gartner predicts that by the end of 2019, 30% of enterprises will have deployed SD-WAN technology in their branches, up from less than 1% today. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Fave Raves: 29 tech pros share their favorite IT products

IT favoritesWhen we asked IT pros about their favorite enterprise tech products, their picks included all kinds of hardware, software and cloud services. The common thread? Gear that saves time or money, increases IT agility or tightens security. Read on to find out what these 29 IT pros have to say, in their own words, about their tech favorites.SEE ALSO: 5 must-have network tools | Go-to storage and disaster recovery productsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Go-to storage and disaster recovery products

Drew Como credits his enterprise backup and recovery technology of choice – Veeam Availability Suite -- with helping his company to recover from a disastrous third-party software upgrade.“Once, we had a software vendor who assured us that an upgrade would be quick and easy, so we went ahead with it. In fact, it destroyed a key database,” says Como, who is senior manager of global datacenter platform services at Take-Two Interactive Software. “Everyone panicked, but I said, ‘Hey, I think Veeam’s got this.’ I crossed my fingers, did a restore, and in 15 minutes the entire database was back online.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5 must-have network tools

Software-defined WAN promises a simplified, cost-effective way to manage multiple types of broadband Internet connections. While most enterprises today are only in the very early stages of piloting or implementing SD-WAN, Gartner predicts that by the end of 2019, 30% of enterprises will have deployed SD-WAN technology in their branches, up from less than 1% today. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Savvius Insight Review

Recently, I had the opportunity to evaluate a Savvius Insight appliance. Like most freelance network professionals, much of my interaction with my clients’ networks is remote. This leaves me with fewer options for network analysis and troubleshooting, so I jumped at the chance to look at something that might fill that gap. The Hardware The appliance […]

The post Savvius Insight Review appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Savvius Insight Review

Recently, I had the opportunity to evaluate a Savvius Insight appliance. Like most freelance network professionals, much of my interaction with my clients’ networks is remote. This leaves me with fewer options for network analysis and troubleshooting, so I jumped at the chance to look at something that might fill that gap. The Hardware The appliance […]

The post Savvius Insight Review appeared first on Packet Pushers.

On many IoT projects, IT shops get left behind

IT departments are playing second fiddle to operations people as enterprises tune up for the Internet of Things. That’s one of the surprising findings from a survey of people involved in business IoT projects in the U.S. The survey, conducted last month by Technalysis Research, also revealed that monitoring employees is the No. 1 thing companies want to do with the widely hyped technology. IoT straddles IT and operational technology, two disciplines that for decades have lived side by side without much interaction. Operations people handle things like lights, locks, and machine tools, while IT folks buy the computers and run them.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here