That moment when you realize you’re exchanging emails with a robot

Next time you schedule a meeting and an assistant named Amy or Andrew Ingram sets up the logistics, here's a pro tip: You may be chatting with a robot. And if it's one of x.ai's bots, you might never know the difference. That was my experience when I exchanged emails with "Andrew" to set up an interview with x.ai's CEO. After I emailed x.ai's press contact, she referred me to Andrew to hammer out the details. Andrew proposed a time, thanked me when I accepted and sent out a calendar invitation. Had I not been clued in ahead of time, I never would have realized Andrew wasn't human. Therein lies x.ai's value proposition.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Millions of child support records stolen, D.C. officials want answers

In early February, a thief broke into several offices in Olympia, Washington to steal anything he could grab that was worth selling. In one locked drawer, the thief found a couple of external hard drives that he added to his haul of cash, cameras, electronics and laptops.The hard drives belonged to the local office of the Administration for Children and Families, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, and contained between two and five million records related to child-support audits.As of Thursday morning, the City of Olympia police department did not know what happened to the drives, even though two people have been arrested in connection with the theft.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Millions of child support records stolen, D.C. officials want answers

In early February, a thief broke into several offices in Olympia, Washington to steal anything he could grab that was worth selling. In one locked drawer, the thief found a couple of external hard drives that he added to his haul of cash, cameras, electronics and laptops.The hard drives belonged to the local office of the Administration for Children and Families, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, and contained between two and five million records related to child-support audits.As of Thursday morning, the City of Olympia police department did not know what happened to the drives, even though two people have been arrested in connection with the theft.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

WhatsApp copies Apple’s strong encryption defense

The decision by WhatsApp founders Brian Acton and Jan Koum to encrypt direct messages, group messages and voice calls drew a lot of attention to the Facebook subsidiary—given the recent dispute between the FBI and Apple.Security experts described how the improved WhatsApp protected users’ privacy and where it fell short. Security writers called it the FBI's worst nightmare. And pundits talked about recent reports that the White House withdrew its support for legislation that would allow judges to order WhatsApp to decrypt customers’ messages.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Consider the Panama Papers breach a warning

An MIT conference this week about the Internet of Things was fun until the topic of security came up. The audience stilled and focused at the mention.Sanjay Sarma, a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, told this mostly startup crowd that he expects "a few disasters." Power plants will be taken down, as will a chemical plant. "I'm terrified of this," he said, about the cybersecurity risk.[ See infographic below for more on the scale of the Panama Papers breach. ] This week's hack of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca is an illustration of how much damage can be caused by a breach. Law firms are valuable and vulnerable targets, and they attract people interested in making money.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Opportunities and risks in 5 global outsourcing locations

Everest Group’s 2015 outsourcing year in review report included a quick peek at some important trends taking place in five global outsourcing geographies around the globe including India, China, the United States, Latin America, and Ukraine. CIO.com talked to Aditya Verma, practice director in Everest Group’s global sourcing practice in detail about the opportunities and risks that are arising in these areas.[ Related: 10 Outsourcing Trends to Watch in 2015 ]1. United States: Inflows of military-trained talentTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

FCC to fine Total Call Mobile record $51M for defrauding Lifeline program

Detailing a litany of blatant, widespread and systematic abuses, the FCC late yesterday announced its intention to fine wireless provider Total Call Mobile some $51 million for allegedly creating tens of thousands of phony Lifeline accounts that defrauded the Universal Service Fund of almost $10 million.The fine would be the largest ever levied against a Lifeline provider, according to the FCC.    The Lifeline program, established in 1996, provides discounted and free landline and mobile phone service to low-income consumers. Derided as “Obama phones,” the program has been controversial and plagued by fraud.“We reserve the strongest sanctions for those who defraud or abuse federal programs,” said Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc.  “Any waste, fraud, or abuse in the Lifeline program diverts scarce funds from the consumers they are meant to serve and undermines the public’s trust in the program and its stewardship.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Adobe fixes 24 vulnerabilities in Flash Player, including an actively exploited one

Adobe Systems released a security update for Flash Player to fix 24 critical vulnerabilities, including one that hackers have been exploiting to infect computers with ransomware over the past week.The company advised users Thursday to upgrade to the newly released Flash Player 21.0.0.213 on Windows and Mac and Flash Player 11.2.202.616 on Linux. The Flash Player Extended Support Release was also updated to version 18.0.0.343.As usual, the Flash Player build bundled with Google Chrome on all platforms, Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer for Windows 10 and IE for Windows 8.1 will be upgraded automatically through the update mechanisms of those browsers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Adobe fixes 24 vulnerabilities in Flash Player, including an actively exploited one

Adobe Systems released a security update for Flash Player to fix 24 critical vulnerabilities, including one that hackers have been exploiting to infect computers with ransomware over the past week.The company advised users Thursday to upgrade to the newly released Flash Player 21.0.0.213 on Windows and Mac and Flash Player 11.2.202.616 on Linux. The Flash Player Extended Support Release was also updated to version 18.0.0.343.As usual, the Flash Player build bundled with Google Chrome on all platforms, Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer for Windows 10 and IE for Windows 8.1 will be upgraded automatically through the update mechanisms of those browsers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Nvidia Not Sunsetting Tesla Kepler And Maxwell GPUs Just Yet

Switch chips have a very long technical and economic lives, considerably longer than that of a Xeon processor used in a server – something on the order of seven or eight years compared to three or four. As it turns out, the various GPUs used in Nvidia’s Tesla accelerators look like they, too, will have very long technical and economic lives.

Even after a new technology is introduced, sometimes the old one can be had at a much cheaper price and therefore continues to be a good price/performer even after it has been presumably obsoleted by an improved product. Its …

Nvidia Not Sunsetting Tesla Kepler And Maxwell GPUs Just Yet was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

Korea’s working on a cool combination: 5G and the Winter Olympics

If you want to be one of the first to experience 5G mobile performance, get ready to bundle up.South Korean carrier KT has said it wants to launch the first 5G network at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. On Thursday, KT announced a successful trial of one potential 5G technology in the mountain resort region.The carrier tested a system from NEC that uses super-high frequencies to transmit data at speeds as high as 3.2Gbps (bits per second). Though the companies didn't mention the Olympic Games, and there's no guarantee the technology will be part of the 5G standard, it's no coincidence the trial took place high in the Taebaek Mountains.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to become a Network Engineer?

If you aspire to become a network engineer, this post is going to guide you in making up your mind. Read through. From the outside, the whole information technology profession can seem mysterious. Mentioning IT summons various images ranging from artificially lit cubicle farms to young professionals roller skating through well decorated lounge spaces that …

Open-source vulnerabilities database shuts down

An open-source project dedicated to cataloguing a huge range of computer security flaws has closed its doors as of Tuesday, according to an announcement on the Open-Source Vulnerability Database’s blog.The OSVDB, which was founded in 2002, was meant to be an independent repository for security information, allowing researchers to compare notes without oversight from large corporate software companies.One of its founders was HD Moore, a well-known hacker and security researcher, best known for his development of the Metasploit framework, a software suite widely used for penetration testing. Moore recently left security firm Rapid7 for a forthcoming venture capital firm that will focus on infosec startups.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Open-source vulnerabilities database shuts down

An open-source project dedicated to cataloguing a huge range of computer security flaws has closed its doors as of Tuesday, according to an announcement on the Open-Source Vulnerability Database’s blog.The OSVDB, which was founded in 2002, was meant to be an independent repository for security information, allowing researchers to compare notes without oversight from large corporate software companies.One of its founders was HD Moore, a well-known hacker and security researcher, best known for his development of the Metasploit framework, a software suite widely used for penetration testing. Moore recently left security firm Rapid7 for a forthcoming venture capital firm that will focus on infosec startups.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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