Apple drops Recovery Key in new two-factor authentication for El Capitan and iOS 9

In early June, Apple said two-factor authentication would be tightly integrated into OS X 10.11 El Capitan and iOS 9, but provided little detail as to what that means. The current setup is scattered across sites and methods in order to deliver a second one-time use, time-limited code or other method of verification when a user logs in to an Apple site or on an Apple device with an Apple ID set up for it.Apple today posted a detailed explanation about how two-factor authentication works starting with the public betas of iOS 9 and El Capitan.6 simple tricks for protecting your passwords Among other changes, the Recovery Key option that has tripped up users in the past, and led in some cases to users having to abandon an Apple ID as permanently unavailable, has been removed, an Apple spokesperson confirmed. With the new system, Apple customer support will work through a detailed recovery process with users who lose access to all their trusted devices and phone numbers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IBM has first 7nm chip and leapfrogs over competitors

IBM says it has produced the world's first 7nm (nanometer) chip, arriving well ahead of competitors, thanks to advances in its chip technology.Chip makers are now producing 14nm processors, and the next big project for Intel and other chip makers has been the 10nm chip. IBM, in its announcement today, has upended the chip industry's development path.A 7nm chip will hold about four times as many transistors in the same area as a 14nm chip, said Richard Doherty, research director of Envisioneering, a technology assessment and market research firm. In terms of chip development, IBM has "moved the field goal out," he said.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: 26 crazy and scary things the TSA has found on travelers "For IBM to conquer 7nm without stopping at the 10nm that Intel is supposedly tackling, means that IBM has secured the future two steps out," Doherty said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Despite warnings, majority of firms still run some Windows Server 2003

Enterprises are still heavily dependent on Windows Server 2003 even though there were plenty of warnings that support is coming to an end on July 14 -- and this opens them up to security, compliance and operational risks.According to a June report covering 200 enterprise data centers totaling more than 90,000 servers, only 7 percent of enterprises were completely free of Windows Server 2003, according to Softchoice, a technology services company.During the first half of 2015, 21 percent of servers scanned were still running on that operating system, down from 32 percent in 2014 and 43 percent the year before that.[ ALSO ON CSO: Windows vulnerability can compromise credentials ]To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Emergency Flash Player updates fix vulnerability used in widespread attacks

Adobe Systems was forced to rush the release of a Flash Player update after an exploit for a previously unknown vulnerability was leaked on the Internet and quickly adopted by cybercriminals.Users are advised to upgrade to the newly released Flash Player 18.0.0.203 for Windows and Mac, Flash Player 11.2.202.481 for Linux, or Flash Player 13.0.0.302, if they’re on the extended support channel.The Flash Player plug-in bundled with Google Chrome and Internet Explorer on Windows 8.x will be automatically updated.The company also released version 18.0.0.180 of the AIR runtime, AIR SDK and AIR SDK & Compiler, because these products also bundle Flash Player.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Some Ridiculous SD-WAN Claims

SDx Central is usually a pretty good web site that I love to read, but even they occasionally manage to publish a gem like this one:

The problem with MPLS and similar technologies is that they weren’t designed with today’s business challenges in mind. Today, a company may need to launch an overseas R&D office overnight, or it may acquire a startup and want to immediately network with offices in distant regions and countries. Older technologies just don’t have the flexibility to do this on the fly.

Not surprisingly, the above paragraph triggered a severe case of Deja-Moo.

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Risky Business #373 — Hacking Team gets owned. Quite a lot.

Obviously the Hacking Team breach is the big story of the week and we'll be jumping right into that.

It's a jam packed podcast this week -- we check in with Dave Aitel of Immunity to talk about the impending Wassenaar Arrangement disaster about to hit America. We're also joined by Claudio Guarnieri.

Claudio has spent years tracking Hacking Team's malware to the darkest regions of the planet. For a long time he's been claiming Hacking Team were up to no good, now we know he was right. We get him on to the show for a well-earned gloat.

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Hacking Team claims terrorists can now use its tools

Hacking Team has warned that a devastating data breach it suffered will allow its spying tools to be used by criminals and terrorists.The Milan-based security company, which develops surveillance tools for mostly government clients, saw more than 400GB of internal data released on Sunday, including emails, clients lists, financial information and source code.“Terrorists, extortionists and others can deploy this technology at will if they have the technical ability to do so,” wrote Hacking Team spokesman Eric Rabe in a news release on Wednesday. “We believe this is an extremely dangerous situation.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

United’s woes show what’s hard about networking

United Airlines grounded its planes for about an hour on Wednesday, reportedly because of a router failure. That’s a wide path of destruction for one piece of equipment, but it’s the kind of hazard that comes with networking, where each piece is always linked to everything else.The grounding, which started around 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, caused delays across United’s routes and stranded passengers. It came on the same day that a computer-related outage halted trading on the New York Stock Exchange, and just weeks after another technology-related service interruption at United.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

United’s woes show what’s hard about networking

United Airlines grounded its planes for about an hour on Wednesday, reportedly because of a router failure. That’s a wide path of destruction for one piece of equipment, but it’s the kind of hazard that comes with networking, where each piece is always linked to everything else. The grounding, which started around 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, caused delays across United’s routes and stranded passengers. It came on the same day that a computer-related outage halted trading on the New York Stock Exchange, and just weeks after another technology-related service interruption at United.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

United’s woes show what’s hard about networking

United Airlines grounded its planes for about an hour on Wednesday, reportedly because of a router failure. That’s a wide path of destruction for one piece of equipment, but it’s the kind of hazard that comes with networking, where each piece is always linked to everything else. The grounding, which started around 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, caused delays across United’s routes and stranded passengers. It came on the same day that a computer-related outage halted trading on the New York Stock Exchange, and just weeks after another technology-related service interruption at United.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Big Flowering Thing

This is a rant. It borrows emotional (and some verbal) inspiration from Lewis Black’s “Big F**king Thing” bit. However, in order to keep things light and professional, I will be using the term “flower” in lieu of the four-letter word that I am using in my head. It’s not unreasonable that ongoing operations for existing applications, and as a result, remaining profitable, have been and always will be the priority.

Big Flowering Thing

This is a rant. It borrows emotional (and some verbal) inspiration from Lewis Black’s “Big F**king Thing” bit. However, in order to keep things light and professional, I will be using the term “flower” in lieu of the four-letter word that I am using in my head. It’s not unreasonable that ongoing operations for existing applications, and as a result, remaining profitable, have been and always will be the priority.

Big Flowering Thing

This is a rant. It borrows emotional (and some verbal) inspiration from Lewis Black’s “Big F**king Thing” bit. However, in order to keep things light and professional, I will be using the term “flower” in lieu of the four-letter word that I am using in my head.

It’s not unreasonable that ongoing operations for existing applications, and as a result, remaining profitable, have been and always will be the priority. It’s easy to sit atop an ivory tower and critique all of the shortcomings of the industry (applies anywhere, not even just IT), but the reality is, IT (and specifically network infra) is kind of a mess. And that’s okay! It’s the nature of growing organically - and few disciplines have had to learn this the hard way like network infrastructure. Most importantly, we’re all running businesses here. Nothing takes priority over the need to provide ongoing products and services to customers, and to be honest, the rant contained in this post actually points out the need for changes in our industry to be more conducive to this imperative.

All of that said, I feel like the entire networking industry (as well as other, seemingly better-off disciplines to some degree) Continue reading

Big Flowering Thing

This is a rant. It borrows emotional (and some verbal) inspiration from Lewis Black’s “Big F**king Thing” bit. However, in order to keep things light and professional, I will be using the term “flower” in lieu of the four-letter word that I am using in my head.

It’s not unreasonable that ongoing operations for existing applications, and as a result, remaining profitable, have been and always will be the priority. It’s easy to sit atop an ivory tower and critique all of the shortcomings of the industry (applies anywhere, not even just IT), but the reality is, IT (and specifically network infra) is kind of a mess. And that’s okay! It’s the nature of growing organically - and few disciplines have had to learn this the hard way like network infrastructure. Most importantly, we’re all running businesses here. Nothing takes priority over the need to provide ongoing products and services to customers, and to be honest, the rant contained in this post actually points out the need for changes in our industry to be more conducive to this imperative.

All of that said, I feel like the entire networking industry (as well as other, seemingly better-off disciplines to some degree) Continue reading

US Defense Secretary to renew call for cooperation with tech industry

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter will renew his appeal to businesses to work more closely with the military on Thursday when he speaks to an audience of top executives at the Sun Valley conference in Idaho.The event is put on by investment bank Allen & Co. and usually attended by a host of big-name CEOs. Among the executives expected this year are Apple’s Tim Cook, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla’s Elon Musk.Carter’s appearance at the secretive conference will be closed to media, but the DOD said he will speak about “the importance of a strong partnership between private sector innovators and government.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Glitch brings major disruption to NYSE trading

The New York Stock Exchange suffered its biggest outage in more than 10 years on Wednesday when an unspecified technical glitch forced a 3.5-hour long suspension of trading.The cause of the problem was not immediately disclosed, but the exchange quickly ruled out a cyberattack.Problems began during the morning and at 11:32am EDT the NYSE halted all trading to prevent the effects of the “internal technical issue” from affecting the overall market.“NYSE has temporarily suspended trading in all symbols,” the market said in a message to traders. “All open orders will be cancelled.”Updates for the public were few and far between during the duration of the outage, although the NYSE was said to be in constant contact with the Treasury Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

A ‘black market’ for wireless cell service has popped up in Canada

Two articles at iPhoneInCanada.ca and AlphaBeatic.com tell the story of one enterprising Canadian who takes advantage of a loophole to provide substantially cheaper wireless cell service for a one-time $100 payment.How exactly he does it appears to be unclear, but it involves pricing discrepancies in Canada, where lower-populated provinces like Manitoba and Saskatchewan see much cheaper cell service. Basically, the scheme involves signing up for an account in one of these regions, where Canadian wireless service provider Koodo offers a 5GB monthly data plan for $48, then selling the account to people who live in more populated regions of the country, where the same plan typically costs at least $90, according to the reports.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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