Four knowns and four unknowns in Google’s Alphabet soup

When Google announced on Monday that it would create a new holding company called Alphabet, of which Google Inc. will be just one part, Larry Page said the new structure would allow the company to get more ambitious things done. But there was still a lot that he didn’t say.The move should free up time for Page and Sergey Brin to focus on Google’s forward looking projects like self-driving cars, and allow other leaders, like Sundar Pichai, to take care of the core businesses. It should also provide a bit more transparency for Google’s investors, allowing them to see better how those core businesses are performing.But there are questions too, about how Alphabet will evolve and which other companies might get their own CEOs. Here are four knowns and unknowns about what happened yesterday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Four knowns and four unknowns in Google’s Alphabet soup

When Google announced on Monday that it would create a new holding company called Alphabet, of which Google Inc. will be just one part, Larry Page said the new structure would allow the company to get more ambitious things done. But there was still a lot that he didn’t say.The move should free up time for Page and Sergey Brin to focus on Google’s forward looking projects like self-driving cars, and allow other leaders, like Sundar Pichai, to take care of the core businesses. It should also provide a bit more transparency for Google’s investors, allowing them to see better how those core businesses are performing.But there are questions too, about how Alphabet will evolve and which other companies might get their own CEOs. Here are four knowns and unknowns about what happened yesterday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

JDSU Spinoff Viavi Suddenly Needs a New CEO

Tom Waechter steps down from the newly minted company.

Microsoft patches Windows 10, Edge, 4 critical holes, 2 exploits in the wild

Well, well, Patch Tuesday is not yet dead as Microsoft released 14 security bulletins, four of which are rated critical for remote code execution vulnerabilities; the August 2015 security updates are aimed at Windows, Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Edge, Microsoft Lync, Microsoft Silverlight and .Net Framework. One of the patches rated critical (MS15-081) and one rated important (MS15-085) are fixes for exploits detected in the wild.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Low-Tech Scam Dupes Ubiquiti Networks Out of $40M

B2B email scams are all the rage.

A nice SRX command I’ve never come across before

Not sure why this command has to be so obscure, but I stumbled on this while writing a training course tonight – quite a nice way to see if packets are hitting your policies:

imtech@srx220-1-POD3> show security policies hit-count 
Logical system: root-logical-system
 Index   From zone        To zone           Name           Policy count
 1       VR3a             VR3b              P1             0            
 2       VR3a             untrust           3to1VPN        8320         
 3       VR3a             untrust           P1             3249         
 4       VR3b             VR3a              P1             0            
 5       VR3b             untrust           P1             0            
 6       untrust          junos-host        P1             8            
 7       untrust          VR3a              1to3           5523         
 8       untrust          VR3a              P1             5            
 9       untrust          VR3b              permit-to-3b   0            
 10      untrust          VR3b              DEFAULT-DENY   16

A nice SRX command I’ve never come across before

Not sure why this command has to be so obscure, but I stumbled on this while writing a training course tonight – quite a nice way to see if packets are hitting your policies:

imtech@srx220-1-POD3> show security policies hit-count 
Logical system: root-logical-system
 Index   From zone        To zone           Name           Policy count
 1       VR3a             VR3b              P1             0            
 2       VR3a             untrust           3to1VPN        8320         
 3       VR3a             untrust           P1             3249         
 4       VR3b             VR3a              P1             0            
 5       VR3b             untrust           P1             0            
 6       untrust          junos-host        P1             8            
 7       untrust          VR3a              1to3           5523         
 8       untrust          VR3a              P1             5            
 9       untrust          VR3b              permit-to-3b   0            
 10      untrust          VR3b              DEFAULT-DENY   16

Will stock, hiring surge at a more transparent Google?

Google's restructuring could finally deliver to Wall Street something it's been after for years: more insight into what the company is spending on things like Nest, drones and health research.If that happens, it could boost the company's flat stock and entice the best engineers and tech workers to bypass the likes of Netflix and Facebook to sign up with the new Alphabet.+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD Meet Sundar Pichai, Google's new CEO +"Overall, we view the new structure as an elegant way for Google to continue to pursue long-term, life-changing initiatives, while simultaneously increasing transparency and management focus in the core business," wrote Doug Anmuth, an analyst with J.P. Morgan, in a report released Monday. "From a financial perspective, we believe the Street will soon be better able to evaluate the true performance of core Google, and may also become more accepting of Google's ongoing investment in emerging businesses such as Nest, Fiber, and driverless cars."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Windows 10 gets its first set of security patches

Released almost two weeks ago, the new Windows 10 operating system already has its first set of security patches.For August, Microsoft’s monthly round of security patches contains five bulletins that cover Windows 10, as well as a bulletin that covers the new Edge browser that runs on Windows 10.Overall, Microsoft released 14 security bulletins for this month’s Patch Tuesday—which occurs on the second Tuesday of each month.Three of the bulletins were marked as critical, meaning that they should be patched as quickly as possible. A bulletin typically contains a set of patches for a single set of software products, such as all the supported versions of Windows.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

DARPA wants to transform vacuum electronics for superior communications, data transmissions

The notion of vacuum electronics may sound ancient in high-tech terms but a new program from the scientists at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency aims to transform the widely-used equipment into the next century.According to DARPA, vacuum electron devices (VEDs) are critical components for defense and civilian systems that require high power, wide bandwidth, and high efficiency, and there are over 200,000 VEDs currently in service.+More on Network World: DARPA wants to make complex 3D printing trustworthy, dependable, safe+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

DARPA wants to transform vacuum electronics for superior communications, data transmissions

The notion of vacuum electronics may sound ancient in high-tech terms but a new program from the scientists at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency aims to transform the widely-used equipment into the next century.According to DARPA, vacuum electron devices (VEDs) are critical components for defense and civilian systems that require high power, wide bandwidth, and high efficiency, and there are over 200,000 VEDs currently in service.+More on Network World: DARPA wants to make complex 3D printing trustworthy, dependable, safe+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

10 more fascinating things to do with a Raspberry Pi

The hits just keep on comingImage by Thinkstock/raspberrypi.orgThe Raspberry Pi, as we’ve seen before, is really all things to all people – the uses to which the tiny computer has been put to are myriad. Here’s the latest roundup of the unique, original and inventive ways people are using the Raspberry Pi. Enjoy.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Nine charged in press release breaches, stock trading scheme

Nine people face criminal charges in the U.S. for allegedly hacking three press release distributors and stealing yet-to-be-published announcements in a stock trading scheme that authorities say generated about US$30 million in illegal profits.Indictments unsealed Tuesday in the district courts for New Jersey and Eastern New York accused the defendants of stealing approximately 150,000 confidential press releases from the servers of Marketwired, PR Newswire Association and Business Wire. The defendants allegedly used the information from more than 800 stolen press releases to conduct stock trades, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Why you should stop worrying about online privacy

WASHINGTON—You’re probably one of the 91 percent of American adults who think they’ve lost control over how their personal information is collected and used by companies (according to a Pew Research study in early 2015). But big data collection brings benefits that outweigh the potential downsides, contended Ben Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, in a recent panel discussion held by the Software and Information Industry Association at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.Consumer concern about online privacy is at all-time high due to e-commerce and mobile devices, which both collect wide swathes of consumer data, the Pew Research study says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Researchers exploit ZigBee security flaws that compromise security of smart homes

If you have an Internet of Things device, then it’s highly likely that you are using ZigBee whether you know it or not. There are other possibilities, including that your IoT devices use the Z-Wave protocol, which was beat up a couple ago by security researchers who used it to attack automated homes. ZigBee is a wireless standard used for connectivity to controls IoT devices. It’s used in “tens of millions of smart meters” and there are 1,088 items listed as ZigBee Certified products. It depends who you listen to, I suppose, as to whether you believe ZigBee is great or if ZigBee is a great threat to the Internet of Things due to critical wireless security flaws that can be exploited to compromise smart lights, door locks, motion sensors, smart switches, temperature sensors, HVAC systems and other “smart” home devices.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Infor seeks to strengthen cloud footing with $675M GT Nexus buy

Infor made a $675 million bid to bolster its cloud and supply-chain management capabilities Tuesday with the announcement that it will acquire global order-management platform provider GT Nexus.The deal, said to be the second largest in Infor’s history, is expected to close within 45 days.Because GT Nexus is a fully cloud-based supply-chain platform, it will help Infor to accelerate its shift from on-premises software to true multitenant cloud, said Paul Hamerman, a Forrester Research analyst. “It also aligns well with Infor’s focus on manufacturing industries.”GT Nexus’ global trade and logistics software is designed to let companies in industries like retail, fashion and manufacturing to collaborate with global suppliers and optimize shipments to customers, distribution centers and retailers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Symantec is Selling Veritas for a Cool $8B

It's spinoff season in the Valley.

Oracle pulls blog post critical of security vendors, customers

Oracle published, then quickly deleted, a blog post criticizing third-party security consultants and the enterprise customers who use them.Authored by Oracle chief security officer Mary Ann Davidson, the post sharply admonished enterprise customers for reverse engineering, or hiring consultants to reverse engineer, the company’s proprietary software, with the aim of finding as of yet unfixed security vulnerabilities.The missive, entitled “No, You Really Can’t,” was issued Monday on Davidson’s corporate blog, then pulled a few hours later. The Internet Archive captured a copy of the post.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Using Cisco VIRL for ASA Emulation

In this post, I will demonstrate the power of Cisco VIRL when it comes to an emulation of the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance. In future posts, I will demonstrate other images that are available.  This post was created using the latest VIRL version and ASA image available at the time of this writing. That is VIRL 0.10.14.20 and the ASA 9.4.1-200 code. Be sure to check the specific codes available as you read this, since VIRL is consistently updated as are the images it runs.  To get started, I create a new blank topology in VIRL:  I then select and place the objects I need and connect them in the topology:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How Japan’s Privacy Visor fools face-recognition cameras

If you’re worried about Big Brother monitoring you from security cameras, Japan has developed eyewear that can keep you anonymous.The Privacy Visor consists of a lightweight, wraparound, semitransparent plastic sheet fitted over eyewear frames. It’s bulky and not exactly stylish, but it could have customized designs.It’s meant to thwart face-recognition camera systems through a very simple trick. It reflects overhead light into the camera lens, causing the area around the eyes to appear much brighter than it normally does.That’s enough to trick standard face-recognition systems, such as the Viola-Jones object detection framework, according to the National Institute of Informatics (NII), which has been developing the visor for years.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here