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Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made
The usual bumps of an OS launch are understandable and forgivable, but some of the terms of the end user service agreement for Windows 10 put the NSA to shame.Microsoft is already getting heat after it was found that Windows 10 was being auto-downloaded to user PCs without warning, and more seriously, that it was using the Internet connections of Windows 10 users to deliver Windows 10 and updates to others.But there are worse offenders. Microsoft's service agreement is a monstrous 12,000 words in length, about the size of a novella. And who reads those, right? Well, here's one excerpt from Microsoft's terms of use that you might want to read:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
WHITE PAPER: Altiscale
New Forrester Study: Hadoop-as-a-Service Pays Off?
This new Forrester study, titled "Total Economic Impact of Hadoop-as-a-Service" profiles the cost benefits seen by four companies implementing Hadoop projects. Get this report now! View now
WHITE PAPER: F5 Networks
Deploying a Next-Gen IPS Infrastructure
Leveraging the power of an Application Delivery Controller allows enterprises to efficiently deploy a next-generation IPS infrastructure. Read this whitepaper to learn how installing the right solution allows the IPS to focus on identifying and mitigating threats to the network--and ensure that no application is left unprotected. Learn more >>
Will your network be ready for the Internet of Things?
It seems like we can't go a day without hearing about the hottest new connected device or the latest smart [fill in the blank] technology. The much-discussed Internet of Things (IoT), and the varied devices that comprise it, could be considered the biggest trend in the industry today. We are in the midst of an exciting era of technology. And who doesn't love a cool gadget? I'm sure many of us are looking forward to the day when it's common practice for our fridge to tell us we're out of milk, and when we can lock our doors remotely if we accidentally forget. Our kids will definitely be thrilled about the gamified toothbrush that controls the movements of video game characters. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
How one startup hopes to solve server underutilization
Only 20% to 50% of in-house server capacity is actually used, even with virtualization gains, according to numbers from MIT-connected startup Jisto. The company says it has a solution, though, which will save enterprises money.The problem that Jisto is looking to solve is that, although companies usually provision plenty of cloud and in-house server space, artificial static walls, which are created with ownership profiles and resource groups, create waste. Servers are underutilized.Redundancy-prone It isn't just the in-house servers, either. Cloud capacity is also redundancy-prone.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
'Free' Windows 10 isn't entirely free
A few months back when Microsoft said Windows 10 would basically be free to just about everyone, including pirates, the deal seemed too good to be true. Now we're learning that it is.The internals of Windows 10 follow you and your every move so thoroughly, Microsoft is looking at giving you targeted ads just like it does on Windows Phone. And then there are some features for which they are just plain charging.The list of charges and fees for Windows 10 is slowly growing: DVD player: There is no DVD player since Microsoft has eliminated the Media Center from Windows 10. If you want a DVD player from Microsoft, you can get it from the Windows Store for $14.99. Or you can get a free one like VLC Player or UMPlayer. Solitaire: As part of the Windows 10 bundle you get Microsoft Solitaire Collection, a bunch of variations on the card game that has shipped with every version of Windows since 3.0 in 1991. However, it comes with ads, like you get on mobile apps, and if you want to remove the ads, Microsoft will charge $1.49 a month or $9.99 a year. Now, it's inevitable that this would happen. But in these two cases, they are also inexplicable. We knew Microsoft wanted to move more toward Windows as a service, and targeted ads were going to be a part of it since they already do it on Windows Phone. Putting mobile ads in apps is how a lot of developers survive. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
Microsoft will NOT email you Windows 10, it's ransomware
A few days ago, over 14 million machines had been upgraded to Windows 10, but millions of other people who used the “Get Windows 10” app are impatiently waiting for Microsoft to notify them that it is their turn to download Windows 10. The app says Microsoft is rolling out the free upgrade in waves; “Watch for your notification so that you can start your upgrade. Your notification to upgrade could come as soon as a few days or weeks.” That notification has become an exploitation opportunity for bad guys who are sending out fake Windows 10 upgrade emails along with supposedly zipped Windows 10 download attachments that ultimately install ransomware on victims’ PCs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
WHITE PAPER: Blue Coat Systems
Optimizing Application Traffic on MPLS WAN Links
MPLS is a common type of service offering that removes much of the cost and complexity of more traditional point-to-point networks. The change from point-to-point to any-to-any or cloud networking presents new application delivery challenges, requiring a response from services that depend on the packet delivery infrastructure. Learn more >>
In the future, mobile apps will think on their own
Just a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about ZTE executive Wiaman Lam's vision of the future of the smartphone.Lam had said in a blog post that his company was focusing on voice and gesture control to take its devices into the future.As one would imagine, Lam isn't the only one with an opinion on where smartphones are headed. Mobile advertising company Adtile, in a sponsored post in VentureBeat in February, also made some prophecies. I went back to re-read them.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
Windows 10's first update is already in the works
Windows 10 is just hitting desktops and Microsoft is already working on its first update to the OS, which may be released as early as August. This may be out of character with its past, but it fits into Microsoft's new strategy of faster releases and updates to the OS.The Verge reports that the first such update is referred to internally as "Service Release 1" (SR1). It will be a maintenance update, focused on fixing the current release rather than adding new features. There are some features promised for Windows 10, such as support for Chrome extensions in the new Edge browser, that did not ship with the final code. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
Alert Logic launches cloud-native vulnerability and configuration management tool
Alert Logic is a cloud security vendor that offers a solution that works across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid infrastructures and delivers insights into the security of individual applications gleaned from the activity of the application itself and the analysis of the data it gains from its 3,300 global customers. Alert Logic analyzes over 400 million events and identifies a staggering 50,000 security incidents every month. It then feeds these incidents back to its customer base to create a loop that eventually improves security for all.This week, the company is rolling out its Cloud Insight product, a vulnerability and configuration management tool for Amazon Web Services (AWS) workloads. Instead of simply identifying issues, Alert Logic actually identifies the remediation actions that are needed to eliminate the vulnerability it identifies.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
A case for sending data over sound
Tones have been used to communicate data for eons. Rudolph Hell's Hellschrieber machine, invented in 1929, could send audio tone pulses over any radio. If a tone was 'on,' the fax-like machine would create a black pixel, and if it was 'off,' it would be a white one.You could communicate around the world like that, and tools like it were the precursor to audible touch-tones that are used to transmit phone numbers over landlines, as well as the fax machine.More recently, we've moved over to light, rather than audio, for data transmission. Copper and satellite came somewhere in the middle.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
WHITE PAPER: Absolute
Unpopular HIPAA Disclosure Requirements
The question is not whether healthcare consumers will ultimately get the right to learn of disclosures of their data, but when. Senior IT leaders and business executives in healthcare organizations that use lobbyists should focus on regulators' renewed attention to this long-dormant HIPAA issue. Learn More
Android Stagefright: The heart attack that never happened
Since Joshua Drake of Zimperium announced his talk at the Black Hat conference on Twitter, speculation in the blogosphere has been rampant. BLACKHAT USA 2015 Stagefright: Scary Code in the Heart of Android: https://t.co/oBZpiBFx1x by @jduck— Mobile Security (@Mobile_Sec) July 23, 2015 If some of the claims were true, Android phones would be exploding into flames. Since the introduction of version 4.1 Jelly Bean, Android has been protected from buffer-overflow vulnerabilities such as Stagefright with Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR). A glance at the chart below reveals that 90% of the Android devices are protected by ASLR. Drake's estimate of one billion Android devices affected by this vulnerability was inflated.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
Tweaks to Windows 10 settings for privacy
The default settings for Windows 10 are ridiculously bad from privacy perspective, so here are some tweaks to help you better protect your privacy. Read More
Windows 10 installation: Customize settings versus express settings
After seeing a clip of an accident at the Windows 10 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway, it struck me that in the same way driver Brad Keselowski mowed over his pit crew, Microsoft will mow over the privacy of Windows 10 users who don’t change Microsoft’s default settings. “Get Going fast…change these at any time,” Windows 10 greets users before suggesting they should select express settings. You shouldn’t though if you care about privacy; you should select customize settings so you can turn off features that you would otherwise be automatically opted into via express settings. If you left the choices to Microsoft, then I snapped some pictures of what you missed and what Windows 10 settings are turned on by default.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
F5's Synthesis gets cloudy with Big-IP 12.0
F5, the de facto standard and market leader in application delivery controllers (ADCs), is holding its annual "Agility" event in Washington, D.C. At the event, the company took the covers off version 12.0 (formerly known as Badger) of its application delivery software, Big-IP.This release of Big-IP is notable in that it's loaded with features to help F5 customers leverage private, public, and hybrid cloud environments. Big-IP 12.0 is a strong proof point for F5 to demonstrate its relevancy to the cloud. Historically, F5 grew its share and dominant market position by providing ADCs to help enterprises manage on-premise data centers. In fact, F5 positioning was so tightly tied to private data centers that many believed F5's run was over, like the company's chance of succeeding in a cloud-driven world were about the same as the Washington Redskins' chances of winning the Super Bowl. However, F5 has proven to be much more resilient than RG3 and has re-invented itself to be a critical component of any IT model – private, hybrid, or cloud. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
Arise (yet another) IoT platform
Real-Time Innovations (RTI) is an almost-25-year-old vendor of messaging software. While somewhat unknown to the outside world, RTI and companies like it provide the critical tools that help industrial systems work: air and missile defense, science, industrial SCADA, air traffic control. These are just some examples of the sort of use cases that solutions from RTI helps with.But these sorts of industrial use cases - while critical and lucrative - don't have the sort of buzzword excitement that IoT does. So if you're RTI, it's important to come out swinging with some messaging that shows you're well and truly up with the cool kids. And so we have an announcement from RTI about a new unified platform focused on data distribution and cloud analytics. That's a mouthful and a half, so what is really going on here?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
Fueling the need for speed, Fastly raises $75 million
Fastly has a plan. And that plan revolves around unseating traditional content distribution network (CDN) vendors. For those unaware, CDNs are a critically important, but largely invisible (at least to end users), part of the infrastructure of the web. Quite simply, CDNs introduce locations close to consumption where content can be cached. What that means is that if you're in Timbuktu and trying to reach a website hosted in Outer Mongolia, rather than having to pull down all those pages all the way between the two points, you can leverage a CDN located near you to reduce page load times.And in a word where empirical data has shown massive revenue gains from even tiny increments in page load speed, every microsecond counts. Enter Fastly, a CDN vendor founded in 2011 that has built a significant presence and already powers such web properties as Twitter, the Guardian, Gov.UK, GitHub and Pinterest. Funded by a bevy of top-tier investors, including Amplify Partners, August Capital, Battery Ventures, ICONIQ Capital, IDG Ventures, and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Fastly is today announcing another raise, this time $75 million by way of a Series D round.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
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