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New Medicine Prevents Multiple Sclerosis Relapse
A new drug for multiple sclerosis can dramatically reduce the chances of a relapse or a deterioration of the condition, according to a new study from researchers at Queen Mary, University of London.
Multiple Sclerosis Medicine
The results of a major trial presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Seattle show that taking a medicinal course of cladribine tablets just a few times a year can reduce the chances of a relapse by well over 50 per cent and patients who took part in the study suffered very few side effects.If it becomes available to patients, cladribine will be the first licensed treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) which does not involve regular injections.
Multiple Sclerosis is a disabling neurological condition which usually starts in young adulthood. It is the result of the body’s own immune system damaging the central nervous system. This interferes with transmission of messages between the brain and other parts of the body and leads to problems with vision, muscle control, balance and memory.
For the 85,000 people in the UK who suffer from multiple sclerosis (MS), the treatments which are currently available have to be given by frequent injections or intravenous infusions, and the benefits have to be weighed up against a number of side effects.
The new study involved over 1,300 multiple sclerosis patients who were followed up for nearly two years. Patients were given either two or four treatment courses of cladribine tablets per year, or a placebo. Each course consists of a single tablet per day for four or five days, adding up to just eight to 20 days of treatment each year. During the trial patients were monitored using MRI scans.
Compared to patients who were taking a placebo, those taking cladribine tablets were over 55 per cent less likely to suffer a relapse and 30 per cent less likely to suffer worsening in their disability due to multiple sclerosis (MS).
The study’s lead researcher is Professor Gavin Giovannoni of Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, part of Queen Mary, University of London. He said: "These results are really exciting. Multiple sclerosis can be a very debilitating illness and at the moment treatment options remain limited. Having an effective oral therapy will have a major impact for people with MS."
"Our study shows that cladribine tablets prevent relapses and slow down the progression of the multiple sclerosis
"We will continue to follow the patients in the trial to see how they fare in the long-term."
Cladribine tablets work by suppressing the immune system, reducing the risk of further damage to a patient’s nervous system. | <urn:uuid:0d83c6fe-8b00-48eb-94d0-78bd0a95241f> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.knowledgepublisher.com/article/763/new-medicine-prevents-multiple-sclerosis-relapse.html | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334620.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20220925225000-20220926015000-00379.warc.gz | en | 0.945873 | 540 | 2.59375 | 3 |
The federal Lifeline program that was established in 1985 to ensure affordable basic telephone service for low-income Americans should now be updated to also include affordable broadband offerings to help reduce the digital divide between the haves and have-nots.
That’s the idea being raised by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler as the agency begins looking at how low-income Americans can gain access to broadband services, which can offer educational, job and other benefits for users.
“Our nation’s enduring promise is opportunity for all, and helping financially struggling Americans access basic communications empowers individuals to pursue new opportunities and build better lives,” Wheeler wrote in a May 28 post on the FCC Blog. The Lifeline program has helped make that happen with telephone access over the last three decades, he wrote, and the program must now be expanded so that fast Internet services can be made available even to those who can’t afford typical broadband bills.
Essentially, “as communications technologies and markets evolve, the Lifeline program also has to evolve to remain relevant,” wrote Wheeler. “As I told Congress earlier this year, it is time to overhaul Lifeline to make sure it is still performing the critical function for which it was formed.”
Under his proposal, Wheeler is suggesting that Lifeline be rebooted for the Internet age, he said.
To do that, the agency is proposing minimum standards of service for voice and broadband “so both beneficiaries and those who pay into the fund can know that they are getting the best value,” he wrote.
Broadband services today are important to Americans because having such services can increase their prospects of finding and keeping a job and enable them to manage their own health care; plus, broadband services are integral to the education of the nation’s students, wrote Wheeler.
“Broadband is key to Lifeline’s future,” he wrote. “A 2012 study estimated that broadband helps a typical U.S. consumer saves $8,800 a year by providing access to bargains on goods and services.”
Yet despite the importance of a broadband connection, only 48 percent of Americans making less than $25,000 have such services at home, according to the FCC. In comparison, more than 95 percent of households with incomes over $150,000 have broadband services in the U.S., the agency says.
“A world of broadband ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ is a world where none of us will have the opportunity to enjoy the full fruits of what broadband has to offer,” wrote Wheeler.
At the same time, to ensure that the Lifeline program is properly serving the low-income people it is meant to serve, the FCC is also proposing to overhaul how eligibility for Lifeline is determined, he wrote. “Currently, Lifeline providers are responsible for ensuring eligibility, a situation that invites waste and fraud while burdening those providers who do want to comply.”
To help with its overhaul, the FCC is seeking public comments about how it can encourage more providers to participate in the program, as well as ideas for increasing competition and consumer choice on price and service offerings.
Earlier reforms were done in 2012 that began the process of making Lifeline more sustainable and fair, according to the FCC. | <urn:uuid:6f54b1c1-e923-4e25-852d-103cbf88188a> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.eweek.com/mobile/fcc-chairman-wants-to-help-poor-get-affordable-broadband/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334992.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20220927064738-20220927094738-00379.warc.gz | en | 0.96882 | 689 | 2.5625 | 3 |
In a prior post about Superposition and Entanglement (click here to re-read), we learned that superposition allows a qubit to have a value of not just “0” or “1” but both states at the same time, enabling simultaneous computation. Entanglement enables one qubit to share its state with other qubits enabling the information or processing capability to double with each entangled qubit. These two features of Quantum Computing, embodied by “qubits,” enable it to perform certain types of calculations substantially faster than existing computers, and underlie the vast potential of Quantum Computing. In this post I will describe how qubits are currently made and controlled.
There are mutually exclusive forces at play, which make qubit construction and manipulation exceedingly difficult, although not impossible. On the one hand, in order for qubits to be as stable as possible, they need to be immune to external forces such as temperature changes, electromagnetic radiation, vibrations, etc., so that they stay in their “state” until we need to use them. However, this makes it very difficult to manipulate them. In addition, qubits operate based on quantum mechanics, which is the physics of incredibly small objects such as individual electrons (often measured by their spin which is either “spin up” or “spin down”) or photons (measured by their polarization which is either horizontal or vertical). Controlling an individual electron or photon adds another layer of difficulty to the mix due to their extremely small scale.
When the bits created for classical computing were first created, there were several different transistor designs developed before the industry settled on MOFSET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor). Similarly, today there are many ways to create a qubit. The following is a brief overview of some of the more common types:
Superconducting Qubits: Some leading Quantum Computing firms including Google and IBM are using superconducting transmons (an abbreviation derived from “transmission line shunted plasma oscillation qubit”) as qubits, the core of which is a Josephson Junction which consists of a pair of superconducting metal strips separated by a tiny gap of just one nanometer (which is less than the width of a DNA molecule). The superconducting state, achieved at near absolute-zero temperatures, allows a resistance-free oscillation back and forth around a circuit loop. A microwave resonator then excites the current into a superposition state and the quantum effects are a result of how the electrons then cross this gap. Superconducting qubits have been used for many years so there is abundant experimental knowledge, and they appear to be quite scalable. However, the requirement to operate near absolute zero temperature adds a layer of complexity and makes some of the measurement instrumentation difficult to engineer due to the low temperature environment.
Trapped Ions: Another common qubit construct utilizes the differential in charge that certain elemental ions exhibit. Ions are normal atoms that have gained or lost electrons, thus acquiring an electrical charge. Such charged atoms can be held in place via electric fields and the energy states of the outer electrons can be manipulated using lasers to excite or cool the target electron. These target electrons move or “leap” (the origin of the term “quantum leap”) between outer orbits, as they absorb or emit single photons. These photons are measured using photo-multiplier tubes (PMT’s) or charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras. Trapped Ions are highly accurate and stable although are slow to react and need the coordinated control of many lasers.
Photonic Qubits: Photons do not have mass or charge and therefore do not interact with each other, making them ideal candidates of quantum information processing. Photons are manipulated using phase shifters and beam splitters and are sent through a maze of optical channels on a specially designed chip where they are measured by their horizontal or vertical polarity.
Semiconductor/Silicon Dots: A quantum dot is a nanoparticle created from any semiconductor material such as cadmium sulfide, germanium or similar elements, but most often from silicon (due to the large amount of knowledge derived from decades of silicon chip manufacturing in the semiconductor industry). Artificial atoms are created by adding an electron to a pure silicon atom which is held in place using electrical fields. The spin of the electron is then controlled and measured via microwaves.
Diamond Vacancies: There is a well-know defect that can be manufactured into artificial diamonds, which leaves a nitrogen-vacancy inside the diamond which is filled by a single electron. The spin of this electron can then be manipulated and measured with laser light. This technology can operate at room temperature and ambient pressure, which are extremely positive attributes, although they have so far proven very difficult to scale to large numbers of qubits.
Topological Qubits: Quasiparticles can be observed in the behavior of electrons channeled through semi-conductor structures. Braided paths can encode quantum information via electron fractionalization and/or ground-state degeneracy which can be manipulated via magnetic fields. While this form of qubit is only theoretical at this point, it is being pursued by some large players including Microsoft.
There are a few others, including Neutral Atoms, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (which seems more experimental but very difficult to scale) and Quantum Annealing (used by D-Wave, one of the first firms to offer commercial “Quantum” computers, but annealing is not a true gate-capable construct) and it is likely that more methodologies will be developed. Hopefully this provides a high-level flavor for the various types of qubits. The good news is that many entities have created, manipulated and measured qubits and often there has been success in controlling them into superpositions and in entangling a limited but growing number of qubits at a time.
The following table summarizes some of the benefits and challenges along with selected current proponents of key qubit technologies currently in use:
The “Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum” (or “NISQ”) Envirnonment
In prior posts I have covered how qubits use superposition and entanglement to empower massive processing speed for certain applications. However, the technical and manufacturing challenges noted above regarding various qubit types, has prohibited the construction of a very large and non-error-prone system. There are many competing strategies for creating qubits, each with a different set of advantages and challenges.
In order to have a Quantum Computer that can exhibit supremacy to a classical computer, it is estimated that we need at least ~100 “logical” qubits, meaning 100 qubits that maintain their fidelity and coherence for as long as needed to perform a desired analysis. However, as noted above, qubits are unstable, are easily affected by environmental factors, and are difficult to get to remain entangled. These challenges are generally referred to as “noise”, hence the “N” in NISQ. One way to solve for this “noise” is to allocate additional qubits to check on or correct the target qubit. Currently, it is thought that as many as 1,000 “physical” qubits are required to ensure stable utilization of 1 “logical” qubit and many firms are focusing exclusively on the quantum error correction schemes to address this challenge. Therefore, in order to create a Quantum Computer with 100 logical qubits in the NISQ phase of quantum computing, 100,000 – 1,000,000 physical qubits are being targeted. To date, the most entangled qubits reported are still measured in the 100’s so there is a long way to go. That said, this is now an engineering challenge more than a theoretical challenge, and many of the companies noted in this blog have announced product roadmaps to reach 1,000,000 active physical qubits in the next five years or so.
An alternative or competing framework is to create error-correcting qubits. Today’s transistors have error correction built in, so they operate at extremely high accuracy rates. The hope is that a method of qubit construction can be created that can self-correct, obviating the need for the massive error-correction overhead noted above in the 1,000:1 ratio of physical to logical qubits.
How do we measure Qubit Performance?
Unfortunately, there is no common and agreed upon set of metrics to allow apples-to-apples comparisons among various Quantum Computing configurations. A few important measurement factors include the number of operations that can be performed before error, the gate fidelities, and the gate speeds. IBM has proposed a “Quantum Volume” construct, intended to provide a single-number metric which factors in several key items in order to quantify the largest random circuit of equal width and depth that the Quantum Computer successfully implements. While the approach of creating a single and agreed upon metric has broad interest, not everyone agrees with the IBM methodology, so a universal standard is still not available. In the meantime, two great resources for tracking and comparing qubit/Quantum Computer performance metrics inculde: Quantum Computing Report and Fact Based Insight. I’ve provided hyperlinks to their qubit dashboards.
So, in order to have objective assessments of various Quantum Computer performance metrics, it is important to acknowledge the various attributes desired and take a wholistic approach to such performance announcements.
Images from Science, C. Bickel, December 2016 and New Journal of Physics, Lianghui, Yong, Zhengo-Wei, Guang-Can and Xingxiang, June 2010
“What Happens When ‘If’ Turns to ‘When’ in Quantum Computing?”, Bobier, Langione, Tao and Gourevitch, BCG, July 2021
Fact Based Insight, Accessed December 2021
7 Primary Qubit Technologies for Quantum Computing, Dr. Amit Ray, December 10, 2018
Inside the race to build the best quantum computer on Earth, Gideon Lichfield, MIT Technology Review, February 26, 2020 | <urn:uuid:24a9ccd7-77fb-48e2-b6b5-dfce960db046> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://quantumtech.blog/2021/12/05/qubits-a-primer/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335573.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20221001070422-20221001100422-00379.warc.gz | en | 0.943993 | 2,121 | 3.734375 | 4 |
Digital forensics experts starting using heavily memory forensics tools to enrich evidence from collected compromised system. Memory forensics is the examination of volatile data in a computer’s memory dump is known as memory forensics or memory analysis. Volatile data includes the browsing history, clipboard contents, and chat messages present in the short-term memory storage. A memory dump is a capture of data through a random access memory or RAM, which includes the memory that was stored before the system crash. It provides experts with diagnostic information at the time of the crash and contains a code that caused the crash. Through the use of memory forensics, digital forensics analysts have the ability to find buried evidence.
Memory forensics is useful when analyzing criminal activity such as hackers or insider threats. Through the practice of memory forensics, experts are supplied with runtime system activity, such as open network connections or recently executed commands &processes. Before programs are executed on the computer, they are loaded into the memory making the use of memory forensics of high importance. Each program or data which is created, examined, or deleted is stored in the RAM. This includes images, all web-browsing activity, encryption keys, network connections, or injected code fragments. In many instances, certain artifacts can only be found in the RAM, such as open network connections present during the time of the crash. Attackers can develop malware which only resides in the memory, rather than the disk, making it virtually invisible to standard computer forensic methods. This makes the need of memory forensics tools in high demand.
Prior to 2004, generic memor y forensics tools such as strings and grep were used to perform memory forensics, however they were not designed for memory forensics, and therefore it was difficult to use. In 2004, Michael Ford first used the term ‘memory forensics’ and described memory forensics through the use of a rootkit. As attacks have evolved and become more complex, the need for memory forensic tools has increased. The common methods of firewalls and anti-virus tools do not have the ability to detect malware or critical data through the RAM. The best and complex tools have the ability to identify malware, rootkits, and zero days in the RAM. The Volatility Framework is one of the commonly known tools used by the industry experts. It is a Python based, open source collection of tools that allows the examination of volatile data in the computer’s memory dump. This framework offers new techniques and procedures for experts to use when extracting digital data.
Without the use of memory forensics, experts will be unable to collect all the pieces of evidence. It is important for all experts to take training exercises so they don’t leave the important evidence behind. The importance of memory forensics cannot be stressed enough, especially when collecting evidence in an attack and finding the attacker. The examination of volatile data found only in the RAM, offers insight to experts they would otherwise not have. Many open source projects include memory forensics tools.
Rootkit: Collection of software tools used to disguise the presence and activity of other software.
‘What Are Memory Forensics? A Definition of Memory Forensics‘, Digital Guardian, 2017 | <urn:uuid:c7444295-c8ef-4d08-9438-0061339dd7c2> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.lifars.com/2017/06/memory-forensics-tools/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337338.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20221002150039-20221002180039-00379.warc.gz | en | 0.933649 | 663 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Just like with many things in life, we often take security for granted. When it’s good, everything’s fine. People may occasionally hear about cases of corporate theft or hacking attacks in media reports, but only a few are concerned that their company’s security can also be threatened. Many organizations do not have their security vulnerabilities identified, and because of that do not suspect any severe blow to their own safety and reputation.
Unfortunately, as technology evolves and becomes all-digital, all-electric and all-automated, vulnerabilities heighten. Even such giants as Equifax have their security failings. That’s why the principle ‘forewarned is forearmed’ should be topical for any company. Is906 is a great solution to proactive safety culture, because it is designed to give a comprehensive approach to security.
What is IS-906?
IS-906 is an one hour training program will help organizations improve overall security in their workplaces. The course outlines the common safety hazards that an organization may encounter:
1) Access and security control threats
2) Criminal and terrorist threats
3) Workplace violence threats
4) Information and cyber threats
Workplace Security Awareness Course and Access Control
Unauthorized entry to an organization’s facilities or access to sensitive areas by personnel who hold no permission is the first threat that any brick-and-mortar company can face. Therefore, FEMA prioritizes the importance of safeguarding against unauthorized access. The following steps should be taken in order to ensure physical security:
1) There should be only a limited amount of access points.
2) Entry control system should be robust.
3) Access to such areas as key assets, roofs and HVAC systems should be restricted.
4) People entering the premises must be identified thanks to badges, card readers, biometric technology, etc. Badges must be worn at all times. Exchange/borrowing of a badges is prohibited. Loss of a badge must be reported immediately.
5) Access points and restricted areas must be signposted.
Basic Control Procedures
In order to comply with the guidelines outlined in the Workplace Security Awareness Course, companies have to implement the following basic control procedures:
1) Conduct identification checks
2) A number of employees who have keys and identification cards should be limited. There must be a procedure that outlines how ID cards can be obtained.
3) Verification procedures for delivery of materials, equipment, or supplies must be in place.
4) There must be an up-to-date database of employee-owned cars. Vehicles left in illegal zones must be searched.
5) Contractors, customers, vendors and temporary personnel should have limited access to the premises. Also they must have a visitor’s badge and be escorted. It is advised that employees notify security personnel of an unknown individual if he/she does not have any identification, seems lost or has a suspicious appearance.
6) Receiving staff members must be trained to identify suspicious items.
7) It is a responsibility of every employee to report situations that may put company’s security in danger.
By taking the Workplace Security Awareness Course any organization will prevent possible threats to security and make employees aware that they an integral part of an organization’s safety. | <urn:uuid:7d43f65b-f020-48ef-9077-131c9af52d24> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.getkisi.com/guides/is-906 | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337853.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20221006155805-20221006185805-00379.warc.gz | en | 0.936006 | 684 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Forget the cloud, the newest trend in the industry is the fog.
That’s according to CeBIT, which will be putting the spotlight on ‘fog computing’ at its 2016 IT exhibition.
So what exactly is the fog? Well, fog computing – also known as ‘fogging’ – is an architecture that uses end-user clients or devices to carry out a substantial amount of storage, communication and management.
It can be perceived both in large cloud systems and big data structures, making reference to the growing difficulties in accessing information objectively.
“The Internet of Things (IoT) has greatly multiplied the kinds of applications that are getting their computing power from the ‘outer edges’ of the Internet. What used to be referred to as edge computing now goes by the name of fog computing,” explained CeBIT.
According to a recent Cisco survey, some 50 billion devices will be connected to the internet by 2020.
“For much of this data, the Cloud is the right partner. In view of the fact that many IoT devices are small, need to run on a tiny amount of electric power and perform only narrowly defined functions, they need a ‘big brother’ who can give them the right amount of computing power,” said CeBIT.
“This is a job which the cloud performs perfectly. But in the case where information is needed only locally and for just a short period of time, the situation becomes quite different: Data of this kind needs to be processed quickly, preferably onsite, without any need to store the data.”
This is where the fog comes in. It processes data de-centrally – on the edges of the network. Thanks to recent major improvements in computing power, tiny computers are now capable of carrying out highly complex calculations.
CeBIT suggests that one use for fog computing is in future car-to-car communication in emergencies. So if one vehicle slams on its breaks, other cars will be informed to prevent a collision. Sending all this data via the cloud to a data centre would be too time consuming and could be done with local computing power.
So the fog can be viewed as an additional virtualised layer between the data producer and the cloud.
“It represents a local decision-making and processing level which can relieve the pressure on other levels further downstream. This layer prepares data according to established rules, thus improving response times while reducing the broadband requirements for potential Cloud connections as well as the required storage capacity at data centres,” explained CeBIT.
Seeing as the Cloud High Performance Computing (HPC) market is estimated to grow from $4.37 billion in 2015 to $10.83 billion by 2020 (according to MarketsandMarkets) and 5.5 million IoT devices will be connected every day in 2016 (according to Gartner), it seem inevitable that fog computing will become a hot topic over the next few years.
CeBIT 2016, which runs from 14th to 18th March 2016 in Hannover, will feature several display categories illustrating how data centres can cope with these new challenges and highlighting the rapid evolution of cloud technology.
Image source: Shutterstock | <urn:uuid:0d50c81c-f3f2-463f-af46-ecb48ceae4eb> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.pcr-online.biz/2015/11/12/what-is-fog-computing-and-why-should-you-know-about-it/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030333455.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20220924182740-20220924212740-00579.warc.gz | en | 0.942736 | 658 | 3.140625 | 3 |
The European Union has announced its plan to enforce stricter rules regarding its use of personal data of private citizens. “Citizens should have the right to know what personal data are kept and exchanged about them” said Cecilia Malmstr?¶m, E.U. Commissioner for Home Affairs.
Any future proposal that regards the collection and use of such data will be individually evaluated in order to decide whether it is necessary and whether it encroaches on the basic rights of individuals. If the proposal receives the stamp of approval, its realization will be closely monitored by an independent authority to ensure that said rights are not trampled.
At this time, the E.U. has a considerable number of agencies and programs that use this kind of information in order to combat crime and terrorist activities. The information is gathered, stored and exchanged between law enforcement and migration agencies.
Among those who will be affected by the new rules are:
- the European Cybercrime Platform (ECCP) – managed by Europol, it collects, analyzes and exchanges information regarding crimes committed on the Internet. “Currently, data protection rules are established by the Europol Decision and Council Framework, but in future the ECCP will report on its activities in an annual report submitted to the Council for endorsement and to the European Parliament for information,” reports PC World.
- the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP) – also known as the program that allow the U.S. government to access the SWIFT transaction database, i.e. to European citizens’ financial data.
- the Schengen Information System (SIS) and the Schengen Information System II, which collects and shares information about individuals traveling inside the Schengen Area.
- Europol, Eurojust, and the European police agency – which have access to information such as telecommunication traffic between individuals suspected of being involved in crimes that span two or more member states of the Union.
- European databases for the assessment of asylum applications (Eurodac)
- the VIS Visa Information System – visa applications.
- Advance Passenger Information System – tracking of air passengers. | <urn:uuid:aaa22a81-044a-42c9-8062-97f83d7ff460> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2010/07/22/privacy-worries-make-the-eu-limit-use-of-citizens-personal-data/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334644.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20220926020051-20220926050051-00579.warc.gz | en | 0.922615 | 438 | 2.578125 | 3 |
As a result, 5G has the potential to make the world much more connected. Devices in locations without access to traditional broadband networks can be deployed using 5G network connectivity. Higher speeds, lower latency, and increased capacity also make it a potential option for devices where 4G LTE was not a viable option. However, with this growth in systems connected to 5G networks also comes potential security implications. Businesses deploying 5G-connected devices need security solutions capable of monitoring and securing them against cyber threats.
The next generation of mobile networking uses many of the same underlying technologies (radio waves, towers, etc.) as other generations but includes a unique encoding scheme that provides a number of different advantages.
Additionally, 5G has moved primarily to software-defined networking, unlike 4G LTE and previous generations. This enables 5G to implement network slicing, where a network is divided into multiple isolated networks that can be tailored to the unique needs of a particular application. This new network architecture makes 5G more scalable and flexible than 4G LTE.
5G is capable of providing a number of advantages that make it an intriguing alternative to 4G LTE, which was once considered the gold standard of mobile networking:
5G enables more devices to connect to mobile networks, decreases their power requirements, and offers improved network performance and latency. This opens up the use of mobile networking to a number of different devices for which it was not previously an option.
One of the biggest anticipated impacts of the introduction of 5G is an explosion in the use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. These devices commonly operate with constrained resources (i.e. limited battery life) and need high-performance network links to communicate with cloud-based servers. Previously, mobile networks’ limitations made it so that these devices could not effectively use them en masse.
With 5G, IoT devices can take advantage of mobile network connectivity with higher speeds and lower latency, and the design of 5G means that power consumption is lower. Additionally, 5G’s ability to support a much higher density of devices means that many IoT devices can be effectively deployed in a location without negatively impacting each others’ network connectivity. As a result, 5G makes the widespread deployment of IoT devices possible, especially in remote locations where traditional network connectivity is unavailable or expensive.
The transition to 5G technology provides organizations with plenty of benefits, yet it is necessary to consider 5G cybersecurity impacts as well:
These potential security impacts add to the potential cyber risks associated with these devices. With the advent of 5G, organizations require network security solutions that are designed for and capable of protecting these 5G-connected devices.
As 5G becomes more prevalent and usable, business adoption will grow rapidly. The promise of 5G technology makes it an ideal choice for organizations that need to deploy monitoring and control solutions at remote locations. However, many of these same organizations – including critical infrastructure, healthcare, and similar industries – are also some of the ones most targeted and vulnerable to cyber threats.
Check Point provides solutions that can aid these organizations to securely deploy IoT and other devices on 5G networks. This includes IoT security solutions tailored to industry-specific needs and capable of protecting IoT devices from their initial connection to the network to blocking both known and zero-day attacks. To learn more about Check Point’s IoT security solutions, you’re welcome to request a demo. | <urn:uuid:4f0253dc-8032-4efc-976d-1d2d55574940> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.checkpoint.com/cyber-hub/network-security/what-is-5g-security/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335609.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20221001101652-20221001131652-00579.warc.gz | en | 0.953557 | 694 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Aug. 9, 2022 — Researchers at Oregon State University have harnessed the power of artificial intelligence to help protect bees from pesticides.
Cory Simon and Xiaoli Fern led the project, which involved training a machine learning model to predict whether proposed new herbicides, fungicides or insecticides would be toxic to honeybees based on the compound’s molecular structure.
The findings of the U.S. National Science Foundation-supported study, published in The Journal of Chemical Physics, are important because many fruit, nut, vegetable and seed crops rely on bee pollination. Without bees to transfer the pollen needed for reproduction, almost 100 commercial crops in the United States would vanish. Bees’ annual global economic impact is estimated to exceed $100 billion.
“Pesticides are widely used in agriculture, which increase crop yield and provide food security, but pesticides can harm off-target species like bees,” Simon said. “And since insects, weeds, etc. eventually evolve resistance, new pesticides must continually be developed, ones that don’t harm bees.”
The team, including Ping Yang and Adrian Henle, used honeybee toxicity data from pesticide exposure experiments involving nearly 400 different pesticide molecules to train an algorithm to predict whether a new pesticide molecule would be toxic to honeybees. “The model represents pesticide molecules by the set of random walks on their molecular graphs,” Yang said.
A random walk is a mathematical concept that describes any meandering path, such as on the complicated chemical structure of a pesticide, where each step along the path is decided by chance, as if by coin tosses.
Imagine, Yang said, that you’re out for an aimless stroll along a pesticide’s chemical structure, making your way from atom to atom via the bonds that hold the compound together. You travel in random directions but keep track of your route, the sequence of atoms and bonds that you visit. Then you go out for a stroll along a different molecule, comparing the series of twists and turns to what you’ve done before.
“The algorithm declares two molecules similar if they share many walks with the same sequence of atoms and bonds,” Yang said. “Our model serves as a surrogate for a bee toxicity experiment and can be used to quickly screen proposed pesticide molecules for their toxicity.”
Added Christina Payne, a program director in NSF’s Directorate for Engineering, “The team’s random walk approach is a creative way to efficiently map out and compare molecular structures so they can be used as input to machine learning models. The work demonstrates the power and flexibility of machine learning models when small but high-quality datasets, such as the bee pesticide toxicity data, are available.” | <urn:uuid:bc4885e2-defc-414c-9217-e95f11e64acc> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.hpcwire.com/off-the-wire/researchers-help-predict-if-pesticides-harmful-to-bees-with-ai/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335609.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20221001101652-20221001131652-00579.warc.gz | en | 0.925528 | 571 | 3.4375 | 3 |
Hopes of a green revolution in China's data center sector have had a setback. A report from Greenpeace predicts that far from reducing their energy use, China's data centers are likely to use four times as much electricity by 2035, with emissions doubling.
Electricity use by data centers and 5G base stations in China will grow by an estimated 289 percent between 2020 and 2035, according the Greenpeace East Asia study. That growth will produce a lot of carbon emissions, as 61 percent of its present electricity generation from coal. The country has a plan to decarbonize by 2060, its emissions will peak in 2030: emissions from the data center industry will continue growing long after this.
Could it be different?
“Explosive growth in digital infrastructure does not need to mean growth in emissions,” said Greenpeace East Asia climate and energy campaigner Ye Ruiqi. "Technology companies have the potential to catalyze real emissions reductions via investment in distributed renewables projects and direct purchase of wind and solar energy, among other strategies. But some of the industry’s biggest players, including Alibaba and GDS, have yet to issue 100 percent renewable energy or carbon neutrality commitments."
The report follows a damning edition of Greenpeace's annual Clean Cloud report for China in April, which criticized China's cloud and data center operators for their addiction to coal-fired power and lack of enthusiasm for renewable energy. Unlike their Western counterparts, only one Chinese company (Chindata) has promised to achieve carbon neutrality, while the Chinese cloud companies who spoke to Greenpeqace currently have a tiny usage of renewable power: only two reported more than three percent renewable energy usage.
Since that report, AtHub has also promised to go carbon-neutral.
Carbon emissions from China’s Internet industry will continue to rise at least until 2035, long after China’s targeted 2030 national emissions peak, creating complications for the country’s national carbon neutrality commitments, warns the report. In 2035, China's digital infrastructure will emit 310 million tonnes of carbon, which is more than three times Guangzhou’s total carbon emissions in 2019.
Sectors such steel, and cement, are due to peak in emissions at 2025. Given that these sectors handle raw materials processes which directly emit carbon, this achievement might shame Chinese digital companies into action.
5G is growing fast, and its power consumption in China will grow roughly five-fold by 2035 to 297 billion kWh, which is roughly the same as Sichuan’s total electricity consumption in 2020.
“Internet companies in China must commit to achieve 100 percent renewable energy and carbon neutrality across the supply chain by 2030. At the same time, policymakers can help enable this transition by mandating the use of 100 percent renewable energy and providing financial incentives for companies to shift to wind and solar. Digital technology should be a solution to the climate crisis, not a growing source of emissions,” said Ye.
The country is also moving to block cryptocurrency mining, which primarily runs on coal power. | <urn:uuid:21e14248-bdb6-472a-8d2a-fbae26ad856c> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/chinas-data-center-emissions-set-to-double-says-greenpeace/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337339.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20221002181356-20221002211356-00579.warc.gz | en | 0.940425 | 623 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Cybercrime, data breaches and internet attacks are on the rise. Between sophisticated new tools and the global pandemic, numbers are off the charts.
Some of the more popular schemes used by cybercriminals are phishing attacks, website misdirections and cloned sites. They often build real-looking websites that copy a legitimate brand or service’s official site to fool you into giving out your personal data, credentials and financial information.
These fake websites may even have domain names that look and sound like the real thing, but they have completely different IP addresses that are hidden in plain sight. Tap or click here to see how fake DMV websites have been scamming people out of their money.
This is why having a reliable DNS is critical. Thankfully, an alliance of cybersecurity experts has introduced a free DNS designed to protect consumers and small businesses from internet threats.
What’s a DNS?
A DNS, or domain name system, is often called the phone book for the internet. It translates the IP addresses of websites to domain names that are easier to read and remember. For example, Google.com is translated to the IP address 188.8.131.52 and vice versa.
The communication between your computer and a DNS system is critical to correctly direct your web traffic.
There are various DNS services out there. Typically, your internet service provider automatically assigns its own default DNS server to your service, but you can change your system’s DNS settings to other services like Google (184.108.40.206), OpenDNS (220.127.116.11) or Dyn (18.104.22.168).
Other DNS services can also protect you from malicious websites, but they usually require monthly fees.
Free DNS service that protects you
IBM Security, Packet Clearing House and The Global Cyber Alliance launched a free service to give you better security and privacy while accessing the internet.
It’s called the Quad9 Domain Name System (DNS) service and it is designed to protect internet users from accessing sketchy websites that are known for spreading malware, stealing personal information and fraudulent activity.
Once set as your DNS service, every time you click on a web link, Quad9 will check the site against IBM-X-Force’s threat intelligence database of more than 40 billion analyzed webpages and images.
Better yet, Quad9 also uses feeds from 19 other threat intelligence partners including Abuse.ch, Bambenek Consulting, F-Secure, mnemonic, Cisco, RiskIQ and ThreatSTOP.
Quad9 also promises your privacy is of utmost importance. Unlike other DNS services, it doesn’t store or track any personal information from its users.
When set as the DNS server on the router or gateway level, Quad9 can even protect smart appliances and Internet of Things devices from cyberattacks by blocking known remote hosts that are responsible for botnets and malware infections.
With all this advanced threat protection going on, how about Quad9’s speed? Well, IBM stated Quad9 does not compromise your browsing speed.
By using Packet Clearing House’s global assets and expertise, Quad9 had points of presence in more than 145 locations across 88 nations, with more expected to come. Here’s a quick breakdown of how Quad9’s DNS works:
With all the paid subscription DNS systems out there, how can Quad9 change the cybersecurity game?
According to Philip Reitinger, President and CEO of the Global Cyber Alliance, DNS protections have been available for quite a while, but isn’t used as often as it should be.
More sophisticated corporations can utilize DNS systems or pay commercial providers, but small to medium-sized businesses either lack the resources or just aren’t aware of how DNS can protect their data.
Reitinger added, “Quad9 solves these problems. It is memorable, easy to use, relies on excellent and broad threat information, protects privacy, and security and is free.”
How to set up Quad9
Quad9 is a DNS service so all you have to do is change your computer’s DNS server address to 22.214.171.124.
How to set Quad9 on Windows:
- Pull up Network Connections by right-clicking the Start menu.
- Now click “Change adapter options.” You’ll see your current network; right-click and choose Properties.
- Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click on Properties.
Note: If you’re using IPv6, select Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6).
- In the Preferred DNS server field, type in 126.96.36.199, then click OK.
And that’s it! Mac users, don’t despair. Here are the steps to change your DNS settings on a macOS:
How to set Quad9 on a Mac:
- Open System Preferences, then select Network. Click on the Advanced button.
- Next, go to the DNS tab.
- Click the plus (+) sign on this tab, then type in 188.8.131.52.
Optional: You can add 184.108.40.206 as the second entry in the list.
If you are using IPv6, click the plus sign and add 2620:fe::fe.
Optional: You can add 2620:fe::9 as a secondary in the list.
- Press OK, then Apply to complete.
Note: You’ll need administrator rights to make these changes.
Your router needs this one thing manufacturers don’t tell you
Checking for updates is a critical step to your computer, gadgets and installed software and applications. The reason for this is two-fold: First, you can take advantage of all the new features and improvements to the new version and second, your system is updated for the best security. | <urn:uuid:e59c0ca6-e444-462e-bb9b-6447e31cad30> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.komando.com/technology/kims-security-pick/431005/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337625.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20221005105356-20221005135356-00579.warc.gz | en | 0.891448 | 1,244 | 3.046875 | 3 |
One important aspect during development is how to handle errors. In PL/SQL it is easy to detect and process predefined and user-defined error conditions called "exceptions". When an error occurs, an exception is raised. That is, normal execution stops and control is transferred to the exception-handling part of the PL/SQL block or subprogram. To handle raised exceptions, a separate routine called "exception handler" is needed.
Soft and hard errors¶
Database errors or exceptions are errors that are raised by the database. The most common of these errors are handled by the framework, but many others are raised as is to the client. Exceptions can be divided into two types of errors, namely soft errors or hard errors.
- Soft errors: Soft errors are often described as application errors that can be corrected within the application code. In most cases these kinds of errors result in an error message to the end user. The message is closely connected to the application and should be a translated text that includes business terms, well known by the end user.
- Hard errors: Hard errors are often described as exceptional errors that are unforeseen by the application. These errors are of technical character and are often presented in a server dependent language. For Foundation1 these kinds of errors are typically Oracle errors. Some examples are given below, illustrating the difference between the two error types.
Examples of soft errors:
- Given financial account does not exist
- Too many default roles for an employee
- An unpaid customer invoice cannot be removed
Examples of hard errors
- ORA-01400: mandatory (NOT NULL) column is missing or NULL
- ORA-00001: unique constraint (SYS4MS.MS_ROLE_PK) violated
The system service Error_SYS handles all type of errors that ends up with the error information being passed to the end-user. The translating of error messages will be handled in Error_SYS.
It is important to understand how error handling works when a call to the procedure raise_application_error is used. If an error is raised, then the procedure checks if there are any applicable exception-clauses within the procedure, and in that case, the exception code is executed. Otherwise the error is raised within the call stack.
If you do not want to catch a specific exception, Oracle enables you to catch all problems in the same exception block, except those which are already handled. Then you write
WHEN OTHERS. OTHERS should never be used without raising of an exception. In PL/SQL, it is always possible to catch any SQL-error by using the pragma exception_init with the proper SQL-code. An example is described in the section Trapping Oracle exceptions.
The application should not use raise_application_error directly, instead it should go through Error_SYS. One of the main reasons is to support the translation of error messages.
Business Logic Error Messages¶
These types of messages are divided into two different parts. All of them will be treated exactly the same from Oracle or the client program.
- Predefined texts - This means that there are interfaces in Error_SYS that have predefined error texts to be used when raising the error to the database session. For non-protected interfaces it is always possible to override them with a user defined message instead.
- User defined texts - This means that there are interfaces in Error_SYS that requirean error text to be defined in a parameter.
Below is a list of used Oracle exception numbers in Error_SYS. The list and contents may be changed when the system services are changed. The documented ORA numbers should not be used as private numbers within the components.
|Appl_Access_||-20106||Predefined and Protected|
|Security_Checkpoint_||-20140||Predefined and Protected|
|Compile_Error_||-20150||Predefined and Protected|
Note: Whenever defining error messages in the calls to system service Error_SYS, then the tag should not exceed 40 characters.
Trapping IFS framework exceptions¶
By using the public exceptions defined in Error_SYS, it is possible to trap core framework exceptions. You should however avoid trapping any protected exceptions.
Trapping Oracle exceptions¶
Below is an example on how to trap Oracle exceptions. Please note the exception_init tag which is in the declaration part of the procedure.
When an exception occurs it will set three parameters in the context that will be sent to the client. These context parameter are called ERROR_CALL_STACK, ERROR_FORMATTED_KEY and ERROR_KEY_MESSAGE.
ERROR_CALL_STACK includes the full call stack from PL/SQL. This parameter can be used to understand why a specific exception occurs.
ERROR_FORMATTED_KEY a string that holds a formatted version of the primary key.
ERROR_KEY_MESSAGE an IFS Message holding the names and values for the primary key. | <urn:uuid:f3a66eb9-6f29-4c2d-ac67-80c3a80bb876> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://docs.ifs.com/techdocs/21r2/050_development/027_base_server_dev/040_framework-services/001_error_handling/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335286.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20220928212030-20220929002030-00779.warc.gz | en | 0.783192 | 1,374 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Although the importance of architecture and the role of the architect in the digital-first initiatives we are living in today in the different business domains and industries, the architecture’s main vocabularies and terminologies are still not well understood due to non-acceptable widely used definitions and the different perspectives of each terminology.
In this article, I would like to deep dive into one of the fundamental vocabularies in the architecture which are around the models and modeling process, then explore the different perspectives and definitions of them. Moreover, highlight my perspectives and my agreement to the other experienced authors and architects. First, let us start with the model.
What is the Model?
The model as a noun in the dictionary means “a thing used as an example to follow or imitate”
It is a simple presentation of a complex or bigger thing, we usually see, car drawing models, city models, building models, airplane models, …etc. Notice the below images that present several models in the real world.
Why do we model?
Modeling a complex structure or thing in a simpler copy of it, has great benefits, for example, the below benefits:
- Communicate: it is used to describe that complex thing to a different audience in a simple way, so instead of each participated person have different imaginations or perspectives about that thing, they can see it
- Feedback: After seeing the model of complex things, that will derive the discussion around it, why it looks that way, why this component is placed here, we missed this concern, …etc. Also, this can open the alternative architecture, design, model discussions.
- Fail fast: if the model does not represent the complex thing, you will know that immediately and this will decrease the cost of failure
- Consensus: all the concerned stakeholders will have a single or maybe multiple visualizations of the complex thing, this will lead to agreement and building the complex thing easier
Similarly, the model of an enterprise, a system, a solution, a software, a component, or a class in a digital world is a simple presentation of how the complex things can be visualized easily to different stakeholders to understand it and agree on how it will be structured. Moreover, the good model should fulfill its purpose, understandable, unambiguous, simple, and consistent. So, let us explore some definitions of information technology architecture.
“A model is an abstract or simplified representation of some aspects of an architecture, the purpose of which is to communicate those aspects of the system to one or more stakeholders.”Software System Architecture
“Architecture representation implies the use of models, architectural models. But what is a model? M is a model of S if M can be used to answer questions about S, where S is the system under consideration.”Software Architecture Knowledge Management: Theory and Practice
“An architectural model is an artifact that captures some or all of the design decisions that comprise a system’s architecture”Software Architecture: Foundations, Theory, and Practice
“A representation of a subject of interest. A model provides a smaller scale, simplified, and/or abstract representation of the subject matter. A model is constructed as a “means to an end”. In the context of enterprise architecture, the subject matter is a whole or part of the enterprise and the end is the ability to construct “views” that address the concerns of particular stakeholders; i.e., their “viewpoints” in relation to the subject matter.”TOGAF
So, starting from business to information technology, all domains can be modeled. The business domain can be modeled by different elements, for example, organization structure, organization capabilities, services and products, processes, …etc. The process itself is modeled to be understood, for example, the software development process models, each model has different characteristics that describe the process model in theory that affect and govern the process in implementation mode.
There are a lot of keywords that associated with the model that make its understanding more complex, for example, domain model, design model, canonical model, views, viewpoints, perspectives, visualizations, static vs dynamic, descriptive vs prescriptive, meta-model, meta-meta-model, and others that present various perspectives.
We will not go through all of these associated keywords in this article, while to make it easier to understand, I will illustrate an analogy with the building architecture.
As we highlighted previously that the model is a set of design decisions that the stakeholders agree about to govern how the end product should be and how it should perform. This still applies for the building architecture, do I need the building to a Villa or a skyscraper, the building facilities, footprint, landscape area, ventilation, …etc.
Each decision will affect the building architecture, as a consequence, it will affect how this building will be modeled. Each decision is a concern or group of concerns that we cannot present all of them in one single presentation, unless you will not be able to see anything and it will be a blurred image with many overlapped layers.
Imagine you see all the building isometric views (Top – Side – Front) in a single view, is it applicable? What if, we would like to present the ventilation, electricity, plumbing, wall structure, and floor plan in one single presentation? Is it still applicable?
It is important to have the full picture but it is more important to visualize each stakeholder his/her concerns according to his/her role, some stakeholders may need to see other overlapped and connected views, they can still see that, but when they need while mainly each one should focus on his/her concerns first, then see the implications of these concerns to other stakeholders concerns. So, the view is a projection and visualization of the subset(s) of the model to focus on a specific or group of concerns.
Moreover, the model and its presentations need to be validated to ensure that concerns from its static shape or dynamics. The static mainly refers to its steady-state presentation, the dynamic refers to its behavior to ensure the qualities of how this static presentation will perform and ensure we built the right thing.
Now, after going through the model, It is easier to illustrate the meta-model
So, What is the meta-model & meta-meta-model?
In the English language, the meta refers to a concept as an abstraction to define another concept to describe it, for example, metadata is known as the data that describes or about the data.
Similarly, the meta-model is a model that describes the model “I know that this does not explain anything :)”
A meta-model is an explicit model of the constructs and rules needed to build specific models within a domain of interest, it is a model at the end but governs how the system or domain of interest will be modeled. Let us explore some definitions and examples in the next sections.
“A model that describes how and with what the architecture will be described in a structured way.”TOGAF
“Metamodeling, or meta-modeling, is the analysis, construction and development of the frames, rules, constraints, models, and theories applicable and useful for modeling a predefined class of problems.”OMG
“A metamodel or surrogate model is a model of a model, and metamodeling is the process of generating such metamodels. Thus metamodeling or meta-modeling is the analysis, construction, and development of the frames, rules, constraints, models, and theories applicable and useful for modeling a predefined class of problems.”Wikipedia
“A meta-model typically defines the languages and processes from which to form a model.”
I think the below image should illustrate the concept here, the system we are concerned to build as we agreed before it should be presented by a model that can be viewed in different ways according to the priorities of stakeholders concerns, for example, development view, deployment view, …etc. This model is governed by a meta-model that describes how to build this model
So, meta-meta-modeling is an activity, and this activity produces meta-models, and the meta-meta-model is the language that express the meta-model.
Below are two examples of the meta model, the first one adopted from Software Architecture: Foundations, Theory, and Practice book from IEEE/IEC WD4 42010 that presents the relationship of architecture and how its created and related to other aspects of the architecture, as we can see below it is a model visualized in boxes and lines
Similarly, the below image has been adopted from TOGAF standards for Enterprise Architecture which presents the core content meta-model.
So, imagine that you would like to create a modeling software that need to create models of software architecture or enterprise architecture, if you would like to align with the meta-model standards, you should follow the rules that governs the relationships between the different classes of the model that described in the meta-model definition.
Finally, the below image shows an example of the 3 concepts together, where the meta-meta-model is describing the meta-meta-model of the object. To define an object, it needs to belong to a class that models the object and its methods and attributes, each one attribute, method, or class types are actually an object at the end of its meta-model that describes the relationship of the class with the attributes and methods. Then to define each attribute, it is also an object that conforms to the meta-meta-model.
I hope if this image clarifies the three concepts 🙂
Practically, you may need to know the concepts but usually, you do not need to bother yourself with the underlying meta-models when you are modeling an architecture of a system. The concepts that you will need while delivering the architecture are mainly the ones that will be presented to the stakeholders which are the model views and perspectives to validate their concerns and make sure they have been met in the architecture model.
If you enjoyed reading the article, please share with and leave a comment if you need any further information.
Also published on Medium. | <urn:uuid:044c4e62-bb62-4230-af61-584d52f22783> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://melsatar.blog/2020/01/12/architecture-model-meta-model-and-meta-meta-model/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335286.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20220928212030-20220929002030-00779.warc.gz | en | 0.930742 | 2,114 | 3.03125 | 3 |
We are so enthralled by our own brilliance in cryptography that we forget that most data at rest - tucked away inside databases - is unencrypted.
Case in point, a Skyhigh analysis of encryption controls found that 81.8% of cloud service providers encrypt data in transit using SSL or TLS but only 9.4% of providers encrypt data once it’s stored at rest in the cloud. That makes the growing number of organizations found to be offering unfettered access to cloud databases and AWS S3 storage buckets a nightmare waiting to happen.
Today's cyberdefenses rely heavily on the fact that it would take even the most powerful classical supercomputers almost unimaginable amounts of time to unravel the cryptographic algorithms that protect our data, computer networks, and other digital systems.
This statement is inarguably true. The problem is that cryptography doesn't completely protect our data, computer networks, and other digital systems. It protects data in flight and, if we're lucky, at rest. It augments access control for critical systems. But the reality is that in order for the "networks" and the "systems" to process data and execute logic, it must be able to view data in plain, naked text. Organizations face a bigger risk from unprotected and unpatched applications than they do from digital peeping Toms.
This is ultimately why breaches continue to occur at increasing rates. Not because the data isn't encrypted in flight or at rest, but because applications and APIs can't process the data in its encrypted form. It must be unencrypted, at which point it is vulnerable to exposure. And vulnerabilities attract attackers.
The applications and APIs which interact and operate on that unencrypted data are a more significant threat to the security and privacy of data than that of cracking quantum-based cryptography. That's one of the reasons they are so frequently targeted. In F5 Labs analysis across a decade of breaches "applications were the initial targets in 53% of breaches." Not only are they the easiest route to data, they're one of the only places left in the increasingly encrypted data path where data is unencrypted and readily usable by those seeking it.
We are nearly numb to breaches today because they happen with such alarming frequency that it is normal to see news of millions of records ripped from some database through an application today. This is in spite of efforts to force us to use encryption - to use HTTPS instead of HTTP. This is in spite of browsers enforcing cryptographic standards on the algorithms and key lengths used to encrypt data from "prying" eyes.
If today's "cyberdefenses" truly do rely heavily on the strength of cryptography, then we are truly in trouble. Because it is not the strength of cryptography alone that prevents the breaches and exfiltration of data that plague our newsfeeds and clog our inboxes. It is the strength - and increasingly, the intelligence - with which we can recognize and prevent an attack that leads to the loss of data.
Encrypted malicious code is still malicious. Encrypted stolen credentials stuffed into application authentication systems are still stolen credentials. Eliminating middleboxes doesn't eliminate the threat of a vulnerable web or application server executing an exploit to gain access to valuable, naked data.
It isn't enough to gaze lovingly at our ability to strengthen encryption if it carries the attacks that threaten exploitation of applications and APIs straight into the heart of our digital economy. Protecting our digital assets (applications) and the channels through which they are accessed (APIs) requires a more holistic approach to application protection that combines intelligence, identity, and detection of attacks in addition to strong cryptography. | <urn:uuid:45c8c10a-9d24-48c0-b60c-b617a371e445> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.f5.com/company/blog/stop-navel-gazing-at-encryption | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335286.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20220928212030-20220929002030-00779.warc.gz | en | 0.938205 | 796 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Do you use a subnet calculator to help manage your network? An IP subnet calculator is responsible for returning a range of information regarding subnets, subnet masks, network addresses, usable host ranges, IP class, and much more.
What a subnet calculator does differs between tools, which is why it’s so important to carefully consider which subnet calculator and subnet scanning utilities are best suited to you and your organization. In this guide, I’ll explain how these automated calculators can help you better understands IP addresses and subnets. If you’re interested in checking out an excellent subnet calculator, I recommend starting with SolarWinds® Engineer’s Toolset™—you’ll get an enterprise-grade subnet tool, plus other incredibly useful system management features.
Skip to 5 Best Subnet Calculators List >>>
What Is a Subnet?
To understand subnets, you’ll first need to understand IP addresses. An IP address stores key information, like the network the device is linked to and details of the device itself. The device, or computer, is also known as the host. In short, an IP address is the means by which networking equipment identifies the connected network and the host. This is of vital importance because if the hardware can’t identify which network a host is connected to, it can’t deliver information to it.
This becomes more complicated when large organizations with vast networks are brought into the mix. A network can become too big and, in these cases, its performance is likely to worsen. This is caused by congestion, or traffic, overwhelming the network’s capacity. Subnetting is the solution to this problem.
Subnetting lets you break your network down into more manageable pieces. These smaller networks within the network are called “subnets.” Having these subnets allows more people to be added to a network without creating congestion. Subnets help a larger network function more effectively and enable an organization to make the most of network capacity. With subnets, you can split the network up into “departments,” dividing it up so the correct information stays with the appropriate team.
All devices in a subnet are identifiable by a shared, identical bit-group in the IP address. This visible, logical division separates the IP address into distinct fields: a routing or network prefix, followed by the host identifier or rest field. The rest field represents the identity of a certain network interface or specific host.
Before going into what IP subnet calculators do and why we use them, I’ll quickly break down subnet masks and subnet scanning. This should give you a better awareness of subnet terminology and inform your understanding of the products listed later in this guide.
Subnet scanning, as its name suggests, involves conducting a scan to identify websites and IP addresses within the subnet. The scan can report back on the availability status of IP addresses and may report on other details too, including whether an IP is used, available, or transient. You may also gain insight, depending on the scanner tool, into DNS name, reserved status, switch details, last alive time, MAC address, and last updated time.
Subnet Mask Calculator
In this guide, there will be mention of subnet mask calculators, so it’s important to understand what a subnet mask is. Once you have decided to divide a network into subnets, you’ll need a subnet mask. Remember an IP address has two main elements: the network and host address. A subnet mask divides the IP address into the network and host address, while subnetting further separates the host element of the IP address into a subnet.
A subnet mask is called a “mask” because it effectively masks the IP address with its own 32-bit number. Its purpose is to divide the IP address into its host and network address parts, so the subnetting process can begin. Subnet calculators—sometimes known as subnet range calculators or subnet mask calculators—will retrieve subnetwork info from both the IP address and the subnet mask.
Why Use a Subnetting Calculator?
To put it simply, to use a subnetting calculator you need only input a range of CIDR notations or IP addresses. The result should be a list of subnets.
Subnet calculators are used for a variety of reasons because subnetting serves different purposes for different people. Primarily, IT administrators and professionals use subnets to make their network more organized, as has briefly been touched on already. By partitioning a large network, you can allocate certain addresses to specific departments or teams. It also makes identifying any issues easier, because you can trace the problem back to a smaller subnet. This helps you pinpoint the source of the problem faster, while searching through an undivided network for the issue can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack.
But there are a couple of other reasons to use subnets. Subnetting also allows you to extend a specific location’s range of IP addresses, maximizing network capacity. So, if you have used up all the space in one subnet, you can always create another so more IP addresses can be added. Alternatively, you can alter a subnet mask to change the subnet size, freeing up any unused IP addresses to be used in a different subnet entirely.
Many IT professionals use subnetting to boost security. By creating a clear organizational structure, you’ll have greater control over the movement of information. You can tweak departmental access, for example, and prevent departments from accessing data they’re not authorized to view.
With these reasons for subnetting in mind, the purpose of subnet calculators is simple. It makes the process of dividing your network into subnets far easier, because you won’t have to manually calculate any of the decimal to binary conversions yourself.
In summary, a subnet calculator is used to make subnetting simpler and faster, while subnetting is used to boost organization, capacity, and security. As subnetting calculators facilitate subnetting, their uses are intertwined and shared.
Common Types of Network Subnet Calculators and Subnet Discovery Tools
There are several network subnet calculators available. Some have specific utilities, while others have greater scope and cover a wider range of functions. In your search for the best network subnet calculator, you may encounter the following types:
- IPv6 IP Subnet Calculator: This will let you map your own hierarchical subnets.
- IPv4/IPv6 Calculator/Converter: This kind of network subnet calculator supports IPv6 condensed and alternative formats and may allow you to convert IPv4 IP numbers to IPv6.
- IPv4 CIDR Calculator: This tool includes Hex conversation and subnet mask adjustment utilities.
- HEX Subnet Calculator: Works for calculating the first and last subnet addresses, including multicast addresses with hexadecimal notations.
- Subnet Mask Calculator: Works for determining the smallest available subnet with a corresponding subnet mask.
- Address Range Calculator/Subnet Range Calculator: Works for viewing start and end address.
There’s likely overlap in utilities between tools, but it’s important to bear in mind the different names and terminology associated with each calculator type. This list is by no means exhaustive but should give you an idea of the different ways IP subnet calculator tools are executed and described.
Best Subnet Calculators
To help you choose between all the tools on the market today I’ve produced the following list containing my favorite products. Want to start with the best? SolarWinds Engineer’s Toolset is a great option—not only does the Engineer’s Toolset cover subnet calculation utilities comprehensively, but it also provides over 60 other network monitoring tools every IT administrator should have access to. If you want to know how I reached my conclusion and compare SolarWinds Engineer’s Toolset to some of my other favorite tools, read on and check out my list.
Engineer’s Toolset is hard to beat, in part because it offers a great range of features for its IPv4/IPv6 subnet calculator and more. This toolset was designed to be a cost-effective, all-in-one solution for several IT needs. It includes more than 60 tools covering the essentials of network management, monitoring, and troubleshooting. It allows you to manage every aspect of network administration, including hardware, switch port mapping, MAC to IP address relationships, SNMP sweeps, ping sweeps, IP network browsing, and much more. Each tool brings something new and fundamental to the table, and yet they work seamlessly in combination with each other.
SolarWinds Subnet Calculator is one component of the wider Engineer’s Toolset suite of utilities. Subnets can be discovered on a seed router. You can scan an array of IP addresses at once or scan the subnet itself. This subnet calculator stands out because it offers both a classful and classless approach, allowing you to generate a subnet list alongside size, mask, inverse mask, broadcast address, and host range. With this tool, you can stay on top of which IP addresses are in use and which are not. This will improve your awareness of how every subnet is used, which in turn will help with making reserved IP address assignments that are static and free from conflict.
The functionalities offered by Engineer’s Toolset are extremely competitive and boast fantastic value for money. This program is simple, but the design was carefully devised because it’s highly user-friendly. I especially like the graphical depictions of data and the network topology maps. With colorful charts, dials, and graphs, reading data couldn’t be easier. A fully functioning, 14-day free trial is available, so you can give Engineer’s Toolset a try without risking any of your money. Keep in mind this is a scalable tool, unlike many other subnet calculators available, which shouldn’t be overlooked.
Tunnels Up offers one of many online subnet calculators. This is a free tool and allows users to input the following:
- A Cisco wildcard mask
- A CIDR notation
- A netmask
This is a basic but useful tool, and it doesn’t cost a thing and comes with no strings attached, which is definitely worth remembering. Tunnels Up’s calculator can generate random IP addresses, which are then calculated. This might be especially useful when you’re still getting to grips with subnetting and want to practice.
This tool is IPv4 and IPv6 ready. It also offers reverse subnetting, for when the amount of hosts is known, but the netmask isn’t.
The program can generate the following information:
- IP address
- Wildcard mask
- CIDR notation
- Network address
- Usable host range
- Broadcast address
- Boundary netmask
- Total number of hosts
- Number of usable hosts
- IP class
Unfortunately, this tool isn’t as sophisticated as some and wouldn’t be best suited for business use. Tunnels Up’s subnet calculator is web-based, which means you’d need a decent and reliable internet connection to use it. It also can’t offer the same security assurances as other programs.
This is another online tool but is surprisingly functional. Spiceworks is well-known for its range of IT management and monitoring programs, and their applications are generally trustworthy. Their online subnet calculator is no exception. I love the simplicity of this tool, which seems to walk hand-in-hand with its web-based approach, though I wish it were also available as a downloadable, on-premises program.
With Spiceworks Subnet Calculator, subnetting couldn’t be easier. Though the system itself is self-explanatory, Spiceworks nonetheless provides video tutorials to walk you through the process. If you’re just starting out with subnetting, this is a great tool because it takes you through the process step-by-step.
To use this program, simply enter the first and last addresses in your network range. Alternatively, you can use the CIDR notation. Then define how many subnets, or the least number of hosts per subnet, and generate. As a result, the tool will show you the beginning and ending IPs, the number of hosts, the subnet mask, and the CIDR notation. At this stage, you can use sliders to change subnet sizes. That’s the basics of this tool—pretty simple.
Spiceworks Subnet Calculator supports IPv4 addresses. If you want to use the calculator in a more advanced way, plenty of resources are available within the impressive Spiceworks community to help you out. This program is good for adding new network equipment, calculating ranges, getting subnetting practice, and converting CIDR notation into an IP address range. However, I wouldn’t say this tool is especially well-suited to business use. If your business functions depend on it, I’d suggest a more professional tool.
Sipcalc is a bit different from the other tools on this list, mainly because it’s a command-line program for Linux computers. This means it’s a little more specialist and more suitable for users with subnetting experience. If you’re a beginner, Sipcalc isn’t a good place to start.
In my opinion, this is a love it or hate it tool. On the one hand, it can be extremely powerful and efficient when used correctly. On the other hand, there’s a steep learning curve and you must invest a fair bit of time in it before using it becomes easy. It is not especially user-friendly, but its functionality is high quality.
Moreover, if you want a relatively advanced console-based IP subnet calculator, then this may be the tool you’ve been looking for. But this tool isn’t in active development as of 2019—while still useful, don’t expect major new updates.
The IPv6 Subnet Calculator is part of the Site24x7 range of tools. Site24x7 also offers tools for finding IP addresses, checking port availability, generating traceroute, checking Heartbleed vulnerability, generating random passwords, monitoring SSL certificates, DNS analysis, checking brand reputation, and much more. They also have an IPv4 subnet calculator, which functions similarly to the IPv6 subnet calculator.
I like the Site24x7 IPv6 subnet calculator because it isn’t complicated. This is a web-based tool, which is an advantage and a disadvantage. For a start, it being online means you won’t have to use up any space on your device to download it, but it also means using it depends entirely on your access to the internet.
This tool conducts calculations on the network address block provided. The output is subnet address, host range, and subnet notation. All you need to get started is the network address block and to input the number of subnets. This is possibly the simplest tool on this list, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. For those of you who value simplicity, you can give this tool a go with zero risk. You won’t have to watch lengthy video tutorials and you won’t have to waste hours learning all the different utilities. Most importantly, you won’t be a penny out of pocket.
Personally, I prefer more advanced tools, and I don’t think this program is suited to business needs. It would also be an improvement if the IPv4 and IPv6 Site24x7 subnet calculators were combined.
Why You Should Use the Subnet Calculator in Engineer’s Toolset
Having read this guide, you’ll hopefully have a more informed and detailed understanding of subnetting and the purpose of subnet calculators. There are lots of subnet calculators out there. Some are web-based, some are specialist, and many are free. But ultimately, if you want a tool to satisfy your business needs, a free application isn’t going to cut it.
If you’re looking for a combination of user-friendliness, richness of features, and sophisticated technology, then SolarWinds Engineer’s Toolset is the program for you. The range of utilities available make this tool a must-have. It’s great value for money and can give you a comprehensive network management and monitoring solution, with versatile and effective built-in subnet calculating functionalities. While other tools on this list may be cheaper or simpler, I believe they can’t compete with the multi-functional and intuitive design of Engineer’s Toolset. | <urn:uuid:206b26ac-d6fb-4b01-9e0f-49230a3f9625> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.dnsstuff.com/subnet-calculators | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030336674.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20221001132802-20221001162802-00779.warc.gz | en | 0.924228 | 3,555 | 2.921875 | 3 |
The secret sauce to detect insider threats
Apr 2010 min read
Organizations are finding solutions to tackle external security threats, but are they prepared to face threats that emerge from within the organization? IT admins and security analysts are the ones who usually monitor employees' activities, but what if they become a threat to the organization? Read on to learn more about insider threats.
An insider is a person who is a recognized identity within an organization. Insiders can be current or former employees, vendors, contractors, or partners who have authorized access to the organization's confidential assets like financial records. Accountants, software developers, IT admins, and analysts are some examples of an insider.
Insider threats originate from employees or users of a network that intentionally or unintentionally exploit a vulnerability, expose confidential data, or do something like accidentally download malicious software, resulting in an attack. For example, an accountant who leaks their organization’s financial records is an example of an insider threat.
Insider threats are a growing concern for many organizations. The Verizon 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report suggests that in the year 2021, insiders were responsible for around 22% of security incidents.
Malicious insiders are the ones who intentionally engage in malicious activities. They have an edge over outside attackers as they are familiar with the enterprise network, its security protocols, processes, and may possess the privileged credentials needed to carry out the attack.
Did you know?
According to Russian secret services, employees at Russia's foremost nuclear research laboratory were arrested in 2018 on suspicion of exploiting a powerful supercomputer for bitcoin mining.
Negligent insiders are the ones who unintentionally expose data or exploit a vulnerability. Negligent insiders are employees who are careless and they are often unaware of the various security risks that their actions pose. They do not have any motive to harm the organization, but their actions leave the organization at risk. Security incidents due to negligent insiders are one of most common types of insider threats.
Compromised insiders are the users whose accounts are taken over by external adversaries. This usually occurs when employees fall victim to phishing scams or business email compromise (BEC) attacks, or when they unknowingly download malware. Attackers can also use leaked credentials to compromise an account and pose as an employee.
Did you know?
In 2020, Twitter employees were contacted by a group of hackers who pretended to be Twitter IT administrators. They convinced some employees to reveal their account passwords during these calls. This led to a 4% drop in Twitter’s share price.
Users who are not part of the organization's payroll but have certain privileges to access the company's network are called third-party insiders. They include vendors, contractors, and business partners who are given access to the organization’s network. Often, IT administrators fail to monitor such third-party user activities. This is why attackers target third-party users to launch attacks.
Did you know?
In 2020, at least 10 universities in the UK, US, and Canada have had data stolen about students after hackers attacked a third-party cloud computing provider.
Collusive insiders are the ones who work with external malicious threat actors to infiltrate an organization’s security and privacy. Collusive insiders are rare, but the possibility of threat actors joining forces with an organization's employees over the dark web is significantly dangerous.
Shadow IT is the use of third-party applications, hardware, and services by employees without the approval of the IT administrator. Employees engage in shadow IT because it improves their productivity. Adversaries leverage shadow IT to lurk in the network for long periods to carry out persistent attacks.
Social engineering plays an imperative role in BEC attacks. It involves tricking someone inside the company to make a security error, make a fraudulent payment, or disclose critical information. While social engineering is theoretically an external threat, it is only effective if an insider can be persuaded to provide information. Threat actors use terms like immediately and urgent in their email subject lines with the goal of provoking a response from the employee.
Confidential data can be publicly shared by employees with unauthorized parties, entities, and users. This could be done unintentionally by the employees. For example, two employees could be sharing files with each other over a public Wi-Fi connection, which is not monitored by the IT administrator and could be prone to external security threats.
In some cases, after employees log out for the day, they take their office devices like their laptops home with them. Since these devices aren't on the business premises, they become vulnerable to theft during a home burglary. In 2006, a data analyst took home a hard drive that stored the personal data of 26.5 million U.S. military veterans. It was later stolen in a home burglary and the FBI stated that the data analyst was not authorized to take the hard drive home.
Most of the above problems happen due to human error. Organizations often find it challenging to prevent human error since actions labelled as "human error" are often simply the result of normal human behavior. Organizations need to focus on minimizing human errors from employees. If human error does occur, then the organization should be prepared and equipped with proper security tools to readily execute action to stop any further damage.
Educating and training employees can play an imperative role in preventing compromised and negligent insiders. Organizations must ensure that employees are aware of the security risks that their actions pose and how they can be managed safely. Cybersecurity training should be conducted on a regular basis. Organizations can conduct uninformed tests by sending out phishing emails to test employees, and the employees who fail the test can be trained accordingly. Employees should also be trained to recognize and report any suspicious activity among their colleagues to their managers or IT administrators.
Organizations need to adopt Zero Trust and MFA to ensure users have the right access to the right resources at the right time. Another important part of preventing insider threats is documenting organizational policies. Procedures for preventing and detecting harmful conduct along with incident response protocols should be included in the policy. Every employee should be aware of the security protocols and understand their intellectual property (IP) rights so that the privileged content developed by them is not exposed or shared.
Some of the organization’s critical assets will include financial detail, legal records, and intellectual property such as schematics, proprietary software, and customer data. IT administrators should identify who has access to the organization's inventory. This information helps in a more comprehensive diagnosis of the vulnerability of assets and what actions need to be taken based on it.
User and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) uses machine learning, statistical models, and algorithms to monitor and analyze any suspicious activity of users and devices in the network. Employees have their own unique work routine, which is used as the baseline for their behavior. Anything that deviates from this normal behavior is considered an anomaly and the IT administrator is alerted. Since UEBA solutions use deep learning and other analytical methods to take automated actions, the entire process easy.
Combating insider threats is complicated as anyone within the organization can become a threat actor. Detecting insider threats can be challenging because the detection is focused more on proactivity than responsiveness. It is like predicting the future and then taking the precautions accordingly. It requires a lot of effort to constantly ensure such threats are not hiding around the corner.
Organizations need a robust threat intelligence mechanism that empowers them to take decisive actions to preempt and prevent cyberattacks. This is where UEBA can help. With UEBA solutions, threat hunting takes place automatically and informs IT admins if employees are involved in malicious activities. Implementing a UEBA solution can bolster an organization's cybersecurity infrastructure by helping admins proactively detect, investigate, and remediate malicious logins, lateral movements, privilege abuse, data breaches, and malware. | <urn:uuid:ced3e914-6441-4646-98f2-e7092ea475ee> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.manageengine.com/active-directory-360/manage-and-protect-identities/iam-library/auditing/insider-threats.html?utm_source=Zcampaigns&utm_medium=nlmail-news&utm_campaign=ME-Newsletter-COMMON&utm_term=may2022 | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030336674.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20221001132802-20221001162802-00779.warc.gz | en | 0.9503 | 1,585 | 2.515625 | 3 |
The search engine giant Google is celebrating the birthday of Noble prize winner Marie Curie with a unique "Google Doodle" today by adding a picture of Curie sitting on her work bench on the home page of the search engine.
Marie Curie, who was a chemist as well as a physicist, is famous for her remarkable work in radioactivity and for her landmark contribution to fight against cancer.
Born in Warsaw, Poland, on 1867 November 7th, Curie shifted her base to Paris in 1891 to continue her Math and Physics studies at Sorbonne. By working with her husband Pierre Curie, Marie discovered Radium and Polonium. The intellectually perfect couple received the Novel Prize in 1903 for physics, along with Henri Becquerel, for discovering radioactivity.
Curie also worked for promotion of the use of radium for different therapeutic purposes. She spent considerable time in helping others through science.
Helping in the development of mobile x-ray units during world war, served as director of services of Red Cross radiology, touring of Paris to collect supplies, money and vehicles, serving at the casualty clearing station in the war front, organizing trainings for soldiers to find fractured areas, shrapnel as well as bullets, also organizing trainings for doctors and medical orderlies about new technologies are some of the incidences of her humanitarian works.
She received the second Nobel Prize in 1911 for Chemistry and on 4th July 1934 she bid farewell to the world. Google through their Doodle feature is not only paying tribute but celebrating her birthday today. | <urn:uuid:6920bfaa-d895-4417-8dc1-fea79b6938bb> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.itproportal.com/2011/11/07/google-gifts-marie-curie-doodle-her-144th-birthday/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337480.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20221004054641-20221004084641-00779.warc.gz | en | 0.965732 | 317 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Since the mid 90's, the internet has had a profound impact on our personal and business lives. It's transformed how we communicate, how we shop, even how we heat our homes. In an enterprise setting, the internet is the lifeblood of the organization, the engine which keeps everything moving. And yet the World Wide Web, on which we've come to depend, can also pose a significant threat if we don’t take the appropriate steps to mitigate its risks.
Now in its 11th year, National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) was developed by the US Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance to raise awareness of online security for businesses, consumers, educational establishments and young people across the country, each October.
Throughout the month, businesses are encouraged to take part in spreading the cybersecurity message through posting safety and security tips on social networks, educating their customers and employees, displaying posters, holding events and much more.
Here at Avecto, we've signed up as a NCSAM Champion, helping our employees, customers and partners to understand the importance of securing their online environment.
Organizations face malware and Advanced Persistent Threats every day, with more and more businesses feeling the effects of a breach. The potency and regularity of these attacks, has led to many questions about the effectiveness of antivirus software, with some even claiming "Antivirus is dead".
So how can businesses stay safe online?
Despite the threat, the internet needn't be feared. Simple, proactive steps can provide a much more robust environment for end users to get on with their jobs and their lives. By taking a Defense in Depth approach to security, with a multi-layered strategy that incorporates solutions like patching, application allow listing and privilege management, organizations can more effectively protect against cyber-borne threats and keep the engine running.
For further information about National Cyber Security Awareness Month, please visit the website at www.staysafeonline.org. | <urn:uuid:5da28a83-496c-4264-b34f-1745f51dc2a7> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.beyondtrust.com/blog/entry/keeping-cyber-security-front-of-mind-this-october | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334514.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20220925035541-20220925065541-00179.warc.gz | en | 0.949571 | 404 | 2.703125 | 3 |
(CambridgeQuantumComputing) Quantum cybersecurity is plagued with similar-sounding acronyms, such as QKD, PQC, and QRNGs. Each represents a technology that solves a different problem. As we look to the near future, CISOs need to understand these concepts and know which ones to apply to their organisations.
In this article, we’ll briefly explain the three technologies and suggest which ones you should adopt to secure your sensitive data.
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD)
To share information securely across the Internet, data must be encrypted with an encryption key. For the recipient to read the encrypted data, they also need a copy of this encryption key so they can decrypt the data they receive.
Today, this is accomplished using public-key cryptography. The recipient shares their public key with the sender before the encrypted data is sent. The sender encrypts the encryption key with the recipient’s public key and sends it along with the encrypted data. This ensures only the sender and the receiver know what the encryption key is.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) is an alternative approach for sharing encryption keys that uses quantum mechanics. QKD relies on a physical connection between the sender and the receiver; typically a dedicated fibre optic cable. The sender prepares qubits in particular states, then sends them to the recipient, who measures them. Because you can only measure a qubit once, this approach ensures any eavesdroppers are detected.
Although QKD offers some incremental security enhancements, the requirement to have dedicated fibre links has slowed its adoption. Currently, keys can only be sent a few hundred kilometres, which limits practical use cases. In the next few years, we’ll discover if QKD has a place in the cybersecurity landscape.
Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC)
According to Google’s CEO, quantum computers will break the encryption systems we use today during the next 5-10 years. This is because quantum computers can easily solve the hard problems that underpin the cryptographic algorithms we rely upon today. For instance, the popular RSA algorithm only works because classical computers cannot factor large numbers. Unfortunately, quantum computers will be able to do that very quickly.
Fortunately, there is a field of study called post-quantum cryptography (PQC), which studies algorithms that are not susceptible to attack from quantum computers. These algorithms, such as those being studied in the NIST post-quantum cryptography competition, rely on mathematical problems that are equally hard for classical and quantum computers to solve.
Because of the impending risk of quantum computers, all companies will need to migrate towards PQC algorithms in the next few years. Otherwise, they risk having their data decrypted by attackers.
Quantum Random Number Generators (QRNGs)
Encrypted data is only as secure as the key that encrypts it. And the key is only as secure as the randomness that generated it. For this reason, lots of effort has been spent on improving sources of randomness over the years. Recently, this has led to the development of quantum random number generators (QRNGs) – devices that use quantum mechanics to generate random data.
Quantum mechanics has randomness at its heart. We can prepare qubits that are exactly 50% “1” and 50% “0”. Measuring those qubits will give an answer of 1 with exactly 50% likelihood, or 0 otherwise. This perfection is unique to quantum mechanics – all other physical approaches to generating randomness are less exact, and thus less secure.
QRNGs use the perfect randomness of quantum mechanics to generate cryptographic keys. Just like with QKD, QRNGs have struggled to find adoption, due to the unclear nature of their security benefits. The UK government, for example, spoke out against the use of QRNGs as recently as last year.
However, recent enhancements from Cambridge Quantum Computing mean we can now generate provably perfect cryptographic keys using quantum devices. We no longer have to trust that QRNG devices are generating perfect keys; we can prove it. The question marks over the security are thereby resolved, which paves the way for QRNGs to be the de-facto choice for key generation in the future.
Making the Right Choice For Your Company
Given all these options (QKD, PQC and QRNGs), what is the right choice for your company when it comes to securing data?
It’s fair to say QKD remains a distant option because it’s hindered by technical challenges. Most companies should be watching the QKD space and some may wish to invest in proof-of-concepts. But until the restrictions around dedicated point-to-point links are solved (by implementing the elusive “quantum repeaters”), the usefulness of QKD is limited.
PQC, on the other hand, is the clear route forward for all companies. The aforementioned NIST competition will be announcing winning algorithms in the next year or two. All companies should be investing in this technology, now, so they are ready for when that transition moment occurs.
Finally, the latest generation of QRNGs (currently only available from Cambridge Quantum Computing) is now able to generate the strongest possible cryptographic keys, for both today’s algorithms and the future. This leap forward in security should trigger a wholesale shift towards QRNGs for key generation. All companies should be exploring this technology and moving high-value use cases towards keys generated in this manner.
Learn More About Quantum Security Technology
Cambridge Quantum Computing will be speaking on this topic at IQT NY (May 17-20). Check out the Integrated Approaches to Quantum Safe Technology panel on May 17th at 1:35pm EST.
To get in touch to learn more about IronBridge – our key generation platform based on perfect quantum randomness – please head to cambridgequantum.com | <urn:uuid:9afdae4e-beca-45ec-b320-ae8788d0d4aa> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.insidequantumtechnology.com/news-archive/qkd-pqc-and-qrngs-making-sense-of-the-new-acronyms-for-data-security/amp/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334514.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20220925035541-20220925065541-00179.warc.gz | en | 0.935937 | 1,230 | 3.046875 | 3 |
One way organizations are attacked by cybercriminals are through phishing emails. These emails are designed to look like legitimate organizations, government agencies, or other companies. In these emails, the sender asks recipients to click on a link that takes them to a page to confirm personal and company data. Once your information is obtained, hackers can create new user credentials or install harmful malware onto your system to steal any sensitive data. Read on to learn just how to recognize a worrisome phishing email properly, so you know how to avoid a potential data breach!
Legitimate Companies Do Not Request Sensitive Information through Email
Chances are if you receive an email from a company that provides an attachment or a link that asks you to provide any sensitive information, it is a phishing scam. Most companies won’t send you an email asking for sensitive passwords, credit card information, tax numbers, credit scores, nor will they send you a link from which you need to log in properly.
Real Companies Typically Call You by Your Name
Phishing emails usually use generic salutations like “Dear valued member,” “dear customer” or “dear account holder.” If a company you do business with requires information about your account, the email would usually call you by your name and direct you to contact them through telephone. But, some hackers avoid the salutation entirely. This is especially common with advertisements too.
Real Companies Have Domain Emails
Don’t check the name of the person who has sent you the phishing email. Check their email address by hovering your mouse over the “from” address. Make sure there are no alterations, like additional letters or numbers. Check out the difference between a real email with a domain.
Real Companies Know How to Spell
Quite possibly, the easiest way to recognize a phishing email is through lousy grammar. An email from a legitimate company should be well written. Little known fact, there is actually a purpose behind bad syntax. Hackers are no fools. They prey on the uneducated, believing them to be less observant. If an email has any spelling mistakes at all, ignore it and report it to your company’s IT provider.
Real Companies Do Not Force You onto Their Website
Sometimes phishing emails are coded entirely as one significant hyperlink. Therefore, accidentally clicking or deliberately anywhere within the email could open a fake web page, or download spam right onto your computer. Try to avoid this if possible. Otherwise, you could be compromising both your personal and business network security.
En-Net Services Can Help Today
Experience a superior method of getting the public sector technology solutions you need through forming a partnership with En-Net Services. Our seasoned team members are familiar with the distinct purchasing and procurement cycles of state and local governments, as well as Federal, K-12 education, and higher education entities. En-Net is a certified Maryland Small Business Reserve with contract vehicles and sub-contracting partnerships to meet all contracting requirements. | <urn:uuid:6d76446d-85cb-4ea4-b25d-5c6a6c528084> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.en-netservices.com/blog/how-to-recognize-a-sketchy-phishing-email/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334871.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20220926113251-20220926143251-00179.warc.gz | en | 0.927902 | 613 | 2.78125 | 3 |
WR15 | WG25 | R620 – Rectangular Waveguide Size
WR15 | WG25 | R620 Waveguide Size
- EIA Standard:WR15
- RSCS Standard (British Military):WG25
- IEC Standard:R620
- Recommended Frequency Band:50.00 to 75 GHz
- Cutoff Frequency of Lowest Order Mode:39.875 GHz
- Cutoff Frequency of Upper Mode:79.75 GHz
- Dimension:0.148 Inches [3.7592 mm] x 0.074 Inches [1.8796 mm]
Commonly Used for Millimeter Wave (MMW) Link Bands
- V-Band (58GHz to 64GHz): 58GHz, 60GHz
What is a Waveguide?
A waveguide is an electromagnetic feed line that is used for high frequency signals. Waveguides conduct microwave energy at lower loss than coaxial cables and are used in microwave communications, radars and other high frequency applications.
The waveguide must have a certain minimum cross section, relative to the wavelength of the signal to function properly. If wavelength of the signal is too long (Frequency is too low) when compared to the cross section of the waveguide, the electromagnetic fields cannot propagate. The lowest frequency range at which a waveguide will operate is where the cross section is large enough to fit one complete wavelength of the signal.
For Further Information
For More Information on Microwave Planning, Please Contact Us | <urn:uuid:fcea1b3a-7ad7-4cd3-8286-bd0c63f9f988> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.microwave-link.com/microwave/wr15/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335058.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20220927194248-20220927224248-00179.warc.gz | en | 0.839375 | 315 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Where does connectivity begin? With routers and switches. Routers connect networks, while switches manage the individual connections of each device in your network. You could say that just as the planets revolve around the sun, the network revolves around routers and switches.
It’s a given that when a core router or switch fails at work, nobody’s happy. Complaints pour in to IT. Work is stalled. IT scrambles. It may very well feel like the sun’s stopped shining.
If you work in an IT capacity, at some point or another, you’ll probably be involved with:
- Researching the best vendors and models of routers and switches for your company
- Purchasing/replacing routers and switches
- Monitoring how routers and switches are performing
- Troubleshooting poorly performing routers and switches
Routers and switches have similar but distinct responsibilities. Nail down your network monitoring basics as we review what routers and switches are, how they benefit your network, and what to do next if they crash.
What are routers?
In order for networks and devices to access the outside world, they need a router to open the door and provide the connection. At its core, a router acts as a virtual highway, moving data from the internet back into the networks it connects.
Because a router stores information about the network, network administrators can interrogate a router and ask it to bring back information about the devices stored in its inner tables. That’s why many network mapping tools ask users to start with a router IP address to create a visual map of the network.
Routers can also do more than just routing. Many routers can also provide switching and security functions as well. Having multi-function routers with routing, switching, and security functionality makes it easy to recover quickly from an outage if an IT administrator can enable a router to perform as a switch momentarily while he/she troubleshoots the failed switch.
So if a router can act as a switch, why are switches even necessary? Why can’t one multi-purpose device do it all? Although it’s possible to have a router that performs all three functions, most network administrators like to ensure separate devices have separate primary functions. That way, if, say, the router fails, users can still access internal applications via switches.
What are switches?
Switches connect PCs, laptops, printers, and more within a certain location. While routers help ensure connectivity between multiple networks, switches helps ensure fast, healthy performance of network devices.
Managed switches give network administrators the most control over device connections. Every device that a managed switch connects will maintain its own IP address. This means that if you’re creating a map of all your network devices, the switch and all the devices it connects will be distinct on the map. Another benefit of a managed switch is that it will have an interface where users can go in and update settings, shut down or enable ports, and even match the speed of devices to the speed of the switch that’s connecting them for optimal performance.
Unmanaged devices, such as hubs or repeaters that operate at the physical layer of the OSI Model, do not have an interface. They typically do not show up on network maps and any device they connect will not have its own IP address.
Just as a router can masquerade as a switch in a pinch, a Layer 3 switch can also perform routing functions when needed. Typically it just takes some manual setup, but a capable switch can often offer that kind of interchangeable functionality.
When a router or switch fails
If the router goes down, users will not be able to connect with any external applications. If a switch goes down, internal applications will not be available. Because users depend on routers and switches for connectivity, multi-function routers and switches can save the day by temporarily filling in for the other when a network outage occurs.
Network administrators with excellent visibility into their networks will monitor routers and switches carefully for any signs of failure. At the first sign of warning, problems can be reviewed and steps can be taken to prevent network outages. To help with this often manual task, network mapping software can provide automated monitoring and mapping of the network, sharing alerts when routers and switches are not performing optimally, and allowing IT professionals the ability to manage network traffic based on real-time data.
Key benefits routers and switches provide your network
With the help of optimally-functioning routers and switches, businesses can:
- Share applications across networks and locations
- Increase access to real-time information
- Reduce operating costs (especially if your routers/switches are multi-function)
- Ensure network security
- Enable remote connections to get work done from anywhere
- Improve network management
Routers and switches can be the key cogs to deploying robust network architecture. Purchasing quality devices, utilizing their full capabilities, and monitoring them carefully for signs of failure will help keep that door to the outside world open.
Looking for a Network Monitoring Solution?
Whether you're ready to replace freeware or just evaluating your options, we offer powerful, user-friendly network mapping and monitoring solutions to make your life easier. | <urn:uuid:dab87b5d-7f68-4e41-af9b-d84f9feb3965> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.helpsystems.com/resources/articles/network-monitoring-basics-what-are-routers-and-switches | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335304.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20220929034214-20220929064214-00179.warc.gz | en | 0.919212 | 1,068 | 2.96875 | 3 |
In recent news, major CPUs have been dealing with issues known as Meltdown and Spectre. These are vulnerabilities that can allow access to sensitive memory data through software running on the same physical machine, for example, from malware accidentally downloaded by a user.
Affected systems include: all modern Intel processors, machines running Windows, Windows Server, macOS and Linux as well as 'virtualisation' platforms such as VMware and HyperV, and cloud platforms including Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. Other platforms and appliances using the affected processors, which may include network and storage systems, may also be at potential risk. The vulnerabilities are serious and, in the case of Spectre, difficult to patch or mitigate.
However there are no reports about these vulnerabilities being actively exploited 'in the wild' so far. Meltdown requires code to be actively run (e.g. in a web browser) in order to be exploited. Servers are less susceptible than end-user workstations since they aren’t usually actively surfing the net. Existing policies and security measures on client networks should already be protecting users and mitigating access to inappropriate downloads and materials, although users should always be vigilant when accessing the Internet.
IT vendors have started issuing advice and updates for their relevant software and systems, including Microsoft, Apple, VMware, Red Hat and other Linux distribution vendors. Cloud vendors such as AWS and Azure have also been updating their infrastructure platforms and virtualisation hypervisors. Some of these updates have themselves caused or identified other issues, which is making the situation more complex. For example, there are reports of performance slow-downs on certain systems, notably Linux servers (which power most of the Internet). Meanwhile, Microsoft's updates for Windows 10 have caused issues with many Anti-Virus software products. Anti-Virus vendors are having to ensure their software works with the latest Microsoft updates. In addition, whilst fixes for Meltdown are relatively straightforward, fixes for Spectre are more complicated and may not be immediately available.
What is BTA doing to help its IT Support clients?
The situation with Meltdown and Spectre is still very fluid, and the implications of both — and the implications of any 'fixes' released to combat them — are still not fully understood or proven reliable yet.
Above all, it is imperative that we help maintain systems that are as secure and reliable as possible for our clients. No IT system is 100% secure nor 100% reliable and we use our extensive experience and knowledge to balance the needs of security and safety versus availability and reliability.
At the time of writing, we are not recommending an immediate 'we must patch now' approach. We are currently:
a) Actively monitoring the situation and vendor advice
b) Actively identifying if any particular systems or clients are at higher risk than others (in short, we believe not)
c) Double-checking that the anti-virus solutions installed on all client managed systems are fully up-to-date and operational, and that other updates / patches are confirmed OK and not going to affect systems
d) For clients with Flexible IT Support contracts, liaising with client IT Managers and / or on-site IT staff to share information and discuss appropriate steps and schedules to mitigate the issues.
We intend to roll out OS patches to managed workstations and servers for clients with Managed IT Support (MITS) when confirmed good and the risk is minimised.
Based on findings and vendor advice, we may update some systems immediately and / or delay others to our normal regular patch schedules. If there is any advance or variation on our normal patch schedules, we will notify and / or discuss with the affected clients as necessary.
Beyond operating systems, we are in the process of planning timescales for rolling hypervisor updates for managed clients with multi-host VMware and HyperV clusters to avoid host downtime. Our initial priority will be to those running Remote Desktop servers because those have end-user desktop access. Separately, we will be planning and agreeing outages with clients for standalone hypervisors, servers and other potentially affected devices that cannot be updated automatically / overnight.
Our current advice is: There is no need to panic. Carry on as normal. As always, remember to avoid unsafe web sites, email links and downloads. Users should report any suspicious or unexpected behaviour.
If you have any specific concerns or questions at this time, please contact your Account Manager or email email@example.com.
We take care of your IT, so you can focus on running your business. Whether you are looking for a comprehensive outsourced IT support service or something more flexible, BTA can help. As industry-leading specialists in network security, business continuity, hardware and software provision, cloud computing and Internet services, BTA has been helping businesses gain a competitive edge through technology for more than 20 years. Call today on 020 8875 7676 to learn more and sign up for a free consultation. | <urn:uuid:16aed7e0-af89-4c0e-9fd2-40bdb0079ce9> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.newcmi.com/blog/uk-london-it-provider-meltdown-and-spectre-what-is-happening | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337668.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20221005203530-20221005233530-00179.warc.gz | en | 0.937059 | 1,017 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Information was first digitized in the 1950s, thus ushering in the dawn of data. Then, as now, software was used to create and process data, and like most new technology inventions, security was not inherently built in. Software developers didn’t feel the need to apply controls to the new data objects created. Anyone with access to the software and the rare, expensive computer on which to run it could open, read, modify, delete, or copy this data without limits.
Our current concept of cybersecurity is to defend against attacks and remedy failure by erecting more and better defenses. That’s a fundamental mistake in thinking that guarantees failure. Why? Because it’s mathematically impossible for a defensive strategy to fully succeed, as explained in the previous installment of this article series. Another even more fundamental mistake in thinking is that cyberattackers are the cause of our woes. They aren’t. They’re the effect.
Data is just the geek word for information, right? If I were to provide information about the room in which I write this, I might say that it’s 10 feet by 8 feet with a 12-foot ceiling. You’d realize that it’s a comfortable but not overly large space. To put that information into a database, you would use software to enter each dimension into the appropriate cell and save it to your device’s hard drive. Although this description seems straightforward, the information I just conveyed to you and the corresponding data in a database differ in important respects. Without understanding the distinction, we will always struggle to think accurately about data ownership, privacy, and even cybersecurity.
This article is the second in a series on the physicality of data. Cybersecurity failures have been trending sharply upwards in number and severity for the past 25 years. The target of every cyberattack is data — i.e., digitized information that is created, processed, stored and distributed by computers. Cyberattackers seek to steal, corrupt, impede or destroy data. Users, software, hardware and networks aren’t the target; they’re vectors (pathways) to the target. To protect data, the current strategy, “defense in depth,” seeks to shut off every possible vector to data by erecting layered defenses. Bad news: That’s mathematically impossible.
This article is the first in a series on the physicality of data. I’ll follow up with additional installments of this series over the next several weeks, so check back to see those as they become available. All of us tend to conflate the word “data” with the word “information.” Usually, that’s OK, but collapsing data on a computer and information into one thing rather than two separate things makes thinking accurately about data ownership difficult. | <urn:uuid:d5cdc7b0-f552-4313-ae55-90e8f9847b16> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.absio.com/blog/page/2/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334912.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20220926144455-20220926174455-00379.warc.gz | en | 0.947272 | 590 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Spam is referred to as “Unsolicited Commercial Email”. The spam filter is a type of program or software designed specifically to block unsolicited and indiscriminate content sent over the email. Constant nuisance created by an information system security threat named SPAM is not going anywhere for coming years. Spam mail titles are too catchy that one tends to read the mail and this infects the organization’s networks and information system.
An electronic mail is one of the most preferred modes of sending information across the world. Billions of emails pass between senders and recipients every day. These emails contain texts, videos, pictures, documents, and every other known form of content. Emails can be classified as professional emails, which are communicated between organizations, and personal emails. The transfer of these emails between the sender and the recipient occurs in a protected form through a secure email gateway service.
As crazy as it is to believe, spammers would not keep throwing out spam unless they got a return on their investment. So, while it might seem unlikely that someone would fall for the fake pill spam that has been going around forever, somebody must be falling for it or it would have died out a long time ago.
Everyone uses Gmail. After all, it’s free. And what’s even better is that it comes with free spam filtering. Of course, the old adage you get what you pay for still applies, and that was never more apparent than this week when Gmail’s spam filtering broke down and stopped working.
It was apparent almost instantly. From Newsgram, “Gmail users around the world were complaining about spam messages flooding their inbox over the weekend as the Google service was apparently suffering from a widespread problem with its email filters. Several Gmail users took to Twitter and other social media platforms like reddit to convey they were being bombarded with spam messages.”
Everyone will acknowledge that spam emails are a constant nuisance. Spam remains a regular interruption in our daily lives, where we have to spend time to open and delete those emails. Though not always, they also pose severe threats to our systems and can cripple our networks. Spamming in today’s digital era is a billion-dollar industry where companies even go so far as to use this as a professional technique to promote their services.
Candidates running for political office today, especially those running for president, have to get their message out. And more and more that means sending out emails. Lots of emails. Emails that can easily be misinterpreted as spam.
Most spam is annoying, but harmless. Unless of course it’s the basis of a sextortion scam. If you’re not familiar, sextortion is a form of sexual exploitation that employs non-physical forms of coercion to extort money or sexual favors from the victim. For instance, if someone threatens that they can blame you for child pornography and will do so unless you pay them a ransom, that’s a form of sextortion.
There’s a lot of spam out there. More than 14.5 billion spam messages are sent each day by some estimates. To the extent that anyone thinks about it, they probably envision that spam coming from a bunch of spammers in some third-world countries, but that’s rarely the case.
A remote vulnerability has been discovered in the EXIM email server that allows an attacker to run commands as root.
If your mail server is running EXIM our email gateway can offer you complete protection from this exploit and can keep your users safe. The service is cloud-deployed and fully managed and can scale from a single domain to hosting providers needing filtering for tens of thousands of domains.
Spam is one of the most ubiquitous and costly annoyances to companies today. It clogs inboxes. It consumes storage space and bogs down email servers. And it consumes tremendous amounts of bandwidth with frivolous or dangerous messages and traffic. With the yearly increase in the volume of spam, finding the right spam blocking solution is vitally important to business, because without effective spam blocking, productivity can and will grind to a halt.
Spam is more than a nuisance — it is a scourge that, if unchecked will wreak havoc on an entire organization. In the best case, inboxes are flooded with oceans of superfluous email, and servers are overwhelmed. In the worst case, spam can be a vector for malicious attachments, malware and viruses.
We are making two new changes to the way that the email system processes mail in an attempt to cut down on spam. We are adding additional validations and checks to ensure that the domains mentioned in the SMTP envelope are valid and have a functional DNS record.
Each year, an increasing number of spam emails are sent to corporate employees, threatening to clog corporate email servers and slow productivity to a crawl. With the rising concern to business that spam has created, more organizations are turning to cloud-based spam filtering solutions to ameliorate the threat of disruption from spam.
Spam is more than just an annoyance, and effective spam filtering is a critical part of any IT security plan. Each day, corporate email servers are inundated with a vast amount of spam. To combat this rising tide, organizations need sophisticated spam filtering. When proper spam filtering is in place, employee inboxes are kept free of unwanted messages, and unwanted traffic stays off the network.
Email is the lifeblood of your organization, but when spam intrudes, it can go beyond a pure annoyance and become a real threat to the bottom line.
A lack of spam protection is the gateway to additional security threats; it is a vector for spear-phishing and ransomware attacks. It can contain CEO fraud attempts and compromise business email. Most of the security breaches in business today begin with an email.
Backend logistics like payment options, renewal rates, bitcoin, wire transfer may not necessarily be huge advancements in our spam filtering technology, but they are responses to customer feedback.
We now offer a monthly payment option for Spam Filtering, Email Quarantine and Backup MX. You’ll get a massive discount when you order annual service, but if you need monthly billing that option is available right now.
All Symantec and Norton branded antivirus products
Symantec and Norton branded antivirus products contain multiple vulnerabilities. Some of these products are in widespread use throughout government and industry. Exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow a remote attacker to take control of an affected system.
We are happy to announce that the Smart Quarantine services a feature that was previously only available on accounts with more than 150 email addresses is now available for all of our Email Gateway and Email Forwarding clients.
Smart quarantine all but eliminates false positives for messages misclassified as spam.
Servers in multiple Geographic Zones
We care about your data privacy and security as well as creating the most redundant network possible for your Spam Filtering needs.
We feel that one way to ensure that our network is as robust as possible is to have servers in multiple data centers around the globe. So that if there are any regional or local connectivity problems that the network will be self healing and your mail will continue to flow. To this end we have build out a point of presence in the Amazon Frankfurt Germany data center because it provides not only geographic diversity but also allows our customers in the EU a filtering option that keeps their mail within the boundaries of the European Union.
We are the company that runs the email services for Nettica.com, and I wanted to reach out to you personally and thank you for being a client and to inform you about some upcoming changes to the system.
We have learned a lot in the past few months by listening to your needs and trying to address them. One of the biggest complaint that we have from Nettica customers is that the spam filtering could be improved and that the credits system is not easy to understand. Addressing these issues will be our updates to the way that things work. | <urn:uuid:f41be0f0-d577-4661-8906-0cd8e1c74a1a> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.duocircle.com/spam-filtering | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334912.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20220926144455-20220926174455-00379.warc.gz | en | 0.951388 | 1,698 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Explore How to Recognize and Deal with Phishing Scams
For several decades, email has been the primary form of professional and casual communication on the internet. In April 2019, it was estimated that 293.6 billion emails are sent around the globe each day. Because it is such a widely used form of communication, there are those who seek to take advantage of its scope and exploit it. Statista reports that over 55% of emails sent are considered spam. Although spam inboxes assist in weeding these imposter messages out, there are still many that slip through filters and end up where trustworthy emails are sent. These emails, disguised as legitimate, are actually phishing scams that aim to attack users like you.
In this whitepaper, you’ll learn about types of phishing and strategies ensure you don’t become a victim of these scams. Topics include: | <urn:uuid:0bc81e87-64cf-4aca-acb7-39f0681d108c> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.idagent.com/resources/one-phish-two-phish/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335326.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20220929065206-20220929095206-00379.warc.gz | en | 0.9712 | 179 | 2.53125 | 3 |
How to Get Better Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Accuracy
The OCR Accuracy Dirty Secret and Proven OCR Test Results
Optical character recognition (OCR) is a technology used to convert scanned images or photographs of text into machine-readable text. It can be used to convert printed or handwritten text that can then be injected into business intelligence or content management platforms.
By having the data as electronic text, that information can be used for advanced analytics, near-elimination of manual data entry, and exceptional enterprise search capabilities, among many other benefits.
Why is Imperfect OCR a Problem?
Recognizing anything less than 100% OCR accuracy creates massive error rates. Here’s why:
Say you’re getting 95% accuracy on an invoice and you need to extract 10 independent fields. The overall per-field accuracy is actually 60%, not 95% because .95 to the power of 10 is .60, or 60%.
Imagine – just 4% better OCR boosts accuracy to 90%.
You may accept 95% accuracy for full-text search, but not for recognizing text and extracting it.
Automation needs 100% OCR accuracy, but it’s impossible using OCR alone.
How Can I Improve OCR Accuracy and Getting Text from Images?
Many attempts at improving OCR accuracy have been made over the years to improve work with documents. Even simple features like rubber band OCR and zonal OCR require accurate underlying character recognition.
Although there’s no such thing as 100% accurate OCR without human help, making a huge improvement is very possible.
Here are 4 Ways to Improve OCR Accuracy:
- Better scanner controls
- Improved quality of document images
- Use multiple OCR engines
- Human-based design approach
All you need is 99% OCR accuracy to get 90% accurate character recognition. Intelligent document processing provides built-in data validations, fuzzy matching, lexicons, and human data review to make quick work of the outlying 10% needed for 100% accurate data extraction.
We’re asked all the time about testing our OCR and if our intelligent document processing is more accurate.
So we tested Grooper’s OCR as well as a few other text recognition applications…
And the OCR Test Results Are…
Using the same documents in all three steps of the OCR application test, we quickly processed and validated the results using:
- OCR alone
- Grooper’s OCR Synthesis (multi-pass) + Standard OCR
- Grooper’s OCR Synthesis + Grooper’s Advanced Image Processing + Standard OCR
The OCR test results below prove the power of intelligent document processing. Feed your workflows and RPA tools with accurate and trustworthy data:
All other document data capture solutions using OCR alone, or OCR with expensive third-party add-ons aren’t getting the job done if they only achieve somewhere between 49-78% accuracy. And even 95% accuracy limits the power of your automations.
You deserve accurate and dependable data, free of errors – and now it’s available, just the way you imagined it would be!
What’s the secret to better OCR accuracy? A whole lot of work (but not for you)! Tired of poor performance with everything we were using, we built Grooper from the ground up to meet the challenging demands of modern automation.
You get the benefit of our unique approach to intelligent document processing, based on 30 years of document data capture and patented technology with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Do you need accurate extraction from tough documents like bad scans, invoices with nested tables, or natural language documents like contracts? We’ll show you how Grooper works on these.
Free Cheat Sheet: How to Select the Most Accurate OCR Software
There are many things that make some OCR software much more accurate (and help you save more time and money) than others.
In this free Cheat Sheet, you will discover the most important qualities that make for the most accurate OCR software. You will learn what to look for in an OCR software, including:
- What modern OCR method is a big improvement over traditional OCR
- The 3 key imaging technologies that do a lot of heavy lifting to make OCR much easier and accurate
- 16 Processing tools that take OCR from zero to hero
- 5 Breakthrough features of modern OCR
- How to improve OCR for handwriting
Enjoy the Freedom of Accurate OCR
You are free from relying on poor-performing, low accuracy document data capture solutions that recognize very little text.
You will discover new ways of working and uncover business-changing innovations. Now you only need limited human data review to process pages filled with complicated text.
Transform OCR workflows on your Windows machine with a uniquely powerful, proven, and patented technology.
Imagine the cost savings and workflow improvements if you had 99% OCR accuracy. Hundreds of organizations have increased their customer service, drastically cut costs and innovated in new ways by improving OCR accuracy with Grooper.
Grooper has become the foundation for many industry-first solutions in healthcare, financial services, oil and gas, education, and government.
We’d love to hear about your project and find a way to help.
Watch our Webinar: Improving OCR Accuracy with Image Processing
See the difference that great image processing makes in OCR recognizing and extracting text much more accurately. An OCR industry expert shows how to quickly improve data capture results in actual business documents. | <urn:uuid:57c6455e-7c69-4111-99c6-1103959dbe04> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.bisok.com/how-to-get-better-ocr-accuracy/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337516.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20221004152839-20221004182839-00379.warc.gz | en | 0.903353 | 1,182 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Smart poles are urban technology aggregation points centered around smart streetlighting platforms. They are expected to play a critical role in scaling smart urban infrastructure deployments, from video surveillance and Wi-Fi hotspots to digital signage, environmental monitoring systems, traffic management solutions, and Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. Smart pole adoption will be mainly driven by the telco ecosystem, with vendors like Nokia and Huawei looking for locations to deploy 5G small cells as part of cellular network densification programs. Other drivers include sustainability targets and government initiatives. The global installed base of smart poles will reach 10.8 million by 2030.
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What Are Smart Poles?
Smart poles are either connected, smart streetlights or other types of utility poles that have been extended with imaging and other sensors, digital signage, short-range connectivity, charging points, or any other urban infrastructure functionality. They are essentially smart cities’ technology aggregation points, similar to smart kiosks and traffic lights.
Five main categories of smart pole use cases, systems, and applications can be defined as follows:
- Public Safety and Security: Surveillance cameras; audio sensors/speakers; emergency call button/push-to-talk; pedestrian safety.
- Environmental Monitoring: Air quality sensors; weather stations; audio sensors (noise pollution); water level/flood monitoring.
- Vehicle and Pedestrian Traffic Monitoring (‘Street Analytics”): Congestion/incident monitoring; parking availability and violation monitoring; Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) Roadside Units (RSUs) enabling autonomous driving; pedestrian counting.
- Information and Connectivity: Wi-Fi and Internet of Things (IoT) hotspots; information displays and digital signage; smart kiosks; payment terminals.
- Energy Generation and Distribution: Electric Vehicle (EV), two-wheel, drone, and handset charging points; renewable energy generation (solar panels); smart lighting.
Aggregating multiple systems, often through modular, extensible hardware, allows significant cost saving by sharing AI compute power, backhaul, design, installation, and maintenance costs. Additionally, the telco ecosystem increasingly sees smart poles as the perfect platform for enabling cellular network densification by integrating 5G small cells into smart pole hardware. Typical smart pole deployment locations include roads, campuses, parks, and city centers.
Smart Pole Vendor Solutions, Deployments, and Ecosystem Dynamics
An increasing number of technology vendors have started to design and commercialize smart pole systems in the past years:
- Nokia/LuxTurrim5G: The Nokia-driven LuxTurrim5G consortium and ecosystem announced the finalization of its pre-commercial version 5G smart pole in 2021, centered around Millimeter Wave (mmWave) 5G base stations and Nokia AnyHaul fiber access complemented with video cameras, radar, and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors for navigation and support for autonomous driving, weather and air quality sensors, and intelligent lighting. The second phase was completed in 2022 with a data platform and marketplace added, enabling cross-service utilization of smart city data and innovation. The Nokia Espoo campus smart city pilot included 19 smart poles and 2 smart and safe bus stops. Nokia also partnered with ClearWorld, which develops intelligent solar Light-Emitting Diode (LED) smart poles.
- Ubicquia: Pioneer and stalwart of modular smart pole hardware with commercial solutions, including UbiCell and UbiVu (smart lighting), UbiHub AP6 (streetlight Wi-Fi access point), UbiHub AP/AI (smart city platform for traffic and street analytics), UbiSmart AQM+ (streetlight air quality and noise monitor), and UbiMetro (streetlight small cell). Ubicquia has partnered with RealTerm Energy, Movandi, and Ericsson (5G small cells).
- Huawei: PoleStar 2.0, released in 2018, is aimed at both streetlights and electric poles, and includes support for 5G, smart lighting, smart monitoring, IoT, smart environmental protection, and city information. Huawei partnered with Virtulux to deploy a smart pole solution in Kazan, Russia.
- Verizon: Verizon Intelligent Lighting’s NetSense platform/smart city hub is a modular solution supporting Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) sensor extensions for video analytics and parking enforcement, and motion sensors to aggregate traffic, enforcement, and mobility information. Verizon has partnered with Comptek on its City Poles housing Verizon 4G and 5G small cell equipment in Denver and other U.S. cities.
- Signify (formerly Philips Lighting): The BrightSites portfolio supports wireless mesh networking (“Connectivity grid of the future”), Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), and 5G small cells, as well as Wi-Fi, camera, air quality, and other IoT sensors.
Key cities that have deployed smart poles include Seoul (drone charging pilot), Leuven (EV charging), Munich (public Wi-Fi), and Los Angeles (digital banners and EV charging). However, to date, the largest deployments have been in cities in China (Shenzhen and Hangzhou) and India (New Delhi, Bhopal, and Indore).
Smart pole deployments are also driven by government initiatives, such the European Union’s (EU) Humble Lamppost project, aimed at ultimately achieving 10 million smart lampposts across EU cities.
Why Are Smart Poles Important?
Over and beyond the obvious benefits of cost savings through modular extensible hardware and the overall principle of expensive urban real estate and equipment sharing (in turn, facilitating fast Return on Investment (ROI) and easier business case justification), the wider relevance of smart poles is related to how they are expected to enable advanced levels of convergence between communication networks, utilities and energy generation and distribution networks, and smart city infrastructure.
This translates into multiple business drivers, models, and ecosystem approaches that will coexist:
- Telco/ 5G-Driven Models: Cellular operator push and funding of 5G/6G network densification.
- Utility-Driven Models: Energy savings, renewable energy generation, and EV charging as key use cases closely linked to sustainability objectives and targets.
- Government-Driven Approaches: City and/or national/international government objectives and funding (e.g., the EU Humble Lamppost project, China, and India).
The power of the smart pole paradigm resides in bringing these various stakeholders, approaches, objectives, and agendas together into one unifying and mutual beneficial approach. For smart urban infrastructure, in particular, it offers the promise of addressing the current fragmentation and accelerating and scaling hitherto mostly scattered approaches. Moreover, smart urban infrastructure will be able to “surf” on and follow in the wake of the momentum of often much better funded telco and sustainability ecosystems. Additionally, it will pave the way for city governments to tap into widescale sensor data monetization.
However, various smart pole adoption barriers prove difficult to address, especially issues related to co-ownership, cost sharing, and management/maintenance. Other inhibitors include the lack of standards for modular and interoperable hardware solutions, lack of awareness about the benefits at city governments, additional power supply requirements, conflicting priorities and agendas, and sensor data privacy concerns.
As a result, ABI Research remains conservative as to the rate of smart pole adoption growth, forecasting 10.8 million smart poles in operation globally by 2030, still only representing less than 5% of all streetlights. However, the number and scale of smart pole projects will grow exponentially toward the end of this decade, setting the scene for widespread deployments in the next decade. | <urn:uuid:fc4b33d7-7e01-4b73-8e24-4a5615a06597> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.abiresearch.com/market-research/product/7781095-smart-poles-to-bring-scale-to-smart-urban-/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337680.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20221005234659-20221006024659-00379.warc.gz | en | 0.883115 | 1,638 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Data protection initiatives are growing around the world, and after years of debate the Brazilian Federal Senate is the newest to introduce legislation governing how businesses collect, use, disclose, and process personal data. Brazil’s data protection law Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (LGPD) will come into effect February 15, 2020, requiring organizations to be in line with strict compliancy laws regarding consumers personal identifiable information.
Once the law is implemented, the Data Protection Authority (DPA) will be responsible for enforcing the LGPD and interpretive guidelines. These guidelines, while very broad for now, will shape how the laws interpreted, implemented and enforced.
So, its best we learn the basics.
Who must comply with LGPD?
Any individual or legal entity with data processing activities that:
- Are carried out in Brazil
- Are for the purpose of offering or supplying goods or services in Brazil or relate to individuals located in Brazil
- Involve personal data collected in Brazil
Who doesn’t have to comply?
LGPD does not apply to data processing carried out:
- By a person for a strictly personal purpose
- Exclusively for journalistic, artistic, literary or academic purposes
- Exclusively for national security, national defense, public safety or criminal investigation/punishment activities
- Some anonymous data may be protected as “personal data” when used for profiling. Generally, anonymous data is exempt from LGPD, however, Article 12 states that it may be deemed “personal data” when it is used to enhance, build upon or create behavioral profiles about individuals.
- There are no incentives for data controllers to pseudonymize data – it is addressed under Article 13, which encourages public health research bodies to anonymize or pseudonymize health data.
What happens when businesses breach LGPD law?
They can face a fine of up to R$50 million (approximately 12 million USD) or 2 percent of total revenue in Brazil, whichever is higher.
LGPD is just the next step in global privacy laws, as Gartner states that by 2022, half of our planet’s population will have their personal information protected under local privacy regulations in line with the GDPR, up from a tenth today. Also, by 2025, at least 25% of the world’s nations will be in “reciprocal adequacy agreement” with the EU or China, up from a few countries today.
What do we do?
How do we comply with these new laws without killing the productivity of our company?
It’s time to use what we learned from GDPR.
When looking back on how we’ve fared when GDPR came into effect, Gartner finds businesses face the following challenges due to growing privacy laws:
- Global businesses are faced with new privacy compliance mandates within each major market.
- New and jurisdiction-specific privacy requirements are often addressed by costly independent projects with different approaches and levels of rigor.
- Ongoing monitoring efforts lack proactive and shared risk management plans, leading to redundant work and higher cost.
GDPR came into force on May 25th, 2018, meaning the 6 month-iversary was just a few weeks ago. You’d expect all businesses to gain compliancy in this time frame, however, a TrustArc study reports that by the end of 2018, only 76% EU, 76% U.K., and 68% U.S. businesses will be fully compliant.
So why the low numbers of expected compliancy? Well, it seems that many businesses have tried to adopt legacy solutions. These have been proven ineffective, as information is too far spread out. A poll done by Citrix found that the average large UK business was reliant on 24 systems to manage and store personal data, with 21% using over 40 systems to do so. This kind of data sprawl can make compliancy extremely difficult, as knowledge about the location of customer information is limited and accessing and distributing this data to customers who request it can be a lengthy and expensive task.
Continuous compliancy is key for a business to thrive in the new consumer privacy landscape – they need a solid foundation to build upon that enforces and facilitates compliancy privacy policies. Businesses need the next-gen solution, an all in one platform that strictly governs the security of the data, who can access it, and how it is distributed.
As we learned with GDPR, LGPD is all or nothing, and it is best organizations adopt proactive practices that cover all LGPD laws, not just a subset. Businesses need user-enabled, governance-enabled, up-to-date security for every data point, every time. | <urn:uuid:f36a1ed4-9378-41e0-82f3-81e23c5834b5> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://data443.com/blog/brazils-version-of-gdpr-lgpd/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334528.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20220925101046-20220925131046-00579.warc.gz | en | 0.933858 | 969 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Many children these days play games online and as harmless as this may seem, they are probably unaware that they are potential targets for cybercriminals. This is all thanks to the lure of online accounts full of parent’s credit card details and other less obvious information which can be monetized.
Although your son or daughter may be using secured gaming platforms like Steam marketplace, this is not enough. They can still be duped by scams such as infected screensaver files or “cheats” poisoned by malware.
This applies to gaming forums as well. It is highly likely that your child is turning to more experience players for gaming advice but unfortunately, some of the threads can be full of trick advice, and in-game chat channels play host to predators waiting for that click on a ‘bad’ link which infects your child’s device.
Luckily for parents everywhere, we have compiled nine tips on how to keep your little gamers safe.
A security solution
Install a reliable security solution onto your child’s gaming device and make sure it’s always updated. Cybercriminals never sleep, the same goes for the defenses protecting your kids. Be aware that your child may be turning it off for a tiny bit of extra speed or ignoring the pop-ups pointing to potential risks.
Toughen up the browser
Many of the scams targeting gamers rely on people offering ‘bargain’ items in chat – either in-game or as a service such as Steam – and are then redirecting visitors to fraudulent sites. Make sure that the browser is up-to-date and the phishing warnings are enabled.
Credentials are valuable
Teach your children the importance of their credentials advising them to provide their credentials only to reliable websites and online services and be there to provide advice if they are unsure if a page is safe or not. In cases the child is unsure if the page is safe, be there for advice.
Don’t trade game code online
Trading game code via forums, or even auction sites, is asking for trouble as there are numerous scams to avoid. The best place to get game codes is from gaming companies, buying the code for a new game online might end up costing you tens of euros for fake codes.
On the other hand, if you try to sell some old games your child is not playing anymore, scammers may claim that your code was bogus, asking for a refund and leaving you out of pocket.
Teach your child how to act when connecting to public Wi-Fi, it’s key that kids are aware they are playing on a public network and particularly of all the risks it entails.
If your children are going to a gaming event or even a social gaming event, they should change their usual password for a temporary one while there, then back to the usual one when back home, this protects them from scammers who might intercept their data and use it to steal their account – or against someone looking over their shoulder to nick their password.
Help them pick the right username
Having a name that gives away that someone is young, can attract unwanted attention. Choose a tag, in-game name or forum alias that gives away absolutely no personal information – game accounts are high-value targets for cybercriminals.
Cheats and hacks are even worse than you think
Using cheats might not only mean risking a lifetime ban from a game your little player loves − it also endangers his or her account. An estimated 90% of the commonly-traded cheats are infected with malware, they’re called ‘hacks’ for a reason.
Don’t befriend people on Facebook to get game ‘freebies’
Facebook games which rely on topping up energy or trading with friends can be an easy lure for children. Fan sites are full of people offering to befriend anybody for just that purpose. Although this can speed up the game experience, it leaves children with “friends” who might well be criminals, able to see their information.
People on fora are not your friends
Gamer forums and in-game chat channels are pretty savage, hostile places at best – and when it comes to scams, add-ons, mods or anything out there, they are an unsavory place for a child to find advice. Your children probably know not to trust strangers on the street, teach them to apply this to the online world too.
[su_box title=”About ESET” style=”noise” box_color=”#336588″]Since 1987, ESET® has been developing award-winning | <urn:uuid:ec0081ce-88a3-4ec8-87b9-6de56ff18b7b> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/articles/tips-for-parents-on-how-to-keep-their-little-gamers-safe/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334528.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20220925101046-20220925131046-00579.warc.gz | en | 0.954467 | 981 | 2.578125 | 3 |
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How Artificial Intelligence can Make Data Center Smart
Data centers are also vulnerable to a variety of cyber threats. Cybercriminals are constantly devising new methods for obtaining data from data centers or launching their next data breach attempt.
Fremont, CA: Today, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is critical in acquiring, processing, and analyzing data at a much faster rate than ever before! Incorporating data pieces and managing data centers are likewise getting more efficient and beneficial.
With data becoming a requirement for practically every business operation in order to gain insight and achieve business objectives, data centers are at the epicenter of this digital transformation. These physical structures that store computers and equipment support the modern economy's information needs. Data centers offer continuous data backup and recovery services, as well as support for cloud storage applications and transactions. Apart from strengthening the economy, the data center ecosystem attracts a large number of international tech enterprises to the country. Furthermore, the existence of data centers ensures a favorable investment climate and job prospects for the local population.
Because data centers use a lot of energy, training an artificial intelligence network to enhance power use effectiveness (PUE) is an important goal. PUE is an important indicator for measuring data center efficiency. Google routinely achieved a 40 percent decrease in the amount of energy consumed for cooling by putting Deepmind AI in one of their facilities in 2014, which is equivalent to a 15 percent reduction in overall PUE overhead after accounting for electrical losses and other non-cooling inefficiencies. It also created the lowest PUE ever recorded at the site. Deepmind monitors over 100 variables in the data center to increase efficiency and reduce power usage.
Data centers are also vulnerable to a variety of cyber threats. Cybercriminals are constantly devising new methods for obtaining data from data centers or launching their next data breach attempt. Artificial intelligence demonstrates its resiliency by learning regular network behavior and recognizing cyber threats based on deviations from such behavior. By analyzing events and inputs from many systems and designing a suitable incident response system, artificial algorithms can supplement current Security Incidents and Event Management (SIEM) solutions.
See Also:Top Encryption Solutions Companies | <urn:uuid:64d243c7-47a7-44d9-baa2-f09d3f5e6616> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.cioapplications.com/news/how-artificial-intelligence-can-make-data-center-smart-nid-8381.html | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334528.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20220925101046-20220925131046-00579.warc.gz | en | 0.923876 | 448 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Many organisations are currently in the process of updating their security measures to better protect against cyber threats. One way to do this is through a vulnerability assessment, which is an important step in the organisation’s risk management strategy.
If you don’t know about the probability of being infected by one of these vulnerabilities, analysis conducted by IBM Security shows vulnerability scanning and the exploitation of lapses as the most prevalent attack vector in 2020 (35% of attacks), surpassing phishing attacks. Hackers are always on the lookout for vulnerabilities on the net. It is your duty as a manager to keep your company’s information safe by staying vigilant.
Begin this process by performing a vulnerability assessment. This article will discuss vulnerability assessments, why it’s necessary, and how it can provide a more comprehensive view of your organisation’s security posture.
What is a Vulnerability Assessment?
A vulnerability assessment is a security analysis that assesses the susceptibility of an information system to vulnerabilities. It determines whether the system can be affected by one, or more, known vulnerabilities and how much of a threat those vulnerabilities pose. The more vulnerabilities that are found and assessed, the higher the risk of the system.
Scanning systems with security scanners perform vulnerability assessments. These scanners will look for software and hardware vulnerabilities in a system – a vulnerability assessment can be done manually or automatically. Automated scans are often called ‘continuous monitoring’ or ‘continuous scanning’; these scans are performed without any human interaction and usually occur regularly – such as daily, weekly, or monthly.
Manual vulnerability assessment is a one-time scan of the system. There are various methods of manual scanning, such as using a checklist or the following documentation. During the assessment process, a manual scan will consider the vulnerabilities of other systems in the organisation and determine whether they are vulnerable to a particular vulnerability found on the subject system.
Why is a Vulnerability Assessment Necessary?
Vulnerability assessments help an organisation develop action plans for resolving vulnerabilities and avoiding exploitation.
Most enterprises struggle with assessing their security status and the measures they need to take to protect themselves. A vulnerability assessment is an important part of this process, particularly if you are looking for a way to assess your company’s risk-management strategy. Because of the wide variety of vulnerabilities and threats that can affect an organisation, performing regular vulnerability assessments is critical to watch your company’s overall security measures.
A vulnerability assessment will identify:
- Unidentified vulnerabilities or holes in the security system.
- Vulnerabilities that have already been identified but are still active.
- The level of risk associated with those known vulnerabilities and threats.
- New vulnerabilities and new threats that may be affecting the system.
- New weaknesses in your current security measures and how to resolve them. You also want to keep track of any new threats that you don’t know about, discovered during a vulnerability assessment, and assessed for their impact on the security system and government regulations.
After the vulnerability assessment results have been analysed and any identified threats have been addressed, it will be necessary to perform another vulnerability assessment again in the future. This is because vulnerabilities that are not fixed properly can still be exploited, and new threats may arise over time.
A vulnerability assessment is a security analysis that assesses the susceptibility of an information system to vulnerabilities. It determines whether the system can be affected by whether one or more known vulnerabilities and how much of a threat those vulnerabilities pose.
Examples of threats that may be mitigated by a vulnerability assessment include:
- Code injection attacks, XSS, SQL injections, etc.
- Higher privileges are granted on the page due to faulting authentication mechanisms.
- The software program often ships with unsecured settings, such as centralised passwords.
Types of Vulnerability Assessments
There are various types of vulnerability assessments, which include:
Host Assessment: The purpose of a host assessment is to find any vulnerabilities on a single computer in the network. This assessment is usually performed using automated scanners designed for high-speed and comprehensive scans.
Network Assessment: The purpose of a network assessment is to discover vulnerabilities within the network infrastructure and computers connected to it. It usually involves manually scanning every system on the network to scan all of the systems at once (unlike host assessments).
Database Assessment: This is used to determine the flaws and misconfigurations, identify insecure databases or development environments, and categorise sensitive, private information across a company’s infrastructure.
Application Scans: This identified security vulnerabilities in web applications’ source code and front-end code using automated scans or source code analysis.
Importance of Vulnerability Assessments
Vulnerability assessments are significant for security systems, the importance is that:
Any company that utilises computers and the Internet and who doesn’t use these modern technologies today – must complete a vulnerability assessment to evaluate and develop effective courses for addressing the security risks that attackers can exploit. Smaller and medium-sized businesses are especially vulnerable to these attacks, but larger enterprises and firms with ongoing attacks also benefit from these assessments.
A vulnerability assessment helps a business determine whether its inner environment has security weaknesses that may affect it. It also allows it to evaluate and assess these risks. By evaluating the company’s current risks and vulnerabilities, it will better avoid a cyber attack and lower the chances that the company’s infrastructure will be compromised.
Difference Between Vulnerability Assessments and Penetration Testing
- A vulnerability assessment typically includes penetration testing to reveal vulnerabilities in a company’s personnel, processes, or systems. These vulnerabilities may not be noticeable with network or system scans. This procedure is known as vulnerability assessment/penetration testing or VAPT. While penetration testing alone is not sufficient for identifying network vulnerabilities and is a separate process, a network vulnerability analysis checks for the threats to a computing system and recommends the most effective remedies to mitigation risks.
- While vulnerability assessments can quickly cover a vulnerable target, penetration testing generally requires a bend of automated and manual techniques to give testers greater access to vulnerabilities and controls.
- A security vulnerability assessment utilises automated network vulnerability scanning tools to report a summary list of vulnerabilities that need to be fixed. However, it does not evaluate specific potential threats or attack scenarios.
Therefore, organisations should ensure that their teams maintain regular vulnerability testing of their networks. Vulnerability testing should also be done when new systems or devices are added to networks.
Network vulnerabilities must also be checked when ports are opened and redesigned. On the other hand, penetration testing is based on vulnerability assessments; its primary objective is to determine whether or not a particular vulnerability exists. Also, penetration testing aims to demonstrate that exploiting a flaw could cause problems for the software or network.
Mitigate Cyber Vulnerability Assessment
Why use Mitigate Cyber to conduct your cyber vulnerability assessment?
Mitigate Cyber firewall helps protect against application vulnerabilities and cyber attacks, secure business data, increase web application performance and availability, secure specific application and web application vulnerabilities, mitigate cyber breaches to critical infrastructure, and reduce business risk. Click here to learn more about our vulnerability testing solution.
Vulnerability assessments are achieved through penetration testing or automated analysis of relevant data. A vulnerability assessment will not only find weaknesses but will also provide an overview of the profile or surface area that allows the attacker to gain access to your network.
This assessment will also identify existing vulnerabilities and provide a baseline for future risk management. Make sure to use a professional and experiences penetration testing company that can perform accurately efficient assessments and provide you with the security you need. Mitigate Cyber provides penetration testing services across all sectors to provide customers the best protection by identifying vulnerabilities and improving security management.
Our firewall helps protect against application vulnerabilities and cyber attacks, secure business data, increase web application performance and availability. We help detect breaches, critical infrastructure, and reduce business risk. | <urn:uuid:0a3621f0-ba15-4957-ace8-ea800f579b0b> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://mitigatecyber.com/security-vulnerability-assessment-key-concepts-for-a-solid-security-plan/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335059.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20220928020513-20220928050513-00579.warc.gz | en | 0.926868 | 1,617 | 3 | 3 |
What are cyber security frameworks?
Cyber security frameworks exist to protect organisations from threat actors and cyber attacks by providing a standardised system of guidelines and best practices that support the overall security of your digital infrastructure. While cyber security frameworks do not exist tangibly, it’s important not to mistake them for optional guidance. They provide an essential structure and foundation as you begin to develop deliverable security solutions, and will help you to define the policies and procedures involved as you implement security and governance controls. By establishing the people, technology and processes needed to reduce potential vulnerabilities, these frameworks effectively help organisations of any size to manage and minimise risk.
Who are cyber security frameworks for?
In short – cyber security frameworks are for everyone. Every organisation that operates with digital assets should be referencing cyber security frameworks. Specifically though, IT Security or Cyber Security Managers will use them to highlight the tasks, actions and processes that are required to mitigate risks. They also enable these roles to manage any risks more systematically and intelligently. Depending on your organisation and government, some of these frameworks will also be essential to meet governance and compliance requirements.
But choosing the right framework for your organisation is still an important decision to make. Many have objectives and measures that can crossover so understanding what is applicable and beneficial to your organisation is key.
Here’s three cyber security frameworks to help you get started:
1. Cyber Essentials & Cyber Essentials Plus
Cyber Essentials is a UK government framework providing a simple approach that most companies can undertake, and acts as the government’s minimum baseline standard for cyber security in the UK. As the name suggests, this framework covers the essentials and will protect your organisation from a wide variety of the most common cyber attacks. It covers a set of basic technical control themes such as:
- Secure configurations
- User access control
- Malware protection
- Security update management
- Home working devices and all cloud services (as of Jan 24th 2022)
Who is it for?
The Cyber Essentials framework provides organisations of all sizes and industry with the first step to cyber security maturity. Any organisation that wants to be protected against the most common cyber attacks should use the Cyber Essentials framework as the certification alone will act as a deterrent to cyber criminals. While beneficial for all, organisations who work with the UK government will also be required to have a Cyber Essentials certification.
Advantages for organisations:
- Ability to achieve a self-assessed certification (Cyber Essentials).
- Cyber Essentials Plus available – this ensures you have the Cyber Essentials controls in place through a hands-on technical verification.
- Cyber Essentials readiness toolkit available – this provides targeted guidance, specific to your organisation so you can create a personal action plan with guidance on how to meet the requirements of the certification.
- Certification reassures your customers and stakeholders that you are actively securing your infrastructure against cyber attacks.
- Clarity on your organisation’s cyber security posture and actionable advice and guidance to make improvements.
2. Cyber Assessment Framework
The Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) was developed by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to help organisations responsible for some of the UK’s most critical services and activities strengthen their cyber resilience. It is an assessment of current cyber security and consists of a set of principles indicating what should be achieved by the organisation – rather than a step-by-step guide of how to achieve it. The CAF has four key objectives which provides organisations with more guidance as to what processes and systems should be in place, these are:
- Managing security risk
- Protecting against cyber attack
- Detecting cyber security events*
- Minimising the impact of cyber security incidents
Who is it for?
This framework was introduced as part of a programme to improve government cyber security and therefore is primarily applicable to government bodies and organisations like emergency services and defence. In addition, The CAF is also recommended for organisations that fall into three categories: organisations within the UK Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), organisations subject to Network and Information Systems (NIS) regulations, and organisations managing cyber-related risk to public safety.
Advantages for organisations:
- Provides a systematic and comprehensive approach to assessing the extent of cyber risk management within your organisation.
- Provides guidance for sector-specific assessment.
- CAF guidance includes Indicators of Good Practice (IGPs) to assist with assessment.
- Achieving the outcomes of the framework principles will help to improve cyber resilience and increase awareness of the importance of effective risk management.
*A security solution like MDR would be beneficial in supporting the detection of cyber security events. MDR supports organisations with a dedicated Security Operations Centre that monitors and manages risks 24/7. With 26% of public sector organisations having just one person responsible for their cyber security, this would be a great supplementary service for those organisations to support the objectives of this framework. Find out more about MDR from Brightsolid here.
3. ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001 is an internationally recognised framework that sets a standard for best-practice Information Security Management Systems (ISMS). It provides requirements for ISMS so organisations can effectively manage the controls and systems that will protect assets such as financial information, intellectual property, employee details and third-party information from threat and vulnerabilities. Made up of two sections, ISO/IEC 27001 is comprised of:
- 11 sections defining the requirements for establishing, implementing and maintaining an ISMS.
- Annex A, which outlines a set of control objectives and general security controls, providing guidance on how to treat identified risks through a risk assessment process.
Who is it for?
This framework is for any organisation that chooses to implement its standards. It is not obligatory but ISO 27001 certification has already been achieved by over 33,000 organisations worldwide. Due to the focus of this framework being on best-practices for information security management, industries like telecommunications, finance and IT will benefit hugely from ISO/IEC 27001.
Advantages for organisations
- Internationally recognised standard.
- Gives your organisation a recognised best-practice for protecting sensitive information.
- Certification highlights that your organisation follows information security best-practices which can be influential in securing new customers.
- Validates your cyber security program, demonstrating you have the right systems, processes and people in place to effectively manage cyber risk.
To sum up, your organisation should be considering a range of frameworks, it doesn’t need to be one or the other. There are many available that can help to enhance your cyber security maturity – and many of them are complementary as well. Just remember that some will also be industry-specific frameworks with regulations that those organisations will be expected to adhere to. With the possibility of crossovers in guidance and controls it’s always best to review what frameworks are most suitable – and more importantly beneficial – for your organisation and its cyber security. | <urn:uuid:ad06383f-b17f-46d3-a622-10d4d53463cf> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.brightsolid.com/insights/a-short-guide-to-cyber-security-frameworks/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335504.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20220930181143-20220930211143-00579.warc.gz | en | 0.919633 | 1,445 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Deaf Culture is the collection of cultural beliefs, practices, language, history, literature, and shared institutions of deaf communities that use sign language as a primary means of communication. These complex factors greatly impact how people experience the world. In the United States, more than 19 million deaf individuals use American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate. Many experts argue that the lack of awareness of deafness in American society contributes largely to the misunderstanding of the deaf and their experiences.
By the early twentieth century, American Sign Language became a popular language. ASL appears in all walks of life including teachers, doctors, lawyers, and government workers. Though efforts are made in incorporating individuals of varying capabilities into all areas of American society, it is crucial for hearing individuals to familiarize themselves with Deaf Culture to better understand their community.
Gallaudet, founded over 100 years ago, was the first institution to offer special courses for deaf students. The Gallaudet curriculum is steeped in the history and culture of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing individuals. Many deaf students attend Gallaudet to get a fulfilling and extensive education. Gallaudet also teaches hearing individuals in courses for learning, translating, and interpreting ASL.
For students who learn ASL from a young age, their experiences in American Sign Language extend beyond the classroom. Beginners start to understand the significance of facial expressions, hand movements, and body movements that signify different spoken and written words. ASL literature and signed dialogues expand the life experiences of deaf people, teaching them how to communicate with others.
In recent years, many developments in science and technology have helped to further develop the understanding deafness. Neurological and neurobiological research suggests that there are differences between the brains of deaf people and those of hearing people. This has led to the development of new methods of diagnosing neurological conditions in the deaf. The advent of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 has added another layer of legal protection for the deaf. Work in education and advocacy resulted in programs and policies that promote equal treatment of the deaf in employment settings. However, there are still many gaps in the field of medical services and compensation for the deaf. The lack of accessible health care and services for the deaf remains a pressing issue.
The use of sign language as a secondary language to communicate with the deaf is not widespread in the United States. The few universities that offer courses on this subject do not require students to learn or use sign language. Efforts are underway to provide access to the Internet and make sign language available in schools. The challenge will persist as hearing individuals continue to educate themselves on the lives, culture, and hardships of the Deaf community. | <urn:uuid:661780fc-1c43-4c5b-9e8c-35a677a94525> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.drware.com/explaining-deaf-culture-and-its-rich-history/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335504.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20220930181143-20220930211143-00579.warc.gz | en | 0.958597 | 545 | 3.921875 | 4 |
Since “2001: A Space Odyssey,” people have wondered: could machines like HAL 9000 eventually exist that can process information with human-like intelligence?
Copyright by msutoday.msu.edu
Researchers at Michigan State University say that true, human-level intelligence remains a long way off, but their new paper published in The American Naturalist explores how computers could begin to evolve learning in the same way as natural organisms did – with implications for many fields, including artificial intelligence.
“We know that all organisms are capable of some form of learning, we just weren’t sure how those abilities first evolved. Now we can watch these major evolutionary events unfold before us in a virtual world,” said Anselmo Pontes , MSU computer science researcher and lead author. “Understanding how learning behavior evolved helps us figure out how it works and provides insights to other fields such as neuroscience, education, psychology, animal behavior, and even AI. It also supplies clues to how our brains work and could even lead to robots that learn from experiences as effectively as humans do.”
According to Fred Dyer , MSU integrative biology professor and co-author, these findings have the potential for huge implications.
“We’re untangling the story of how our own cognition came to be and how that can shape the future,” Dyer said. “Understanding our own origins can lead us to developing robots that can watch and learn rather than being programmed for each individual task.”
The results are the first demonstration that shows the evolution of associative learning in an artificial organism without a brain.
“Our inspiration was the way animals learn landmarks and use them to navigate their environments,” Pontes said. “For example, in laboratory experiments, honeybees learn to associate certain colors or shapes with directions and navigate complex mazes.”
Since the evolution of learning cannot be observed through fossils – and would take more than a lifetime to watch in nature – the MSU interdisciplinary team composed of biologists and computer scientists used a digital evolution program that allowed them to observe tens of thousands of generations of evolution in just a few hours, a feat unachievable with living systems.
In this case, organisms evolved to learn and use environmental signals to help them navigate the environment and find food.
“Learning is crucial to most behaviors, but we couldn’t directly observe how learning got started in the first place from our purely instinctual ancestors,” Dyer said. “We built in various selection pressures that we thought might play a role and watched what happened in the computer.”
While the environment was simulated, the evolution was real. The programs that controlled the digital organism were subject to genetic variation from mutation, inheritance and competitive selection. Organisms were tasked to follow a trail alongside signals that – if interpreted correctly – pointed where the path went next. […] | <urn:uuid:7f3deb1b-8f72-4116-92bf-154150393bf1> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://swisscognitive.ch/2019/09/26/key-to-better-artificial-intelligence/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337244.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20221002021540-20221002051540-00579.warc.gz | en | 0.957745 | 601 | 3.828125 | 4 |
Software programmers work hard to produce secure, error-free code. Of course, bad things can happen — but really, with increasingly diligent effort, how many things can go wrong? Quite a few, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Because cybersecurity is a national goal affecting both the private and public sector, NIST and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are involved in a joint program to protect the development and use of software.
NIST has just released an enhanced tool that is designed to help programmers check for errors in software development that can cause costly operational problems. The tool also offers increased protection against hackers.
Researchers at the agency have dramatically enlarged a database that helps programmers detect flaws in software. The purpose of the reference resource is to provide researchers, developers and end users with a database of both known software security errors and fixes for these flaws. The newly released SAMATE Reference Dataset (SRD), version 4.0, is freely available online and can be used for both proprietary and open source applications, including Linux.
A Wide Range of Vulnerabilities
Complex software configurations such as those used for operating systems or Web browsers usually require multiple programmers to write up to millions of lines of computer code. The code has to be checked for operational and security vulnerabilities and errors through the use of static analyzers. But the analyzers can find only the weaknesses they have been programmed to find.
The SRD 4.0 tool has vastly increased the field of potential weaknesses that need to be checked. The NIST release now covers 175 broad categories of weaknesses — an addition of 100 categories from the existing level.
“Within those broad categories there are numerous specific instances — or cases — of code errors, which we estimate now at about 60,000,” Paul E. Black, Ph.D., the NIST lead for the SAMATE project, told CRM Buyer.
Prior to the issuance of the 4.0 version of NIST’s tool, the earlier version covered only 2,000 cases. Each specific case is about a page of computer code showing a problematic way of composing functions, loops, or logic operations written in languages such as Java, C and C++. The dataset is fully searchable by language, type of weakness and code construct. Search results are available in a downloadable Zip file.
SAMATE refers to “Software Assurance Metrics and Tool Evaluation,” an NIST project with the goal of minimizing errors in software. These errors are documented and listed within the IT community under a “common weakness enumeration” (CWE) system.
Private Sector Connection
“Use of the SRD 4.0 tool is not limited to any sector. We welcome government, academia and the private sector to fully utilize it. In fact, the private sector can use the SRD to learn what problems should be avoided and to understand how these tools can help improve their software,” Black said.
Within the private sector, companies can use the tool directly with their programming staffs, or vendors who offer code security services and products can use it as a benchmark for their offerings, he added.
“The SRD is for companies that build static analyzers, whose use is expanding within the software industry,” noted Michael Koo, NIST project leader for SRD.
“It brings rigor into software assurance, so that the public can be more confident that there are fewer dangerous weaknesses in the software they use,” he said.
“Any objective framework for evaluating research efforts is valuable,” Gwyn Fisher, chief technology officer for Klocwork, told CRM Buyer.
“The ongoing effort by NIST to develop such a framework is very much appreciated by the community and provides a significant benchmark that is vital to any realistic measurement of improvement,” he added.
“This program is where government organizations can play a perfect role, in fact, as NIST has done in other research areas over the years. There is no competitive aspect to this, and its very existence is of great value to the research and vendor communities,” Fisher said. Klocwork has taken part in NIST-sponsored activities.
“A variety of tools, techniques, processes, and training are needed to create and maintain secure applications,” Michael Coates, OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) board chairman, told CRM Buyer.
“The data provided by SAMATE is another repository of knowledge that can be used for developer education or to help increase the effectiveness of static analysis tools, furthering the ultimate goal of increasing application security,” he said.
OWASP is an international open community focused on improving the security of application software. The 1,500-member volunteer organization is supported by a substantial group of academic and corporate organizations including IBM, Symantec, and Salesforce.com.
“The area of static code analysis for security can be complex, and companies must consider the accuracy and comprehensiveness of such a tool against other options. The SAMATE Reference Dataset can serve as a benchmark for companies to compare and contrast a variety of tools against a common baseline,” Coates said.
NIST has maintained a working relationship with private industry under the SAMATE project.
“In fact, we have received test suite contributions to our repository from many private sources, including security product vendors, and we have received much valuable input from the private sector in shaping the direction of the SRD and the Static Analysis Tool Exposition,” Black said.
NIST plans to continue to improve the tool, and work toward covering more CWE applications.
“We would like to expand into more software languages,” said Black, “and even into the software design phase that precedes the composition phase.” | <urn:uuid:ce05c46f-c047-4d70-8e48-d1051808d032> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.linuxinsider.com/story/us-agency-sharpens-tool-for-protecting-software-code-73895.html | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337415.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20221003101805-20221003131805-00579.warc.gz | en | 0.941221 | 1,213 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Picture this. Two figures, seated in comfortable swiveling seats, talking as they pore over magazines. “I’m here for a chrome job”, says one. “I’m here for a recalibration.”
Another scene. Two shining figures, one behind a podium as it orates in a language possibly far too evolved for the current human mind to perceive, as others like it record this data, interspersed with their flesh-and-blood, human brethren, who are all listening intently.
It may sound like a scene out of the mind of Asimov, or more recently the dystopian world that a certain snarky character named Bender once belonged to, but is it possible?
Science has, and continues to explore the farthest reaches of the human mind. A recent study examined FOP (Feeling of a Presence), a phenomenon reported by many with neurological and psychological disorders.
The study was conducted on 12 individuals with various neurological conditions such as epilepsy, stroke, migraine and tumours, each of them previously experiencing FoP for a period of seconds to minutes as a result of their conditions. The team, led by Professor Olaf Blanke, MD, PhD, of Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, was able to trace the patients’ FoP to damage in any of three brain regions by using, incidentally, a robot designed specifically for the purpose.
With every passing day and development in technology, we glean a deeper, more detailed understanding of the intricacies and mysteries of the human brain. We already know that sensory and nerve impulses travel through our Cental and Peripheral Nervous Systems much like electrical currents, and experts in neurology, psychiatry and other medical and scientific research fields uncover more information every day; this is helped by significant funding provided to study these issues.
Armed with this knowledge and a constant, steady flow of new information, it could perhaps be hypothetically possible to replicate these signals, this structure, and subsequently have it function, with a power source provided to these robots, previously non-sentient, engineered beings, much like humans provide themselves nutrition to survive.
The same experiment also used robot-human synchronicity as a crucial element; humans were connected to a master-slave robot. As they made movements with their hands in front of their body, the robot reproduced the movement in sync. According to the paper, “”The robotic system mimics the sensations of some patients with mental disorders or of healthy individuals under extreme circumstances.”
If it is possible for robots to be designed to be able to mimic psychological disorders and mental illness, or to replicate the mental conditions of a healthy human under duress, it seems they can be designed to experience two rather complex components of human life and existence, components that have not even been fully understood yet.
Legendary mathematician Alan Turing, during his lifetime, devised the Turing Test in his 1950 paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” which opens with the words: “I propose to consider the question, ‘Can machines think?’
In 1948, Turing said “It is not difficult to devise a paper machine which will play a not very bad game of chess.”
Deep Blue, IBM’s chess-playing computer, beat Grandmaster Garry Kasparov, considered the greatest chess player of all time, in 1997. Watson, its later offering, was initially designed specifically to answer questions on trivia show Jeopardy, which it proceeded to win.
In February 2013, IBM announced that Watson software system’s first commercial application would be for utilization management decisions in lung cancer treatment at the Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center.
It was this interchangeability- this ability for humans and machines to switch places and go unnoticed in doing so- that was implied by Turing’s Imitation Game.
However, this specifically only examines the ability of a machine to take rational decisions; rationality is not the only component of sentience – emotion and consciousness are integral. In what John Searle calls ‘Weak AI’, systems that can take these rational decisions and ‘act intelligently’ are classed in this category, which is often the most-considered by scientists.
Humans consider themselves more than just the working of nerves and signals and interconnected neurobiological function, but perhaps each of the physical processes that occur in the human brain which result in the continuous, dynamic mental states we experience can be entirely correlated to the series of logical functions and algorithms a computer system uses to arrive at a certain conclusion or decision.
Finally, it is perhaps this consciousness, this ability to feel and create emotion that mankind considers as setting it apart from the remainder of society – as Turing himself put it, there are many arguments of the form “a machine will never do X”, where X can be many things, such as:
“Be kind, resourceful, beautiful, friendly, have initiative, have a sense of humor, tell right from wrong, make mistakes, fall in love, enjoy strawberries and cream, make someone fall in love with it, learn from experience, use words properly, be the subject of its own thought, have as much diversity of behaviour as a man, do something really new.”
Computers are still mathematically unable to integrate information in the same way that humans do, according to recent studies.
It is a fact that our thoughts and consciousness are based on the neural activity of the brain. It is also a fact that we do not perceive our brain activity as it really is — patterns of neural firings. Instead, we perceive our sensations and thoughts apparently as they are. Neurobiology and related studies will, in the future, give us a better insight into the advancement of artificial intelligence that may, perhaps, outside of a dystopian science fiction novel, perhaps even be able to propagate itself. As humankind understands more about the intricacies of its own workings and (pardon the pun) machinations, it will become easier for it to replicate those intricacies in the machines it engineers.
Meanwhile, if the significant possibility that what humans know as ‘consciousness’ is simply a series of rational, logical decisions following an algorithm, much like a species straight out of the mind of Gene Rodenberry, and if our species is self-reflective enough to understand completely the inner intricacies of the mind, it is possible we can work together with these new robotic ‘species’, instead of considering them an immediate existential threat.
Until then, it seems that in this game of catch up, machines are still playing just that: an imitation game.
Writer and communications professional by day, musician by night, Anuradha Santhanam is a former social scientist at the LSE. Her writing focuses on human rights, socioeconomics, technology, innovation and space, world politics and culture. A programmer herself, Anuradha has spent the past year studying and researching, among other things, data and technological governance. An amateur astronomer, she is also passionate about motorsport.
More of her writing is available here and she can be found on Twitter at @anumccartney.
(Image credit: Andrea Vallejos) | <urn:uuid:5ba962d3-8302-4fab-b8e1-73b959c84932> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://dataconomy.com/2014/12/the-near-future-of-ai-is-not-as-smart-as-you-think/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334942.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20220926211042-20220927001042-00779.warc.gz | en | 0.95865 | 1,506 | 3.1875 | 3 |
The formula described here will provide a calculated date in a report. Typically you would display a date as a static number or a range, but the process explained below will enable you to display specific dates like "the first Monday of the month" or "every second Wednesday."
- Open an existing report or create a new report and establish a data source and query, then drag your data-driven fields onto the canvas.
- Select (left click) the text field you want to print the calculated date in; if you do not have a text field dedicated to this task, create one now.
- Click the Structure tab and click value in the common section under the Attributes tab.
- Click the round green + (Add Expression) icon in the Formula column. The Expression dialogue will appear.
- Click the ellipsis (...) to open the Formula Editor dialog box.
- Select Date/Time from the Category drop-down box.
- Double-click the DATEVALUE item in the list on the left.
- Enter in your DATEVALUE formula, then click OK. For more information on DATEVALUE's parameters, see the OASIS reference page for DATEVALUE: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/16826/openformula-spec-20060221.html#DATEVALUE and VALUE: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/16826/openformula-spec-20060221.html#VALUE. Alternatively you can consult the examples below and modify them for your purposes.
- Click Close to exit the Expression dialog box.
- Click Preview and verify that your date values are properly calculated and formatted. You may have to adjust your query if it does not produce a testable result set.
Some common calculated date formulas: | <urn:uuid:1a1deb48-f977-40b1-8513-aa69591d72e5> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://help.hitachivantara.com/Documentation/Pentaho/5.3/0L0/130/090/000/000/010 | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334942.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20220926211042-20220927001042-00779.warc.gz | en | 0.701265 | 508 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Last week, Qualcomm made what might seem to be an obscure announcement for their XR1 Smart View Reference Design — one that marks the potential obsolescence of every PC and smartphone in the market. Yes, we are talking about the onset of a hardware revolution that could slam PCs and smartphones together into a single class of computer. That computer would be wearable, and if connected to a cloud service like the Windows Virtual Desktop, it would be revolutionary.
Let’s explore this possible revolutionary new PC this week.
Qualcomm announced a significant improvement to mixed reality headsets that would initially be wired but eventually be wireless. The result, however, would be a very high-resolution, head-mounted display that could replace the one on your phone or PC. Smartphones, tablets, and laptop PCs sizes are defined by their displays. You can build tiny keyboards, but anything under 12in. in a PC, 8in. in a tablet, or 5in. in a smartphone is just too small to use today.
However, if you could remove the display, the device’s size can be defined by the keyboard, which we can shrink, take external, or even project to reduce the size of the connected computing device. CPUs and GPUs also currently define PCs, but as we move to the cloud for desktop performance, the related thermals and size requirements also move.
Qualcomm has been exploring smartphone technology in their joint Always Connected PC designs with Microsoft. However, these designs emulate X86 PC hardware in the market and use far less power and generate far less heat. With a reliable 5G connection and a service like Windows Virtual Desktop, you could have all the performance you need in a smartphone with a bigger screen.
High-resolution, head-mounted displays can virtually create a screen of any size. And, we’ve been experimenting with cameras in these displays to capture hand movements to eliminate controllers. But why eliminate the keyboard by upgrading sensors tied to a keyboard rendered and projected into the head-mounted display?
Another path would be to wirelessly connect a keyboard to the computing device and then use the platform’s power to place a virtual screen above it while passing through the image of that keyboard. You’d end up with a portable, wearable solution that would not only always be with you, but it would also supply (as long as you had a 5G connection) any level of power you are willing to pay for from the cloud service.
A Use Case
Almost two decades ago, Sony loaned me their $20K head-mounted display solution, and it was terrific. Initially, I watched movies on my laptop on the plane, and the stewardess asked if I worked for the CIA. My answer should have been, “No, but then I’d have to say that anyway.” Instead, I gave her a goofy grin. These glasses were cutting edge at the time and used primarily for surgery and medical training. You could adjust them for image passthrough so, when used with a PC, you could still see your hands on the keyboard or see people moving around you.
I used that device for several weeks, and not only was it a hit with my co-workers, but I took it to a Lan Party (where people would get together for eSports before we called it eSports) and they went nuts for it. While the technology wasn’t where it needed to be to replace a monitor, it showcased the promise if it evolved to a point where it could.
Qualcomm’s announcement showcases just such an evolution, suggesting we are very close to a revolutionary smartphone/PC design that could render them both obsolete.
We are in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Every previous revolution has created solutions that obsolesced much of the technology that came from the prior cycle. This latest revolution is expected to be bigger than all that came before it because we are developing artificial intelligence and finding ways to blend humans with machines that just haven’t been possible before.
One of the anticipated changes is a more connected personal computer. Not more connected to the internet, though, that will be part of it, but more connected to its users, more integrated with how they think and interact, more natural to use, more helpful, and undoubtedly more invasive. We are on a path to integrate technology into the body, but the interim steps will be finding ways to create new interfaces that better bridge the real world with the virtual world.
A massive step in that direction is this latest Qualcomm announcement of advanced mixed reality display capability that will lead to a future blended smartphone PC that is wearable and paves the way for integrating technology into our bodies to come. It is one big step toward a future technology and human hybrid. It begs the question: Who will be the company to pull an Apple and disrupt the personal technology market during this latest revolution?
I can hardly wait. | <urn:uuid:59a4f944-0dce-4321-aa2e-0d0580de9610> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.itbusinessedge.com/mobile/qualcomm-and-the-emergence-of-the-blended-pc-smartphone/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335355.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20220929131813-20220929161813-00779.warc.gz | en | 0.961197 | 1,019 | 2.640625 | 3 |
The internet has allowed society to stay connected in more ways than ever before. We can speak to strangers across the globe, connect with loved ones in an instant, and share our lives publicly. As much as the internet has connected us in positive, eye-opening ways, its interactive nature has also created a new problem for active users everywhere – cyberbullying. Though the problem is becoming all too common, many out there don’t fully understand the ins and outs of cyberbullying. Let’s take a deep dive into the phenomenon.
What is Cyberbullying
Just like it sounds, cyberbullying is when bullies take their insults and ill will to the internet. According to StopBullying.gov, “Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets. Cyberbullying can occur through SMS, Text, and apps, or online in social media, forums, or gaming where people can view, participate in, or share content. Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else.” The key objective of cyberbullying is to embarrass the subject of the attack, though sometimes the bully can view the act as justified revenge or simply non-intentional.
Types of Cyberbullies
Evolved from the classic schoolyard bullies of old, these cyberbullies can actually take a variety of forms depending on their attack vector and intent. In fact, there are said to be four types of cyberbullies: the Vengeful Angel, the Power Hungry Cyberbully, Revenge of the Nerds/Inadvertent Cyberbully, and Mean Girls. The Vengeful Angel bullies in order to protect the weak/other victims, and often take the action to protect a loved or friend. The Power Hungry archetype, however, is just a nasty, unkind person who wants to display dominance and control over others. Then there’s the Inadvertent Cyberbully, who are usually the ones getting bullied online or in real life and are typically trying to enact some form of justice or revenge anonymously from the web. Mean Girls are the opposite – and take their online actions in order to impress a group of friends or gain social status.
Not only is there a variety in the kind of bullies across the web, but also a plethora of types of cyberbullying techniques these meanies use to bother their victims. First and foremost, there’s Harassment, which involves repeated, offensive messages sent to a victim by a bully on some type of online medium. These messages can be rude, personal, and even threatening, with one recent example emerging between two wives of professional hockey players. Similar to harassment is Flaming – an online fight conducted via emails, social media messages, chat rooms, you name it.
Then there are very targeted attacks, named Exclusion and Outing. With Exclusion, cyberbullies select one individual to single out. Exclusion is a popular method, with examples popping up everywhere, from high students in Iowa to well-known celebrities. With Outing, these harassers share private information, photos, and videos of a single person to humiliate them online. There’s also the anonymous angle, AKA Masquerading, where a cyberbully creates a fake online identity to belittle, harass, and degrade their victim – which a nurse in New Zealand was a victim of for a whopping 5 years.
Next Steps for Both Parents and Kids
Typically, cyberbullying is a common occurrence amongst teens who are navigating the trials and tribulations of middle school and high school. But that doesn’t mean its exclusive to teens, and that doesn’t mean there aren’t steps parents and kids alike can do to stop cyberbullying in its tracks.
If you’re the subject of cyberbullying, the first thing you need to do is block the bully. Then, make sure you collect evidence – take screenshots, print the proof, do whatever you can do have material to back up your claim. It depends on the type of cyberbullying at work, but you can also use the internet to your advantage and look up relevant resources/hotlines/support to aid with your issue.
If you’re a parent, the most important thing is communication. Make yourself available as a resource and remind your kids that they can tell you anything that’s happening in their online world. Beyond that, continuously weave cybersecurity into your family discussions. Remind kids of the simple steps they can take to be safe online, and make sure they know when to flag a cyberbully or online scheme.
There are also technical avenues you can take to protect your kid online. Look into solutions that will help you monitor your family’s online interactions, such as McAfee Safe Family. This solution, for instance, can help you set rules and time limits for apps and websites and see what your kids are up to at a glance. Of course, these solutions are not the be-all and end-all for stopping cyberbullying, but they can help.
Now, there’s still a lot more research that has to be done to fully understand the cyberbullying problem society is faced with. So as this problem continues to evolve, so must the research, solutions, and regulations that will be created to combat the issue. With the right proactive action, people everywhere can stand up to cyberbullies.
Follow us to stay updated on all things McAfee and on top of the latest consumer and mobile security threats. | <urn:uuid:76838cee-f63c-480b-b09f-aebe2c49d875> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.mcafee.com/blogs/family-safety/the-who-what-and-how-of-cyberbullying/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335355.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20220929131813-20220929161813-00779.warc.gz | en | 0.948236 | 1,162 | 3.34375 | 3 |
By Russ Levanway, President
Throughout the course of a human life, our brains are constantly changing. This neuroplasticity is very good news for anyone hoping to take up the ukulele or overcome a phobia. But at certain stages, the brain makes especially big leaps. One of those leaps happens in adolescence, between childhood and adulthood, when brain matter and computational power increase, but the brain relies more on the limbic system (i.e. emotions) than on the prefrontal cortex (i.e. logic). Anyone parenting a teenager will understand what I mean here!
Like the human brain, the human race is constantly making incremental changes and adjustments. We also occasionally make major leaps in advancement. Think of the prehistoric revelations of fire and the wheel, which really catapulted human progress. Or there’s our understanding of germs and what causes them, after which our life expectancy shot up. During the Industrial Age, the discovery of coal as a source of energy pushed us into a new era of productivity, innovation, and comfort. Refrigeration and large-scale agriculture have lifted hundreds of millions of people out of food insecurity. Computers represented another major leap ahead, allowing us to do many things in a matter of seconds which previously might have taken hours, days, or much longer. Computers drastically, exponentially increased our productivity as a people.
Of course, each advancement has not been without its unique challenges. Coal is incredibly polluting. Pesticides used in large-scale agriculture have both pollution and health safety concerns. Computers help you do the wrong thing faster than ever before. But even so, each of these leaps has created great improvements for society overall.
One giant leap for mankind
We may be at another inflection point now with vaccine technology. We’re getting close to living in a world where we can rapidly immunize people against new illnesses and diseases. Even just a short while back, developing a COVID vaccine would have taken 10 to 15 years, whereas recently scientists developed several vaccines over the course of just a few months. This is an absolute game-changer in terms of our ability to protect people from the ravages of disease now and in the future.
Even though COVID has made these days extremely difficult and challenging, it’s exciting to know humanity hasn’t stopped making those leaps. History illustrates that tragic events often force our hands. The last year has been a trial for most of us. We have been pushed to our edge. Many moments felt threatening, scary, and unprecedented.
But think about the days leading up to each of history’s inflection points. Moving from an agrarian era to an industrial one was unprecedented. Before the computer age, no one could have imagined we’d be carrying tiny, outrageously powerful computers in our pockets and purses. And just a year ago, folks couldn’t imagine a vaccine being developed to change the course of humanity in just a few months. But here we are.
Purpose under pressure
I think recent movements forward in vaccine technology portend a bright future. We often need a kick in the pants to motivate us to do something big, courageous, and bold, and that’s okay. The takeaway is that we as a people rise to the occasion when responding to a big challenge. There is nothing like a fundamental threat to our way of life to galvanize our focus on something big, bold, and future-changing.
There is a way to make this relevant to our own businesses. Getting your teams to think about and brainstorm around the big, tough challenges can result in some great ideas. Giving them space to develop some moonshot ideas is well worth it. You can generate a lot of excitement and interest around these activities by connecting them to shared values and purpose. Or perhaps there is a threat to the way you have been doing things that is driven by outside forces, and a new way of delivering your services is needed. If your team knows what the threats are, and has space to experiment a bit, they are likely to respond in a creative and problem-solving way. Is there room in your business for this? | <urn:uuid:c8747d7b-35f0-4422-a59e-767262c5ccd8> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.ciosolutions.com/inflection-point/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337287.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20221002052710-20221002082710-00779.warc.gz | en | 0.958447 | 861 | 3.296875 | 3 |
Technology is everywhere in our daily lives. It helps us stay connected to family across the country, chat with friends we can’t see often enough, and network for our careers. Businesses have come to depend on technology just as much as individuals do. Thanks to cloud storage, the right tech allows a company to operate 24/7, work with international clients, and bounce back from natural disasters.
However, technology also creates vulnerabilities for a business. Hackers can exploit holes in a security system and access customer information or proprietary data. Employees might get careless and leave a database unprotected. Files can go missing, and businesses may not know if they were victims of an outside attack or simple human error.
With technology´s increasing complexity, it can be challenging for a business to detect the location of a breach, discover what information was leaked or altered, and who was responsible. This is where digital forensics comes in. This field of investigation can give a company answers, solutions, and hard data if the court system gets involved.
What Is Digital Forensics?
Traditionally, forensic science involves investigating evidence from crime scenes during civil and criminal proceedings. The forensic scientist uses rigorous scientific procedures to get the facts about how an event (often a crime) has unfolded, including:
- When did this happen?
- Who was involved?
- What instruments were used in the crime?
- What may have been done to cover up the event?
This can involve:
- Taking DNA evidence.
- Comparing fingerprints to databases.
- Running toxicology tests in a lab.
- Writing up a report and its findings.
Digital forensics, also known as computer forensics, is the tech-focused branch of forensic science. Here, investigators probe the ‘digital fingerprints’ of a crime or security breach. The goals are to identify, preserve, examine, and analyze digital evidence. This is done in a systematic, impartial, scientifically validated way. Digital forensic specialists may be called in to answer key questions like:
- When did malware get installed on a computer?
- Who was logged into the computer when the malware was installed?
- Who accessed a printer that printed sensitive company research?
- Did the brute force password attack succeed?
- Where was the list of customer addresses emailed to?
- How many files were accessed? Which files were left untouched?
A digital forensics specialist may be hired to investigate industrial espionage, intellectual property theft, fraud, and other criminal activities. They may also be called in to get the facts when there are disputes with clients, suppliers, or employees. This might include forgery-related issues, misusing company devices or the internet, etc.
Digital forensics is not a blanket term for a criminal investigation by law enforcement or the court system. Although digital forensic specialists often work with law enforcement to investigate crimes, they´re not involved in prosecution or defense. They simply present the evidence.
Many of these specialists work in both the public and private sectors. Big businesses researching high-value items like new medicines may keep digital forensic specialists on hand to secure their intellectual property. Smaller companies may occasionally hire a specialist to check their security system or look for lost data.
What Types of Digital Forensics are Available?
Digital forensics is an umbrella term that covers several disciplines. Some of the most common ones include:
- Computer forensics
- Mobile device forensics
- Network forensics
- Database, memory, and disk forensics
- Malware forensics
- Email forensics
- Breach response analysis
- Employee misuse or misconduct investigations
Often, the digital forensics specialist is trained in several areas listed above. However, this is a complex field, and technology is constantly evolving. For highly complex cases involving multiple specializations, you may need to hire several people or a team.
Who Can Benefit from Digital Forensics Services?
Digital forensic services are vital for criminal proceedings to defend a business or pinpoint the individuals or groups that targeted your company.
Digital forensics clearly and accurately reports relevant information in a format that can be submitted to the courts. They bolster your case against someone that committed a digital crime against you. Uncovering digital information may also help protect your company from litigation.
Court cases can draw on for years, but digital forensics can also help your business in the aftermath of a security breach. A properly trained specialist can identify how the breach happened, determine who was responsible, what was accessed, and where the data went.
Digital forensics is also highly useful for data breach prevention. You can hire specialists to identify weak spots in your security system before they are exploited. They can also point out which employees need retraining with your network’s security features and warn you about prior unsuccessful phishing attempts.
Finally, digital forensics services may be able to uncover lost or disguised data on devices. This could include critical files that were accidentally deleted, mislabeled, or corrupted.
Forensic Science for the Modern Era
Digital forensics can go hand in hand with your existing security protocols to keep your Winston-Salem, Greensboro, or Charlotte company’s data safe. If your organization needs digital forensics services, contact Kelly Office Solutions today to speak with one of our specialists. | <urn:uuid:e3cfb47f-f589-42f0-aeb3-572b78d9a779> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://kellyofficesolutions.com/digital-forensics/what-is-digital-forensics-and-who-can-it-help/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337529.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20221004215917-20221005005917-00779.warc.gz | en | 0.949228 | 1,084 | 3.21875 | 3 |
WHAT IS FALSE NEGATIVE ?
Designing test cases that accurately identify defects in software can be challenging. As scanners run and tests are conducted, false negatives happen when problems aren’t picked up even though there are bugs or vulnerabilities in the application being tested. In the case of a false negative, the test passes when a bug or security vulnerability is in fact present or the functionality is not working as it should.
The more times testing tools and strategies give false negatives (as well as false positives), the less reliable and useful the results. Though both of these are a problem, a false negative is more damaging because it lets a problem go undetected, creating a false sense of security. Whereas a false positive may consume a lot of a tester’s energy and time, a false negative allows a bug to remain in the software. For this reason, software development teams need to use testing tools and strategies they can trust to accurately assess and report on the quality of their software. | <urn:uuid:bec9bac3-ceb9-447b-ac41-9ebd756f708c> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.contrastsecurity.com/glossary/false-negative?hsLang=en | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337731.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20221006061224-20221006091224-00779.warc.gz | en | 0.931319 | 201 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Content Routing (CR) is the execution of defined rules that determine the placement and configuration of network traffic between users and web applications, based on the content being sent – for example, a pattern in the URL or header fields of the request.
CR is helpful in many cases, but is commonly used when web servers need to perform several different functions or offer several types of services. Often it is more efficient to have two different sets of machines perform the distinct functions, and to use CR to route the different types of traffic to different machines.
For example, an enterprise can use CR to provide better service to paying customers than to casual visitors to its Web site, by routing the paid requests to more powerful web servers.
Content Routing Rules
CR routes requests based on rules that a server administrator writes. The most common type is based on the path name in the URL. For example, when a user navigates to the /images/ section of a site, the server administrator can set up a rule that sends /images/ traffic to an image server pool optimized for images sharing, thus increasing access speed. The administrator can set up subsequent rules which will route users to alternate servers depending on the relevant page. There are also rules that route requests based on the IP address of the client who sent them. An example of this could involve rerouting a client to a server pool geographically closer to their IP address, decreasing latency and increasing efficiency.
Management Techniques for Content Routing
Different types of traffic management techniques are available, to customize how policies are applied. Some of those techniques include:
- Load Balancing: By default, the parent web service’s load balancing policy is copied into the content rule. Load balancing is tied to a server group, and the Content Rule configuration specifies which server group to use. This allows distribution of requests based on the content type.
- Caching: Sets caching policy for the content rule. This allows selective caching based on the content type.
- Compression: Sets compression policy for the content rule. This improves the response time for clients accessing the Web service by compressing Web pages with the specific content type. Rules are evaluated based on a key comprised of the HTTP headers, URL, host, and an optional extended match rule in specified sequential order. In most cases, only host and URL are used to specify a rule.
In addition, these rules can be applied at different levels of the network “stack”:
- Routing-Based: A simple but sometimes rough method, where all server instances are labeled with same IP address. This method relies on the abilities of the internet routing system to determine the closest server instance. While efficient, this method provides only a few controls for determining which server the client is sent to.
- Application-Based: This method is also simple, but it adds latency, because the client first has to go to the initial server before being redirected to the desired location.
- Naming-Based: This method provides fine grained control and is fast. The client looks up a domain name, the response contains an IP address of a local server instance. This allows for significant flexibility in directing different clients to different servers.
The technologies of content routing deal with delivering the content from the most appropriate place to the client requesting it. When deciding the most appropriate place, there are several different metrics that could affect this decision, such as network proximity, geographical proximity, response time, and user type. These metrics can heavily inform the quality of the services provided, and also can assist in maintaining proper network load during high use times.
How Barracuda Can Help
The Barracuda Load Balancer ADC has full traffic control and can route requests to servers based on region, device, browser, or a number of other factors. This enables organizations to deliver customized application responses to users. | <urn:uuid:a54cb169-81c2-4db7-9543-68765769cd6a> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.barracuda.com/glossary/content-routing | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335365.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20220929194230-20220929224230-00179.warc.gz | en | 0.913453 | 787 | 3.671875 | 4 |
Attributes and operations can be added to classes and interfaces in a UML class diagram, and to associations by using association classes. Attributes can also be added to data types. Literals can be added to enumerations in a class diagram.
New attributes, operations, and literals can be added in different ways. There is a regular way via the Create pane. You just click the concept you want to add, and then select the element in the diagram where you want to place it. Or you use the quick-create pop-up window: In the diagram, click in the white area of the element, briefly hold down the mouse button, and in the appearing pop-up window click the element you want to add.
- In the diagram, select the element, and then click
- Press F2, type the name of the attribute, operation, or literal, and press Enter.
The attributes, operations, and literals are automatically placed below each other within their own section in the element:
Attributes and operations in a class
If you do not want the attributes, operations or literals to be shown in their element, you can hide them. Just click the element, and then click thecontrol. The color of the control depends on the type of the item. By clicking the control one more time you can make the items visible again.
Controls for hiding/showing attributes and operations | <urn:uuid:21d91046-b09d-4aaa-ade0-94467bf5ed2a> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://support.bizzdesign.com/display/knowledge/Adding+attributes%2C+operations+and+literals+to+a+UML+class+diagram | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335530.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20221001035148-20221001065148-00179.warc.gz | en | 0.871186 | 290 | 3.375 | 3 |
In March, the town of Oldsmar Florida announced that it’s water treatment plant was commandeered by a hacker who set the plant to add toxic levels of lye to the water system. A plant operator noticed the mouse pointer interacting with the plant software and reversed the lye levels down to normal dosages. The plant operators assured the public that other redundant controls would have prevented the lye from being dumped into the town’s water.
A security researcher found in independent analysis that the same plant on the same day was infected with a two-year-old botnet indicating that the plant’s network environment was not well secured.
Water plants in California, Wisconsin, and other states have witnesses similar probing of their control systems by hackers.
This is what the public generally knows:
- Hackers are exploring the levels of harm they can do to municipal systems, such as water plants, and discovering their limits by changing settings.
- Apparently hackers are able to do relatively unsophisticated things in municipal environments that can lead to mass illness, or perhaps death.
This is what you should not be focused on:
- Do not think of this as a water-only problem. That would be horrifying enough. But all underfunded public systems that we rely on for health and safety are equally at risk.
This is what you should be focused on:
- You must, at long last, use your risk analysis to think – creatively – about the harms you may cause others. The information security world was tremendously boosted while trying to protect personal, health, and financial information, but we are long past securing that data alone.
- Add to your risk analysis things that attackers may do to information and your systems that are not associated with regulatory rules alone. Think like the worst criminal who can use your processing power, storage space, data sets, confidential information to attack others.
- Demand that your municipality (for home and work) increases their cybersecurity budget to protect the public. We cannot roll our eyes at City Hall if we don’t also provide them the resources they need to operate well while protecting the public. | <urn:uuid:e3ee6048-3642-456f-ac9e-ba7b4bca0c30> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.halock.com/water-supply-if-cyber-attacks-are-warfare-then-this-is-a-war-crime/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337322.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20221002115028-20221002145028-00179.warc.gz | en | 0.962631 | 438 | 2.71875 | 3 |
If the pile of manure is big enough, you will find a gold coin in it eventually. This saying is used often to explain why anyone would use big data. Needless to say, in this day and age, the piles of data are so big, you might end up finding a pirate’s treasure.
How big is the pile?
But when is the pile big enough to consider it big data? Per Wikipedia:
“Big data is data sets that are so big and complex that traditional data-processing application software are inadequate to deal with them.”
As a consequence, we can say that it’s not just the size that matters, but the complexity of a dataset. The draw of big data to researchers and scientists, however, is not in its size or complexity, but in how it may be computationally analyzed to reveal patterns, trends, and associations.
When it comes to big data, no mountain is high enough or too difficult to climb. The more data we have to analyze, the more relevant conclusions we may be able to derive. If a dataset is large enough, we can start making predictions about how certain relationships will develop in the future and even find relationships we never suspected to exist.
We mentioned predicting the future or finding advantageous correlations as possible reasons for using big data analysis. Just to name a few examples, big data could be used to set up profiles and processes for the following:
- Stop terrorist attacks by creating profiles of likely attackers and their methods.
- More accurately target customers for marketing initiatives using individual personas.
- Calculate insurance rates by building risk profiles.
- Optimize website user experiences by creating and monitoring visitor behavior profiles.
- Analyze workflow charts and processes to improve business efficiency.
- Improve city planning by analyzing and understanding traffic patterns.
Beware of apophenia
Apophenia is the tendency to perceive connections and meaning between unrelated things. What statistical analysis might show to be a correlation between two facts or data streams could simply be a coincidence. There could be a third factor at play that was missed, or the data set might be skewed. This can lead to false conclusions and to actions being undertaken for the wrong reasons.
For example, analysis of data collected about medical patients could lead to the conclusion that those with arthritis also tend to have high blood pressure. When in reality, the most popular medication to treat arthritis lists high blood pressure as a side effect. Remember the old research edict: correlation does not equal causation.
In statistics, we call this a type I error, and it's the feeding ground for many myths, superstitions, and fallacies.
As more and more data becomes digitized and stored, the need for big data analysts grows. A recent study showed that 53 percent of the companies interviewed were using big data in one way or another. Some examples of use cases for big data include:
- Data warehouse optimization (considered the top use case for big data)
- Analyzing patterns in employee satisfaction; for example, in multinational companies, a 0.1 percent increase in turnover is considered too high
- Sports statistics and analysis; sometimes the difference between being the champion or coming in second comes down to the tiniest detail
- Prognosis statistics or success rates of particular medications can influence a doctor's recommended course of treatment; an accurate assessment of which could be the difference between life and death
- Selecting stocks for purchase and trade; quick decision-making based on analytical algorithms gives traders the edge
At Malwarebytes, we use big data in the form of anonymous telemetry gathered from our users (those that allow it) to monitor active threats. Viewing these data sets allows us to see trends in malware development, from the types of malware that are being used in the wild to the geographic locations of attacks.
From these data, we're able to draw conclusions and share valuable information on the blog, in reports, such as our quarterly Cybercrime Tactics and Techniques report, and even in heat maps like the one we created for WannaCry. (As our product detected WannaCry even before we added definitions, this gave us some valuable information about where it might have originated.)
Technologically, the tools you will need to analyze big data depend on a few variables:
- How is the data organized?
- How big is big?
- How complex is the data?
When we are looking at the organization of data, we are not just focusing on the structure and uniformity of the data, but the location of the data as well. Are they spread over several servers, completely or partially in the cloud, or are they all in one place?
Obviously, uniformity makes data easier to compare and manipulate, but we don’t always have that luxury. And it takes powerful and smart statistical tools to make sense out of polymorphous or differently-structured datasets.
As we have seen before, the complexity of the data can be another reason why we need special big data tools, even if the sheer number is not that large.
As big data tools are made available, they are still in the early stages of development and not all of them are ready for intuitive use. It requires knowledge and familiarity to use them most effectively. That is where personal preference comes in. Using a tool you have experience with is always easier, at least at first.
Our personal data
When we go online, we leave a trail of data behind that can be used by marketers (and criminals) to profile us and our environment. This makes us predictable to a certain extent. Marketeers love this type of predictability, as it enables them to figure out what they can sell us, how much of it, and at which price. If you've ever wondered how you saw an ad for vintage sunglasses on Facebook when you were only searching on Google, the answer is big data.
Imagine a virtual assistant that retrieves travel arrangement information at your first whim of considering a vacation. Hotels, flights, activities, food and drink—all could be listed to your liking, in your favorite locations, and in your price range at the blink of an eye. Some may find this scary, others would consider it convenient. However you feel, the virtual assistant is able to do this because of the big data it collects on you and your behavior online.
The data-driven society
One of the major contributions of big data to our society will be through the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT represents the most direct link between the physical world and the cyber world we've experienced yet. These cyber-physical systems will of course be shaped by the objects and software we create for them, but their biggest influence will be the result of algorithms applied to the data they collect.
With the evolution of these systems, we can expect to evolve into a data-driven society, where big data plays a major role in adjusting the production to meet our expected needs. This is an area where we will need safeguards in the future to prevent big data from turning into Big Brother.
Big data, big breaches
The obvious warning here is that gathering and manipulating big data require extra attention paid to security and privacy, especially when the data are worth stealing. While raw datasets may seem like a low-risk asset, those who know how to find the gold (cyber)coin in the pile of manure will see otherwise. With the advent of GDPR in May, any form of personally identifiable information (PII) will be sought after with great urgency, as the safeguards put in place to protect PII place endanger the lively black market trade set up around it.
The lesson, then, is to take seriously big data's impact, both for good and for evil. Perhaps the whole pile should be considered the treasure. | <urn:uuid:7c4a0d56-bdba-46fa-8cbd-6eb8f3bd69dc> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2018/08/explained-what-is-big-data | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337537.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20221005042446-20221005072446-00179.warc.gz | en | 0.942473 | 1,606 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Big data is overwhelmingly powerful, overwhelmingly omnipresent, and most of all, overwhelming to grasp. As such, three factors, three big data waves are currently rolling into our ports. Big data is to be generated, gathered, and aggregated, accumulated, produced, analyzed, and understood at ever increasing speeds. With the ‘internet of things’ and the information we are creating increasing at a logarithmic scale, the possibilities are unprecedented. While before, data was created at a certain pace, we are now generating information – whether it be from phone call metadata, intelligent refrigerators, or the GPS navigation system in our cars – at an ever increasing speed. So fast, in fact, that there is too much information already. Too much information that we have available, but cannot, yet, turn into meaningful, useful intelligence.
Often the data that is collected and enters a system is handled in such a way that only a small percentile of the available knowledge is extracted from it, since only a certain amount of the data can be trawled through. There can not be enough time to make all the connections within the vast oceans of data that are at our fingertips at any given moment. We need to find new and innovative ways to locate the unknown unknowns, and this is a growing task.
But how did we get here in the first place? To get to the point where big data is such a burgeoning field required time and evolution of technology until big data emerged. Big data, characterized simplistically through its massive volumes, velocities, and varieties of data, has been a long time coming, and with each step along the way, the processes involved, i.e. the big data waves, have become more complex and systems more intricate.
Table of Contents
1st wave – Managing data structures
Over the past half-century many new factors have unified to necessitate new waves of innovation in data management. There has been massive progress and creation in technology that has brought us to this point in ‘data evolution’. Evolution of data, as any evolution, is besought by problems and a painstaking process of eking out small advances only to encounter new problems. But it is out of these problems that new answers can emerge, to questions previously unthought of. The tug and pull between the questions and their future solutions is what caused the first of the big data waves: managing data structures.
2nd wave – Managing the web and its content
With the onset of storing and the wish to understand data – largely unstructured – came the realization that attacking the information head-on was ineffective and would not yield the desired results despite laborious efforts. Over time, it became apparent that structure was helpful and, above all, necessary. With an attitude of “We want answers! We want knowledge!”, further incentive was provided to find a work-around to expensive storage and slow access problems. Long term storage of data to reveal changing tendencies over time was sought and with progress made over the years, making new connections became easier.
Finding out how things are intertwined was another step towards our current position but, as so often the case, limits on handling the vastness of data became an obstacle to businesses functioning optimally. Daily or weekly inputs into data warehouses were suddenly non frequent of fast enough for real-time business transactions. A novel handle on the problem of decoding and extracting information from unstructured data was necessary. This was found in lumping chunks of information together in an addressable way which made these data sets simpler to handle…which leads us to the second of the big data waves: managing the web and its content.
3rd wave – Big Data Management
With the explosion of the omnipresence of the web in everyone’s daily lives beginning in the nineties, there was a shift towards holding onto and understanding even more varied unstructured data than before in the form of audio and visual materials. With this shift came a next step for the market that unified these components and offered, again, new ways to look at the information. Metadata emerged as well, permitting insights into the structure and form of the stored data itself for the first time. But the challenges did not end here. With the rapid acceleration of the proliferation of computing across the globe, data has diversified and multiplied – and multiplied and multiplied some more. Now there is more data than ever before, which comes in all sorts of different forms, and it needs to be handled fast, fast, and faster. This brings us neatly to the third wave: big data management.
The culmination of years of evolution in data management and building on the preceding waves’ advances, we now have reached the most recent tipping point. Once costly storage and analysis methods have been reduced down to the point at which it becomes not only feasible but comprehensively possible to transcend the limitations placed on assessing all the information stored and finally drawing deeper from the wealth of knowledge available through all the data on hand. Suddenly, new insights into the patterns hiding in complex and massive amounts of data are so close within reach they are just waiting to be uncovered. Regardless of the vastness of the input size, we now not only want our answer to question as yet unfamiliar to us, but we are receiving them as well. What remains to be seen is if the truth of the results trawled from these heaps of data will accurately correspond and carry over into the real-world where their respective results are applied – the ultimate test, yet.
Image Credit : Jason Ralston | <urn:uuid:80b17a12-9267-4054-817a-9ff834af8987> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://dataconomy.com/2014/01/three-big-data-waves/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030338280.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20221007210452-20221008000452-00179.warc.gz | en | 0.956983 | 1,130 | 3.078125 | 3 |
What is Pride and why is this year special?
June is Pride Month and this year, the festivities take on extra meaning for the LGBTQ+ community in both New York City and across the world. It is 50 years since the notorious Stonewall riots in New York City and this year’s Pride festivities in the city will commence on the anniversary date – 28 June.
Early in the morning of 28 Jun 1969, the NYPD raided The Stonewall Inn, a bar frequented by LGBTQ people on Christopher Street in Manhattan. Raids like this were a regular occurrence with arrests and beatings taking place weekly amid a legal and cultural environment that saw members of the LGBTQ community as undeserving of happiness, freedom, and even life. The community had previously accepted raids and beatings as part of LGBTQ life, but on that morning things changed… members of the community, led largely by transgender women of colour, fought back against the police and started a global movement that continues to this day.
Many things have changed over the last fifty years, society has become tolerant in ways that those original Stonewall resistance members could barely have dreamed of; equal marriage, pride parades down Fifth Avenue, even a presidential primary candidate who is openly gay. But there are still huge challenges facing the LGBTQ+ community. On 20 May 2019, Muhlaysia Booker was murdered in Dallas. A trans woman of colour, Muhlaysia had previously been beaten in front of a jeering crowd only a month before; the attack was filmed on a mobile phone while a crowd of over a dozen people chanted transphobic slurs. Muhlaysia was the fifth trans woman to be murdered in 2019. Across America and around the world, daily incidents provide a simple response to the question: “Why do we still need Pride?”
In 28 US States, LGBTQ people are not protected from employment discrimination under the law. In those states, an employer can legally fire an employee due to anti-LGBTQ bias with no recourse under the law. Indeed, some states are in the process of introducing ‘freedom laws,’ which explicitly allow employers to discriminate against LGBTQ employees under the guise of religious freedom.
So why does Pride matter to NCC Group?
Studies and empirical evidence from institutions and businesses across the world find unanimously that workers are at their most productive when they are free to express themselves. Sexuality and gender are integral aspects of identity, and creating a workplace in which people are comfortable in their own expression is proven to increase morale and productivity. Open and welcoming environments attract talent from a broader pool of potential talent than those in which people from diverse groups would worry about their job or personal security. | <urn:uuid:d0576707-5952-4da1-be65-98251eddfc0b> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://newsroom.nccgroup.com/news/what-is-pride-and-why-is-this-year-special-388563 | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030331677.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20220924151538-20220924181538-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.969487 | 552 | 3.28125 | 3 |
List Box Control
A list box control is a variant of the combo box control, except that the list is typically displayed with several choices visible, so that the user does not have to click a button to display the choices. You can turn a combo box into a list box by changing the '^=' directive to '^#'. The syntax for a list box object is:
Where choice1, choice2, choiceN are the actual choices, or choice_variable is the name of a string that contains CR-LF delimited choices, or choice_array is the name of a array that contains the choices. The value of variable_name is a base-1 index if the variable is declared as Numeric. If undeclared or left un-initialized, the variable is a string that returns the text of the choice that is selected. The size parameter is specified as characters_wide,lines_high. For example, the following script is the same as the combo box example above, except that the combo box has been converted into a list box:
mode = 1 choices = <<%dlg% Shared Read only Exclusive %dlg% result=ui_dlg_box("Title",<<%dlg% Filename:| [.32filename]; Open as:; Mode:| [.10,5mode^#choices]; %dlg% )
This script creates this dialog:
In the above script, when the user changes the highlighted row in the list box, the variable "mode" is set to the appropriate value, 1, 2, or 3. If "mode" had been declared as a character variable, it would be set to "Shared", Read only", or "Exclusive".
The following script demonstrates quite graphically the difference between declaring mode as a numeric or text variable. This script displays two combo boxes, one with the result variable declared as a numeric variable and the other with the result variable declared as a character variable. The dialog displays the value of each variable.
Mode_n = 1 Mode_c = "Exclusive" choices = <<%dlg% Shared Read only Exclusive %dlg% result=ui_dlg_box("Title",<<%dlg% Filename:| [.32filename]; Open as:; Mode:| [.10,5mode_n^#choices]| [.10mode_n]; Mode:| [.10,5mode_c^#choices]| [.10mode_c]; %dlg% )
This script creates this dialog with two list boxes:
Notice how the variable changes when you change the selection in each of the list boxes. In the first case, the variable ( mode_n ) take on the values: 1, 2 and 3. In the second case the variable ( mode_c ) takes on the values: "Shared", "Read only" and "Exclusive" | <urn:uuid:cac29d7d-aa59-4f17-852e-7a2b36f7d220> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://documentation.alphasoftware.com/documentation/pages/Ref/Desktop_Api/UI%20Functions/XDialog/Controls/List%20Box/List%20Box%20Control.xml | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334620.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20220925225000-20220926015000-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.798325 | 662 | 2.875 | 3 |
The cloud is one of those hot buzzwords that gets thrown around a lot both in the tech world and in our daily lives. No longer reserved for IT departments alone, the cloud has become something that we depend upon greatly, especially in the way companies go about their business. And it’s about to become even more important.
In fact, research shows that companies are looking to drastically increase their investment in the cloud in the coming years. Morphean recently conducted an independent survey of more than 1500 IT decision makers across Europe to discover their views on cloud services. The survey reported:
There’s no doubt that the cloud is becoming a more important part of everyday business dealings, but some people still have reservations about the safety of this storage system and whether or not it is worth it. We believe it is and let us tell you why.
What is the cloud?
But what exactly is the cloud?
Short for ‘cloud computing’, the cloud is essentially a terrestrial home for your data. So instead of being stored on the computer in front of you, it’s stored somewhere else, or in multiple places and it is up to a network of servers to take you to it.
Some everyday examples you may recognise include the Apple iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and even Netflix.
Is it the future of cybersecurity?
Unfortunately, the cloud has received some negative press in the last few years in regards to security and safety. In fact, according to the Morphean survey, 45% of people cited security risks as being their biggest obstacle to instigating a full move across to the cloud.
The only way to truly protect your information is to lock it up underground, but you can rest assured that the cloud is far safer than information stored on a local device. Cloud computing services have more complicated security methods in place than the average computer owner can come up with. Any wannabe hackers would then have to get past the cloud system’s first line of defence; encryption.
Encryption is the practice of using complex algorithms to protect your data. In order to get past these algorithms, the hackers would need something called an encryption key.
But it’s not all down to these intricate and convoluted systems. In fact, one of the biggest threats to cloud security is the barriers set by individual people. In other words, easy-to-guess password and security questions.
Above we talked about negative press aimed at the cloud over the past few years, most notably the infamous Apple hack where celebrities had photos stolen and leaked. The media reported that the cloud had been hacked, which led to a drop in public confidence and has no doubt contributed to people’s existing fears. In reality the cloud itself wasn’t hacked, but rather the accounts of individuals who used the cloud to store their data.
The truth is that the technology is incredibly safe and secure, but it’s up to individual users to do their part. That means choosing strong passwords by adding letters, numbers and symbols, using different passwords for different accounts and avoiding using passwords that relate to your personal life.
But if that’s not enough to convince you of the cloud’s excellent security systems, did you know that online retailing giant Amazon runs its entire business off of its own cloud service, AWS?
It’s not only the increased security that comes along when you start using the cloud. Here’s a few more that you can expect for your business.
No matter what kind of industry you are in, having a continuity plan in place is vital for protecting your sensitive data and systems. Disasters can strike at any time and for a whole multitude of reasons, ranging from the weather and natural disasters to power failures. By having your information stored off-site, you can rest assured that it is backed up and protected in a secure and safe location. Even if you have to move office, you will be able to access and download your data from any location with internet, therefore minimising your downtime and avoiding loss of productivity.
The world is getting smaller. Not literally of course but modern technology is drastically reducing businesses’ needs for a physical office with staff present 100% of the time. This technology helps to make this even more possible by granting flexibility in staff’s working practices. Once employees are able to access their work from home, on their commute or even on holiday – anywhere with an internet connection – suddenly the whole world is your office.
When it’s time to scale your business up, purchasing and installing upgrades to your storage needs can be both expensive and incredibly time consuming. But when you work with the cloud, everything can be done quickly to suit your exact needs. Whoever provides your cloud computer services will be able to handle all upgrades for you, leaving you free to get on with the important task of running your business.
It’s natural for any business owner to be concerned about the safety and security of their important data. Your business is your baby, and you of course want to protect it. The cloud is undoubtedly the best option and as research shows, more and more businesses will be placing their trust in this extraordinary technology, for more than its safety benefits, to further their growth and secure a strong future. | <urn:uuid:af8c6968-5f86-46d6-bb88-754d4c8862ce> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://internationalsecurityjournal.com/cybersecuritys-biggest-asset-why-use-the-cloud/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334620.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20220925225000-20220926015000-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.961132 | 1,098 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Quantum computing is something you might hear in an episode of “The Big Bang Theory.” It’s just for nerdy scientists in research labs and academia, right? Not anymore. Get ready to hear a lot about quantum computing next year, says Forrester.
What is quantum computing? Qubits? Subatomic physics? What is this strange science? That’s beyond the scope of this blog and well above our capabilities. It’s enough to say, at least for now, that quantum computing can, in theory, solve problems that are deemed unsolvable today.
“With sufficiently powerful hardware and a mature software stack, a universal quantum computer of sufficient scale could eventually break today’s RSA encryption by implementing Shor’s algorithm,” says Forrester analyst Brian Hopkins in a research note.
(Quantum computing can help prevent someone from doing this, too.)
For companies, quantum computing has the potential to achieve business outcomes that blow the mind. A procurement executive, for example, may one day know the best price for every part in the supply chain while taking into account minute-by-minute fluctuations in demand, Forrester says.
While this kind of use case still might be years away, Forrester says companies, particularly their CIOs, need to be on the lookout for signs of quantum computing next year. That’s because tech vendors such as D-Wave Systems, Google, IBM and Microsoft are making headway.
“We expect CIOs in life sciences, energy, defense, and manufacturing to see a deluge of hype in 2018 from vendors and the media,” Hopkins says. “Financial services, supply-chain, and healthcare firms will feel some of this as well.”
Over the next five years, companies will indeed be able to take advantage of specialized quantum processors available through the cloud and reap smaller-yet-significant gains, Forrester says. Pharmaceutical companies, for instance, may be able to tap into the speed of quantum computing and bring revolutionary drugs to market faster than the competition.
But the most exciting part about quantum computing is in its potential to take off. While quantum computing theory has been around since the late 1970s, and commercial quantum computing will grow slowly over the next 10 years despite the hype next year, it’ll suddenly spike in use and value, Forrester says.
“Quantum computers grow exponentially in potential power as hardware scales, rather than linearly as digital computers do,” Hopkins says. “This makes quantum computing a bullet train that is accelerating.”
Tom Kaneshige writes the Zero One blog covering digital transformation, AI, marketing tech and the Internet of Things for line-of-business executives. He is based in Silicon Valley. You can reach him at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:429c235e-84ba-4e35-975c-070cb10a7010> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/hardware/zero-one-quantum-computing-emerges-research-lab | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334620.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20220925225000-20220926015000-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.937549 | 592 | 2.59375 | 3 |
In this article, I’ll explain how to write user defined functions (UDF) in Python for Apache Spark. The code for this example is here.
(This tutorial is part of our Apache Spark Guide. Use the right-hand menu to navigate.)
Why do you need UDFs?
Spark stores data in dataframes or RDDs—resilient distributed datasets. Think of these like databases. As with a traditional SQL database, e.g. mySQL, you cannot create your own custom function and run that against the database directly. You have to register the function first. That is, save it to the database as if it were one of the built-in database functions, like sum(), average, count(),etc.
That’s the case with Spark dataframes. With Spark RDDs you can run functions directly against the rows of an RDD.
Three approaches to UDFs
There are three ways to create UDFs:
- df = df.withColumn
- df = sqlContext.sql(“sql statement from <df>”)
We show the three approaches below, starting with the first.
Approach 1: withColumn()
Below, we create a simple dataframe and RDD. We write a function to convert the only text field in the data structure to an integer. That is something you might do if, for example, you are working with machine learning where all the data must be converted to numbers before you plug that into an algorithm.
Notice the imports below. Refer to those in each example, so you know what object to import for each of the three approaches.
Below is the complete code for Approach 1. First, we look at key sections. Create a dataframe using the usual approach:
df = spark.createDataFrame(data,schema=schema)
Now we do two things. First, we create a function colsInt and register it. That registered function calls another function toInt(), which we don’t need to register. The first argument in udf.register(“colsInt”, colsInt) is the name we’ll use to refer to the function. The second is the function we want to register.
colsInt = udf(lambda z: toInt(z), IntegerType()) spark.udf.register("colsInt", colsInt) def toInt(s): if isinstance(s, str) == True: st = [str(ord(i)) for i in s] return(int(''.join(st))) else: return Null
Then we call the function colinsInt, like this. The first argument is the name of the new column we want to create. The second is the column in the dataframe to plug into the function.
df2 = df.withColumn( 'semployee',colsInt('employee'))
Remember that df[’employees’] is a column object, not a single employee. That means we have to loop over all rows that column—so we use this lambda (in-line) loop.
colsInt = udf(lambda z: toInt(z), IntegerType())
Here is Approach 1 all together:
import pyspark from pyspark import SQLContext from pyspark.sql.types import StructType, StructField, IntegerType, FloatType, StringType from pyspark.sql.functions import udf from pyspark.sql import Row conf = pyspark.SparkConf() sc = pyspark.SparkContext.getOrCreate(conf=conf) spark = SQLContext(sc) schema = StructType([ StructField("sales", FloatType(),True), StructField("employee", StringType(),True), StructField("ID", IntegerType(),True) ]) data = [[ 10.2, "Fred",123]] df = spark.createDataFrame(data,schema=schema) colsInt = udf(lambda z: toInt(z), IntegerType()) spark.udf.register("colsInt", colsInt) def toInt(s): if isinstance(s, str) == True: st = [str(ord(i)) for i in s] return(int(''.join(st))) else: return Null df2 = df.withColumn( 'semployee',colsInt('employee'))
Now we show the results. Notice that the new column semployee has been added. withColumn() creates a new dataframe so we created df2.
df2.show() +-----+--------+---+----------+ |sales|employee| ID| semployee| +-----+--------+---+----------+ | 10.2| Fred|123|1394624364| +-----+--------+---+----------+
Approach 2: Using SQL
The first step here is to register the dataframe as a table, so we can run SQL statements against it. df is the dataframe and dftab is the temporary table we create.
Now we create a new dataframe df3 from the existing on df and apply the colsInt function to the employee column.
df3 = spark.sql("select sales, employee, ID, colsInt(employee) as iemployee from dftab")
Here are the results:
df3.show() +-----+--------+---+----------+ |sales|employee| ID| iemployee| +-----+--------+---+----------+ | 10.2| Fred|123|1394624364| +-----+--------+---+----------+
Approach 3: RDD Map
A dataframe does not have a map() function. If we want to use that function, we must convert the dataframe to an RDD using dff.rdd.
Apply the function like this:
rdd = df.rdd.map(toIntEmployee)
This passes a row object to the function toIntEmployee. So, we have to return a row object. The RDD is immutable, so we must create a new row.
Below, we refer to the employee element in the row by name and then convert each letter in that field to an integer and concatenate those.
def toIntEmployee(rdd): s = rdd["employee"] if isinstance(s, str) == True: st = [str(ord(i)) for i in s] e = int(''.join(st)) else: e = s return Row(rdd["sales"],rdd["employee"],rdd["ID"],e)
Now we print the results:
for x in rdd.collect(): print(x) <row (10.199999809265137, 'Fred', 123, 70114101100)> | <urn:uuid:5b044f0d-0340-4244-899b-cc406991c221> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.bmc.com/blogs/how-to-write-spark-udf-python/?print-posts=pdf | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335396.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20220929225326-20220930015326-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.688848 | 1,491 | 2.921875 | 3 |
What is a Dashboard?
A dashboard is a visual display of the most important information needed to achieve one or more objectives; consolidated and arranged on a single screen so the information can be monitored at a glance.
A user interface that organizes, integrates, and presents mission critical information, pulled from multiple sources, to users in a way that is easily read and understood.
Performance Management: Process of measuring progress toward achieving key goals and objectives in a manner designed to optimize organizational performance.
Business Intelligence (BI): The tools, techniques, and processes involved in turning data into information, and information into knowledge in a manner designed to optimize decision making. BI encompasses technologies for data warehousing, data mining, data integration, reporting and analysis.
- Dashboards integrate and synthesize Performance Management and Business
- The combination of Performance Management and Business Intelligence can provide a powerful new way to communicate strategy within an organization and monitor and analyze organizational activity.
Dashboards, if properly designed, can help you manage your operations more effectively and efficiently.
A properly designed dashboard caters to the needs of the user and is built around well-defined requirements specification
The user must play an integral role in developing the requirements specification
- Three Primary Applications:
- Analysis & Reporting
- Three Layers: Most distinctive feature. Allows user to peel back layers of information to get to the root cause.
- Graphical abstracted data – designed to help monitor key metrics
- Summarized dimensional data – designed to help identify root causes
- Detailed operational data – designed to help identify needed corrective action
- Three Types:
- Operational Dashboards – emphasize monitoring
- Tactical Dashboards – emphasize analysis
- Strategic Dashboards – emphasize management
- Communicating and managing strategy: Dashboards can serve as agents to help Organizational change.
- Monitoring and oversight: Dashboards can provide each group of users with information and analytical capability that is tailored and appropriate to their role.
- Consistent view of the organization: Dashboards can provide an organization with a single, concise and common vision of truth.
- Timely delivery of actionable information: If designed and used properly, Dashboards can deliver the right information to the right user at the right time to help decision-making, enhance efficiency and accelerate bottom-line results
- Integration of data from multiple sources: BI tools allow data from multiple data silos to be represented on a single Dashboard
- Reduced costs and redundancy: BI capabilities can help analysts to gain quick insights from large amounts of data in ways that would be otherwise impossible or cost prohibitive.
- Root Cause Analysis: Dashboard can allow users to drill down into the details when abnormal trends are spotted in the summary reports.
- Advancing organizational maturity: Dashboards give a clear view of key data points that may be used to assess the organizations progress toward specific goals.
Feedback from a dashboard user
“What’s best about the Dashboard designed for us is that it made us high speed and low drag relative to the painful process we used to follow to generate performance information. What’s more, by making the metrics so easy to get to with just a few clicks of the mouse, the Dashboard has really helped us socialize and internalize our focus on performance.”
Dashboard Deployment Leading Practices
The adoption of industry leading practices, operating tactics and winning strategies helps organizations chart courses to superior dashboard performance. Leading practices include:
- Develop a Clear Strategy – Develop clear strategy on what is expected from the Dashboard solution so it can be designed to live up to its purpose as an efficient and actionable BI tool.
- Develop Effective Metrics – Involve both functional and technical personnel in developing metrics.
- Plan for Real Time – A performance management system populated with more real time data will allow executives and managers to keep their fingers on the pulse of the organization.
- Plan for the Long Haul – Prepare for 20% growth in users, 15% growth in queries, and four to five new data sources each year. Design system to accommodate this growth.
- Develop on a Single Platform – The risk of failing to do so is that when managers build their own Dashboard solution independent of each other, the resulting Dashboard silos eventually compete with each other for resources.
Dashboard Requirements Specification
Requirements specification process provides a structured methodology for defining the full range of organizational and technological requirements. Steps in the process include:
- Well designed and developed Dashboards generally result from careful planning driven by thorough requirements specification.
- Well designed and developed Dashboards can offer insight, explanations, and shared understanding of critical organizational information, and then allow the users to act upon the information when and where necessary.
Compiled by: M. Imran Iqbal
Imran Iqbal is a .Net and BI Developer/ Architect at Allied Consultants. His areas of expertise are business intelligence, website development and ODOO. i.e. Microsoft PowerBI, SSRS, SSAS, SSIS, Crystal Reports, Asp.net, Asp.net MVC, WCF, WebApi, Responsive design, Angular, MySQL, SQL Server 2000, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2016, ODOO development and implementation.
He can be reached at +92-322-4745773, | <urn:uuid:2332ed60-0ceb-4ba0-b37b-6463f20ccf5a> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.alliedc.com/what-are-the-benefits-of-dashboards-to-an-organization/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335573.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20221001070422-20221001100422-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.896298 | 1,142 | 2.78125 | 3 |
OK I admit that this is a bit farfetched. I don’t ever recall a test manager whose biggest concern would have been how to efficiently solve and test Sudokus. I was simply in a mood of having some fun and what would be better than working with a Sudoku problem. I bet that you have firsthand experience on solving those and just like me, you have spent a good deal of your air miles cracking those darn puzzles. Well at least I have, so bear with me.
Instead of just opening up the last page of the local newspaper, I decided to create a Conformiq model that would solve my Sudoku problem. Probably not the most common use case of our technology but, like I said, I wanted to have some fun. What I did was that I created a Conformiq model that simply describes the rules of Sudoku. This is what we do with Conformiq technology; we describe the problem using rather abstract terms and let the technology solve the problem for us instead forcing us to do the hard mental work. In the case of classic Sudoku, the rules are pretty darn simple.
[well]Classic Sudoku involves a grid of 81 squares divided into 9 blocks each containing 9 squares. Each of those 9 squares need to contain numbers from 1 to 9 and each number can only appear once in a row, column, and each 9 item square.[/well]
The real problem is that, while the rules are simple and they are quick and easy to describe, the whole logic with all the combinatorial complexity makes solving Sudokus such a challenge. But if you think of it, this same thing applies to pretty much every non-trivial piece of logic out there: while the logic itself is quite simple, it lends itself to hugely complex scenarios. And this is where an efficient algorithm comes in. An algorithm is so much better in solving these combinatorial problems than our brains. Yes, our brains are arguably the most complex, elegant, and intriguing structure in the whole universe, but a human brain is just horrible in solving combinatorial problems. Compared to a computer, we really suck in solving combinatorial puzzles. We suck big time. So realizing that I’m no match for a computer, I simply gave my model with those simple rules to our Conformiq test generation engine and in no time I got my answer. It automatically generated the data needed to solve the rules to test the model.
This brings me to the task of test design. How would you test the logic of a Sudoku application? You probably would have to solve multiple puzzles and verify the correctness of the results. But how would you do the design of such puzzle tests? Sure in the case of Sudoku you might say that the world is full of Sudoku puzzles and you would quickly find a set of examples to use. But what if you would not have that luxury? What if your Sudoku problem would be that Greenfield application that you are supposed to test? How would you go about then? Uh, that’s quite a pickle I would argue. However the reality is that testers and test managers face this situation each and every day. In the case of Sudoku I did what we humans are good at and described the problem, but then instead of trying to solve the problem myself, I outsourced the whole process of solving the problem, i.e. the process of test design, to a computer simply because it is so much better at it than I am. I was in a position to do so because I simply had proper tools available. I didn’t need to bother going through that hugely complicated, time consuming, and error prone process of solving the puzzle in my head and instead I merely described the rules of Sudoku and I handed over the real work to a computer.
This Sudoku example, albeit something that as such we don’t need to deal with in our daily work lives, quite nicely demonstrates the fundamental difference between our Conformiq technology and manual test approaches and even with our competitor’s tools. Indeed model based testing solutions today that claim to automate the test design fall short here. Yes, on the surface level, the tools all look more or less the same. We all have boxes and arrows and by a click of a button you get tests. The reality however is that our competitors only solve the design of test flows (i.e., they provide the elementary machinery for iterating over the model paths) while test data design is left outside. Often the lack of this crucial functionality is hidden by all kinds of stories around great integrations with test data management tools and more while the real deal is that the vast majority of your test design, even after deploying these tools, still needs to be carried out manually. These tools wouldn’t help you a bit here. In the case of Sudoku this would mean that you would still need to manually solve the entire puzzle yourself even after having your test design “automated”. What…? Yes, you are left with solving the whole puzzle all by yourself. So much for automation…
I do realize that most of you test managers out there do not lose sleep over a game of Sudoku, but I hope that this example highlights the need of not only automating the design of test flows but also the test data. If test data design is left outside or decoupled from the model logic you are bound to suffer from unproductive, error prone, and limited testing efforts.
So maybe next time when you are in a position to affect your test automation tooling you should ask, “How would this solution help me in solving a Sudoku?” And me? Well, I got to have great fun with Sudoku modeling! | <urn:uuid:c9fada8c-b935-4b18-a15a-0bac8b4405b0> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.conformiq.com/2018/02/solving-a-game-of-sudoku-using-a-test-generator/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337595.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20221005073953-20221005103953-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.9617 | 1,183 | 2.546875 | 3 |
You should know that open, unsecured public WiFi networks can be dangerous. Criminals can set up routers to provide WiFi service in public places that are labeled as “Free”. Once you connect, they can intercept, capture, and divert all your communications.
What this means is that criminals can access everything from your logins and company email file attachments to the credit card information.
It’s important to safeguard against such attacks by using some of the following steps:
Don’t use public WiFi networks.
Pay attention to warnings that you’re connecting to a network that hasn’t been secured.
Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) wherever possible, and always use the company’s VPN to connect remotely to company resources.
If you’re on a public WiFi network, limit your browsing to sites that use encryption (sites with names starting with HTTPS instead of HTTP).
Avoid logging into websites where there’s a chance that cybercriminals could capture your identity, passwords or personal information — sites such as social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit), online banking services, or websites that store your credit card information.
If relaying sensitive information, consider using your mobile device’s data network instead of WiFi.
Make sure your device has the most current updates and patches. | <urn:uuid:93a83904-16fc-4461-8c7e-50317180df54> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://jermsmit.com/what-you-should-know-about-public-wifi/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334644.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20220926020051-20220926050051-00580.warc.gz | en | 0.907495 | 279 | 2.875 | 3 |
In the educational industry, notebooks and chalkboards are now replaced by laptops and smartboards. Technological advancements have improved how teachers teach, students learn, researchers study, and administrators operate within the sector.
According to Statista, the United States has more than 3,000 universities, the second most in the world behind India with over 5,200. Online learning has significantly transformed the educational industry in the past two years providing innovative approaches and solutions to accommodate teachers, students, and administrators worldwide. In 2020, the percentage of students enrolled in online learning in post-secondary institutions was more than 72%. Before 2020, only about 19% of undergraduate students took online classes. While 98% of universities offered online courses in 2020.
Innovative technologies improve the classroom and online learning opportunities for students and teachers, enhancing the process overall, made possible by the pivotal role of edge computing and 5G. This is especially the case for distributed environments where teachers and students are dispersed with the ultimate need for speed.
Edge computing brings applications closer to data sources like the Internet of Things (IoT) devices and sensors or local edge servers to end-users, significantly reducing latency while increasing capacity and reliability. Edge computing is the backbone of the educational IT infrastructure space. 5G requires unprecedented rapid data transmission, achieved when there is a shift to the network edge to enable 5G-level applications and services.
Bringing the computing infrastructure closer to users reduces latency — improves user experience. The edge allows interaction in virtual classrooms with ultra-low latency, increased bandwidth, and speed.
Cybersecurity is a leading concern for both universities and colleges. More Internet of Things-connected devices on your network increases your cyber risks. Traditional cloud computing takes place on physical hard drives and website servers, making data vulnerable to hacking. Universities and colleges that spread processing and storage functions throughout the edge ensure no single attack will bring down their entire network since computing happens at the edge, closer to the data source; less data is at risk.
Universities and colleges need a reliable network to handle a substantial amount of data to support classroom video conferencing, exams, and during enrollment months, thousands of student applications. The edge helps relieve overloaded networks when more students and teachers are online during the heaviest usage times.
The global educational services market is forecasted to grow from $2882.52 billion in 2021 to more than $3191.79 billion in 2022. Let’s look at a few use cases in the industry.
Smart campuses are beneficial for students, teachers, researchers, and administrators. Many universities, especially larger ones, recognize that offering students a higher echelon while on campus sets them apart from other schools and is a differentiator that students want and need in this rapid world of digitalization. It is not only about getting an education but providing an optimal experience for students to fully enjoy campus life.
Some use cases on campuses include sensors. Sensors track and schedule shared spaces like labs and libraries, notify students when computers and laundry facilities are free, and student applications are processed in a few hours and not months. Connected blackboards allow professors to share grades with teaching assistants instantaneously.
Safety and security have been a critical focus for institutions in the past few decades. Internet-connected sensors, smart locks, high-definition with low-latency video monitoring, automated lighting across campuses, and location intelligence platforms have been implemented on campuses to increase the safety of students and staff. Smart campuses have improved operational efficiencies while decreasing costs. Sensors are used to indicate when maintenance is needed for HVAC systems — lighting, heating, and cooling.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI tools enable administrative tasks to be completed quickly and efficiently. Some administrative use cases include scheduling and rescheduling classes, taking attendance, grading papers, and keeping financial data and records up to date. Additionally, AI provides the opportunity to tailor learning to each student. For example, AI software tools help teachers set the strategies for each student to learn at their own speed — creating individual lesson plans customized to where each student is in their learning process.
Prominent educational institutions with smaller schools following suit are on the cusp of revolutionizing learning. Some schools have already transformed with the needed changes to adapt with the understanding that students are looking for more regarding how they learn and the unique experiences colleges and universities have to offer within their educational journey.
The future of our educational system is evolving. Students’ experiences will be hyper-personalized to their needs. This will make learning more immersive, fun, and tailored to each student’s capabilities. 5G, edge computing, and the IoT enable the streamlining of processes and procedures for quick and accurate execution of tasks and responsibilities while opening the door for unique learning experiences.
Netrality delivers best-in-class interconnection and colocation services through its operator-owned buildings, featuring cloud-neutral Meet Me Rooms with a robust ecosystem of providers delivering ultra-low latency, high performance, scalability, and network reliability.
The pace at which society is moving is fast, and with that comes the need for institutions to stay relevant and competitive. Contact us today to learn more about our strategically interconnected data centers and how our team of experts will help design IT environments to meet your institution’s needs. | <urn:uuid:d63771dd-90a1-4498-8db7-f070e1175250> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://netrality.com/data-centers/5g-and-edge-computing-infrastructure-paving-the-road-for-educational-institutions-to-enable-strengthen-and-build-on-how-students-learn-and-teachers-teach/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335424.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20220930020521-20220930050521-00580.warc.gz | en | 0.939455 | 1,084 | 2.78125 | 3 |
How do Conversational AI and Automation
Together enable Hyperautomation for business?
The basic idea of automation is to limit manual intervention. But using Conversational AI add up decision making in the repetitive processes to fast-track resolution. Conversational AI consists of three technological developments: First, Natural Language Processing (NLP) analyses the natural human language and speech, interprets contextual nuances, and extracts relevant information. Second, AI uses the collected data to predict communication patterns. Lastly, Machine Learning (ML) allows AI-based systems to learn and improve over time with each interaction.
Conversational AI combined with automation provides a personalized and differentiated experience where each interaction is 1:1 and context-aware, based on previous interactions. | <urn:uuid:e69663eb-15a0-4a51-8e5f-0b18e1e8e3a1> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://automationedge.com/conversational-ai-and-automation/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335609.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20221001101652-20221001131652-00580.warc.gz | en | 0.869488 | 150 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Microsoft Access is relational database software that allows small teams and individuals to easily organize and report on business data.
Whether you’re new to Access or an advanced user, Microsoft Access training from New Horizons Computer Learning Centers can accelerate your database management skills.
Learn the basics, such as how to create a database, navigate the Access application environment or organize data stored within Access tables. Or, graduate to more advanced skills like form customization, querying and sharing data across applications.
Regardless of your skill level and IT acumen, Microsoft Access courses at New Horizons Computer Learning Centers will teach you how to:
- Create, design and encrypt Access databases
- Build and work with Access tables, relationships, keys and constraints
- Query data
- Manage and design interfaces with Access Forms
- Produce basic to advanced reports
- Automate tasks, procedures and functions with Macros and VBA
- Customize Access configuration options | <urn:uuid:05a18c28-f51a-45cb-89f9-401b0e1c6d3a> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://nhcl.newhorizons.com/training-and-certifications/microsoft-office/access | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030333541.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20220924213650-20220925003650-00780.warc.gz | en | 0.850154 | 189 | 2.78125 | 3 |
2018 will be remembered as the year where data privacy was altered forever. From Facebook’s many problems to the launch of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, data privacy has never been a bigger issue than it is today. Let’s take a look at how the GDPR has affected the computing world in 2018-19 and how the past year’s events have created new considerations in individual data privacy.
Before the introduction of the GDPR, individual data privacy was largely an individual’s responsibility. To be fair, in non EU-affiliated circles, it largely still is, but the launch of the GDPR brought to light a lot of issues that people have been talking about for some time: mainly the use of their personal information for corporate financial gain. The GDPR was a response to concerns that some organizations were playing fast and loose with individual’s data that included personal information like names, addresses, email addresses, as well as medical and financial information. In profiting off the capture and sales of this information, the largest corporate tech companies created revenue off the backs of people, creating situations that were simply unfair to consumers and users of these services.
For years leading up to the ratification of the GDPR, EU member states had been legislating their own data protection laws. This trend has been roundly rejected in the United States, but with the implementation of the GDPR, corporations that see themselves as members of the global economy had strict new guidelines to meet in order to be able to use individuals’ data in the same manner as it had been. The GDPR was an amalgamation of these laws and firmly required all businesses to report certain types of personal data breaches within 72 hours to a supervisory authority mandated by EU member nations.
Not only did it give the consumer a voice in the ongoing data collection and distribution scheme, it made businesses cognizant just how important their data management is for the people they depend on. Before the GDPR was in the news, not many organizations were thinking about how a failure to protect customer, staff, and vendor information could negatively affect anyone but themselves. This has led to a wholesale change in the way businesses view data management, the training of their staff, and security investments as a whole.
One Year In
Now that the GDPR has been in place for a year, the results have been mixed. Over 59,000 personal data breaches have been identified by companies that have resulted in notifying regulators. Since sanctions for failing to comply with GDPR mandates carry fines up to €20 million, or up to 4 percent of total revenue from the previous year (whichever is larger), you are seeing a more targeted and strategic approach to keeping data secure, and reporting it quickly when a data breach does happen. To take a look at the results the GDPR had in its first eight months, download the DLA Piper GDPR data breach survey, here.
The takeaway is twofold. Firstly, the GDPR has resulted in a major improvement in data breach reporting speed. Since the mandate gives companies up to 72 hours to notify breached parties, it sets a strict deadline. You likely won’t see situations like the Yahoo! breach where they sat on the information for a year before letting anyone that was affected know they had been breached. The GDPR has also resulted in nearly doubling the amount of reported incidents, not an insignificant number.
On the other hand, fines adding up to €55,955,871 have been levied against the companies responsible for the 59,000 reported incidents, a modest amount for the first year when you consider that about 90 percent of that sum was a single fine levied against U.S. tech giant Google. A French GDPR regulator suggested that this be marked down to more of a transition year than some type of long-term ineffectiveness of the law. It remains to be seen just how effective the law with be if regulators aren’t actively enforcing it.
Many U.S. companies do business in mainland Europe and fall under the GDPR regulator’s jurisdiction, but domestically, there has been a major change in the way data privacy is viewed. Over the past year, a lot has happened in the U.S. on the individual data privacy front. Not only has the GDPR lit the fire of legislators, it has major tech firm CEOs, such as Apple’s Tim Cook, calling individual data privacy a “fundamental human right”.
While Mr. Cook seems to be in the minority of American tech company leaders (as can be seen by the €50 million GDPR Google fine), it is a step in the right direction. The state of California, not long after the GDPR went into effect, passed its own sweeping (and some would say hastily thrown together) data privacy law, the California Consumer Privacy Act, to protect the residents of the Golden State. Colorado, Massachusetts, and Ohio followed suit with privacy laws shortly after California’s CPA was ratified.
This is good news for individual privacy in the U.S. It’s a far cry from only a few short years ago that resulted in some pretty damning situations for online consumers. Federal lawmakers have balked at making waves of their own in regards to data privacy, but if history is any indication, when states begin passing laws that are outside the norm, the U.S. Congress typically acts to fill the breach.
Let us know your thoughts! | <urn:uuid:6ec9c818-1f85-4f19-a495-986019d02884> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.activeco.com/european-unions-gdpr-one-year-later/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334802.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20220926051040-20220926081040-00780.warc.gz | en | 0.968339 | 1,129 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Get the tools you need to protect your organization’s information with our webinar “Preventing Data Leaks in Microsoft Teams (and Other Collaboration Systems).” Watch here.
Data breaches happen under even the strictest governance plan and policies. In fact, data breaches happen more often than you might expect. According to Positive Technologies, there were 765 million people impacted in just April, May, and June of 2018.
When faced with a data breach, every minute counts. This isn’t the time to talk about the “would of, could of, should of.” This is also not the time to point fingers. Like a slow leak in a water pipe, now is the time to find and stop the leak, remediate open vulnerabilities, and put measures in place to make sure a Personally Identifiable Information (PII) spill or data breach doesn’t happen again. In this article, we discuss how to quickly control a PII spill and some of the things you can do to restrain a data breach.
What is PII
PII stands for Personal Identifiable Information. It was first used by NIST in 1979. NIST describes PII as “Any information about an individual maintained by an agency, including:
(1) Any information that can be used to distinguish or trace someone’s identity, such as name, social security number, date, place of birth, mother‘s maiden name, or biometric records; and
(2) Any other information that is linked or linkable to an individual, such as medical, educational, financial, and employment information.”
In this day and age, where every app on your phone holds some kind of PII about you, data breaches have become common news. Just last month on September 29, 2019, Door Dash announced it had a data breach that impacted 4.9 million users. This data included users’ drivers’ license numbers, full names, addresses, and phone numbers. Door Dash sent an email out to its customers that stated, “Out of an abundance of caution, we are encouraging all of those affected to reset their passwords to one that is unique to DoorDash.”Looking for tips on how to prevent data breaches? Check out this post: Click To Tweet
FEMA also experienced a PII leak and data breach during hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, as well as during the 2017 California wildfires. FEMA’s response to the PII leak was considered weak and untimely by the OIG (Office of Internal General). The OIG found that FEMA/DHS “did not test all system contingency plans, develop procedures for handling sensitive information, or identify alternate facilities to recover processing in the event of service disruptions.”
What Can a Hacker Do With PII?
A hacker doesn’t need a social security number and date of birth to cause harm to your employees and customers. Just having the target’s first and last name, email address, physical address, phone number, and last four digits of a credit card is enough to do damage. The verification process used by most companies involves a couple of pieces of the person’s information when completing a change to service, sending a paycheck to another address, or setting up a service like Door Dash.
Ways to Control A PII Spill and Data Breach
The worst thing you can do after discovering a data breach is nothing at all. The more proactive you are, the quicker you can get ahead of the leak. On September 7, 2017, Equifax announced that 145.5 million records had been breached. It was later discovered that Equifax knew about the data breach months before. To avoid a scenario like this, here are eleven tips to help you take action:
1. Don’t panic. When your company is dealing with a data breach, you want to make decisions that are strategic and put you closer to determining the breach source.
2. Prioritize finding the source of the leak. The “source” can be a system or a person. In either case, you’ll need to work with your security and IT department to follow the trail. Having an enterprise risk management system like Compliance Guardian can be a great asset when narrowing down your PII spill and data breach.
3. Contact your vendors. The November 15, 2013 Target data breach was one of the largest data breaches in years. One reason it was so hard for Target to gain control of the PII spill and data leak was because they were unsure where the breach was coming from. They later learned that their HVAC vendor was the source of the data breach. The Target data leak involved 40 million credit card numbers and cost Target a total of $202.
4. Deploy a risk management system. AvePoint’s Compliance Guardian can be critical in helping you solve your PII spill and data breach. It’ll tell you exactly where the data breach is coming from and how it’s spread throughout the organization. Compliance Guardian can also spot enterprise risk quickly and allow you to create reports that save you time and money. If your organization works with PCI, FTI, GDPR and/or HIPAA, having a risk management system is essential.
5. Assemble a “war room” to deal with investigations, compliance and regulation issues, and internal and external communication. The best thing you can do is to assemble your senior management along with your security team to come up with a plan of recovering the source of the data breach.
6. Communicate often! Companies don’t like negative publicity, but by not communicating you can make the data breach even more costly and a publicity nightmare.
7. Involve legal and insurance partners early. After a large data breach, you’ll need assistance from your legal team to assist with your response and legal ramifications. Your insurance company should also be advised of the PII spill and data breach to start putting a cost on the data breach impact.
8. Have one source of truth spokesperson. Because we live in the days of social media and real-time communication, it’s not uncommon for several people representing your company to be tweeting or providing updates to the media about the data breach. Avoid this! Designate a single person to act as the mouthpiece of your organization.
9. Review archived reporting. Reviewing your risk management reports for the last few months can provide clues to where the PII spill and data breach may have come from. You want to start with your Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA) reports. CAPA report along with lifecycle workflows is available in AvePoint’s Compliance Guardian.
10. Make reports easy to understand. What good is a report if it can’t be consumed? Make sure the reports are easy to digest by C-level management and provide enough data for your security team to respond to.
11. Monitor corporate accounts and alerts. Sometimes the aftershock is worse than the earthquake. While focusing on the cleanup of your PII spill and data breach, continue reviewing your risk management system for irregular activity.
As an organization, you want to take as many proactive precautions against data breaches as possible. These eleven steps should help you prepare for the worst and know what to do if it happens. Do you have any other tips you think readers should know about? Drop them in the comments below! | <urn:uuid:60b961b5-f204-4878-bd14-340f3dd99074> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.avepoint.com/blog/protect/data-breach-control | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335286.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20220928212030-20220929002030-00780.warc.gz | en | 0.943469 | 1,540 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Cyber Security Definition
Cyber security, sometimes written as cyber security, is a term that encompasses all processes, technologies, legislation, hardware and procedures used to prevent the unauthorized use of data, networks, and programming. Cyber security means protection from theft of services and information.
Cyber security applies at all levels; From consumer level protection, i.e. securing credit card information as it is processed by a point-of-sale device and passes onto to enterprise level processing systems. This can include protecting thousands of credit card number at financial institutions.
In 2017, the United States handed down the longest sentence ever to an individual hacker who made more than $170 million dollars with stolen credit card data.
Cyber security is not just limited to protecting against credit card misuse and identity theft. It encompasses many types of threats. A threat is any intention to inflict damage, steal data, access without permission or harm IT systems, hardware or software at any level and in any way. A threat may be something as simple as altering the home page of a website without permission. A more serious threat would be stealing the human resources records of all employees at the US Internal Revenue Service.
Types of cyber security threats include:
Any event that could lead to loss or damage to hardware, software, data, or capabilities
- Phishing scams
- Back doors to IT systems, apps, data, etc.…
- Hardware vandalism
Cyber security is also referred to as IT security, computer security, or online security.
As the world becomes more and more connected via the internet, cyber security grows increasingly difficult. It is estimated that there will be over 50 billion connected devices by the year 2020. Many of which are connected to insecure networks, like free public Wi-Fi. Even supposedly, secure devices are at risk from data sniffing by supposedly trusted mobile apps.
Legislation tends to be reactive rather than proactive when it comes to anything technology related. The US Federal government IT systems are woefully behind in their own cyber security system updates. Future cyber security legislation supposedly will hold US federal agency managers accountable for data breaches, but the new legislation has yet to be passed. Even if it is signed into law, the budget to upgrade federal IT systems to secure standards is estimated to be in the billions of dollars. Although the government allocates billions of dollars every year to upgrading its technologies, their legacy systems are still outdated.
Other scenarios present issues as well. The advent of smart cities presents another new opportunity for data collection by hackers. Connected medical devices and wearable devices also offer a potential back door for hackers.
Proper cyber security also means having the proper procedures and people in place. Even the best hardware systems can be compromised, resulting in data theft if trust is placed in the wrong person.
Cyber security is a global issue. Anyone breach in the system – like paying a credit card bill from a corporate tablet while connected to an airport’s public Wi-Fi – can let a hacker in. | <urn:uuid:ce0e7a6b-0474-4635-a8b7-8fd0a916bc58> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.askcybersecurity.com/what-is-cyber-security/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337360.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20221002212623-20221003002623-00780.warc.gz | en | 0.94814 | 626 | 3.421875 | 3 |
ITIL Implementation - Process Interfaces
|Step 6: Definition of ITIL Process Interfaces|
This step determines which inputs each ITIL process receives from other processes, and which outputs it must produce so that subsequent processes are able to function.
- Definition of the interfaces for all ITIL processes which are to be introduced
These inputs and outputs are also called ITIL information objects: Structured sets of data, like e.g. an Incident Record, which serves to describe a service interruption.
Just how great the importance of process interfaces is for the design of optimal work procedures frequently becomes apparent during the analysis of as-is processes:
Weaknesses in processes often occur at those points where one process ends and another one begins. In many cases one will find interrupted information flows or media breaks – so that the required information is not exchanged as intended.
The definition of the process interfaces is taken care of as a separate project step, before dealing with the innards of the processes in detail. Obviously, before being able to define the detailed activities, it must be clear what inputs a process can expect from preceding ones, and which outputs it must produce.
The ITIL Process Map applies a rigorous approach to the definition of interfaces: Information objects may be picked from a central ITIL glossary (see figure 1: Index of data objects (.pdf)) to define the inputs and outputs in a precise way. Every information object contains a short definition to avoid any ambiguities about the expected process results.
A challenge during the definition of the ITIL interfaces lies in the fact that, as a rule, not all ITIL processes are introduced at once, which often means that some of the required inputs for a process are missing.
In order to circumvent this problem, which inevitably springs up during a phased introduction of ITIL, a generic process directory for the IT organization as a whole can be used.
The generic directory offers a structured framework for the definition of process links even if, initially, only a sub-set of the ITIL processes is defined in detail.
Additional ITIL processes can thus be plugged into the process model at a later point in time as needed.
- Structure of the ITIL processes to be introduced
- ITIL information objects (ITIL glossary terms) as inputs and outputs
- Interfaces of the ITIL processes to be introduced:
- with each other
- with other service management processes
- with customer and supplier processes
- It must be avoided that the newly introduced processes represent an isolated solution; the interfaces to the other processes within the IT organization and beyond it must therefore be considered.
- The documentation of the interfaces should be clearly structured, showing details only when required. This calls for overview diagrams showing the big picture and separate detailed interface diagrams for each process.
Relevant views of the ITIL Process Map
The ITIL Process Map contains two types of models which, in combination with each other, are used for the definition of the process interfaces:
- Process overviews (see ITIL implementation step 5 - figure 2), which illustrate the interrelations of several processes on one single page
- Detailed process interface diagrams with all inputs and outputs (see figure 2)
- To-be process structure: Generic ITIL process structure (.pdf)
- ITIL inputs and outputs: ITIL information objects (ITIL glossary terms)
- Index of Data Objects - Example (.pdf)
Following project activity
→ ITIL Implementation - Step 7: Establishing Process Control | <urn:uuid:85989129-952f-421a-9a32-e6408ca26f84> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://wiki.en.it-processmaps.com/index.php/ITIL_Implementation_-_Process_Interfaces | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337480.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20221004054641-20221004084641-00780.warc.gz | en | 0.89794 | 749 | 2.859375 | 3 |
File integrity monitoring (FIM) refers to an IT security process and technology that tests and checks operating system (OS), database, and application software files to determine whether or not they have been tampered with or corrupted. FIM, which is a type of change auditing, verifies and validates these files by comparing the latest versions of them to a known, trusted “baseline.” If FIM detects that files have been altered, updated, or compromised, FIM can generate alerts to ensure further investigation, and if necessary, remediation, takes place. File integrity monitoring encompasses both reactive (forensic) auditing as well as proactive, rules-based active monitoring.
FIM software will scan, analyze, and report on unexpected changes to important files in an IT environment. In so doing, file integrity monitoring provides a critical layer of file, data, and application security, while also aiding in the acceleration of incident response. The four primary file integrity monitoring use cases are:
If a cyber attacker intrudes upon your IT environment, you will need to know if they have tried to alter any files that are critical to your operating systems or applications. Even if log files and other detection systems are avoided or altered, FIM can still detect changes to important parts of your IT ecosystem. With FIM in place, you can monitor and protect the security of your files, applications, operating systems, and data.
Often, file changes are made inadvertently by an admin or another employee. Sometimes the ramifications of these changes may be small and go overlooked. Other times, they can create security backdoors, or result in dysfunction with business operations or continuity. File integrity monitoring simplifies forensics by helping you zero in on the errant change, so you can roll it back or take other remediation.
You can check if files have been patched to the latest version by scanning installed versions across multiple locations and machines with the post-patch checksum.
The ability to audit changes, and to monitor and report certain types of activity is required for compliance with regulatory mandates such as GLBA, SOX, HIPAA and PCI DSS.
FIM is important for Windows-based environments as well as for Linux and Unix systems. Windows uses the registry for most of its configuration, combined with the Win32 API, which is a tightly controlled and restricted area. In Linux and Unix environments, configurations are much more exposed as part of the overall file system. This makes Linux and Unix more vulnerable to direct attacks and hacked binary executables. Updating and replacing core files in Linux or Unix means that attackers can easily inject malicious code.
Ideally, FIM should track changes to OS, database, directory, application, and critical business files, and alert you to any potentially sensitive or suspicious changes. Some key areas to audit change control include:
OS, bootup/startup, password, Active Directory, Exchange SQL, etc.
Boot loader, kernel parameters, daemons and services, run commands, cron jobs, profiles, hosts, etc.
File integrity monitoring examines various aspects of a file to create a “digital fingerprint.” It then compares this fingerprint to a known, good baseline fingerprint. While native auditing tools exist, these generally all suffer from shortcomings, such as decentralized storage of the security logs from multiple domain controllers, lack of information within the log entry regarding the old settings, and inability to recover the object/configuration from the audit log, to name few. For these reasons, organizations with moderately to highly complex IT environments generally rely on proven enterprise solutions.
High-quality enterprise FIM software will look at many aspects of files, including:
Created, modified, and accessed settings and permissions
Security and privilege settings
Content of the file
Core attributes and size
Hash values, based on file contents
FIM can be carried out on a continual, snapshot, or regular basis. It can happen randomly, or to any other rules that the security team sets up.
A good FIM tool will monitor all components of your IT environment, including:
Network devices and servers
Workstations and remote devices
Databases, directories, OS, and middleware
Hypervisor configuration, and Active Directory
At minimum, an enterprise solution should provide change management, real-time logging, centralized logging and reporting, and alerts. Often, file integrity monitoring is part of a broader auditing and security solution that will also include capabilities such as automated rollback of changes to an earlier, trusted state. An ideal solution will give you clear, rapid information on the who, what, where, and when for every access and change event. | <urn:uuid:8be4f990-7596-4ecd-ae3d-e285f32f072d> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.beyondtrust.com/resources/glossary/file-integrity-monitoring | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337480.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20221004054641-20221004084641-00780.warc.gz | en | 0.917704 | 962 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Many cars on the road contain dangerous cybersecurity flaws, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.
“Modern vehicles contain multiple interfaces—connections between the vehicle and external networks—that leave vehicle systems, including safety-critical systems, such as braking and steering, vulnerable to cyberattacks,” according to the report released to the public on Monday.
GAO interviewed officials from the Departments of Transportation, Commerce, Defense, and Homeland Security as well as industry associations; and 32 industry experts, such as automakers, suppliers, and vehicle cybersecurity firms. They found three major types of security flaws: direct access, short-range wireless, and long-range wireless.
Direct-access flaws were those that required a hacker’s physical presence to attack the vehicle.
“Among the interfaces that can be exploited through direct access, most stakeholders we spoke with expressed concerns about the statutorily mandated on-board diagnostics port, which provides access to a broad range of vehicle systems for emissions and diagnostic testing purposes,” the report said.
Short-range wireless vulnerabilities are those accessible within one kilometer and include the keyless door access and Bluetooth connectivity. Long-range wireless refers to access at distances over one mile and includes satellite radio and cellular connectivity. In fact, 23 of the 32 industry experts surveyed believed that cellular access was the biggest cybersecurity threat to vehicles.
The most recommended solutions to these vulnerabilities were to build cybersecurity into the manufacturing of parts and to separate the safety-critical and non-safety critical systems to prevent hackers from gaining access.
However, the report noted that “complete separation is often not possible or practical because some limited communication will likely need to occur between safety-critical and other vehicle systems.”
In addition, integrating cybersecurity into the manufacturing would only be helpful to new cars being built, leaving those already on the road vulnerable. The report also found that the two most-cited obstacles to cybersecurity implementation in this way were “the lack of transparency, communication, and collaboration regarding vehicles’ cybersecurity among the various levels of the automotive supply chain and the cost of incorporating cybersecurity protections into vehicles.”
The Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is expected to make a final determination of the full risks of cybersecurity in vehicles, and whether they merit a safety recall, in 2018. | <urn:uuid:bf58b225-aa4b-48a9-8750-3a7a7316223f> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://origin.meritalk.com/articles/cybersecurity-flaws-make-cars-vulnerable-gao-says/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337631.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20221005140739-20221005170739-00780.warc.gz | en | 0.954215 | 485 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption is a new security feature that provides better data protection for your computer, by encrypting all data stored on the Windows operating system volume.
In Windows 7, a volume consists of one or more partitions on one or more hard disks. BitLocker works with simple volumes, where one volume is one partition. A volume usually has a drive letter assigned, such as "C:"
A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is a microchip that is built into a computer. It is used to store cryptographic information, such as encryption keys. Information stored on the TPM can be more secure from external software attacks and physical theft.
- BitLocker uses the TPM to help protect the Windows operating system and user data and helps to ensure that a computer is not tampered with, even if it is left unattended, lost, or stolen.
- BitLocker can also be used without a TPM. To use BitLocker on a computer without a TPM, you must change the default behavior of the BitLocker setup wizard by using Group Policy, or configure BitLocker by using a script.
When BitLocker is used without a TPM, the required encryption keys are stored on a USB flash drive that must be presented to unlock the data stored on a volume.
How does BitLocker Drive Encryption work?
If the computer is equipped with a compatible TPM, BitLocker uses the TPM to lock the encryption keys that protect the data. As a result, the keys cannot be accessed until the TPM has verified the state of the computer.
- Encrypting the entire volume protects all of the data, including the operating system itself, the Windows registry, temporary files, and the hibernation file. Because the keys needed to decrypt data remain locked by the TPM, an attacker cannot read the data just by removing your hard disk and installing it in another computer.
- During the startup process, the TPM releases the key that unlocks the encrypted partition only after comparing a hash of important operating system configuration values with a snapshot taken earlier.
This verifies the integrity of the Windows startup process. The key is not released if the TPM detects that your Windows installation has been tampered with.
What is a TPM?
A TPM is a microchip designed to provide basic security-related functions, primarily involving encryption keys.
- The TPM is usually installed on the motherboard of a desktop or portable computer, and communicates with the rest of the system by using a hardware bus.
- Computers that incorporate a TPM have the ability to create cryptographic keys and encrypt them so that they can be decrypted only by the TPM. This process, often called "wrapping" or "binding" a key, can help protect the key from disclosure.
- Each TPM has a master wrapping key, called the Storage Root Key (SRK), which is stored within the TPM itself. The private portion of a key created in a TPM is never exposed to any other component, software, process, or person.
- Computers that incorporate a TPM can also create a key that has not only been wrapped, but is also tied to specific hardware or software conditions. This is called "sealing" a key.
- When a sealed key is first created, the TPM records a snapshot of configuration values and file hashes. A sealed key is only "unsealed" or released when those current system values match the ones in the snapshot.
- BitLocker uses sealed keys to detect attacks against the integrity of the Windows operating system.
With a TPM, private portions of key pairs are kept separated from the memory controlled by the operating system. Because the TPM uses its own internal firmware and logic circuits for processing instructions, it does not rely upon the operating system and is not exposed to external software vulnerabilities.
Difference between BitLocker in Windows-Vista and Windows-7
The BitLocker feature was introduced in Windows Vista and allowed you to encrypt the content of your hard drive. In Windows 7 BitLocker allows you to encrypt portable USB flash drives also.
How to use BitLocker Facility?
Right-click on the flash drive you want to encrypt and select Turn on BitLocker. After BitLocker initialized the flash drive you will need to enter in a password to unlock the drive. You can also set up a Smartcard which are usually used in a work environment. Next you will be prompted to store the recovery key which is used in the event you lose your password or smartcard. If you store it as a file make sure that it is not on the same drive that you’re encrypting. After the key has been saved as a file or printed you will see a confirmation message. Finally you will be ready to start encrypting the drive so just click the Start Encrypting button.
While it is encrypting there will be a progress screen displayed.
Right-click on that icon to bring up options to manage BitLocker encryption.
The next time you plug in the drive to a Windows 7 machine you will be prompted to enter the password to gain access to the drive. You can also always have it unlocked on specific machines in the future. | <urn:uuid:1551931f-479b-4181-9785-dc51160146b9> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://eskonr.com/2010/05/bitlocker-in-windows-7/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335469.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20220930113830-20220930143830-00180.warc.gz | en | 0.906448 | 1,087 | 3.453125 | 3 |
SpaceChem, a chemistry-themed, molecular-building game from indie developer ZachTronics Industries, is being offered free for use in schools.
Described on the Zachtronics site as an "intriguing, problem-solving centric puzzle game", SpaceChem uses a visual programming style combined with debugging and optimisation to offer quite a unique gaming experience.
It's incredibly challenging once you get past the first few levels and even offers a little bit of chemistry knowledge with the inclusion of a periodic table and certain molecule configurations.
Created, Zachtronics says, because other educational games "often forget to be fun", the developer says that as long schools contact the company before the end of January 2012, they'll be given a site-wide licence to use the game on any number of educational machines. Interested institutions can email Zachtronics now at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Zach, the founder of Zachtronics, has said in the past that while the game features fictional combinations of atoms and aliens, that "most molecules and atoms are based off of those from real life. For example, one puzzle requires players to build a machine that combines H2 and O2 molecules to create H2O2 molecules."
The education page (opens in new tab) of the game's site lists a few other reasons that a game like this would be applicable in the class room:
SpaceChem was also recently updated to include a SandBox mode that allows for the creation of infinitely complex systems. There's also a competition (opens in new tab) running to encourage players to create the "most awesome sandbox pipeline imaginable." Winners will receive a free retail copy of the game. | <urn:uuid:ce294887-c568-420b-94cf-3bdf676bac7c> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.itproportal.com/2011/11/29/spacechem-offered-schools-free/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335469.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20220930113830-20220930143830-00180.warc.gz | en | 0.946705 | 348 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Introduction to DHCP
DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. DHCP is an application layer protocol. It is used to control the network configuration of a host through a remote server. It comes installed as a default feature in most of the contemporary operating systems. DHCP is an excellent alternative to the time-consuming manual configuration of network settings on a host or a network device.
DHCP works on a client-server model. It uses UDP i.e. User Datagram Protocol. It uses:
- UDP port number 67 – DESTIANTION SERVER
- UDP port number 68 – CLIENT
Being a protocol, it has its own set of messages that are exchanged between client and server. In DHCP, 4 main messages are exchanged between the client and the server namely:
That is the reason, it is also called DORA process.
1. DHCP Discover Message:
This is the first message generated by the DHCP Client/host to discover if there is any DHCP server/servers present in a network or not. Discover message is broadcasted to all devices present in the network to find out the presence of DHCP server/servers.
2. DHCP Offer Message:
The Server hears the DHCPDISCOVER request and responds
3. DHCP Request Message:
After receiving DHCP Offer message, the client responds by broadcasting a DHCPREQUEST
4. DHCP ACK Message:
After receiving DHCPREQUEST message, the server may respond in different ways-
Advantages Of DHCP :
- It simplifies the process of IP Address Management.
- It is reliable as the automation helps in minimizing the errors that may arise due to manual IP address configuration.
- It supports large networks as the DHCP server uses multithreading, that can process many client requests simultaneously.
- Set up is less time consuming as the manual configuration is not required.
- It offers a Centralized network client configuration as the configuration information is stored in one place, in the DHCP data store.
Disadvantages of DHCP :
- The client is unable to access the network in the absence of a DHCP Server.
- Major drawback is in terms of security as there is no secure mechanism of authentication for the client.
- DHCP Server can be a single point of failure.
- DHCP client implementations may not work properly with Windows Server 2003’s DHCP server.
Related- DHCP vs RARP
Related- DHCP Snooping | <urn:uuid:bc99e112-6fa8-4e1e-9bad-f8fffd343fb1> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://ipwithease.com/dhcp-dynamic-host-configuration-protocol/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030336921.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20221001195125-20221001225125-00180.warc.gz | en | 0.864588 | 513 | 3.625 | 4 |
FIN Flood is a DDoS attack aimed at consuming computing power and saturating bandwidth. FIN Floods are generally spoofed attacks and normally come at a very high rate.
FIN floods, if not dropped by stateful devices on the perimeter, may overwhelm the internal network architecture. Generally this flood is used as a basic but effective flood to bring down perimeter devices or saturate bandwidth.
Image 1 shows the attacker (10.0.0.2) sending FIN packets to the victim (10.128.0.2) to port 80.
“Image 1 – Example of a Single FIN packet Sent to Port 80”
As can be seen in Image 2, the Average number of packets per seconds is over 120. FIN Floods can come at a much higher rate.
“Image 2 – FIN Flood Stats”
A typical FIN flood running against a host will look similar to the above analysis. Generally what is seen, is a high rate of FIN packets (not preceded by a TCP handshake). A FIN flood is considered an out of state flood.
Analysis of an FIN flood in Wireshark – Filters
Filter out FIN packets – “tcp.flags == 0x001”
Go to Statistics -> Summary on the menu bar to understand the rate you are looking at.
Download Example PCAP of FIN Flood
*Note: IP’s have been randomised to ensure privacy.DownloadDownload | <urn:uuid:9b7de1b9-c8f3-4b86-9fe3-b4bf2ead6fc1> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://kb.mazebolt.com/knowledgebase/fin-flood/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337398.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20221003035124-20221003065124-00180.warc.gz | en | 0.892154 | 299 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Far from being a clean sector, IT is an immense consumer of natural resources and electricity. The majority of the world’s semiconductors are manufactured in Taiwanese fabrication plants (fabs), which Greenpeace estimates, consume 12% of the country’s total electricity. In 2019, it warned that TSMC, the world’s largest chipmaker, whose customers include Apple, Google and HP, only powered 5.4% of its operations with renewables.
Fabs also use a huge amount of “ultra pure water” to clean the wafers used in manufacturing. In 2015, an article in Harvard Business Review reported that a single manufacturing plant can use 2-9 million gallons of water a day. The wastewater from semiconductor fabrication is also highly toxic and there is a significant carbon footprint in the journey of a chip as it moves through a manufacturing supply chain to end up as an item of IT equipment that is ultimately shipped to a customer.
When the equipment has reached the end of its life, there is the environmental impact. Clearly, once the equipment is up and running, it has a useful life running software, which may help in lowering its carbon footprint. But software uses processor resources; the more processing required, the more electricity is consumed.
Last year Wired quoted Evan Sparks, CEO of Determined AI, who estimated that OpenAI’s machine for solving the Rubik’s Cube puzzle, consumed 2.8 gigawatts of electricity. This is roughly equivalent to the output of three nuclear reactors. While AI will increasingly have a role in society, some experts are calling for a regulatory framework that legislates against excessive power consumption. With more computational workloads consuming cloud-based IT resources, there is also growing pressure for the major cloud providers and web giants to become more accountable on the sustainability and environmental impact of their vast datacentre operations.
Digitising for the circular economy
IT clearly has an environmental impact. But it can also improve sustainability. A key benefit of digitisation is that it encourages seamless data flows. Much of the focus has been to patch broken internal processes. But there is a huge opportunity in data flow through a supply chain.
A supply chain tends to flow linearly. Tracking of waste materials is not handled in the same way as the procurement of raw materials. But somebody’s waste product is another organisation’s raw materials. By linking this data flow, it is possible to build a circular economy, which not only improves sustainability, but also facilitates greater supply chain resiliency. As the world turns its attention to COP26, there’s an opportunity for everyone to improve sustainability and carbon reduction efforts. | <urn:uuid:5987578d-6513-4c93-80b8-627a994f1d1c> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/Cliff-Sarans-Enterprise-blog/COP26-ITs-role-in-tackling-climate-change | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337398.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20221003035124-20221003065124-00180.warc.gz | en | 0.947117 | 546 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Beginner's guide to Virtual Private Network services
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a service making the internet safer and more accessible. It works as a remedy against common invasions of privacy, location tracking, price discrimination, and censorship.
Essentially, Virtual Private Networks give you a disguise, like making web entities believe you live in a completely different region. Additionally, a true VPN meaning could never manage without the values of the free and open internet.
You can establish a VPN connection without any technical how-to. It is a seamless product that guards you in the shadows during gaming or financial transactions. So, let’s dissect a VPN further and see its definition, capacities, and benefits to daily activities.
What happens if you do not use a Virtual Private Network
This section discusses the biggest threats or inconveniences users experience without a Virtual Private Network. They include the following:
- Data harvested by companies, including your ISP.
- Data sold to random partners and third parties.
- Browsing habits directly influencing personalized ads.
- IP addresses and locations exposed online.
- Geo-restrictions making certain content unavailable.
- Price discrimination based on users’ locations.
Tracking from companies, including your ISP
Your traffic always passes through your ISP (Internet Service Provider) to reach websites or other online services. Your ISP can see your queries and, at times, can sell this information to the highest bidder. All ISPs have the power to harvest a lot of details, like your location, browsing histories, and metadata.
Even if you do not have anything to hide, being watched continuously is far from appealing. As mentioned, your ISP can sell your data to data mining companies or marketing agencies. Ever seen too many personalized ads? Yes, it might be because your data has been handed over to a third party.
According to our statistics from 2020, such data-selling activities happen in one out of ten businesses. So, many services you use can participate in such exchanges. And without reading privacy policies carefully, you might not even know that such data sharing happens.
Location tracking and its consequences
At the same time, your IP address gets exposed to all websites and services you use. You may already know that your IP reveals your physical location. Due to geographical restrictions, you might have trouble entering some websites.
You might pay more for certain goods online because of your location. Price discrimination is a common strategy implemented by online providers. It means that businesses can judge you according to your whereabouts, relating to purchasing powers.
Just because you live in one country and not the other should not mean you must pay higher prices. However, online shops or flight companies might adjust prices according to your country and increase them as they like.
Virtual Private Network definition and how it works
Let’s investigate the VPN meaning through the following facts:
- Once you turn the Virtual Private Network on, your data becomes encrypted. Usually, VPNs use sophisticated encryption protocols like AES-256 to perform this procedure. After data gets encrypted, ISPs, government institutions, and other nosy third parties can no longer look at your actions online. Your internet provider will know that you use a VPN, but they won’t be able to see the websites you browse or the files you download.
- You no longer reveal accurate location details via IP addresses. Virtual Private Networks help you conceal them and change your IP to an address of a VPN. Say you are physically in Chicago and connect to a server in Australia. Then, it looks like you are connecting from Australia in the online world.
- You receive immunity to many dangers lurking on public Wi-Fi. Public Wi-Fi networks are convenient, but the way they handle users’ data is questionable. For instance, such networks might lack encryption, meaning there are occasions when your data travels online unencrypted. If you enable a VPN, your information becomes encrypted and unreadable to anyone who tries to steal it.
Wait, VPN encryption? What is that?
A Virtual Private Network would be nothing without its encryption routine. It means turning plaintext data, like comprehensible words, into gibberish. Once information gets encrypted, no one can read it without a decryption key.
Once you enable a VPN, everything you do gets encrypted, be it browser, torrent, or messaging app traffic. You can always consider enabling split tunneling if you wish to decide which traffic gets rerouted and encrypted.
What is a VPN server?
Servers are a crucial component of a VPN definition. It refers to physical or virtual servers enabled to host and deliver VPN services. They include a blend of hardware and software, allowing VPN users to connect to the internet through them.
When it comes to Virtual Private Network servers, rerouting is an important concept. Let’s illustrate this via this example:
- You connect to a VPN server.
- You decide to visit websites via preferred browsers.
- Instead of reaching the web entity directly, your connection takes a detour to the VPN server.
- The server makes a request on your behalf. The web entity sees the VPN server as the one making the request, not you.
- The web server responds with the requested information and sends it to the VPN server, which it delivers to you.
The most common VPN use cases
Virtual Private Networks make you more anonymous and private. However, let’s put this aim in context through clear-cut use cases.
- Protect data and hide activities. Each online action you make leaves a mark online. It might affect the ads you see or can even lead to more infuriating situations. A VPN helps you conceal more details about your online behavior and location.
- Access more content online. Traveling can bring unexpected burdens when you cannot access local services back home. A Virtual Private Network lets you manipulate your IP address and access content anywhere, whenever you need it.
- Fight against censorship. Governments frequently exercise control over the digital space by initiating permanent or temporary blocks. Thus, citizens might find it difficult to reach objective media outlets or private messaging tools. Virtual Private Networks fight for equal rights online, regardless of where users live.
- Boosting streaming and gaming. ISPs are not the kindest when it comes to bandwidth-heavy activities. If they slow down certain types of traffic, a VPN can resolve this. ISPs won’t be able to determine what you do online after traffic gets encrypted and rerouted through VPN servers.
- Ability to safely connect to any network. You can join any hotspot as long as you connect to a Virtual Private Network beforehand. It encrypts your traffic, meaning network managers or other potential snoops won’t have the chance to spy on you.
The easiest VPN setup process
Now that you’ve learned the Virtual Private Network basics, it is time to set up a VPN connection.
- Click the button below to check out our budget-friendly subscription deals.
- Finish the necessary procedures, download Atlas VPN apps, and connect to preferred VPN servers.
- Just to be sure your VPN connection is all set up, check your IP address. | <urn:uuid:800d8be1-e8ac-46d9-8231-9233d4096a79> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://atlasvpn.com/blog/beginners-guide-to-virtual-private-network-services | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337504.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20221004121345-20221004151345-00180.warc.gz | en | 0.910877 | 1,471 | 2.75 | 3 |
Something that gets talked about a lot on the internet is password security and password hygiene.
Everyone has heard that it’s best practice to use long passwords that are unique and complex, but I want to write a short post about why those things are important, how passwords are stored by websites, and what that means for you.
The first thing to mention is USE PASSWORD MANAGERS. It’s the most important thing for keeping your accounts secure! If you don’t know what they are, it’s software that helps you generate and store passwords securely on your computer. You can google them, there are quite a lot of popular ones such as LastPass and KeepPass.
Now that that’s been said, on with the show.
Let’s focus on how passwords are stored by websites, because I think that’s something that doesn’t get explained enough. This is going to be a long read, because we’re going to have to talk about the history of storing passwords too.
To do that we’ve got to talk about hashing and how malicious people actually get your password when websites get hacked.
The first part of this is explaining hashing algorithms. There are a lot of different hashing algorithms, and they are something that whole bodies of literature and study are devoted to. For the purposes of this post though, we’re going to (very much simplyify) them as a brilliant bit of math that turns something (in this case a password) into a bit of data that will be unique to what it was computed from. This unique data is called a hash and most importantly, this bit of math cannot be reversed. You can’t take the hash and do some math on it to turn it back into your password.
An example of this can be seen here. I put “password” through the SHA1 hashing algorithm:
echo -ne "password" | sha1sum
That long string of characters starting with 5ba is the hash. Theoretically there is no way to reverse the algorithm to get “password” back out of it.
Back in the day, passwords were stored in “clear-text” i.e. essentially just stored somewhere on the computer with the hopes that somebody malicious wouldn’t be able to access them. Hackers, however, are wily creatures, and obviously, they did. So someone set upon the idea of using hashing algorithms. Instead of storing your password somewhere, now you could store the hash. When somebody logs in, you can turn the password into a hash, and check if it matches the stored password. Hurray, passwords were solved.
Again though, hackers are wily creatures, and we set upon ruining everyone’s day here too. We decided to find ways to discover the plaintext passwords again, by “cracking” hashes. There are a lot of ways to talk about doing this, but broadly and in the most simple way, it can be explained by putting lots of possible passwords through the same hashing algorithm, and seeing if any of the created hashes match. Sometimes this is done “live”, and sometimes this is done with a big list of hashes and their associated passwords; this big list is called a “rainbow table”, and it’ll become important in a little bit. Another little digression that will become important is that hashing algorithms weren’t originally designed for being used to store passwords securely – they are very easy and fast for computers to calculate by design, so we attackers can turn a large number of possible passwords into hashes very quickly.
Obviously, once the idea of hashing became popular, a lot of people started doing it and so a thriving online economy for cracking hashes developed. Rainbow tables, those large lists of passwords, started appearing – you can google “online hash cracking service” and for the most part those are websites where you put in your hash, and they’ll see if there’s a match in their rainbow table. To combat this, people introduced a new concept, which is called a “salt”. In very, very simple terms, a salt is a set of unique characters that gets stored in clear-text. The hash that gets stored is actually the result of your password being combined with the salt. It’s basically a way to make your password a little longer and complex, so that it won’t be as easily cracked. Because the salt is stored in clear-text, it’s a little imperfect.
Let’s go back to our previous example, where I showed a hash for “password”. Now, what’s happening looks more like this:
echo -ne "j4hm31password" | sha1sum
j4hm31 is the hash, and the website knows that. Every time you log in, it adds the hash to your password before it hashes it, and then it compares that with the stored hash. If they match, you log in. But, if somebody gets access to the salts, they can also try to crack the hash by prepending “j4m31” to a bunch of possible passwords. It means that they’ve got to attack each hash separately, instead of simply running a bunch of words through the algorithm and seeing what matches. It’s an improvement on before! But it’s still not perfect, because the algorithms we are using are still very quick to perform, so we can still try a lot of different combinations very quickly, and that leads us to the next chapter in our saga.
At this point in the story, computers are getting faster and faster. Hashing algorithms that were considered to be difficult enough to compute in real time a few years ago are now very, very easy to compute. One of the most famous and earliest algorithms was called MD5. When it was introduced as a password hashing algorithm it was considered “hard enough” for computers to attack, let me show you how many attempts my computer (a mid-range laptop, without using any specialised processing, which would make it MUCH faster) can make a second.
1g 0:00:00:00 DONE 2/3 (2019-10-31 11:28) 413833pp/s
That’s 413833 password guesses a second – it’s actually capable of much more (at least two hundred million guesses a second), but the MD5 hash of “digital” got cracked within that one second, before it could really ramp it up.
Obviously, the hashing algorithms weren’t working out – they were very fast to crack, and so we needed to create something new. Before that, we need to talk about what all of this means for you, and why you need long, complex passwords, that aren’t reused.
Let’s go back to attacking password hashes. There are a few ways of doing this. There’s rainbow tables, which we talked about earlier. There’s also brute force attacks, where you try every single possible combination of characters from, say, “a” all the way up to “zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz”. These take a lot of time, but as computers get faster, it becomes more feasible to brute force all passwords of a certain length for some algorithms. I haven’t done any experimentation on it, but I imagine I could brute force all combinations of six characters for MD5 in under a few minutes with my computer, and it’s not a specialised, fast one made for cracking passwords.
Another way to crack passwords is to use wordlists or dictionaries, which are exactly as they sound. They’re big files that contain a lot of likely candidate passwords – lots of words, phrases, and names. Building dictionaries is a bit of a science, which we don’t get into, but you can make very effective dictionaries that can crack even unusual passwords with, say, numbers added to the end, like, say, “interruption2019”.
This is why we talk about password complexity and length – in theory, it’s harder to crack int3rrupt!on2019Digital” than “interruption2019”. It’s not impossible, however, and if a website is storing passwords in plaintext (and some still do!), or via an algorithm that’s easy to brute force like MD5, it’s possible for someone to get your password, and once they have it, they can try it out on all your other accounts and possibly breach them, if you’ve reused the same password.
The best possible password is, however, a very long password that is extremely random. Random is almost impossible for a person to remember, and quite difficult for computers brute force. One of the things that helps here are password managers. These help you generate a secure, unique, random password of a secure length for each account you have. This is why we always recommend password managers!
Back to hashing. We talked about algorithms that are easy to brute force like MD5. These are easy to brute force because storing passwords isn’t what they’re designed to do. We have since designed new algorithms, which aren’t quite hashing algorithms – they’re called “key derivation functions”, which are designed specifically to be very slow to crack, so that it takes a very long time to run them through wordlists. For the sake of education, I’d like to list a couple of good ones – argon2 is one, scrypt is another, and bcrypt is another. They’re kind of the best-practice ways of storing passwords. If someone gets hacked, and they mention they use one of these algorithms, you don’t really need to worry – you should still change that password, but it’s unlikely that it’ll be cracked.
The converse of this is that if you hear about a website that is using ANYTHING other than those, it may be the case that they don’t care too much about their security. Even though salted hashes of other algorithms are better than plaintext, it’s a bit like securing something with a big door with a big lock, versus using a high-tech vault full of advanced security systems and lasers. Unfortunately, you can’t usually tell what someone is using, and that’s why, again, always use password managers. Hopefully, I’ve managed to demystify this a little, and explain the reasons behind password recommendations.
If you’re a developer reading this, and you’re looking for some advice, feel free to contact us or send us an email at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:c1fb9f26-4f20-432e-af8c-a351992d52af> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.digitalinterruption.com/password-cracking | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337504.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20221004121345-20221004151345-00180.warc.gz | en | 0.953657 | 2,349 | 3.03125 | 3 |
It is easy to become absorbed by the exaggerated Hollywood depictions of car hacking scenarios – to imagine a not-so-distant future when cars or their supporting infrastructures are hacked by criminals or terrorists and turned into lethal weapons. There are reasons why such a scenario has not happened yet. But could it? And if so, how can we prevent it?
Some might argue that the likelihood of cars being weaponized is extremely low, but from a purely technical standpoint, there is nothing stopping attackers who invest the time and effort from achieving such a feat. After all, the most fundamental property of a computer system is the software that governs the operation of the device. Software is inherently susceptible to a wide variety of threats and vulnerabilities. Under the appropriate conditions, any system may be compromised and its behavior altered, leading to undesired consequences.
How does that affect vehicles?
Technological advancements of the last 20 years or so have led to a dramatic change in the core definition of what a vehicle is. Traditionally, a vehicle was understood to be an isolated mechanical machine, powered by fossil fuel, and driven by a human. This definition is evolving as automotive technology evolves.
The modern vehicle can be described as electric, connected, software embedded, driverless, and even artificially intelligent. Left unmanaged and without security considerations, these properties render risks that manifest as software bugs and design flaws that may allow unauthorized remote access. As vehicles become ever more connected and as software spreads into more and more safety-critical systems, these bugs and flaws present an opening for a catastrophic failure, which may result in injury or even loss of life.
Up to this point in the discussion, we’ve only explored the threats to a single vehicle. When we look at this threat at scale, we’re talking about how smart, connected, autonomous cars could be the 21st century’s weapon of mass destruction. Just imagine fleets of remotely controlled—or even worse, autonomous—vehicles slamming into everything in their path.
The automotive industry is not oblivious to these risks—far from it. And regulatory bodies have drafted legislation, standards, and compliance requirements designed to prevent such catastrophic failures. But as history has shown us, time and time again, even when rigid and compulsory compliance requirements such as HIPAA (medical), PCI (finance), and ISO are enforced, they aren’t enough to prevent some of the most notorious breaches and data leaks.
We need to acknowledge that there is an underlying force at work here. As humans are inherently exposed to health hazards, the automotive industry is susceptible to software quality issues that lead to cybersecurity threats.
Let’s now take this examination one step further and look into the DNA of automotive companies to articulate the challenge at its core: the reality of vehicle production.
Order of magnitude disruption
Historically, automakers were experts in designing and managing the production of vehicles in high volumes under strict quality and safety requirements. In this case, “quality” was mostly a question of luxury, performance, and ride comfort, and “safety” was defined and measured as a derivative of collision tests, fault tolerance, and other attributes reflecting the vehicle’s ability to protect the driver, passengers, and surrounding pedestrians from injury in an accident. This paradigm was embedded deeply into the design, production, and manufacturing processes of vehicles.
Along came cyber
But then everything changed. This change didn’t happen overnight. It wasn’t announced ahead of time so that the industry could plan accordingly. Instead, over two decades, vehicles gradually became specific attack targets.
“Safety” has become a derivative of secure software development life cycle (SSDLC) practices, and “quality” has become the ability to enforce software quality downstream in the software supply chain.
For a car manufacturer to produce safe and secure vehicles, it’s not enough to have engineers use the best materials, optimize airbag deployment, and incorporate advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The software code governing these systems must be written with security in mind. The networks that connect these components to one another and to the outside world must be separated, segregated, demilitarized, encrypted, and firewalled.
Systems must be continuously monitored for anomalies. Applications and communication must be whitelisted. External entities must be authenticated and verified. One might even argue that several critical aspects are still missing from this cybersecurity controls grocery list (e.g., incident response and disaster recovery).
A foreign mindset
Many automotive companies view these notions as somewhat foreign. As Ponemon research indicates, most organizations do not have the right talent pool, experience, and infrastructure to address these challenges. The gap isn’t limited to technical knowledge in the workforce and budget allocation. Rather, it also exists in the organization’s ability to adopt the mindset needed to function in a hostile environment where malicious actors operate, and software bugs make news headlines. In the past there was never a need to design a system that could cope with a malicious agent.
To make matters worse, what is perhaps the most fundamental feature in the software world—the ability to easily patch and update systems—is a rare commodity in the automotive world. In the Ponemon automotive study, only 37% of respondents reported that they support “over-the-air” updates, and 25% reported that they don’t deliver security updates at all. This means that to update systems and fix security issues, the majority of the auto industry relies on owners to deliver their vehicles to the dealership for maintenance. When vulnerabilities are serious, this procedure is unavoidable and leads to what is probably the most dramatic and reputationally damaging event in a vehicle platform’s life cycle: a recall.
Organizations such as Microsoft and Adobe can release a security fix to their customers every week, sometimes even without having to disclose the nature of the security flaw in the system. A car manufacturer, on the other hand, is required by law to publicly announce the risk identified and absorb the financial cost of individual car owners bringing their vehicles to a service center for remediation. This cost doesn’t take into account the lawsuits and class actions that often follow such disclosures.
Can we prevent it?
Unfortunately, no. But this answer may be less consequential than it seems, because we are asking the wrong question. The consensus among security professionals is that there is no reasonable way to create a system that is 100% protected, 100% of the time. But perhaps we shouldn’t define our goal that way. Instead, we should focus on fixing the underlying issues that are perpetuating the problem. Here’s how to get started:
Embed security. Having a skillful development team that stays well informed of the risks that unsecure code creates and infusing secure coding methodologies into every step of vehicle design and production are a guaranteed path to a higher-quality product with fewer weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
Rigid supply chain management. Apply the “zero-trust” security principle to the supply chain. Enforce strict controls on the use of any third-party code (with an emphasis on open source code). Manage an inventory of all software packages in use. Subscribe to a threat intelligence service that provides proactive alerts for newly discovered weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
Create mature security practices. Understand that software security is a marathon, not a sprint. Every organization in every industry faces similar challenges, and we can learn a lot from what others have already achieved. Cybersecurity is a field where having good benchmarks, collaborating with others, and making incremental improvements pays off. Gaining visibility into the process of improvement and having a framework to manage a path to maturity are instrumental in making sure the resources and efforts devoted are yielding optimal results.
As is often the case with such complex problem domains, there is not a simple “step-by-step” solution to follow for complete remediation. The strategy to build robust and secure systems has various aspects beyond technical implementation. The three principles listed above are a good, solid start down the path to more mature and secure systems. But they are just that: a start.
To achieve the ultimate goal of a smart transportation solution that is not an easy target for malicious agents, we need to work together as an industry. We must promote knowledge sharing, collaborate in creating the frameworks for guidelines and standards, and constantly improve the tools and talent tasked with this responsibility. | <urn:uuid:52897b67-afa7-4537-ae28-8ecc0af2f290> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2019/06/03/weaponized-cars/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337504.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20221004121345-20221004151345-00180.warc.gz | en | 0.950095 | 1,727 | 2.9375 | 3 |
As cybersecurity defenses have hardened in terms of perimeter defense and threat detection, attackers have returned to one of their oldest exploits: password-based attacks. The major SolarWinds attack in 2020, which infiltrated the Pentagon, Microsoft and Intel among other high-value targets, utilized simple brute-force attacks to escalate penetration.
Security researchers have also noted dramatic increases in the scale of brute-force attacks, particularly those targeting RDP services used by remote workers. Security firm ESET found 206 billion RDP brute-force attacks in the last 4 months of 2021; an increase of 274% over the previous period. Once an attacker gains access via RDP, they can take over the account and access any systems or data that the account owner could. If they gain administrator privileges, they could even disable security software, install malware, steal confidential data and additional credentials, and more.
Types of Brute-Force Attacks
Brute-force attacks on authentication come in a variety of forms. Here, we’ll look at the most common variants, how they work and what you can do to stop them.
Simple Brute-Force Attacks
In the most basic form of a brute-force attack, the hacker systematically tries every possible combination of words, letters and characters until a match is found. Originally performed manually, attackers now use automation tools to rapidly run through the permutations.
In this type of attack, a hacker uses a predefined list of possible passwords and runs through them all. This dictionary of terms will usually include the most common passwords and terms, including those taken from security breaches leaked online, but could be tailored to a region, industry or organization in order to have a higher probability of success. In combination with all terms in the dictionary list, the attackers will also include standard augmentations, such as numbers, capitalized first letters or symbols so they cover the most common variations of a password.
Hybrid Brute-Force Attacks
Here hackers will integrate outside information along with brute-force guesses to narrow their focus and speed up their attack. For example, if they know that the password for the target account must have a capitalized letter, number and symbol, hackers can exclude everything without that and increase the number of blended passwords they try first. Starting with the most basic, like “123Abc” or “Qwerty123” (which are actually very common), they gradually add layers of complexity to their combinations.
Reverse Brute-Force Attacks
This takes the opposite approach of the logic applied to many of common brute-force attacks. Instead of having a username and attempting to find a password, the attacker begins with a common password and tries to find a username that fits it. Lists of usernames, account names and email addresses are commonly available online for very low prices.
Credential Stuffing Attacks
As many people reuse the same username and password combination across multiple accounts, hackers can use this to try and brute-force access. Typically the username and passwords from one major data breach (such as the 2013 Yahoo breach which affected three billion accounts) will be released online or on a dark web marketplace. Attackers will then “stuff” these combinations into hundreds of different locations to see if any work.
Types of Brute-Force Attack Tools
Brute-force attacks on credentials play a big numbers game, where entering each password or credential combination manually could take years. To help hackers significantly decrease the time investment, hackers have developed a number of tools to assist them.
Automated Brute-Force Attacks
A number of software tools exist online which rapidly attempt every single password possible for an account. The more pieces of information the attacker has, such as minimum length, necessity of certain characters or potential language, the better the tool will be at focusing its attack. Time lengths between guesses can also be inputted to defeat a “too many guesses too quickly” defense.
In general, brute-force attack tools utilize VPNs and other web protocols to mask the fact that all of the attempts are coming from a single user.
Leveraging Known Algorithms
Many 2nd-generation default passwords (i.e., a level higher than “0000”) for internet hardware were created by very simple algorithms connected to the stated device number. This meant that hackers were able to reverse engineer the algorithm and create simple programs allowing anyone to hack into those modems and routers. The same logic applies to rainbow tables of known hash functions, which greatly narrow down potential passwords for a brute-force attack.
Graphics processing units (GPU), better known for improving gaming performance or mining crypto, are hackers’ hardware of choice for cracking passwords. The reason for that is that while a CPU may have 32 cores a GPU will have thousands which can be independently set to uncover hashed passwords. This greatly speeds up brute-force attacks and is the benchmark used for calculating the strength of passwords, such as Hive Systems' well-known table.
How to Defend Against Brute-Force Attacks
As can be seen from the Hive Table above, an 8-figure numeric or alphabetic-only password will be cracked instantly. If numbers, upper and lowercase letters and symbols are used, password cracking can take up to 39 minutes. Basically, as brute forcing gets easier, passwords must keep getting increasingly complicated, leading to lost passwords, user frustration and more time wasted on authentication.
The solution to defending against brute-force attacks then is obvious: getting rid of passwords. This is not as complicated as it sounds, and best practices for strong multi-factor authentication (MFA) already recommend the use of possession (personal device or authentication keys) and inherence (biometric features like fingerprints or retina scans) factors rather than shared knowledge to prove identity.
HYPR’s passwordless multi-factor authentication (PMFA) solution provides uncompromising security around authentication by completely removing shared secrets from the login process. It also provides a better, faster experience for your users, turning their own smartphone into a secure, easy-to-use FIDO token.
To learn more about passwordless authentication and what to look for in a PMFA solution, download our Passwordless Security Evaluation Guide. | <urn:uuid:5fdbc92c-187c-40c9-a76d-df20a482e807> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://blog.hypr.com/brute-force-attacks-what-to-know | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334912.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20220926144455-20220926174455-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.926163 | 1,285 | 2.84375 | 3 |
To understand the relevance and importance of American Sign Language (ASL) in a business setting, first, one must understand some commonly misunderstood points. ASL is a unique language with a set of grammar rules and an extensive vocabulary. Also, English is not a requirement to know ASL. If your primary language is ASL, you very well may not understand English. In other words, this assumption is like expecting any given American to be fluent in Russian or another foreign language. They are different languages; it is as simple as that.
What does this mean for you? If you are a business owner with deaf employees, know that although they know ASL, this does not mean they understand English. Some may be surprised to know that this includes writing notes back and forth, emails, employee handbooks, newsletters, closed captions, and even reading lips. Business leaders must accommodate their deaf or hard-of-hearing employees in fulfilling ways.
What should I do? ADA law requires that business owners ensure that communication with people with disabilities is equally effective, as is communicating with someone without a disability. These accommodations may look like having an ASL interpreter for spoken English or an ASL Translator for written English. Also, Managers may hire ASL translating services for company websites and documents.
What are the benefits? At the root of many problems, poor communication causes a significant amount of pressure and discomfort. Making communication a priority in your business has an overwhelming effect. Improved teamwork, camaraderie, respect, productivity, meeting expectations in the workplace, and continued growth may increase. By supplying ASL accessibility for your deaf and hard-of-hearing employees, you can create a productive workspace. | <urn:uuid:08223f60-42bd-48d6-ac73-1091d5973854> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.drware.com/how-could-asl-translation-be-vital-to-the-success-of-your-business/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334912.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20220926144455-20220926174455-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.960112 | 347 | 2.703125 | 3 |
A software switch, or soft switch, is a virtual switch that is implemented at the software, or firmware level, rather than the hardware level. A software switch can be used to simplify communication between devices connected to different FortiGate interfaces. For example, using a software switch, you can place the FortiGate interface connected to an internal network on the same subnet as your wireless interfaces. Then devices on the internal network can communicate with devices on the wireless network without any additional configuration such as additional security policies, on the FortiGate unit.
It can also be useful if you require more hardware ports on for the switch on a FortiGate unit. For example, if your FortiGate unit has a 4-port switch, WAN1, WAN2 and DMZ interfaces, and you need one more port, you can create a soft switch that can include the 4-port switch and the DMZ interface all on the same subnet. These types of applications also apply to wireless interfaces and virtual wireless interfaces and physical interfaces such as those with FortiWiFi and FortiAP unit.
Similar to a hardware switch, a software switch functions like a single interface. A software switch has one IP address; all of the interfaces in the software switch are on the same subnet. Traffic between devices connected to each interface are not regulated by security policies, and traffic passing in and out of the switch are affected by the same policy.
There are a few things to consider when setting up a software switch:
- Ensure you create a back up of the configuration.
- Ensure you have at least one port or connection such as the console port to connect to the FortiGate unit. If you accidentally combine too many ports, you will need a way to undo any errors.
- The ports that you include must not have any link or relation to any other aspect of the FortiGate unit. For example, DHCP servers, security policies, and so on.
- For increased security, you can create a captive portal for the switch, allowing only specific user groups access to the resources connected to the switch.
To create a software switch – web-based manager
1. Go to System > Network > Interface and select Create New.
2. For Type, select Software Switch.
3. In the Physical Interface Members option, select the interfaces to include.
4. Configure the remaining interface settings
5. Select OK.
To create a software switch – CLI
config system switch-interface edit <switch-name>
set type switch
set member <interface_list>
config system interface edit <switch_name>
set ip <ip_address>
set allowaccess https ssh ping
Soft switch example
For this example, the wireless interface (WiFi) needs to be on the same subnet as the DMZ1 interface to facilitate wireless syncing from an iPhone and a local computer. The synching between two subnets is problematic. By putting both interfaces on the same subnet the synching will work. The software switch will accomplish this.
In this example, the soft switch includes a wireless interface. Remember to configure any wireless security before proceeding. If you leave this interface open without any password or other security, it leaves open access to not only the wireless interface but to any other interfaces and devices connected within the software switch.
Clear the interfaces and back up the configuration
First, ensure that the interfaces are not being used with any other security policy or other use on the FortiGate unit. Check the WiFi and DMZ1 ports to ensure DHCP is not enabled on the interface and there are no other dependencies with these interfaces.
Next, save the current configuration, in the event something doesn’t work, recovery can be quick.
Merge the interfaces
The plan is to merge the WiFi port and DMZ1 port. This will create a software switch with a name of “synchro” with an IP address of 10.10.21.12. The steps will create the switch, add the IP and then set the administrative access for HTTPS, SSH and Ping.
To merge the interfaces – CLI
config system switch-interface edit synchro
set type switch
set member dmz1 wifi
config system interface edit synchro
set ip 10.10.21.12
set allowaccess https ssh ping
With the switch set up, you can now add security policies, DHCP servers an any other configuration that you would normally do to configure interfaces on the FortiGate unit.
Having trouble configuring your Fortinet hardware or have some questions you need answered? Check Out The Fortinet Guru Youtube Channel! Want someone else to deal with it for you? Get some consulting from Fortinet GURU!
Don't Forget To visit the YouTube Channel for the latest Fortinet Training Videos and Question / Answer sessions!
- FortinetGuru YouTube Channel
- FortiSwitch Training Videos | <urn:uuid:49dee074-9cad-4fd9-a48f-09782e5899d3> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.fortinetguru.com/2016/12/software-switch/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335059.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20220927225413-20220928015413-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.85111 | 1,032 | 2.5625 | 3 |
PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) — Andrew Ng has led teams at Google and Baidu that have gone on to create self-learning computer programs used by hundreds of millions of people, including email spam filters and touch-screen keyboards that make typing easier by predicting what you might want to say next.
As a way to get machines to learn without supervision, he has trained them to recognize cats in YouTube videos without being told what cats were. And he revolutionized this field, known as artificial intelligence, by adopting graphics chips meant for video games.
To push the boundaries of artificial intelligence further, one of the world's most renowned researchers in the field says many more humans need to get involved. So his focus now is on teaching the next generation of AI specialists to teach the machines.
Nearly 2 million people around the globe have taken Ng's online course on machine learning. In his videos, the lanky, 6-foot-1 Briton of Hong Kong and Singaporean upbringing speaks with a difficult-to-place accent . He often tries to get students comfortable with mind-boggling concepts by acknowledging up front, in essence, that "hey, this stuff is tough."
Ng sees AI as a way to "free humanity from repetitive mental drudgery." He has said he sees AI changing virtually every industry, and any task that takes less than a second of thought will eventually be done by machines. He once said famously that the only job that might not be changed is his hairdresser's — to which a friend of his responded that in fact, she could get a robot to do his hair.
At the end of a 90-minute interview in his sparse office in Palo Alto, California, he reveals what's partially behind his ambition.
"Life is shockingly short," the 41-year-old computer scientist says, swiveling his laptop into view. He's calculated in a Chrome browser window how many days we have from birth to death: a little more than 27,000. "I don't want to waste that many days."
An upstart programmer by age 6, Ng learned coding early from his father, a medical doctor who tried to program a computer to diagnose patients using data. "At his urging," Ng says, he fiddled with these concepts on his home computer. At age 16, he wrote a program to calculate trigonometric functions like sine and cosine using a "neural network" — the core computing engine of artificial intelligence modeled on the human brain.
"It seemed really amazing that you could write a few lines of code and have it learn to do interesting things," he said.
After graduating high school from Singapore's Raffles Institution, Ng made the rounds of Carnegie Mellon, MIT and Berkeley before taking up residence as a professor at Stanford University.
There, he taught robotic helicopters to do aerial acrobatics after being trained by an expert pilot. The work was "inspiring and exciting," recalls Pieter Abbeel, then one of Ng's doctoral students and now a computer scientist at Berkeley.
Abbeel says he once crashed a $10,000 helicopter drone, but Ng brushed it off. "Andrew was always like, 'If these things are too simple, everybody else could do them.'"
Mark of Ng
Ng's standout AI work involved finding a new way to supercharge neural networks using chips most often found in video-game machines.
Until then, computer scientists had mostly relied on general-purpose processors — like the Intel chips that still run many PCs. Such chips can handle only a few computing tasks simultaneously, but make up for it with blazing speed. Neural networks, however, work much better if they can run thousands of calculations simultaneously. That turned out to be a task eminently suited for a different class of chips called graphics processing units, or GPUs.
So when graphics chip maker Nvidia opened up its GPUs for general purposes beyond video games in 2007, Ng jumped on the technology. His Stanford team began publishing papers on the technique a year later, speeding up machine learning by as much as 70 times.
Geoffrey Hinton, whose University of Toronto team wowed peers by using a neural network to win the prestigious ImageNet competition in 2012, credits Ng with persuading him to use the technique. That win spawned a flurry of copycats, giving birth to the rise of modern AI.
"Several different people suggested using GPUs," Hinton says by email. But the work by Ng's team, he says, "was what convinced me."
How to Teach
Ng's fascination with AI was paralleled by a desire to share his knowledge with students. As online education took off earlier this decade, Ng discovered a natural outlet.
His "Machine Learning" course, which kicked off Stanford's online learning program alongside two other courses in 2011, immediately signed up 100,000 people without any marketing effort.
A year later, he co-founded the online-learning startup Coursera. More recently, he left his high-profile job at Baidu to launch deeplearning.ai , a startup that produces AI-training courses.
Every time he's started something big, whether it's Coursera, the Google Brain deep learning unit, or Baidu's AI lab, he has left once he felt the teams he has built can carry on without him.
"Then you go, 'Great. It's thriving with or without me,'" says Ng, who continues to teach at Stanford while working in private industry.
For Ng, one of his next challenges might include having a child with his roboticist wife, Carol Reiley. "I wish we knew how children (or even a pet dog) learns," Ng says in an email follow-up. "None of us today know how to get computers to learn with the speed and flexibility of a child." | <urn:uuid:54de8670-8005-4dbb-b0cc-83e85e56f4d4> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.mbtmag.com/home/news/21101860/ai-visionary-teaches-humans-to-teach-computers | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335326.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20220929065206-20220929095206-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.976349 | 1,207 | 2.84375 | 3 |
When you “work through” a problem or issue that requires a decision, you likely feel as if you’re going through a linear checklist. But that’s not how the human brain operates; it processes in a non-linear pattern. And this is essentially how deep learning, a subset of artificial intelligence (AI), works too.
Copyright: weforum.org – “How deep learning can improve productivity and boost business”
Deep learning works like the human brain
Deep learning, at its essence, learns from examples — the way the human brain does. It’s imitating the way humans acquire certain types of knowledge. Because deep learning processes information in a similar manner, it can be used to do things people can do – for example, learning how to drive a car or identifying a dog in a picture.
Deep learning is also used to automate predictive analytics – for example, identifying trends and customer buying patterns so a company can gain more customers and keep more of them. You know those sections on retail sites that show items “frequently bought together” when you’re purchasing a new screwdriver? Those are based on predictive deep learning algorithms that have considered both your current search and past buying patterns to suggest additional products you might also need.
Other applications include numerous everyday encounters and activities, such as virtual assistants, fraud detection, language translation, chatbots and service bots, colourization of black-and-white images, facial recognition and disease diagnoses.
A simple example of a neural network’s application is in parsing speech. The network takes sounds from raw audio, which combine to make syllables, which combine to make words, which combine to make phrases that prompt actions. The machine learns that this particular sound means that it should pull up a credit card balance and the more times it’s asked the same thing, the more accurate it gets.
Deep learning has applications across industries
Neural networks are not new; they’ve been around since the 1940s. In 1943, two computer scientists introduced models of neurological networks, recreated threshold switches based on neurons and showed that even simple networks of this kind are able to calculate nearly any logic or arithmetic function.
The first computer precursors were developed by a computer scientist who was tired of calculating ballistic trajectories by hand. Today, more than 70 years later, deep learning has exploded in sophistication and use, primarily because of expanded computing power (along with greatly reduced costs per unit of power), better modelling and the availability of data. Deep learning requires massive amounts of data. Currently, it’s estimated that the data we generate every day is 2.6 quintillion bytes. And it can analyse massive datasets far faster than a human. Machines don’t suffer from monotony or fatigue.[…]
Read more: www.weforum.org | <urn:uuid:20b64f89-fd2d-465b-a909-8764535afc91> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://swisscognitive.ch/2022/01/17/how-deep-learning-can-improve-productivity-and-boost-business/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335491.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20220930145518-20220930175518-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.932829 | 588 | 3.609375 | 4 |
PNRP – The Peer Name Resolution Protocol is new protocol made by Microsoft which is one of the first technology that will change the way we think about naming resolution in computer networking and possibly be the next DNS – Domain Name System like technology. PNRP is the new DNS but there are so much differences between them that it deserves an article on this blog.
Just to remind, is few simple words, DNS is a technology that enables us to type the domain name in the browser and leaves to Domain Name System to translate the domain name to IP address of the server where the web page is published.
As we are stepping forward to IPv6 implementation in the whole world in next years, there are technologies and future services that will not function at their best using DNS. In this case Microsoft was one of the first to develop a new technology, decentralized technology that will rely on neighbor computer for the name resolution and completely rely on IPv6 addressing. The Per Name Resolution protocol was the answer.
In case of DNS, it depends on a hierarchical structure of naming, while PNRP depends on peer systems in order to resolve the computer system’s location. Mainly, PNRP is a referral system that operates lookups on the basis of data it is familiar with.
Here is a simple example, if you require to search Computer 1 and you are close to Computers 2 and 3, it is important for your system to know whether Computer 2 knows Computer 1 or not. If the response of Computer 2 is positive, only then a a link to Computer 1 is provided to you. If the reply is in negative, then the system asks Computer 3 whether it knows Computer 1 and the same method is used with Computer 2. If none of the computers knows Computer 1, then the request is sent to other computers close to the system till it successfully finds the one that is familiar with Computer 1.
There are number of ways in which PNRP is different from the DNS service: | <urn:uuid:c13ac42b-68bb-4784-a533-fec941c42dd8> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://howdoesinternetwork.com/category/networking/applicationlayer | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030336978.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20221001230322-20221002020322-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.937558 | 401 | 3.671875 | 4 |
In distributed computing, there are two choices: move the data to the computation or move the computation to the data. Public and off-site private clouds present a third option: move them both. In any case, something is moving somewhere. The “right” choice depends on a variety of factors – including performance, quantity, and cost – but data seems to have more intertia in many cases, especially when the volume approaches the scale of terabytes.
For the modern cloud, adding additional compute power is trivial. Moving the data to that compute power is less so. With a 10 gigabit connection, the best case scenario for a 10 terabyte upload is just over two and a half hours. When dealing with these very large volumes of data, moving the data to the compute is not an effective strategy for getting results quickly.
This is one of the primary concerns addressed by AstroCloud, an astronomy-specific cloud service in China. Because astronomical data is often astronomical in size (many terabytes up to petabytes), AstroCloud sites its datacenters near the major research telescopes. By providing both a storage and a computation service together, the researchers don’t have to try to manage large data movement. AstroCloud provides on-demand virtual machines with common astronomy software pre-loaded so that all interactive work can be done remotely. They claim in a paper that most operations can be done on a thin client or mobile device.
While AstroCloud’s approach is reasonable, it has its limitations. Pinning the data to a single location removes much of the cloudiness from the service. If compute capacity is unavailable then either the data has to be transferred to a location that has available capacity or the researcher has to wait. If the entire site is offline, then of course no work can be done. This is not an AstroCloud-specific problem – any provider that serves very-large-data communities will face this limitation.
One approach for solving it is a model like what is proposed for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), currently under construction in Chile. Expected to produce 15 terabytes of observational imagery per night when in operation, LSST data will be stored and processed in a central archive at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications in Champaign, Illinois. The data will be replicated to a network of “data access centers” in a tiered structure based on capacity and response. This model, in turn, is similar to that used by the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) project. It is not clear if AstroCloud already has or is considering such a model.
Another challenge for purpose-built scientific clouds is getting a balance of demand. General purpose clouds can rely on a broad mix of utilization patterns to balance out demands on shared resources like network bandwidth. Compute- or data-intensive workloads are intermixed with small web servers. Demand from ecommerce and streaming video peaks during waking hours while the overnight is filled with market risk modeling and other batch processing. The net effect of all of this is that while the utilization still ebbs and flows, it is smoothed by the heterogeneity. This is less likely to be the case on a cloud dedicated to a particular field of science.
AstroCloud has solved this problem by not limiting itself to providing data and computation resources. It also hosts administrative services like telescope access proposal management. By providing lower-impact services, they can mitigate the problems of homogeneous demand somewhat. The telescope access proposal system and the fact that AstroCloud is funded by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Chinese Academy of Sciences implies the possibility of an allocation system for data and compute as well. This would be similar to how the National Science Foundation’s XSEDE project works in the United States. It’s worth noting that even if the core of AstroCloud is based on an allocation model, it does include some services to the general public.
Apart from the technical demands of handling data and smoothing resource demand, the major challenge for purpose-built scientific clouds is economic. Rackspace – a strong player, but not among the giants – has annualized expenses of nearly $2 billion per year as of their last quarterly filing before going private last summer. A scientific cloud can probably spend less on sales and marketing than a general purpose offering, and there’s no reason that a purpose-built science cloud service has to be even as large as Rackspace. Nonetheless, building a cloud service, particularly for datasets on the order of petabytes, is an expensive proposition.
When the U.S. Department of Energy funded the Magellan project from 2009-2011, public cloud offerings were less suited to large scientific applications. The Magellan findings specifically called out a lack of InfiniBand (which Microsoft Azure offers), getting processors tuned for performance (public cloud providers are now getting new CPUs and GPUs ahead of the general market in some cases), and a lack of high-capacity data archives (AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure all offer cold storage). This leaves pre-installed applications and parallel filesystems as the major drawbacks of public cloud, both of which can be handled by trained personnel.
The cloud paradigm is becoming more attractive to science applications just like it has appeal for startups and enterprises. While purpose-built scientific clouds help solve domain-specific problems, it seems to us that the best approach is to make them a software and services layer on top of existing cloud infrastructure, and not to build new resources from the ground up. | <urn:uuid:31fb35af-d414-4416-b3e4-188757e97347> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.nextplatform.com/2017/02/06/solving-challenges-scientific-hpc-cloud/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030336978.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20221001230322-20221002020322-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.939388 | 1,128 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Think of the ingenuity behind self-driving cars, facial recognition, or automation. It’s the data scientist that you have to thank for that.
But a data scientist is only as good as the data they have access to.
And because data can be chaotic, disparate and messy, these scientists spend more time sifting through and cleaning data than actually innovating.
That’s where the data engineer comes in.
Data Scientists Need Clean Data
Data scientists have a few inescapable processes to go through before they can truly work their magic.
After identifying the problem that needs solving, they need to acquire, prepare and sift through data to do forecasts, deploy machine learning (ML) models and discover new areas to innovate in.
But getting access to clean, usable data is extremely time-consuming. Almost every company stores their data in a range of formats across different databases, with nothing standardised.
It makes the data scientist’s job even more painful to do.
What is a Data Engineer?
To make things a whole lot easier, data engineers rock up with their deep knowledge on how to build the pipelines needed to transform unusable data into clean, consumable data.
Data engineers are essentially the alchemists of the data science world. Just like turning lead into gold, they turn bad data into valuable, commoditised data.
They are as important as the data scientist, but prefer to work in the background, preparing the most suitable conditions for the scientists to thrive in.
Take the analogy of a high-level athlete versus a coach. The athlete takes joy in getting the acknowledgement and praise for the outcome that they produce. The coach, on the other hand, takes pleasure in experimenting, modifying and developing a powerful athlete with the tools available to them. Data engineers are like coaches in that they create the conditions for the athlete, or data scientist, to succeed.
What Do They Do?
Data engineers develop and maintain the data infrastructures and interfaces that businesses operate on.
Aside from setting the necessary processes in place to collect data from various sources, they also create systems that make the data usable for data scientists and analysts to innovate and form solutions.
With a monitored flow of healthy data running through the different systems and applications within a company, there’s a better chance for greater efficiency, productivity and major cost savings in virtually every area of a business.
They also design and then build out and install data systems that aid in the healthy function of machine learning and other AI capabilities.
All of this is necessary for the entire data science world to function effectively.
Looking for a Data Engineer?
Well, you’ve come to the right place.
For any business to be truly successful, it’s highly important to have the correct pipelines and foundations set in place.
Especially in a digital-centered age. The data that you have becomes essential to your progress, growth and innovation.
So if you’re in need of data engineers, we can help you.
If your data scientist is overburdened and limited, then we can turn that around for you. | <urn:uuid:c311af9f-e3bc-4145-afae-3522f8644782> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.teraflow.ai/what-is-the-role-of-the-data-engineer/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030336978.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20221001230322-20221002020322-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.939014 | 647 | 2.96875 | 3 |
The coming election, with all of its complexities and potential controversies, is at the forefront of every American’s mind. Our vote on November 3 will determine not only the next President of the United States, but also the balance of power in the US Senate and a host of other federal, state, and local offices.
Many articles and studies have analyzed the events surrounding the 2016 election. Independent researchers have determined that nation-state actors tried to manipulate the perception of the electorate, both directly and indirectly. The Cambridge Analytica scandal, involving the use of Facebook data for targeted political ads, is a prime example.
This constant manipulation has subtly and gradually altered the way we perceive truth and facts regarding our government. And that is a frightening development for the stability and progress of the country. The only way a democracy functions is if we, the people, believe that our votes are counted to determine the results of our elections.
While the election is absolutely critical to protect the health and continuity of our democracy, we cannot fixate so much on this singular event that we overlook all the other critical security risks that face our local governments every day. Even if someone manages to disrupt electronic voting systems, citizens can always use a pen-and-paper ballot. But they might not have such a simple solution if their local 911 system goes offline.
Security of Voting Questioned
The outcome of the 2016 election has created an environment where we have to fight a constant onslaught of manipulated media, amplified by life-like bots and malicious actors. Voters are also questioning the security of the physical act of voting, with a growing distrust of the computers used in the process — and the people who operate them.
This issue is especially complex in the US because of its decentralized election system. State, not federal, laws govern the act and mechanisms of ballot-casting. And each county or municipality within each state is responsible for executing its own voting process.
Voting remains either a manual, paper-based process or a direct-record electronic system in most jurisdictions. There has been a shift to adopt computerized ballot-marking systems that combine the convenience of an electronic system with a verifiable paper trail. These systems not only reduce human error, they provide more equal access to the voting process for people of varying backgrounds, abilities, and education levels. Ballot-marking devices are not without fault or controversy. While the security community has made strides in addressing technical weaknesses in systems used for marking ballots and tallying results, electronic systems do present a potential attack surface for adversaries.
Municipal Infrastructure for Voting — and Much More
If the voting process utilizes any form of electronic support system, like an e-pollbook (an electronic voter information database), it is supported by local government infrastructure. When people think about someone “hacking the election,” they think of the ballot-marking devices that mark their choices on a piece of paper. But a more likely target is the e-pollbook that supports the voter registration and verification systems in many states. A disruption of these systems could degrade the American people’s confidence in the results of the election.
The reality is that these systems are much more likely to have software flaws that cause accidental failures or system crashes than they are to have security vulnerabilities that enable attacks by foreign adversaries.
With such an emphasis on the election, other risks to local governmental infrastructure are often overlooked or deprioritized, even though that infrastructure is the most likely target for an attack.
Even the smallest counties and cities have basic support services for their residents, including emergency services, transport, water, power, and other government services. Larger cities have even more complex infrastructure, including many connected agencies and hundreds of thousands of endpoints to help serve residents.
Attackers are opportunists and will take whatever is presented to them to achieve their objective. As shown by recent incidents, attackers continue to target municipal systems well beyond the election, so the security of these systems deserves special attention.
The Adversary’s View
From an adversarial perspective, the attack surface of an election system is relatively small as the contact window is limited, and security gets greater scrutiny. It is far more beneficial for the attacker to view the election as a time of opportunity rather than the end-target. A municipality holds elections only periodically, but municipal systems are always ripe for an attack.
Based on our analysis, the average municipal computer presents an attacker with more than 30 potential vulnerabilities or risk conditions at any time. In most cases, the only things standing between these vulnerabilities and the attacker are firewalls, antivirus, and luck.
Long gone are the days where clueless attackers gain a foothold in a system and then trip around until they are caught. Today ransomware gangs, advanced threats, and basic cyber criminals operate with a much higher level of sophistication.
Once an attacker gains a foothold in a municipal system, the calculation is simply how to maximize value: install ransomware to extract payment, or sell access to that system? If the cost-benefit analysis comes out in favor of selling access, there’s a chance the compromise will go unnoticed.
The reality is that many municipal systems are probably compromised already, and the attackers are lying dormant, waiting for the most beneficial moment to strike.
Ransomware Poses Multiple Threats
A quick Google search for “ransomware” will return countless stories of cities, counties, and their IT providers that have been victimized. Ransomware results in a loss of availability and integrity of the compromised systems, as well as the monetary loss to restore those systems. And that gives attackers an incentive to return after the initial incident response.
Ransomware is a game of large numbers. Attackers use techniques like social engineering and phishing to trick government workers into clicking malicious links in emails, documents, and websites. For most ransomware operators, the objective is money — in the form of cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin — and disrupting city services is the easiest way to achieve this goal.
But these breaches also provide opportunities for nation-state threat actors. They can buy access to compromised government organizations from ransomware crews, much the same way you can buy cloud services from Amazon. This can give state-sponsored attackers a foothold in municipal systems, where they can lie in wait, undetected. This is a very low-risk, low-cost tactic, but it enables attackers to time their disruptions for maximum effect or maximum value.
Another point to consider is that most ransomware can adapt to the conditions it encounters, spreading through design and configuration mistakes. A single well-intentioned design decision, say to enable remote worker access, can have dire unintended consequences, resulting a massively expanded attack surface.
Local Governments Have Limited Defenses
Excluding major metropolitan areas, most municipal and county governments have limited IT staffs — often just a handful of people. And their IT budgets focus on keeping systems running, not securing them against attacks. So they prioritize only what is most important now.
With the current focus on the election, and much of their IT budgets devoted to that, local governments are extremely vulnerable. They could well end up in a worse position than they were in before the election. Remember, election systems are put away after the vote, but the rest of the government is still online.
An analysis of multiple municipalities indicates that… in an average local government network, an attacker has over 15 ways to penetrate a typical computer and reach an intended target. Since most of these networks allow every computer to talk to every other machine, a single compromised device can give attackers access to multiple targets of opportunity to disrupt critical services or exfiltrate data.
This brings us full circle back to the election, or any public event attackers would like to use to their advantage. There are many ways to interfere with the election process, like attacking a county clerk’s webserver to prevent people from seeing where and when to vote, or to try to impede the reporting of votes.
More complex attacks, well beyond the timeframe of the election, pose other frightening scenarios. For example, a compromised water or power distribution system could disrupt many lives. And ransomware in a hospital could result in patients being turned away, or even in loss of life.
While these scenarios might seem farfetched, there are dozens of examples of the real-life consequences of compromised institutions. Breaches have taken municipalities in Florida completely offline and shut down entire hospital systems.
Don’t Bet on a Silver Bullet — Adopt a Multi-Pronged Strategy
So what can local governments do to improve their cybersecurity?
As with most things, the answer is complicated.
Many vendors will say they have a solution that will stop attackers, but that oversimplifies the situation. Yes, municipalities must invest in modern security and IT solutions, but they must also build a plan to support technical solutions — before and after the purchase.
Most local governments have not taken the time to understand their risks before making technology purchases. Instead, they focus on features or promised outcomes. But purchasing a solution with a limited budget may mean that the technology can’t be fully deployed or properly supported. And that can create a false sense of security.
To reduce the attack surface and understand the risks, local governments need to invest in a multi-step approach: know the surface, understand the impact, evaluate the risk, and match technology more precisely to the desired outcome. | <urn:uuid:fc5f92a7-3405-497d-b755-73ce0e760efc> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://epiphanysys.com/election-risks-and-other-worries-for-local-governments/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337404.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20221003070342-20221003100342-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.949677 | 1,922 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Now that Ann has used switches to segment the network using switches, the network performance has noticeably improved. However, some of the servers are having some CPU utilization issues. After some research by the vendor who installed the servers, it has been determined that the problem is the amount of broadcast traffic. It seems that one of the servers runs an application that uses broadcasts to locate and poll all of its clients on the network. These broadcasts are affecting both servers and clients throughout the network, but it is more noticeable on the servers. Because of this, Ann has decided to implement VLANs. Based on the following requirements, what steps should Ann take in creating her VLANs? Figure 3-16 shows the layout of the switched network and location of the servers.
Figure 3-16 International Widgets Ltd. Switched Network Diagram
Ann has five servers. One server for production uses an all network broadcast to communicate with its clients. Those clients are located on both floors of the building, as shown in Figure 3-16. Of the other four servers, all use TCP/IP to communicate with various departments all over the company. It has been decided that for clients not using the production server, PCs and servers will be placed in a VLAN base at the location:
How many VLANs will Ann need and where will they need to be located in relation to the switches?
Do any of the switches have multiple VLANs on them? If so, what will Ann need to configure to ensure that multiple VLANs can pass between the switches?
In the future, Ann might need to create VLANs that will need to be used on some or all of the switches. To ensure that all VLANs exist on all trunked switches, what should Ann do? | <urn:uuid:52973df1-22aa-41db-8fc3-b8050c1ecde1> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=102157&seqNum=10 | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337680.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20221005234659-20221006024659-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.962267 | 364 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Are Wi-Fi Repeaters and Extenders Beneficial?
Subscribers today often supplement their existing Wi-Fi Access Points (AP) with wireless repeaters and extenders to enhance Wi-Fi coverage within the home network. Frequently, we are asked if these devices provide any real benefit.
To answer these questions, we ran some tests in a house to measure and compare the relative performance of a couple of off-the-shelf wireless repeaters and extenders.
Results from the field tests
Since the industry is all over the place with the definition of Repeaters and Extenders, we came up with our definition. We define a Wi-Fi repeater as a device that uses a single radio and channel to relay traffic between a client and an AP. Since the repeater uses the same channel to relay data between the client and the AP, the data must be on the channel/radio twice. A Wi-Fi extender, on the other hand, is a device with two or more radios that dedicate one radio and channel to bridge client traffic to/from an AP, while using another radio and channel to communicate with clients. For our comparison we used the following configurations.
Figure 1: Repeater and Extender Configuration
A single AP without any repeaters or extenders provided coverage with -67dbm or better RSSI within the test house. As we expected and also demonstrated in Figure 2, the wireless repeaters and extenders did help in extending the wireless coverage. We observed this coverage increase in at least four locations outside the home. Inside the house, we observed a new minimum RSSI of -50 dBm with extenders and -58 dBm with repeaters (17 dB and 11 dB respectively better than with the AP alone). Additionally, our findings also demonstrate improvements in client throughput performance not only in the extended coverage areas but also in some of the areas otherwise covered with the AP.
Figure 2 - Throughput vs. Path Loss:
Baseline AP vs. (AP + Repeater) vs. (AP Extender)
In our testing, the extender provided better coverage improvements and throughput than the repeater. The better coverage improvements with the extender are due to the fact that the extender is using a 2.4 GHz band for the fronthaul, while Wi-Fi repeater is using the 5 GHz band. The 2.4Ghz supports better propagation characteristics compared to the 5Ghz band. The extender configuration offered better throughput performance in the extended areas than the repeater. Primarily, this is because the repeater time-shares the same channel to communicate to the client (front-haul) and AP (backhaul). The extender, on the other hand, uses a separate radio and channel to communicate to the client (front-haul) and AP (backhaul).
Are there any unexpected surprises to be aware of with multiple Wi-Fi nodes in a home?
A significant observation from the test results is that the client did not always connect to the Wi-Fi node with the “best” throughput performance. In some locations (represented with green dots in Figure 3), the client chose to connect to the repeater, even though it would have got a better throughput had it connected to the AP. The client appeared to be making Wi-Fi node selection decisions solely based on the received signal strength, which may result in sub-optimal or even very poor network performance. Since a client has limited avenues for knowing which node will offer better throughput, this warrants the need for coordination between the APs, and also between the AP and client in the home.
CableLabs is actively working with the Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) to develop new certifications (e.g., MBO) programs to enable coordination between AP and clients. We are also engaging with the CPE vendors about the need for AP coordination.
Figure 3: Throughput vs. Path Loss: AP versus AP + Repeater
As shown in this blog, the Wi-Fi repeater and extenders are helpful in extending Wi-Fi coverage. However, some coordination between AP and repeater/extender devices is needed to make sure clients are always connected to the “right” node.
Vikas Sarawat is a Director in the Wireless (R&D) Group at CableLabs. | <urn:uuid:429726d0-6f74-45b3-a422-4da6936703f4> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.cablelabs.com/blog/are-wi-fi-repeaters-and-extenders-beneficial | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030338001.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20221007080917-20221007110917-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.941052 | 901 | 2.640625 | 3 |
This article provides recommendations for implementing multiple SSIDs in the same wireless environment and discusses the effect it can have on wireless performance.
Below are our general recommendations when deploying multiple SSIDs on a single physical AP:
- No more than 3 SSIDs should be enabled on any single AP.
- Each SSID should have band-steering enabled.
- Legacy bit rates should be disabled on each SSID.
- Only enable an SSID on an AP if needed.
- APs whose coverage areas overlap should not be on the same channels.
- Each SSID should be configured to tag a separate VLAN.
Interference and Channel Utilization
APs and wireless clients on the same channel who are also within range of each other form a single broadcast domain, similar to an Ethernet hub. All devices can hear each other's transmissions and if any two devices transmit at the same time, their radio signals will collide and become garbled resulting in data corruption or complete frame loss. If there is an excessive amount of collisions, data would never be transmitted successfully and the wireless network would be unusable.
To avoid collisions, 802.11 wireless devices use a listen before speaking approach when accessing the wireless medium. Specifically, devices perform a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) by listening to see if another device is actively transmitting on the channel before attempting to send its own frames. When a device detects another transmission in progress, it will perform a random back-off for a short period of time after which it would perform another check before attempting to transmit again. If the channel is clear after a check, the device can access the channel and send some data. As the number of devices needing to transmit frames increase on the channel, congestion can occur to the point where devices spend more time receiving than sending.
When two wireless devices transmit at the same time, their radio signals will collide and become garbled. 802.11 devices on the same channel use a CCA check to avoid these collisions. However, the CCA check may not detect a transmission occurring on a different channel that also has some frequency overlap on the channel the check is being performed on. In this case, two 802.11 devices on different channels that overlap may transmit at the same time causing a collision and possible data corruption or frame loss. This is called interference because one device's transmission interferes with another device's transmission.
As the number of interfering devices increase, so does the potential for frame loss. The 802.11 standard uses a reliable transport mechanism where each sent data frame must be ACK'd by the receiver to ensure the frame was not lost in transit or corrupted. If the sender does not receive an ACK, it must re-transmit the same frame until an ACK is received. Re-transmissions result in slower speeds because it takes longer to successfully send a single frame.
Consequences of Multiple SSIDs
One frequently overlooked aspect of wireless networking is that a network administrators can control interference and channel utilization generated by their own managed wireless system. Dashboard allows admins the ability to enable multiple SSIDs on a single physical AP (Access Point). Each SSID that is enabled on a given AP is called a VAP (Virtual AP). VAPs behave as their own independent AP, operating on the channels the physical AP is set to. Therefore enabling 5 SSIDs on a single AP in Dashboard is nearly identical to deploying 5 physical APs with one SSID each. Normally, multiple SSIDs are used to provide different types of wireless network access to different device types and user classes. The downside of enabling more SSIDs is that it creates more channel utilization due to overhead.
Overhead from Management Frames
Beacons and probe response are two types of required wireless management frames that can increase channel utilization. Beacon frames are used by the VAP to advertise the SSID and inform connected clients that frames are waiting for delivery. Each VAP must send a beacon every 100ms at the lowest supported data rate so all clients can receive it. The date rate is 1Mbps by default with 802.11b/g/n and 6Mbps on 802.11a/n.
Wireless clients can also discover available wireless networks using probe requests. When a VAP receives a probe request, it will respond with a probe response for the the SSID which contains the wireless capabilities. Probe requests and responses are always sent at the lowest supported data rates with 1Mbps 802.11b/g/n and 6Mbps on 802.11a/n.
As the number of wireless networks operating on a specific channel increase so does the amount of beacon frames and probe responses. Take a scenario where there are two physical APs on the same channel each with a single SSID. Both APs will transmit one beacon frame every 100 ms and when any client sends a probe request on that channel, each AP will send a probe response. This would not cause much overhead. However take the same two physical APs each with 4 SSIDs. Now 8 VAPs are independently sending beacon frames every 100ms and any time a client sends a probe request, 8 probe responses are transmitted. This example does not begin to take into account neighboring WiFi system management frames, wireless data transfers, or non-802.11 interference (such as microwaves and cordless phones).
The two configurations below can be used to increase the data lowest supported data rate and decrease probe responses on the 2.4Ghz band.
- Disabling legacy bit rates: This feature allows the administrator to set the lowest supported data rate to 6Mbps on a per-SSID basis. Although it may reduce the connectivity options of 802.11b clients, it does increase the data rate of beacons and probe responses. Therefore these transmissions consume less airtime.
- Band Steering: When band steering is enabled, dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) APs only reply to probe requests on the highest supported frequency band for the client. This reduces the number of probe responses on 2.4GHz by pushing clients to 5Ghz where supported.
Deploying Multiple SSIDs
The key to successful WiFi deployment is eliminating SSID redundancy. Redundancy occurs when multiple SSIDs are deployed providing different types of access, but the configurations used could allow for them to be consolidated into a single SSID. With the Cisco Meraki system, multiple SSIDs are only needed when NAT mode is required instead of Bridge mode or there are different wireless encryption requirements such as no encryption, WEP, or WPA2.
Below is a common deployment scenario:
- Guest SSID: This SSID will normally have no encryption. It is configured to provides internet access to clients while keeping them isolated from the corporate network using NAT mode and firewall rules. A bandwidth limit is also used to prevent guest clients from hogging bandwidth. APs whose coverage cells extend into guest areas should have this SSID enabled. It also shouldn't use legacy data rates and have band steering enabled.
- Internal SSID: This SSID should be for trusted users. The SSID will use encryption (WPA2-PSK or WPA2-Enterprise) and network access via bridge mode. Different VLANs, firewall rules, traffic shaping and bandwidth limits can be based on user or device class and can be assigned using Group Policy. APs whose coverage cells extend into internal areas should have this enabled. It also shouldn't use legacy data rates and have band steering enabled.
- Legacy: If necessary, an SSID for legacy devices that use legacy encryption or data rates can be enabled. This SSID will normally use bridge mode with VLANs and should only be enabled in areas where legacy devices exist. While band steering should be enabled, and legacy bit-rates disabled, this SSID can be an exception if required to support the legacy clients.
The Per-AP availability feature allows an administrator to enable SSIDs on a per-AP basis. Using this, more than 3 SSIDs can exist within a network, but each is only active on the APs where it is needed, thus keeping the total active SSIDs on any given AP within 3.
Another suggestion is to configure APs in a Dashboard network to use non-overlapping channels (1, 6, and 11 on 2.4Ghz radios), and in areas where two APs are within range, reduce their transmit power.
If your network requires different network access, traffic, and security controls based on user or device class. Group Policy is the most versatile way an administrator can apply bandwidth limits, traffic shaping, L3/L7 firewall rules, VLANs and Splash page settings on a per-client or per-user basis. Group Policy can be assigned to clients at the globally, per-SSID, or based on RADIUS attributes.
For more information regarding the affects of multiple SSIDs configured on a wireless network, please have a look at The SSID Overhead Calculator. | <urn:uuid:5af2882e-0311-4dfd-8306-457f8284f20b> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/WiFi_Basics_and_Best_Practices/Multi-SSID_Deployment_Considerations | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334528.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20220925101046-20220925131046-00580.warc.gz | en | 0.912096 | 1,845 | 2.71875 | 3 |
SAP Defines the Quartet of Technologies Under the Quantum Umbrella
(Forbes) The umbrella of quantum technology covers a quartet of disciplines: quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum sensing and quantum simulation. Susan Galer, the Communications Director at SAP Global Communications, defines each quantum discipline and its potential business benefits.
Quantum Communication: Quantum communication is about data transmission. Quantum-based channels could help companies share more information with greater security. It’s also the foundation of what’s called the quantum internet.
Quantum Computing: Quantum computing’s potential benefit is the ability to help business solve certain problems exponentially faster. Quantum computing is well-suited for processes that can tax the limits of classical computing.
Quantum Simulation: Scientists and researchers in industries like pharmaceuticals and chemistry are looking at quantum simulation to develop better products and save money. Instead of experimental trial, error and often happenstance discoveries, industries could predict results faster and with greater accuracy. Quantum simulation can model larger quantum systems compared to classical or even supercomputers.more data powers better outcomes
Quantum Sensing: Quantum Sensing technology extracts information from individual atoms, which is much more precise than just measuring a group of atoms. Medical diagnostics. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has always been based on quantum technology. | <urn:uuid:096d256d-ad45-4a98-83b5-5da6a8584f6a> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.insidequantumtechnology.com/news-archive/sap-defines-quartet-technologies-quantum-umbrella/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334528.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20220925101046-20220925131046-00580.warc.gz | en | 0.908978 | 270 | 2.53125 | 3 |
As new technology emerged, educators saw the introduction of Education 2.0. Professors and teachers could now take advantage of electricity and lights to provide a better experience in the classroom. Once laptops started becoming available to more of the population, they began the phase of Education 3.0. This meant educators could use the wealth of the internet to show material and ask students to find their own.
Currently, education is entering the stage of Education 4.0. What does this mean for teaching and how can educators use it to benefit their students? Here is a look at what this new era of education can bring.
How Can Education 4.0 Help Students?
Education 4.0 relates to the dawning of the fourth industrial revolution. The production of technology like artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and 3D printing is increasing, making it more available to the average consumer. Progressive digital devices are becoming more prominent in people’s lives worldwide — and education is no outlier.
Many students now are interested in a different way of learning. As education costs rise, nearly 70% of adults want alternate options for credits. The pandemic created a need for people to learn outside of the traditional classroom and Education 4.0 could do that for them. Busy students could learn anytime and anywhere, increasing accessibility for many.
Continued learning for adults has many benefits for them and society. Research has shown lifelong education can postpone a person’s symptoms of Alzheimer’s or dementia. They’ll also continue to communicate with people of all backgrounds and further their careers. Being able to utilize technology like AI and virtual reality will change how curriculums form and make experiments more accessible.
Recent Education 4.0 Trends
With new technology comes new chances to improve the lives of students. Here are just a few advancements education could see by implementing Education 4.0.
1. Virtual Reality for Education
Imagine if you could stand in ancient Rome during class or perform a dangerous experiment without the consequences. This is what utilizing VR in the classroom can do for students.
By making lessons more interactive, students could likely show greater rates of retention and focus. Additionally, they’ll be able to learn more because they’ll have more access to information that was previously out of reach. | <urn:uuid:3e919149-a5b6-4867-bb65-58f98d2336ad> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://educationitreporter.com/tag/what-is-education-4-0/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337244.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20221002021540-20221002051540-00580.warc.gz | en | 0.957364 | 467 | 3.421875 | 3 |
The phenomenon known as Bitcoin is making headlines across the Internet, and for good reason. Cryptocurrencies, as they’re being called, are digital mediums of exchange that do away with some of the traditional methods of regulating money. For many digital-age speculators and traders, the allure of low government involvement is more than enough to make investing in Bitcoin (or at least paying close attention to it) a must.
When Bitcoin emerged in 2009, each coin was worth just a few pennies, but by late-November, 2013 the demand was so high that a single coin was worth over $1,240. Those that got into mining and investing in Bitcoin early may have cashed in, knowing that such a skyrocketing increase in value would surely not continue. Since peaking at over $1,200, the value of Bitcoin has fluctuated wildly, losing nearly half of its value by mid-December. While prices have remained constant thru January—at around $800, one can only guess as to whether or not demand will slump, resulting in an even more dramatic drop in value.
For the vast majority, Bitcoin and its counterparts are symbols of freedom from an institution or regulator. Bitcoin is decentralized, meaning governments don’t regulate its value, and so it’s up to the people that are using the coins to determine their values. If more and more people and businesses continue to accept Bitcoin, the value of each coin will increase. When demand drops, the opposite will take place. As of this moment, Bitcoin investments are highly volatile in nature, and that’s why seasoned capitalists are encouraging would-be cryptocurrency bandwagon-ers to invest in services that process Bitcoins and not the coins themselves.
The term ‘cryptocurrency’ itself is opening up new avenues for investors and entrepreneurs, and the best part about the new-found sense of ‘freedom’ is that anyone with an internet connection can have access to some sort of Bitcoin speculation. From millionaire venture capitalists to homeless people, Bitcoin is accessible to anyone willing to join the movement.
In terms of drawbacks, cryptocurrencies are still in their experimental stages, and no one knows for sure whether or not regulators are willing to cave. In the US, for example, the use of Bitcoin isn’t completely free from the governing eyes of money regulators. If a person wants to convert their Bitcoins into cash, they’ll have to process the transaction through a Bitcoin processing service, which then wires the funding to a bank account of an identifiable person.
Many people that once used Silk Road, the famed but now defunct darknet drug website, often paid for illegal substances using Bitcoins because it was extremely hard for authorities to track down who owned and who received the coins. Anonymity and privacy are what many people are after in an era where no bits of information are unsaved. However, the problem with this is authorities will face the impossible task of tracking down crooks and criminals that utilize mediums such as Bitcoin to harm society.
To say that cryptocurrency will revolutionize and change how society buys and sells in a big way is a bit shortsighted. If we look at it from an experimental point-of-view, the trend is definitely a game-changer – if the general public and regulators are willing to make compromises. | <urn:uuid:8264bf5c-a18d-4aaf-9639-f06e000fdd06> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://computerbooksonline.com/n2tech/bitcoin-and-cryptocurrencies-the-future-of-money/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337415.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20221003101805-20221003131805-00580.warc.gz | en | 0.959094 | 678 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Developers, what happens when you design for “system of systems”?
How many of us grasp just how connected we’re becoming? The concept of the “connected world” has enormous – and transformational – implications. Because not only are individual things becoming more connected, each “thing” is of often part of a larger system: a system of systems (SoS).
Narrowing it down, how many of you engineers, software developers and product designers are incorporating SoS-based thinking into your work? If you aren’t, it’s time to start. Because “system of systems” is the new normal.
What is a system of systems?
The simplest definition, is that a system of systems is collection of multiple, independent systems. These come together to form a larger, more complex system. In other words, the sum of the whole is greater than the parts. It’s also a new way of thinking for solving grand challenges. As everything becomes more software driven, how can we integrate it all together?
Connected cars: a system of systems
Understandably, SoS isn’t the most intuitive concept. That’s why experts such as IBM’s Graham Bleakley and Eran Gery showcase it to all kinds of audiences. “When we talk about systems of systems at an event, people know this stuff is out there, but they’re unsure about exactly what it is,” says Bleakley, a solution architect for IBM’s Automotive and Aerospace & Defense divisions. “It engenders a lot of conversations as people try to understand what’s going on, and how they need to think about and approach it.”
The idea is much more complex than just thinking bigger in terms of product development. Consider the automobile. A new, high-end automobile is complex enough with more lines of code than an F-35 Fighter Jet…100 million! Now add in autonomous vehicles and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). These concepts are at the forefront of automotive development, with a high profile in the public eye. How are features like this affecting the development of all vehicles and their connected systems?
Adding concentric circles with autonomous vehicles
Steve Shoaf, marketing manager for IBM’s Watson IoT division, notes that within the automotive industry, automobiles at every level of the market, have always been thought of as complex systems, not just the high-end ones. Every car contains and utilizes other systems, such as drivetrain, suspension, and so on. It’s like a series of concentric circles, with the car itself being the outermost circle.
But autonomous vehicles function within even bigger systems. The first iterations of these are likely to make each car a device within an on-demand transportation system, meaning that sometimes the driver is in control, sometimes they’re not.
That means more virtual circles outside the car. An autonomous vehicle needs to constantly communicate via sensors and the Cloud with other cars, with the manufacturer or dealer, and with roadside data points. “In that sense, the autonomous car becomes a pawn in a much larger game of chess,” Shoaf says. “Because these companies are designing and competing with a system of autonomous cars. This is how these companies are beginning to think.”
Automotive OEMs and other stakeholders are realizing that all this newly available data can be combined with other information. For example, advanced analytics platforms combined with simulation, can determine if there are any faults in the vehicle, or if and how an automaker can enhance a vehicle to improve user satisfaction. This information travels in a continuous loop through the development process. It’s then reflected as changes in requirements or enhancements to existing functionality, implemented via over-the-air software updates. “Today, the automotive OEM’s development process needs to be as interconnected as the vehicles they’re developing,” Bleakley says.
New value chains mean new revenue streams
This new method of development creates a value chain around the cars’ networks similar to smartphones… useless unless they’re part of a network and communicating with each other. As automotive companies start taking a similar approach to the design and development of vehicles as smartphone companies do, the end game becomes much grander than just selling cars.
“For example,” says Shoaf, “if the car participates in an automated parking network, part of the business objective becomes how to maximize revenues from each transaction in which a car might be involved.” Or consider rideshare or delivery services. Transactions are based on trips where the car never parks. “Then, the objective is to monetize the trips consumers take with those cars,” says Shoaf. “In that scenario, the engineering ecosystem has different requirements.”
Obviously, the SoS method is far more complex than established ways of doing business. “Many people think SoS are very simple IoT systems. But you need to use best practices to show that there’s value in doing proper design for these complex systems,” says Eran Gery, a distinguished engineer for IBM’s Watson IoT Customer Solutions. “You can’t just go ahead and throw together IoT systems; the SoS approach is much more disciplined. You need to understand requirements, do proper architecture and analysis, and design for many characteristics. All of this requires significant changes in traditional development cultures.”
Unprecedented complexity will lead to unprecedented cooperation
Of course, no matter how much engineers and product developers evolve their thinking, those pesky consumers — the jaywalkers and unpredictably distracted drivers who aren’t inside the autonomous vehicles — will always be a wild card.
“One of the biggest dangers will be in the transition from the status quo to a more driverless society,” Bleakley notes. “Driverless cars will be more regulated and will continue to better understand human behavior over time. But putting people into an unstructured environment will inevitably create more complexity.”
He believes that solving these problems will require cooperation – perhaps unprecedented – between companies that until now have been fierce competitors. And perfectly comfortable with that arrangement, too. But to realize the full potential of SoS development, they’ll need to agree on standards around safety, back-end systems, and any number of other benchmarks. “It’s certainly a challenge for OEMs, but it also should foster innovation,” Bleakley says. “It will require much more complex testing.”
To this end, he says some automakers are using games such as Grand Theft Auto to accelerate and improve algorithmic testing. “But in the end, it’s about looking at the bigger picture and understanding the interaction between vehicles and the environment,” said Bleakley. “This will improve development and user satisfaction, develop new revenue sources, help us monitor a wider range of things, understand unstructured environments, and then deal with more eventualities.”
To learn more about how Watson IoT is leading this philosophical and technological (r)evolution, join us at the Continuous Engineering (CE) Summit Europe in Munich, May 14-16. You can also visit our continuous engineering landing page | <urn:uuid:e07d789e-3365-458f-b3cf-f6185d757ba8> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.ibm.com/blogs/internet-of-things/iot-design-for-system-of-systems/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030338073.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20221007112411-20221007142411-00580.warc.gz | en | 0.945182 | 1,524 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Ever wanted to create software from scratch or are curious about building your own applications?
From automating tedious tasks to creating self-learning artificial intelligence, you can do it all when you know how to program!
Programming is a valuable skill to know for countless careers and can be a fantastic outlet for creativity and innovation.
But what exactly is programming? How does it work? And how do you start learning it?
Read our quick guide to start your journey towards a skill that opens many doors!
What is programming?
A computer program is a set of instructions for a computer’s processor to carry out. Programming is the act of creating these instructions to tell a computer’s processor what you want it to do.
The programmer writes these instructions, known as code, with a programming language. While a computer only understands binary (1s and 0s), a programming language makes it easier for a programmer to write out the instructions, which are then converted into binary.
Types of Programming
Programming languages are typically separated into the categories of low-level and high-level languages. Each option has benefits and drawbacks. Therefore, choosing which language to use comes down to what you want to achieve in your end product.
Programming languages are normally separated into the categories of low-level and high-level languages.
A low-level programming language is closest to machine instructions. Your main low-level choices are Assembly or Machine Code - both tough languages to learn. A programmer who uses a low-level language has increased control over what, how and when processes run.
When to use: Use a low-level language if you want to write a program that needs to maximise performance and control (such as modifying binary programs, or even creating whole operating systems).
A high-level programming language is furthest away from writing machine instructions, typically the language is more human friendly and therefore, less complex. The most difficult instructions can be written fairly easily, compiled automatically to then run at low-level by the processor for you. However, this means the programmer has less control over these complex instructions that actually run.
When to use: Use a high-level language when you want to write a program quickly and aren’t too worried about the performance. Python is an example of a high-level program and is what you’ll use in Moon base as it’s easy to learn and commonly used in the cyber security world.
While many programmers may target their expertise towards one or just a few programming languages, it’s helpful to be aware of some other popular languages. In the future, you may wish to branch out and try learning some of them, as each language serves different jobs or applications.
Front end programming languages
What you see and interact with:
- Web Assembly
Back end programming languages
Behind the scene processes that fulfil the requests on the front end:
Ready to become a programming pro? Head on over to Moon base in CyberStart to start learning code in a fun, easy and hands-on environment! | <urn:uuid:c576a923-ff3d-42bd-b9cf-afa934cfbfdd> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://cyberstart.com/blog/programming-explained-2-minute-guide-for-beginners/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334579.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20220925132046-20220925162046-00780.warc.gz | en | 0.934563 | 657 | 3.9375 | 4 |
# of Lessons
Learn the best practices for working more efficiently using some of Word’s specialized formatting and editing features.
When you master Microsoft Word, you have one of the most practical and valuable skill sets in modern business. Our “Word in 30 Minutes” series can help you get started. By the end of this course, you will be able to find and replace text and apply consistent formatting using the Format Painter and Styles formatting tools.
This course is one in a series of seven 30-minute courses. Take the full series, and you will have completed our full “Bigger Brains Mastering Word 2019 – Basics” course.
Topics covered include:
High-quality HD content in the “Uniquely Engaging”™ Bigger Brains Teacher-Learner style!
|1||Using Find and Replace||5:21|
|2||Applying Repetitive Formatting||6:55|
|4||Creating a Style||2:07|
Related Course Recommendations: | <urn:uuid:df8639ca-18c6-46b3-a4ab-6a391d003761> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://getbiggerbrains.com/course/word-in-30-minutes-basics-2019-4-of-7/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334942.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20220926211042-20220927001042-00780.warc.gz | en | 0.805764 | 258 | 2.875 | 3 |
With the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the world has been forced to move online — in the absence of real life interactions and activities, many have turned to the world wide web for entertainment and communication purposes. According to user telemetry statistics collected from companies like SimilarWeb and Apptopia, services like Facebook, Netflix, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch have seen astronomical user activity growth between January and March, with user base growths of up to 27%. Websites such as Netflix and YouTube have seen millions of increased users online after the first U.S. COVID-19 death.
The increased internet usage worldwide has led to increasing concerns for cybersecurity in general — with the increased amounts of concurrent internet users daily, cyber criminals are searching for more victims. The likelihood of an average user being targeted by a cybercrime scheme has increased drastically as a result.
At the start of February 2020, the number of domains registered has increased rapidly. These numbers come from businesses that have started to adapt to the growing pandemic by setting up online shops and services, in order to retain their relevance and revenue during these changing times. With that said, as more and more companies begin to migrate online, more and more cyber criminals are beginning to register their own fake services and sites in order to gain traction on the internet and to find more potential victims.
Businesses that have never previously integrated online are much more vulnerable compared to businesses that have — new businesses often lack the technical experience and infrastructure to create safe services on the internet, leading to more potential for security breaches and cybersecurity flaws on the new websites and services created during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this fact, these types of companies make the perfect target for cybercriminals to perform phishing attacks on. As seen on the graph, the number of malicious sites visited has grown exponentially since the beginning of the pandemic, which is likely due to inexperienced businesses suffering from phishing and cybersecurity attacks. As a result, it is crucial that businesses are properly trained in how to defend themselves. | <urn:uuid:2ecbb523-ff34-45e8-9540-59a65d497d13> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://hailbytes.com/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-the-cyber-scene/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334942.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20220926211042-20220927001042-00780.warc.gz | en | 0.970783 | 420 | 2.890625 | 3 |
By Eugene Park | Posted on June 18, 2018
Legacy carrier long-haul and metro optical networks were designed to take advantage of on-off-keyed (OOK) DWDM transmission using 50 or 100GHz grid spacing while maximizing both capacity and add/drop capabilities. Reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs) were also introduced to increase wavelength routing flexibility between sites. The significant impact from the growth of social media, high-definition streaming video, IoT, and a multitude of other bandwidth consuming applications have pushed the operators of these networks to adopt high-capacity coherent optical transmission technology.
Coherent transmission w/ varying baud rates and modulation modes applicable to multiple types of networks has been referred to as multi-haul, as described in the OFC 2018 Show Report. A ROADM-rich network design is typically attributed to traditional metro networks. However, with the rise of multi-haul capable coherent technology, the lines between what is considered metro and long haul are sometimes blurred. A previous blog post provided a brief tutorial of coherent optical communications and how it is applied to long-haul, DCI, and metro networks. I encourage you to read that post as it provides a good background for this blog post.
A benefit of coherent optical transmission is that the bandwidth capacity of a link can be increased by moving to a higher modulation order (e.g, from 2-bits/symbol QPSK to 4-bits/symbol 16QAM), as long as there is sufficient optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) margin to overcome the resulting penalty. Acacia’s patented Fractional QAM (F-QAM) provides a higher level of granularity compared to traditional quantized integer-bits/symbol modulation orders, by enabling non-integer bits-per-symbol (e.g, 3.3 bits/symbol) modulation, to better optimize link capacity. Another adjustable “knob” to increase capacity is the transmission baud rate, which directly varies the spectral width of the signal. Similar to traditional quantized modulation orders, coherent technology has previously implemented quantized baud rates. However, these quantized baud rates may result in sub-optimal use of the available channel bandwidth—that is, the spectral width of the transmission does not fill up the channel’s available passband. Adaptive Baud Rate provides the granularity to enable increased optimization of the available passband. F-QAM and Adaptive Baud Rate are elements of the Acacia AC1200 coherent transponder module’s 3D shaping capability.
In a multi-haul network where optical transmission between end points may encounter numerous cascaded optical filters, one challenge is to spectrally optimize the optical transmission to fit within the aggregate passband of these filters from either fixed or reconfigurable add/drops of the network’s line system, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Spectrally quantized transmission may leave spectral gaps in aggregate passband.
As previously mentioned, quantized baud rates may not allow enough flexibility and granularity to fill up the passband. However, by using Adaptive Baud Rate, the capacity can be increased to more closely match the available spectrum within the aggregate passband of the cascaded filters with fine granularity, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Acacia’s Adaptive Baud Rate can optimize the spectral transmission to more closely match the available aggregate passband spectrum.
The aggregate passband of the cascaded filters contributes to the upper bound limit of capacity increase one can achieve in a multi-haul network optical link. In this case, I am not referring to the theoretical Shannon Limit. Rather, I am referring to the practical passband constraints that come from the implementation in a network of cascaded imperfect optical filter passbands due to variations of the filter conditions. Variations may become more prevalent if the optical transmission passes through a multi-vendor line system environment, a potential situation in a disaggregated network architecture. Having the ability to vary modulation and baud rate allows for maximal flexibility in optimizing the transmission to more closely match the line system’s available passband, as opposed to matching the line system to the terminal equipment’s optical characteristics.
As previously mentioned, Acacia’s 3D Shaping capability, as illustrated in Figure 3, enables the “dialing-in” of both modulation mode and baud rate.
Figure 3. Acacia’s 3D shaping capability enables optimization of link capacity and reach; shaping of spectral width is achieved using Adaptive Baud Rate.
This capability equates to the ability of the optical transmission spectrally “molding itself” to the line system’s passband on a link-by-link basis. By using 3D Shaping, to a certain extent the coherent DWDM source can be decoupled from the line system since the optical transmission is optimized regardless of the pass band characteristics of the line system. This capability lends itself nicely to the disaggregation of terminal equipment and line systems.
Whether multi-haul networks use flexible ROADM architectures with flexible passbands or architectures with fixed grid spacing (50GHz, 75GHz, 100GHz), the AC1200 with 3D Shaping can be used to optimize capacity with any of these type of line systems. | <urn:uuid:3887f064-63ed-445c-82e4-1eb7269eed27> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://acacia-inc.com/blog/optimize-your-multi-haul-network-capacity-with-the-ac1200/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335124.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20220928051515-20220928081515-00780.warc.gz | en | 0.8985 | 1,115 | 2.578125 | 3 |
While Virtual Reality used to be a concept reserved for amped-up conspiracy theorists and sci-fi loving, Matrix fans, it has entered the realm of ACTUAL reality. Revolutionary advances in technology has made it possible to explore the depths of the ocean while resting in a hospital bed and witness a risky, ground-breaking surgery in real-time from the comfort of your home.
Apart from the entertainment aspect of the technology, VR has become exceedingly practical in making significant strides towards innovation in other areas such as flight training modules for both civil and military pilots and in interior design to see your new home. One of the most exciting fields Virtual Reality is impacting is medicine and healthcare – how doctors work as well as the lives of patients.
Here are 5 ways VR is revolutionizing the medical industry right now:
#1 Helping Children Feel at Home
Surgery is not only hard on the body but long recovery times can be a detrimental effect on a patient’s psyche, especially for a child. Having observed this issue, a Dutch company, VisitU, sets up a 360-degree camera in the patient’s home, school or even at a live event and allows for live interactions between the patient and the environment. Utilised in several hospitals around Europe and the United States, this technology provides comfort to patients during extended stays and assists in quicker recuperation.
#2 Watching Operations from the Surgeons Perspective
Preparing for a career in medicine requires studying endless hours of training but nothing can compare to watching world-class surgeons in action. In 2016, the Royal London Hospital broadcasted the first surgery via VR to thousands of medical students and interested members of the public. With limited physical space in the operating room, this kind of access was unheard of, and future surgeons witnessing the stream could feel like they were actually present, arming them for upcoming challenges in a real and visceral way.
#3 Helping GD’s Understand the Elderly
For some young doctors, empathizing with the ailments of the elderly can be a difficult task, creating a disconnect in patient care. We are Alfred is a VR technology that allows doctors to experience what it is like to be a 74-year-old man with audio and visual impairments. This allows doctors to relate more with their elderly patients and teaches them how to exercise best practices in dealing with them.
#4 Pain Management
Burn victims are often in constant pain due to their injuries, but VR might be the key to managing that discomfort long-term. Researchers in Washington created an immersive VR game called Snow World that focuses the patient’s conscious attentional resources away from their burns towards the virtual world, where you throw snowballs at penguins and listening to Paul Simon. Researchers found that patients that were involved in Snow World had better pain management and reactions than those patients who were on morphine.
#5 Exposure Therapy
Phobias are often so deeply ingrained that it’s become instinctual and, at times, unmanageable. Exposure therapy may be the key to kicking that fear of flying or heights! VR allows for a controllable experience for patients in which they can experience the phobia and work through coping measures that they have been taught. While it may be a slow process, a University of Louisville study noted that a number of patients were able to board a flight for the first time in years due to their VR experience.
Intel has been showing its VR solutions off to the medical community for medical simulation and training, to engineers for CAD-type design usages, and more. VR is going to be just as much about enterprise as it is entertainment. | <urn:uuid:5ea7f6f4-9d5f-4ed0-b3fd-6b8cc5d8b180> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://insights.ingrammicro.ca/blog/5-ways-virtual-reality-is-revolutionising-the-medical-industry | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337529.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20221004215917-20221005005917-00780.warc.gz | en | 0.961395 | 740 | 2.515625 | 3 |
When it comes to cybersecurity, the most vulnerable point of an organization is its people, not its systems. Before COVID-19, data showed us 72% of breaches arose because of organizational, process, and people failures rather than a lack of adequate technology. Combine this number with the added uncertainty of home technology and the steady increase in breach attempts during the pandemic, and you have a crisis. COVID-19 has reinforced the significance of the digital economy and, with it, the need for a resilient global cybersecurity strategy — one that allows for collaboration across corporations; governments; micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs); and individuals.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) estimates that global digitalization could create $100 trillion of value by 2025 — an exciting prospect and a major positive for global economies. Yet data from Cybersecurity Ventures suggests cybercrime will cost the global economy a steep $6 trillion annually by 2021, representing twice the cost of 2015 levels. It is clear that much remains to be done to protect the gains that digitalization and technological innovation bring to all corners of the world.
Sadly, COVID-19 has represented an enormous opportunity for cybercriminals — coronavirus-themed spam skyrocketed by as much as 14,000% in just a two-week period of the pandemic. Trusted sources for information — such as the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and others — have been consistently targeted by criminals through phishing, spam, and malware.
Further, the pandemic put a spotlight on the fact that organizations have to rely on employees — who often have not received proper cybersecurity training — and information security systems that are ill-suited for remote work as gatekeepers of their most sensitive data. And though governments tend to have robust network security systems, they are just as at risk, if not more so, often due to outdated technology.
As leaders of a global business task force responsible for advising and providing recommendations on the future of digitalization to G20 Leaders, we are doubling down on our efforts to build cyber resilience, and we urge leaders to recognize the importance of cybersecurity resilience as a vital building block of our global economy.
And we must be thoughtful in our future cyber approach. A human-centric, education-first strategy will protect organizations where they are most vulnerable and get us closer to the point where cybersecurity is ingrained in our daily life rather than an afterthought.
Action through collaboration, one of our guiding principles as the voice of the private sector to the G20, is the only viable option. A public-private partnership built on cooperation among large corporations, MSMEs, academic institutions, and international governments is the cornerstone of a modern and resilient cybersecurity system. A few simple but powerful actions ingrained in a global cybersecurity strategy will bring our users into the new age of digital transformation and embed a security mindset into our day-to-day, making breach attempts significantly less successful.
To bring a strategy like this into reality, we still must address a number of hurdles, such as the perception of cybersecurity as separate from employees' work and the slow recognition of cyber as a priority for MSMEs and local governments. The pandemic has brought the importance of these shifts to the forefront. CIOs, for example, are taking their role to the next level more than ever as their IT decisions become visible to company and industry leaders through their workers' remote productivity and security, while governments worldwide realize the necessity for a strong digital infrastructure to keep their countries moving, connected, and safe.
Visibility and recognition are just the beginning. Beyond that, we have several steps ahead of us, such as:
- Identify channels and forums for these conversations;
- Understand the stakeholders at play from the public and private sectors;
- Create a joint recommended set of minimum standards that can act as a starting point for professionals in cybersecurity and beyond, including those from MSMEs;
- Embed cybersecurity into the ongoing training of all employees across the private and government sectors, and
- Launch bold awareness campaigns through partnerships with government agencies such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the EU Agency for Cybersecurity.
Those of us in the cybersecurity industry know the COVID-19 pandemic won't be the last major disruption of its kind. On the contrary, it is a glimpse into what may be to come as digitalization continues to affect all aspects of our lives. The truth is, a cyber pandemic is probably as inevitable as future disease pandemics, and we saw a glimpse of that with the WannaCry attack in 2017. Compounded by the pandemic-induced economic downturn, the losses of such a disruption would be insurmountable for many businesses. It is our responsibility to ensure this doesn't happen and to approach these new frontiers strategically, build on what each of our industries does best, and learn from one another. | <urn:uuid:2417936e-9533-412e-92af-bea59f4715b8> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/post-pandemic-digitalization-building-a-human-centric-cybersecurity-strategy | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337731.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20221006061224-20221006091224-00780.warc.gz | en | 0.956478 | 1,000 | 2.578125 | 3 |
The om_ssl module uses the OpenSSL library to provide an SSL/TLS transport. It behaves like the om_tcp module, except that an SSL handshake is performed at connection time and the data is received over a secure channel. Log messages transferred over plain TCP can be eavesdropped or even altered with a man-in-the-middle attack, while the om_ssl module provides a secure log message transport.
The module connects to the IP address or hostname defined in this directive. If additional hosts are specified on new lines, the module works in a failover configuration. If a destination becomes unavailable, the module automatically fails over to the next one. If the last destination becomes unavailable, the module fails over to the first destination.
The port number can be defined by appending it at the end of the hostname or IP address using a colon as a separator (
host:port). For each destination with no port number defined here, the port number specified in the Port directive is used. Port numbers defined here take precedence over any port number defined in the Port directive.
The module connects to the port number on the destination host defined in this directive. This configuration is only used for any destination that does not have a port number specified in the Host directive. If no port is configured for a destination in either directive, the default port is used, which is port 514.
|The Port directive will become deprecated from NXLog EE 6.0. After that, the port can only be defined in the Host directive.|
This boolean directive specifies whether the connection should be allowed with an expired certificate. If set to
TRUE, the connection will be allowed even if the remote server presents an expired certificate. The default is
FALSE: the remote server must present a certificate that is not expired.
This boolean directive specifies that the connection should be allowed regardless of the certificate verification results. If set to
TRUE, the connection will be allowed with any unexpired certificate provided by a server. The default value is
FALSE: the remote server must present a trusted certificate.
This directive specifies a path to a directory containing certificate authority (CA) certificates. These certificates will be used to verify the certificate presented by the remote server. The certificate files must be named using the OpenSSL hashed format, i.e. the hash of the certificate followed by .0, .1 etc. To find the hash of a certificate using OpenSSL:
$ openssl x509 -hash -noout -in ca.crt
For example if the certificate hash is
e2f14e4a, then the certificate filename should be
e2f14e4a.0. If there is another certificate with the same hash then it should be named
e2f14e4a.1and so on.
A remote server’s self-signed certificate (which is not signed by a CA) can also be trusted by including a copy of the certificate in this directory.
This specifies the path of the certificate authority (CA) certificate that will be used to verify the certificate presented by the remote server. A remote server’s self-signed certificate (which is not signed by a CA) can be trusted by specifying the remote server certificate itself. In case of certificates signed by an intermediate CA, the certificate specified must contain the complete certificate chain (certificate bundle).
This optional directive specifies the thumbprint of the certificate authority (CA) certificate that will be used to verify the certificate presented by the remote server. The hexadecimal fingerprint string can be copied from Windows Certificate Manager (certmgr.msc). Whitespaces are automatically removed. The certificate must be added to a Windows certificate store that is accessible by NXLog. This directive is only supported on Windows and is mutually exclusive with the CADir and CAFile directives.
This optional boolean directive, when set to
TRUE, enables the loading of all available Windows certificates into NXLog, for use during remote certificate verification. Any required certificates must be added to a Windows certificate store that NXLog can access. This directive is mutually exclusive with the CAThumbprint, CADir and CAFile directives.
This specifies the path of the certificate file that will be presented to the remote server during the SSL handshake.
This specifies the path of the private key file that was used to generate the certificate specified by the CertFile directive. This is used for the SSL handshake.
This optional directive specifies the thumbprint of the certificate that will be presented to the remote server during the SSL handshake. The hexadecimal fingerprint string can be copied from Windows Certificate Manager (certmgr.msc). Whitespaces are automatically removed. The certificate must be imported to the
Local Computer\Personalcertificate store in PFX format for NXLog to find it. To create a PFX file from the certificate and private key using OpenSSL:
$ openssl pkcs12 -export -out server.pfx -inkey server.key -in server.pem
TThis directive specifies a path to a directory containing certificate revocation list (CRL) files. These CRL files will be used to check for certificates that were revoked and should no longer be accepted. The files must be named using the OpenSSL hashed format, i.e. the hash of the issuer followed by .r0, .r1 etc. To find the hash of the issuer of a CRL file using OpenSSL:
$ openssl crl -hash -noout -in crl.pem
For example if the hash is
e2f14e4a, then the filename should be
e2f14e4a.r0. If there is another file with the same hash then it should be named
e2f14e4a.r1and so on.
This specifies the path of the certificate revocation list (CRL) which will be used to check for certificates that have been revoked and should no longer be accepted. Example to generate a CRL file using OpenSSL:
$ openssl ca -gencrl -out crl.pem
This directive specifies the passphrase of the private key specified by the CertKeyFile directive. A passphrase is required when the private key is encrypted. Example to generate a private key with Triple DES encryption using OpenSSL:
$ openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key 2048
This directive is not needed for passwordless private keys.
This optional directive specifies the local port number of the connection. If this is not specified, a random high port number will be used, which is not always ideal in firewalled network environments.
Due to the required
TIME-WAITdelay in closing connections, attempts to bind to
LocalPortmay fail. In such cases, the message
Address already in usewill be written to
nxlog.log. If the situation persists, it could impede network performance.
This optional directive sets the reconnect interval in seconds. If it is set, the module attempts to reconnect in every defined second. If it is not set, the reconnect interval will start at 1 second and doubles with every attempt. If the duration of the successful connection is greater than the current reconnect interval, then the reconnect interval will be reset to 1 sec.
The Reconnect directive must be used with caution. If it is used on multiple systems, it can send reconnect requests simultaneously to the same destination, potentially overloading the destination system. It may also cause NXLog to use unusually high system resources or cause NXLog to become unresponsive.
This optional directive specifies the hostname used for Server Name Indication (SNI). If not specified, it defaults to the hostname in the Host directive.
This optional directive can be used to set the permitted cipher list for TLSv1.2 and below, overriding the default. Use the format described in the ciphers(1ssl) man page. For example specify
RSA:!COMPLEMENTOFALLto include all ciphers with RSA authentication but leave out ciphers without encryption.
|If RSA or DSA ciphers with Diffie-Hellman key exchange are used, DHFile can be set for specifying custom dh-parameters.|
This optional directive can be used to set the permitted cipher list for TLSv1.3. Use the same format as in the SSLCipher directive. Refer to the OpenSSL documentation for a list of valid TLS v1.3 cipher suites. The default value is:
This boolean directive allows you to enable data compression when sending data over the network. The compression mechanism is based on the zlib compression library. If the directive is not specified, it defaults to
FALSE: compression is disabled.
Some Linux packages (for example, Debian) use the OpenSSL library provided by the OS and may not support the zlib compression mechanism. The module will emit a warning on startup if the compression support is missing. The generic deb/rpm packages are bundled with a zlib-enabled libssl library.
This directive can be used to set the allowed SSL/TLS protocol(s). It takes a comma-separated list of values which can be any of the following:
TLSv1.3. By default, the
TLSv1.3protocols are allowed. Note that the OpenSSL library shipped by Linux distributions may not support
SSLv3, and these will not work even if enabled with this directive.
This boolean directive is used to turn off the network optimization performed by Nagle’s algorithm. Nagle’s algorithm is a network optimization tweak that tries to reduce the number of small packets sent out to the network, by merging them into bigger frames, and by not sending them to the other side of the session before receiving the ACK. If this directive is unset, the TCP_NODELAY socket option will not be set.
The following procedures are exported by om_ssl.
Force a reconnection. This can be used from a Schedule block to periodically reconnect to the server.
The reconnect() procedure must be used with caution.
If configured, it can attempt to reconnect after every event sent, potentially overloading the destination system.
Pre-v5 syntax examples are included, they will become invalid with NXLog EE 6.0.
This configuration reads log messages from socket and sends them in the NXLog binary format to another NXLog agent.
<Input uds> Module im_uds UDS tmp/socket </Input> <Output ssl> Module om_ssl Host example.com:23456 CAFile %CERTDIR%/ca.pem CertFile %CERTDIR%/client-cert.pem CertKeyFile %CERTDIR%/client-key.pem KeyPass secret AllowUntrusted TRUE OutputType Binary </Output> # Using the syntax prior to NXLog EE 5, # where the port is defined in a separate directive. #<Output ssl> # Module om_ssl # Host example.com # Port 23456 # CAFile %CERTDIR%/ca.pem # CertFile %CERTDIR%/client-cert.pem # CertKeyFile %CERTDIR%/client-key.pem # KeyPass secret # AllowUntrusted TRUE # OutputType Binary #</Output>
This configuration sends logs to another NXLog agent in a failover configuration (multiple Hosts defined).
<Output ssl> Module om_ssl Host 192.168.1.2:23456 Host 192.168.1.3:23456 Host example.com:1514 CAFile %CERTDIR%/ca.pem </Output> | <urn:uuid:441f9148-5e6f-4a89-9a3e-664e8c839e45> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://docs.nxlog.co/refman/current/om/ssl.html | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030338213.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20221007143842-20221007173842-00780.warc.gz | en | 0.799895 | 2,695 | 2.5625 | 3 |
The world of scheduling has grown by leaps and bounds in the last several years. Machine lingo is becoming increasingly important as the need for digital products grows. A few decades ago, the most popular machine language was Java and.NET. Nonetheless, it is critical to update oneself with more convenient and user-friendly machine lingo like Python and Ruby in today’s world, among several others.
What Exactly is Python?
Python is an object-oriented scheduling lingo at a high level. It includes dynamic binding, in-built data structures, and typos, making it an excellent choice for rapid application development. Packages and Modules in Python provide modularity in systems and reusability of the code.
It is one of the fastest lingos for scheduling due to the small number of lines of code required. It has a strong focus on accessibility and clarity, making it an excellent choice for novices.
What Exactly is Ruby?
Ruby is an object-oriented scheduling lingo in its purest form. It is a competitive open-source lingo that is backed by a strong community. Ruby pushes developers to design software first and foremost for people.
It is compared to Perl and Smalltalk. Ruby is compatible with a wide array of OS, including Mac OS, Microsoft, and all variants of UNIX.
- Python allows for multiple benefactions, but Ruby only allows for single inheritance.
- While Python is mainly used in academics, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and scientific scheduling, Ruby is primarily employed in web development and functional scheduling.
- Python is not an object-oriented scheduling lingo in its entirety. Unlike Ruby, which is an entirely object-oriented scheduling lingo.
- With Python, once a variable gets set, it cannot be unset, but in Ruby, the variable remains in the symbol table as much as it is in scope.
- Python lambda operations are more significant in size, but Ruby only offers one-line lambda functions.
- Python is a highly explicit and elegant lingo to understand, whereas Ruby may be somewhat difficult to debug at times.
- Python uses methods, whereas Ruby utilizes functions.
Here are some of Python’s most salient features.
- Simple to comprehend, read, and maintain
- It can operate on a variety of different hardware bases while maintaining the same interface.
- The Python interpreter supports the inclusion of low-level modules.
- Python’s architecture and assistance for massive projects are excellent.
- Python has automated garbage collection capabilities.
- It enables interactive testing and troubleshooting.
- It enables dynamic type checking and provides high-level active data types.
- The Python scheduling lingo is compatible with Java, C, and C++.
- Simple, uncomplicated syntax
- Accelerated compiling times
- Simple deployment of statically linked binaries
Here are some of Ruby’s most salient characteristics.
- It is an interpreted, general-purpose scheduling lingo.
- It is an object-oriented scheduling lingo in its purest form
- As a server-side scheduling lingo, Ruby resembles Python and PERL rather closely.
- The Ruby scheduling lingo is capable of producing scripts in Common Gateway Interface (CGI).
- It has syntax with several other scheduling lingos, including Perl and C++.
- Ruby is very scalable, and one could readily maintain large projects created in Ruby.
- One may use it to create Internet- and intranet-based applications.
- Ruby has a large number of built-in functions that One may include straight into Ruby scripts.
Python and Ruby Distinctions
Django and Flask, the most popular Python frameworks, allow programmers to create sophisticated online applications. However, Python’s strength extends beyond web applications. There are libraries called Pandas for data preparation and munging, math and statistical libraries for interpretation of data, TensorFlow for machine learning problems, and Matplotlib for data visualization. You get everything that you need for computer science right there!
Disparities at the Code Level
Several detailed distinctions between the two machine lingo include the following:
|There are no basic data types available. Everything is made up of objects.||Already has primitive and object types.|
|Since multiple benefactions are enabled, one can utilize mixins.||Since Python does not enable multiple benefactions, you cannot utilize a mixin.|
|Otherwise, if the criterion is elsif in the case of syntax elf||Instead of using else if, programmers use it else.|
|Compatibility with switch/case statements||There is no support for the switch-case.|
|Tuples are supported via ‘Rinda,’ which is included in the free Ruby library dRuby. In addition to arrays, hash, and set, structs are also available.||Tuples, Sets, Lists, and dictionaries are all supported (Hash).|
|Ruby does not have many functions; instead, it contains methods that one must wrap in procs to be passed.||Python makes extensive use of functions.|
|Imports are general, and developers have no way of knowing which portion of the import provides the specific capability.||Python needs developers to import particular library functions, and for this, one needs to hire best Python developer.|
|Iterators are seldom used, and they do not play a critical function.||Python’s iterators are identical to those found in Java and are critical to the lingo’s functionality.|
|Modifications to built-in classes are not permitted.||Modifiable built-in classes|
|Closures may be generated using blocks and have complete accessibility to the outer scope’s variables.||Although nested functions are conceivable, the secret service has only read access to the outer function’s variables and cannot modify their values.|
Ruby vs Python: A Side-by-side Comparison
Apart from the changes in the coding, there are several additional distinctions in usage, purpose, general ideology, and other factors, which we will highlight in the following table —
|A general-purpose scheduling lingo is well-suited for rapidly developing web apps.||It’s excellent for web development, although it’s slower than Ruby in that regard.|
|The constrained library set was designed primarily for the development of scalable, high-traffic web applications.||Web developers, mathematicians, and students may utilize the vast library set to solve statistical issues and analyze data.|
|If your primary objective is internet marketing and the creation of effectively coded and maintained websites, Ruby is your best choice.||Python is the chosen lingo for Data Scientists because it offers packages for manipulating, interpreting, and visualizing data.|
|More expressive, more legible by humans (even those without scheduling training can grasp), and more adaptable||Simple to understand and develop, with more stable versions that require more minor modifications.|
|Increased flexibility, as there are always several methods to do any activity.||There is only one clear way to perform a specific task, so the requirements are more stringent.|
|Ruby is an excellent pick for a technical speciality – particularly machine lingo and web development.||Python has a broader reach and is presently one of the most popular scheduling lingos, owing mainly to its superior suitability for data science.|
|Reusable code is feasible, as is automated dependency resolution. However, the procedure is quite lengthy and not entirely straightforward.||Provides reusable code in the form of modules that are immediately ready for usage; moreover, they may be filtered by category to help choose the most appropriate one.|
|It will take some time to become acquainted with the lingo, but the Ruby on Rails framework comes with a slew of built-in capabilities that you can utilize immediately.||It’s easier to learn, particularly if you’re a beginner. Depending on your requirements, selecting a helpful framework might be an exciting endeavour.|
|The Rails ecosystem is young and energetic, with enough documentation, and primarily focuses on web-related issues.||Python has a sizable community, and there are several publications, forums, and conferences dedicated to Python and Django.|
Which One Is The Most Important To Master First?
To be sure, a combo of Django and Python may appear overly sophisticated at first and is not all that necessary if you aim to get a web application to market quickly. Rails is one of the most powerful frameworks for constructing web applications available, and the society provides outstanding support for resolving a variety of business difficulties.
Even if you start with Ruby and Rails, it’s a good idea to go on to Python because it’s more suited to scientific technology and data science. Python will be increasingly in demand in the following decades as data science occupations take over. Additionally, Python code is easily reusable between apps. Both lingos are distinct and have their characteristics, but it is always beneficial to study many lingos to exhibit a more impressive résumé!
Binary Blogger has spent 20 years in the Information Security space currently providing security solutions and evangelism to clients. From early web application programming, system administration, senior management to enterprise consulting I provide practical security analysis and solutions to help companies and individuals figure out HOW to be secure every day. | <urn:uuid:8ff210e8-be46-4667-b295-25ff8f7f07c0> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://binaryblogger.com/2021/10/28/ruby-vs-python-whats-the-difference/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335254.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20220928113848-20220928143848-00180.warc.gz | en | 0.908777 | 1,980 | 3.109375 | 3 |
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For more than a century, mathematicians and physicists have studied and modeled the motions and interactions of subatomic particles. In the 1970s, researchers began to explore how that study of quantum physics could be linked to information technology which, they theorized, could one day open the door to a new age of quantum computing.
Today, IBM research teams around the world—from New York and California to Switzerland and Japan—are hard at work developing this technology, which will extend beyond the powers of the digital computers we use today and offer the potential to tackle previously unsolvable problems.
The IBM Quantum team includes a growing cohort of women. They’re engaged in every part of the research. A few of their areas of focus: manufacturing the qubits, the basic units of quantum information; creating superconducting architectures for experimentation in the field; studying the patterns of the qubits to detect errors; and designing stabilizing systems keep them in check. At the same time, other researchers are exploring the startling capabilities and use cases of quantum computing in fields such as medicine and materials science, where quantum devices can simulate molecules.
In recognition of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, we spoke with four women carrying out crucial roles in the quantum computing revolution.
Quantum at Ground Zero
Mary Beth Rothwell, Senior Engineer, Manager: Quantum Fabrication Research, IBM Research
One day in early 2007, Mary Beth Rothwell got a call inviting her to dive into something entirely new. She had been at IBM for nearly 20 years, and had experience in building nearly every part of a computer. With e-beam lithography, her teams patterned integrated circuits. From there she’d moved on to flat-panel display, and then to the back end, or “packaging,” of devices.
Now, one of IBM’s quantum pioneers, Roger Koch, was assembling a small group to build the first quantum computers. He wanted Rothwell on the team. After all, she knew how to build things. “They needed help moving the fabrication of the small devices to the mainstream fabrication line here in Yorktown,” she says.
Quantum has since grown from a small team into a major effort at IBM, and Rothwell is one of its leaders, serving as a senior engineer and manager of quantum fabrication at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. Her team produces the quantum bits, or qubits, the basic sub-atomic units of a quantum computer that process information. IBM’s qubits are made of superconducting circuit elements such as aluminum Josephson junctions and niobium capacitors. Working with IBM Research’s material research lab, she and her colleagues are responsible for every device that gets measured, tested and deployed.
“This is the biggest team effort I’ve ever worked on, and the most gratifying,” she says. “It gives me a lot of satisfaction to help the people on my team, both the engineers and the physicists, grow.”
Rothwell’s management position is especially rewarding, she says, because she’s in two minorities at IBM Research. She’s a woman, and she’s a manager without a Ph.D. Traditionally, she says, research management positions across the technology industry have gone to Ph.D.s, and the great majority of leaders, reflecting the industry as a whole, have been men. Rothwell views her position as a recognition that the company values her experience, knowledge and people skills.
While Rothwell’s team produces the physical qubits, IBM researcher Hanhee Paik has spent more than a decade improving the quality of these minuscule particles. Her research focus has been on understanding and improving coherence mechanisms of superconducting qubits, and on developing novel superconducting multi-qubit architectures.
Hanhee Paik, Research Staff Member, Experimental Quantum Computing, IBM Research
Paik grew up in South Korea and attended Yonsei University in Seoul, where she earned undergraduate and master’s degrees in physics. For her Ph.D. thesis at the University of Maryland in 2009, Paik came up with a new design and fab process that improved coherence of superconducting phase qubits. “I had to figure out how to design and fabricate a qubit, in-house, because, at the time, we didn’t have access to the foundry we typically used. Ironically, the simplest design produced the best coherence,” says Paik, an Experimental Quantum Computing Scientist at IBM Research. “Hardware and measurement have been my areas of expertise ever since.”
As a post-doctoral researcher at Yale University in 2009, Paik continued studying these coherence mechanisms. She pioneered the groundbreaking design of a 3D transmon qubit, as part of a team working on superconducting qubits, resulting in coherence times nearly two orders of magnitude longer than previously possible. Coherence time—the amount of time qubits are capable of performing calculations—had been measured in a few microseconds prior to Paik’s work, which created qubits that could retain superposition for dozens of microseconds.
Paik’s success with the 3D transmon brought her a lot of attention, which she says had a disorienting effect on her research. “That research was something I hadn’t expected to achieve so soon in my career, and for a while I felt overshadowed by such a big discovery.”
Paik joined IBM Research in 2014 and found new goals to keep her career moving forward, such as understanding the physics of multi-qubit systems. She played an instrumental role in developing the company’s 16-qubit IBM Quantum Experience computer. And IBM’s commercial 20-qubit systems’ coherence times likewise benefit from Paik’s work, averaging an industry-best 100 microseconds.
The past few years have also marked a high point for women researchers in quantum computing. “For the first 10 years of my career, I was the only female in many places I worked,” Paik says. “When I joined IBM, Mary Beth Rothwell and Sarah Sheldon were my first two female colleagues—ever. But more women scientists and engineers are joining quantum computing research, and the IBM Quantum team is one of the most diverse groups in the industry.”
Paik notes that there is still much more work to be done to bring women into the field of quantum computing and research, in general. “We have to support girls’ interest in science at an early age,” she says. “In the workplace, an organizational push from the top down is needed to make sure more women are given opportunities to demonstrate their abilities, are invited to speak about their research at conferences, and are recognized for their successes.”
Maika Takita, Experimental Quantum Computing Scientist, IBM Research
While Paik optimizes qubits, her colleague Maika Takita focuses on error reduction.
Takita specializes in the control, characterization, and benchmarking of multi-qubit quantum system and works towards implementation of fault tolerant quantum error correction codes on a lattice.
Every type of computing, Takita says, is prone to errors. But detecting errors and anomalies in the erratic behavior of qubits is a far greater challenge than in the simpler realm of ones and zeros. After all, qubits can assume two different states at the same time. And even in ideal conditions at nearly absolute zero, they peter out in a fraction of a second, their energy draining into the environment. This complexity fuels the vast potential of quantum computing, but also makes Takita’s job infinitely more challenging.
As an experimentalist, Takita studies and registers quantum behavior. “I’m in the lab, cooling down the device and measuring qubits,” she says. The most powerful quantum computer will rely on using logical qubits that will contain many fragile physical qubits to apply quantum error corrections during the computation, Takita says. “While we still need to work on reducing error rates associated with physical qubits, we are at a stage where we have large enough system so that we can start investigating how fault tolerant quantum error correcting code works experimentally.”
Born in Tokyo, Takita went to boarding school in the United States, and later studied at Barnard College in New York, majoring in physics and math. She went on to Princeton for her Ph.D. in electrical engineering, and earned her postdoc five years ago at IBM.
In her first years at IBM, she says, she enjoyed rock climbing with IBM colleagues. Then she and her husband had a baby boy. Now that their son is two, she’s hoping to get back into climbing. Like quantum computing, it involves superpositions and entanglements—but at a far more comfortable temperature.
Quantum Computing Catalyst
Jamie Garcia, Senior Manager for Quantum Applications, Algorithms and Theory, IBM Research
Jamie Garcia’s role at IBM Research combines her passions for chemistry and computing. Since late 2018, she has led a team of researchers examining how to apply quantum to the chemistry of simulating molecules and molecular interactions. In 2019, she started a new role in which she leads a broad and diverse team that works on quantum theory, software, and applications. “The role didn’t exist, because the technology wasn’t accessible,” Garcia says of her position as senior manager of Quantum Applications, Algorithms and Theory. “We’re forging a new path in terms of figuring out what’s needed with theory to get real value out of the quantum computers IBM is building.”
Garcia joined IBM Research’s Almaden lab in 2012 as a postdoctoral researcher with a particular interest in studying how chemical catalysts could be used to break down plastic bottles for recycling. At the time she worked with James Hedrick, an IBM expert in polymers, on high-performance and recyclable materials. As the daughter of a math professor father and a risk-management lawyer mother, Garcia’s interest in science and the environment grew organically from her upbringing—for instance, her mother waters her garden using rainwater she collects in barrels.
Garcia studied biochemistry as an undergraduate at Seattle University and received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Boston College. She’s since gone on to author nearly 40 peer-reviewed scientific papers, receive 94 patents and earn the title of IBM Master Inventor, along with numerous industry honors and accolades.
Garcia’s initial interest in quantum computing arose from a chance encounter in 2017 with quantum researcher Abhinav Kandala at Yorktown. At the time, she had been studying chemical reaction pathways for lithium–air batteries. In between meetings she struck up a conversation with Kandala at a lab poster session that covered quantum computers being used to calculate dissociation profiles for different molecules. Such calculations a had never been demonstrated on real quantum computers. “I realized then that quantum computers could be a new tool for performing complex calculations in ways not available to researchers today,” she says.
She’s now hoping that quantum computers can serve as a catalyst to new discoveries in chemistry. Garcia also hopes that she can serve as a similar catalyst for young women interested in careers in science and technology. “I remember being in grad school and trying to find role models in the fields I was interested in; there weren’t that many,” Garcia recalls. “The more women are able to find themselves in leadership roles in technology and science, the better because it allows young women to look ahead and see someone they can emulate.”
This post is presented by The Watson Women’s Network, a community of technical staff, primarily based at the T.J. Watson Research Center, that seeks to encourage a workplace environment that advances the professional effectiveness, individual growth, recognition, and advancement of all women at IBM Research. The WWN partners with senior management, human resources and other diversity network groups to promote programs in mentoring, networking, diversity, knowledge sharing and recruiting.
Quantum starts here | <urn:uuid:c7b4b665-c62f-443e-b34f-49d513ef8caf> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.ibm.com/blogs/research/2020/03/women-in-ibm-research-quantum/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335254.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20220928113848-20220928143848-00180.warc.gz | en | 0.952485 | 2,577 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Self-propagating malware can be a nightmare for organizations. These threats, which can take the form of ransomware, worms, and other malicious attacks cripple access to essential files through exploiting weaknesses in systems and networks. Two significant cyber threats over the past few years included WannaCry and Emotet. While these threats pose similar threats to organizations, each is fundamentally different. While one has been effectively identified and thwarted, the other is resilient.
WannaCry’s Wide-Scale Crippling Effect
WannaCry made many headlines in 2017 when the ransomware worm spread rapidly through some computer networks globally. The ransomware exploited a Windows operating system vulnerability that has since been addressed. The patch – an update to the Windows implementation of the SMB protocol (which facilitated communication between various nodes on a network) – was available before the launch of WannaCry. Vulnerable systems that were not updated saw the worm infiltrate and begin encrypting all sorts of files, such as Microsoft Office files. Then, WannaCry displayed a ransom notice, demanding $300 in Bitcoin for a decryption key.
Since a patch exists that fixes the vulnerability, WannaCry’s threat is essentially over. Similar ransomware may pop up from time to time, but security experts have been able to identify a kill switch to shut down the threat. Emotet’s threat persists because it is markedly different from ransomware.
Emotet: Malicious Development Tool
Unlike WannaCry, Emotet is a constant work in progress. Technically, it is an advanced polymorphic trojan — a type of malware with malicious scripts that also incorporates social engineering techniques. It is usually spread by email. The email might contain a link that leads to a downloader document or can have the malicious document as an attachment.
Once the email attachment is opened, the latest version of Emotet moves itself to a directory and adds itself to the start-up folder. Emotet will spread across your network, grabbing credentials and increasing exposure. It only takes one machine, it evolves, and it keeps re-infecting to inflict maximum damage.
WannaCry has been defanged, but how are organizations supposed to handle an evolving threat like Emotet? The answer is security awareness training and advanced detection.
Security Awareness Training and Advanced Detection
Sophos is an organization’s best defense against the type of threat that Emotet poses. The Sophos Sandstorm is a powerful cloud-based sandbox that detects, blocks, and reports on threats. As a sandbox, threats such as Emotet are contained and thoroughly tested for security, resulting in zero-touch threat isolation. Deep learning means your threat monitoring is as evolving as Emotet, so your organization is prepared for the future.
Are you looking for expert guidance for your organization’s security awareness training? Contact Coretelligent today and learn how your organization can protect against today’s ever-evolving threats. | <urn:uuid:b7ea2c7a-4fac-44aa-921a-d251cf1ccf25> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://coretelligent.com/insights/from-wannacry-to-emotet-the-evolution-of-cyber-threat/ | null | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335365.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20220929194230-20220929224230-00180.warc.gz | en | 0.933558 | 608 | 2.75 | 3 |
The wealth of exploitable information contained in electronic health records (EHRs) makes healthcare one of the most lucrative targets for hackers. While the internet of medical things (IoMT) market has grown and diversified rapidly, 71 percent of the medical instruments that run Windows operating systems still use versions that will expire by January 2020. Using unsupported, outdated software for medical equipment favors cyberattackers and entices them to exploit this obvious vulnerability.
Cyberattacks are becoming more premeditated, prevalent, and persistent in the healthcare sector. Hackers employ various tactics to gain access to sensitive information guarded in a hospital network. Succesfully executing a cyberattack involves the following stages: reconnaisance, intrusion, privilege escalation, lateral movement, and data exfiltration. These stages constitute the cyberattack life cycle, also known as a cyber kill chain. The prime difference between a strategically planned attack and a smash-and-grab incident is what is termed the lateral movement phase, which enables hackers to lurk in the network until they can exploit a hospital's critical database and harm the organization.
Lateral movement is a technique used by hackers in sophisticated cyberattacks, such as advanced persistent threats (APTs), to systematically traverse a network in order to to identify, intrude, and exfiltrate valuable data. To avoid detection, criminals initially gain access to low-privileged assets that have little protection. Hackers then utilize various tools and methods to move between devices and applications in the network, escalate privileges, and eventually gain access to the organization's prized data assets.
This is the penetration stage where the hackers enter the organization's network. The rise of social engineering techniques makes it much easier; for example, a phishing email to a doctor's office with a from address that appears credible and a legitimate-looking patient ID in the subject line might be sufficient to convince the doctor to open the email. Cybercriminals can also gain access into the network through physical means. Plugging infected flash drives into unprotected computers or interactive kiosks can also grant adversaries access to the network.
In the phishing email scenario mentioned in the "Penetrating the healthcare network" phase, the hacker could've attached a file titled "Blood Test Report." Unsuspecting doctors will instantly download it because they want to stay up-to-date on patients' health information. Macros to establish a connection with a malicious command-and-control (C&C) server could be contained in the attachment, which begins operating in the background without the doctor's knowledge. The attackers behind the C&C server can now easily operate the compromised computer. They can utilize this device to perform further surveillance on the network before proceeding deeper into the network towards critical servers.
In the following sections, we examine three stages of lateral movement that enable hackers to probe deeper into the network and reach crucial data assets: surveillance, privilege escalation, and network navigation.
The first stage of lateral movement is surveillance. Here, the attackers begin exploring the hospital's network to spot weak nodes and sensitive data.
They scan the network using open source tools such as Nmap to gather intelligence on operations that are running on the system, active network connections, open ports, and vulnerabilities in the network. Apart from third-party applications, cyberattckers also use several built-in Windows tools to avoid detection. Net User is a command-line tool for gathering account information and making changes to user accounts. Identification of active network connections also happens during this phase with the help of tools such as Netstat. Using this information, the cybercriminals sketch out a plan to reach the organization's crown jewels—the critical database containing personally identifiable information (PII) and personal health information (PHI) records of patients. This information can be used for various malicious purposes that put the patient's privacy and security at risk.
The attackers now start looking for ways to gain administrative rights and escalate privileges. Tools like Mimikatz and Pwdump that assist in credential theft are readily available. These tools extract cached plain text passwords and certificates from compromised machines, then use these stolen credentials to authenticate in other machines. Pass the Hash and Pass the Ticket attacks may also be performed by the hackers to escalate privileges. Healthcare is the only sector where the proportion of insider attacks is greater than attacks by outsiders, so malicious insiders disseminating credentials for financial benefits or other motives cannot be ignored.
By now, the attackers have gained administrative privileges and have started controlling the systems from remote locations using remote administrative tools (RATs) and command-line tools to dig deep into the network. While they have already compromised multiple systems in the network, they need to move closer to the prized asset in order to exfiltrate it. The PsExec, a method of accessing systems remotely using SMB protocol, is also used to navigate from one device to another. It's not uncommon for a doctor or privileged network user to access sensitive data from remote locations as they might travel to treat patients or attend medical conferences. This prevalance of remote access usage by legitimate users makes it difficult to distinguish fradulent logs from legitimate ones. The attackers also ensure that they move towards the critical data servers in multiple parallel paths so they can remain in the network even if their cover is blown in one of the planned routes. Successful hackers pivot back and forth between different compromised nodes and continually burrow deeper into the network.
Through lateral movement, hackers penetrate deep into the hospital's network and gain access to critical databases such as the EHRs and PHI. These databases are a rich repository of PII, containing names, addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, medical histories, and patient laboratory results. Each can be used to perform identity theft, synthetic identity fraud, or derive inferences to target the victims based on factors like ethnicity or health conditions.
Intruders can also disrupt a hospital's operations as they proceed through the network by manipulating operational technologies, including a wide range of devices in the organization's network that assist in the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of patients. Such an incident would create havoc in the hospital's operations, potentially leading to life-threatening consequences; for example, exploiting a medicine infusion pump to alter the rate at which the drug is released into a patient's blood stream can instantly cause severe side effects or even death.
While combating lateral movement within a network might appear intimidating because of its stealthy nature, this is also the stage of the kill chain where an attack could be effectively contained. Lateral movement gives defenders an edge over the attackers. Lateral movement takes up the maximum duration in a cyber kill chain; the presence of hackers in the network for long periods of time makes it easier for IT admins to spot and contain attacks. Secondly, in this phase, the attackers are forced to move ahead with uncertainty until they reach the desired location. This lack of control over navigation also makes the intruders more prone to detection.
A security solution that tracks the logs of both users and systems is required to obtain a wholesome picture. Keeping a watchful eye on network logs and correlating incidents to derive insights can aid healthcare IT administrators in detecting lateral movement. While it's impossible to manually monitor every activity that occurs in the network, IT administrators can deploy numerous automated security analytics tools. These tools utilize advanced technologies such as machine learning, threat intelligence, and correlation techniques to identify network issues and alert IT administrations.
IT admins with hospital networks need to be alert to stay secure. The problem is not just "Hey, we've lost a health record"; it could foreshadow a larger issue, possibly placing a human life at risk.
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