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Turkey Revenge
The turkeys are pissed this Thanksgiving they are seeking revenge.
Germs Infest 60% of Americas Phones
60% of Americans sleep with their phones, harboring germs. Cleaning regularly with UV sanitizer or alcohol wipes can help keep your phone and bed germ-free.
Smartphone Sanitizing: A Practical Guide
Securely erase personal data from your old smartphone before recycling. Protect your identity from hackers—easy steps to follow.
Why Soft Skills Matter in Today’s Job Market
Boost your career with essential soft skills like communication, teamwork, and emotional intelligence. Learn why they’re crucial for workplace success.
Why NORAD Track Santa
Why did NORAD start tracking Santa? Since the tradition started in the Fifties, one might suspect that the big man’s red suit attracted the attention of anti-communist zealot Joe McCarthy. Or maybe Ike thought Santa was the beginning of an alien invasion. Or was it a typo? the good folks over at Mental Floss explain that On December 24, 1955, the red telephone at the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Operations Center began to ring.
The article says the red phone meant it was either the Pentagon or CONAD commander-in-chief General Earle Partridge on the other end, and their reason for calling would probably not be pleasant. U.S. Air Force Col. Harry Shoup, director of operations at the center, rushed over to the phone and grabbed it.
“Yes, Sir, this is Colonel Shoup,” he barked.
Nothing but silence in response.
“Sir? This is Colonel Shoup,” he said.
Silence again.
“Sir? Can you read me alright?”
Finally, a soft voice on the other end.
“Are you really Santa Claus?” a little girl asked.
The Colonel told the author he was stunned for a second. He thought this was a joke. He looked around the room, expecting to see his men laughing at their prank, but found stony, serious faces all around.
He realized that there was “some screw-up on the phones,” and decided to play along.
“Yes, I am,” he answered. “Have you been a good little girl?”
The girl explained to Col. Shoup that she would leave some food out for both Santa and his reindeer and then recited her Christmas list to him. The Colonel thanked her for her hospitality, noting that Santa had a lot of traveling to do. How did he get to all those houses in one night, anyway, she asked.
Apparently, that was classified intelligence in Col. Shoup’s mind. “That’s the magic of Christmas,” he said. If anyone asks her about that, he said, she should tell them to stop asking so many questions or Santa would put them on the naughty list.
“That red phone, boy,” Col. Shoup later recalled to Mental Floss. “That’s either the old man—the four-star [General Partridge]—or the Pentagon. I was all shook up.”
The red phone would keep ringing throughout the night. Not because of Soviet nukes or fighter planes heading toward U.S. soil, but because of a typo.
That day, Colonel Shoup would later learn, a local newspaper ran a Sears Roebuck ad inviting kids to contact Santa.
“Hey Kiddies!” the ad read. “Call me on my private phone and I will talk to you personally any time day or night.” The ad listed Santa’s direct line, but the number in the copy was off by a digit. Instead of connecting to the special line Sears set up with a Santa impersonator, kids wound up calling a secret air defense emergency number.
After a few more Santa-related calls, Colonel Shoup pulled a few airmen aside and gave them a special assignment. They would answer the phone and give callers—barring the Pentagon, we assume—Santa’s current location as they “tracked” him on their radar.
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And that is why NORAD tracks Santa. – Merry Christmas!
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Category: Holidays |
Tags: 2013, Aliens, Christmas, Dwight D. Eisenhower, McCarthy, NORAD, POTUS, Santa Claus, Sears
Happy Holidays
WREATH: Andy Warhol
WREATH: Andy Warhol, Wreath, ink and watercolor on paper, Drawn circa 1956 © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. –Courtesy mental floss
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Katy Perry Connected to SDN
Networking gear manufacturer Adtran (ADTN) Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing Chris Koeneman recently made software-defined networking (SDN) sexy (Like it really needed the help LOL). He successfully connected pop diva Katy Perry and Network Virtualization.
Proving why he is a VP, he also was able to connect software-defined networking, Global Warming, and the Loch Ness Monster.
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And who says that SDN isn’t sexy?
Related articles
- Katy Perry: Surprise Performer at John Mayer’s Brooklyn Concert! (justjared.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Category: Uncategorized |
Tags: 2013, Adtran, Global Warming, Katy Perry, Loch Ness Monster, Networking, SDN
Wiring Closet 3.0
The lowly wiring closet at the edge of the network is evolving. You know the one’s that IT shares with the custodians or the women’s lav. The neglected place that connects all end-points into the enterprise network infrastructure. Throughout my career we have moved from 3Com SuperStack hubs to 10/100 SuperStack switches to 100/1000/10000 Cisco 2960’a fixed Ethernet devices. In this first edge era, the primary buying criteria was the price per port. Low price was the critical factor. These devices might have had a few network services but they only provided best-effort connectivity services with little to no operational control according to Nick Lippis in the Lippis Report 103: Wiring Closet Switches Gain Strategic IT Value Label.
Commoditized network gear created enterprise networks consisting of equipment from different vendors. Purchases throughout the wiring closets, distribution, and core were based mainly on cost. The article says that equipment from multiple vendors is the hallmark of Wiring Closet 1.0. Wiring Closet 1.0 made effective management difficult. Multiple management systems required that organizations keep a large staff with diverse skills to keep up network functionality.
Wiring Closet 2.0
Most organizations are now in the Wiring Closet 2.0 era. As competition drove margins on edge switches into the single digits, the author states that vendors began to add services to a new breed of device. The new features on 2.0 switches created new ways for the vendors to compete on different (rb- and more profitable) fronts beyond price per port. Mr. Lippis argues enterprise trends are forcing IT executives to check projects, programs, and priorities as they seek to drive down Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) while extracting added value from their enterprise network. Business executives expect their IT departments to meet continually growing demands without significant year-over-year network expenditures. (rb– the ever popular more with less argument) The article says the new realities include new mixed traffic patterns and increased desktop bandwidth requirements for new applications, communications, and data center strategies.
Switch vendors recognized these trends. They responded by developing a new type of wiring closet switch. Second-generation switches added significant functionality. The vendors’ goal is to transform the commoditized network edge (rb- low profit) into a strategic IT asset (rb- high profit). The blog says these new switches enable a host of new applications for Wiring Closet 2.0.
- Quality of Service: Wiring Closet 2.0 switches tag applications like IP telephony and Unified Communications at access to guarantee priority throughout an internal network and active monitoring
- Power Over Ethernet (PoE): Second generation, wiring closets distribute power over Ethernet cables. POE enables new classes of devices to be powered from the Wiring Closet 2.0. These demands include WLAN access points, video surveillance, and IP phones. As well as specialty devices such as health care instrumentation, point of sale devices and soon even laptops.
- Security: The network edge Is the first level of defense. Network Access Control (NAC) and application policing have increased in importance. They are needed to protect the integrity of the network, data privacy, and compliance. Wiring Closet 2.0 switches integrate security features and the support of security appliances bolstering defense-in-depth strategies.
- Wireless Local Area Networking: WLAN integration, which includes access point, PoE, and controller support, increases WLAN coverage. Further common network management interfaces streamline operational support for both wired and wireless networks.
- Unified Communication (UC): UC support via PoE to power IP phones and UC end-points plus unique UC configuration profiles to ensure reliable and stable UC operation.
- Application Intelligence: Application intelligence or the categorizing of applications as they enter the wiring closet and either mark them with QoS or discard the application. This enables application policing at the network edge.
- Layer 3: Full layer 3 forwarding enabling all the value associating with routing including segmentation and aggregation are now included in some wiring closet switches.
- Total Cost of Ownership: The network edge and wiring closet switches in particular have a TCO breakdown of 20% capital spend and 80% operational spend according to Gartner (IT). Mew wiring closet switches are more expensive from a capital acquisition point of view. However, their operational cost is lower. Thus, the total dollar spend over a three-year period will also be lower while delivering increased value to the enterprise.
Wiring Closet 3.0
The IT industry is on the verge of a new era at the network edge. New technologies and requirements will disrupt Wiring Closet 2.0.
- 10Gbps Ethernet: 10Gbps Ethernet is the future of networking. If the past is a guide to the future, then over time more and more 1 Gbps Ethernet ports will upgrade to 10 Gbps. This will place a strain on wiring closet packet processing performance while driving up 10Gbps port density requirements plus downstream distribution and core switch capabilities.
- Software-defined networking (SDN): The holy grail of SDN is to separate the network control plane from the data plane. The model I carry in my head is wireless networks. There is a central controller that tells the WAP’s what to do and they do their job without any help from the central controller. This implies that the network devices can be dumber and cheaper.
- Network Management: Consistent network management means leveraging the same supplier for the network edge, distribution, and core.
- True Layer 3 Support: To support all the above-mentioned trends and unforeseen applications, wiring closet switches need to support full layer 3 forwarding.
- Support of UC, Mobility, and Security: This basis of competition is one of the most important attributes to the new network edge. Wiring closet switches need to support both standard interfaces and services for UC, mobility, and security so that mixed vendor solutions may occur.
- IPv6: If you have wiring closets full of perfectly good Layer 2 switches, there’s no reason to replace them just because you can’t manage them with IPv6. If they work today, they’ll work until they break, and you don’t need to worry about (or budget for) swapping them out any sooner.
IPv6
Dan Campbell, President, Millennia Systems, Inc. suggested in a recent CircleID post that to manage the move to an IPv6 enabled Wiring Closet 3.0. Organizations should strive to use theIPv6 dual-stack migration strategy. This is where IPv6 is added to the existing systems so they can simultaneously function with both IP versions. Tunneling and translation techniques should be used when the dual-protocol configuration is not possible. The mantra of “dual stack where you can, tunnel where you must” is the order of the day.
He advises that starting today, don’t buy another box unless it supports dual-stack operation or offers a clear, well-defined upgrade plan. It doesn’t matter if the manufacturer is “up and to the right” in the latest Gartner (IT) report; anything you buy from now on that is IPv4-only is a waste of valuable resources.
Mr. Campbell tells network administrators that while LAN switches function mainly at layer 2. They forward Ethernet frames regardless of whether the packet inside is IPv4 or IPv6. There are some functions on a switch that works at layer 3 or higher. They include:
• Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI).
• DHCP Snooping.
• Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) Snooping (the IPv6 equivalent of IGMP Snooping).
• Quality of Service (QoS) marking for upstream Differentiated Services treatment.
• Access Lists (e.g., VLAN or regular ACLs).
He explains that these features need layer 3 or upper-layer information; Layer 3 is needed to inspect the packet header or payload inside the Ethernet frame. These features may not be things you are doing now, but you never know when you will. Security requirements and hardening guidelines are recommending things like DAI, DHCP Snooping, and ACLs at the access layer.
The more streaming video gets moved to IP networks, the more the need for multicast. MLD Snooping is necessary to improve performance. Finally, the continued convergence of voice, video, and other rich media and interactive applications to IP networks is furthering the need for QoS. It is always best to mark traffic as close to the edge as possible.
Related articles
- Best Wiring Closet Products for Large Companies (networking.answers.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Category: low voltage |
Tags: 2013, Access control, Ethernet, IPv6, Management, Network, POE, TCO, UC, Wireless LAN
Is Your Data Safe From Gen Y?
Fortinet (FTNT) released a new study that says that most Gen Y staff members are thwarting their employers’ Bring Your Own Device programs. Fortinet surveyed 3,200 employees between the ages of 21 and 32 on their attitudes and practices around BYOD and found that 51 percent of respondents said they would ignore formal BYOD policies at their organization. “It’s worrying to see policy contravention so high …” Fortinet VP of Marketing John Maddison said in the study report.
Gen Y staff
The same Fortinet survey revealed that 55 percent said they have been the victims of cyberattacks on their desktops or laptops. The respondents noted that those attacks had affected their productivity and potentially cost them corporate or personal data.
FierceCIO provides another example of staff’s cavalier attitude towards data security from Symantec. According to the Mountain View, CA-based Symantec (SYMC) when it comes to corporate data, employees who feel like they live in a “finder’s keepers” environment, Robert Hamilton, Symantec director of information risk management said. The firm surveyed workers in the U.S. about taking corporate data outside of the workplace if they would use company information in another job and their views on whether that constituted stealing. FierceCIO reports the results of the survey, were not encouraging to IT security professionals and IT management.
Finder’s keepers
40% of employees download work files to personal devices,- 40% of employees plan to use old company information in a new job role,
- 56% of employees do not believe it is a crime to use a competitor’s trade secrets,
- 68% of employees say their company doesn’t take proper steps to protect sensitive information.
Mr. Hamilton summarized, “The attitude is that ownership lies with the person that created it, not with the company that employs them.” He says companies need to do a better job of safeguarding data from employees, especially with the growing popularity of BYOD. Symantec noted,
Only 38 percent of employees say their managers view data protection as a business priority, and 51 percent think it is acceptable to take corporate data because their company does not strictly enforce policies
A survey by mobile file-sharing app provider Workshare provides more evidence of how employees flaunt IT policies by using free file-sharing services to store and share corporate documents from their mobile devices. FierceMobileIT reports that the firm’s survey revealed that 81% of employees access work documents from their mobile devices. A disturbing 72% of workers are using free file-sharing services without authorization from their IT departments.
Fiberlink recently conducted a survey of its customers about what apps they are blacklisting and whitelisting. DropBox appeared at the top of the blacklisted apps lists for both Android and iOS devices. Commenting on the results, Fiberlink CEO Christopher Clark told FierceMobileIT: “I think there are other ways besides DropBox or Box to do apps and content management.”
Work documents on personal devices
Another survey, conducted by Ipsos MORI for Huddle found that 91% of U.S. office workers store work documents on personal devices, such as USB drives, and 38% store documents on consumer file-sharing services.
FierceMobileIT reports that Dropbox is the most used consumer file-sharing service for work document storage and sharing.
Patrice Perche, Fortinet’s senior Fred Donovan VP for international sales and support, said in the report:
This year’s research reveals the issues faced by organizations when attempting to enforce policies around BYOD, cloud application usage, and soon the adoption of new connected technologies. The study highlights the greater challenge IT managers face when it comes to knowing where corporate data resides and how it is being accessed.
FierceMobileIT’s Fred Donovan warns that enterprises need to educate their employees to combat the security risks of using consumer file-sharing services. He also says that employers need to offer enterprise-sanctioned file-sharing alternatives. Otherwise, employees will continue to bypass IT policies and put corporate data at risk. Symantec’s Hamilton told FierceCIO that firms need to undergo a cultural shift if they are going to win the battle of protecting their assets from their own staff.
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Sharon Nelson at Ride the Lighting sums up my thoughts on the BYOD thing.
I have never understood the arrogance of this attitude or the failure to appreciate that employers have a duty to impose rules to protect client/customer/proprietary data./proprietary data.
It is common for each succeeding generation to despair of the generation that follows it, but I confess to a certain amount of despair for a generation that is so tied to their mobile devices that they cannot balance their desire to use their devices with the duty owed to the employer to keep work data secure. In a world where young folks cannot seem to keep from checking their phones at weddings and funerals, I guess it is no wonder that they see nothing wrong with willfully disobeying rules imposed at work.
What do you think? Is your data safe from Gen Y staff?
Related articles
- GEN Y Does Not Want to Hear About BYOD Security Measures (huffingtonpost.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Category: Uncategorized |
Tags: 2013, BYOD, Cloud, Consumerization, Dropbox, Fortinet, FTNT, Gen Y, Information, Ipsos MORI, Security, Symantec, SYMC