Tag Archive for 2016

| October 25, 2016
Comments Off on Linux Turns 25

Linux Turns 25

Linux Turns 25Linus Torvalds released the first Linux operating system kernel on Oct. 5, 1991. On Oct. 6, 1991, Torvalds began arguing with volunteer developers who would go on to make Linux an open-source powerhouse and eventually a household name. Today the Linux community is upwards of 86 million users strong.

Linux Turns 25As part of celebrations to mark Linux’s 25th birthday the Linux Foundation has published its annual Linux Kernel Development Report (PDF reg required). According to the Register, the report concludes that Linux is in great shape, “There may be no other examples of such a large, common resource being supported by such a large group of independent actors in such a collaborative way.”

The independent actors have a lot to collaborate on. The report notes that the first versions of the Linux kernel comprised about 10,000 lines of code. Now it’s nearing 22 million and growing at a rate of 4,600 lines a day.

Wall StreetWhile Linux may have started out as a hobby OS, that changed in the early 2000s. At the turn of the century, Wall Street banks demanded Linux support for their enterprise application servers says Tech News World.

“That was a moment that broke down resistance to Linux in the big IT vendors like BEA, IBM, and Oracle (ORCL). That hole in the dam was the start of a flood,” said Cloud Foundry CEO Sam Ramji. “Today Linux is the home of operating system innovation.”

Linux user and open source advocateAporeto Virtualization Expert Stefano Stabellini, who has been a Linux user and open source advocate since the 1990s explained the transition. “… back when I started with Linux in the ’90s … [companies] did not understand it. They thought that open source was unsustainable, and Linux was niche and hobbyist.” He says that now everything has changed. Every company has an open source strategy now. “Microsoft (MSFT) was the biggest foe and now is a strong ally. Linux is the most widely adopted operating system of all times.”

Dice points out that the most active contributors to the growth of Linux have included (in descending order) Intel (INTC), Red Hat, Linaro, Samsung (005930), SUSE, IBM (IBM), and various corporate consultants. Google (GOOG), AMD (AMD), and Texas Instruments (TXN) also ranked in the top 15.

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So my first pass at Linux was Red Hat Linux 5.0. when Novell bought into Linux. Yeap I was a Novell CNE 5 way back in the day.

The last couple of projects I have been involved with have used Linux and not Windows, CMS, IVR, PAFW’s, and storage.

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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.

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| October 15, 2016
Comments Off on 2016’s Most Dangerous Online Celebrities

2016’s Most Dangerous Online Celebrities

2016's Most Dangerous Online CelebritiesThe 10th annual McAfee Top 100 Most Dangerous Celebrities to Search for Online Study, published by Intel Security, was recently released.  The yearly report uncovers which celebrities are the most dangerous to search for on Intertube.  These dangerous celeb results can expose fans to viruses, malware, and identity theft while searching for the latest information on today’s pop culture stars.  Intel (INTC) used its McAfee site rating software to find the number of risky sites generated by searches on Google, Bing, and even beleaguered Yahoo.

Intel security“Consumers today remain fascinated with celebrity culture and go online to find the latest pop culture news,” said Gary Davis, chief consumer security evangelist at Intel Security.  “With this craving for real-time information, many search and click without considering potential security risks.  Cyber-criminals know this and take advantage of this behavior by attempting to lead them to unsafe sites loaded with malware.”

Most Dangerous Online Celebrities

This year’s most dangerous celebrity online is Amy Schumer.  The comic joins recent most dangerous celebrity online alumni Jimmy Kimmel, Jay Leno, and Emma Watson.  According to Intel Security, a search for the “Trainwreck” actress has a 16.1% likelihood of returning results that direct fans to sites with viruses and malware.

2016 most dangerous celebrity online is Amy SchumerJustin Biber is the second most dangerous online celebrity.  As for the “Sorry” singer, there’s a 15% chance that Beliebers could connect with a malicious website.

The rest of this year’s Top 10 list included:
3.  Carson Daly 13.4%
4.  Will Smith 13.4%
5.  Rihanna 13.3%
6.  Miley Cyrus 12.7%
7.  Chis Hardwick 12.6%
8.  Daniel Tosh  11.6%
9.  Selena Gomez 11.1%
10.  Kesha 1exploit celebrity fandom for abuse1.1%

Intel says there are two big truths: cyber-criminals try to exploit celebrity fandom for abuse.  The first is that consumers want convenience.  As people rely less on cable and, instead, search for the content they want online, they’ll find many third-party sources for their favorite music or videos.

But unofficial sources are often dangerous.  Links can send users to unsafe sites, where sneaky tactics for stealing data and usernames are awaiting.  The popular torrent file format for downloading files allows cyber-criminals to sneak viruses onto devices.

social media obsessed cultureSocial media-obsessed culture

The second truth attackers are exploiting is the desire for gossip – now.  In today’s social media-obsessed culture, fans want real-time information about their favorite celebrities.  It isn’t uncommon for a celebrity to share a photo, post, or comment around the world in a matter of seconds.  Those posts often spark a wave of searches.  With all that traffic, cyber-criminals can trick fans into visiting a faux-gossip website infested with malware to steal passwords, credit card information, and more.  This method is particularly effective on social media channels, like Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp, where the standards for trust are low.

How to protect yourself

In addition to recommending anti-virus software, Intel, whose products include McAfee software, urges consumers to be skeptical when surfing the web.  But don’t worry.  No one is asking you to give up your celebrity infatuation; here are a few things you can do to make sure you’re entertained safely:

  • rusted video streaming services Watch media from sources.  Are you looking for the latest episode of Amy Schumer’s TV show, Inside Amy Schumer?  Stick to the official source at comedycentral.com or well-known and trusted video streaming services like Hulu to ensure you aren’t clicking on anything malicious.
  • Be wary of searching for file downloads.  Of all the celebrity-related searches we conducted, “torrent” was the riskiest by far.  According to Intel, a search for ‘Amy Schumer Torrent’ results in a 33 % chance of connecting to a malicious website.  Cybercriminals can use torrents to embed malware within authentic files, making it tricky to detect safe downloads from unsafe sources.  It’s best to avoid using torrents, especially when so many legitimate streaming options are available.
  • Keep your personal information personal.Keep your personal information private.  Cybercriminals are always looking for ways to steal your personal information.  If you receive a request to enter information like your credit card, email, home address, or social media log-in, Intel says you should not give it out thoughtlessly.  Please research and ensure it’s not a phishing or scam attempt that could lead to identity theft.
  • Use security protection while browsing.  Many software products can scan web pages you’re browsing, alerting you to malicious websites and potential threats.  This can keep you safe as you study the latest gossip.

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The stars are new, but the game is the same.  In addition to applying some critical thinking to your web browsing, the same advice from 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, etc. stands……

Maybe I will get more hits after putting these pop names in here.

 

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.

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| October 7, 2016
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AT&T Tries Broadband over Powerline

AT&T Tries Broadband over PowerlineIt’s alive. It’s alive! BPL has risen from dead. Longtime readers of the Bach Seat, know the history of Broadband over Powerline. I covered it many years ago here, here, and here. Imagine my surprise when there were a number of articles popping up all over the interwebs touting mega-telecom AT&T’s (T) try at BPL 10 years after everybody else gave up on the technology.

Broadband over PowerlineComputerWorld described this latest incarnation of BPL from AT&T as a low-cost, high-speed wireless internet technology. This time Broadband over Powerline relies on plastic antennas positioned along medium-voltage power lines and not through the conductive materials inside the power lines. FierceTelecom says that AT&T will attach the plastic antennas to the power lines and serve as a mesh network to distribute signals to homes and businesses. The Project AirGig low-cost plastic antennas and devices will regenerate millimeter wave (mmWave) signals. Millimeter-wave technology relies on electromagnetic waves that are longer than x-rays but shorter than radio waves (they are found in the 10 mm to 1 mm range and are also known as extremely high-frequency waves according to New Atlas. The EHF waves can be used for 4G LTE and 5G multi-gigabit mobile and fixed deployments.

John Donovan, chief strategy officer and group president of AT&T technology and operations, told FierceTelecom that Project AirGig delivers last-mile access without any new FTTH technology and is flexible enough to be configured with small cells or distributed antenna systems.

Broadband over PowerlineTo test the technology, AT&T is looking for a place somewhere in the next year with a favorable regulatory environment, since the carrier would need to partner with an existing electric utility. John Donovan, chief strategy officer for AT&T said the trial could be in an area where existing broadband is expensive, even in the U.S.

The AirGig project relies on over 100 patents, according to an AT&T statement. There is no direct electrical connection to the power lines, although network components could receive their needed power through inductive wireless electricity from the near by power lines, AT&T Chief Technology Officer Andre Fuetsch explained to Computerworld.

ATT logoAT&T said the testing will decide what frequency AirGig will use for commercial deployment, which could occur sometime around 2020 after the carrier rolls out 5G wireless. The frequency AT&T uses will affect the range of the signal and the speed, as well as whether it is over a licensed or unlicensed band. This decision is important if AT&T plans to use BPL as another weapon in its fight with Google Fiber. Earlier versions of Broadband over Powerline were incapable of delivering the Google (GOOG) promised Gigabit of Internet access.

“It’s a transformative technology that delivers low-cost and multi-gigabit speeds using power lines,” AT&T’s Donovan said, “There’s no need for enhancements for new towers, and it’s over existing infrastructure.”

Google (GOOG) promised Gigabit of Internet accessAirGig has already been tested in outdoor locations on-campus settings. “We’ve had it up and running 4k video and cameras on campuses for quite some time,” Mr. Donovan said.

Besides using the AirGig technology as an alternative broadband service delivery option, for urban, rural, and under-served markets AT&T wants to convince the electrical utility industry to apply AirGig technology to their unique needs. ComputerWorld says utility companies would be able to use the technology to help spot problems on their power lines from something like a downed tree or cracks in the cable sheath.

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New Atlas points out that earlier this year, a millimeter-wave technology system set a new world record for wireless data transmission by sending data at 6 Gbps. The technology is also showing up in other applications, including heart-rate monitors, car-safety systems, and luggage scanners.

AirGig could be profitable for AT&T. If they can make a deal with an electrical company, they can avoid expensive make ready. Which Google Fiber is struggling mightily with. By using power lines, AirGig avoids the cost of digging trenches to lay fiber optic cable.

Still, questions remain about how this version of Broadband over Powerline will do in the real world.

  • What impact will heavy rain, snow or ice have on the signal?
  • What if a tree branch falls on a power line or the lines are swinging in the wind?
  • Since mmWave transmissions need a direct line-of-sight between antennae, what happens when critters like birds or squirrels decide to perch on the antennae? Will that lead to an outage?

The ham radio lobby will likely be up in arms again when they find AT&T still likes the idea of BPL in the 30-300 GHz bands. The ARRL was a key player in killing BPL 1.0.

 

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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.

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| October 1, 2016
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Detroit Still Hot

Detroit Still HotDetroit’s job market is good despite what the orange one says. Statista reports data from the New York Times, Detroit has posted a 27.2% increase in technology jobs between 2010 and 2015. I have written about the strength of the metro Detroit tech job sector as far back as 2011 here, here, and here.Areas with the greatest increase in technology jobs (2010-2015).This rate of job growth places Motown 8th nationally in tech job creation over the past five years. The Motor City came in only .01% behind Boston and out-performed cities like Atlanta (22.6%) and Chicago (18.7%) in creating tech jobs.

DetroitNot only is the Detroit tech sector a national leader, according to Crain’s Detroit, but Detroit is also a job-seekers market. The article says manufacturers are struggling to find entry-level employees and are being forced to raise wages to find talent.

The average advertised salary for local workers with zero to two years of experience has risen more than 16.5% to $52,729 in 2015 from $45,256 in 2011, according to an analysis by the Workforce Intelligence Network for Southeast Michigan. For workers with three to eight years of experience, that average has increased 13%; and for those with nine-plus years of work experience, it increased only 0.5 percent.

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This can be traced to the rejuvenated Upwardauto industry, which is increasingly dependent on high-tech skills. Manufacturing is an increasingly prodigious driver of tech jobs; games and dot-coms are not the only paths to technical employment growth.

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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.

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| September 24, 2016
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FIDO

FIDOSince 2013 there have been nearly 5 billion data records lost or stolen according to the Breach Level Index. The UN says there are 6.8 billion mobile phone accounts which mean globally 96% of humans have a cell phone. It would seem that these factoids could interact to cut the pace of lost or stolen data records. An effort is underway to use mobile devices to better secure data called FIDO.

https://fidoalliance.org/FIDO (Fast ID Online) is an open standard for a secure and easy-to-use universal authentication interface. FIDO plans to address the lack of interoperability among strong authentication devices. TargetTech says FIDO is developed by the FIDO Alliance, a non-profit organization formed in 2012. FIDO members include Agnitio, Alibaba, ARM (ARMH), Blackberry (BBRY), Google (GOOG), Infineon Technologies, Lenovo (LNVGY), Master Card, Microsoft (MSFT), Netflix, Nok Nok Labs, PayPal, RSA, Samsung, Synaptics, Validity Sensors and Visa.

The FIDO specifications define a common interface for user authentication on the client. The article explains the goal of FIDO authentication is to promote data privacy and stronger authentication for online services without hard-to-adopt measures. FIDO’s standard supports multifactor authentication and strong features like biometrics. It stores supporting data in a smartphone to eliminate the need for multiple passwords.

encrypted virtual containerThe author writes that FIDO is much like an encrypted virtual container of strong authentication elements. The elements include: biometrics, USB security tokens, Near Field Communication (NFC), Trusted Platform Modules (TPM), embedded secure elements, smart cards, and Bluetooth. Data from authentication sources are used for the local key, while the requesting service gets a separate login to keep user data private.

FIDO is based on public-key cryptography that works through two different protocols for two different user experiences. According to TargetTech the Universal Authentication Framework (UAF) protocol allows the user to register an enabled device with a FIDO-ready server or website. Users authenticate on their devices with fingerprints or PINs, for example, and log in to the server using a secure public key.

authenticate users with a strong second factorThe Universal Second Factor (U2F), originally developed by Google, is an effort to get the Web ecosystem (browsers, online service providers, operating systems) to authenticate users with a strong second factor, such as a USB touchscreen key or NFC on a mobile device.

FIDO’s local storage of biometrics and other personal identification is intended to ease user concerns about personal data stored on an external server or in the cloud. By abstracting the protocol implementation, FIDO also reduces the work required for developers to create secure logins.

Samsung and PayPal have announced a FIDO authentication partnership. Beginning with the Samsung Galaxy S5 users can authorize transactions to their PayPal accounts using their fingerprints, which authenticates users by sending unique encrypted keys to their online PayPal wallets without storing biometric information on the company’s servers.

Samsung and PayPal FIDO authentication partnershipFIDO promises to clean up the strong authentication marketplace, making it easier for one-fob-fits-all products. The open standards shift some of the burdens for protecting personally identifiable information to software on devices or biometric features, and away from stored credentials and passwords. ComputerWeekly described FIDO’s potential this way:

The FIDO method is more secure than current methods because no password of identifying information is sent out; instead, it is processed by software on the end user’s device that calculates cryptographic strings to be sent to a login server.

In the past, multiple-factor authentication methods were based on either a hardware fob or a tokenless product. These products use custom software, proprietary programming interfaces, and much work to integrate the method into your existing on-premises and Web-based applications.

same authentication device can be used in multiple ways for signing into a variety of providersComputerWeekly says FIDO will divorce second-factor methods from the actual applications that will depend on them. That means the same authentication device can be used in multiple ways for signing into a variety of providers, without one being aware of the others or the need for extensive programming for stronger authentication.

Integrating FIDO-compliant built-in technology with digital wallets and e-commerce can not only help protect consumers but reduce the risk, liability, and fraud for financial institutions and digital marketplaces.

The big leap that FIDO is taking is to use biometric data – voiceprint, fingerprint, facial recognition, etc. and digitize and protect that information with solid cryptographic techniques. But unlike the traditional second-factor authentication key fobs or even the tokenless phone call-back scenarios, this information remains on your smartphone or laptop and isn’t shared with any application provider. FIDO can even use a simple four-digit PIN code, and everything will stay on the originating device. With this approach, ComputerWeekly says FIDO avoids the potential for a Target-like point-of-sale exploit that could release millions of logins to the world, a big selling point for many IT shops and providers.

Target-like point-of-sale exploitIt can eliminate having to carry a separate dongle as just about everyone has a mobile phone these days this is a mobile world we live in, and we need mobile-compatible solutions; otherwise, you’re behind the curve right out of the gate.

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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.

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