Tag Archive for IT

| January 10, 2017
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Blockchain Basics

Blockchain BasicsThis is the season for predictions. Many tech prognosticators say that 2017 will be the year for Blockchain. As an emerging technology, Blockchain is approaching what Gartner (IT) calls the Peak of Inflated Expectations – a period the analyst refers to as “when early publicity produces a number of success stories — often accompanied by scores of failures. Some companies take action; many do not.”

Transform digital banking and financeJust to prove the point, Business Insider claims blockchain has the capability to transform the world of digital banking and finance — and beyond. The author suggests that the complex technical nature of blockchain makes it difficult for people to fully grasp how the technology works. BI helps blockchain novices understand exactly what blockchain is and how it works.

Blockchain is a distributed database or ledger that allows companies to start trade digitally without the need for approval from a central authority. Because blockchains are distributed, an industry or a marketplace can use them without the risk of a single point of failure.

distributed ledgerThe ledger is the central part of a blockchain. The ledger is publicly available and shared among all parties within the network. It can’t be changed or tampered with, making it secure. The ledger keeps track of all the details of a transaction, including time, date, parties involved and the transaction amount.

The article examines how the most common blockchain application, a bitcoin transaction, works.

  1. Alice decides to buy bobbles from Bob’s Bead Boutique online.
  2. Bob’s Bead Boutique accepts bitcoin.
  3. Alice has a 3rd party bitcoin wallet set up to hold her digital funds.
  4. Bob at Bob’s Bead Boutique shares his unique numerical bitcoin address with Alice.
  5. Alice makes her payment to Bob’s Bead Boutique by signing it with the private key of her own address. The transaction is called a block.
  6. The block is broadcast to everyone within the peer-to-peer network.
  7. Users who verify the buyer’s block via a process called “mining” will be rewarded with bitcoins.
  8. To verify and validate the block, miners take information from the block and run it through an algorithm.
    The approved block is attached to the previous transaction in the network.
  9. Collectively all the transactions form a blockchain that cannot be altered making it permanent and transparent
  10. The transaction is verified and completed.

disruptive technologyBI claims that the most important aspect of blockchain is its versatility. The author claims that the disruptive technology has implications far beyond bitcoin. The article points out there are more than 100 blockchain projects spread across many industries. Here are some industries blockchain could disrupt.

Banking and Financial Services – Blockchain is more secure and efficient so financial processes powered by blockchain could save banks up to $20 billion dollars annually by 2022.

Healthcare – Blockchains could allow patients to securely share their health records across a vast network of healthcare providers more securely. Preventing many of the recent healthcare data breaches.

Music –  Blockchain could potentially be used to help prevent piracy in music while also increasing sales.

Insurance – Blockchain could allow wholesale insurers to overcome complex transactions that involve a large number of participants and increase efficiency in areas like documentation and claims management.

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The Brookings Institute correctly argues that Blockchain is a foundational technology, like TCP/IP, which enables the Internet. And much like the Internet in the late 1990s, we don’t know exactly how the Blockchain will evolve – but evolve it will.

Disruptive technologiesSimilar to the Internet, the Blockchain must also be allowed to grow unencumbered. This will need careful handling that recognizes the difference between the platform and the applications that run on it. TCP/IP empowers many financial applications that are regulated, but TCP/IP is not regulated as a financial instrument.

Disruptive technologies rarely fit neatly into existing regulatory considerations, but rigid regulatory frameworks have repeatedly stifled innovation.

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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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| February 10, 2015
Comments Off on Windows 7 Reaches Middle Age

Windows 7 Reaches Middle Age

Windows 7 Reaches Middle AgeNow that you have almost eliminated Microsoft (MSFT) Windows XP from your network and settled on Windows 7 it should be time to catch your breath. But NOOO!! Windows 7 has reached the end of mainstream support.  That’s right we are already 5 years into the Windows 7 era. Repeat after me… Windows 7 still has five years left … Windows 7 still has five years left … Windows 7 still has five years left.

MMicrosoft Windows 7 logoicrosoft commits to 10 years of security fixes and 5 years of feature enhancements and bug fixes for each major OS release. Windows 7 has moved from mainstream support – free help for everyone – to extended support, which means Microsoft will charge for help with the software. That will end in 2020 when Microsoft turns out the lights on Windows 7 for good.

The recent techno-flops from the boys and girls in Redmond, Vista, and Windows 8 have taught enterprises to plan for a new desktop OS every other release. This puts businesses in a bind. MSFT’s track record prevents forward-looking firms from organically growing their desktop fleet into the next cycle. There are those that argue that until Microsoft separates consumer from commercial desktops, Microsoft commercial customers will continue to skip one or more iterations of Windows, their only real answer to the high costs and disruption of upgrading.

Gregg KeizerMirosoft update cycle at ComputerWorld cites research from Gartner (IT) which prognosticates that many enterprises cannot change their processes. Many organizations will go through the same machinations they did with XP. Or maybe even balk at dumping Windows 7 at the same pace as the venerable Windows XP, making things worse. Michael Silver of Gartner told ComputerWorld that having a plan could help organizations avoid a repeat of XP’s expensive end-of-support scramble. Gartner believes that the same EOL mad-scramble we saw with XP will occur again when time is up on Windows 7. Mr. Silver claims:

[A repeat of Windows XP] is certainly likely to happen … One of the big differences that’s been under-considered is that because Vista took five years to come out [after XP], there were eight years between XP and Windows 7. So Windows XP felt pretty old. … Windows 7 won’t feel that old to people…” 

Microsoft Windows 10 logoMr. Keizer argues that the failure of Windows 8 to win enterprise hearts and minds has created an oddity: Even though Windows 7 has made middle age, Microsoft continues to let OEMs sell PCs running the Windows 7 business edition.  Microsoft has yet to name an end date for OEM sales of machines powered by Windows 7 Professional. But because it has promised a 12-month notice, those PCs can still be sold at least until early January 2016, when the OS has but four years of life left.

But if you are just finishing your last migration, then you don’t have all that much time to start planning the next one.

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If you don’t like the Redmond hamster wheel, consider your alternatives. Sophos compares the Windows upgrade schedule to some other options. 10 years might be the best option out there. For example:

  • Apple’s (AAPL) OS X is supported for mystery years,
  • Apple’s mobile iOS is supported for mystery years (3?)
  • Android seems to leave it up to you, but don’t expect Google (GOOG) to commit to securing it.
  • Ubuntu LTS is supported for around 5 years, and
  • Red Hat Enterprise 13 years (with extended support).
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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 14, 2014
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25 Years of the Firewall

25 Years of the FirewallThe firewall has turned 25 years old this year. In commemoration, McAfee created a timeline of the events that shaped the development of the device most of us rely on the protect ourselves from each other. The infographic shows how the firewall’s evolution coincided with high-profile security events:

These security breaches triggered security developers to react with more advanced firewall technology:

  • 1998: Evasions researched
  • 2009: Native clustering for high availability and performance introduced
  • 2012: Software enabled security introduced, making blade technology obsolete.

The first generation firewalls were called Packet Filters. Packet Filter firewalls look at network addresses and ports of the packet and determine if that packet should be allowed or blocked based on rules programmed by humans. If a packet does not match the packet filter’s ruleset, the packet filter will drop or reject the packet, breaking the connection.

The second generation firewalls do stateful packet inspection. According to Wikipedia, second generation firewalls record all connections passing through it and determines whether a packet is the start of a new connection, a part of an existing connection, or not part of any connection. Though static rules are still used, these rules can now contain a connection state as one of their test criteria.

Third-generation firewalls use application layer filtering which can “understand” certain applications and protocols (such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Domain Name System (DNS), or Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)). This is useful as it is able to detect if an unwanted protocol is attempting to bypass the firewall on an allowed port or detect if a protocol is being abused in any harmful way.

Next Generation FirewallPat Calhoun, SVP at McAfee, explained in a Help Net Info article that it was not until 2009 when the fourth generation firewall we know and love began to evolve. In 2009 Gartner published its definition and a paper on “Defining the Next-Generation Firewall. (PDF)” According to its definition, NGFWs are:

…deep-packet inspection firewalls that move beyond port/protocol inspection and blocking to add application-level inspection, intrusion prevention, and bringing intelligence from outside the firewall.

In its paper, the Gartner authors explain that “Firewalls need to evolve to be more proactive in blocking new threats, such as botnets and targeted attacks.” Mcafee’s Calhoun points out that NGFW discussions started in 2003 but the technology really didn’t get on the right track until Gartner defined it in 2009.

 

Intel 25th Anniversary of the Firewall infographic

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Future NGFW development efforts need to integrate application control, IPS, and evasion prevention into a single, purpose-built box with enterprise-scale availability and manageability solution.

Back in the day, 2000, I managed a Checkpoint firewall IPSO ver 3.0 on a Nokia appliance (IP300?). The thing was the network had been up and running for 3 years and included over 3,000 devices before the Checkpoint was put in. Can’t get away with that now,  a naked PC on the Innertubes will be compromised within minutes to hours, according to those who know that kind of stuff. 

The most vivid recollection of setting the thing up was just randomly mashing on the keys to create the first key. Other network guys were amazed because apparently, this was the first firewall many had seen with a GUI to configure the rules.

I also remember learning the hard way that Deny All goes at the bottom of the list, not the top. 

Related articles
  • Enterprise Firewall Market: Global Forecast to 2019 by Professional Services (mynewsdesk.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.

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| April 23, 2013
Comments Off on Business PC Not Dead Yet

Business PC Not Dead Yet

Business PC Not Dead YetThe BusinessInsider says that the PC market imploded last quarter. They cite data from technology prognosticators IDC who reported PC sales fell 14 percent in the first quarter, which is worse than their forecast of a 7.7 percent drop. IDC claims this is the worst quarter for PC’s since they started tracking sales.

IDC blames Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows 8 operating system for alienating consumers. The new tile-based interface is too weird for consumers, says IDC. Instead of buying new laptops or desktops, people are buying tablets and smartphones which serve as good-enough alternatives claims the article.

PC Shipments Q1 2013

Despite the wave of doom and gloom in the headlines from Gartner (IT) and IDC, Paul Mah at FierceCIO warns IT, managers and executives, to think before they ditch their existing PCs fleet in favor of tablets and smartphones; or perhaps reallocate their budgets to migrate existing business apps for a tablet-only environment future.

Gartner logoFierceCIO makes the point that the decline in shipments pertains only to the consumer section of the PC market. According to Mikako Kitagawa, at Gartner: “Unlike the consumer PC segment, the professional PC market, which accounts for about half of overall PC shipments, has seen growth, driven by continuing PC refreshes.”

What’s more, this growth is taking place even though some regions already have passed the peak of their PC refresh cycles. And at half of the overall PC shipments, the professional PC market is nothing to be scoffed at. On the other hand, the overall dip–despite the growth in the professional PC market–does speak to just how sharply the drop in consumer PC shipments has been according to the article.

Consumers are clearly moving their content consumption from PCs to connected devices, such as tablets and smartphones. As far as enterprises should be concerned though, businesses are still buying PCs.

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Microsoft CEO Steve BallmerDespite what many people wish, I still don’t see many ways in which tablets can replace the office PC. How do you run a 40 column excel on a 9.5 inch Apple (AAPL) iPad screen? Can you use Access on a consumer-centric tablet like the iPad?

 

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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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| December 13, 2012
Comments Off on Top Five IT Trends for 2013

Top Five IT Trends for 2013

Top five IT trends for 2013Ian Kilpatrick, who has the longest job title I have ever seen, chairman of international value added distributor, specialists in market development for secure IP infrastructure solutions and convergence at Wick Hill Group shares his vision of the top five IT trends for 2013. In the article, Top five IT trends for 2013 at ITnewslink he shares his predictions.

BYOD Man1. BYOD – He says the first IT Trend for 2013 is BYOD. BYOD is now an unstoppable, user-driven wave that will continue to make a major impact on the IT world in 2013 and beyond.  2013 will see companies trying to integrate BYOD into their networks.

He also speculates that we can expect to see the growth of Microsoft (MSFT) Windows to Go secure USB sticks based on Windows 8, which provide remote users with the supported version of the corporate desktop. These are available from a limited number of suppliers authorized by Microsoft and include Imation’s IronKey Workspace for Windows to Go.

Mobile Device Management2. Mobile Device Management – The next IT trend for 2013 is that Mobile Device Management solutions growth will accelerate in 2013. The growth is due to the rapid growth of mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops, but particularly smartphones.

Growth will be strongest for MDM solutions that offer features such as ensuring mobile device usage complies with company security policies, allocating access rights, managing configuration, updating policies, dealing with data leakage issues, and dealing with lost or stolen devices.

A crucial component for the continued growth of MDM solutions will be the clear separation between the management of business and personal data on devices. There are over 100 suppliers in mobile device management many of them are good but niche solutions. The Gartner (IT) Magic Quadrant identifies the strategic leaders, which includes Zenprise.

High density wireless3. High density wireless – Wireless requirements have been significantly incrementing over the last year making it the third IT trend for 2013. The firm says BYOD has changed both the data transfer and performance expectations of users. However, these expectations have not been met, with many networks still inadequate in their coverage and performance.

The new 802.11ac standard, with 1 gigabit per second throughput rates, will be a key driver in organizations moving to high-density wireless in 2013. High density wireless will provide companies with high coverage and high performance, supporting business-critical applications and delivering complete site coverage There will continue to be a shift from niche solutions towards more strategic solutions. The Gartner Magic Quadrant identifies Xirrus, which will continue to experience stratospheric growth.

Data back-up and recovery4. Data back-up and recovery – 2013’s fourth IT trend for 2013 deals with data back-up and recovery. Organizations have been under immense pressure from ever-increasing data volumes, archiving, and compliance requirements.

At the top end, new data replication technologies will have a major impact on data centers in 2013. For smaller organizations, the shift from tape will continue apace. For conservative organizations, the move to disc (and, in particular, RDX technologies that combine the best of tape and disk) will accelerate. Hybrid back-up to RDX and then the cloud will increase. In volume terms, the lowest move (but in market-hype the biggest) will be significant growth in direct back-up to the cloud. RDX, hybrid, and cloud data backup solutions are available from vendors such as Imation and Barracuda Networks.

Data leakage protection5. Data leakage protection – The last Wick Hill Group IT trend for 2013 says that with the growing volumes of data and regulatory bodies’ willingness to levy fines for non-compliance, data leakage protection will continue to be a major cause for concern during 2013. Companies will be looking closely at how to secure and manage their data as their network boundaries spread even wider, with increased use of social networking and BYOD, increased remote access, the rapid growth of wireless, increased virtualization, and the move towards convergence.

Increasingly, organizations will couple DLP products with SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) solutions. DLP concerns will also continue the growth curve for authentication (much of it hosted in the cloud) and encryption, to protect data, both in motion and at rest. Some companies will look to hosted security services and the cloud to cope with an increasingly complex security situation. SIEM and authentication solutions are available from companies such as LogLogic, Check Point VASCO, and SafeNet.

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So these are not really earth-shattering predictions for 2013, BYOD, MDM, and Wi-Fi are already part of my world. We are doubling our backup capabilities and will be updating from our current McAfee to some sort of DLP

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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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