CERT-In cyber security norms bar use of Anydesk, Teamviewer by govt dept
Cyber security watchdog CERTin has barred the use of remote desktop softwares
like Anydesk and Teamviewer in the government department under new security
guidelines released on Friday. The guidelines prescribe government departments
use virtual private networks (VPN) for accessing network resources from remote
locations and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for VPN accounts.
"Ensure to block access to any remote desktop applications, such as Anydesk,
Teamviewer, Ammyy admin etc," Guidelines on Information Security Practices for
Government Entities said. CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team )
said the purpose of these guidelines is to establish a prioritised baseline
for cyber security measures and controls within government organisations and
their associated organisations. Minister of State for Electronics and IT
Rajeev Chandrasekhar in an official statement said the government has taken
several initiatives to ensure an open, safe and trusted and accountable
digital space.
Navigating Product Owner Accountability in Scrum: Debunking Myths and Overcoming Anti-Patterns
In a misguided attempt to ‘help’ Product Owners with their important
responsibilities, some organizations establish two Product Owners for a single
Product. However, while this may seem, at first, to be helpful, this actually
causes a lot of problems for both Product Owners involved. When multiple
Product Owners exist, conflicting ideas and visions may arise, diluting the
product's direction and impeding progress. ... Instead, the Product Owner can
delegate tasks such as creating Product Backlog items, maintaining the
roadmap, or gathering metrics to Developers on the Scrum team. However, it is
important to note that while the Product Owner may delegate as needed, the
Product Owner ultimately remains accountable for items in the Product Backlog
as well as the product forecast or roadmap, thus ensuring that there is a
single, unifying vision and goal for the product and that the Product Backlog
is in alignment with that vision. If the Product Owner is delegating the
creation of Product Backlog items to Developers, what does that mean?
Cisco firewall upgrade boosts visibility into encrypted traffic
“What our competitors are saying is ‘just decrypt everything.’ But we know in
the real world, customers refrain from doing that due to data privacy concerns
and to meet legal/compliance requirements. Furthermore, decrypting and
re-encrypting data requires technical prowess not everyone has, increases the
attack surface, and also causes severe performance challenges,” Miles said.
EVE works by extracting two primary types of data features from the initial
packet of a network connection, according to a blog written by Blake Anderson,
a software engineer in Cisco’s advanced security research group. First,
information about the client is represented by the Network Protocol
Fingerprint (NPF), which extracts sequences of bytes from the initial packet
and is indicative of the process, library, and/or operating system that
initiated the connection. Second, it extracts information about the server
such as its IP address, port, and domain name (for example a TLS server_name
or HTTP Host).
Scrum vs. Kanban vs. Lean: Choosing Your Path in Agile Development
While Scrum is commonly associated with software development teams, its
principles and lessons have broad applicability across various domains of
teamwork. This versatility is one of the key factors contributing to the
widespread popularity of Scrum. Scrum is founded upon the concept of
time-boxed iterations called sprints, which are designed to enhance team
efficiency within cyclical development cycles. ... Kanban is well-suited for
organizations seeking to embrace the benefits of agility while minimizing
drastic workflow changes. It is particularly suitable for projects where
priorities frequently shift, and ad hoc tasks can arise anytime. Kanban is a
flexible methodology that can be applied to various domains and teams beyond
software development. ... Lean methodology strongly emphasizes market
validation and creating successful products that provide value to users. It
is particularly well-suited for new product development teams or startups
operating in emerging niches where a finished product may not yet exist, and
resources are limited.
3 Ways to Build a More Skilled Cybersecurity Workforce
In addition to insights around highly sought-after skill sets and job
titles, OECD's report also reveals that demand for cybersecurity
professionals has spread beyond the confines of major urban centers. It
calls for a more decentralized workforce to meet demand in underserved
areas. ... If companies are to close the skills gap and meet the current
demand for cybersecurity workers, they will need to broaden their horizons
to account for more nontraditional cybersecurity career paths. In doing so,
they will enhance the industry with a broader range of unique experiences
and life skills. Recruiting more diverse candidates also allows companies to
approach security challenges from different angles and identify solutions
that may not have been considered otherwise. When a workforce is as diverse
as the cybersecurity threats an organization faces, it can pull from a
broader range of professional and personal experiences to more effectively
and inclusively protect themselves and their end users.
AI's Teachable Moment: How ChatGPT Is Transforming the Classroom
"Teachers could say, 'Hey my students are really interested in TikTok,' then
feed that to the AI," says Liu. "An AI could come up with three analogies
related to TikTok that connect students to their needs and interests." Liu
believes we absolutely need to acknowledge the immediate threats surrounding
AI and its initial impact on teachers, particularly around skills
assessments and cheating. One approach he takes is to speak openly with
students and acknowledge that AI is the new thing and that we're all
learning about it – what it can do, where it might lead. The more open
conversations educators have with students, he says, the better. In the near
term, students are going to cheat. That's impossible to avoid. YouTube and
TikTok are bulging at the seams with tricks to help students avoid
plagiarism trackers. In the medium term, Liu believes, we need to reevaluate
what it means to grade students. Does that mean allowing students to use AI
in assessments? Or changing how to teach topics? Liu isn't 100% sure.
Top 5 Benefits Of Blockchain Technology
Transparency within the Blockchain ecosystem refers to the open visibility
of transactions, enabling all participants to validate and verify the
recorded data. Unlike traditional systems that rely on centralized
authorities, Blockchain operates on a decentralized network, where each
transaction is recorded on a public ledger known as the Blockchain. ...
Immutability is a cornerstone of Blockchain technology. It guarantees that
once a transaction is recorded on the Blockchain, it becomes virtually
impossible to alter or tamper with the data. This is achieved through a
combination of cryptographic techniques and consensus mechanisms. Blockchain
achieves data immutability by using cryptographic hashing. Each transaction
is assigned a unique cryptographic hash, which is essentially a digital
fingerprint. This hash is created by applying complex mathematical
algorithms to the transaction data, resulting in a fixed-length string of
characters. Furthermore, Blockchain relies on consensus mechanisms such as
Proof of Work (PoW) or Proof of Stake (PoS) to validate and verify
transactions.
Technical Debt tracking supports projects to “do it right”
For decades, there have been logs of outstanding bugs found in testing but
not corrected before the project is implemented. The term technical debt
adds the concept that there are consequences to those decisions, and that
there are strong reasons to prioritize the follow-up to fix things and clear
that list. Most of us are aware of workarounds that were left in place
permanently and eventually cost too much. We may have seen a system with
poor performance that slowed the work of key workers and/or was missing
functionality that impacted the customer experience. All of these are
important reasons that technical debt should be cleared up. There are other
reasons too. Generally, people do not purposefully create poor designs or
code with bugs. ... One of the interesting concepts that has been
offered by Martin Fowler is the Technical Debt Quadrant that talks about the
prudent but inadvertent technical debt that is created as we learn during a
project and realize how the project should have been done.
Successful digital transformation requires simplistic thinking
While organizations are aggressively pursuing transformation goals, Chaudhry
warned that antiquated mindsets and a range of internal factors can
seriously inhibit innovation and prevent businesses from achieving their
goals. Most notable among these is a complacent culture among some IT
leaders who are stuck in a loop of traditional, outdated practices. “IT
plays the most important role in driving transformation. You play the most
important role, but you also need to act fast to drive change,” he said.
“You can’t sit back and say ‘this is how things have been done for the last
30 years, so let’s keep doing so’.” ... Inertia, as he puts it, is a
powerful inhibitor that locks IT leaders and organizations into an outdated
mindset which prevents them from embracing change. “Inertia is powerful, and
it holds you back because we are comfortable with what we’ve been doing for
the last 10, 20 years or so,” he said. Research has often identified inertia
as a common inhibitor in digital transformation, whereby teams are reluctant
- or unwilling - to accept change.
Strategies to drive the Data Mesh cultural transformation
It’s important to have consistent and clear communication to ensure that
everyone understands the reasons and the effects of change. Leaders must
communicate the vision and benefits of Data Mesh. They also need to guide on
how the new ways of working are going to be adopted through well-defined
structures, roles and responsibilities for the new data product teams. To
ensure data product ownership and accountability, defining clear KPIs and
metrics for each data product team to measure success and track progress is
critical. ... Rather than trying to adopt Data Mesh all at once,
organizations can start with small pilot projects and gradually expand. This
approach can help understand how processes defined in vitro work in real
life. It also comes with lessons learned which help followers avoid the
initial mistakes. ... This ensures that everyone in the
organizationunderstands the new concepts and ways of working. It could
include training sessions and coaching on Data Mesh, product thinking,
design, user research, agile methodologies, cross-functional team
collaboration, and data product ownership.
Quote for the day:
"Leaders need to strike a balance between action and patience." --
Doug Smith
