Daily Tech Digest by Kannan Subbiah

Daily Tech Digest - April 14, 2017

3 Overlooked Attributes of a Great Chief Digital Officer

Confronting the tidal wave known as digitization, some CEOs call for a lifeboat in the form of a Chief Digital Officer (CDO). The CDO helps a company respond quickly and strategically, to the rapidly evolving digital landscape. There are several qualities that every CDO needs. To start, they need an innovative mind and great skill at communication. Those are obvious. “It’s really about [developing] a set of capabilities—around customer engagement, digital marketing, using algorithms to adjust the way the company works—not about a title,” says Martha Heller, President of executive search firm Heller Search Associates. Here are three less-obvious qualities that Heller says make CDOs effective

The Future of Application Development Is Here and it Is Cognitive-First

The DataRPM platform automates predictive modeling, leveraging proprietary Meta Learning capabilities to increase quality, accuracy and timeliness of equipment failure predictions by more than 300 percent. The technology enables customers such as Jaguar, Samsung and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to predict and prevent asset failures, reduce maintenance costs, optimize inventory and resources, predict quality issues, forecast warranty and insurance claims and manage risks effectively. Imagine, analyzing a massive volume of data, with hundreds of different variables, concurrently, within hours and leveraging that data to drive the business applications of the future? This is what Progress will deliver and we’ll do it in a way that is easy and affordable for businesses of any size.

Analysing distributed architectures in the era of IoT

Design and architecture phases must aim at conceiving a structure able to easily provide data and services to a multitude of unrelated devices. Third generation consumers, like wearable devices, personal and support equipment, sensors and actuators, and more in general any electrical appliance, should be easily pluggable and require the lowest integration and maintenance efforts, without any structural integration. The consequence is simple: we cannot architect our applications as they were isolated islands, self-contained and device/platform dependent. We must provide easy access to the information processed by our software, easing the fruition from devices potentially unknown.

Communicate IT’s Business Benefits More Effectively

Over half of IT leaders see themselves as part of a cost center or service provider, and only 4% are highly satisfied with IT’s communication with the rest of the business. This survey points out the risks and costs of these sorts of order-taker relationships, including loss of credibility and low level of engagement with business partners. Today’s CIOs acknowledge the problem, but many are struggling with how to address it. In fact, the same CEC survey found that 89% of IT leaders report at least one significant barrier to effective communication. How can you show the company the benefits IT is bringing, and help them to process and understand that story? The first step is to accept the inadequacy of working in silence while hoping the company understands the impact you are having.

95% of Organizations Have Employees Seeking to Bypass Security Controls

“Insider breaches are a growing threat to virtually all organizations including mainframe users,” says John Crossno, product manager of Compuware’s security solutions group, which recently released a tool designed to mitigate the threat. The increasing number of incidents where employees fall prey to phishing and other social engineering attacks and hand over authorized user credentials to attackers have made even otherwise secure mainframe environments vulnerable, he says. He points to the massive data breach at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in 2015 as one example of how attackers are able to gain access to critical mainframe systems by acquiring the valid credentials to do it. In the mainframe environment, “enterprises have traditionally relied on insufficient methods to identify threats including disparate logs and data gathered by security products to piece together user behavior,” he says.

‘Cloud adoption and escalating threats accelerate encryption deployments’

The report revealed enterprises have accelerated adoption of encryption strategies, with 41% of respondents saying their organisation has an encryption strategy applied consistently across the enterprise. Notably, for the first time in the study’s 12-year history, business unit leaders have a higher influence over encryption strategy than IT operations. Other critical findings demonstrate organisations continue to show a preference for control over encryption and key management when those activities migrate to the cloud. John Grimm, senior director of security strategy at Thales e-Security, said that “This year’s findings align with key trends demonstrating an increased reliance on the cloud, ever-evolving internal and external threats, and new data sources mandating stronger protection.

Blockchain 101: How This Next Big Service Will Change The Future

Setting up your own Blockchain is not easy. It requires heavy infrastructure and development capabilities that most businesses aren’t savvy enough to manage. Enter BaaS. As more companies discover the power of Blockchain and what it can do for their businesses, there will be even greater demand for making this technology more easily accessible. According to Harvard Business Review, Blockchain is the next great disruptor, even more likely to change the next decade of business than big data or artificial intelligence (AI). Says the writer, just as the internet was the first native digital medium for information, Blockchain is the first native digital medium for value. Some 65 percent of banks are expected to implement a Blockchain solution in the next few years—and that’s just on the finance side. The technology is set to see a massive explosion throughout the business landscape.

Multi Or Hybrid? Dealing With A Complicated Cloud World

“We’re seeing conversations shift towards multiple clouds, not one single technology,” said Simon Crawley-Trice, director of global solutions & services for EMEA at Rackspace. “I think it’s going to be a combination between hybrid and multi-cloud depending on what’s right for the business.” “A lot of service providers tend to lead with the technology, but CIOs want a business conversation around what is the business value of hybrid cloud? They want to know what the business value is of consuming these different cloud technologies.” Cockerton agreed, highlighting that “ultimately the conversation is going to become one of the right workload in the right place at the right price. That’s going to determine the conversation for the next 10 years”.

The AI revolution: Is the future finally now?

Despite the mounting interest and the proliferation of new technologies, is this current wave that much different than what we have seen in the past? Do the techniques of the modern AI movement – machine learning, data mining, deep learning, natural language processing and neural nets – deserve to be captured under the AI moniker, or is it just more of the same? In the earlier peaks of interest, the broad set of activities that were typically bunched together under the term ‘AI’ were reserved for the labs and, if they ever saw the light of day, they were severely constrained by what the technology of the day could deliver and were limited by cost constraints. Many of the algorithms and structures central to AI have been known for some time; rather, previous surges of AI had unrealistic expectations of immediate consumer applications that could never be accomplished given limitations of the data and techniques available at the time.

Augmented reality in financial services

Within a bank, AR has the potential to transform productivity. Data visualisation is a key tool for traders needing to make important data-driven decisions quickly. AR can help traders view, analyse and manipulate large quantities of complex data faster through a more intuitive AR interface. Several companies have trialled Oculus Rift to create immersive 3D virtual reality environments for analysing data. Citibank has taken the next step by using Microsoft’s HoloLens headset to create Holographic Workstations for traders. These headsets use AR to layer complex data sets that enable traders to visualise and make decisions collaboratively with clients. We can expect to see more AR in bank offices in the future. With the rapid growth in mobile banking apps and introduction of digital-only banks, there are more and more questions about the future role of branches.

Quote for the day:

"We're entering a new world in which data may be more important than software." -- Tim O'Reilly

Daily Tech Digest - April 13, 2017

Managed services - A catalyst for transformation in banking

To view managed services in the right context, it’s often helpful to understand the evolution and growth of outsourcing in financial services companies. Historically, banks have used a variety of outsourcing models to maximize resource efficiency. These models have evolved with changing times. A good example of this progression is business process outsourcing (BPO), which has existed for at least several decades. In 1992, American Express (Amex) spun off its transaction processing unit, where it already had developed scale and experience, and partnered with a third-party card processing unit. Amex anticipated the commoditization of the transaction processing business, so it placed a strategic bet to focus on the growth of the card issuing business.

Bank gets lesson in the security failings of third parties

A story detailing this attack in Dark Reading noted that “customers accessing the bank’s online services were hit with malware posing as a Trusteer banking security plug-in application. The malware harvested login credentials, email contact lists, and email and FTP credentials.” The bank and the DNS provider did apparently make some mistakes — and mistakes are a great way to learn, especially if they are made by someone else. First, the bank had declined to use the DNS provider’s two-factor authentication. Had it done so, the attack might have never worked. Second, the DNS provider, according to Kaspersky Labs, had patched a cross-site request forgery flaw on its site, Dark Reading said. That flaw, coupled with an email phishing attack of the DNS firm, may have provided the initial access prior to the patching.

The 10 best features in Android O (so far)

Google I/O is still more than a month away, but we’ve already gotten a sneak peek at what Google is planning for Android O. To help developers make sure their apps are in tip-top shape for the public release later this year, Google has given them the first preview a little early, opening up a brand new box of tricks and tools. This first release is just for developers, and is focused mostly on feautures that require particular devleoper support—there will be much more in Android O, with more user-facing improvements in later beta releases. While we’re not sure how many of these features will make it out of Developer options and the System UI tuner and into the main release, but there are a bunch of cool tricks we’ve found while exploring the new settings. Here are our 10 favorites.

Data science gets chic

Predictive analytics is one type of analytical method that is getting much attention. This is because senior executives appear to be shifting away from a command-and-control style of management – reacting after the fact to results – to a much more anticipatory style of managing. With predictive analytics executives, managers and employee teams can see the future coming at them, such as the volume and mix of demands to be placed on them. As a result they can adjust their resource capacity levels and types, such as number of employees needed or spending amounts. They can also quickly address small problems before they become big ones. They can transform their mountains of raw data into information to test hypothesis, see trends, and make better decisions.

With Robots On The Job - It Won't Be IT As Usual

The trend means that CIOs and IT managers need to be prepared for an influx of robotics because introducing this technology isn't as simple as firing up a fleet of humanoid robots and letting them loose in an office building. It's going to take planning, new skills and thought about how robots will affect employees and require new infrastructure. ... "It's very much a different mindset than traditional IT," said Mike Gennert, a professor and director of the Robotics Engineering Program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Worcester, Mass. "IT managers worry about how they manage information, how it's used, how it's stored and secured. But none of that has the ability to directly affect the physical world. Robots affect the real world. That brings issues IT managers have not had to confront."

Who Should Regulate Cybersecurity for Connected Cars?

Lauzon along with other researchers remains skeptical that federal regulations are the best way to ensure safety. “To have regulation that chases down cybersecurity is very difficult because the law generally does not keep up with technology very well,” he said. “No automotive company wants to make a car that is hackable.” One option that could gain support would be to follow suit with the federal automated vehicle guidance released in September 2016. The guidance, which was intended to serve as a living document, laid out several best practices, specified what separate jurisdictions are responsible for regulating, and set up a 15-point self-check safety assessment letter. “I like the way NHTSA approaches it now and says, ‘Here are guidelines you should follow,'” said Lauzon. “With security, you don't usually know there is a problem until it's too late.”

Hacked Dallas sirens get extra encryption to fend off future attacks

The city believes the hack came from the Dallas area, but officials haven't detailed how it occurred. Dallas police are working with the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to validate what they think happened and find the source. The hack caused all 156 emergency sirens to activate for about 90 minutes, scaring some residents and doubling the number of calls to 911. Radio security experts theorized the incident may have been a simple "replay attack" where the hacker recorded the radio signal sent out on April 5 at noon as part of a monthly test of the emergency siren system. Then, the hacker could have played that signal back repeatedly early Saturday. It would take a hacker with a software defined radio (SDR) or other off-the-shelf radio frequency test equipment to pull off the attack, said Chris Risley, CEO of Bastille Networks.

Always-On Strategy

Always-on strategy complements the annual process by giving senior leadership a regular forum in which to monitor and discuss issues that warrant continual attention, including those identified during the annual process and during the course of the year. The always-on process is particularly well suited to addressing issues that span multiple business units (such as a common technology platform), lie outside the scope of existing businesses (for example, growth into adjacent markets), or are too far-reaching to address at the business unit level (such as downstream integration). However, companies must apply always-on strategy systematically—to ensure that executives focus on the highest-priority issues, push for issues to be resolved, and effectively coordinate the activities of the annual planning process with those of the always-on forums.

BrickerBot – The Dark Knight of IoT

The use of the ‘Busybox’ command combined with the MTD and MMC special devices means this attack is targeted specifically at Linux/BusyBox-based Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The similar exploit vector as Mirai means the devices must have their Telnet port open and exposed publically on the Internet. Mostly this would match IoT devices that have been proven vulnerable to Mirai. Because the process does not perform malware infection, but has a clear purpose of corrupting and disabling the device, there is no binary to study and there is not much we can say about how the bot finds its targets. Because BrickerBot.2 is hiding itself behind TOR exit nodes, there is no indication on the location of the bots or even how many bots might be out there. We could assume a random public IP scan to detect potential victims much like Mirai bots are performing.

How to Sell Refactoring? The Case of Nordea Bank AB

When you begin to work with an organization in the context of a specific subject, you usually encounter many points of view. From the very beginning, it is extremely important to realize that these are just different narratives of the same reality and none of them is more real than others. Within the same organization, you talk to different people who often present contradictory information, but each of these is consistent and seems to be justified. ... This way, the developers could focus on how to refactor the backend, style the new views and integrate them with their e-banking system. It drastically reduced the threshold for entering the new technology and made it easier to achieve success. At that stage, our priority was to promote the need for refactoring, not to migrate to a new technology.

Quote for the day:

"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed." -- Carl Jung

Daily Tech Digest - April 12, 2017

A.I. in the kitchen: It's not that far from reality

"Hello Egg comes with cooking assistance even for the most advanced chefs, as well as step-by-step voice-navigated recipe video tutorials and real-time prompts from a human support team for those who might need a little more hand-holding in the kitchen," tech expert Lulu Chang explains. "Moreover, the smart device promises to 'keep a lively conversation going by expressing itself through mimicking facial expressions,' and can also keep you entertained and informed by way of Spotify, audio news feeds, weather forecasts and voice-activated timers and reminders." Having Watson author a smart cookbook and getting to interact with a little egg that responds to your commands is cool, but the future of A.I. in the kitchen has much more in store than trendy products and gadgets.

Why You Should (Sometimes) Let Software Run Your Business

A less radical approach is to take an existing software product (which could be run on premises or accessed as a service) and have it customized to match your company's operations and processes — either by the vendor, by a third party or internally. "That can still be expensive and open-ended," Bartoletti warns. "You can spend two years customizing software, and every change you make can cost you millions." He adds that there is also a risk that you will end up out of sync with the base product's update cycle. That's because each time the base software is update it is your responsibility to test the customizations to ensure that they still work as expected with the base software and modify them as necessary. By the time this work has been carried out the base software may have been updated again — perhaps to include some of the functionality that your customizations provide.

How Amazon is bringing the Alexa experience to your phone

Now instead of facing competition from Google and Apple in the home assistant market, Amazon seeks to strike back by integrating Alexa with phones. As CNET reports, Huawei Mate 9 owners “will get it first in an over-the-air update”, and it is available for iPhone users as well. Other Android users will eventually be able to install Alexa over their phones through the Google Play Store. But while Amazon so far has been looked like an unstoppable juggernaut everywhere it goes, working with smartphones is one area that will be a major challenge. While Amazon can seamlessly integrate Alexa with its own technology in the Echo, integrating it with a phone made by a different company presents challenges. Unfortunately, the Alexa app is not the same as having an Echo in your pocket, though it offers plenty of useful features.

That Fingerprint Sensor on Your Phone Is Not as Safe as You Think

New findings published Monday by researchers at New York University and Michigan State University suggest that smartphones can easily be fooled by fake fingerprints digitally composed of many common features found in human prints. In computer simulations, the researchers from the universities were able to develop a set of artificial “MasterPrints” that could match real prints similar to those used by phones as much as 65 percent of the time. The researchers did not test their approach with real phones, and other security experts said the match rate would be significantly lower in real-life conditions. Still, the findings raise troubling questions about the effectiveness of fingerprint security on smartphones.

The journey of data storage: what’s next?

Reflecting the growing importance of seamless data delivery to businesses as they become ever-more tech dependent, the storage industry has been developing at a significant rate in recent years. Some great new solutions have hit the market, and we are starting to see the beginnings of a shakeup of the industry. For the past twenty years the industry has been dominated by large specialists like EMC and NetApp. However, the emergence of flash storage is providing customers with a simple, cost effective way to manage data, and new companies such as Nimble Storage, Nutanix and Pure Storage are starting to change the way the industry is run. IDC recently found that the flash based storage market grew a massive 71.9 per cent on top of last year, so there is no question that flash storage is dominating the present market and driving greater expectations around performance, and data centre and TCO (total cost of ownership) reduction.

Fintech firms still see a future for fiduciary compliance tools

Financial services marketing consultant Dan Sondhelm, CEO of Sondhelm Partners, said it was smart for the firms to have aggressively promoted DoL-related features before the rule came into effect. "Whether a law is in place to protect investors isn't the issue," Sondhelm says. "The problem is now visible. Advisers have to have to deal with the problem. They have to have an answer and process to show they are looking out for the best interest of their clients. Smarter clients will keep this issue top of mind." There's been no slowdown in demand for the analytics platform being offered by Boston-based FinMason, says its CEO Kendrick Wakeman. "We are not changing our products in light of the delay of the DoL and last week was one of the busiest weeks we have had in our history from the standpoint of sales demand," he says.

When Hacks Are about Image instead of Money

The biggest risks from these hacks is not the exposure of personally identifying information, but the erosion of trust in our organizations and notable figures. This is because cyberespionage and sabotage campaigns don’t just deal with leaked information. Once a hacker gains high-privilege access to a network, he or she can change internal data, public-facing assets and even insert fake data. If you think fake news is a problem, what about the possibility of fake medical or financial information making the rounds with no way to verify its legitimacy? Unfortunately, like most issues in security, there isn’t a straightforward solution to the problem. It’s impossible to predict how extortion can take place, or what data will be used to tarnish the victim’s image.

As cities get smarter, hackers become more dangerous: This could stop them

After the forensic exams were ordered, several of those who filed suit asked the judge to drop their complaints, either because they suspected Anthem would find evidence the data was lost before the breach or because they didn’t want to submit to having their PCs snooped. Or perhaps they just didn’t want the inconvenience of giving up use of their machines for the duration of the search. Regardless, it proved an effective legal strategy for Anthem. If just a few of those who sue walk away, it still means fewer possible payouts. And it points out how difficult it is to prove that personal data used by criminals was stolen in a particular breach. Yes, the victim’s information was exploited, but how it got into the hands of the criminals is not so easily determined.

DARPA to eliminate “patch & pray” by baking chips with cybersecurity fortification

“Security for electronic systems has been left up to software until now, but the overall confidence in this approach is summed up in the sardonic description of this standard practice as ‘patch and pray,’” said SSITH program manager Linton Salmon of the Agency’s Microsystems Technology Office in a statement. “This race against ever more clever cyber intruders is never going to end if we keep designing our systems around gullible hardware that can be fooled in countless ways by software.” Salmon said SSITH specifically seeks to address the seven classes of hardware vulnerabilities listed in the Common Weakness Enumeration, a crowd-sourced compendium of security issues that is familiar to the information technology security community.

21 Hot Programming Trends & 21 Going Cold

Programmers love to sneer at the world of fashion where trends blow through like breezes. Skirt lengths rise and fall, pigments come and go, ties get fatter, then thinner. But in the world of technology, rigor, science, math, and precision rule over fad. That's not to say programming is a profession devoid of trends. The difference is that programming trends are driven by greater efficiency, increased customization, and ease of use. The new technologies that deliver one or more of these eclipse the previous generation. It's a meritocracy, not a whimsy-ocracy. What follows is a list of what's hot and what's not among today's programmers. Not everyone will agree with what's A-listed, what's D-listed, and what's been left out. That's what makes programming an endlessly fascinating profession: rapid change, passionate debate, sudden comebacks.

Quote for the day:

"Excellent firms don’t believe in excellence – only in constant improvement and constant change." -- @tom_peters

Daily Tech Digest - April 11, 2017

Why a Quiet Blockchain Consortium Could Soon Make Noise

Amidst this backdrop, an upcoming piece of legislation is set to buffet the industry with a sweeping change that will produce upheaval and possibly contraction. I'm talking about MiFid II. It's hard to overstate the impact these regulations will have on asset management. Due to come into force in January 2018, MiFid II aims to increase transparency, enhancing investor protection and removing shady practices in pricing and allocation. Fund managers will be required to pay separately for research, financial advisers will no longer earn a commission and reporting requirements will multiply. And that's just scratching the surface. An independent report estimates the cost of complying with Mifid II to be more than £2.5bn. This is likely to bring about a sector shift, with many smaller firms not being able to bear the cost, and larger enterprises offsetting the increase elsewhere.

Why the board needs security leaders to fuel disciplined growth

As the risk of breaches increases, boards – whose role when they oversee the CEO is to act as fiduciaries on behalf of shareholders– are increasingly at risk of falling short of their responsibilities. While board members are not expected to be experts on information security, they must make sure that the company has the right people and processes in place to erect defenses against information security violations, to establish procedures for monitoring the level of information security, and to make sure that the right steps are taken should a security breach occur. At the same time, CISOs should educate board members about the best information security practices among peer companies as well as introducing board members to important trends in hacking and defense. Such briefings will help directors to evaluate proposals for investment of people and capital into new technologies and processes to protect companies against an ever-evolving information security threat environment.

Blockchain: The Battle To Secure Digital Identities

Recently, IBM and SecureKey also announced they are working together with the main goal of creating a “new digital identity and attribute sharing network” to make it easier for users to verify their data in a privacy-enhanced, secure and efficient way. Deloitte is doing a similar project using the Ethereum blockchain. It is an open source based on a smart identity platform available for users and companies that want to obtain, verify and identity credentials when communicating with one another. This way, customers can create and store identity info such as ID reference, driving license or passport, which can be confirmed by third parties to create verifiable credentials to be used for any digital communication. This Deloitte’s platform provides many opportunities for the automation of identity-related process including customer registration and Know Your Customer (KYC).

Is Digital Privacy A Right Or A Privilege?

The proponents of net neutrality rollbacks argue that tiered rate schedules will fund infrastructure innovation. The supporters of anti-privacy legislation argue that there’s little distinction between media companies (like Facebook) and ISPs, and both should have the right to collect and sell data that reflects the behavior of their customers. These are the business arguments. Are there other arguments we might want to consider? First, everyone should have the right to opt-out of the collection and distribution of personal data without losing privileged services or paying higher rates or extra fees. If a media company or an ISP wants to collect and sell my data it should only do so with my explicit permission – which I might well give (for a price). Why shouldn’t individuals share in these revenue streams? If I spend a ton of money online every year and everyone wants to follow me, stream to me and entice me, why shouldn’t I get a piece of the action?

MapR Announces Availability of Native Tableau Connector for Apache Drill

“Strong demand from our joint customers led to this tighter integration,” said Robert Green, director of product management at Tableau. “Tableau and Apache Drill share a common view on self-service data discovery and this development opens up new avenues for users of both technologies.” Apache Drill is a supported data source for Tableau bringing more robust integration compared to generic ODBC. The MapR Tableau Connector for Apache Drill delivers tighter metadata integration between Tableau and Apache Drill, and brings advanced analytics capabilities that leverage Tableau Sets to Apache Drill users. Additionally, Tableau users on Macs can now access Apache Drill.

No vendor lock-in fear with converged infrastructure

Cisco reached out to all the appropriate experts, who joined in on a call. The problem resided within a software-based Trend Micro firewall. The firewall was deactivated, which resolved the PCoIP problem. Before settling on HyperFlex, Safonov said he shopped around. He got three quotes from hyper-converged vendors and three quotes for more traditional architectures, including all-flash arrays. While his paramount concern was price, Safonov was still worried about managing servers, storage and networking gear from different vendors. "We would still have to troubleshoot across all the vendors," he said. Perry said the reduced concern about vendor lock-in may not last forever. It could change if server software and management tools head down an increasingly proprietary path.

Software developers – business enabler or hostage taker?

The skills attained during a computer science degree will be out of date by graduation, meaning organisations need to look beyond blunt qualification statements. Without undertaking specific skills tests, it is impossible to ascertain whether an individual can truly do the job. In addition, technical skills alone are not the only requirement. These individuals need to work as part of a team – are they team players? Do they buy in to the specific development processes of that organisation? Many developers are perfectionists which sounds great in theory, but is useless in practice – the software will never be good enough, never ready to be deployed. A pragmatic attitude is essential; plus an understanding of the importance of a standardised development process. Determining whether or not an individual has the right mix of skills and expertise to become a good software developer is a very significant challenge

Mobile Analyst: Factoring in Progressive Web Apps a Matter of 'When,' Not 'If'

More recently, Google announced deeper integration of PWA technology into its Android mobile OS. "Once a user adds a progressive Web app to their home screen, Chrome will integrate it into Android in a much deeper way than before," Google said. ... "PWAs aim to disrupt the mobile app paradigm by bridging the Web experience with native app functionality, by using the latest browser technologies to meld the accessibility of the Web with the presence of the mobile app," Wong said in a recent blog post promoting that research. "Most of the leading desktop and mobile browsers (except for Safari and browsers on iOS at the time of writing) have embraced the browser advancements (service workers) brought forth by Mozilla, Google, Facebook and others to implement service workers that enable a Web site to behave like an app," Wong continued.

Why smart stores don't check out

Amazon's "Just Walk-Out Technology" has one job: to figure out what you're taking out of the store. As you remove items from the shelf, A.I. uses multiple inputs to figure out what you grabbed. Cameras watch you take it. Scales built into the shelves provide data to calculate the weight of what you took. Amazon's patent filing suggests that the system may also refer to past purchases to help identify current ones. In other words, intelligent software analyzes a video feed to determine that you removed something from the shelf that looked like a cupcake. It considers data from the shelf, which is also a scale, and calculates that you took something that weighs about as much as a cupcake. And it checks your purchase history — it knows you're a cupcake-eating maniac. After all that input, the software decides that you took a cupcake off the shelf and adds it to your list, which is kept up-to-date in real time as you shop.

Why we must strengthen cyber risk management now

When it comes to combating financial crime, financial institutions are increasingly in the frontline of defense. Regulators the world over require financial institutions to meet stringent Know Your Customer (KYC), anti-money laundering and sanctions rules and regulations. Complying with such obligations in multiple jurisdictions is demanding – and increasingly costly – but the costs and reputational impact of non-compliance are even higher. SWIFT has a broad finance crime compliance portfolio, developed with the SWIFT community. It’s a suite of managed and shared services that leverages our platform, technology and standards expertise to cut through the complexity and give the industry simpler, more cost-effective ways to meet the challenges of financial crime compliance.

Quote for the day:

"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen." -- John Wooden

Daily Tech Digest - April 10, 2017

Building a strategic threat intelligence program

In spite of more modern protocols available, Barros views SIEM as more simplistic than UEBA models. SIEM correlation typically generates alerts for each situation, treating potential threats as isolated. Some SIEM products, such as Qradar, are capable of aggregating potential threats based on timing and IP addresses, but Barros said this product is primarily intended for aggregation and reducing the number of alerts rather than correlation. "SIEM correlation is still useful, but we need to recognize its limitations and embrace the new capabilities of new tools such as UEBA to improve that. As we've been talking, SIEM and UEBA are getting closer every day, so now it's just a matter of time before SIEMs move (or give the option) to track issues based on entity scores. But if you want to have that now, you should look at UEBA tools," Barros said.

What one company learned from testing Intel's superfast Optane SSDs

Optane gives tremendous flexibility to how Aerospike deploys its software because it helps speed up critical tasks like database indexing. The Aerospike database is highly flexible thanks to its hybrid memory architecture, meaning it can be deployed on different types of systems including all-flash arrays, converged infrastructures, or through major cloud services like Amazon AWS. The software is notably adaptable to a cluster topology via direct-attached storage managers. The database architecture can be broken into spokes and set up for high availability through database replication on interconnected servers. Optane cuts the network round-trip time, and that helps build a faster and more reliable database. Aerospike's database can help can create an environment where Optane can be used like RAM for in-memory processing or SSD for caching or hot storage.

The evolution of data center segmentation

In a nutshell, micro-segmentation offers a more granular method for separating workloads and controlling application in these cloud environments. Individual workloads can be isolated using a zero-trust model with whitelist controls enabled for specific network and application flows between workloads. Products and features such as firewalls, IPS, VRFs and VLANs have long been used to provide segmentation as a common best practice. While these can shrink the attack surface, the operational aspects can prove to be difficult. Traffic must be hair-pinned to firewalls, and there is a lack of granular controls to filter the east-west traffic inside of a VLAN. Getting visibility and telemetry can also be an issue, especially for east-west traffic. As a result, assets requiring separation are often placed in different VLANs. This leads to the creation of new firewall rules, IP subnets, routing and default gateways.

Email-Based Attacks Exploit Unpatched Vulnerability In Microsoft Word

When the rogue documents used in this attack are opened, they reach out to an external server and download an HTA (HTML Application) file that contains malicious VBScript code. The HTA file is disguised as an RTF (Rich Text Format) document and is automatically executed. "The successful exploit closes the bait Word document, and pops up a fake one to show the victim," the McAfee researchers said. "In the background, the malware has already been stealthily installed on the victim’s system." By searching back through its data, McAfee has tracked down attacks exploiting this vulnerability to late January. Following McAfee's report, security researchers from FireEye also confirmed that they've been aware of these attacks and exploit for several weeks and have coordinated disclosure with Microsoft.

Three Of The Biggest Cyber Security Threats To Australian Business

"Attackers will research employees' personal information and activity online and leverage these details to convince them to click a link and/or download a document that subsequently infects their device." Bentley believes the best way to combat against personalised, socially engineered attacks is to not just create awareness programs but also to deploy advanced email security solutions. These work by helping to identify and quarantine these emails before they ever reach an employee's inbox. Itay Glick, CEO and co-founder Votiro told HuffPost Australia the three key elements to good protection are training, detection and protection. "Training will only take you so far. When someone in the HR department receives an email from a job applicant with a CV, they will most likely open this file. They are simply doing their job and through doing so, can put an organisation at risk," Glick said.

Flatbed scanners are latest cyberattack vector

The malware compromises the scanner and allows the scanner to receive the light-modulated commands at certain pre-defined times: Every day at 11 o’clock, is one example the researchers use. The attacker, however, remotely controls the light source creating the commands. That allows the actual attack to be run on the fly at a pre-determined day of the perpetrator’s choosing—destroying files just before a moving-target important event, like a presentation, say. Control of the light source could be through a micro-controller, connected to the light source, and running an algorithm creating sequences of bright shades of light that fool the scanner. The attacker does have his work cut-out for him, though. The attack will fail if the flatbed scanner lid is fully closed, and the algorithm isn’t all that easy to figure—light is influenced by distance, and other light sources, for example. The further the distance the harder the attack is.

AI, Machine Learning as a Service Set to Overhaul Healthcare

Coupled with an artificial intelligence sector slated to bring more than $46 billion in revenue to vendors by 2020, MLaaS could fundamentally revolutionize the way healthcare organizations approach big data analytics by making these tools more budget-friendly for a broader range of organizations. “Intelligent applications based on cognitive computing, artificial intelligence, and deep learning are the next wave of technology transforming how consumers and enterprises work, learn, and play,” says David Schubmehl, research director, cognitive systems and content analytics at IDC, which compiled the AI report. “These applications are being developed and implemented on cognitive/AI software platforms that offer the tools and capabilities to provide predictions, recommendations, and intelligent assistance through the use of cognitive systems, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. ...”

Machine Learning At American Express: Benefits & Requirements

In the case of fraud detection and prevention, machine learning has been helpful to improve American Express’s already excellent track record, including their online business interactions. To do this, modeling methods make use of a variety of data sources including card membership information, spending details, and merchant information. The goal is to stop fraudulent transactions before substantial loss is incurred while allowing normal business transactions to proceed in a timely manner. A customer has swiped their card to make a purchase, for instance, and expects to get approval immediately. ... Chao mentioned that one of his favorite uses of machine learning at American Express is to build a machine learning mobile phone application to provide customized recommendations for restaurant choices.

Setting Up Security as a Business: 3 Best Practices for Security Execs

The existence of CyberGRX and other new services signals a movement in the security community. It's a clear confirmation that security is now a fundamental business issue and a potential growth advantage — and that security executives must take the lead in convening the business and having discussions about how security becomes a strategic lever. And more often, security execs have the floor. The massive amount of cyberattacks, exploits, and cybercrime have made it clear that every company will be affected by a security issue. Security officers no longer have to waste time legitimizing security as a business risk; they should be the lead executives who provide the insightful information and details on business impact that business leaders need to make sound decisions.

Predictive Analytics Can Stop Ransomware In Its Tracks

“Protecting an organization from ransomware or any type of malware is similar to an arms race, as the threat evolves so must your defenses!” Malewicz said. The county turned to predictive analytics in hopes of halting the ransomware attacks. Livingston County uses Unitrends backup solution to provide Malewicz's team peace of mind that in the event our cyber defense fails. “Ransomware was largely unheard of years ago, but today it's a household name - everyone knows someone or some organization which has been infected. The future guarantees that more menacing ransomware variants will take center stage wreaking havoc in our homes and places of business. When ransomware exploits bypass perimeter cyber defenses you have only to rely on your predictive analytic cyber defenses to protect you, else I hope you have stable and secure backup to fall back on!” he said.

Quote for the day:

"We'd achieve more if we chased the dream instead of the competition." -- @simonsinek

Daily Tech Digest - April 09, 2017

Why more tech workers should take sabbaticals

Taking a break from work, like a long weekend, is one way that employees and their managers can use to counteract burnout. Another tactic is to move an employee to a less stressful assignment, or to transfer an employee to a new area of work where he/she can get away from older pressures and start fresh. Still another tactic is to develop staff "bench strength" so that project stresses don't continuously fall on the same group of people. Finally, it helps to have fun and relaxation at work! An occasional pizza party, an onsite exercise workout room, or even a quiet sanctuary where employees can meditate or relax their minds, all contribute. Five years ago, only 4% of American companies offered sabbaticals, and the reality is, many smaller and mid-sized companies simply don't have the bench strength to offer them.

Bank consortium demonstrates leveraged loan trade via blockchain

Long said the goal of the test was to prove not just that a trade can be done over blockchain, but that it is well worth the investment in terms of time and cost savings for syndicated loan buyers and sellers. The demonstration, which involved a typical roster of syndicated loan trade participants, showed that a trade could potentially be settled in a few days, at much lower cost. Other efforts are underway to speed up trade settlement. The LSTA recently introduced rules aimed at discouraging buyers from dragging their feet in bringing their money to the table. As a result, median settlement times have been reduced from 16 days to 11 days since 2013. But banks are still aiming for loan-trade settlements in under three days, Long said. “We were looking to automate processing and remove all duplication and we did succeed at that,” Long said.

Why a combination of agile and DevOps is essential in propelling digital transformation

New research commissioned by CA Technologies shows that 67 per cent of UK organisations using an agile methodology experience an improvement in customer experience. It also highlights how DevOps and agile are better together than apart: Organisations that add DevOps practices to an agile environment improve new business growth by 38 per cent more than using agile alone. Agile and DevOps together also increase operational efficiency by 23 per cent, compared to using agile alone. However, organisations need to do more than simply launch both in unison and assume great customer experiences will emerge. They need to mature their agile and DevOps deployments as quickly as possible, because that’s where the greatest payback lies.

How CIOs can drive change by setting a vision

“We lead people,” he continues, “not projects.”Shurts forged that perspective through, among other experiences, a series of challenging and complicated CIO assignments, all of which involved organizations in massive need of change, and in massive need of decisive leadership. ... The mission mattered, not just for motivational purposes, but also because it was true and transparent. And sharing ownership of that mission was sorely needed to get past the reticence of many IT staffers. “Otherwise, to some degree, we were a bunch of professionals coming into the office just to do something,” Shurts says. To a high degree, it worked. After Shurts invited his boss, the division president, to a town hall about the project, the executive told his colleagues (as Shurts recalls) that Shurts’ team ‘really believes they’re working on the most important thing for this company.’ Shurts thought to himself, “Damn it, Rick — you should, too!”

The Unreasonable Ineffectiveness of Machine Learning in Computer Systems Research

A contemporary example of such “unreasonable effectiveness” is the success that machine learning has had in transforming many disciplines in the past decade. Particularly impressive is the progress in autonomous vehicles. In the 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge for autonomous vehicles, which popularized the idea of driverless cars, none of the vehicles was able to complete a relatively simple route through the Mojave Desert, and I thought it unlikely that I would see driverless cars operating in urban environments in my lifetime. Since that time, progress in this area has been phenomenal, thanks to rapid advances in using machine learning for sensing and navigation. Driverless long-haul trucks are apparently just a few years away, and the main worry now is not so much the safety of these trucks but the specter of unemployment facing millions of people currently employed as truck drivers.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing: what, why and where

Artificial intelligence is being used faster in many technological and societal areas although there is quite some hype about what “it” can do from vendors. Still, the increasing attention and adoption of forms of AI in specific areas triggers debates about how far we want it to go in the future. Prominent technology leaders have warned about the danger and think tanks and associations have been set up to think about and watch over the long-term impact of AI (and robotics) with dicussions on the future of humanity and the impact of superintelligence but also, closer to today’s concerns, impact of automation/AI/robots on employment. Anyway, it again adds to that mix of ingredients that creates the conditions to strengthen the negative connotation regarding the term artificial intelligence

So You Want to Be a Data Scientist? – It’s Complicated

Anyone who is considering a career in data science needs to understand first, the myriad of things such a career involves, the type of education and training required, and exactly what the job market holds. And because the field is growing so fast, students and mid-career professionals both have an opportunity to move into data science careers, if they get the right education and training. ... There is no single definition of data science, as it varies with industry, specific business, and what the purpose of the data scientist’s role is. And different roles require different skill sets, therefore the educational and training path is not uniform. Data scientists can come from many fields – math, statistics, computer science, and even engineering.

Technology has forever changed our creative thinking. Here's how to take it back

When you walk around these days, count how many people are looking down at their phones. Almost everyone! Surprising, right? It’s sad how frequently screens have substituted the need for others in our lives. The same is true when working on projects. Having a person around IRL is more valuable than shooting an email over or setting up a call to ask for feedback. When creating with others, you’re able to share your ideas and creations at the moment they’re being made. While you chat things through, new ideas could even come to light based on the discussions that you’re having with real time feedback. In addition, behind a screen, you don’t get to see the actual project you’re working with nor have the luxury to read the body language behind the other individual to see their thoughts and feelings.

The Synthesis Of Enterprise Architecture And Design Thinking

To be human-centred is to focus on people and outcomes. While traditionally Enterprise Architecture has arguably been pre-occupied with outputs (i.e., various domain specific models or views of the business) a human-centred approach demands a shift in focus to the outcomes that a design process delivers (including the experience of the design process itself as an outcome). This dynamic has seen us re-think the TOGAF ADM as a series of design activities that each require a meshing of both Enterprise Architecture and Design Thinking to deliver not only the blueprints and plans needed to guide change, but also carefully crafted experiences that change individuals, organisational culture and create opportunity for insight.

The relationship between enterprise architecture artefacts

Considerations (principles, policies, maxims, etc.) are global conceptual rules and fundamental considerations important for business and relevant for IT. Standards (technology reference models, guidelines, reference architectures, etc.) are global technical rules, standards, patterns and best practices relevant for IT systems. Visions (business capability models, roadmaps, future state architectures, etc.) are high-level conceptual descriptions of an organization from the business perspective. Landscapes are high-level technical descriptions of the organisational IT landscape. Outlines (solution overviews, conceptual architectures, options papers, etc.) are high-level descriptions of specific IT initiatives understandable to business leaders. Designs are detailed technical descriptions of specific IT projects actionable for project teams.

Quote for the day:

"There will always be someone who thinks you can't succeed. Make sure that someone is never you."-- @LeadToday

Daily Tech Digest - April 08, 2017

For CIOs, email data security should still be a top priority

CIOs first need to understand the DMARC standards that have been published and understand that there are companies that can help prevent the fraudulent use of your email domains, thus protecting your brand. For example, there are a number of customers whose email domains were hijacked to elicit personal information or extort money. There have also been instances where an email, appearing to come from the same company, is sent to a corporate executive with instructions that are intended to harm the company -- such as transferring large amounts of money. In my role as CIO at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, criminal organizations would use the CBP email domain to send out demand notices for payment of duty and fine. Spear phishing is another core problem for corporations. Cybercriminals use targeted spear phishing of corporations' emails as one of their most common attack vectors.

Analytics As A Source Of Business Innovation

At Bridgestone, analytics allows the company to innovate new processes in key areas, such as site selection and staffing. A new staffing program, using predictive analytics, determines the appropriate allocation of 22,000 workers across 2,200 stores — putting enough workers in stores for peak demand while avoiding unneeded labor costs when business is slower. “The headcount model we built is based on standard industry practice, but it’s groundbreaking here at Bridgestone,” says Moody. The payoff will be millions of dollars per year in efficiency gains and increased sales, he says. The key advantage for Bridgestone is applying those industry standard practices in ways that capitalize on Bridgestone’s unique capabilities.

How AI, IoT and blockchain will shake up procurement and supply chains

Are the machines going to be able to make all the decisions and we will have no role to play? You can say the same thing about all aspects of life, so why only procurement? I think human intelligence is still here to stay. I believe, personally, it can be augmented. Let's take a concrete example to see what it means. At SAP Ariba, we are working on a product called product sourcing. Essentially this product takes a bill of material (BOM), and it tells you the impact. So what is so cool about it? One of our customers has a BOM, which is an eight-level deep tree with 10 million nodes in it. In this 10 million-node commodity tree, or BOM, a person is responsible for managing all the items. But how does he or she know what is the impact of a delay on the entire tree? How do you visualize that?

Tracking the explosive growth of open-source software

High on the list, at No. 3, was MySQL, the database technology first developed in 1995. MySQL currently helps run huge, Web-scale companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter. But it’s also worth noting that several “NoSQL” database technologies — which are non-relational databases, unlike MySQL, and are often better suited for parsing the unstructured data being thrown off by many companies today — also ranked highly. These NoSQL technologies include MongoDB, which came in at No. 9 in our index; Redis, which is being commercialized by company Redis Labs, at No. 12; Cassandra, which came in at No. 25 and is behind the database company DataStax; and Elasticsearch at No. 7, which is being commercialized by Elastic. MongoDB raised a new round of financing in late 2015 — the company is estimated to be valued at around $1.5 billion

Experience The Magic Of Internet of Things Automation (IoT)

Several industries and domains are now experimenting with Internet of Things automation (IoT) to step into a new age where everything can be controlled centrally. Smart homes, smart cities, smart parking systems to smart shopping malls, everything is covered under this technology. Some of these Internet of Things automation systems are already implemented in some countries, while others are still in planning phase. Once everything is set up through internet of things automation, anything can be controlled centrally! It has the potential to spoil users for convenience, flexibility and comfort. Technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate. Businesses have to adapt to these technological updates and trends to match their customer’s expectations and survive in the highly competitive IT market. Let’s join hands with Internet of Things to redefine our lifestyles.

Managing Logistical Relationships in a Graph Database

One concrete example of graph databases being used in logistics is eBay, who (owing to the acquisition of Shutl) provides a service that uses graphs to compute fast, localized door-to-door delivery of goods between buyers and sellers, scaling their business to include the supply chain. Incidentally, eBay observed that before turning to graphs the latency of their longest query was higher than their shortest physical delivery, both around 15 minutes — something that can’t now be replicated when an average query is powered by a graph database and takes 1/50th of a second! The eBay example is not isolated. Organizations large and small are adopting and winning with graphs in retail, finance, telecoms, IT, gaming, real estate, healthcare, science, and dozens of more areas.

Low-tech threats make high-tech cybersecurity everyone's business

Firewalls and cutting-edge technology designed to keep networks safe and secure can be undone simply by asking employees to click a link. An email requesting employee W-2s that looks like it's coming from the CEO can turn a well-meaning worker into the unwitting source of a data leak. That's why Kris Evans travels the country to speak about cybersecurity and why it's everyone's business, whether it's a janitor or a CEO. He gave a keynote last month at a cybersecurity conference on the North Dakota State University campus. "We're seeing that hackers' best friends are friendly employees," said Evans, a certified identity theft risk management consultant and national marketing director for Harvard Risk Management Corp. NDSU makes cybersecurity everyone's business, not just tech professionals like Marc Wallman.

Analytics, IT security and cloud among top areas for IT investment

Business analytics not only tops the list of IT investments, but it also ranks first on the list of departments that executives think deserve even more investment. It has also, according to Torres, ranked as one of the highest investments for a longer period of time than any other item. “This topic area has been number one on this investor list for the last eight years, and it’s been in the top three for well over a decade now,” he said. “Even other technologies that had huge interests for long periods of time — ERP comes to mind — didn’t see this level of stability at that top spot.” Torres explained that the competition to hire the best talent is what’s driving much of the spending on business analytics. “If you look at business analytics programs, particularly at the graduate level, these are springing up all over the place at colleges and universities,” he said.

IBM InterConnect pushes new new thing as now

Disruptive technologies also have their place in more day-to-day, but no less important, uses. In a session on managing multicloud environments -- combinations, for example, of software applications, infrastructure services and private cloud implementations -- speaker Judith Hurwitz said cognitive computing can be used to collect data about IT systems and then understand what optimal performance levels IT systems should be at. "It doesn't happen on day one," said Hurwitz, president of Hurwitz & Associates and author of many books on IT. "But over time you'll start to collect this data and say, 'Gee, I know the normal condition for these three systems exchanging information and working together should act like this. And one day it acts differently. It goes ping-ping-ping. Well, that's not normal.'"

Why Google BigQuery Excels At BI On Big Data Concurrency

"Concurrency, I think, was the biggest one," Klahr says. "But the user experience with BigQuery was also really nice. Maybe this isn't a surprise because Google has focused so much on consumer products over the years: Everything about using the product was really nice. The thing that actually took the longest was loading the data from our local network onto the cloud. Once we had the data there, the creation of the tables was really easy." For its benchmark, AtScale used the same model it deployed last year for its benchmark tests of SQL-on-Hadoop engines on BI workloads. For that test, the idea was to help technology evaluators select the best SQL-on-Hadoop technology for their BI use cases. The goal was the same for the Google BigQuery benchmark.

Quote for the day:

"Yesterday is dust. Tomorrow is a dream. Our gift is now." -- Gabriel Byrne

Daily Tech Digest - April 07, 2017

Why artificial intelligence still needs a human touch

If AI is currently struggling to discern facts from fiction, could it be that human intelligence is still a necessary component for the continued successful integration of AI? In a much simpler time, Google was a search engine that indexed websites. Today, the search giant is evolving towards giving users summarised answers to their billions of questions. Type in a word and you’ll get the definition. Type in a name and you’ll get a short biography. Type in a question and roughly one in five times, Google will generate a specific answer. This evolution of Google Search into something one could call Google “Q&A” goes hand in hand with the rapid evolution away from typed search towards AI-powered voice assistants.

Trust issues: Know the limits of SSL certificates

There are many reasons a domain owner may decide to obtain a TLS/SSL certificate, but the most common one is to give users a way to verify that the site is authentic and the owner is legitimate. Another reason is that—in this day of rampant surveillance, tracking, and eavesdropping—there is growing interest in encrypting all traffic moving from the user’s computer or mobile device and the web server hosting the application. These are two distinct reasons for getting certificates, but both rely on HTTPS. That HTTPS reliance has made it easy for domain owners and internet users to conflate the two, causing further confusion beyond the trust issues, said Ilia Kolochenko, CEO of web security company High-Tech Bridge. “We should separate the HTTP traffic encryption and website identity verification questions.

How IBM wants to use Watson to speed up IT help desk support

The solution will be offered at a set price, the release noted, and will help personalize the helpdesk experience for all employees, even those who are more tech-savvy. The new service will also be able to support a mobile-centric IT environment as well. Users can chat with Watson thanks to its natural language processing capabilities, and the helpdesk service will suggest solutions based on previous experiences. The more interactions that the Watson service has and learns from, the better it will understand common IT problems, the release said. However, if it encounters a new problem that it doesn't have a solution for, the user will be transferred to a human support agent. The new service is always on, and will be available to employees at all times. And the automation that is built into it can take actions on behalf of the customers, like "adding additional storage to an email account, unlocking a password, ordering of a new phone etc.," the release said.

How Big Data is Becoming Smaller Than Small Data

Owners of e-commerce companies are often unaware that they are using Big Data. The owner of an online boutique, for example, could look at her premium Google Analytics reports and order her webmaster to make certain changes beneficial to visitors and conducive to more sales. Unless this boutique is getting millions of visitors each day, the owner made a decision based on small data; however, the recommendation came from Big Data. Business solutions such as Google Analytics essentially turn Big Data into small data. The results are easy to interpret so that actionable decisions can be made, and this is very important for e-commerce operators. An example of an e-commerce website that makes good decisions based on small data is SNI’s pharmaceutical sales training, which has been carefully designed after looking at "heat maps" that show how visitors behave when they browse each page and where they are more likely to click.

10 Fun Tech Ads Through the Years

It's rare for us to spend an hour-long staff meeting in nonstop laughter. But that's pretty much what happened when we gathered to go through old print issues of Computerworld as part of our 40th anniversary celebration. The original idea of hauling those Computerworld issues out of storage was to look at important stories we've covered. But we couldn't get over the ads! "80 Mbytes of storage for less than $12,000!" boasts one. In another, a woman in hot pants touts a modem that's, yes, "maybe even sexy." There's even a campy B movie celebrity hawking development software. It was too much fun not to share. So after one of the best meetings ever, we bring you 10 of our favorite, most entertaining IT ads from Computerworld throughout the years.

Wish list: What I’d like to see in the new Mac Pro

A lot of Mac Pro users rely on external storage, but you also need enough internal storage. The current Mac Pro includes 256GB of flash storage, and for content developers, that’s too small. At least 1TB is ideal, but it’s expensive. 512GB, while probably on the small side, is a good cost/capacity compromise. You can upgrade the current cylindrical Mac Pro with a third-party SSD, like one offered by OWC. But the installation involves more than simply disconnecting and removing the old drive and connecting and placing the new one. A new tower case could make it really easy to perform a storage upgrade. Also revealed during Apple’s Mac Pro briefing: The company is working on a pro display. No details were offered on the display, but Apple worked with LG on the UltraFine 5K Display, which can lead you into the direction Apple will probably take with its pro display.

People Are Paying to Work From Bars and Restaurants

Co-working spaces, where people rent desks and offices alongside other freelance or satellite workers, have become a global sensation, led by WeWork Cos. The New York-based company was valued at more than $17 billion last month after an investment from SoftBank Group Corp. WeWork provides members with free snacks and access to in-office beer kegs. It has 162 office locations in 41 cities around the world. WeWork’s hometown is one of the world’s co-working capitals. Commercial real estate devoted to co-working in New York City has grown fivefold in the past five years, according to Jonathan Mazur, managing director at real estate firm Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. The city, with its high concentration of restaurants and bars, offers plenty of options for Spacious and its rivals, such as WorkEatPlay and KettleSpace.

Keeping the enterprise secure in the age of mass encryption

Businesses urgently need to improve their management of encrypted tunnels, or they risk compromising the effectiveness of our cyber security defences. But for that to happen, organisations must first gain visibility and control over their expansive estates of digital keys and certificates. These keys and certificates are the cryptographic assets that form the foundation of encryption, allowing machines to identify each other in the same way usernames and passwords work for human users. ... The growth of HTTPS is both a positive and negative thing. Encryption is the primary tool used to keep internet transactions out of the reach of prying eyes, and we’ve seen increased adoption over the past few years, partly driven by revelations of mass state surveillance exposed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

2017 State of Testing Report

Testers’ ability to dissect products built on AI or VR would give them great benefit for designing more and more test ideas. I would personally try applying a variety of heuristics that I know (SFDIPOT, I SLICED UP FUN, FCC CUTS VIDS, Huh? Really? So? Etc.) in order to understand the product better. To keep up with such fascinating developments, I would recommend practicing critical thinking and develop a deeper understanding of the man-machine relationship. ... A piece of advice that I think is extremely important for people, specially for testers starting to work on something new such as VR and AI, is to work as a user with these things. “Get your hands dirty” and experience first hand what your users will be doing with the products you are testing. This first hand experience will be second to none when approaching your projects and looking for those important bugs that represent the behavior of your users in the real world.

Google's defense in depth

Google is a firm believer of defense in depth when it comes to security. This much is evident from the physical security of its data centers, where multiple layers of checks ensure that only authorized personnel can step into the highly-secured facilities. Only employees that are on a preauthorized list, consisting of a very small fraction of all Google employees, are allowed through the gates of a Google data center. Much like a typical data center, a second check is required before one can enter the building. Finally, stepping into the secure corridor leading into the data center hall necessitates clearing a biometric scan such as an iris scan, said Joe Kava, vice president of Google’s data center operations in a 2014 video. Inside, the data center is segregated for security, with the most secure areas protected by laser-based underfloor intrusion detection systems.

Quote for the day:

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing." -- Walt Disney