IT Executive news

• Schools put on high alert for JBoss ransomware exploit

  15-04-2016 23:44
  More than 2,000 machines at schools and other organizations have been infected with a backdoor in unpatched versions of JBoss that could be used at any moment to install ransomware such as Samsam.
  That's according to Cisco's Talos threat-intelligence organization, which on Friday announced that roughly 3.2 million machines worldwide are at risk.
  Many of those already infected run Follett's Destiny library-management software, which is used by K-12 schools worldwide.To read this article in
  
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• Facebook at Work pushed to ‘later this year’

  15-04-2016 22:47
  
  The long wait for Facebook at Work continues. The enterprise version of the world’s most popular social network was supposed to be made publicly available last year. However, it’s still in closed beta with no clear sign of a release date in sight.Facebook’s business product -- which it says will replace or augment email, IM and collaboration app -- was on display at F8 this week but never shown or even mentioned on the big stage. There was a small booth at Facebook’s annu
  
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• That man who ‘deleted his entire company’ with a line of code? It was a hoax

  15-04-2016 22:38
  
  The owner of a Web hosting company who claimed to have erased his entire business from the Internet with a single script command appears to have made the whole thing up.Marco Marsala of Italy posted a cry for help on the popular Server Fault forum earlier this week, claiming he’d accidentally erased all the data on his servers including backups.“I run a small hosting provider with more or less 1,535 customers and I use Ansible to automate some operations to be run on all servers,&rdq
  
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• Business imperatives drove Microsoft to sue U.S. government

  15-04-2016 22:27
  
  Microsoft's decision to take on the U.S. government's habit of stamping "Secret" on court orders demanding data stored on the company's servers was largely motivated by business concerns, a legal expert said Thursday.
  The Redmond, Wash. firm also implied that business reasons drove it to ask that a section of a 1986 law be declared unconstitutional.
  "The government's secrecy orders forbid cloud service providers from letting businesses know that the government has obtained their data," said Bra
  
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• Mitel will buy Polycom for $2 billion in a tough enterprise communications market

  15-04-2016 22:25
  
  Mitel's planned acquisition of phone and videoconferencing veteran Polycom for nearly US $2 billion comes as the enterprise communications industry faces dramatic changes brought by mobility and cloud-based services.The Ottawa-based maker of corporate voice systems has agreed to pay $1.96 billion for Polycom in a deal it says would form the biggest conference phone and business cloud communications company in the world. The deal, announced Friday, still needs shareholder approval but is expected
  
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• MIT's new bug finder uncovers flaws in Web apps in 64 seconds

  15-04-2016 20:02
  
  Finding bugs in Web applications is an ongoing challenge, but a new tool from MIT exploits some of the idiosyncrasies in the Ruby on Rails programming framework to quickly uncover new ones.
  In tests on 50 popular Web applications written using Ruby on Rails, the system found 23 previously undiagnosed security flaws, and it took no more than 64 seconds to analyze any given program.
  Ruby on Rails is distinguished from other frameworks because it defines even its most basic operations in libraries
  
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• What is agile marketing and should you be sprinting to it?

  15-04-2016 19:14
  
   Agile marketing is hot. At the March 2016 MarTech conference in San Francisco, attendees buzzed about whether their marketing organization was “agile” or if it was still following the “waterfall’”process.In short, agile marketing is now officially a thing. The benefits of achieving an agile marketing organization can be enormous — but the challenges in getting there can be equally big.Hare the the top seven things you should know about agile marketing.1.
  
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• Skype for Web goes plugin-free in Microsoft Edge, sort of

  15-04-2016 19:01
  Six months after announcing plans for a plugin-free version of Skype on the web, Microsoft is rolling it out in a limited capacity.
  Microsoft Edge users can now conduct Skype calls and video chats on Skype.com, Outlook.com, Office Online, and OneDrive without installing any additional software. Still, this preview release is just the start of Microsoft’s attempts to liberate Skype from plugins, and several restrictions apply.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click
  
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• Apple may rebrand OS X as 'MacOS' this summer

  15-04-2016 18:33
  
  Apple may be getting ready to rebrand its OS X operating system as MacOS, according to a since-altered page on the Cupertino, Calif. company's website.
  The page, which touted Apple's environmental efforts, used "MacOS" rather than "OS X" to label the Mac's operating system. The Apple-focused website 9to5Mac noted the use of the new name late Thursday.
  Apple has changed that page, which now refers to "OS X."
  The rebranding would put the Mac's operating system more in sync with the nomenclature o
  
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• New Ninja desktops roar with Intel's 72-core supercomputing chip

  15-04-2016 18:27
  Colfax's new Ninja desktops are anything but invisible; these workstations can roar with the unprecedented computing power of Intel's latest 72-core supercomputing chips.The workstations have the upcoming Xeon Phi chip code-named Knights Landing, which Intel has claimed is its most powerful chip to date. Intel last year said a limited number of workstations with the chip would become available in 2016. Knights Landing wasn't designed with desktops in mind, but for some of the fastest superc
  
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• House passes bill to limit FCC authority on net neutrality

  15-04-2016 18:23
  The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a bill that would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from regulating broadband pricing under its net neutrality rules.
  The No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act would limit the FCC's authority over prices after the agency reclassified broadband as a regulated telecom service when it passed net neutrality rules in February 2015. The bill passed 241-173 Friday, with only five Democrats voti
  
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• Deep-dive review: The HTC 10 -- not flashy, just really good

  15-04-2016 17:29
  
  At Mobile World Congress a couple of months ago, Samsung and LG dominated the talk about smartphones with product launches that probably rivaled the GDP of some small countries. There were whispers from HTC about something new coming, but the people who were talking didn't know anything and the people who knew anything weren't talking.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• 4 reasons mergers and acquisitions are doomed to fail

  15-04-2016 17:18
  
  I got pinged by Quora this week with the question, “Why do acquisitions kill startups and apps?” I responded, but I find this question so annoying that I want to address it again here. Why I find this annoying is that while acquisitions generally destroy the acquired company they don’t have to. A lot of jobs and value are lost because executives don’t seem to get this.The most annoying acquisition this century was the Palm acquisition by HP. It seemed they actually had a
  
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• How data science helps Purdue predict student success

  15-04-2016 16:49
  
  Most people know that a student who does well in a class would likely do well in another class, but could you predict whether a student would succeed based on how many times they logged into the campus network?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Verizon will give you 2GB of free data to flirt with Android Pay

  15-04-2016 16:44
  
  Verizon is giving away up to 2GB of free data to subscribers with relatively new Android smartphones. All you have to do to take advantage of Verizon’s deal is make three purchases with Android Pay. There's your excuse to pick up a Big Mac, a latte from Peet’s, and a copy of Far Cry Primal at GameStop.
  The giveaway is part of a promotion that encourages people to start using Android Pay, which is essentially the Android version of mobile payments. Any Verizon customer with a po
  
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• Millennials force CIOs to rethink tech, training processes

  15-04-2016 16:02
  
  It’s no secret that digital transformations are forcing companies to foster new IT skills and methodologies among their workforces. For CIOs such changes can invite short-term disruption and chaos, particularly among millennials – those between the ages of 18 and -- who aren’t shy about expressing their preference to learn on their own terms.Purdue Pharma CIO Larry Pickett says he is training up employees as he deploys cloud software and agile methodologies intended to accelera
  
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• What makes a vendor relationship work?

  15-04-2016 15:54
  
  New research shows that IT executives view “responsiveness” and “collaboration” as the top characteristics of a strategic vendor.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Hybrid GozNym malware targets customers of 24 financial institutions

  15-04-2016 15:32
  A group of cybercriminals have combined two powerful malware programs to create a new online banking Trojan that has already stolen millions of dollars from customers of 24 U.S. and Canadian banks.The new threat has been dubbed GozNym by researchers from IBM X-Force because it combines the stealthy Nymaim malware and the Gozi banking Trojan.The new computer Trojan targets 22 websites that belong to banks, credit unions and e-commerce platforms based in the U.S., and two that belong to financial
  
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• 8 cybersecurity technologies DHS is trying to commercialize

  15-04-2016 15:29
  
  The Department of Homeland Security is publicizing eight new cybersecurity technologies developed under federal grants that are looking for private businesses to turn them into commercial products.
  In its fourth “Cyber Security Division Transition to Practice Technology Guide”, DHS outlines the eight technologies that range from malware analysis tools to behavior analysis platforms to randomization software that protects Windows applications.
  +More on Network World: IRS: Tax deadlin
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Timeline: Microsoft’s major open source announcements so far

  15-04-2016 15:28
  
  Microsoft opens upImage byMIKI Yoshihito/FlickrLately Microsoft has received a lot of attention for its embracing of Linux and open source, but it may surprise you to know that Microsoft has been doing open source since 2004, the same year Facebook and Ubuntu were launched.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Fitbit Alta and other top mobile tech for spring 2016

  15-04-2016 15:27
  
  In my work as a mobile tech reviewer, I test a lot of apps and a fair number of gadgets. Some of them I never even write about, because, well, they’re dog meat. Or, I’ll use an app or device a few times, and then I’m done.But the following five apps and gear are different. I’ve continued to use them frequently after my initial tests or, in the case of the RIMOWA bag, I aspire to own one (but probably never will, given its price tag).1. RIMOWA Salsa Deluxe Hybrid Business
  
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• Google could face EU antitrust charges over Android next week

  15-04-2016 15:12
  
  After a year-long investigation, the European Commission appears ready to accuse Google of abusing its dominant position in the smartphone OS market.It could announce formal antitrust charges as early as next Wednesday, the Financial Times reported Friday.The Commission began its Android investigation on April 15, 2015, the same day that it announced formal antitrust charges against Google in another investigation, accusing the company of favoring its own comparison shopping service over that of
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: With cloud, anything goes, apparently

  15-04-2016 13:49
  
  Is it better to rideshare, take a taxi, or rent, lease, finance, or outright purchase a car? Should it be a convertible, coupe, or sedan?  The answer, of course, is "it depends"—on a variety of factors, which vary among customers and over time.  Similar variability of deployment models and architectures occurs with the cloud, too.  Here are some examples of what leading companies are doing, and their presumed or stated rationales.Go all in on public cloud—Netflix, with
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 6 secrets for getting your next budget approved

  15-04-2016 13:27
  
  If you want to guarantee the resources to invest in new technology you must illustrate the value and benefit these investments will provide the business. Since a large portion of IT budgets are earmarked for compliance, replacement, and upgrades you may be finding little room for technology initiatives that can have an impact on growth and innovation. Compounding the problem is the added scrutiny and oversight that comes with continual cost increases. In order to get new initiatives off the
  
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• Is the iPhone SE a cheap cannibal of Apple’s higher-end phones?

  15-04-2016 13:00
  
  If there’s one consistent theme at Apple since the 1998 release of the iMac, it’s that the company stopped trying to compete on price as it simplified its product matrix. Apple returned to financial health and has thrived because it keeps its margins fat, even when competitors are slicing theirs.
  So why did Apple introduce a new $400 entry-level phone and cut $50 off the price of the existing Apple Watch models? At first glance, both moves seemed out of character, even though the Ap
  
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• Intel claims storage supremacy with swift 3D XPoint Optane drives, 1-petabyte 3D NAND

  15-04-2016 13:00
  
  Intel wants you to know just how real and just how fast its game-changing Optane storage technology is, so it demonstrated how its new pervasive memory technology leaves a conventional NAND SSD in the dust.
  The demo, the first public one using a traditional desktop environment, took place Wednesday morningat the company’s annual developer forum in Shenzhen, China. Intel executive Rob Crooke showed identical desktop computers performing a simple file copy.
  The setup tasked a PC with a
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Gameloft’s disappointing shift to freemium iOS games

  15-04-2016 13:00
  
  Freemium games have more or less taken over the iOS App Store. They are everywhere these days, and some of them make tons and tons of cash. And those almighty dollar signs have encouraged gaming developers to move to the freemium model.The latest gaming company to get sucked into making free to play games only is Gameloft. The company recently tweeted that it would no longer produce premium games, and that all its future games would be free to play.This is a major bummer for gamers like me who p
  
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• Derde mainport vergeten in advies VNO-NCW

  15-04-2016 12:54
  De Stichting Digitale Infrastructuur Nederland (DINL) vindt het een gemiste kans dat in het zogenaamde mainport-advies van ondernemingsorganisatie VNO-NCW geen aandacht is voor de derde, digitale ‘mainport’ die Nederland rijk is.De Tweede Kamer nam in oktober 2015 unaniem de motie Verhoeven aan, waarin de... lees meer
  
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• Enterprise tablet wars: Galaxy TabPro S vs. Surface Pro 4

  15-04-2016 12:49
  
  It was no surprise when Samsung unveiled its first tablet hybrid, the Galaxy TabPro S. However, the surprise came when Samsung announced it opted to equip the device with Windows 10 instead of Android. It was a smart move by Samsung, firmly placing the Galaxy TabPro S alongside the Microsoft Surface Pro 4. The Surface 4 is the most popular Windows 10 hybrid today, but that could change with Samsung's latest flagship device. But which device is the better enterprise option when you pit them head-
  
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• Obama announces computer-science-for-all initiative

  15-04-2016 12:47
  
  Computer science is a fundamental skill in the modern economy, President Obama declared on Tuesday as the White House announced a series of initiatives aimed at advancing education in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.That includes a $200 million investment from Oracle to extend computer science education to 125,000 U.S. students, along with a host of commitments from federal agencies, schools and other groups to promote STEM training.[ Related: Obama expands ST
  
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• Catastrophic cyber attack on U.S. grid possible, but not likely

  15-04-2016 12:45
  
  Warnings about U.S. critical infrastructure’s vulnerabilities to a catastrophic cyber attack – a cyber “Pearl Harbor” or “9/11” – began more than 25 years ago. But they have become more insistent and frequent over the past decade.
  Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned in a 2012 speech of both a “cyber Pearl Harbor” and a “pre-9/11 moment.”
  They have also expanded from within the security industry to the mass media. It
  
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• Focus op digitale ambitie door uitbesteden alledaagse ICT

  15-04-2016 12:29
  Low cost luchtvaartmaatschappij Transavia houdt de ICT die onderscheidend is voor zijn klanten in eigen huis maar gaat de overige ICT-toepassingen uitbesteden. Cegeka gaat nieuwe werkplekken faciliteren die helemaal zijn afgestemd op de behoefte van specifieke medewerkers.De nieuwe werkplekken worden ondergebracht in... lees meer
  
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• Apple's healthy CareKit revolution

  15-04-2016 12:02
  
  Around three years ago, I was talking with the CIO of a regional hospital about how mobile apps could improve hospital and post-discharge experiences for patients. The conversation came up largely because of the Affordable Care Act, which included new rules to lower Medicare reimbursements to hospitals with high rates of readmissions for people with specific conditions. The goal: Encourage better discharge and follow-up care that would mean healthier patients and lower medical costs. We specifi
  
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• Virtual reality is incredible, but that doesn't mean you should buy a Rift or Vive yet

  15-04-2016 12:00
  Now that Oculus Riftand the HTC Vive are officially released to consumers, you might be wondering, “should I buy a VR headset?” Well, the (possibly surprising) short answer is “probably not,” no matter how magical virtual reality already is in its early stages.
  As far as video games go, VR has the potential to be the most important technological advance since the transition between 2D and 3D games. Given enough time to grow, however, virtual reality could also change the
  
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• Verizon-Boston fiber optic deal means more than faster Internet service

  15-04-2016 12:00
  
  To say that Verizon will be spending $300 million to install fiber-optic cable in the city of Boston misses the bigger point.
  Over six years, Verizon will replace its copper wire with fiber optic cable for Internet and, potentially, cable TV service to homes and businesses. But there's a lot more to the deal announced with Boston on Tuesday.
  Verizon and the city will get a fiber "platform," the two parties said, which is another way of saying that there will be many other uses for the new fiber
  
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• Tarieven externe IT-professionals gestegen

  15-04-2016 12:00
  Het gemiddelde tarief van de externe IT-professional is het afgelopen jaar flink gestegen. De dalende tarieven voor zelfstandige IT’ers van 1% hebben plaatsgemaakt voor een stijging van 4,5%. Een groeiende groep – meer dan de helft – van de inhurende organisaties maakt daarnaast geen onderscheid in... lees meer
  
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• Simple succeeds: Visual Studio Code at 1.0

  15-04-2016 12:00
  
  Visual Studio Code, Microsoft's open source, cross-platform development environment powered by Node.js and the Blink layout engine has been upgraded to a full 1.0 release after approximately a year of open beta testing.
  According to a blog post on the Visual Studio site, Code became a 1.0-grade product because its API has been stabilized. Code was originally created for JavaScript and TypeScript development, but it now supports common languages like C++, Python, Go, and React Native.To rea
  
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• Boardroom zit steeds vaker achter migratie naar cloud

  15-04-2016 11:32
  De keuze om business-applicaties naar de cloud te verplaatsen wordt tegenwoordig vaker genomen in de boardroom dan door de IT-afdeling, en eenderde van de executives is van mening dat data en applicaties in de cloud veiliger zijn dan in het eigen datacenter. Innovatie, kostenverlaging, flexibiliteit en... lees meer
  
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• Organisaties overschatten weerbaarheid tegen cybercriminaliteit

  15-04-2016 08:52
  Een grote meerderheid van Nederlandse bedrijven heeft er vertrouwen in dat hun bescherming tegen cyberaanvallen op orde is. Maar in werkelijkheid hebben ze vaak niet de juiste maatregelen getroffen. Daarop duidt recent onderzoek van CGI.Veel Nederlandse bedrijven hebben geen goed overzicht van hun kritieke assets en... lees meer
  
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• The cord-cutter's guide to watching the NBA playoffs

  15-04-2016 03:23
  
  Editor’s note: This story was originally published on April 17, 2015. This version has been revised and updated so that it’s relevant to the 2016 NBA playoffs. 
  Cord cutting brings particularly thorny challenges for sports fans, and they’re never more apparent than when the postseason rolls around. Case in point: the NBA playoffs, which start this Saturday. As in previous years, broadcasting of the postseason tournament will be divided between four networks: ABC, TNT, ESP
  
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• Microsoft is starting a private beta for its iPhone keyboard

  15-04-2016 02:33
  
  Microsoft has its own mobile operating system, but that hasn't stopped it from opening a public beta for a new iPhone keyboard. That's right -- Microsoft's Garage incubator began the private beta for its Word Flow keyboard on Thursday, allowing users to sign up for access to the application as it's being refined. Users who get access to it will be able to install an app that replaces the iOS software keyboard with one made by Microsoft. The Word Flow keyboard's leading feature is a one
  
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• Windows 10 Mobile forges on: Build 14322 improves Action Center, Cortana, and more

  15-04-2016 01:51
  
  Microsoft may be de-emphasizing its Windows smartphone hardware, but it hasn’t stopped rolling out new updates on its Insider program. Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview Build 14322 was released to the Fast ring on Thursday, and includes several tweaks as well as more substantial upgrades. 
  The most functional improvement concerns two new additions to the reminders function within Cortana. You can already tell Cortana to remind you to go to the store to buy a bottle of wine&
  
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• Internet of pants? This ultrathin thread could make your clothes part of the IoT

  15-04-2016 00:48
  
  Your clothes could one day monitor your fitness levels or boost your smartphone reception thanks to a new technique that uses ultrathin electronic thread to embroider circuits into fabric.
  Measuring just 0.1 mm in diameter, the thread comprises seven filaments made of copper and silver. Using it, researchers at Ohio State University have found a way to embroider circuits into fabric with enough precision to integrate electronic components such as sensors and memory devices into clothing. 
  
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