IT Executive news

• Clinton’s tech plan defers student loans for risk takers

  28-06-2016 23:13
  
  Starting a new business is risky and often requires the company's founders to take on personal debt. Only about half of all startups survive longer than five years, according to government data. It's especially hard for people with student loans.
  Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, on Tuesday released a proposal to make it easier for recent college graduates to start businesses. The plan, which is part of Clinton's tech policy agenda, tackles one of the impediments
  
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• Traffic tickets got you down? This robo-lawyer has already saved users $4 million

  28-06-2016 22:59
  
  Robots are already no strangers to the legal profession thanks to tools like LawGeex, but recently one has emerged that appears to be a sort of "Robin Hood" of the modern world.DoNotPay is the brainchild of 19-year-old Stanford University student Joshua Browder, and it has already successfully contested some 160,000 parking tickets across London and New York. It's free to use and has reportedly saved its users some $4 million in less than two years.To read this article in full or to leave a comm
  
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• 50% off Earth Pak Waterproof Dry Bag Compression Sack - Deal Alert

  28-06-2016 22:48
  
  Whether you are Kayaking, Beaching, Rafting, Boating, Hiking, Camping or Fishing, Earth Pak believes they have created the best dry bag on the market for any adventure. Toss in your gear, roll it down, and don't be afraid to toss this bag around. It's designed to last for years and will keep your phone, gadgets and gear dry and protected. It comes in 10L, 20L and 30L size, and all models feature 24-42 inch adjustable shoulder straps. Included is Earth Pak's IPX8 certified waterproof ph
  
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• Top 10 emerging technologies from the World Economic Forum

  28-06-2016 21:54
  
  The World Economic Forum has put together a list of the top 10 emerging technologies that will change our lives. The list includes nanosensors that will circulate through the human body, a battery that will be able to power an entire town and socially aware artificial intelligence that will track our finances and health.
  These are not far-flung visions, according to the forum. They are technologies that are on the cusp of having a meaningful impact.
  “Horizon scanning for emerging technolo
  
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• IT decentrale locaties moeizaam en kostbaar

  28-06-2016 21:46
  Decentrale locaties bedienen kost veel organisaties moeite. Met name herstel na calamiteiten, beheer van backups en levering van infrastructuur, applicaties en nieuwe diensten is bij pakweg vier op de tien bedrijven wereldwijd een moeizaam proces. Daarop duidt een onderzoek van Riverbed.Ook lopen organisaties tegen... lees meer
  
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• Resold hard drives on eBay, Craigslist are often still ripe with leftover data

  28-06-2016 21:34
  
  Before you throw away that old hard drive, make sure you purge the memory clean.  A new study has found that most users are accidentally giving up photos, social security numbers and financial data, by failing to properly delete the files on their recycled hard drives.
  Blancco Technology Group, which specializes in data erasure, conducted the study by randomly buying 200 secondhand PC storage drives from eBay and Craigslist. Their goal was to see if the company could recover any of the old
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: The best approach to leveraging change

  28-06-2016 21:09
  
  Every industry is changing faster than it ever has before. There are two kids in a garage somewhere with an idea that will make your current business model obsolete. Don't believe me, ask a taxi driver. A recent study asked participants to rate skills and behaviors necessary to be effective in the modern digital world. The top two were:The ability to embrace change (99% Very important/important)
  The ability to spot opportunities and adapt strategies quickly (96% Very important/important)*
  How do
  
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• BrandPost: Cloud Manufacturing ERP Helps You Grow without Breaking the Bank

  28-06-2016 21:09
  
  Many small to mid-sized manufacturers are discovering a secret about cloud manufacturing ERP: they can access the same tools, infrastructures, and software capabilities that many large-scale enterprises enjoy—without breaking the bank.One such manufacturer is Green Flash Brewery, a San Diego-based independent craft brewery established in 2002. The company achieved great success with the launch of its groundbreaking WestCoast IPA but the system that had worked so well with one product could
  
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• Too many IoT networks? Cisco just bet on this one

  28-06-2016 21:04
  
  Cisco Systems just cast a vote of confidence in one of the many technologies that might get your next IoT device online.
  On Tuesday, the company announced gateways between LoRaWAN low-power wireless networks and fatter pipes like Ethernet cables. The gateways can take in data from sensors and other small Internet of Things devices and send it back to an enterprise or cloud.
  This is Cisco’s first commercial foray into LPWANs (low power, wide area networks), a new generation of infrastructu
  
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• Twitter's new stickers are more useful than Snapchat

  28-06-2016 21:00
  Now you can add a ton of fun stickers to your Twitter photos, and there’s a hidden benefit.
  On Monday, Twitter started rolling out searchable stickers for iOS and Android. You can add these oversized emoji by tapping on the smiley face right after uploading a photo. Stickers are organized by various categories, including accessories (think, sunglasses and devil horns), food, animals, and activities.
  At first glance, stickers may seem like an obvious move by Twitter to replicate Snapchat&r
  
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• Microsoft backs off click-the-X trick in Windows 10 upgrade pitch

  28-06-2016 20:53
  
  Microsoft today said it will revamp the notification of a pending Windows 10 upgrade so that clicking the red "X" -- an action that for decades has been used to dismiss or ignore a dialog box -- will no longer be interpreted as authorizing the process.
  With just a month to go before it stops offering a free upgrade to consumers and many businesses running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, Microsoft said it would modify the notice that appears when the company pitches the Windows 10 upgrade.
  "If the re
  
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• Senator stalls intelligence funding bill over surveillance concerns

  28-06-2016 20:47
  A U.S. senator has stalled an intelligence budget bill over concerns that it would expand surveillance while limiting oversight of it.Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has placed a hold on the 2017 Intelligence Authorization Act, saying the bill would allow the FBI, without a court order, to demand U.S. residents' email and Internet records from ISPs and other communications providers.The bill would allow the FBI to obtain new records through the controversial National S
  
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• BrandPost: How Manufacturing Cloud ERP Helps Your Company Control Production

  28-06-2016 20:37
  
  How Manufacturing Cloud ERP Helps Your Company Control ProductionYour plant managers need to ensure smooth production. You enable them by ensuring the systems that run production run well. But it seems that both of you are continually fighting fires to meet your goals. It also means that both of you have no time for strategic analysis into better, more efficient processes and systems. Cloud ERP can help you both meet your goals—and give you more time for strategic tasks.Engaging Employees
  
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• Why Brexit could cause data privacy headaches for U.S. companies

  28-06-2016 20:03
  
  The impact of the United Kingdom vote to withdraw from the European Union could have far-reaching consequences for international companies, which may need to rethink their data management policies.
  “As a part of the European Union, there is a general directive that all nations abide by a guide,” says Geeman Yip, CEO of cloud consultancy BitTitan. “Now that the UK is not a part of the EU, the previous baseline directives that were adopted will change.”
  Said another way: W
  
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• Facebook takes a swing at Pinterest with Chrome extensions

  28-06-2016 19:52
  
  Facebook is doubling down on a feature it introduced last year that lets users save web content to a private space on the social network for future reference. The company has launched a Chrome extension that adds a “Save to Facebook” button to Google’s browser.
  The extension allows people to save content to a private bookmark page on Facebook, which they can access from their profiles. On top of that, the social networking company also launched a Share on Facebook extension th
  
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• Clinton wants to ‘staple’ green cards on STEM grads' diplomas

  28-06-2016 18:56
  
  As president, Hillary Clinton would support the automatic granting of green cards, or permanent residency, to foreign students who earn advanced STEM degrees in the U.S.
  Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said she wants the U.S. to "staple" green cards to the diplomas of non-citizens who earn master's or Ph.D. degrees in STEM  fields (science, technology, engineering or math) "from accredited institutions."
  Clinton outlined her plan in a broader tech policy agenda re
  
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• Hacker puts 650K U.S. patient records up for sale

  28-06-2016 18:50
  
  A hacker has stolen databases from three U.S. healthcare organizations and has advertised more than 650,000 patient records as up for sale.
  The hacker, who goes by the name of "thedarkoverlord," is also holding the records for ransom, asking the as-yet-unnamed healthcare organizations to pay $100,000, $205,000 and $411,000 for the databases, according to two published reports.
  The hacker has described the databases as coming from Farmington, Mo, (48,000 patients), the central/midwest states (21
  
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• Office for Android gets home-screen shortcuts, other key features in update

  28-06-2016 18:42
  
  Microsoft keeps plugging away at its Office suite for Android. There are several key updates in the latest version that should help round out features you might have been missing.
  One major catch-up is in the ability to pin a file to your home screen. It’s been a longstanding capability within Google Docs, and it’s definitely a good one to have if there’s a particular file you need to access regularly. 
  Pin a file right to your home screen with the latest update to Word f
  
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• IBM just found a way to turn toxic old smartphones into medical-grade plastic

  28-06-2016 18:33
  The technology industry's e-waste problem isn't expected to go away anytime soon, but IBM just made a discovery that could help. Researchers there have discovered a new recycling process that can turn the polycarbonates used to make smartphones and CDs into a nontoxic plastic that's safe and strong enough for medical use.Polycarbonates are found not just in smartphones and CDs but also LED screens, Blu-ray players, eyeglass lenses, kitchen utensils, and household storage gear. Unfortunately, the
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 5 reasons why I love watchOS 3

  28-06-2016 18:20
  After Apple announced watchOS 3 at WWDC in June, I snagged a copy of iOS 10 and installed it on my iPhone 6s Plus. Then I upgraded my Apple Watch to watchOS 3. I had low expectations for watchOS 3, but I was delighted to find that it was far better than I’d thought.I’ve been running the developer preview of watchOS 3 for the last few weeks on my 38mm Space Gray Apple Watch, and I’m astounded at how it makes my watch feel like a whole new device. In some ways watchOS 3 almost ma
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 4 deadly sins of tech marketing

  28-06-2016 18:01
  
  As a tech company, how you market is essential to success. You can have the best solution or product out there, but if you fail to effectively position and promote it — and guide your prospects to “yes” — you are destined to struggle to win new business. Your prospects are often tech-savvy themselves and do a lot of research before making a decision. Make one bad impression, one misstep in your digital marketing efforts, and it could cost big bucks in the long run.Here ar
  
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• Microsoft Sway gets its first paid features

  28-06-2016 18:00
  
  After a year on the market, Microsoft’s Sway presentation software has received features available to paying customers.Office 365 subscribers will be able to lock their Sway presentations with passwords, load them up with more multimedia content, and conceal the software they used to make them with an update that Microsoft announced Tuesday.That last feature will be an important change for users who don’t want to have a big banner at the end of their presentations saying they were ma
  
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• Lavabit founder confirms feds' Snowden spy efforts led to encrypted email service shutdown

  28-06-2016 17:55
  
  Lavabit founder Ladar Levison last week confirmed what had been an open secret: That he shuttered his encrypted email service in 2013 because of the federal government's pursuit of former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden.
  In a statement issued June 24, Levison said that the gag order that had enforced his silence had been lifted. "After three years, and five separate attempts, the federal judge overseeing the case has granted Mr. Levison permission to speak freely about
  
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• Dell's monstrous 70-inch touchscreen monitor takes aim at Microsoft's Surface Hub

  28-06-2016 17:36
  
  Dell's following Microsoft down the path of mega-displays with a new 70-inch touchscreen called the Dell 70 Interactive Conference Room Monitor (ICRM).
  The monitor isn’t nearly the size of Microsoft’s 4K 84-inch monster, the Surface Hub. It’s also a somewhat unfair comparison since the Surface Hub is basically a giant tablet, whereas Dell’s ICRM is just a monitor.
  Nevertheless, the parallels between the devices are clear as both are meant to replace standard and interact
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Why user experience matters in digital marketing

  28-06-2016 17:30
  
  When it comes to developing and executing modern digital marketing strategies, there’s one important thing that often gets forgotten: user experience (UX). This is unfortunate, since it’s a critically important component of successful marketing in a digital age that prioritizes convenience and personalization.The value of UX in digital marketing
  Ask some industry professionals about the responsibility of UX in digital marketing and they’ll roll their eyes and tell you that the
  
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• Thousands of hacked CCTV devices used in DDoS attacks

  28-06-2016 16:39
  Attackers have compromised more than 25,000 digital video recorders and CCTV cameras and are using them to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against websites.
  One such attack, recently observed by researchers from Web security firm Sucuri, targeted the website of one of the company's customers: a small bricks-and-mortar jewelry shop.
  The attack flooded the website with about 50,000 HTTP requests per second at its peak, targeting what specialists call the application layer, or
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Organizational change is hard but it doesn't have to be

  28-06-2016 16:30
  
  I'm currently working with a client to build a basic change management capability in their leadership team. Until now the company has been very entrepreneurial, small and nimble. If someone shouted "turn left" the organization turned left. However they have now grown to a size where this ad hoc approach is no longer effective.When I interviewed the leadership team to better understand their challenges they acknowledged that things had become chaotic, change "escaped" rather than being "released.
  
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• MapR's Spyglass keeps an eye on big data deployments

  28-06-2016 16:23
  
  At Hadoop Summit in San Jose Tuesday Hadoop distribution vendor MapR Technologies took the wraps off a new initiative intended to maximize the productivity of users and administrators of big data deployments."This is putting some focus on the user and operator side," says Dale Kim, senior director of Product Marketing at MapR. "It provides deep visibility and full control."MapR calls it the Spyglass Initiative — a comprehensive, open and extensible approach to centralized monitoring of big
  
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• Cisco reinforces cloud security technology with $293M CloudLock buy

  28-06-2016 16:22
  
  Cisco today said it would make its fifth acquisition of the year by acquiring cyber security provider CloudLock for $293 million.
  The move should bolster Cisco’s overarching cloud security offerings and the CloudLock team will join Cisco’s Networking and Security Business Group under Senior Vice President and General Manager David Goeckeler, Cisco stated.
  +More on Network World: Cisco: IP traffic will surpass the zettabyte level in 2016+
  In a blog post announcing the deal, Cisco&rsq
  
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• Cloud consortium says simpler EU electronic signature rules aren't simple enough

  28-06-2016 16:15
  
  European Union rules for electronic signatures change on Friday to make a clear distinction between the identity of the person signing, and that of the authority guaranteeing the integrity of the data, but the technology needs to be still simpler, vendors say.The new rules are intended to simplify the process of electronically signing contracts between businesses, or between businesses and persons, and across international borders where different and often incompatible electronic signature rules
  
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• America’s data centers are getting a lot more efficient

  28-06-2016 16:12
  
  U.S. data centers have used about the same amount of energy annually over the past five years or so, despite substantial growth in the sector, according to a new report published by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
  In the Berkeley Lab’s previous analysis, which was presented to Congress in 2008, it was found that energy usage by data centers was quadrupling every decade – an unsurprising figure given the explosive overall growth in the sector. Data centers i
  
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• New CIO appointments, summer 2016 edition

  28-06-2016 15:48
  
  As we get ready to close out the first half of 2016, we've seen no slowdown in new CIO appointments and promotions. We also continue to see more women in these top roles. Congratulations to all!Corporate and investment bank JPMorgan Chase promoted Lori Beer to the role of CIO. Beer was previously the company's managing director of global technology.United Technologies named Vince Campisi as its new senior vice president of digital and CIO. Campisi was previously COO with GE Digital Predix Produc
  
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• YouTube rules at VidCon, but still empty-handed on live mobile video

  28-06-2016 15:46
  
   ANAHEIM, Calif. — YouTube was again the belle of the ball at the seventh annual VidCon online-video conference last week. The competition in the video market, however, is tighter than ever before. Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter all launched mainstream video platforms during the year since YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki took the stage at last year's VidCon.
  The market is growing rapidly thanks to new entrants, partners, content creators and fans, Wojcicki said during this year's VidCon k
  
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• Microsoft backs off sneaky Windows 10 upgrade tricks with simple new pop-up

  28-06-2016 15:43
  
  After months of embracing malware-like tricks so nasty that some fearful Windows 7 users felt forced to disable updates completely, Microsoft is backing off its sneaky Windows 10 upgrade tactics and reverting to an interface that is far clearer and doesn’t violate user trust.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: IBM promotes IT infrastructure for cognitive workloads

  28-06-2016 15:30
  
  Over the past century, IBM has reinvented itself again and again. This evolution is in stark contrast to one-trick ponies in the information technology business. Companies like LinkedIn do one thing, maybe quite well, until they reach the end of their run, in this case a purchase by Microsoft. IBM, on the other hand, has been forced to remake its business a number of times — moving from typewriters to mainframes, from mainframes to PCs, from PCs to infrastructure, and now, building on that
  
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• Hortonworks ups its security and data governance game with HDP 2.5

  28-06-2016 15:21
  
  At Hadoop Summit in San Jose Tuesday Hortonworks announced a new release of its Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP) Hadoop distribution, an expansion of its Partnerworks program and a new partnership with AtScale, provider of a self-service Business Intelligence (BI) platform for Hadoop."There has been a marked change around the business conversations that are being held around Hadoop and big data," says Matt Morgan, vice president of product and alliance marketing at Hortonworks. "The conversations
  
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• How smart supply chain management delivers value

  28-06-2016 14:52
  
  Supply chain management is the ultimate back office function. It doesn’t receive as much attention as websites, marketing technology and app development. Yet improving the supply chain yields major bottom line benefits.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Lightning strikes Outlook in latest Salesforce-Microsoft integration

  28-06-2016 14:00
  
  Microsoft's Outlook.com is used by some 400 million users around the world, so it's only natural that Salesforce wants its own software to play nicely with it. On Tuesday, the CRM giant announced a big step in that direction.The latest in a series of integrations resulting from the two-year-old partnership between Salesforce and Microsoft, Lightning for Outlook is an add-in that promises to let salespeople tailor their inboxes with smooth access to customer relationship management (CRM) data whe
  
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• Huawei MateBook review: Hip, hip Huawei is just a little too stylish for its own good

  28-06-2016 14:00
  
  Leather accents, a vibrant display, strong lines: Huawei clearly envisioned its MateBook as not just a luxurious convertible tablet, but as a fashion accessory. But a flimsy folding kickstand is just one of the flaws threatening to bring the whole ensemble crashing down.
  While the 12-inch MateBook communicates a premium experience, prices begin at just $699 for a Core m3-based model with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, though the obligatory MateBook Portfolio keyboard is $129 more. At most, yo
  
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• Backblaze wants to eliminate tape-based storage

  28-06-2016 14:00
  
  Online backup company Backblaze made waves last year when it announced a beta test last year of B2, a new public cloud storage service thatwould be cheaper than competing offerings from Amazon and Microsoft.
  B2 has now exited beta with some new features that may make it more appealing to business users. It now has a service level agreement guaranteeing 99.9 percent uptime for all data stored within it, matching the baseline offerings from Amazon Web Services’ S3 and Microsoft Azure’
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How tech is reshaping work values and goals

  28-06-2016 13:18
  
  Companies can find talent. They just can’t attract it. Fifteen years ago, corporate was king, and bigger was better. Companies such as Bank of America, Qualcomm, Cisco Systems, Intel, Sun Microsystems and Merck were top companies desired for employment. That mindset has evaporated. Today Stryker, Baptist Health South Florida, Workday and Genentech are among the 100 best companies to work for, according to Fortune Magazine.To read this artic
  
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• 8 biggest email pet peeves

  28-06-2016 13:16
  
  8 biggest email pet peevesImage by ThinkstockEmail is both an incredible workplace communication tool and the bane of most knowledge workers' existence. While it can definitely enhance productivity and communication, the written word often has the potential to misconstrue messages, introduce unnecessary stakeholders into the conversation and generally make your work life more stressful. Based on a survey of 2,000 U.S. knowledge workers who use email, corporate intranet provider Igloo Software ha
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 6 ways to improve project team communication today

  28-06-2016 13:02
  
  Improve, improve, improve. If we are not striving to always improve, we can become complacent. I've seen it happen on projects, on large government programs, and on individual project teams. The end result? Poor performance, project failure – and in the case of a large government program was the nearly loss of a $50 million project. The best thing you can do is stay focused on excellence and project success...and that begins with communication.What I want to discuss here is six ways we &nd
  
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• Study: Encryption use increase largest in 11 years

  28-06-2016 13:00
  
  Enterprise use of encryption saw the largest increase over the past year in over a decade, according to a report released today by the Ponemon Institute.
  But encryption technology spending as percent of total IT security budgets has gone down, said John Grimm, senior director of security strategy at Thales e-Security, which sponsored the report.
  In 2005, the first year of the report, only 16 percent of enterprises were using encryption extensively. The percentage increased gradually to 34 perce
  
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• Message in a PCI bottle - preserving message queue integrity

  28-06-2016 13:00
  
  First, a confession. When David and I started writing this series, we envisioned it would be completed after the third part. It appears we were a bit short-sighted. An astute reader challenged us to help address the concepts of preserving queue message data integrity. With that, we welcome you to part 4.
  In parts 1, 2 and 3 of this series we wrote at length about the possible compliance and security issues associated with the queueing of cardholder data (CHD) within a PCI compliant cardholder d
  
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• 11 ways to fight off ransomware

  28-06-2016 12:25
  
  Reinventing malwareImage by MartialArtsNomad.comJust like evolution from viruses, to botnets and malware families that we’ve seen over the past decade, bad actors continue to find new ways of reinventing old threats. Today, the top trend in modern malware is the proliferation of ransomware. Ransomware has come a long way from the non-encrypting lockscreen FBI scare warnings like Reveton. In 2016, there has been a constant flow of new ransomware families popping up, like Locky, Cerber, Made
  
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• Why you'll never buy a 3D printer

  28-06-2016 12:01
  
  While 3D printer sales will experience healthy growth over the next four years, consumer machines remain a technology in search of a purpose, according to researcher IDC.
  3D printers, materials and services in the U.S. grew by almost 20% in 2015 compared to the year before, representing $2.5 billion market. And 3D printer shipments are expected to experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 16% through 2020, according to IDC's U.S. 3D Printer Forecast, 2016-2020.
  Revenue from 3
  
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• FBI expansion of surveillance powers meets obstacle

  28-06-2016 08:17
  A move in the Senate to provide enhanced surveillance powers to the FBI through the use of National Security Letters met a hurdle Monday after Senator Ron Wyden placed a hold on the 2017 Intelligence Authorization bill over the controversial provisions.Wyden’s hold is a a measure by which a senator or group of senators can prevent a motion from reaching a vote.Tech companies and industry and civil rights groups are opposed to what is seen as a wider push by the Senate to increase the scope
  
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• Tensions rise over LTE using Wi-Fi channels

  28-06-2016 03:37
  
  The fight over LTE networks sharing channels with Wi-Fi appears to be heating up.The Wi-Fi Alliance says that by September there will be a way to test whether an LTE device can get along with Wi-Fi. But Qualcomm, one of the biggest backers of LTE-U (LTE-Unlicensed), is demanding those tests immediately.The latest disagreement arose after a workshop held last Wednesday, the latest in a series aimed at crafting a test plan for coexistence between the two technologies. That test plan, which is desi
  
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