IT Executive news

• Rick Perry, climate change skeptic, soon to oversee U.S. supercomputing

  13-12-2016 23:47
  
  President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for energy secretary, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, will also have charge of the nation’s largest supercomputers. These systems are used to investigate “national challenges,” which includes climate change. But Perry is a climate change skeptic, as is Trump, and believes the science is unsettled.
  Perry’s skepticism about the science of climate change may be a problem for the department he's been tapped to run; the Department of
  
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• Microsoft sets the stage for Cortana-powered smart devices

  13-12-2016 23:22
  
  At long last, Microsoft has set a public target of bringing consumer devices—that aren’t PCs—to market in 2017 with its personal digital assistant, Cortana, inside of them.
  On Tuesday, Microsoft announced a way to challenge Amazon’s Alexa-powered Dot and Echo devices, as well as Google’s Google Home. Microsoft’s New Devices SDK will allow to power a new line of connected-car speakers from Harmon Kardon in 2017, executives said, with presumably more partnershi
  
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• Don't like Russian cyberspies? Tips to stop state-sponsored hackers

  13-12-2016 22:54
  
  Be wary around random, but legitimate-looking emails popping up in your inbox. A foreign government may be using them to try to hack you.That may sound far-fetched, but Russian cyberspies allegedly stole sensitive files from Democratic groups and figures using this very tactic. In some cases, the spoofed emails pretended to be from Google and managed to trick victims into giving up their login details, paving the way for a series of high-profile hacks that rocked this year’s presidential e
  
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• Why Microsoft added 6 years to Windows Server support

  13-12-2016 22:13
  
  Microsoft will extend support for the Windows Server and SQL Server product lines to keep customers, and ultimately convince them to move their workloads into the cloud, an analyst said today.
  Last week, Microsoft unveiled "Premium Assurance," which will add up to six more years to the support lifespan of Windows Server 2008 and later, and SQL Server 2008 and later. Enterprises with existing Software Assurance agreements will be able to purchase the additional support starting in March 2017.To
  
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• Google's driverless car project goes from research to business

  13-12-2016 22:04
  
  Google parent company Alphabet is taking its autonomous car effort to the next level.
  John Krafcik, CEO of Google's Self-Driving Car Project, announced in a blog post Tuesday that the company's effort to build and test a driverless car has gone from a research projectto a business.
  "Since 2009, our prototypes have spent the equivalent of 300 years of driving time on the road and we've led the industry from a place where self-driving cars seem like science fiction to one where city planners all
  
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• What we know about AMD's Ryzen so far

  13-12-2016 22:00
  
  Even AMD fanboys have to admit that the company's CPUs haven’t been competitive with Intel’s chips in a decade. With AMD finally unveiling its official CPU brand, Ryzen, this afternoon, as well as the first chip’s base clock speed, there are signs Intel might actually have a fight on its hands. Here’s every single thing we know about AMD’s Ryzen CPU so far.The Specs
  Here are all the specs we know about AMD's upcoming Ryzen CPU next to its counterpart: the Broadwell
  
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• Cortana gets IoT integration, support for third-party skills

  13-12-2016 21:50
  
  Microsoft’s Cortana virtual assistant is getting a lot smarter. On Tuesday, the company announced a set of developer tools aimed at bringing it into the internet of things, and adding support for developers to build new functionality for it.The makers of IoT devices like speakers and cars will be able to use a Microsoft software development kit to integrate Cortana into their products. In addition, developers will be able to build custom integrations that add capabilities to Microsoft&rsqu
  
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• Google's taking Brillo into smart homes with Android Things

  13-12-2016 21:31
  
  Android is headed to the internet of things in the form of Android Things, an operating system that grew out of Project Brillo and will be able to get updates directly from Google.
  With the home IoT industry still emerging from the hobbyist realm to mass market, Android’s traction in the smartphone realm could make it a popular platform for devices like lights, locks, thermostats, and household appliances that consumers want to manage through their phones.
  On Tuesday, Google announced a d
  
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• Financial regulators use AWS’s cloud to analyze 75 billion trades daily

  13-12-2016 20:30
  
  About three years ago the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) began plotting a migration to Amazon’s cloud. Most companies when they do so target low-hanging fruit: Applications that can be relatively easily lifted and shifted to the cloud.
  Not FINRA. “We started with the migration of our most critical systems to AWS,” explains Steve Randich, executive vice president and CIO of FINRA, and a former CIO of the NASDAQ stock exchange and Citibank. “We moved our m
  
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• 13% off Fitbit Charge 2 Heart Rate + Fitness Wristband - Deal Alert

  13-12-2016 20:29
  
  Make every beat count with Fitbit Charge 2, the all-new heart rate and fitness wristband built for all-day, workouts and beyond. PurePulse continuous heart rate makes it easy to maximize workouts, better track calorie burn and get a snapshot of your cardio fitness level, while all-day activity and auto sleep tracking, lets you see how your whole routine adds up. Record your workouts with multi-sport modes to see real-time workout stats on screen, or rely on SmartTrack to automatically record sel
  
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• Microsoft's new service turns FAQs into bots

  13-12-2016 20:27
  
  Finding customer service help online can be a pain. Filtering through a knowledge base to find the right answer to your question can be an exercise in fighting with nested frequently asked questions documents.Microsoft is aiming to help by making it easier for companies to create intelligent bots that can answer common questions.The QnA Maker, launched in beta on Tuesday, will let users train an automated conversation partner on existing frequently-asked-questions content. After that information
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Core OS brings automatic updating to Kubernetes with Tectonic

  13-12-2016 19:38
  
  Core OS is borrowing the automatic update mechanism from Container Linux (formerly Core OS Linux) and applying it to its Kubernetes distribution Tectonics. The latest release of Core OS Tectonics that was released during the Tectonic Summit in New York yesterday comes with what Alex Polvi, the CEO and co-founder of Core OS, called a self-driving model.What problem does it solve?
  When I asked about the problem Core OS was trying to solve with this release, Polvi gave me the example of the most re
  
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• 8 top digital transformation stories of 2016

  13-12-2016 19:36
  
  Locked in a footrace with rivals to lure new customers, companies are increasingly expanding existing or building new digital capabilities to make business processes more efficient or improve customer service.Digital products and services take many forms, from mobile banking apps to internet-connected refrigerators that self-monitor their temperature. Such capabilities are typically augmented by analytics or to help CIOs gauge the digital tool's effectiveness.CIOs are spending 18 percent of thei
  
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• How much will AMD's Zen cost? Here's what we think

  13-12-2016 19:06
  
  You know how many cores it has (eight). You know what motherboard socket it will fit in (AM4). But one tantalizing thing you don’t know about AMD’s much-hyped and highly-anticipated Zen CPU is just how much it’ll cost.
  All the benchmarks and all the talk of a clean-sheet design and 40 percent IPC increase, be damned. You just want to know if Zen (aka Summit Ridge) will be affordable.
  Maybe we’ll see that today at AMD’s New Horizons live stream, where some news
  
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• Facebook helps companies detect rogue SSL certificates for domains

  13-12-2016 18:43
  Facebook has launched a tool that allows domain name owners to discover TLS/SSL certificates that were issued without their knowledge.The tool uses data collected from the many Certificate Transparency logs that are publicly accessible. Certificate Transparency (CT) is a new open standard requiring certificate authorities to disclose the certificate that they issue.Until a few years ago, there was no way of tracking the certificates issued by every certificate authority (CA). At best, researcher
  
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• Facebook launches standalone Events app for Android

  13-12-2016 18:06
  
  Facebook Events has been available for past two months on the iPhone, but now Android users can get in on the fun. The social media giant is making good on its promise to bring its planning app to the Play Store, and it looks to be a near-carbon copy of the iOS version.
  Developed as a way to keep all of your meet-ups in one place, the Events app is sort of a Facebook calendar that lets you see what you’re doing and find things that might be fun. Inside the app, you can check out nearby ha
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Is the NSA spying on iCloud?

  13-12-2016 17:59
  
  Privacy is a big worry for many people these days, particularly when it comes to the cloud. Even huge companies like Apple worry about government spying on their customers and business. The company has apparently been building its own iCloud servers to thwart the possibility of its server hardware being intercepted and tampered with by the government while in the mail system.Zack Whittaker reports for ZDNet in an article from back in March:
  Apple is reportedly building its own servers amid
  
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• Snapchat's Groups let you chat with 16 friends at once

  13-12-2016 17:22
  The holidays are about bringing people together, and what better way to bring your family and friends together than sharing selfies with dog ears or your face in a toilet? The makers of Snapchat, Snap Inc., announced on Tuesday that a new group chat feature is coming to the popular photo-sharing and messaging platform.
  Snapchat’s Groups allows users to chat with up to 16 of their friends at once. In a nod to to Snapchat’s ephemeral roots any snap sent to a Group lasts for just 24 ho
  
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• BrandPost: 5 Steps to Securing Privileged Access for Outsourced IT

  13-12-2016 16:54
  
  According to Gartner, IT outsourcing will be a $335 billion industry by 2019. Within the growing number of IT organizations adopting this approach to managing infrastructure, outsourced IT administrators are routinely granted broad privileges to accomplish even the most narrowly focused tasks.However, traditional privileged identity management solutions require organizations to create and manage identities for outsourced IT administrators within their internal environment and grant full VPN acce
  
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• Skype, WhatsApp face increased privacy regulation in Europe

  13-12-2016 16:51
  
  Skype, WhatsApp and services like them could soon fall under the same European Union regulations as telephone calls and SMS text messages, a leaked legislative draft reveals.Although Skype and WhatsApp can both be used to make voice calls and send text messages, they don't fall under existing EU communications privacy legislation because they are data services that run over the top of an internet connection, rather than native functions of the network like phone calls and SMS.But legislators wan
  
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• Apple's delayed AirPods now available to buy online

  13-12-2016 16:44
  
  Apple is releasing its wire-free Bluetooth AirPods in time for Christmas, skating under the wire juuuuust barely by making them available to order online today with an initial ship date of December 21.
  AirPods will also be available in Apple Stores on December 21, Buzzfeed reports.
  Apple announced the AirPods back in September alongside the headphone jack-less iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, positioning the $159 earphones as the perfect accessory. But then the pre-announced shipping date—someti
  
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• Android chief squashes rumors of Android merging with Chrome OS

  13-12-2016 16:33
  
  If you were holding out hope that Android and Chrome would one day merge into some kind of super OS that marries the desktop and mobile worlds once and for all, Google’s senior vice president for Android, Chrome, and Chromecast Hiroshi Lockheimer has some bad news for you: It’s not happening.
  Speaking on the All About Android podcast, the mobile chief threw a giant bucket of cold water on the idea that the two platforms would eventually converge, despite recent rumors that sugg
  
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• Linium Opens London Office to Expand Financial Services Consulting Expertise into the European Market

  13-12-2016 16:08
  
  New York, NY and London, UK – Linium, a world-class provider of business services that empower the entire enterprise, today signaled its expansion into the European market with the opening of its newest office in London.  
  
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• Cortana's coming to robots and smart devices via Windows 10 for the Internet of Things

  13-12-2016 16:08
  
  In 2017, your new fridge might be able to tell you corny jokes and serenade you, but still lack a witty answer to “Are you Skynet?” Microsoft announced during the WinHEC coference in Shenzhen, China that Cortana would arrive on Windows IoT Core as part of the Windows 10 Creators Update. The IoT version of Windows is designed for smart devices such as robots, maker projects, thermostats, toasters, doorbells, and picture frames.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, pleas
  
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• BlackBerry komt met mobiel security-platform voor IoT

  13-12-2016 16:00
  BlackBerry, dat steeds actiever wordt op de softwaremarkt, introduceert een uitgebreid security-platform voor het zakelijke IoT. De onderneming, die onder meer Good Technology, WatchDox, AtHoc en Ecription heeft ingelijfd, rondt met de introductie van haar nieuwe platform de integratie van deze bedrijven... lees meer
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How to get business value by using mobile apps in your marketing

  13-12-2016 15:41
  
  Since time immemorial, or at least since the earliest businesses started selling their services and products, marketers have been vying for the consumer’s attention. In this age of all-pervasive technology, never have brands been so integrated into the lives of consumers. And marketers who understand technology and its implications are able to use it to connect their brands to their consumers.Mobile trends and consumer data prove that mobile is getting bigger by the day and has already sur
  
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• Netgear starts patching routers affected by a critical flaw

  13-12-2016 15:29
  
  Networking device manufacturer Netgear released firmware updates for several router models in order to patch a critical vulnerability that's publicly known and could be exploited by hackers.
  The vulnerability was disclosed by a researcher Friday and affects multiple Netgear router models, many from the company's Nighthawk series. The company initially confirmed the flaw in three models -- R6400, R7000, R8000 -- but it has since expanded the list to include five more.
  The models confirmed to be
  
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• 5 recovery environments for tricky Windows 10 repairs

  13-12-2016 15:07
  
  If you work with Windows systems, especially on the client side, you’ll occasionally need to bring an inoperable system back to life. The causes of this lamentable system state are as varied as the symptoms, which can range from an inability to boot Windows to a non-functional keyboard or display (hard to do anything in Windows without input or output). Despite all the many potential causes and symptoms, the situation remains the same: For whatever reason, a Windows system won’t star
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Top 3 blockchain-based healthcare companies to watch in 2017

  13-12-2016 15:00
  
  Game theory is the science of strategy. A branch of mathematics and economics that explores strategic situations across multiple stakeholders with different goals, whose actions can affect one another. Pioneering companies are changing the game with blockchain technologies. The new game of consumer interactions redefines transparency, immutability and security across industries.New game with new playersMuch progress has been made with game theory. John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern’s
  
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• Dear engineers: Please build friendly robots

  13-12-2016 15:00
  
  Anyone who has read science fiction can tell you that killer robots are a problem. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, better known as the IEEE, wants to do something about it.
  On Tuesday, the IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems released a report aimed at encouraging engineers and researchers to think ethically when they’re building new intelligent software and hardware.
  The report, titled “Ethically
  
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• AirMap, DigiCert to issue digital certificates for drones

  13-12-2016 15:00
  
  Drones will start getting digital identification certificates under a new service being launched on Tuesday that hopes to bring trust and verification to the skies.The Drone IDs will be SSL/TLS certificates from DigiCert issued through AirMap, a provider of drone flight information data, and will first be available to users of Intel's Aero drone platform.Under the system, drone owners receive the digital ID in the form of an SSL/TLS certificate when they register for AirMap services. The ID is d
  
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• CIO Career Coach: 3 tips for job offer negotiations (video)

  13-12-2016 14:38
  
  Welcome to episode No. 8 of "CIO Career Coach," a video collaboration between Heller Search Associates, CIO.com and IDG.tv, the video division of CIO's parent company, IDG.This first season of "CIO Career Coach" focuses how to run the most effective and successful job search. Whether you are a CIO, CTO, CISO, a vice president, a director in the IT organization, or you aspire to one of these roles, the advice in these videos will help you land your next great job as a technology professional.To r
  
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• CISOs bridge communication gap between technology and risk

  13-12-2016 14:05
  
  There's a new CISO in town, and that person is now bridging the gap between technology and risk. Toward that end, many CSOs and CISOs are starting to report to the chief risk officer rather than the CIO. 
  The shift has not been without some controversy, with the main objection being that no matter how they spin it, technology is still at the heart of the job. So what are the pros and cons of this change? 
  "It's as much a shift in mindset and language as organizational reporting," said
  
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• Synaptics has a new fingerprint sensor that will mean smoother phone screens

  13-12-2016 14:00
  
  A Silicon Valley biometrics company says it has developed a fingerprint sensor that can sit under glass so smartphone screens don't need a cutout or extra button to accommodate the sensor.The Synaptics FS9100 sensor can sit under a millimeter of glass and still provide accurate fingerprint readings, so it should be easier to integrate one under a display.At present, most fingerprint sensors have to sit above the glass, necessitating a cutout in the face of the phone or a dedicated button th
  
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• Nearly half of all websites pose security risks

  13-12-2016 14:00
  
  According to a new study of the top one million domains, 46 percent are running vulnerable software, are known phishing sites, or have had a security breach in the past twelve months.
  The big problem is that even when a website is managed by a careful company, it will often load content from other sites, said Kowsik Guruswamy, CTO at Menlo Park, Calif.-based Menlo Security, which sponsored the report, which was released this morning.
  For example, news sites -- 50 percent of which were risky --
  
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• HPE komt met nieuwe producten om concurrentie in IoT bij te blijven

  13-12-2016 13:08
  Het op grote schaal implementeren en managen van IoT-apparaten is doorgaans prijzig en weinig efficiënt door de diversiteit aan IoT-connectiviteit, protocollen en problematische beveiliging. Data verzamelen van allerlei verschillende apparaten is nogal complex. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) komt nu met... lees meer
  
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• Alphabet's self-driving car may keep the steering wheel after all

  13-12-2016 13:07
  
  Google's parent company does not yet have the courage to build a car with no steering wheel or pedals, preferring to put its self-driving technology into existing cars from traditional auto manufacturers.
  Thats the conclusion of news site The Information in a report published Monday citing people close to Alphabet's autonomous vehicle project.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• 8 ways companies can manage risks brought on by the SaaS Tsunami

  13-12-2016 12:33
  
  Shadow ITImage by ThinkstockEvery employee is on a mission to find the next SaaS application that will make their job easier. With nothing more than a credit card and an expense report, anyone within the organization can sign-up for a new application in minutes.The problem is that employees are signing-up for SaaS apps without the knowledge or permission of their IT administrator. According to Gartner and Cisco, IT pros only know about 7% of the apps in use. Meaning, within any given organizatio
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Flipping the pyramid

  13-12-2016 12:30
  
  Many companies follow a traditional organizational structure that has the CEO at the top of a pyramid, managers in the middle, and all other employees at the bottom. While this may be efficient for some matters, it may also stifle the flow of communication and creative ideas.In order to deal with this problem, some companies have chosen to completely flip the organizational structure in order to fully embrace the lean journey.Inverting the leadership pyramid
  The traditional leadership pyramid, w
  
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• Review: Microsoft Teams tries to do Slack one better

  13-12-2016 12:00
  
  While it's become the standard productivity suite for many businesses, Microsoft Office has lacked a tool specifically built for group communication and collaboration.Office integrationTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: The FinTech effect and the disruption of financial services

  13-12-2016 12:00
  
  As the World stands on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way everyone lives, works and relates to each other, it will be possible to observe the complete disruption of many industries and their business models. In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind or business has ever experienced before. For now, it is yet too soon to understand know just how it will unfold, but one thing is clear: the response to it mus
  
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• Expect a new Swift upgrade this spring

  13-12-2016 12:00
  
  Swift 3.1, a limited-focus upgrade to Apple's general purpose systems language, is due next spring, with a few enhancements to the language itself as well as to the Swift Package Manager and Swift on Linux. Source compatibility with Swift 3.0 also is a key goal.
  Apple detailed goals for the language in a recent bulletin, but the company already is looking past this upgrade to Swift 4, which is planned for late 2017, according to Apple's Ted Kremenek, release manager for Swift 3.1.[ InfoWorld's
  
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• Apple faced a challenging 2016

  13-12-2016 12:00
  
  Apple had a tough 2016. Early in the year, the tech giant became entangled in a legal battle with the FBI over the company's refusal to help the agency unlock the phone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook. Apple argued that doing so would open a back door that would put other iPhone users at risk of privacy breaches. Apple also had a somewhat disappointing financial year with annual sales dropping for the first time since 2001, when the company released the iPod.  On the hardware si
  
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• Cybersecurity skills aren’t taught in college

  13-12-2016 10:00
  
  Cybersecurity is a growing concern across the globe and businesses are eager to build secure products and keep corporate data safe. The only problem is that cybersecurity is a relatively new skill, and there just aren't enough qualified candidates to go around.When Intel and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) surveyed 775 IT decision makers, 82 percent expressed a concern for the cybersecurity skills shortage. It's reached a point where the government has created the Natio
  
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• 5 tips to stay ahead of ransomware threats

  13-12-2016 10:00
  
  The incidents of ransomware -- especially crypto-ransomware, in which cybercriminals hack vulnerable systems, encrypt the data and hold it for ransom -- saw a huge spike in 2016, and the practice shows no signs of slowing down.According to Symantec's 2016 Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), there were more than 4,000 ransomware attacks per day since Jan 1, 2016, a 300-percent increase over 2015, which saw an average 1,000 attacks per day, according to the ISTR.
  While organizations can't eve
  
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• 67% off Sabrent 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub with Individual Power Switches - Deal Alert

  13-12-2016 07:48
  
  The thin, lightweight design makes this hub a great travel companion to expand one USB 3.0 port into four. Each port has its own power switch so you can control each port independently. It currently averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 4,300 people (read recent reviews). Its typical list price of $30 had been reduced 67% to just $10. See it on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• 29% off Plantronics Explorer 50 Bluetooth Headset - Deal Alert

  13-12-2016 07:00
  
  The Explorer 50 Bluetooth Headset from Plantronics averages 4 out of 5 stars from over 2,000 people (read reviews) on Amazon, where its typical list price of $25.48 has been reduced 29% to just $17.99. The Plantronics Explorer 50 Bluetooth headset reduces background noise, connects to two smartphones, streams your music and GPS directions, and has a power-saving DeepSleep mode. Up to 11 hours of talk time. It's designed to fit either ear, the earloop swivels and rotates for a stable fit. Se
  
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• Currency demonetization hits India’s mobile phone sales

  13-12-2016 06:26
  
  India’s decision to remove certain currency notes out of circulation has hurt mobile phone sales, as many people in the country still prefer to use cash or do not have access to payment cards and digital payment options.Some companies have announced plans to cut down on production to clear inventory. Lava International, one of the larger players in the Indian market, said Monday it has halted the production of mobile phones for the next 10 days. The staff at the manufacturing units have be
  
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• Dozens arrested in international DDoS-for-hire crackdown

  13-12-2016 01:47
  
  Law enforcement agencies arrested 34 suspects in 13 countries, including the U.K and the U.S., as part of a crackdown last week on DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks.The arrests targeted buyers of DDoS-for-hire services, which get paid to flood websites or internet-connected systems with traffic, forcing them to go offline.In addition to the 34 arrests, law enforcement agencies interviewed and warned another 101 individuals. Many of the suspects were under the age of 20, the European U
  
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