IT Executive news

• Some HTTPS inspection tools might weaken security

  17-03-2017 23:14
  
  Companies that use security products to inspect HTTPS traffic might inadvertently make their users' encrypted connections less secure and expose them to man-in-the-middle attacks, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team warns.US-CERT, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, published an advisory after a recent survey showed that HTTPS inspection products don't mirror the security attributes of the original connections between clients and servers.HTTPS inspection checks the encrypte
  
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• Vendor health check: Salesforce

  17-03-2017 22:52
  
  Salesforce.com, the market-share leader in on-demand software for customer relationship management (CRM), recently posted disappointing earnings but has a robust revenue stream, according a March 2 profile byZacks Investment Research.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Sony's virtual reality suit is why people go to SXSW

  17-03-2017 22:35
  
  Sony isn’t exactly the coolest name in technology, which is why we were surprised to see the company set up shop directly across the street from the Austin Convention Center at South by Southwest.
  Stepping inside Sony’s makeshift Wow Factory was like seeing into a future where virtual and augmented reality are full-body experiences not necessarily tied to a clunky headset or a phone. And while none of these technologies are ready to buy, Sony’s ambitious set-up was seriously i
  
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• San Diego installs massive flow battery that can power 1,000 homes

  17-03-2017 21:35
  
  San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has taken the wraps off a new battery energy storage project that will store up to 2 megawatts of electricity -- enough to power 1,000 homes for four hours.
  The new vanadium redox flow (VRF) battery substation was installed by Osaka, Japan-based Sumitomo Electric and will store renewable energy harnessed from solar panels and release it when resources are in high demand during peak business hours.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please
  
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• Credit-card breach hits another restaurant chain

  17-03-2017 21:33
  
  Another sizeable payment card data breach has been discovered at a U.S. restaurant chain.In the latest example, several high-end eateries run by Select Restaurants in Cleveland were the victims of fraudulent cards used by customers at its restaurants, according to a report posted Thursday on KrebsOnSecurity, a reliable site written by reporter Brian Krebs. Krebs said he learned about the case from anti-fraud teams at multiple financial institutions investigating "a great deal of fraud on cards u
  
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• DARPA's latest idea could put today's Turing-era computers at risk

  17-03-2017 21:25
  
  The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has come up with some crazy ideas in the past, and its latest idea is to create computers that are always learning and adapting, much like humans.
  However, this isn't a far-fetched idea. Mobile devices, computers, and gadgets already have artificial intelligence features, with notable examples being Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana, and Amazon's Alexa.
  But these devices can only learn and draw conclusions within the scope of infor
  
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• Minnesota police seek data on who Googled a victim's name

  17-03-2017 20:49
  
  Local police in Minnesota are trying to solve a bank fraud scheme by demanding Google give up data on people who looked up key search terms that may be related to crime.The warrant, issued to police in the city of Edina last month, is raising eyebrows among privacy advocates. It's a rare instance of U.S. law enforcement using mass data collection to solve a petty crime, said Nate Cardozo, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.Edina police applied for the warrant to investigate a fr
  
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• String of fileless malware attacks possibly tied to single hacker group

  17-03-2017 18:54
  
  Several attacks observed over the past few months that rely heavily on PowerShell, open-source tools, and fileless malware techniques might be the work of a single group of hackers.An investigation started by security researchers from Morphisec into a recent email phishing attack against high-profile enterprises pointed to a group that uses techniques documented by several security companies in seemingly unconnected reports over the past two months."During the course of the investigation, we unc
  
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• Dutch researchers pull almost 43Gbit per second over a ray of light

  17-03-2017 18:46
  
  An experiment by scholars at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands has demonstrated a wireless network based on infrared rays that can move data at speeds of 42.8Gbps.
  The system, which is the work of new Ph.D recipient Joanne Oh, uses light “antennas,” which don’t have any moving parts, translating signals from a fiber-optic cable into infrared light and beaming them to receivers in the same room, which can be tracked by their return signals – when a
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: If I can see it, I can fix it

  17-03-2017 18:33
  
  West Liberty Foods’ Mount Pleasant, Iowa plant can slice meat as well as anyone in the world. But two years ago, some of its machinery just couldn’t cut it—or keep running through 16-to-20-hour shifts. As breakdowns occurred, the plant’s older computerized maintenance-management system couldn’t pinpoint problems.Flying blind
  “Without calling our facilities, we didn’t know what was happening—we couldn’t see the data,” explains Chad Willi
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How to stop your smart devices from spying on you

  17-03-2017 18:28
  
  A new WikiLeaks release may affect you personally. Thanks to the rogue info-dumping network, Americans have now learned that the CIA can easily access all sorts of mobile devices from iPhones to Androids; across platforms, devices and brands; as well as everything from cars to your Samsung smart TV. No one, it seems, is safe from the technological prowess of the United States government. The news, if true, could be a major security concern for literally everyone. Windows, Macs and Linux OS compu
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: How LeadingAge is leveraging new technology for the aging society

  17-03-2017 18:22
  
  What is LeadingAge?Alwan: LeadingAge is an association of 6,000+ members and partners that include not-for-profit organizations representing the entire field of aging services, 39 state partners, hundreds of businesses, consumer groups, foundations, and research partners.In order to decrease medicaid spend, CMS is incentivizing states to enable potential long-term care (LTC) candidates to stay at home using technology. What are your thoughts on using technology to age in place? Is this effective
  
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• Slack channel names can be written in more languages

  17-03-2017 17:11
  
  Slack’s international customers are now able to set channel names in their native tongue, thanks to an update the group chat service rolled out Thursday.
  According to an in-app bulletin, users will be able to set up rooms to discuss work and other topics using a wider variety of characters. As a result, users can name channels in Japanese, German, French and a wide variety of other languages. It’s an improvement over Slack’s previous set of heavy restrictions on channel names.
  
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• Social media companies have a month to update service terms in the EU

  17-03-2017 16:59
  
  Facebook, Twitter and Google have been given a month to make changes to their user agreements in the European Union or face "enforcement action."European consumer authorities put the social media services on notice last November that their terms of service did not comply with EU law, asked them to make changes and to address the problem of scams that misled users of the services.The authorities and the European Commission met with the companies on Thursday to discuss their proposed changes, and
  
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• Here’s what Trump’s budget means for renewable energy

  17-03-2017 16:57
  
  The Trump administration on Thursday released a preliminary 2018 budget proposal outlining changes to discretionary spending that, if implemented, would likely cut spending on renewable energy.
  Among a list of 15 government entities that would see cuts under the proposed budget, two that could affect renewable energy programs are the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE). Trump has proposed a 31% cut in spending for the EPA and a 6% cut for the Energy Departme
  
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• Windows 10's Creators Update tweaks a workaround for mandatory updates

  17-03-2017 16:00
  
  Windows 10 Home users may soon lose some of their already limited ability to prevent Microsoft from forcing automatic system updates on their PCs.
  While there’s no official way to prevent updates in Windows 10 Home, a workaround is to mark your Wi-Fi connection as metered. The Windows Insider Preview Build 15058 released on Tuesday reduces the effectiveness of that workaround, as WinSuperSite recently spotted.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Google Voice finally lets you delete conversations

  17-03-2017 15:34
  
  Earlier this year Google pushed out a surprise update to Google Voice, bringing what many thought was an abandoned service a modern update and some new life. At the time, Google also vowed that it wouldn’t neglect its original VoIP service anymore, and less than two months later, it’s making good on its promise.
  In a posting on the Google Voice Help Forum, community manager Vanessa outlined several new features that have begun rolling out to users. The biggest change is the overdue
  
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• 17% off Ecobee3 Lite Wi-Fi Alexa Compatible Smart Thermostat - Deal Alert

  17-03-2017 15:31
  
  Ecobee understands your local weather, schedule and desired comfort settings, to ensure your home is at the right temperature at the right time. Control it using your mobile device from anywhere, or using your voice via the Alexa service.  Get free monthly reports on how much energy you’ve saved and tips on how you can save even more. Ecobee monitors your heating and cooling systems and alerts you if it senses that something isn’t working properly. Currently the smart WiFi
  
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• 13% off Ecobee3 Lite Wi-Fi Alexa Compatible Smart Thermostat - Deal Alert

  17-03-2017 15:31
  
  Ecobee understands your local weather, schedule and desired comfort settings, to ensure your home is at the right temperature at the right time. Control it using your mobile device from anywhere, or using your voice via the Alexa service.  Get free monthly reports on how much energy you’ve saved and tips on how you can save even more. Ecobee monitors your heating and cooling systems and alerts you if it senses that something isn’t working properly. Currently the smart WiFi
  
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• Why great chief data officers are hard to find

  17-03-2017 14:47
  
  Chief data officers (CDOs) are among the most highly sought-after executives among corporations for whom data analytics has become a cornerstone of digital strategies. But the rush to promote data-crunching experts to the CDO role has created a new challenge: Finding a leader who can use data to help drive a business transformation.Companies eager to establish data analytics have promoted managers to the CDO role based on their technical wizardry rather than their leadership capabilities, says J
  
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• Ask.com serves as a conduit for malware - again

  17-03-2017 14:09
  
  Businesses that allow the Ask.com toolbar in their environments might want to rethink that after endpoints equipped with the browser add-on were compromised last November and then again the very next month using pretty much the same attack methods.
  In both cases attackers managed to infiltrate the Ask.com updater infrastructure to the point that they used legitimate Ask signing certificates to authenticate malware that was masquerading as software updates.
  And in both cases Ask Partner Network
  
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• Hybride Cloud dominant in West-Europa

  17-03-2017 14:08
  In West-Europa wordt de hybride cloud het meest gebruikt en veiligheid wordt als belangrijkste argument gezien om over te stappen op de cloud. Maar de cloud wordt het meest ingezet voor traditionele toepassingen als opslag en back-up. Daarop duidt onderzoek door Netapp.Meer dan de helft van de ondervraagde... lees meer
  
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• Watson could keep business and world leaders from looking like idiots

  17-03-2017 13:39
  
  The U.S. government is behaving as if it were a newborn child. Centuries of hard-earned experience is getting tossed aside as yet another leader seems to feel he needs to create a strategy that assumes there was no government before they took over.This isn’t uncommon in companies either. You’ll often see a firm fight its way up to the top using a set of hard-learned skills only to fall to the bottom because it gets institutional Alzheimer’s and forgets everything it should alre
  
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• Experts divided on value of Cyber National Guard

  17-03-2017 13:15
  
  This past weekend at SXSW, two Congressmen suggested that the U.S. create a cybersecurity reserves system, similar to the National Guard, but the idea has received a mixed welcome from the cybersecurity community.
  According to House Rep. Will Hurd, a Republican from Texas, a national cybersecurity reserve could help strengthen national security and bring in a diversity of experience. Hurd, who has a degree in computer science from Texas A&M, has served as an undercover CIA officer and has w
  
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• LiquidText update a must-have for iPad Pro

  17-03-2017 13:00
  
  In December 2015, I reviewed LiquidText, an iPad productivity app for reading PDF documents. At the time, I wrote that “LiquidText is a simple, useful app for highlighting text…but it doesn't let you draw annotations using Apple Pencil.”As of March 14, that’s no longer the case. The latest version of the iPad-only LiquidText app enables freehand inking with Apple Pencil and an iPad Pro. And with this significant update, LiquidText may just be the app for review
  
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• Siri, Alexa, and robots could change how we talk

  17-03-2017 12:15
  
  Tech giants are in a race to see who can build the most powerful voice-activated assistant, but there’s a side effect that we haven’t considered: Kids who grow up asking Amazon’s Alexa questions or summoning Siri might lose some social skills. What if artificial intelligence changes the way we talk?
  Experts in robotics, machine learning, and AI descended on Austin for South by Southwest this week, and the biggest questions were lifted straight from the film Her. Will AI become
  
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• Future of tech policy murky under Trump administration

  17-03-2017 12:00
  
  At the outset of the Trump presidency, there is considerable uncertainty around what the new administration might mean for tech policy, a deeply complex set of issues that were largely out of view on the campaign trail.As a candidate, Trump did not articulate a tech policy agenda, though he stressed the need for a tougher posture on cybersecurity.[ Related: What to expect from the Trump administration on cybersecurity ]Now in the Oval Office, Trump has a range of areas where he could advance pol
  
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• How to use a Chromebook: 10 must-know tips, tricks, and tools for beginners

  17-03-2017 11:30
  
  When Google first introduced Chromebooks in 2011, it seemed like a ridiculous idea. A laptop that can only run a browser? Who wants that? But over time, web apps slowly became more powerful and capable, while Google steadily improved the Chrome OS experience. Soon, many newer Chromebooks will also run Android apps.
  All of this means the Chromebooks of 2017 are nothing like that original experience. Today, Chrome OS feels like a modern operating system that offers a near desktop-like experience.
  
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• H&R Block, TaxAct, TaxSlayer, and TurboTax: Which tax program is right for you?

  17-03-2017 11:30
  
  Welcome back to tax season, I’m Jeff Battersby and I’ll be your guide for all things related to filing your taxes online. This year we’re going to look at the usual suspects, TurboTax and H&R Block. We'll also look at TaxAct Online (last year's newcomer), and Tax Slayer (this year's newcomer).
  When it comes to filing taxes the basics are essentially the same: You provide your financial information and the tax software uses an interview process to gather that information, m
  
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• Do you have an incident response plan in place?

  17-03-2017 11:01
  
  Details matter when developing an incident response (IR) plan. But, even the most successful IR plans can lack critical information, impeding how quickly normal business operations are restored.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Recruiters: Coding talent needed, degree optional

  17-03-2017 11:00
  
  Employers who once focused on finding software development talent from top universities are now hiring developers who learned the trade from coding bootcamps, junior colleges, and online resources, technical recruiter HackerRank says.
  Citing an ongoing developer talent shortage that needs addressing, HackerRank sees technology democratizing how developers acquire skills. "It's more important than ever to realize that CS (computer science) degrees are not the only way to become a great developer
  
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• Augmented and virtual reality to see aggressive growth by 2021

  17-03-2017 10:58
  
  Augmented and virtual reality are catching on, even if it is still early days for both.
  While some analysts at Strategy Analytics worry there aren't enough engaging 360-degree VR movies and other content on the market, IDC analysts on Thursday said there are plenty of early business-focused rollouts of AR to justify optimism.[ To comment on this story, visit Computerworld's Facebook page. ]
  IDC pointed to medical, industrial and marketing applications already in use and predicted a bullish, 10-
  
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• Waymo worried that Uber may peek at secret court documents

  17-03-2017 08:28
  
  Alphabet's autonomous car unit Waymo is concerned about giving Uber Technologies’ internal counsel extensive access to documents it filed under seal in connection with its lawsuit alleging theft of trade secrets and patent infringement by the ride-hailing company.But on Thursday, District Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that Nicole Bartow, in-house counsel for Uber, could review material even at the highest level of confidentiali
  
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• Yahoo breach exposes the drawbacks of state-sponsored hacking

  17-03-2017 01:57
  
  When governments turn to private hackers to carry out state-sponsored attacks, as the FBI alleges Russia did in the 2014 breach of Yahoo, they're taking a big risk.
  On the one hand, it gives them a bit of plausible deniability while reaping the potential spoils of each attack, but if the hackers aren't kept on a tight leash things can turn bad.
  Karim Baratov, the 22-year-old Canadian hacker who the FBI alleges Russia's state security agency hired to carry out the Yahoo breach, didn't care much
  
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• Google pulls virtual assistant ad after user outcry

  17-03-2017 01:44
  
  Google Home users got a surprise on Thursday when their virtual assistants cheerily mentioned that the live-action remake of “Beauty and the Beast” is opening in theaters this weekend.The ad seems to pop up when users ask for a rundown of their day, which kicks off the Home’s “My Day” feature. That feature is supposed to offer users information about the weather, their calendars and relevant news. But at the end of the rundown, the Google Assistant offered the follo
  
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• Cornell has a radio for the whole world with software filtering

  17-03-2017 00:49
  
  Researchers at Cornell University have developed a new type of radio-on-a-chip that could mean cheaper, more flexible wireless systems. Smartphone makers could, for example, use the technology to make a single model of each phone that works anywhere in the world.Single-chip radios have become a popular choice for communications hardware in the last decade because most characteristics of the radio are determined through software, not discrete hardware components. For this reason, they are often r
  
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• Microsoft says it's blocking Windows 7, 8 patches on latest AMD, Intel chips

  17-03-2017 00:00
  
  When Microsoft said last year that it would restrict the latest Intel Kaby Lake and AMD Ryzen silicon to Windows 10, enthusiasts wondered what would happen if they tried running those PCs using Windows 7 or Windows 8. Now we know: no new patches.
  Word of a new Microsoft support document surfaced Thursday, applying the stick to those bold enough to try and pair an older Microsoft OS with the latest silicon. The upshot: Windows will block any updates from appearing on your PC until you upgrade to
  
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