Articles about Endpoints
Don't lose control of those fast-breeding endpoints
So you want to know about security? Well you have come to the right place. I have been here for a while and I can tell you that outside these gates it’s full of cowboys, sharks and pirates, none of whom will hesitate to take what is yours and call it their own.
The above is is a quote from a brochure I wrote in an attempt to …
Kill queues for fast data centres: MIT boffins
MIT researchers hope to speed up networking inside the data centre with concepts that will look familiar to old networking hacks: they propose a central arbiter for network traffic that picks out a predetermined path before a packet is transmitted.
The boffins call the scheme Fastpass, and its other characteristic is that the …
Flaws found in Bitdefender enterprise endpoint manager
Holes have been reported in Bitdefender's Gravity end-point protection platform that allow hackers to target corporate infrastructure.
Researcher Stefan Viehbock of SEC Consult Vulnerability Lab said the flaw affecting the latest version provided an entry point for attackers to move laterally through the network.
"Attackers are …
Google brazenly strokes its mobile cloud tools just before Amazon shindig
Google has released two mobile development tools to coax app writers into storing data in the ad giant's cloud services.
The unveiling comes a day before the kickoff of cloud-rival Amazon's AWS:Reinvent, a love-in held in Las Vegas. Google's utilities give developers two ways to tie applications into cloud storage and compute …
Got to get something started with Azure VMs? Microsoft's Planky shows you the way
Steve Plank, or "Planky" as even his mother allegedly calls him, is the Windows Azure evangelist for Microsoft UK and on 23 April he is taking to the interwebs to conduct his evangelizing online.
Join Planky in a one-hour webcast starting at 9:30 BST and let him guide you through the step-by-step process for spinning up Windows …
Cisco slurps security scanner
Cisco has continued the expansion of its security portfolio with the acquisition of malware analysis outfit ThreatGRID.
The acquisition target was founded in 2012, one of the then-burgeoning number of companies that pushed malware analysis, threat intelligence, and security analytics into the cloud (supplemented by an on-premise …
THE GERMANS ARE CLOUDING: New AWS cloud region spotted
Amazon looks set to open a data center in Germany, allowing European developers to access Bezos & Co's rentable computer tech with lower latencies.
Evidence first gathered by a manager at a Berlin-based startup and subsequently verified by El Reg indicates that Amazon's next cloud computing data center may be in Frankfurt, …
Weaponised Flash flaw can pinch just about anything from anywhere
Get cracking with the latest Flash upgrade, because the vulnerability it patches is a peach, allowing a cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attack for stealing user credentials.
According to the Switzerland-based Google engineer that turned up the vulnerability, Michele Spagnuolo, sites that are/were vulnerable to the attack …
Google App Engine update eases cloudy mobile app development
Google has updated its platform-as-a-service to ease mobile app development in the cloud.
The "Cloud Endpoints" feature was pushed out in its preview form by Google on Thursday, along with support for the Java 7 runtime on its App Engine platform-as-a-service.
"Cloud Endpoints gets rid of all the plumbing code associated with …
Aaah-CHOOO! Brit boffins say WiFi can 'sneeze' malware
While the "head cold" metaphor is a bit laboured, the issue is genuine: a group of researchers from the University of Liverpool have found that WiFi access points are highly efficient at passing around virus infections.
Likening the spread of computer viruses over WiFi as akin to the spread of human viruses in the air, the …
Kaspersky's Security for Virtualization pushed to XenServer and HyperV
Kaspersky is extending its Security for Virtualuzation Light Agent security tool to the Citrix XenServer and Microsoft HyperV platforms.
The company said that the Light Agent tool will launch on April 22 with XenServer and HyperV support as well as new options for VMware's vSphere hypervisor.
The company will continue to …
Infosec bods try Big Data in search for better anti-virus mousetrap
Infosec house Panda Security is looking to Big Data and application monitoring as a means to achieve better malware detection.
The launch of Panda Advanced Protection Service (PAPS) is a response to the widely known shortcomings of signature-based anti-virus detection as well as a means for Panda to sell extra services. The …
'Software amplifier' boosts quantum signals
Even in quantum communications, adjusting the parameters of Shannon's Theorem can help improve reach and range. A group of Australian National University (ANU) researchers has found a way to extend the reach of quantum communications by improving the signal-to-noise ratio of quantum systems.
Their work, published in Nature …
Cisco: Hey, IT depts. You're all malware hosts
Everybody – at least every multinational that Cisco checked out for its 2014 Annual Security Report – is hosting malware of some kind, and there aren't enough security professionals to go around.
Along with its Managed Threat Defense service launched this week, Cisco also launched the latest publication (here with registration) …
Bogus Firefox add-on FORCES WITLESS USERS to join vuln-hunting party
Cybercrooks have brewed up a botnet that uses a bogus Firefox add-on to scan the web for hackable websites.
The so-called Advanced Power botnet runs SQL injection attacks on websites visited from infected machines. The malware, disguised as a legitimate add-on for Mozilla Firefox, found its way onto 12,500 systems, reports …
Trustwave gobbles up Application Security, gorges itself on tech
Data security biz Trustwave has acquired fellow data security provider Application Security, a startup that specialises in automated database security scanning technologies.
Financial terms of the deal, announced on Monday, were undisclosed.
Privately-held Application Security develops security software for relational databases …
Tinfoil hats proven useless by eleven-year mobe radiation study
A long-term longitudinal study in the UK has concluded that mobile phones are safe, with the publication of a report finding “no evidence of biological or adverse health effects” from using mobiles.
The second MTHR (Mobile Telecommunications and Health Report) study is a follow-up to a prior report published in 2007. The report …
As Azzurri closes in on CEO successor, sales director splits
South coast integrator Azzurri Communications is going to be a sales director and board member lighter after Craig Wellman handed in his notice to split by the early summer.
The business, which last month pushed out the first in a series of cloudy services, is still on the hunt for a CEO to replace outgoing chief Vim Vithaldas …
Rotten hackers feast on mouldy Java flaws
Most enterprise networks are riddled with vulnerable Java installations, according to a new study whose release coincides with the discovery of another 0-day Java flaw.
Less than one per cent of organisations are running the latest version of Java, according to a study by security software firm Bit9. The most frequently …
They've taken my storage hostage ... now what?
There's an encrypting ransomware Trojan making the rounds called Cryptolocker.
I will save the details on my battle with this beastie for later*, but suffice it to say that if this encrypts your stuff you are done. There is no getting your data back unless you have backups or pay the ransom.
Let's set aside the ultra-well …
Two years in the making: Sneak peek at VMware's future VVOL tech
VMware says its virtual volume storage technology – which has spent two years in development – is set to erupt onto the storage array landscape next year, causing profound changes for array controllers.
Virtual volumes or VVOLs provide storage for VMware virtual machines (VMs) that currently need LUN (Logical Unit Number) or …
The real reason why Dell wants to go private: To fondle big Boomis
Dell has added an API management tool to its Boomi platform, which connects up clouds and in-house applications.
The new component - which monitors and controls software interfaces used to hook together various services within an enterprise - is included in an upgrade that also adds new integration and process management …
How long is too long to wait for a security fix?
Synology quietly released version 4.2-3250 of its DiskStation Manager (DSM) operating system this month. This squashes critical security bugs in version 4.2 of DSM – bugs that were fixed in version 5.0 in June, so consider this a back port.
Version 4.2 is old but still in use in various models, such as the DS109. The update got …
IBM opens 'JumpGate' code to help devs navigate among clouds
IBM has developed a tool to tackle fragmentation in the cloud management ecosystem, and hopes its approach will encourage more providers to support OpenStack-based applications without having to run OpenStack.
The "JumpGate" technology was announced by SoftLayer engineer Nathan Beittenmiller in a blog post on Thursday, and sees …
VDI a 'delightful' experience... Really?
The VDI talk was the kind of GTC session I love. It’s where a real-world expert talks about how a difficult task is actually accomplished. Not the theory, not how it should work on paper, but what it takes to actually move a project from Point “A” to Point “We’re done with this”.
Ken Fingerlos from Lewan Technology delivered in …
Firewall-floggers in FLAMING MESS: Where'd our mystery margin go?
If you work in the fields of technology distribution, services and resale, you'll surely hear about cloud, mobile, social and virtual more than anything else. However, it is the changing patterns in security spending that are perhaps most dramatically re-shaping our businesses.
Gone are the good old days of pushing traditional …
Puff on a hybrid – next thing you know, you're hooked on a public cloud
I had a flash of inspiration today. Hybrid public-private cloud systems are becoming a gateway drug to pure public clouds. Why is this an arguable view? Let’s look to the ideas discussed within The Big Switch, written by Nicholas Carr.
In his seminal book, Carr argues that a public IT utility provider will provide CPU cycles and …
Are you in charge of a lot of biz computers? Got Java on them?
Java security vulnerabilities - exploited to hack Apple and Facebook this month - are rife across business computers worldwide, according to new research.
The overwhelming majority (94 per cent) of PCs and other endpoints running Java software and surveyed by Websense are vulnerable to at least one Java runtime exploit, …
CloudBees straddles firewall with VPN connection
Cloud startup CloudBees has launched a technology that lets customers of the developer-oriented cloud connect their sensitive on-premises resources to the company's cloud via VPN.
By building hosted OpenVPN into its infrastructure, the Java cloud has been able to launch the service which it says can assuage security concerns and …
Promisec Endpoint Manager: So we gotta cope with BYOD... Help!
The explosion of internet-connected gadgets, sensors and other devices that underpins the "internet of things" concept makes my head hurt.
When combined with the completely new security model presented by IPv6, BYOD and cloud computing, automation of endpoint management is rapidly becoming non-optional.
I've started taking a …
Beached whale Symantec watches revenues recede 7%
Symantec’s latest results show that you can wring more profit out of declining revenues by slashing costs but its not enough to bring you back to growth.
Revenues in its fourth fiscal quarter of 2014 ended 28 March were $1.63bn, seven per cent down year-on-year, but net profit jumped 14 per cent to $217m.
The full year numbers …
MS brandishes 'Katana' HTTP/2.0 server
Microsoft has gone public with a prototype HTTP/2.0 server.
The server is designed to implement the version 4 HTTP/2.0 implementable draft published by the IETF earlier in July. The idea, according to IETF HTTPBIS chair Mark Nottingham, is that progressive implementations of HTTP/2.0 will feed back into the standard.
“We're …
A Tapestry of network complexity
Forget drawing network maps or sending your network management software on an epic tour of auto-discovery: a group getting ready to launch an open-source “network complexity scoring” tool says it's all about the endpoint.
Infoblox, part of the Flowforwarding.org SDN (software defined networking) community, is prepping the ground …
Microsoft: We're making ONE TRUE WINDOWS to rule us all
Microsoft has cracked open its annual and Q4 results, the first end of year numbers it has spat out under brevity-challenged chief executive Satya Nadella.
As befitting such a results event, there was plenty of backslapping and self-congratulatory talk about how Microsoft is turning into a cloud business.
But why was Microsoft’ …
Reports: NSA has compromised most internet encryption
The NSA and the GCHQ have compromised much encryption used on the internet through a potent mix of technological theft, spycraft, and collaboration with major technology companies, according to new reports.
In a series of news articles that highlight how the code-breaking crypto-fiddling agencies NSA and GCHQ are doing their job …
The SECOND COMING of Virtensys: HPC boffins turn PCIe into in-memory network
HPC boffins at startup A3CUBE have picked up where Virtensys left off and designed a way to use PCIe interfaces to provide direct shared global memory across a network with lower latency and higher scalability than Ethernet, InfiniBand and Fibre Channel.
San Jose-based A3CUBE was founded by in 2012 by Emilio Billi, its chief …
Where the HELL is my ROBOT BUTLER?
For decades the development of the computer has been driven by businesses. Businesses bought mainframes, PCs and servers. They bought in such quantity that the consumer was, for most technology companies, a mere afterthought. Today, consumer purchases of endpoints outstrip business purchases by a wide margin.
None of this is …
Soft, hard, lightly hosted? Make the right call when you choose a PBX system
All businesses need a PBX phone system to organise calls and direct them round the organisation.
PBX systems have evolved over the last couple of decades. While some companies may still be using expensive physical switchboards, they can now also choose a hosted PBX system, either with hardware provided by a hosting company or a …
AWS peers into soul of Load Balancers for DNS failover
Amazon Web Services now lets users apply automated DNS failover policies to data fronted by load balancers rather than just IPs.
As El Reg predicted, Amazon has now added Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) failover to Route 53 just three months after launching a new auto-redirect feature. This means Amazon's "dead man switch" failover …
A backdoor into Skype for the Feds? You're joking...
Heavyweights of the cryptographic world have lined up behind a campaign against proposed US wiretapping laws that could require IT vendors to place new backdoors in digital communications services.
Technical details are vague at present, but the planned law could mandate putting wiretap capabilities in endpoints to cover …
Google plumps up one-click mobile cloud
Google is tightening the links between its cloud services and the Android mobile OS to help it woo developers into its rentable infrastructure with a new service for deploying mobile apps onto its cloud.
With the release of the Mobile Backend Starter on Monday, the Mountain View Chocolate Factory unwrapped a tech that takes the …
Services fuel the next generation data centre
In its basic form, a data centre is just a big room full of cages and cabinets, with highly reliable power, efficient security, fire and flood protection and a variety of internal and external network connectivity.
In recent years providers have tried to differentiate their offerings but there is not really that much you can do …
New NSA leak reveals invasion of the management consultants
The Register can reveal that while the NSA has been infiltrating the highest echelons of the governments of US allies, a counter-infiltration has taken place.
Crack teams of Microsoft marketing droids, sleeper cells of incognito TEDx speakers and the greatest sociologists ever to torture a syntax into confessing to crimes of …
Microsoft embraces Android with Azure Mobile Services update
Microsoft has added support for Android apps into Windows Azure Mobile Services, letting developers programmatically add authentication and push notifications.
The updates were announced by Microsoft on Tuesday, and follow Google's release of a similar range of mobile updates for its cloud in mid-February.
To let Azure support …
MIT boffins give computers control to clock faster TCP
A group of MIT researchers has unveiled a machine learning approach to TCP congestion which could form the foundation of the next round of improvements to the venerable protocol's performance.
Dubbed “Remy”, their TCP control software is based on the idea that even sophisticated modern congestion control algorithms (like …
Office 365 goes to work on an Android
Unlike the video editing or CAD workstation beasts that are still utterly reliant on Windows, Android is slowly evolving into a workable platform for basic productivity.
Browsers are becoming passable. Onboard applications are decent and there are an ever-growing number of applications designed for both touch input and mouse. …
Cisco untroubled by mega-clouds fleeing its proprietary ASIC grip
Networking giant Cisco is facing the same onrush of terrifying low-cost competitors that server vendors and chipmakers are dealing with, and is now trying to convince the world that its tech is more open and interoperable than people think.
The new marketing approach has come about as the networking company prepares to sell its …
GenieDB uncorks database-as-a-service
Startup database company GenieDB has announced a cloud-hosted database named – we apologize in advance for what you're about to read – GenieDB Globally Distributed MySQL-as-a-Service (DBaaS).
The tongue-twisting tech was announced on Monday, and sees the company claim to have "solved the problem of geographical [data] …
Druva: We can do a mixture of anything you can do
Mobile, desktop and notebook backup startup Druva has dropped file sharing into its product mix and reckons it's distanced itself from pure-play endpoint backup vendors and file sync 'n' share players.
Druva was founded in 2008 and says its software is used to protect more than a million endpoints - desktop and notebook PCs, and …
Sysadmins: Let's perch on Microsoft Santa's lap, show him our wish list
Griping is easy. Solving problems in an acceptable way is not. I've had a year to chew on what exactly it is about Microsoft's recent moves that bugs me, so it's time to put my money where my mouth is and try to be constructive. Here is my wish list for the next iteration of Windows, offered in the vain hope that someone at …
