| This week's sponsor is ScanSource. | | 
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Also Noted: Intel and Atos
Spotlight On... Business architecture isn't just theory
Amazon beats IBM again for CIA deal; CloudTrail tracks AWS API calls; and much more...  Follow @fierceentcomm on Twitter
News From the Fierce Network:
1. Can security and usability live in one app without driving each other crazy?
2. Release of iOS 7 sucked up almost 20 percent of an ISP's traffic
3. IT training to get top billing in 2014
| This week's sponsor is Kony. | 
| Webinar: CIO/CMO Extreme Collaboration: Mobile App Edition
Thursday, November 21st, 2pm ET / 11am PT | New Speaker Added!
Customers and employees alike are more mobile than ever, which means CIOs and CMOs have to partner more effectively than ever to deliver the goods. Join us as we discuss making mobile apps a critical point of teamwork between IT and marketing.
Register Today! |
Today's Top News 1. Network engineers targeted in British spies' social media scam
Intelligence officers at the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) allegedly created spoofed versions of LinkedIn and Slashdot pages, targeting specific network engineers at telecom companies and planting malware on their systems. German newspaper Der Spiegel reported the news based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. GCHQ agents identified engineers working at Belgacom, which is partly owned by the Belgian government. The agents determined which of the engineers use LinkedIn and Slashdot, and redirected the engineers to spoofed pages that implanted malware. The end goal was to gain access to a "GRX" router system that plays a critical role in providing access for mobile phones in roaming mode. Der Spiegel quotes a 2011 GCHQ document as saying "We can locate, collect, exploit (in real time where appropriate) high value mobile devices & services in a fully converged target centric manner." The presence of malware on Belgacom's systems was reported earlier by the carrier, which said in September that "The inquiry has shown that the hacking was only possible by an intruder with significant financial and logistic means. This fact, combined with the technical complexity of the hacking and the scale on which it occurred, points towards international state-sponsored cyber espionage." For more:
- read Der Spiegel's account More on high-tech espionage:
Spotlight: Huawei says it's not a government spy [FierceITSecurity]
NSA director defends massive data collection program [FierceITSecurity]
Security and privacy uppermost in the minds of many
Read more about: espionage
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2. How to find fault with your software-defined network
Another sign of software-defined networking's slow but steady progress toward mainstream use: People are talking about the complexity of fault-testing in SDN environments. Writing on Enterprise Networking Planet, Julie Knudson interviews a handful of CTOs about the solving the fault-testing challenge. A simpler formulation of the problem is that SDN "opens up a lot more variables in how the products are used," as expressed by Plexxi VP Mat Mathews. A more complex expression from Bromium CTO Simon Crosby is that different types of network connections require different states, and that "the monumental task of reasoning out the correctness of the state, across all the switches in the network, has the potential to overwhelm traditional fault-testing protocols." Knudson looks at Chaos Monkey, a freely-available tool developed by Netflix to test its vast infrastructure (previously explored on FierceCIO). Chaos Monkey scans the network for weaknesses and tries to shut down virtual machine instances. The goal is to strengthen the network's reliability by anticipating and fixing failure scenarios. Crosby notes that while useful, Chaos Monkey and tools of its (semi-random) nature are only part of the full testing solution, and should be paired with a structured methodology. Another CTO, Rob Sherwood of Big Switch Networks, argues that SDN actually makes it easier to find and fix glitches, because of the degree of automation and programmability inherent in SDN. The Fierce Take: The Chaos Monkey scenario bears similarity to penetration testing in the security world. Conventional wisdom is that random tests become useful only after a solid foundation is in place. For more:
- read Knudson's article More on SDN and network testing:
SDN use cases emerging; hold your breath for 2015
How complex is your network?
Nonprofit platform launched to share API code, Creative Commons style
What to ask your SDN supplier
Read more about: SDN
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3. Verizon CFO says company underestimated LTE data demand
Give people a bigger pipe and they'll hoover up more data. Sounds self-evident, but capacity planners at Verizon were surprised by the amount of data-hogging as the company rolled out its LTE fourth-generation network. Verizon CFO Fran Shammo told investors this week that the average 4G customer uses more than two times as much data as the average 3G customer. As a result, the company "had to back away from its all-you-can-eat data plans in a hurry," reports Jon Gold on Network World. Shammo said the explosive growth of data consumption could slow as smartphones reach a saturation point in the market. He also said that the companies 'coverage'-oriented build-out of LTE is completed, so future capital investment can go toward increasing capacity, particularly in congested areas including New York, San Francisco and Chicago. For more:
- read Gold's article More on broadband networking:
Broadband speeds hitting high gear
Gigabit Internet service options springing up
Cable companies aggressively rolling out Wi-Fi hotspots
Read more about: Broadband, LTE
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4. Industry Roundup: IBM gobbles up Fiberlink; Juniper, OpenDaylight get new leadership
>> IBM gobbles up Fiberlink for mobile security IBM announced plans to acquire mobile management vendor Fiberlink for an undisclosed price. Fiberlink offers the MaaS360 cloud-based enterprise mobile management service; IBM said it should be considered as part of a broader mobile security initiative that also saw Big Blue purchase anti-fraud vendor Trusteer. Forbes reports that Fiberlink has 3,500 customers in a range of industries, both public and private-sector. (Read more on mobile security: CompTIA to certify mobile IT pros | Most employees don't view taking corporate data as stealing) >> Juniper tabs new CEO with CIO roots Networking vendor Juniper, which has experienced its share of ups and downs, has named a new CEO with enterprise IT cred. Shaygan Kheradpir has previously worked as chief operations and technology officer at Barclays and as CIO of Verizon Communications, according to Network World. Kheradpir will take the reins starting in January of 2014. (Read more about enterprise networking: Bottom-up change hits enterprise networks | Your data center fabric checklist) >> OpenDaylight Project gets new Executive Director, former VMware exec The OpenDaylight Project, an opensource Software Defined Networking collaboration created by the Linux Foundation in April, has named its first Executive Director. Nicolas Jacques is a former VMware executive, describing his new role as facilitating collaboration and resource sharing among vendors, end users, network operators and other communities interested in advancing SDN and network function virtualization. (Read more about SDN and NFV: OpenStack gets more open with Dynamic Resource Management option | By the numbers: Rackspace, Red Hat 'dominate' contributions to OpenStack)
Read more about: m&a, Enterprise Networks
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Also Noted | This week's sponsor is Intel and Atos. |  | Webinar: Next Generation Data Center - Innovation, Transformation, and Management
Thursday, November 14th, 12pm ET /9am PT Engage directly with Atos and Intel team members and see a live demonstration in unique approaches to innovation and transformation within the Data Center. Register Today! |
SPOTLIGHT ON... Business architecture isn't just theory Blue Shield of California CIO Michael Mathias says Business Architecture is real and a valuable tool for driving change. As profiled on CIO.com, Blue Shield used BA principles to define a new enterprise-wide customer engagement strategy. Mathias took a lead role, meeting with stakeholders from multiple units and functions in order to reduce redundancy and ensure uniform rollout. "The business architecture shows us our strengths, our gaps, and how to prioritize," Mathias says in a detailed look at the work.
> Amazon cloud beats IBM (again) for CIA contract. Article (InformationWeek)
> New CloudTrail service tracks API calls to Amazon Web Services. Article (CloudPro)
> Oracle to open four cloud data centers in 2014. Article (CloudPro)
> 9 killer uses for WebSockets. Article (InfoWorld) And Finally... 'Shocker': Women outnumber men in this year's tech hires. Article (InfoWorld)
> Next Generation Data Center - Innovation, Transformation, and Management - November 14, 12pm ET/ 9am PT Engage directly with Atos and Intel team members and see a live demonstration in unique approaches to innovation and transformation within the Data Center. Register Today! > CIO/CMO Extreme Collaboration: Mobile App Edition - Thursday, November 21, 2pm ET / 11am PT Customers and employees alike are more mobile than ever, which means CIOs and CMOs have to partner more effectively than ever to deliver the goods. Join us as we discuss making mobile apps a critical point of teamwork between IT and marketing. Register Today! > Building a Strategic Road Map for Enterprise Mobility - December 11, 2pm ET / 11am PT This FierceMobileIT webinar will explore how to use external subject matter experts to build a customized mobility strategy based on business priorities; simplify complexity and gain control through cross-platform solutions that align with existing information systems; develop standards-based mobile applications and processes that ensure seamless mobile transition and growth. Register Today!
| > Whitepaper: Enterprise Job Scheduling: 12 Things You Should Know > IT Made Easy with ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is an ITIL-Ready Help Desk Software with integrated asset and project management. True to our tagline, "IT Made Easy", ServiceDesk Plus wins hands down when it comes to ease of use, out of the box settings and integration. Visit http://www.servicedeskplus.com/ to check out the list of features that come at just $995 and to download a 30-Day Free Trial! > Whitepaper: DIY SharePoint - 6 Reasons to Enable Self-Service SharePoint Customization More companies find that "citizen developers" – end users, not IT developers - are creating business applications. In this white paper, discover six ways to embrace citizen development in a way that minimizes risk and maximizes SharePoint. Learn More > Whitepaper: Avoiding the top three challenges of custom-coded SharePoint applications In this white paper, learn about the challenges of custom coded SharePoint applications. Then, see how you can overcome them to create the SharePoint sites you want. Download Today! > Whitepaper: Your Guide to iOS 7 he new version of iOS marks a notable improvement over the last in terms of aesthetics and features, and this guide should get you up to speed with the changes and additions to what Apple calls the world’s most powerful mobile OS. Download today! > Whitepaper: Know What Customers Want Before They Do Today's consumers only want interactions that are relevant, personalized, and based on a customer’s situation and preferences. Discover the framework for creating effective NBOs for B2C and B2B companies. Download today. > Whitepaper: The Future of Sales Performance Management Download this document to learn new technologies and tools that are improving sales managers' ability to measure and enhance the performance of their sales teams. Download today. > eBook: Making BYOD Work Chief information officers and enterprise IT departments face a myriad of challenges when allowing employees to bring their own mobile devices into the work environment. FierceMobileIT explores how BYOD can work best for your enterprise to solve these problems. Download for free today. > Whitepaper: Best Practices for Migrating to SharePoint 2013 SharePoint 2013 has the industry buzzing. It’s powerful and a vast improvement over previous versions. In this white paper, get best practice to ensure your migration to SharePoint 2013 is quick, easy and cost effective. Download Today! > Whitepaper: How to Transform Your Mobile Customer Care Strategy It's all about the SCI: the smart, connected interaction. It's not easy - mobility increases the number of variables going into each interaction, requires the preservation of context across channels, but it allows each interaction to naturally evolve. Read this document to learn how to go SCI and naturally connect with your customers. > eBook: eBook | Content for the Mobile and Social Workforce The smartphone and the cloud and the ability to share changed the whole notion of content management. In this eBook, FierceContentManagement looks at these shifts and make sense of them in the broader IT context as well as their influence on content management. Download for free today. > eBook: Convergence of Mobility and the Cloud As BYOD and cloud computing gain traction in the enterprise, CIOs need to understand how the two relate and how they can be leveraged to improve enterprise services while maintaining security. This eBook discusses the challenges CIOs and IT managers face in the application of cloud synchronization, and what to keep in mind while keeping up with the trend of applying cloud-based storage in companies' day-to-day work. Download it today. > Whitepaper: Encryption of Cloud Data Online data security is a complex, rapidly evolving landscape, requiring layered protections. Encryption is one tool in a comprehensive defense-in-depth strategy to mitigate the risk of accidental and intentional data breaches.
Download today to learn how to protect your data. | |
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