41019337
submission
dave562 writes:
Smart grid industrial control systems (ICS) remain in a state of flux. Security is still viewed as a cost-limitation exercise by many utilities, and advances toward meaningful regulations remain halting. But the utility industry as a whole appears better informed of cyber risks to grids and substations, likely portending more cyber security deployments in the next one to two years. According to a new report from Pike Research, a part of Navigant's Energy Practice, the market for smart grid ICS cyber security will reach $369 million in 2012 and grow to $608 million by 2020.
Technological innovation in this market is stagnant, according to the report, and security vendors do not share a consistent view of this market. While many general-purpose security vendors have not yet seen the growth they had expected, vendors that specialize in control systems security are receiving more requests for proposals than ever. Vendor approaches to the market also vary: some strategically propose a full cyber security solution for an entire control network, while others take a more tactical approach and propose only solving specific problems. Whether taking a strategic or a tactical approach, vendors must orient their discussions with utilities around solving operational and business problems, not technical concepts.
Are any Slashdotters working in this field? What sort of approaches are you taking? Tactical fixes, or strategic solutions?
26811480
submission
dave562 writes:
The U.S. Justice Department's antitrust arm said it was looking into potentially unfair pricing practices by electronic booksellers, joining European regulators and state attorneys general in a widening probe of large U.S. and international e-book publishers.
A Justice Department spokeswoman confirmed that the probe involved the possibility of "anticompetitive practices involving e-book sales."
Attorneys general in Connecticut and, reportedly, Texas, have also begun inquiries into the way electronic booksellers price their wares, and whether companies such as Apple and Amazon have set up pricing practices that are ultimately harmful to consumers.
24438278
submission
dave562 writes:
Reggie Middleton at BoomBustBlog offers some insightful analysis about how Android is impacting Apple's market share.
The maddening pace of Android technology development is simply too much for Apple to keep pace, or at least keep pace with while maintaining those fat margins. So what do they do? they release a marginally improved product that has yet to match the 6 month old Android flagship tech that is about to be refreshed/replaced/updated in exactly ONE WEEK!
He goes on to point out how Google has backed Apple into a corner, and they will have no choice but to cut into their fat profit margins in order to stay competitive.
Lower prices and/or higher technological bars will lead to lower margins. For those that are paying attention, it is evident that it is already happening. The
disappointment felt throughout the web at the release of the iPhone 4GS was not due to Apple releasing a subpar product. It was due to Android raising the bar so high that Apple simply could not match it without busting its extremely fat (72%) margins.
What does this mean for Apple's share prices? I think the answer is obvious.
22852822
submission
dave562 writes:
Today the FCC released the results of their study that was focused on measuring real world broadband performance for residential customers across the United States.
The study examined service offerings from 13 of the largest wireline broadband providers using automated, direct measurements of broadband performance delivered to the homes of thousands of volunteers during March 2011.
Myself and many other Slashdot readers participated in the study.
22345972
submission
dave562 writes:
In an analysis of the effectiveness of the the 2009 stimulus program (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 or ARRA), one of the programs that was investigated was the project to bring broadband access to rural America. Some real interesting numbers popped out.
Quoting the article, "Eisenach and Caves looked at three areas that received stimulus funds, in the form of loans and direct grants, to expand broadband access in Southwestern Montana, Northwestern Kansas, and Northeastern Minnesota. The median household income in these areas is between $40,100 and $50,900. The median home prices are between $94,400 and $189,000.
So how much did it cost per unserved household to get them broadband access? A whopping $349,234, or many multiples of household income, and significantly more than the cost of a home itself."
21688198
submission
dave562 writes:
The always insightful and forward looking guys at Zero Hedge bring the latest details in RIMs stock valuation. Layoffs are on the horizon as RIM misses their earning targets and continues to lose ground to Apple and Android. Is RIM on the way to becoming the MySpace of the smartphone market?
21340610
submission
dave562 writes:
Sprint Nextel, joined by an army of thousands of consumers, have filed requests for the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to block AT&T's proposed acquisition of rival mobile carrier T-Mobile USA.
AT&T has argued that it needs T-Mobile's spectrum to keep up with growing demand for mobile broadband service. Sprint disputed that argument, saying AT&T already controls the most spectrum of any U.S. mobile carrier. AT&T is the "industry laggard" in deploying next-generation mobile broadband, a source close to Sprint said Tuesday.
21032232
submission
dave562 writes:
An analysis of federal broadband stimulus projects awarded by the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) finds the program’s funding of duplicative broadband networks has resulted in an extremely high cost to reach a small number of unserved households.
The study shows that the RUS’ current program is not a cost-effective means of achieving universal broadband availability.
RUS’ prior broadband subsidy programs have not been cost effective, in part because they have provided duplicative service to areas that were already served by existing providers,
19006076
submission
dave562 writes:
Stratfor provides good analysis and insight into the realities of using Social Media like Facebook and Twitter as revolutionary tools.
"
The role of social media in protests and revolutions has garnered considerable media attention in recent years. Current conventional wisdom has it that social networks have made regime change easier to organize and execute. An underlying assumption is that social media is making it more difficult to sustain an authoritarian regime — even for hardened autocracies like Iran and Myanmar — which could usher in a new wave of democratization around the globe. In a Jan. 27 YouTube interview, U.S. President Barack Obama went as far as to compare social networking to universal liberties such as freedom of speech.
Social media alone, however, do not instigate revolutions. They are no more responsible for the recent unrest in Tunisia and Egypt than cassette-tape recordings of Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini speeches were responsible for the 1979 revolution in Iran. Social media are tools that allow revolutionary groups to lower the costs of participation, organization, recruitment and training. But like any tool, social media have inherent weaknesses and strengths, and their effectiveness depends on how effectively leaders use them and how accessible they are to people who know how to use them."
17989912
submission
dave562 writes:
Stratfor analyst Sean Noonan shares his commentary on the capabilities of China's cyberwarfare capabilities, and the challenges and threats that those same capabilities bring to maintaining social order within the country.
A recent batch of WikiLeaks cables led Der Spiegel and The New York Times to print front-page stories on China’s cyber-espionage capabilities Dec. 4 and 5. While China’s offensive capabilities on the Internet are widely recognized, the country is discovering the other edge of the sword.
China is no doubt facing a paradox as it tries to manipulate and confront the growing capabilities of Internet users. Recent arrests of Chinese hackers and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) pronouncements suggest that China fears that its own computer experts, nationalist hackers and social media could turn against the government.
17231638
submission
dave562 writes:
Goldman Sachs' lawyers have asked the Federal judge to seal the court room during the trial of Sergey Aleynikov. Aleynikov was one of the programmers who developed Goldman's High Frequency Trading (HFT) programs. What does this say about the state of the financial indudstry? Given the problems HFT seems to have caused over the last few years, shouldn't more light be shone into the dark corners of how it works?
12536250
submission
dave562 writes:
Dr. Foaud Ajami was recently interviewed by Stanford University. He is a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution and the Chair of the working group on Islamism and the International Order. Among the topics discussed were Twitter and Facebook. Dr. Ajami seems skeptical about enacting regime change in Iran via the social media. He says that he is "worried about people who believe that Twitter and Facebook and so on will overthrow the Iranian regime."
3747295
submission
dave562 writes:
I have to admit that despite getting Slackware running on a 486 in the mid-1990s, I never really picked up on Linux. At this point I've realized that the handwriting is on the wall, and I need to get with the program (better late than never, right?).
My first project has been to setup Ubuntu (8.04) and get Subversion running. The Ubuntu install went flawlessly. Subversion has been a struggle, but I finally got it to work with TortoiseSVN and was able to upload files into my repository. The experience required tweaking some permissions via chmod. I've realized that I'm very uncomfortable with integrating Linux into the Windows world, and I don't have any idea of where to start.
I've read vague descriptions of OpenLDAP, and I have a feeling that I should be looking in that direction.
Can any of you recommend some good books about integrating Linux and Windows? What I am specifically interested in is being able to control the access of Windows (Active Directory) groups to resources on the Linux box. I will be looking into Samba as well, but I need to control access to more than just network file shares. For example, to be able to get TortoiseSVN to transfer (Import) files into the repository, I had to give the "world" rxw rights to some of the sub-directories in the Subversion repository. I'm fairly certain that is a huge security hole right now. In an ideal world, I would have liked to create a group in Windows, and only allow those people access to the directories. Longer term it would be great to be able to replace Active Directory with something else that can handle access controls to the Windows boxes and network file shares. Where I work Windows will never go away because of some industry specific applications, but it would be great if I can minimize the role that it plays on the backend.
Beyond books, what are some of the real world tools and solutions that you guys are using when you have to make Linux live in an Active Directory environment?
If it matters, I'm not married to Ubuntu and have already considered giving CentOS a try. I work at a shop with a heavy investment in HP hardware, and HP has great support for RHEL, so I figure CentOS will probably be a good foundation for where I am working.
