TechEye |  |
- SAP unveils new esoteric database management
- Beware Belkin routers: the jaws that bite, the claws that catch
- Turkey arrests hacks for using encryption
- Intel releases Skylake
- US considers Russian internet sanctions
- HTC lays off staff at factory
- India takes aim at Google
- Seagate shrinks the hard drive
| SAP unveils new esoteric database management Posted: 02 Sep 2015 02:04 AM PDT T SAP has invented software which it says can help businesses make sense of a deluge of real-world data from retail transactions, transport systems and social media, hoping to persuade customers to switch from rival database suppliers. Dubbed the HANA Vora, the software is basically another database. This one is supposed to give businesses greater insights into the vast volumes of data organisations are collecting from customer feedback, along with sensors installed in products, vehicles and networks. HANA Vora works with Apache Hadoop, an open source framework popular with serious software developers for handling huge sets of data. SAP Chief Technology Officer Quentin Clark said that the new datasets that are emerging are going to have a profound impact on how a business is going to function, and its options. Clark is a former Microsofty who escaped from Redmond last year where he was in charge of rival Microsoft data products. Customers can now use visual analysis tools in HANA Vora to meld existing organizational data with less structured, external data imported from Hadoop to create more comprehensive views of trends affecting their business decision-making, Clark said. All this is rather new for SAP which makes a pile of dosh from business planning applications that have always run atop databases supplied by rivals such as Oracle, IBM and Microsoft. This changed in 2010 when SAP switched course and introduced its own database. S4 HANA, which runs SAP’s mainstay business planning software. It is apparently the company’s biggest new product bet in two decades. It might have a few problems getting its customers making the switch. It is one thing to convince a manager that they need esoteric business software – they are already talking that sort of management rubbish already. It is quite another to suggest that the original database should be designed by the same people. Gartner has stated that only 35 percent of SAP’s core business customers will be running on HANA by 2020 and most customers are waiting to be convinced that the database is reliable enough to handle their most vital data. |
| Beware Belkin routers: the jaws that bite, the claws that catch Posted: 02 Sep 2015 02:02 AM PDT
The vulnerabilities affect the Belkin N600 DB Wireless Dual Band N+ router, model F9K1102 v2 with firmware version 2.10.17, and potentially earlier versions of the firmware. They allow an attacker to spoof DNS responses, intercept credentials sent in cleartext, access the web management interface, and take other actions on vulnerable routers. The vulnerabilities have not been patched by Belkin and there aren't any practical workarounds for them. Among the bugs in the router is a problem caused by the use of insufficiently random values to calculate transaction IDs. The issue could allow an attacker to guess the next TXID and spoof a response from a DNS server. "DNS queries originating from the Belkin N600, such as those to resolve the names of firmware update and NTP servers, use predictable TXIDs that start at 0x0002 and increase incrementally. An attacker with the ability to spoof DNS responses can cause the router to contact incorrect or malicious hosts under the attacker's control," the CERT/CC advisory says. Belkin also uses plaintext HTTP to sending firmware update information to the N600 routers, a weakness that could enable an attacker in a man-in-the-middle position to block firmware updates or send arbitrary files to the routers. The routers also don't have a password set for the web management interface by default, so an attacker on the network could get privileged access to the router's interface. There is also a global cross-site request forgery bug in the N600. "Belkin N600 routers contain a global cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability. An attacker can perform actions with the same permissions as a victim user, provided the victim has an active session and is induced to trigger the malicious request. Note that in default configurations lacking password protection, an attacker can establish an active session as part of an attack and does not require a victim to be logged in," the advisory says. |
| Turkey arrests hacks for using encryption Posted: 02 Sep 2015 02:01 AM PDT
Jake Hanrahan and Philip Pendlebury and their Turkish-based Iraqi minder were in Diyarbakir while filming clashes between security forces and youth members of the outlawed and armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). According to the Turks one of the men was using an encryption system on his personal computer which is often used by the Islamic State death cult. The Turkish official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Al Jazeera: “The main issue seems to be that the fixer uses a complex encryption system on his personal computer that a lot of ISIL militants also utilise for strategic communications.” However Tahir Elci, the head of the Diyarbakir lawyers association, said: “I find it ridiculous that they were taken into custody. I don’t believe there is any accuracy to what they are charged for. “To me, it seems like an attempt by the government to get international journalists away from the area of conflict.” Kevin Sutcliffe, Vice head of news programming for Europe, said that the judge “has levelled baseless and alarmingly false charges of ‘working on behalf of a terrorist organisation’ against three Vice News reporters, in an attempt to intimidate and censor their coverage. “Vice News condemns in the strongest possible terms the Turkish government’s attempts to silence our reporters who have been providing vital coverage from the region.
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| Posted: 02 Sep 2015 02:00 AM PDT
Intel spilled the beans on the Skylake-K variants aimed at gamers, last month. Now, the firm has added to the list Skylake-U aimed at thin-and light laptops; Skylake-H for high performance systems; and Skylake-S which brings “desktop performance” to value-level systems, all-in-ones and mini PCs. Last but not least there is the Skylake-Y, for the Core m7, m5 and m3 mobile chips for tablets, 2-in-1 systems and Intel’s Compute Stick. For those who came in late, Skylake uses the same 14nm process as the previous Broadwell generation, but introduces a new and improved microarchitecture. It is supposed to have boosts in performance and battery life along with support for new capabilities, such as Windows Hello and Cortana in Windows 10. Intel said that Skylake will offer up to 2.5 times the performance and up to three times the battery life of older generations of PC hardware. These comparisons are typically based on three-year-old systems. Also in the mix is DDR4 memory, along with enhanced Intel HD graphics offering up to a 30 times improvement in performance, support for high-speed PCI Express storage via Intel’s Rapid Storage Technology, and capabilities to support new features in Windows 10. Among these is an integrated Image Signal Processor that accelerates processing of data from cameras, and helps to enable the Windows Hello password-free sign-on in Windows 10. |
| US considers Russian internet sanctions Posted: 01 Sep 2015 06:49 AM PDT
According to Reuters, in what it describes as an exclusive report, that could well affect a future visit by Chinese president Xi Jinping to the USA this month, and would also put Russian president Vladimir Putin's nose further out of joint. The Chinese government vigorously denies it is responsible for cyber attacks – it's been accused by the USA of doing so many times over the last few years. The USA has the power to take action against alien hackers that lay their cyber hands of US computer systems. An official speaking to Reuters under terms of anonymity has suggested that sanctions would stop them from using the USA financial system – a blow to any business. The fact that officials have been leaking their plans to act against China will very likely mean that president Xi Jinping will get pretty huffy when he sits down with president Obama at a black tie dinner in Washington DC. |
| Posted: 01 Sep 2015 06:36 AM PDT
That follows a plan Cher Wang (pictured), CEO of HTC, announced last month. She plans to slash as much as 15 percent of its staff worldwide, as part of a drastic restructuring at the company caused by lack of profits. HTC, once a bright star in the smartphone firmament, has faced stiff competition from Apple and Samsung in recent years. Local newspaper the Taipei Times said that the layoffs will affect five percent of 9,000 people that work at the factory. HTC has vowed to turn the company round by focusing on making and selling top end smartphones and "lifestyle" products. Separately, rival Samsung announced a revamped "smart" watch yesterday in a bid to grab some market share from leading wearables firm Apple. |
| Posted: 01 Sep 2015 06:26 AM PDT
The CCI accused Google last week of fixing search results in favour of its own sites and sponsored links. That's according to Indian newspaper the Economic Times, which said complains were made to the Commission by Microsoft, Bharat Matrimony and the Consumer Unity and Trust Society. Google has to respond to the charges before September 10th and then has to appear before a seven member panel a week after that. The CCI has the ability to levy fines amounting to 10 percent of Google's net profits and can also take action against senior executives of the Californian firm, the Economic Times said. Google is denying the charges and claims it's been exonerated in similar investigations in the USA, Germany and Taiwan. |
| Seagate shrinks the hard drive Posted: 01 Sep 2015 06:17 AM PDT
Seagate said it is offering a hard drive that can hold two terabytes (TB) of capacity in an ultra slim seven millimetre package. Seagate chief technology officer Mark Re said that its invention will give four times more capacity than a .25TB SSD at a much lower price. He said the company's engineers have boosted density to 1TB per platter in a 2.5-inch size, aimed at the notebook market. The drive weighs 3.16 ounces and is a quarter of the weight than the existing generation of Seagate drives. But Seagate is also working on a hybrid NAND drive using HDD technology to cut prices on comparable solid state drives. |
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