Data has always had a place in politics. Politicians have relied on polls, voter interests and demographics for years. In 2008, the Obama campaign was recognized for its data-driven campaign, but it wasn’t until the 2012 election, when the tools became available, that big data was used to target voters and win a presidential election using methods that had never been used before. Much like businesses, political parties have collected a lot of data over the years, but that data has been siloed into various categories: donations, website visits, social media comments. While each of these categories are useful, the ability to combine and analyze all of this data together creates new opportunities to target each individual voter, but until recently it was much too costly to do so. Now with the creation of Hadoop and Hadoop as a Service vendors, big data is being used by both parties to influence state and national elections alike.
In this series of blogs we will expose how fraudsters operate, we will run through several typical fraud scenarios, we will investigate where, how and why legacy detection solutions fall short, and what can be done to improve them. Banks and Insurance companies lose billions of dollars every year to fraud. Traditional methods of fraud detection play an important role in minimizing these losses. However increasingly sophisticated fraudsters have developed a variety of ways to elude discovery, both by working together and by leveraging various other means of constructing false identities. Graph databases offer new methods of uncovering fraud rings and other sophisticated scams with a high-level of accuracy, and are capable of stopping advanced fraud scenarios in real-time. While no fraud prevention measures can ever be perfect, significant opportunity for improvement can be achieved by looking beyond the individual data points, to the connections that link them. Oftentimes these connections go unnoticed until it is too late- something that is unfortunate, as these connections oftentimes hold the best clues. Understanding the connections between data, and deriving meaning from these links, doesn't necessarily mean gathering new data. Significant insights can be drawn from one's existing data, simply by reframing the problem and looking at it in a new way: as a graph.
Software-Defined Networking (SDN), sometimes referred to as Network Virtualization, expands the level of datacenter abstraction provided by a hypervisor to include not just discrete VM workloads, but entire networks that are virtualized atop an existing physical network infrastructure - extending many of the benefits realized with server virtualization to enterprise network architecture. Learn more about the benefits that organizations can expect to gain from SDN in this article, along with step-by-step resources for starting your implementation ...
This article explains how to know which JVM System Properties are actually being queried by libraries. Many libraries use system properties for settings. For example, you usually have to set a property to enable debug traces or to activate certain behaviors. However, sometimes system properties that are used are not well documented or you are not sure that they are having some effect. In such cases it would be useful to have a way to know which system properties are queried.
In my last blog, I discussed how the Internet of Things is really developing into what can more accurately be called the Internet of Agents. These connections and multi-agent systems are resulting in an increasing number of highly applicable, value-added bundled and branded services. The latest Gartner forecast for Internet of Things predicts that by 2020 there will be $309 billion in incremental revenue opportunity for IoT suppliers, mostly in services. The Internet brings us 21st century online versions of other traditional services: agents that can deliver cars as a service, clothes as a service and takeaway food as a service. The Internet of Agents tells you where you can catch a bus for wherever you want to go, and how long it will be before the bus arrives at your stop. It also tells you which local hardware store stocks the product you’re looking for. If you choose, you can track “things” that belong to you. You can track your car or your laptop or your mobile device if it goes missing. Your children, your pets, your significant other (yes, people are now “things” too). You know where a package in transit is and when it’s scheduled to be delivered to your doorstep. All of these agent-driven services bring together traditional people-based services, connectedness, location awareness and physical devices or tools.
Building video calling apps is no small task. Learning about video codecs, signaling, and presence is just the beginning when it comes to implementation. At PubNub, we have partnered our technology with WebRTC to make integration fast and easy to build video chat software. Out of the box, our WebRTC Framework will power audio, video, and data communication between two browsers. Want to get an idea of what it’ll look like when you’re finished? Take a look at our live, working demo and code walk through, or watch the video below, or keep reading.
Simplify user management by eliminating data redundancy and automating data maintenance with Red Hat Directory Server. You can also improve security, enabling administrators to store policies and access control information in the directory for a single authentication source across enterprise or extranet applications.
Many Java static analysis tools exist right there, each one focus on a specific area and has its advantages, however if these tools report thousands of violations it became a challenge to exploit them. Let's discover another way to exploit the result of these tools.
Determining the IP Address of the machine from the Hostname is termed as Hostname Resolution. Every computer (host) has a name. The Hostname should correspond to an IP address mapping stored in local Hosts file or in a database on a DNS Server. Translating (resolving) machine (and domain) names into the numbers actually used on the Internet is the business of machines that offer the Domain Name Service.
In the previous article,had introduced how DevOps can play a role in JVM troubleshooting. In this series, I would like to share a case study that we encountered in our organization and how we isolated the issue before engaging the right team to fix it. One of our customers upgraded to the latest application release from previous release and noticed a significant performance degradation in the throughput. As a first step, we confirmed the customer claim by reproducing the reported issue in our environment. Having a local reproduction environment opened up opportunities to try out multiple things in narrowing down the issue. After a preliminary analysis, we had concluded the area or component that is contributing to the observed behavior. A workaround to overcome the issue was identified and the same was employing a command-line parameter, which will take a different execution path. The provided recommendation was tested in our local reproduction environment with success and this gave us the confidence that the issue can be overcome with the current recommendation.
In this whitepaper, ESG covers what to look for in a virtualization protection solution as well as whether to consider the merits of a separate solution for protecting one’s virtual environment, compared with using a unified solution that offers comparable virtualization protection capabilities.
SYS-CON Events announced today that SecurityStockWatch.com has been named “Media Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 14th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 10–12, 2014, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York, and the 15th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 4–6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. SecurityStockWatch.com is the #1 security solutions portal for "Secure ID Solutions" and "Fraud Prevention Solutions." We invite you to visit Google to verify our top rankings first hand. Our B2B and B2Gov channel reaches your target markets and based on our demographics and traffic, we can assure your company of an excellent business development opportunity. What is YOUR cloud computing solution?
The digital age has forced a kind of dependency never before seen, a dependency on our inbox. The mere thought of losing these emails is inconceivable where the thought of it leaves us with a sense of panic, one similar to losing our credit cards or house key. Unfortunately, the potential for losing access to email is greater than one might think. There are a multitude of threats that can bring about the loss of an email, or an entire email account. Simple user error, such as clicking the wrong button, can result in the loss of crucial information that could potentially make or break your business. A more daunting threat is cyber attack, wherein hackers target email accounts to gain access to personal information, which could also result in the deletion of critical communications.
Mobile performance will make or break retailers this holiday shopping season – so the importance of application performance management (APM) cannot be underestimated. The convergence of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Hannukah and Christmas shopping combined with a record level of mobile shopping is creating a perfect storm many companies have never weathered before. Over the coming weeks it will be clear which e-commerce players have read our previous blogs and employed a smart APM strategy. That strategy has to include load testing and web performance optimization in the preparation phase and for the production monitoring, real user monitoring combined with synthetic and deep visibility to help sail smoothly through the holidays.
The adoption of cloud storage technology for a broad range of consumer and business applications is transforming the storage landscape by transitioning away from traditional disk arrays to object-based storage systems that have the scalability, availability, resiliency and accessibility to enable cloud-scale storage and instant access. A recent IDC report predicts that the market for File- and Object-Based Storage (FOBS) will experience an annual growth rate of 24.5% through 2017, reaching $38 billion. “Increased versatility will result in more diverse use cases for FOBS,” said IDC.
As you may know, OpenNebula's approach to cloud bursting (that is, its hybrid cloud model) is quite unique. The reason behind this uniqueness is the transparency to both end users and cloud administrators to use and maintain the cloud bursting functionality. The transparency to cloud administrators comes from the fact that a an AWS EC2 region is modelled as any other host (albeit of potentially a much bigger capacity), so the scheduler can place VMs in EC2 as it will do in any other local host. Of course, the scheduler algorithm can be tuned so the EC2 host (or hosts, more on this below) is picked last, so it will be only used only if there is a real need (ie, the local infrastructure cannot cope with the demand). On the other hand, the transparency to end users is offered through the hybrid template functionality: the same VM template in OpenNebula can describe the VM if it is deployed locally and also if it gets deployed in Amazon EC2. So users just have to instantiate the template, and OpenNebula will transparently chose if that is executed locally or remotely. Very convenient, isn't it?
Tests are an investment in the quality of any given system. There’s always a cost to build, run, and maintain each test in terms of time and resources. There’s also a great deal of value to be extracted from running the right test at the right time. It’s important to remember that for everything you do test, there’s something else you’re not testing as a result. Understanding that some tests are more important than others is vital to creating a useful and fluid test plan capable of catering to modern software development techniques. Traditional waterfall development – where everything is delivered for a specific release date in a finished package – has been succeeded by continuous feature roll outs into live systems. This necessitates a different approach from QA departments.
Start-ups have been formed by leveraging cloud resources but enterprises are taking note and adoption rates are increasing. While attending the Amazon Web Services (AWS) re:Invent conference last week, I spoke to enterprise customers who described how they benefited from AWS cloud services. One customer converted a $70K bid from a systems integrator for a hosted website and implemented it on AWS for less than $7K. Another customer estimated the cost of acquiring an on-premises business intelligence solution for $200K plus maintenance compared to under $10K a year on AWS. Savings like this will prompt enterprises to assess and migrate applications to the public cloud while addressing privacy and security concerns.
Mobile is almost old news now isn’t it? What more can we say about how important mobile technology is in the workplace? The visionary CIO trusts in a mobile device future with employees securely connecting to the corporate datacenter from an array of tightly locked-down devices – stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Workers are “empowered” via mobile smartphones, tablets and laptops to work anywhere securely with appropriate controls and policies in place across the corporate IT stack to ensure that security is never an issue.
While articles on cloud computing are popping up everywhere, very few actually understand what it is and how it can help in business. In reality, cloud computing is all about making access to data easier regardless of your location. Cloud computing enables users to store files and software remotely, instead of keeping data on a server in their office where it is inaccessible. In reality, many employees may be already using cloud computing without even realizing it. For example, Skype is a form of cloud computing. An example of business-focused clouding computing can include utilizing CRM systems (customer relationship management). Both examples house the data in a remote location and the user "logs on" to access it from any location. Companies that offer cloud computing solutions, such as service cloud from Salesforce, have experience in understanding what is needed for a company to succeed with cloud computing and can then develop and implement a solution that will work for any size company.
An executive summary that provides insight into the challenges organizations face when moving to a virtualized environment and covers best practices and solutions to help. Learn more about Symantec’s unique solution to IT environments looking to take full advantage of virtualization.
SYS-CON Events announced today that AppZero, the fastest way to move enterprise applications to the cloud, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 14th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 10-12, 2014, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. AppZero, the fast, flexible way to move server applications can migrate your apps from an old OS to a newer one. Microsoft recommends AppZero Enterprise for application migration for a variety of applications from Windows Server 2003 to either Windows Server 2012 or Windows Azure.
Please join us at one of our upcoming Email Security Webinars. Email Security is offered on Tuesday and Thursday. Please click on a title below to register. What You Will Learn in this Webinar Ensure world class protection: Block malware, blended threats and 99.999% of all SPAM entering your organization. Automatically encrypt sensitive outbound emails: Auto-encrypt sensitive or confidential communications leaving your organization. Improve compliance: Improve outbound email compliance and reporting with SOX, GLBA, HIPAA and State compliance policies. Simplify email security administration: Eliminate false positive SPAM alerts from your day to day activities.
Kweo runs their user engagement platform on a very interesting stack: They use Netty, Apache Kafka, Storm / Trident, Cassandra and ZeroMQ. They run all of their infrastructure on Amazon EC2. One of their most important requirements is Real time User Interaction which obviously requires good performance of their system which leads to good user experience. Knowing whether performance is impacted by the application code, individual components in the stack or the underlying virtualized/cloud infrastructure is a key requirement for them. The following screenshot is taken from their recent engineering blog post that highlights how they manage performance of their distributed real-time data processing system. It shows the flow of transactions through their environment which helps them to automatically detect any types of performance or functional problems that impact their end users.
Introducing SAP is a cost that makes everyone very cautious about the return on this investment. Performance problems with SAP delivery can quickly propagate to seriously affect business operations and lead to tedious war room scenarios. End-user complaints will usually point towards the SAP team, the SAP team will blame the network, and IT operations team will fight back. But what if the root cause of the problem is something altogether different. The inability to quickly determine the root cause of the performance problem often leads to war room scenarios, especially when the money invested in failing applications comes from public funds. Our client, Nimrod, a country-wide government agency from Republic of Razkavia (names changed for commercial reasons) made a decision to implement its key applications based on the SAP infrastructure. When employees from Rosecoast, a harbor city in Razkavia, started to complain about the performance problems with one of the SAP applications, the operations and SAP teams started to investigate the problem.