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DDoS Attacks Hammering Targets Harder
April 17, 2013
The number, size and impact of distributed denial of service attacks increased sharply in the first quarter of this year, according to a new report from Prolexic. The average attack bandwidth in this period was 48.25 Gbps, 718 percent more than the 5.9 Gbps chalked up by attacks in the previous quarter. The average packet-per-second rate hit 32.4 million, and the average duration of an attack increased 7.14 percent.
Immigration Bill Would Open the Gates to More Tech Talent
April 17, 2013
A group of senators known as the "Gang of Eight" on Tuesday introduced a bipartisan immigration bill that could permit an increase in H-1B visas for high-tech workers. The group is led by Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and John McCain, R-Ariz. Another notable member is Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the GOP's latest rising star. Of particular interest to the tech industry, the new bill would raise the current caps on H-1B visas.
Mystery Computer Problem Grounds All AA Flights
April 17, 2013
American Airlines created a nightmare for its customers for at least two hours Tuesday. Its electronic reservation system went down in the middle of the afternoon, forcing the carrier to hold all flights until after 4:30 p.m. ET. The incident may have exposed a rift between AA and Sabre, the company managing its computerized reservations system, which used to be part of the airline.
CenturyLink Hauls DoI to Court
April 17, 2013
The U.S. Department of the Interior has big plans to implement a major cloud-based information technology program, with a potential investment of $1 billion over 10 years. However, those plans will have to be put on hold a little longer. One of the potential contractors for the project, CenturyLink, is taking the department to federal court in a challenge to the contracting terms for the project.
Kana Adds Context, Subtracts Search
April 16, 2013
Kana Software on Tuesday debuted its next generation of Kana Enterprise, a multichannel customer service application with functionality for both the agent-based desktop and self-service. Its features include case management; Web self-service; mobile chat; co-browsing; social listening, analytics and community engagement; email, campaign and white mail management; and advanced knowledge management.
Report: Big Biz Shakes Off Hack Attacks
April 15, 2013
A lot of noise has been made about the consequences of data breaches for companies, but a recent survey of some of the largest U.S. businesses may have wrapped those noisemakers in a muffler. Of the 27 largest companies reporting cyberattacks in their most recent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, none said they sustained any major financial losses from those net assaults.
The 6 Secrets of Highly Successful M-Commerce
April 15, 2013
If we take a page out of our not-so-distant past, we can see that on the web, both commerce applications and functionality have contributed to the demise or success of mobile apps. The success of business models, return on investment and viability of mobile initiatives all depend on how well m-commerce is managed and handled.
Blackbaud Gives Fundraisers New Tools, Then Gets Out of the Way
April 15, 2013
Blackbaud, a CRM vendor that specializes in the nonprofit sector, has rolled out a new release offering additional social and mobile functionality. The end goal of the various upgrades -- which range from social scoring to the ability to run on a number of different tablets -- is to allow users to be able to spend more time with donors, said Eric de Jaeger, VP of product management, enterprise CRM solutions.
Civilian Oversight Overlooked as CISPA Clears House Committee
April 12, 2013
A revived version of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act -- with provisions for civilian oversight absent -- passed by a vote of 18-2 Thursday in the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The committee adopted six amendments, but removed others aimed at privacy protection. Three of those were proposed by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., with one offered by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
Using Cloud Analytics to Corral Big Data
April 12, 2013
Strategic Big Data and Actionable Analytics are two of the Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2013, according to Gartner. Yet only 12 percent have a big data strategy that governs their daily operations, a recent survey of 339 data management professionals by SAS and SourceMedia found. In my view, this gap is the result of years of unfulfilled promises from a previous generation of business intelligence and data integration vendors.
IRS May Be Sifting Through Email in Defiance of Court Order
April 11, 2013
The ACLU has raised a disturbing possibility after reading 247 pages of records it obtained from the Internal Revenue Service via a Freedom of Information Act request: The agency may be reading taxpayers' emails without a warrant. The IRS was told not to do this after a 2010 appellate court ruling in United States v. Warshak. However, the ACLU now seems to think the IRS has reverted to its previous behavior -- or perhaps never stopped.
US Biz Groups Rail Against China-Focused 'Cybersecurity' Law
April 09, 2013
The head of the U.S.-China Business Council has criticized a new law aimed at stopping cyberattacks. John Frisbie, the group's president, objected to the law in a letter sent Monday to the leaders of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The provision requires multiple government agencies to get approval from law enforcement officials before purchasing IT systems sourced from companies having connections with China.
US Navy Will Soon Pack Laser Heat in Persian Gulf
April 09, 2013
For the first time, the U.S. Navy plans to deploy a solid-state laser weapon on board one of its vessels, with the laser's debut scheduled for the Persian Gulf during fiscal year 2014. In a press release, the Navy said development and testing have resulted in a weapon that can "perform actions ranging from non-lethal disabling and deterrence all the way up to destruction."
OpenStack Gives the Open Source Cloud a Lift
April 09, 2013
Since its start in the summer of 2010, the OpenStack open source cloud computing project has been the subject of a lot of hype. Today, the technology, backers and users of OpenStack are giving substance to all of that sizzle, and skepticism is giving way to service provider and enterprise use cases across the globe. OpenStack is relatively immature and still requires a high degree of technical aptitude to deploy, but its community continues to grow.
Fed IT Contract Window Still Open - but Budget Is Pinching
April 09, 2013
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking a broad range of information technology products and services with a potential contract value of $80 million over 10 years. That's a nice chunk of business, and it's just one of many potential federal IT contracts now available. In addition to providing these opportunities, federal agencies have remained active in awarding major IT contracts.
HP Targets a Cloud-Friendly Future With Moonshot Servers
April 08, 2013
HP on Monday announced the availability of a new platform of microservers in its Project Moonshot program as it tries to carve out a new energy efficient, lower-cost niche in the server market. The company says the new servers are designed to help companies and organizations deal with the challenges of current computing trends such as cloud computing, Big Data, and mobile and social usage.
Trusteer Ventures Into the Chinese Hackers' Den
April 08, 2013
China has a reputation as a center for international hacking, so why would a U.S. security company want to set up shop there? Before hackers launch their international escapades, they typically cut their teeth in their local markets, explained Rakesh Loonkar, president of Trusteer, which announced last week that it was opening an office in China.
Virtualization: An IT Prescription for Healthcare Providers
April 08, 2013
Healthcare providers know that technology can provide an answer to higher operating costs and ailing efficiencies within their organizations, but strict regulatory issues and other compliance matters have always proved to be tough obstacles. The security of patient health data, after all, must never be compromised in pursuit of greater efficiencies.
Salesforce Cranks Up Chatter for Social Intelligence
April 05, 2013
Salesforce.com has upgraded Salesforce Chatter with a new feature that collects and aggregates unstructured data -- or perhaps better put, social intelligence -- onto one page for easy reference. The feature is called Chatter Topics and Expertise, and it lets users find information and related resources and identify experts, based on topics of interest.
5 Things That Kill CRM ROI Dead
April 05, 2013
Back in the old days -- like around 2003 -- the rate of what was termed "CRM failure" was unacceptably high. You often heard it bandied about that 70 percent of implementations were failures. That was an estimate -- companies were not coming forward to confess their CRM disasters, so building a scientific sample was impossible. Still, the number reflected the general dissatisfaction.

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