In today’s world companies are turning to cloud computing as a way to cut down on expenses, simplify management, and decrease hardware on-site. Companies (customers) often turn to third parties to provide cloud computing; cloud providers. While enlisting the cloud providers for their services, companies may think that their cloud providers will provide solutions to their businesses. However, this is NOT likely to be the case. When it comes to cloud computing, companies should be aware of the difference between cloud providers and cloud solution providers.

Almost two weeks ago the world was made aware of the worst internet security breach
known to man—Heartbleed. What makes this the worst security breach? Well the answers is that Heartbleed has been infecting numerous websites and laptops of major companies, as well as known websites, and you—the end user. This has been going on for the past two years. HeartBleed created a weakness that allowed the stealing of information protected under normal conditions.  Heartbleed was able to accomplish all of this by overriding the encryption code used by many websites and was virtually undetected. The websites that were (or are) most likely to be victims use open-source tools called Open SSL—which provides most of the modern web of  SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and Transport Layer Security  (TLS) functionality. SSL/TLS are a set of protocols that provide security for internet communication—it encrypts the data being communicated between two (or more) internet users.

Tuesday marked an end of an era for Microsoft and Microsoft users alike, Windows XP era. After twelve years, Microsoft has decided to end providing security updates and support for the Windows XP line. The people most affected by this are businesses and federal agencies. Windows XP is considered to be the best operating system that Microsoft has produced since it launched on October 25, 2001. Microsoft has released multiple successors throughout the years: first was the loathed Windows Vista, quickly followed by Windows 7, and now Windows 8.

What’s the first thing that pops into your head when you hear the word “hacker”? Is it fraud, or identity thief, Anonymous, or The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo?  Well any of the answers above are probably correct; perhaps except for the last one. Now what’s the thing that pops into your head when you hear “endangered species”? Is it elephants, rhinos, tigers, poachers, or the black market? Once again all of the above are correct!

Now, based on the answers above for hackers
and endangered species, it can be inferred that there is no relationship between the two. Endangered species and hackers are two completely different things in two separate worlds. Unfortunately, that assumption is wrong -- in today’s world of advance technology there is a connection between the two, more specifically hackers and poachers have created an asymmetric warfare.

There’s been a lot of chatter lately within the tech world about wearables. For those of you who aren’t aware or familiar with the term here’s a quick definition: a wearable is a mobile tech device that one can wear (i.e. glasses or a watch). People always wonder what is going to be the next big thing in technology or how much smaller (or mobile) can they make a computer. Some have even joked that soon we’ll be implanting computers into our brains. Well I’m here to tell you what’s next in the world of mobile devices and there will be no implanting anything into brains—at least not yet.