Softies and SASers Team to Deliver Bigly Solutions
July 24, 2020
Microsoft and SAS are two of the biggest names in technology. They have decided to combine their powers to form a strategic, technological partnership. IT-Online shares the news in the report, “SAS, Microsoft Partner On Analytics And AI.”
SAS specializes in analytics software, while Microsoft popularized the personal computer. With this new partnership, their customers can expand SAS business solutions across Microsoft’s veritable product array. This specifically means:
“As part of the partnership, the companies will migrate SAS’ analytical products and industry solutions on to Microsoft Azure as the preferred cloud provider for the SAS Cloud. SAS’ industry solutions and expertise will also bring added value to Microsoft’s customers across health care, financial services and many other industries.”
The ultimate goal for Microsoft and SAS is to bolster their bottom dollar, but both clientele sets will gain many advantages. SAS will have easier access to the cloud and Microsoft gains access to powerful analytics software. The analytics software is of particular interest for Microsoft, because they want to integrate SAS technology into Azure and Dynamics 365 for new solutions.
Is this Cloud babble? You know: Blah, blah, flexibility. Blah, blah, scalability. It is a fancier way for both companies to enrich their product offerings for large organizations with inertia and a desire to move to the future of computing. Too bad Amazon.
Whitney Grace, July 24, 2020
The Cloud Becomes the New PC, So the Cloud Becomes the Go To Attack Vector
July 24, 2020
Cloud providers are not Chatty Cathies when it comes to some of their customers’ more interesting activities. Take malware, for example. Bad actors can use cloud services for a number of activities, including a temporary way station when deploying malware, delivering bogus or spoofed Web sites as part of a social engineering play, or just launching phishing emails. Major cloud providers are sprawling operations, and management tools are still in their infancy. In fact, management software for cloud operators are in a cat-and-mouse race. Something happens, and the cloud provider responds.
“Hackers Found Using Google Cloud to Hide Phishing Attacks” provides some information about the Google and its struggles to put on a happy face for prospects and regulators while some Googlers are reading books about dealing with stressful work.
The article reports:
Researchers at cybersecurity firm Check Point on Tuesday cited an instance when hackers used advanced features on Google Cloud Platform to host phishing pages and hide them. Some of the warning signs that users generally look out for in a phishing attack include suspicious-looking domains, or websites without a HTTPS certificate. However, by using well-known public cloud services such as Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure to host their phishing pages, the attackers can overcome this obstacle and disguise their malicious intent, improving their chances of ensnaring even security-savvy victims…
What’s the fix?
Obviously vendors of cloud management software, hawkers of smart cyber security systems, and bright young PhD track cyber specialists have ideas.
The reality may be that for now, there is no solution. Exposed Amazon S3 buckets, Google based endeavors, and Microsoft (no, we cannot update Windows 10 without crashing some machines) Azure vectors are here to stay.
Perhaps one should tweet this message? Oh, right, Twitter was compromised. Yeah.
Stephen E Arnold, July 24, 2020
And Microsoft Wants Its Partners to Support Government Entities?
July 16, 2020
The article “Hack of 251 Law Enforcement Web Sites Exposes Personal Data of 700,000 Cops” troubles me for two reasons.
First, the loss of the data increases risk for the professionals listed in the data files. Not good.
Second, the write up asserts as “real” news:
All of the hacked websites were hosted and built by the Texas web development firm Netsential on Windows servers located in Houston. They were all running the same custom (and insecure) content management system, developed using Microsoft’s ASP.NET framework in the programming language VBScript, using Microsoft Access databases. Because they all run the same software, if a hacker could find a vulnerability in one of the websites that allowed them to download all the data from it, they could use that vulnerability to hack the rest of the websites without much additional effort.
DarkCyber believes that much of the 21st century cyber software jabber is marketing speak.
If the statement about Microsoft’s infrastructure and software is accurate, there are some questions to answer:
- How did the Microsoft partner program allow “experts” certified by Microsoft to create a system with some interesting security issues?
- Where did the Netsential Web site go? Why did its content disappear?
- What does this incident mean in the context of the Department of Defense JEDI contract?
DarkCyber is concerned when a giant corporation cannot update its own Windows 10 operating system and fail to ensure that its partners are qualified to perform sensitive work in a careful manner.
Is there some useful code on Microsoft Github? Snap. Github fell over again just as I was looking.
Another troubling US technology lapse it seems for a company wanting to provide cloud services to the US government and law enforcement.
Stephen E Arnold, July 16, 2020
Cloud Pricing: Humor and Insight
June 22, 2020
We are putting the finishing touches on my Amazon Policeware lecture for the upcoming cyber crime conference. This particular talk has to be pre recorded. Why? Not sure, but creating a program is more difficult than lecturing from a stack of note cards.
I do include a brief reference to cloud pricing. I think there are some important truths in Amazon AWS pricing with regard to the company’s reinvention and reapplication of IBM’s old-school lock in strategy.
The write up “The Three Fs of Cloud Pricing” presents one facet of the Bezos bulldozer’s approach to policeware vendors and ultimate customers. Based on my DarkCyber team’s research, drgriffin is putting horseshoes on the iron stake.
If you have a “stake” in AWS cloud technology as a partner, ultimate customer, start up AWS user, or any of the other category of players in the Amazon forest, you will find the drgriffin write up information.
Here’s a snippet, but read the original, please:
Allowing people to play with the product for free was good for customers. But it was even better for cloud adoption. The free tier was part of their strategy of selling IT infrastructure directly, without having to go through finance and executives.
Remember that Google sought to circumvent information technology professionals. The attitude was, “You are a problme, and if you were any good, you would work at Google. Since you are NOT at Google, therefore, you are useless.”
Amazon, to cite one example, has taken a different approach; that is, the free tier. Don’t contraband vendors use a similar tactic?
Stephen E Arnold, June 22, 2020
Who Loves the Cloud More? Vendors, IT Pros, or Bean Counters?
June 15, 2020
Cloud systems are still considered high tech upgrades for organizations, but IT professionals prefer and view them as SOP says the IT Brief article: “Over Half Of IT Pros Prefer Hybrid And Multi-Cloud Architectures-Report.” Denodo conducted a survey and discovered that 53% of the IT professional respondents favored hybrid and multi-cloud architectures. The data is consistent with deployment statistics indicating that 42% of current cloud systems are hybrid configurations.
One of the biggest complaints from the respondents were cloud security and governance, but overall they preferred cloud because they can build up resiliency, cherry-pick features, and diversify skills.
More organizations are turning to the cloud to host their systems:
“Over the past year, there has been a positive reinforcement of cloud adoption with at least a 10% increase across beginners, intermediate, and advanced adopters.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure jointly hold a huge 90% of the new-entrant market, according to Denodo.
But users are not just lifting their on-premises applications and shifting them to either of or both of these clouds; more than a third (35%) said they would re-architect their applications for the best-fit cloud architecture.”
BI, analytics, data science, and data warehousing are top priorities for cloud developers. While cloud systems are favored, data integration poses the biggest challenge for organizations. Security is up there too. Cloud systems are perfect for the way technology is shifting to more mobile devices, but total reliance on the cloud is not advised. Outages at Amazon and IBM suggest that a hybrid system that includes on-site capabilities will protect an system when the magical Internet loses some of the 24×7 LED signs posted on the information super highway.
Whitney Grace, June 15, 2020
Many Internets: Fragmentation Gains Momentum
June 8, 2020
The idea of one big digital ocean appealed to some. Now doubters are doing more than grousing at the bowling alley. GAIA-X which surfaced a couple of years ago is chugging along. Slow but steady is the catchphrase. “Legal Entity for Gaia-X Established, European Cloud Platform Now Official” explains:
The first steps to the creation of the European cloud computing platform Gaia-X have been taken, with the creation of a legal entity in Belgium. Set up to address Europe’s dependence on American or Chinese cloud providers, 22 French and German companies, with the backing of several countries, have agreed to launch the joint venture.
The US and some of its big cloudy monopolistic-oriented companies are not on the invitation list. The write up includes diplomatic-type statements. The intent is clear: Independence from US vendors and control of the cloud computing environment in Europe.
Now how does sending email work again? Eurocrats are not into the Wild West approach practiced out West it seems. The fancy talk may mean, “Tie that bronco up out back and wait until GAIA-X lets los americanos in the digital café.”
Stephen E Arnold, June 8, 2020
Amazon AWS Translation Notes
May 26, 2020
DarkCyber wants to say, “Good job” to the person who assembled “Amazon Web Services.” The write up is a list of more than 160 AWS services. Each service is identified by the often wonky Amazon name and followed by a brief description. The list is a medieval gloss for a 21st century cloud vendor’s service, product, frameworks, and features. The monks who compiled Psychomachia of Aurelius Prudentius would be envious.
Amazon wants to offer something for everyone, and as the company has emitted services, coherence has been a casualty. Worth downloading and tucking in one’s “We Want to Be Number One” folder. I assume a mid tier consulting firm or a WFHer will put the list into Excel and indicate which of these AWS offerings are available and mostly working from competitors like Google, IBM, and Facebook.
Stephen E Arnold, May 26, 2020
Zoom to the Oracle
April 30, 2020
One Dolphin Way is flipping with excitement. DarkCyber spotted “Oracle Wins Cloud Computing Deal with Zoom as Video Calls Surge.” From the truthy real news outfit DarkCyber learned:
Zoom and Oracle did not disclose the size of the deal, but said traffic for “millions” of meeting participants is being handled by Oracle’s cloud service and about 7 million gigabytes of Zoom data per day is flowing through Oracle servers.
With a nifty new computer security wizard providing advice, Zoom is taking steps to become a more reliable outfit. (Never mind that the security wizard was on watch when the unfortunate Yahoo and Facebook glitches took place. It is the PR that counts.)
Will Oracle deal with the Zoom feature of disallowing connections?
What’s interesting is that Oracle is working overtime to gain traction in what looks like a two horse race: Microsoft Azure on the outside and the Bezos bulldozer’s AWS on the inside rail.
Worth watching; that is, if one can connect to a meeting.
Stephen E Arnold, April 30, 2020
HPE Signals That Its Channel Partners Cannot Move Product and Services
April 27, 2020
I was not surprised when I worked through “HPE Outlines Additional Channel Partner Relief Measures.” The language of the write up worked overtime to dodge the basic message: Channel partners cannot move HPE’s products and services.
This is a surprise?
The write up explains:
The HPE Partner Ready program has suspended revenue target thresholds so partners can keep their eligibility for the 2021 program, as well as Aruba’s Partner Ready for Networking Program.
and this:
HPE Financial Services has also allocated $2 billion towards helping customers and partners. Initiatives include providing liquidity for buying partners, virtual solutions for partner enablement, and hybrid IT solutions for partners and customers.
or this:
HPE aims to provide liquidity to partners, particularly in North America and Europe through early pay discount terms and factoring terms. The company has not stated whether these also apply to Asia Pacific partners. The company has also suspended or reduced strategic development initiative targets in most geographies – however, this incentive does not apply to partners in Asia Pacific and China (APAC). Hybrid IT solutions for partners and customers include the free-of-charge use of remote server management Integrated Lights-Out Advanced. It will be offered free for the remainder of 2020. Additionally, HPE is working to support service provider partners by providing increased business continuity services to customers, via a centralised Spotlight page on Cloud28+.
The angles of this particular nine-ball pool game are challenging.
But taken as whole cloth, the moths appear to be ruining the fabric in which HPE wanted to craft a new prom gown.
What will the HPE partners’ wear? Maybe Amazon AWS or Google Cloud t shirts?
Stephen E Arnold, April 27, 2020
Google Cloud: A Fog Bank Persists
April 26, 2020
Protocol published “Google’s Thomas Kurian on COVID-19, Customers in Crisis and the Big Cloud Fight.”
Let’s look at one slice of this interview with Google’s stratocumulus of cloud computing. One interesting question and Thomas Kurian’s answer is:
Google has a reputation for closing down services that it believes aren’t being used in sufficient numbers. Among people I talk to, that sometimes raises a red flag when it comes to working with Google. As you work with these new customers who are in really, really severe difficulty right now, what kind of assurances are you giving them that, as they bet on these services from you, you’ll be there over the long haul?
Our cloud services are offered under a standard support agreement. For cloud services publicly, for example, all the GCP services are exactly the same as those from our competitors. So we give them assurances that we won’t deprecate a service without the proper notice period, and the notice periods are exactly the same as competitors.
DarkCyber noticed the word support in the write up five times in the 1900 word write up.
One wisp of condensed information wafted through the write up: “Google has struggled to win the trust of the enterprise buyer.” Why? Perhaps the list of discontinued services displayed on the Killed by Google Web site explains the challenge. With little or no warning, with little or no explanation, and with little or no interest in the users and “customers” relying on these services—more than 190 products and services have been disappeared. To make Google’s “strategy” more clear, Google Hangouts which was marked for death is now trying to be like Zoom.
The article is a showcase for Google to make clear that it really, really is committed to delivering commercial grade cloud services. Google was committed to Google Plus as well as the other 190 plus products and services dismissed with a Googley insouciance.
The write up is crafted to make clear that Google is an enterprise class service provider. The company made that pitch to the US Department of Defense, only to pull out of Project Maven because employees were not happy with the application of a Google technology to a US government need. And there are other examples of the words of the Google not matching the actions of the Google. One example: Search services for China. Yep, waffling.
What’s the challenge for the online advertising company? One clue is that according to the write up, Google’s cloud revenues for the fourth quarter of 2019-2020 was $2.9 billion. Compare that to Amazon AWS revenue of $9.9 billion. Google likes data. Well, that gap is a data point.
Is the Google Cloud going to approach the enterprise with the track record of Microsoft and its partners or the go-go roar of the Bezos bulldozer?
Google has the vocabulary for the task. The Googler uses two interesting words in his clarification of the Google approach. These words are re-pivot and re-platform. Those terms remind me that Google re-placed Diane Greene, the previous stratocumulus of cloud computing.
Did the interview convince DarkCyber that Google will stick with cloud computing? Sort of. You know like the fog comes in on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on.
Stephen E Arnold, April 26, 2020
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