IT security

New SMB vulnerability identified in Windows XP and Server 2003

A new SMB vulnerability discovered in Windows could open systems to DoS attacks and remote access. The vulnerability, tagged as CVE-2011-0654, has been rated "critical" and confirmed on Windows Server 2003 SP2 and Microsoft Windows XP SP3. Continue Reading

By

• Ron Condon

RSA 2011: RSA, EMC and VMWare advise on defending against advanced persistent threats

Security leaders have outlined ways organisations can better defend against advanced persistent threats (APTs) in a paper published by RSA, the security division of EMC. Continue Reading

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• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Optus email rejects shortened URLs

Optus has adjusted its email security regime to repel incoming emails that use URLs shortened by services like bit.ly or TinyURL. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

RSA 2011: Cybersecurity leads conference with cloud security keynote

Cybersecurity is one of the key topics at the RSA Conference 2011 taking place this week in San Francisco. Continue Reading

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• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Dell rolls out services for enterprise mobility

Dell has introduced a portfolio of services to help businesses manage mobile devices and an increasingly mobile workforce. Continue Reading

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• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire

Mobile hacker attacks will damage business in 2011

Businesses cannot afford to ignore mobile hacking attacks as they are proving extremely lucrative over shorter periods, a study of mobile threats has found. Continue Reading

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• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

ID card database is destroyed

The National Identity Register (NIR), which was built to hold the fingerprints and personal details of millions of ID card holders, has been publicly destroyed. Continue Reading

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• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

IT departments are unable to support employee devices

Security concerns are holding companies back from allowing staff to use their own technology at work. Continue Reading

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• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Mobile workers practise lax security

More than half of Europeans practise unsafe networking when they work away from the office, according to research by German remote access experts NCP Engineering. Continue Reading

Microsoft's February Patch Tuesday outlines five critical vulnerabilities

Microsoft has released 12 security bulletins addressing 22 vulnerabilities in its monthly security update for February Continue Reading

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• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Post Office faces legal action over alleged accounting system failures

More than 50 postmasters are planning legal action against the Post Office to reclaim money they paid to the Post Office after being accused of theft and false accounting. Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

AXA in £150m settlement for software glitch

Financial services giant AXA will be forced to pay millions of pounds to clients after it emerged that errors in trading software were hidden by three of its subsidiaries, prompting bad performance in investment portfolios. Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Businesses must learn how to defend against cyberattack, says McAfee

Cybercrime has thrived over the past decade according to recent reports from security firm McAfee, but business can expect even more dramatic change in the next ten years, researchers say. Continue Reading

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• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Ten most dangerous places to offshore your IT

A report published by the Brown-Wilson Group details which locations are the most risky places to outsource. Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Handle with care: Calculating and managing risk is tricky business

Faced with an ever increasing bevy of sophisticated threats, information security risk managers have a difficult job. This edition of IT in Europe: Information Security e-zine assesses the reputation of risk management, considers the role of the CISO when sharing sensitive data with third parties, and ranks the global cyberthreat. Continue Reading

Vodafone restores services to Egypt after mobile shutdown

Mobile operator, Vodafone, has restored mobile phone services in Egypt after a 24-hour shutdown. Continue Reading

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• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

SMEs still lack data backup

Many small business lack data recovery plans, despite a recent uptake in cloud adoption, according to a survey. Continue Reading

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• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Seven social media security best practices

This tip aims to highlight seven crucial factors to be considered while devising a strategy for optimal social media security. Continue Reading

By

• Shantanu Ghosh, Contributor 

Cybercriminals target data in transit

Cybercriminals are shifting away from basic "smash and grab" attacks targeting stored data to more complex methods of data harvesting in transit, security research reveals. Continue Reading

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• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Spam level dips

The recent decline in global spam was the result of a halt in the spam-sending activities of three botnets and unrest among pharmaceutical spam-sending gangs, Symantec's latest MessageLabs Intelligence Report has revealed. Continue Reading

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• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Smart meter and smart grids: security risk or opportunity?

A smart meter in every home in the UK by 2017 is the government plan as a first step towards a smart grid, but how can we ensure the benefits will outweigh the security risks? Continue Reading

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• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Parliament to debate cost-sharing element of Digital Economy Act

Secondary legislation on sharing the costs of the Digital Economy Act's measures to tackle online copyright infringement has been laid in Parliament. Continue Reading

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• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

RBI guidelines focus on fortifying IT security by banks

RBI has issued security guidelines for the Indian banks that touch upon aspects such as IT governance, security, and cyber fraud. Continue Reading

By

• SearchSecurity.in staff

2010 IT security threats point to priorities for 2011, says Sophos

Cyber threats of 2010 highlight the top risks to business for 2011, including social media sites, whistleblowers, and hacktivists, warns security firm Sophos. Continue Reading

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• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

More than 1,000 patient records lost on unencrypted laptop

A doctor is to be disciplined following the loss of 1,147 patient records on an unencrypted laptop. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Top seven social media threats

Discover the top seven social media threats in the first of a two-part series on social media related security threats and preventive measures. Continue Reading

By

• Shantanu Ghosh

Biometric authentication technology curbs microfinance org’s losses

Growing Opportunity implements biometric authentication technology to overcome financial losses resulting from duplicate loan applications. Continue Reading

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• Dhwani Pandya, Principal Correspondent

Microsoft January Patch Tuesday misses open security issues

Microsoft's January 2011 Patch Tuesday security update contains only two bulletins, but misses several open security issues. Continue Reading

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• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Government departments criticised over data sharing mistake

Three government agencies have been criticised over a data sharing mistake that led to the wrongful disclosure of a woman's personal and financial information. Continue Reading

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• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Security Zone: The ISO/IEC 38500 IT Governance Standard

IT governance means different things to different folks, yet it is generally understood to require alignment with best practice standards and methodologies. However, it can be really hard to see the wood for the trees due to the multiple frameworks, all of which can be applicable for organisations to demonstrate good governance. Continue Reading

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• Chris Power, Mazars UK

10 security incident management best practices

Here’s a quick tip on the security incident management processes an organization should adopt to combat the current dynamic threat scenario. Continue Reading

By

• Dinesh Bareja

Microsoft to patch critical IE vulnerability to block ongoing attacks

Microsoft will issue two security bulletins, addressing a critical vulnerability affecting all versions of WIndows. Continue Reading

By

• SearchSecurity.in Staff

Update: Who takes the blame for the Lloyds TSB duplicate payment error?

Over 200,000 people were affected by a glitch at Lloyds TSB, when an error with its merchant system duplicated payments on New Year's Eve. Jenny Williams investigates. Continue Reading

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• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire

$21m acquisition of Immunet takes Sourcefire to the cloud

Snort creator Sourcefire has announced the $21m (£13.5m) acquisition of cloud-based anti-malware technologies firm Immunet. Continue Reading

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• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

BCS CEO David Clarke talks about the future of the IT industry

David Clarke, CEO of the chartered institute of computing the BCS, talks to Computer Weekly about being awarded an MBE, the future of the IT profession and tackling a membership revolt against his leadership last year. Continue Reading

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• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

FTC clears £5bn Intel acquisition of McAfee

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US has approved Intel's $7.7bn (£5bn) acquisition of security software giant, McAfee. Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire

Phishing attack on Facebook leverages iframes

Popular social networking site, Facebook being used for phishing attacks and open redirects, claims Websense Security Labs. Continue Reading

By

• SearchSecurity.IN Staff

Martha Lane Fox calls for ‘revolution’ in online government services

Digital champion Martha Lane Fox has published a report calling for a centralised government internet address to replace 750 websites. In a review... Continue Reading

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• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

How to use the Microsoft FCIV command-line checksum tool

Downloading files from the Internet always poses a risk, but there are strategies that can make the process more secure. In this tip, Michael Cobb explains how to use the Microsoft FCIV tool to check the hash values of downloaded files and create hashes and checksums of you own. Continue Reading

By

• Michael Cobb

PODCAST: McAfee's endpoint chief on mobile internet security

Candace Worley, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Endpoint Security at McAfee explains how new endpoints like tablets and mobile phones are changing the requirements for internet security. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

Dynamic code analysis vs. static analysis source code testing

Managing vulnerabilities involves a wide array of security testing, including both dynamic and static source code analysis. Learn how the two differ, as well as how they are performed in this expert response. Continue Reading

By

• Richard Brain

How to browse the web securely

Internet users need to be on their guard for rogue web sites, phishing attacks and security holes in web browsers. Jenny Williams offers some top tips on browsing safely and securely. Continue Reading

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• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire

Photos: MoD Taranis - unmanned combat aircraft

A prototype unmanned combat aircraft of the future, Taranis, has been unveiled by the MOD for the first time today. Named after the Celtic god of thunder, the concept demonstrator will test the possibility of developing the first ever autonomous stealthy Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) that would ultimately be capable of precisely striking targets at long range, even in another continent. Continue Reading

By

• Faisal Alani, UK at eBay

Using resource allocation management to prevent DoS and other attacks

Resource allocation management is an effective way to prevent denial-of-service (DoS) and other attacks. Find out how to allocate resources in order to increase the security of your organisation. Continue Reading

By

• Michael Cobb

Chinook Mk2's safety-critical backup system was faulty

Software supplier EDS found so many anomalies in fuel-control software on the Chinook Mk2 helicopter that it became concerned that the Ministry of Defence and RAF would ignore the potential importance of each flaw because of the high volume of errors, a confidential report reveals. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

What was the 'dangerous' flaw in safety-critical Chinook system?

Defence contractor EDS - now part of HP - warned the Ministry of Defence that flaws in a Fadec safety-critical system fitted to the Chinook Mk2 helicopter could cause it to malfunction, months before a fatal crash on the Mull of Kintyre. Continue Reading

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• Tony Collins

EDS report on 'dangerous' Chinook software published for the first time

Computer Weekly is publishing, for the first time, a technical analysis of the software installed on the Chinook Mk2 helicopter, the Chinook model which featured in the RAF's worst peacetime crash. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Senior airmen question safety of Chinook software

Three fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society have questioned whether the Chinook Mk2, of the type which crashed on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994, was airworthy. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

MoD renews attack on dead Chinook pilots despite software flaw disclosures

The Ministry of Defence has renewed its attack on the dead pilots of Chinook ZD576, after the publication of documents that revealed a "dangerous" flaw in software installed on the type of helicopter that crashed. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Chinook computer flaws - ex-ministers speak out

Former Defence ministers are calling for a new inquiry into the crash of Chinook 576, after new disclosures of a "positively dangerous" flaw in software...

 Continue Reading

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• Tony Collins

Chinook computer was 'positively dangerous' say newly-disclosed MoD documents

A computer flaw in the type of Chinook helicopter that crashed on the Mull of Kintyre, killing all 29 on board, was known to be "positively dangerous", according to military documents that have not been published until today. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Ten IT Christmas wishes for business

The end of the year and the seasonal festivities are often a time for reflection. But what will CEOs be asking CIOs to give them for Christmas? Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

NHS IT scheme to be scaled back

The Chancellor Alistair Darling and the Treasury are to scale back spending on the NHS's National Programme for IT. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Best practices for (small) botnets

Your enterprise might have a strategy to deal with a large-scale botnet attack, but how would you deal with a micro-botnet that knows how to bypass antivirus and firewalls? Get botnet help with this expert advice. Continue Reading

By

• Marcos Christodonte II

Develop a unified communication security plan

Here is a handy guide to help you develop a comprehensive unified communication (UC) security strategy which covers UC infrastructure and applications. Continue Reading

By

• Akhil Behl

Israel carves a niche in IT security

IT security, risk, governance, continuity and compliance technologies are fast becoming some of Israel's top exports.

Analysing and...

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By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

How to use a netstat command in Windows to watch open ports

Mike Cobb shows how a simple command line tool can provide invaluable information about what's happening on your system Continue Reading

By

• Michael Cobb

Labour rejects review of Chinook crash

Defence Secretary, Bob Ainsworth, has ruled out ordering a new inquiry into the controversial Chinook crash, which left all 29 people on board dead, including... Continue Reading

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• Tony Collins

Tories commit to Chinook crash review

The Tories have made it party policy to appoint a senior judge to review a finding of gross negligence against the two deceased pilots of a Chinook Mk2 helicopter which crashed on the Mull of Kintyre in June 1994. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Gary McKinnon loses case to avoid extradition, could face 60 years in jail

Hacker Gary McKinnon has failed in his last attempt to avoid extradition to the United States where he could face 60 years in prison. Continue Reading

By

• Rebecca Thomson, Computer Weekly

Air France Airbus pitot sensor linked to two fatal crashes

Faults similar to those on an Air France Airbus that crashed into the sea on 1 June were major factors in two little-noticed fatal losses of passenger... Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Chinook crash: critical internal memo on software flaws

Computer Weekly is publishing, in full for the first time, an MoD memo that is the clearest evidence yet that software problems made the helicopter unsafe to fly at the time of the accident. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

How to manage firewall testing using Nmap

Nmap includes many features that can be used to circumvent poorly implemented firewalls. Learn how the freely available tool can test your network devices. Continue Reading

By

• Mike Cobb, Contributor

How to find credit card numbers and other sensitive data on your users' computers

If you worry that important and sensitive data like credit card numbers is lurking on your users' hard drives, read on to learn how to search for and corral this information. Continue Reading

By

• Mike Chapple, University of Notre Dame

Infosec 2009: Catch up with this year's show in pictures

Infosec 2009: The story of this year's Infosec with annotated pictures, so if you weren't there, this is a great to get a flavour of the highlights. Continue Reading

By

• James Garner

Photos: What went on at Infosec 2009

If you missed Infosec 2009, have a look at our photo story and it will feel like you were there! Continue Reading

By

• Faisal Alani, UK at eBay

Get cracking crushing Conficker

Conficker will activate its botnet on April 1st. Sophos, Symantec, Webroot, BitDefender and other vendors say you should remove it ASAP before the real trouble starts. Continue Reading

By

• Ron Condon

Photos: Top ten cybersquatter cases

Here's our top ten cybersquatting cases. Continue Reading

By

• Faisal Alani, UK at eBay

How to plant a listening device

Part two of our Les Goldsmith interview reveals how to plant a listening device if you feel like conducting a little industrial espionage. Continue Reading

By

• Patrick Gray, Contributor

Exclusive: Computer Weekly publishes 'secret' gateway review

This is the first publication of an entire gateway review by an online news service. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Ian Yates' quite literal year in review

Ian Yates product reviews are unique and make ideal holiday reading. Continue Reading

By

• Ian Yates

MoD was warned not to fly Chinook on day of crash

A senior defence official warned the Ministry of Defence to suspend flights of a Chinook helicopter because of safety concerns on the day the aircraft crashed... Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Chronology: The Chinook

1985 : Almost at the start of development of the Chinook's Full Authority Digital Engine Control ( Fadec ) computer system there... Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Chinook ZD576: How the Fadec engine control software worked and what could have gone wrong

What follows is some of the evidence ... Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Victory over Chinook crash after 14 years

A brave, independent stand by the Defence Secretary John Hutton and his predecessor Des Browne, against 14 years of obfuscation and immovable arrogance by the Ministry of Defence, has led finally to justice over the notorious crash of a Chinook helicopter in June 1994. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Tens of thousands of IT jobs at risk in global finance sector

The investment banking industry will see thousands of job cuts as mergers are completed and companies prepare for a slowdown in business. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

How the Mytob virus caused havoc in the NHS

The Mytob virus has been removed from 5,000 PCs at Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Using Wireshark to monitor and secure your network

Learn how to use packet analyser, Wireshark, in this illustrated tutorial. Continue Reading

By

• Mike Chapple, University of Notre Dame

How to manage Hyper-V's security permissions

Learn how to operate Hyper-V's Authorization Manager (Azman) in this How-To guide. Continue Reading

By

• Anil Desai

Minister hails Fujitsu’s leaving NPfIT as sign of strength

The termination of Fujitsu's... Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Facing up to security perils of outbound traffic

What about the threat from within and, more specifically, the security issues that arise from outbound traffic risks? Continue Reading

By

• Steve Gold

Gary McKinnon broke into 73,000 US government computers, Lords told

Self confessed British hacker Gary McKinnon, who is fighting extradition to the US, broke into more than 73,000 US government computers, including those of the US Army, Navy and Nasa, and deleted critical data, the House of Lords heard today. Continue Reading

By

• Ian Grant

Windows registry forensics guide: Investigating hacker activities

Ed Skoudis explains how investigators and administrators can interact with the Windows registry to analyse a compromised system. Continue Reading

By

• Ed Skoudis, SANS Technology Institute

Chinook helicopter disaster - computer software failure or pilot error?

Chinook helicopter crash: was it computer software failure or a cause we'll never know? This article gives the background to the Chinook helicopter disaster with links to all the relevant articles published by ComputerWeekly and other useful web links. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

New doubts raised on Chinook crash ruling

A former senior officer who helped write rules for RAF accident inquiries has spoken publicly for the first time about his concerns over the cause of a controversial Chinook helicopter crash 14 years ago. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

What are the dangers of using Facebook, other social networking sites?

Ken Munro discusses the dangers associated with allowing employees to access social networking sites such as Facebook, and explains how corporations can avoid these risks by monitoring the information placed in employee profiles and using email filters. Continue Reading

By

• Ken Munro

How to scope the liability clause in your software license agreement

Standard limit of liability clauses favour the vendor. Here's how to modify them to protect your firm from IT risk. Continue Reading

By

• Matt Karlyn, Cooley LLP

Getting the best bargain on network vulnerability scanning

When it comes to enterprise network analysis, is it best to use a commercial vulnerability scanner or an open source product? Mike Chapple explains. Continue Reading

By

• Mike Chapple, University of Notre Dame

Web 2.0 presents no new security challenges, is just marketing hype: Secure Computing

Secure Computing's Scott Montgomery says Web 2.0 security is marketing hype, application flaws come from overworked programmers and Australia is doing better at cyber-security than the USA and Europe. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

Five command line tools to detect Windows hacks

Learn about five of the most useful Windows command-line tools for machine analysis and how they can tell if a machine has been hacked in this tip. Continue Reading

By

• Ed Skoudis, SANS Technology Institute

Losing the war to lock down networks might help enterprises innovate

While security concerns cannot be set aside, users unwilling to leave their own applications at home might bring some innovation to the office. Continue Reading

By

• Michael Morisy, TechTarget

penetration testing tutorial day one the basics

TechTarget ANZ expert Ed Eliff explains botnets and offers advice on how to make sure your machines do not get get caught up in one. Continue Reading

By

• Ed Eliff, Contributor

Network managers: master project management to get better salaries

Network technicians will need to learn project manager skills if corporate rollouts of wider and more advanced networks are to be successful, according to attendees at the Cisco Networkers 2008 this week. Continue Reading

By

• John-Paul Kamath

Fujitsu may quit NHS National Programme for IT

The board of an NHS trust has learned of a "significant" risk of ­Fujitsu ending its £900m contract to supply and implement hospital systems across southern England as part of the National Programme for IT. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Wireless network security made easy - from "The Book of PF"

How to get wireless networks running and some options for making your wireless network more secure, including encryption for IEEE 802.11 wireless networks. Continue Reading

By

• No Starch Press

Wireless networks as secure as wired, study says

Wireless security may not be as dire as previously thought, according to a new 3Com study. Continue Reading

By

• Voice & Data Staff

Holidays are over; now beware the gadgets

The post-holiday influx of consumer devices poses increased risk of data leakage and other threats to network security. Continue Reading

By

• Michael Morisy, TechTarget

Virtualisation provides utilisation and IT efficiency boost

Yorkshire-based Raleys Solicitors has solved a space problem in its computer room by using virtualisation technology. Continue Reading

By

• Joe O’Halloran, Computer Weekly

Cisco Trusted Security to boost network security, management

Cisco's Trusted Security (TrustSec) hardens network security while easing some management. Continue Reading

By

• Michael Morisy, TechTarget

San adoption cuts costs and power

Advanced storage driving datacentre area and energy consumption reduction Continue Reading

By

• Joe O’Halloran, Computer Weekly