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Judicial Watch Can FOIA the EPA Over Signal Chat, But They May … – WIRED

A woman would normally produce this photo and write this caption. She is not here because of the International Womens Day strike.WIREDLeaks have plagued the Trump administration since he took office less than seven weeks ago. The presidents anger about these backchannels has grown, up to and including reported demands of an investigation into the source. Press secretary Sean Spicer has even apparently taken to doing random phone checks, supervised by White House attorneys, to see what staffers and aides are up to on their devices and whether they have secure communication apps.

In the midst of all of this, the end-to-end encrypted, disappearing messages app Confide has emerged as a popular choice among administration officials looking to discuss sensitive topics with coworkers, the press, or other groups. But in spite of Confides claims that it gives you the comfort of knowing that your private messages will now truly stay that way, researchers at security firm IOActive recently notified its developers of a number of critical vulnerabilities in the app. Those have since been resolved, but thats small consolation for White House staffers and general users who relied on Confide while it was exposed.

IOActive found vulnerabilities in numerous areas of the Confide app on Windows, macOS, and Android. By reverse-engineering the applications to see how they work and where they might have weaknesses and probing Confides public API to see what data could be accessible to anyone, the researchers discovered that they could alter messages and attachments in transit, decrypt messages, impersonate users, and reconstruct a database of all Confide users, their names, email addresses, and phone numbers. Its a concerning list of potential attacks for an app that touts security and privacy as its main offerings.

In total, the IOActive researchers laid out 11 vulnerabilities. For example, they were able to access over 7,000 records for users who joined Confide between February 22 and February 24, before Confide detected the intrusion. The database contains between 800,000 and 1 million user records in all. The app didnt have protection against brute-forcing account passwords and didnt even have strong minimum requirements for what a users password could be. It didnt notify recipients when senders sent unencrypted messages, and the system didnt require a valid web encryption certificate.

IOActive disclosed the bugs to Confide on February 28. Confide was already aware of some of the bugs after detecting the researchers probing, and by March 3 the company told IOActive that all the vulnerabilities had been patched. IOActive says that it was satisfied with Confides reaction. When our researchers connected with Confide to disclose the vulnerabilities, they were receptive to our research, quick to move on addressing critical issues found, and worked with us to share the information, IOActive CEO Jennifer Steffens said in a statement.

Confide has been around since 2014, though, so protecting the app going forward, while crucial, doesnt mitigate the risk its users have already faced. But Confide assures its users that the bugs were never exploited. Our security team is continuously monitoring our systems to protect our users integrity, says Confide president Jon Brod. IOActives attempt to gather account information was detected and stopped in real time. Not only has this particular issue been resolved, but we also have no detection of it being exploited by any other party. In addition, weve also ensured that the same or similar approaches will not be possible going forward.

Other researchers have piled on similar findings about the state of Confides security. Experts have also been calling the app out for a while for using proprietary cryptography and offering no evidence that it has invited independent code audits to check for vulnerabilities. Encrypted communication services that are open source, like Signal, garner more trust in the security community because of their transparency.

Public review of open source code can [reveal] such flaws, says Sven Dietrich, a cryptography researcher at CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He adds that code reviews allow experts to identify programming mistakes that jeopardize user messages or credentials, and protocol mistakes like improper exchange of keys or messages. Basically, all the issues Confide ran into.

Its difficult for consumers to know which security products to choose or even how to compare the options. This puts responsibility on software makers to secure their products. Encryption software assumes such an important role today. The only way to ensure that a piece of software does not contain back doors or gaping holes is to have independent trust experts audit the code. This is best practice, says Kevin Curran, a cybersecurity researcher at Ulster University and IEEE senior member. We all know that it is unreasonable to expect vulnerability-free software, but we need to look at risk mitigation.

Now that Confide has patched its vulnerabilities, users will have more protection. But without greater transparency, users may not have confidence that other flaws arent lurking in their favorite encrypted chat app. For a White House staffer leaking information critical to United States discourse and fearing retribution from a temperamental boss, theres no room for error.

In the four tumultuous weeks since President Donald Trumps inauguration, the White House has provided a steady stream of leaks. Some are mostly innocuous, like how Trump spends his solitary hours. Others, including reports of national security adviser Michael Flynns unauthorized talks with Russia, have proven devastating. In response, Trump has launched an investigation, and expressed his displeasure in a tweet: Why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington?

The answer may have to do with uncertainty and unrest inside the administration, as well as the presidents ongoing attacks against the intelligence community. But it doesnt hurt that every White House and Congressional staffer has tools to facilitate secure communication in their pocket or bag. Specifically, multiple reports indicate that Republican operatives and White House staffers are using the end-to-end encrypted messaging app Confide, which touts disappearing messages and anti-screenshot features, to chat privately without a trace.

The ability to communicate without fear of reprisal may have helped illuminate the Trump administrations darkest corners. But that same time, anonymity rings alarms for transparency advocates. The same technology that exposes secrets also enables them, a tension thats not easy to resolve.

Confide launched in 2013 as a secure app for executives looking to trade gossip and talk shop without creating a digital trail. The service uses a proprietary encryption protocol, what the company describes as military-grade end-to-end encryption. Its marquee feature, self-destructing messages, appears on similar services like Snapchat, but Confides appeal lies in its promise of more robust protections.

Its worth noting, though, that unlike other secure messaging apps, like standard-bearer Signal, Confides encryption is closed source and proprietary, meaning no one outside the company knows whats going on under the hood of the app. Company president Jon Brod says that Confide bases its encryption protocol on the widely used PGP standard, and that the apps network connection security relies on recommended best practices like Transport Socket Layer (TLS). Brod did not respond to questions, though, about whether Confide has ever opened its code base to be independently audited by a third party.

One key is always, do you make code publicly available thats been audited where features have been inspected by the security community so that it can arrive at some consensus, says Electronic Frontier Foundation legal fellow Aaron Mackey. My understanding with Confide, at least right now, is that its not clear whether thats occurred.

Confides also not the only option in play; EPA workers have reportedly turned to Signal to discuss how to cope with an antagonistic Trump administration, to the agitation of Republican representatives.

No matter what the method, though, encrypted chat appears to have become a staple among political operativeswhich happens to raise a whole host of legal questions.

Using an app like Confide for personal communications, like keeping in touch with family members or coordinating gym trips with coworkers, is within bounds. It also, according to a recent Washington Post report, has enabled vital leaks to the media.

At this point its still possible that politicos are legitimately using Confide for personal purposes. I know people who use [Confide], but I dont know anyone whos using it who shouldnt be using it, says Scott Tranter, a founder of the political data consultancy Optimus. The people who I know use it because its secure messaging.

Its sometimes not easy, though, to separate personal conversations from those that are work-related. Where those lines blur, legal concerns arise.

If these apps are being used by White House staff, it raises very disturbing questions about compliance with the Presidential Records Act specifically, and more broadly the Federal Records Act, says David Vladeck, a communications and technology law researcher at Georgetown Law School. The whole point of these statutes is to assure that our nations history is neither lost nor manufactured, and the kinds of apps that obliterate the messages are completely incompatible with that and at odds with the law.

Confide puts the onus on its users to walk a legal line. We expect people to use Confide in a way that complies with any regulation that may be relevant to their particular situation, says Brod.

Encryption itself isnt the issue. End-to-end encrypted communication can coexist with the goals of public disclosure laws, so long as someone retains the decryption key. Using strong security for sensitive government communications makes sense and is appropriate if the parties sending and receiving the communications can still archive them.

But disappearing messages are definitionally communications that are difficult, if not impossible, to record. Plus, its hard to assess how people are using a communication service like Confide if theres no record of anything they ever sent. Since Confide is explicitly designed to eliminate a paper trail, its use creates at least the appearance of misconduct, if not the reality, says Allison Stanger, a cybersecurity fellow at the New America Foundation. Those who wanted to lock up Hillary Clinton for the use of a private email server should be very concerned about this practice.

Its a tough act to balance. Encryption-enabled leaks help hold administrations accountable, a clear public good. The challenge is preserving that level of secrecy without creating black holes where public records should be.

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The apps to use if you want to keep your messages private – Recode

How secure are your private messages?

At a time when data breaches are at an all-time high, thats a question worth thinking about. Hackers, particularly state-sponsored hackers, have shown a willingness to go after big, established tech companies like Yahoo and Google. These big platforms often hold users personal information or in some cases, users private correspondence on their servers.

But there are ways to protect your private communications, and many consumer tech companies are starting to offer better encryption so that your personal messages wont fall into the wrong hands. Whether youre concerned about your messages being read by hackers, advertisers or even the police, encryption can protect you.

What products should you be using to enhance your privacy? We took a look at more than a dozen consumer messaging services to give you a better idea.

The key here is whether or not a service is end-to-end encrypted. Messages sent with that level of encryption are only readable in two places: The senders and recipients devices most likely their smartphones. These messages arent stored on company servers, and as a result, cant be mined to help advertisers or read by law enforcement officials, even with a proper warrant.

(That has created controversy for both Apple and WhatsApp in the past.)

Which app is right for you? Here are some additional details on some of the more popular apps to help you decide.

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Bitcoin in Africa: Insights from the Continent’s Biggest Bitcoin Exchange – CryptoCoinsNews

Isnt it absurd that nearly 326 million people representing 80% of the adult population in Africa do not have access to bank accounts? This wretched situation denies countless of people financial freedom in the so-called dark continent. Bureaucratic tenors and economic exclusion inter alia have paved the way for the current phenomenon.

Last year a study of 10 African nations with unusual inflationary ratio had South Sudan registering an unimaginable inflation rate of 295 percent. Egypt had the slightest with 12.30 percent. African governments continue to plunder the riches of the African people through Inflation. This makes it considerably insurmountable for individuals to conserve their resources.

Moreover, public sector borrowing has crowded out the efficient private sector that can put credit to good use. The IMF estimates that averagely credit to the private sector is estimated at 30 percent of GDP in Sub-Sahara Africa.

CCN spoke to Werner van Rooyen, Head of Business Development and Growth at Luno, the biggest Bitcoin exchange in Africa about how Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are naturally poised to offer Africans financial inclusion.

CCN: Has Bitcoin anything to offer Africa?

Werner van Rooyen: Absolutely. There is a huge potential for Bitcoin in Africa. Many Africans could move straight to a cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, or a bank of the future, such as Luno. Much of the existing financial infrastructure is inefficient: banks and branches are expensive, currency transfers can often be expensive and slow and most of the developing world is still unbanked.

There is the potential for Africans to leapfrog some of the existing financial services, in the same way, that many Africans skipped the part of owning a cumbersome and expensive land line and went straight to owning a mobile phone.

CCN: Most African currencies are reeking of inflation, does this make Bitcoin attractive as a store of value to Africans?

WvR: Bitcoin has proven to be the best-performing currency in the world in 2016. I believe more investors in high-inflation countries are looking at alternative asset classes, things like gold or Bitcoin.

Bitcoin has been found to be largely uncorrelated to other asset classes. With most asset classes, there is a correlation (or inverse correlation), like when a countrys stock market goes down, the currencys exchange rate usually also follows, same for the housing market. Bitcoin is largely uncorrelated, meaning it is becoming an attractive alternative to many investors.

CCN: What do you make of some African governments tagging Bitcoin as a tool for terrorism and money laundering?

I think this is mostly fueled by incorrect data, click-driven media hype and lack of understanding about Bitcoin. Firstly, I should say that the biggest facilitator of organised crime, including money laundering and terror financing, is cold hard cash.

Many other modern inventions, such as the Internet, Twitter, cars and cellphones, are currently being used to facilitate crime. It doesnt mean that we should shut these technological advances down (I doubt anyone is seriously proposing it), but rather that the good that comes with it outweighs the bad.

Lastly, there is very little proof that Bitcoin is currently being used for these nefarious purposes. Remember: Bitcoin is only pseudo-anonymous: all Bitcoin transactions ever conducted are recorded in the Blockchain.

Studies by the UK government looking into the best channels for laundering money has consistently found the risk of Bitcoin being used as very low.

CCN: Adoption in Africa is irritatingly slow. How do we push penetration?

WvR: Education and user experience. At Luno, were doing a lot to tackle this. Our aim is to make Luno the easiest place to buy, sell and learn about Bitcoin. Something which is no trivial task, but were seeing fantastic growth in Africa, especially for our mobile wallet. Weve also created a Learning Portal to help new people with some basic concepts about Bitcoin.

CCN: Do you think Africans will finally embrace Bitcoin?

WvR: I dont think they will, I think they already have! We are seeing fantastic adoption in places like South Africa and Nigeria and Im sure it will ripple to other African nations too.

CCN: What makes Bitcoin expensive in Africa than elsewhere?

WvR: Bitcoin is a very liquid instrument: its easy to move around the world. This, in theory, means that it can and will trade at roughly the same exchange rate, wherever it is available.

Obviously, there are many factors at play, but since the price is determined by supply and demand, it means that in some places where the demand is low, it may trade at a lower price (and vice versa).

Another issue is connectivity: to transact in Bitcoin, you need an Internet connection and ideally a smartphone. Many places are still underserved by the telcos, but this is changing fast. The price of smartphones is also continuously getting cheaper.

CCN: Could you paint a picture of the future of Bitcoin in Africa?

WvR: Its really too soon to tell, but what were seeing already today is really fantastic and I believe Bitcoin has a lot of potential in emerging markets in Africa and abroad.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

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Belgian Minster of Justice Plans to Crack Down on Bitcoin Activity – The Merkle

Bitcoin users around the world are well aware of how governments will never see eye-to-eye when it comes to cryptocurrency. The Belgian Minister of Justice aims to make the use of bitcoin semi-illegal in the country by confiscating all of the coins in circulation. The plan is to draft a new legislative proposal that would apply to Belgium, and possibly the rest of the European Union as well.

For some unknown reason, politicians struggle with the concept of bitcoin and cryptocurrency. There is no way to confiscate coins unless the bitcoin wallet owner relinquishes control over their wallet. No one in their right mind will ever do so, as bitcoin is the only asset in the world that puts the owner in full control over their finances.

Koen Geens, the Belgian Minister of Justice, feels he can draft a legislative proposal to ensure people hand over the private keys to their bitcoin wallets. Moreover, he plans to expand the existing regulation related to cooperating with the justice system so it encompasses digital currencies as well. It seems evident this will incur some dire changes for all exchanges dealing with customers from Belgium in the future.

As one would come to expect, this decision is not entirely surprising. Koen Geens is one of those individuals who sees bitcoin as a tool that facilitates criminal behavior. While there may be some truth to that statement, there has never been overwhelming evidence to indicate bitcoin facilitates more crime than cash, wire transfer, or any of the legal anonymous payment tools in existence right now.

One thing that does need to be addressed, however, is the platforms who claim to offer bitcoins to investors. These Ponzi schemes- including the likes of Onecoin need to be weeded out sooner rather than later. Anyone using the concept of digital currencies in a criminal manner should be punished for their actions. It is expected Belgium may draft the first version of such a legislation, with the European Union taking a similar stance on this matter moving forward.

However, what is disconcerting is how the Belgian Minister of Justice plans to confiscate bitcoin. Right now, it is unclear if this can only happen in relation to a criminal investigation or just randomly. Moreover, drafting a new type of legislation to facilitate this type of behavior may not necessarily be the best course of action either. Until more clarity is provided, it is impossible to tell what will happen exactly.

In the end, it is good to see the Belgian politicians pay some attention to bitcoin, even if their message is coming out all skewed. Addressing the criminal aspect of bitcoin is a positive development, yet confiscating bitcoin in the traditional sense will not be as easy as people want it to be. For now, it will be interesting to see how this legal proposal will turn out in the end.

If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.

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F2Pool Starts Signaling for Segwit in Bitcoin – CryptoCoinsNews

In a surprising move, F2Pool, which has around 9% network hardware share, began signaling for segregated witnesses (segwit), a controversial proposal that aims to increase capacity while facilitating layer two protocols such as the Lightning Network and sidechains.

Unlike in litecoin, where the market rallied after F2Pool began signaling segwit, there was no price reaction in bitcoin, which may indicate the market doesnt think there has been any change as segwit still requires another 65% of miners.

Moreover, the signaling began after a somewhat peculiar series of events. Firstly, F2Pool started signaling segwit in litecoin, then surprisingly said he was re-considering, then Charlie Lee said F2pool will keep signaling, Wang Chun, F2Pools co-founder, confirmed, but further suggested he will keep signaling because I scare DDoS too much.

Thats just the starters or just the warm up if youre into exercising. Wang Chun then went on to say in a statement that could not possibly make his views any more clear:

Segwit will be a disaster. I am not going to support it on BTC because I am a bitcoin HODLER. Meanwhile, I do not have a single litecoin.

Youd rationally conclude thats that then, but it seems Wang Chun was still hungry and wanted some dessert which took the form of asking his followers a fairly peculiar question: Should miners stop signaling segwit by the end of current activation period and switch to UASF?

Miners cant quite signal for a UASF, otherwise known as a flag-day soft-fork. That is, after block X segwit is activated. In such scenario, miners either upgrade or dont upgrade. Plus, there is no difference between the two as far as miners are concerned because for miners all forks are hardforks.

Here comes the twist: As 56% from the poll in favor of segwit & agreed UASF is bad. Well respect ur opinion and implement segwit on both BTC & LTC soon. Thanks.

The poll didnt ask whether his followers are in favor of segwit or otherwise, but gave a choice between segwit or UASF which also implements segwit. So, between segwit or segwit, with the only real question asked being whether segwit should be activated at a threshold of 95% of miners or whether it should just be activated regardless of how many miners support it.

This, of course, just two days after he said segwit will be a disaster. Now, to make some rational sense of this isnt easy, but some suspect F2Pool isnt really neutral. They implemented full-rbf, for example, at the advice of Peter Todd, then backtracked after a huge backlash by users.

Theyve never really mined on any other client, but Bitcoin Core, except for that one time when they pretended to give their users a choice by making mining with Bitcoin Classic as difficult as possible which led to just one block in a week or so despite the pool at the time having some 25% network share.

On the other hand, it may well be the case that the decision is actually purely made to avoid any DDoS as Wang Chun says or implies. F2Pool is a classic pool, running no hash of its own, and is a fairly small operation, therefore may not have the resources other pools do.

In that case, it doesnt seem like a smart move to reveal DDoS-ing has so much effect on his pool. Nor does it sound like a good idea for miners to keep using F2Pool when their profits can so easily be affected by a DDoS either from competitors or segwit supporters.

Their hash has fallen to around 9% in the past four days, with segwit and Bitcoin Unlimited now very much neck and neck, both having around 36% network share. That suggests bitcoin is fully split.

As such, after two years, there is still no resolution in sight, while bitcoins fees reach all-time high, above $1, with users yesterday complaining about unconfirmed transactions.

Maybe some new proposal will be able to bridge the divide, but what well probably see is a repeat of the same old story. Firstly, nitpick every little thing in showing strong opposition, then smear the proposals name, then its devs, then whoever supports it, then DDoS.

This time, though, all of it is getting far too boring, like those Hollywood movies that keep repeating the same story-line.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

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Bitcoin Tracker: Miner’s Delight | PYMNTS.com – PYMNTS.com

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The past week saw bitcoin (BTC) rise to near-record highs above $1,230, only to fall sharply during Thursday afternoon trading. At the time of writing, one bitcoin was equivalent to $1,174.45, down 3.46 percent from Wednesdays close and trending downward still.

Bitcoins come a long way since its infancy in 2008.

According to a recent report published by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, being a bitcoin miner has become incredibly lucrative as of late.

In a nutshell, the way miners generate revenue is by solving cryptographic puzzles attached to blocks of bitcoin transactions (this is also a means to confirm the transactions legitimacy). For solving these puzzles, miners gain a payout which is currently worth 12.5 bitcoin (~$14,681).

That payout halves every 210,000 blocks, or about every four years. This means that, at the current rate of things, miners in 2020 will see that 12.5 BTC cut down to 6.25 BTC.

But who knows what one bitcoin will be worth by then? If the price were to freeze today, that would still leave miners with a cash value of about $7,340.50 per payout. (Conversely, if this halving werent in place, miners would still make 50 BTC per block, or about $58,724. Food for thought.)

At the current rate, the report found that bitcoin miners globally have pulled in over $2.07 billion in cumulative revenue from payouts. Given that bitcoin wasnt even worth over $1 until April 2011, most of this revenue has been generated in just the past few years.

The report indicates the revenue generated by the bitcoin mining sector could actually be significantly higher than that estimatesince the researchers didnt take into account revenue generated from selling mining equipment or cloud mining services.

Notably, more than half (58 percent) of major mining pool operations are located in China, with the U.S. holding some 16 percent and the rest of the world making up 26 percent.

These findings reinforce the notion that the price of bitcoinand its future viability and stability could still largely rely on Chinese trading volume not to mention Chinese government and regulatory sentiment.

On the latter front, its still wait and see.

A full month has passed since Chinese bitcoin exchanges were supposedly set to unfreeze digital currency withdrawals as talks reportedly continue with the Peoples Bank of China (PBoC).

While service upgrades have been completed, Coin Desk said that exchange officials and the PBoC are still at odds over the know-your-customer rules to be enforced on reopening. Still, the word from exchange officials appears to be optimistic that the parties involved would soon reach a conclusion.

A far speedier conclusion was reached Hong Kong-based bitcoin exchange Bitfinexs lawsuit against Wells Fargo.

Bitfinex filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that Wells suspended outgoing wire transfers to the U.S. from four Taiwan-based banks that service the exchange.

According to Bitfinex, this effectively blocks stateside customers from selling virtual currency holdings. The digital currency exchange is seeking an injunction against Wells Fargo to prevent wire transfer stoppage, along with as much as $75,000 in damages.

The lawsuit stated that Wells Fargo had been made aware that the interruption of the cross-border transfers presented an existential threat to their businesses.

On Wednesday (April 12), Bitfinex filed a notice of voluntary dismissal. Bitfinex representative Brandon Carps told CoinDesk that the exchange aims to look past the issue. Additional details will reportedly be released in the near term.

As for the future of bitcoin, one of the worlds largest potential markets for digital currencies is gearing up to make some decisions in the crypto space.

India announced plans to create an interdisciplinary committee of government, economic and other financial regulatory officials to examine the current state of digital currency in India and on a global scale. The goal is to propose new regulations for the nation of 1.2 billion with respect to treatment of digital currencies.

In three months, the committee will submit a report that will suggest measures for dealing with such virtual currencies including issues relating to consumer protection, money laundering, etc.

Indias government and banking officials havent historically been champions of digital currency, suggesting that the new committee could choose to move in a more stringent direction. However, the nations current cash troubles and the recent precedent set by Japans legalization of bitcoin as a payment method could at the very least give Indias committee something to talk about.

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Cryptocurrency Versatility Creates New Opportunities – The Merkle

Over the last few years, the Cryptocurrency industry has been gaining popularity, and for a good reason. With the complexity that goes into making physical dollars, its clear now why people are opting to print a new form of currency. Making a digital currency is quite easier for someone with basic coding skills. Most are turning to the internet to gain ground and understand its use and value. Before, the concept was unfamiliar and scary just like the credit card some years back.

You might have come across the terms Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ether. These are cryptocurrencies that use the Blockchain Technology to ensure this currency and technology is safe. Here we look at the some of the new opportunities created by cryptocurrency versatility in different fields. But before that, lets look at the basics.

A cryptocurrency is an encrypted digital currency that is created using advanced encryption techniques commonly known as cryptography. The concept became a reality upon the creation of Bitcoin in 2009. It captured the attention of significant investors in April 2013 when it recorded a price of $266 per bitcoin. So, will the currency eventually unseat the ruling currencies such as dollars and euros? The answer lies with the Bitcoin.That said, what are the new opportunities being created by the cryptocurrency? Find out.

According to Gigaom reports, university students can now receive bitcoin once they enroll in school, and some universities are even accepting the currency as a form of payment for tuition. Dan Elitzer, the President of the MIT Bitcoin Club, and Jeremy Rubin, a computer scientist at MIT, successfully raised about half a million dollars for the enrollment of more than four thousand students worldwide in tech institutions.

The team together with the bitcoin community managed to provide students a chance to develop their own bitcoin wallets. This seems like a clever plan judging from the recent advancements in Bitcoin where they have developed the new Xapo Wallet.

Today technology has enabled students to access different services including essay services and now cryptocurrency. Providing college students with access to bitcoin is a great step in cryptocurrency especially since universities are now accepting alternative currencies such as Bitcoin as payment for tuition.

The improved growth in the use of cryptocurrency leads to entrepreneurial innovation and it is said to foster growth in traditional banking infrastructure. Once the infrastructure is built and there is mass distribution of the currency, new businesses can build financial services without having to invest in expensive infrastructure. They just have to build applications and supportive services aside from the cryptocurrency system and they conduct their business without building a data center, huge hardware, and an IT department.

The ability of an entrepreneur to access a source of payment method has fueled innovations in the financial services. These services are beneficial to the constituencies and areas that are underserved by the traditional banking providers.

Cryptocurrencies are the latest technological advancements that have enabled groups to create custom designed currencies. Today we see banks and other institutions working hard to establish their digital currencies and this is a new chance to experiment new technology.

Bitcoin has already set ground and proven to be quite dynamic and resilient amongst other currencies. It has undergone massive criticism but it has proven its powerful on the global perspective. Being an example of a successful digital currency, it is completely public and can be used in peer-to-peer transactions. It is a global financial utility that is accessible to anyone provided youre connected to the internet.

Those who say that Bitcoin and Ethereum may become irrelevant may be surprised. Cryptocurrencies are high-grade financial tools that are made for legitimate and exciting function with a sense of global financial services that bypasses the infrastructure of traditional banking. Some experts even suggest that blockchain payment systems may beat the mighty U.S. Automated House financial transactions system come 2020.

With the technological advancement that is being experienced now, it is not a surprise to find that the cryptocurrency usage may accelerate to greater heights. The blockchain technology is expected to form a great part of the coming internet generation with massive transformation in commerce and overall structure of corporations and many other institutions across the globe. Be ready for this radical transformation. Its worth checking out.

Bio

Laura Buckler is a professional freelance writer and blogger with a passion in SEO and web designing. She loves writing on different topics with her works ranging from articles and reports for several large companies. If you like her work, follow Laura on @laura_buckler.

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CORRECTING and REPLACING ZeroStack and Nexenta Offer … – Yahoo Finance

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Please replace the release dated April 11, 2017, with the following corrected version due to multiple revisions.

The corrected release reads:

ZEROSTACK AND NEXENTA OFFER CONVERGED CLOUD/STORAGE SOLUTION

ZeroStack Teams up with Nexenta to Create Integrated Private Cloud Solution that Reduces Cloud Operations & Storage Costs for Enterprise and Cloud Workloads

ZeroStack, the leader in making self-driving private cloud affordable for all companies, and Nexenta, the global leader in Open Source-driven Software-Defined Storage (OpenSDS), today announced a joint solution that integrates ZeroStacks Intelligent Cloud Platform with Nexentas storage systems to create a pre-tested, completely automated, and fully supported converged private cloud solution. With this solution, enterprises and managed service providers can now leverage Nexentas industry-first hardware and protocol-agnostic Software-Defined Storage (SDS) portfolio, delivering complete freedom from storage hardware vendor lock-in, to build a highly resilient and high performing cloud for application development, running packaged enterprise applications and hosting.

The combined ZeroStack/Nexenta solution offers these unique advantages:

ZeroStack makes on-premises cloud simple and affordable, and this solution allows our customers to combine Nexenta solutions with the ZeroStack platform, said Tarkan Maner, Chairman & CEO at Nexenta. Our OpenSDS solutions give customers the storage agility they need, and ZeroStacks cloud platform extends storage into the cloud for self-service use on a self-healing infrastructure.

Both Nexenta and ZeroStack will market the solution to their customers and resellers. With this combined solution, Nexenta and ZeroStack resellers can offer their customers strategic advice on cloud and storage options while retaining customers who might otherwise have no choice but move to a public cloud provider.

Nexenta has a unique storage solution for enterprises that want high performance and scalability, said Ajay Gulati, CEO and Co-Founder at ZeroStack. By combining our products into a single converged solution, we give our customers the fastest, most reliable access to data in a turnkey on-premises cloud solution.

Helpful Links

ZeroStack Inc.

ZeroStack Inc. Blog

ZeroStack Inc. on Twitter

About ZeroStack

ZeroStack uses smart software and artificial intelligence to deliver a self-driving, fully integrated private cloud platform that offers the agility and simplicity of public cloud at a fraction of the cost. On premises, ZeroStacks cloud operating system converts bare-metal servers into a reliable, self-healing cloud cluster. This cluster is consumed via a self-service SaaS portal. The SaaS portal also collects telemetry data and uses artificial intelligence to create models that help customers make decisions about capacity planning, troubleshooting and optimized placement of applications. The integrated App Store enables one-click deployment of many applications that provide the platform for most modern cloud native applications. This solution is fully integrated with public clouds to offer seamless migration between clouds. Founded by senior engineers from VMware and Google, the company is funded by Formation 8 and Foundation Capital, and is based in Mountain View, California. For more information, visit http://www.zerostack.com or follow us on Twitter @ZeroStackInc.

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CORRECTING and REPLACING ZeroStack and Nexenta Offer ... - Yahoo Finance

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Cloud Storage Provides the Perfect Solution for Movie Fans – Geek Snack

These days, everyone seems to have their head in the cloud. More and more major players are joining the marketplace, leading some to predict that the cloud will bethe new battlefield for technology giants. Growing competition spells good news for consumers, leading to some great deals.

So how can you take advantage? Well, with providers offering 1 TB storage spaces for the price of a couple of cups of coffee a month, many movie fans see the cloud as the perfect way of creating their very own media server, allowing them tostore films and TV boxsets securely onlineto access whenever and from wherever they want.

Why choose the cloud?

If you want to be able to watch your favorite movies or TV shows on the go, the choice has always been to either burn DVDs onto your laptop, stream them online or buy and download them from an online provider like Amazon. All are serviceable options, but they come with limitations.

If you already own a collection, the last thing you want to do is buy them a second time or pay to stream them. And the problem with media files is they are so big burning them to your hard drive takes up immense amounts of space.

Also, what if you want to watch them on your tablet or smartphone? The complexity of burning them and the question of disc space both become even more of an issue.

Cloud storage solves all of these problems by providing you instant access to your entire collection, from any location and on any platform.

Which provider?

A crowded and competitive marketplace might be good news for getting a bargain deal, but it can leave the uninitiated unsure of where to start when it comes to choosing the best provider.

Ultimately,there arepros and cons to alland it largely comes down to personal needs and preferences. Dropbox was the original file sharing provider and provides a solid solution at a competitive price, but some might reasonably wonder how long it will be able to compete against the might of Google and Microsoft. If you already use Googles docs and Gmail service, then the Google drive interface will already be familiar to you, and has the benefit of working seamlessly alongside the rest of your Google apps, but then again the same can be said for Amazon Drive.

All of the major players provide a robust, secure platform with easy access and a good user interface. Choosing one is rapidly becoming as much a case of personal preference as choosing your favorite web browser or search engine. One thing is for sure, though as the popularity of cloud storage continues to grow, they will all be working harder than ever to win your business. So, what are you waiting for?

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Cloud Storage Provides the Perfect Solution for Movie Fans - Geek Snack

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Lack of agility with Windows Server licenses hamstrings cloud hopes – TechTarget

Public cloud providers often promise limitless possibilities, including flexibility and agility that on-premises hardware can't match. But complex Windows Server licensing issues that an organization must contend with when it moves workloads from on premises to the cloud -- and back -- make the dream of hybrid cloud deployments difficult to execute.

Microsoft often touts the benefits of cloud, but Windows Server licensing issues complicate application portability needed for hybrid cloud. The marketing for hybrid cloud is a lot stronger than technical and licensing realities. Until vendors remove these migration complications, and portability and decoupling of Windows Server licenses become possible, hybrid cloud challenges will continue.

Despite the talk about hyperscale and investments in not one, but two Azure portals, it's still a significant task to establish a direct connection to Azure. Organizations need to set up a standing virtual private network or ExpressRoute to create an open highway to move workloads back and forth.

Tools such as StorSimple can solve some of these connection problems, but specific workloads may have different needs. The effort it takes to move a simple three-tier application from on premises to Azure is not a simple point-and-click operation, nor is it easily programmable.

There is little permanence in public cloud. Offerings change constantly. The instance type that cost $3 an hour last year could go to $4.50 an hour this year. Or, depending on the product, it might not be available at all.

Customers who sign up with the Microsoft Products and Services Agreement program can lock in prices for one, two or three years. But organizations that are not part of the program are at the whim of the market.

While the cost of cloud services has been trending downward, that may not always be the case. There are some more hardware-intensive workloads -- such as those that require many one-to-one relationships with discrete physical graphical processing units -- that could become more expensive if the provider can't oversell the hardware capacity.

There is little permanence in the cloud. Offerings change constantly.

Another problem with hybrid cloud is there's no solid way to track licenses as workloads bounce from the on-premises data center to the cloud provider's platform. That means enterprises can pay twice for licenses. An organization will have licenses that are held perpetually or come from a subscription-oriented volume license agreement -- these would cover normal usage. Then, depending on the cloud provider, there is the cost to run instances of software and services that could also include the incremental and proportional cost of those same licenses.

For a company that uses this hybrid cloud capability once a year, it may not represent a substantial expense. But a business that plans to send stuff up and down the pipe frequently could be hit with a significant financial burden.

For organizations that subscribe to the Software Assurance license option, which costs $3,080 per 16-core server, Microsoft has some tools for license portability. However, they are tuned for use with Azure public cloud services. To my knowledge, there are no technical limitations to prevent the use of that benefit on the Google Compute Engine service or on Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud, but it certainly would not be a seamless exercise, which is the point of being flexible and agile.

How do you track the disposition of licenses that the organization permanently moves from one place or the other? If a workload starts in Azure and the organization decides to put that workload in a server closet, how should they acquire the proper on-premises license? How does an IT team dispose of the Azure instance?

The same principle applies in the reverse scenario: How do you track Windows Server licenses for workloads that move from on-premises servers into the cloud and use a runtime license that was included in the service cost? You could reassign the license elsewhere or move it, or perhaps reduce use when true-up time comes if the business is on a subscription-based volume license agreement, or so on.

It is imperative to have a way to track this type of license movement; traditional license management methods need to be extended and modified to keep up with the times. Microsoft is big on license audits now, so organizations need to ensure they have up-to-date paperwork for licenses to avoid trouble.

Differences in Windows Server 2016 editions require study

Change in Windows Server licensing may stall migrations

Hybrid Use Benefit may draw enterprises to Azure

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Lack of agility with Windows Server licenses hamstrings cloud hopes - TechTarget

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