Thursday, May 31, 2012

Invasion of Privacy - Mobile App Infographic Style

Couple blogs/weeks ago, I posted What’s in Your Smartphone? covering the recent Nielsen report, State of the Appnation – A Year of Change and Growth in U.S. Smartphones.   According to the study, 70% (last year) and 73% (this year) expressed concern over personal data collection and 55% were cautious about sharing location info via smartphone apps so, obviously, it is important that users are aware of the risks they face when downloading and using apps.  So it is perfect timing that I came across Veracode’s infographic showing real world cases to outline the threat to user privacy posed by mobile apps.

How Mobile Apps are Invading Your Privacy

Infographic by Veracode Application Security

Fascinating and scary at the same time. 

ps

References:

Technorati Tags: F5, smartphone, integration, byod, Pete Silva, security, business, education, technology, application delivery,ipad,mobile device, context-aware,android, iPhone, web, internet, security

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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The Cloud’s Hidden Costs

Survey says…and many companies believe that moving architecture, resources or other IT infrastructure pieces to the cloud will save them money.  That’s been one of the biggest selling points of cloud computing – pay as you go, metered service, pay what you use – the internet as a utility offering.  And while simple deployments can be cost effective, complete architectural maneuvers often put pressure on the cloud’s main value proposition according to a recent Information Week article.

Burning through metered service when you think most everything is off can easily happen, as any of us are aware with lights, water, electricity and gas in our own homes.  In the IT world, a development team may have spun up some servers for testing and forgot to decommission; another group may have commandeered some servers for a specific campaign; or, the overflow/burst/DR model went into play due to some holiday and the servers are still running well after the wrapping paper is stuffed in the garbage recycle bin.  The ability for anyone with a credit card to procure cloud infrastructure services can lead to that same someone also forgetting to turn off the lights, spigot, stove and internet.  We’ve all done it.  And when that bill arrives, the envelope suddenly drops and the paper insert slowly floats to the floor as we attempt to understand ‘what the heck was left running!?!’

Visibility seems to be the primary culprit.   As cloud providers continue to expand and grow, often their visibility into and control over usage patterns decreases.  And CIOs can’t take full advantage of cloud economies since they may not know the who, what, where, when and how of the application(s) running in the cloud and thus, the overall cost implications.  Cloud management tools, which are also evolving, primarily focus on provisioning, capacity, utilization and workflows but not always the total cost of ownership.  Most organizations are not even fully aware of the costs until that big envelope arrives and they might not deal with or have a plan for ‘overages’ until it happens.  In addition, as more companies look to the cloud for business continuity/disaster recovery scenarios, as the recent disaster planning study from AT&T suggests, those ‘deer in the headlights’ gazes may become more common.

According to the article, these four situations account for cloud's most common hidden costs:

1. Runaway VMs: One of the key tenets of the cloud is self-service, making it easy for users to gain access to compute power wherever and whenever they need it. Often what happens, though, is users are so empowered to spin up compute resources that they overprovision or go over budget because there are no guidelines or caps in place to limit their usage.

2. Zombie VMs: This is something referred to as the "living dead" concept. Think back to the group of developers who spun up a bunch of clouds for load testing, which they never brought down, or even a handful of licenses for a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application purchased on credit cards by a lone business group, which after a period of brief usage lies dormant. While individually these expenses may not account for much, cumulatively they can add up, especially if there's no visibility for tracking, and months, even years, go by without turning off the spigot.

3. Choosing the wrong pricing model: Cloud providers price their services differently and often, the costs are a moving target.  Many organizations will opt for more expensive on-demand pricing because they don't want to make a long-term commitment to the provider, but they do so without having the proper context.

4. Maintenance costs: A move to the cloud means support and maintenance comes off of IT's plate. Well, that's the idea, but not necessarily the reality.  Also, all of the groups that have tapped cloud resources on their own (so-called shadow IT) come calling on IT, not the support folks at the Amazon cloud, when something goes wrong.

At one point or another, we all have forgotten to turn off a light, the water, a heater, the AC or any other item that uses the traditional utilities.  The new Smart meter Edison installed on the side of my house is supposed to give me visibility into my usage for proper cost analysis.  Organizations need something similar as part of the cloud management tools to give them the ability to properly plan if and when sticker shock hits their system.

ps

References:

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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

What’s in Your Smartphone?

Typical smartphone owners have an average of 41 apps per device, 9 more than they had last year according to the recent Nielsen report, State of the Appnation – A Year of Change and Growth in U.S. Smartphones.  Also last year, less than 40% of mobile subscribers in the U.S. had smartphones and this year, it’s at 50% and growing.  Android and iOS users fuel the smartphone app drive with 88% downloading an app within the last month.  They also found that as people download more apps, they are also spending more time with them (10% more), rather than using their mobile Web browsers for such activities.  The Top Five Apps are Facebook, YouTube, Android Market, Google Search, and Gmail, no change from last year.

More and more of our info is being saved on and collected by these smartphones and privacy is a big worry.  Last year 70% and this year 73% expressed concern over personal data collection and 55% were cautious about sharing location info via smartphone apps.  These concerns will only grow as more organizations adopt BYOD policies.  While users are concerned for their security, according to Gartner, IT shops won't be able to provide the security necessary to protect company data.  With so many entry points, data leakage outside the enterprise is a real risk.

appnation-what-has-changed neilsen

Gartner advises that IT shops managing mobile devices consider some mix of tiered support: Platform, Appliance and Concierge.  With platform support, IT offers full PC-like support for a device and the device is chosen by IT, and will be used typically in vertical applications.  With appliance-level support, IT supports a narrow set of applications on a mobile device, including server-based and Web-based application support on a wider set of pre-approved devices.  Local applications are not supported.  With concierge-level support, IT provides hands-on support, mainly to knowledge workers, for non-supported devices or non-supported apps on a supported device.  The costs for support, which can be huge, are charged back to the users under this approach.

ps

References:

Technorati Tags: F5, smartphone, integration, byod, Pete Silva, security, business, education, technology, application delivery,ipad,mobile device, context-aware,android, iPhone, web, internet, security

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Posted via email from psilva's prophecies

What’s in Your Smartphone?

Typical smartphone owners have an average of 41 apps per device, 9 more than they had last year according to the recent Nielsen report, State of the Appnation – A Year of Change and Growth in U.S. Smartphones.  Also last year, less than 40% of mobile subscribers in the U.S. had smartphones and this year, it’s at 50% and growing.  Android and iOS users fuel the smartphone app drive with 88% downloading an app within the last month.  They also found that as people download more apps, they are also spending more time with them (10% more), rather than using their mobile Web browsers for such activities.  The Top Five Apps are Facebook, YouTube, Android Market, Google Search, and Gmail, no change from last year.

More and more of our info is being saved on and collected by these smartphones and privacy is a big worry.  Last year 70% and this year 73% expressed concern over personal data collection and 55% were cautious about sharing location info via smartphone apps.  These concerns will only grow as more organizations adopt BYOD policies.  While users are concerned for their security, according to Gartner, IT shops won't be able to provide the security necessary to protect company data.  With so many entry points, data leakage outside the enterprise is a real risk.

appnation-what-has-changed neilsen

Gartner advises that IT shops managing mobile devices consider some mix of tiered support: Platform, Appliance and Concierge.  With platform support, IT offers full PC-like support for a device and the device is chosen by IT, and will be used typically in vertical applications.  With appliance-level support, IT supports a narrow set of applications on a mobile device, including server-based and Web-based application support on a wider set of pre-approved devices.  Local applications are not supported.  With concierge-level support, IT provides hands-on support, mainly to knowledge workers, for non-supported devices or non-supported apps on a supported device.  The costs for support, which can be huge, are charged back to the users under this approach.

ps

References:

Technorati Tags: F5, smartphone, integration, byod, Pete Silva, security, business, education, technology, application delivery,ipad,mobile device, context-aware,android, iPhone, web, internet, security

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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

F5 Agility Summit 2012 - Welcome to Shanghai

I welcome our partners and customers to Shanghai for the F5 Agility Summit with a special thanks to our sponsors: VMware, BlueCat Networks, BroadHop, Cenzic, Oracle, ServiceSource, Splunk and WhiteHat Security.

F5 Agility Summit 2012 - Welcome to Shanghai

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Technorati Tags: F5, big-ip, agility summit, cloud computing, Pete Silva, security, apac, shanghai, partners, network firewall,internet, TMOS, big-ip, vCMP

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Friday, May 11, 2012

Interop 2012–The Video Outtakes

As always, there are takes that don’t make the cut and Interop 2012 was no different.  Here are the flubs, outtakes and bloopers from our video voyage including the complete destruction of our booth.

Interop 2012–The Video Outtakes

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