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VictorOps Raises $6.5M For A Twitter-Like DevOps Tool To Monitor The Always-On Cloud
VictorOps has raised $6.5 million for its platform that adds a bit of the Twitter lifestyle for the DevOps pro, that person who fills a role somewhere between the IT and developer world. The Series A financing was led by Costanoa Venture Capital with participation from Foundry Group, the lead investor in the company’s 2012 seed round.
The company offers a real-time stream from a company’s enterprise monitoring system through iOS and Android mobile apps, as well as over the web. The apps are designed to keep people updated about enterprise operations with alerts, be they notifications within the app, SMS or email.
Todd Vernon, co-founder and CEO of VictorOps, said DevOps pros have their own special needs with better access to information and more universal access so people can collaborate wherever they are. He uses a term called “cycle stealing,” which I find a bit discomforting, but I see his point. He says that DevOps people have become accustomed to either being on-call or not on at all. People stay close to home when on-call but disappear when it is not their time to work. VictorOps takes a cue from services that are always on. People check their Twitter and Facebook feeds constantly, but they don’t have to necessarily be engaged. With VictorOps, the same principles apply.
Vernon said in an email that Twitter steals cycles from your brain due to their ease of use. People are more aware of things around them in a disproportionate way to the time it takes to find the information. VictorOps follows the same principles so that everyone on the team can participate by this process of cycle stealing. Everyone can have an eye on the infrastructure, but not feel like it’s their responsibility. The on-call team member is still responsible, but if everyone has an idea of what is happening, the likelihood of someone knowing the answer is revealed sooner. The flip side: Everyone is working all the time, always connected to the workplace no matter where they are.
But that’s just the reality of today’s work world. I am always connected, looking at the feed. VictorOps may be convenient but it is indeed stealing brain cycles. Except in the case of VictorOps, the people are your cohorts.
This is a useful tool with a ready market largely untapped. There are tools from companies like PagerDuty and providers like Rackspace and Amazon Web Services have apps for monitoring. But VictorOps is pretty narrowly defined in a market that is booming with the advent of the cloud and the need to balance developer and IT operations mandates.
Apple Releases iOS 7.0.2 With Fixes For Lock Screen Bypass, Greek Passcode Keyboard
Apple has today released iOS 7.0.2 for iOS devices with a fix for the lock screen bypass vulnerability discovered this week. The issue allowed users to jump past lock screen passcodes to gain access to photos and other social sharing options.
The fix comes just a few days after Apple said it was working on including one in a future update. The lock screen bypass method involved sliding up Control Center, tapping on the timer button and holding down the power button until the cancel option came up. You would then tap on the cancel button and double-tap the home button. This gave you access to the multitasking UI. While most apps were locked out, the Camera option was accessible, allowing access to photos and sharing.
The method was fairly complex and the timing was precise. And the bypass didn’t give extensive access to phone data. Nonetheless, it needed to be fixed, especially as Apple made a bunch of security improvements in iOS 7 but left the front door a bit ajar.
This patch also adds back a Greek keyboard option for entering passcodes. The update is available over the air to iOS devices in the Settings>General>Software Update menu.
BlackBerry Will Release A Painful-To-Use BBM App For Desktops
Despite its recent acquisition, BlackBerry announced it will be releasing a desktop BBM app at BlackBerry Jam Asia 2013 this week. Unfortunately, the long-overdue app leaves much to be desired. BBM will come to desktops, starting with Windows-based PCs. Since the bulk of BlackBerry’s core customers were enterprise clients, these customers spent a lot of time behind their desks. This release should have come way earlier. But even more striking, the desktop implementation of the messaging service is awful.
After installing the app, users will have to link their phones with their computers, probably through Wi-Fi. If you’re in a coffee shop and want to send a quick message from your laptop, you’ll first have to find a way to connect your phone to your computer. It’s the PlayBook nonsense all over again.
Messaging someone should be ubiquitous and effortless. You shouldn’t have to wonder whether your phone is still turned on to send a message from your computer. Some applications allow you to send text messages from your computer. But the point of BBM is that it’s not SMS — it’s supposed to be better. Moreover, BBM messages go through BlackBerry’s servers, just like Facebook messages, iMessages, WhatsApp messages, etc. And these other services don’t reroute all your messages through your phone.
That’s why limiting BBM to one device at a time is a serious flaw that should have been fixed. Many people have a phone, a tablet and a computer and want to use the same services on those three devices. In its current implementation, that’s not possible without a dirty hack for BBM. Due to multitasking limitations, iOS users will even sometimes need to relaunch the app to deliver the desktop messages — that is, if BlackBerry can fix their servers and actually launch BBM for iOS and Android.
There is no release date yet, and the company only showed the Windows version at the conference. WhatsApp doesn’t have a desktop client, so you might say that BBM’s release is better than nothing. But BBM for desktop 2.0 will have to be more than a simple interface that redirects your messages to your phone. For now, it’s just an empty shell.
Microsoft Announces General Availability Of Two-Factor Authentication For Windows Azure
Microsoft has announced the general availability of Windows Azure multi-factor authentication for IT pros and users. The new security capability is available for most any application used on the cloud infrastructure.
The security means that a person signs in with their usual user name and password but then authenticates either through an application on their mobile device, an automated voice call or text message with a passcode.
Windows Azure multi-factor authentication is available with on-premise virtual private networks and web applications for running on a company’s existing hardware or in a Windows Azure virtual machine. It can be synchronized with Windows Server Active Directory for automated user set up. Cloud applications like Windows Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics CRM also now have the two-factor authentication. Custom applications can also be secured with the two-factor authentication. It is available in two pricing options: $2 per user per month or $2 for 10 authentications.
Two-factor authentication is all the rage these days. Amazon Web Services and Google Compute Engine offer it and you can expect a wave of announcements from other providers ove the next several months.
But its really just a small aspect of what cloud services need to do Security at the virtual machine level is pretty much nonexistent. And that’s a user management issue as much as two-factor authentication. That’s where companies like JumpCloud enter the picture. Look to providers like them to provide the next generation of security to protect protect cloud services.
Meet The New Comprehensive NSA Reform Package That Could Actually Pass
With growing animosity toward the government’s massive spying programs, it’s likely that some reform is going to pass. Yesterday, a bi-partisan group of senior members of Congress unveiled a package that combines the most promising proposals to the National Security Agency’s phone and Internet dragnet.
The evidence keeps coming that #NSA's bulk collection is needless & threatens Americans' civil liberties 1.usa.gov/13IQDY9
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Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) September 10, 2013Here are the essentials of Ron Wyden, Mark Udall, Richard Blumenthal and Rand Paul’s reform proposal:
–End bulk collection–all of it. Specifically, it would forbid the NSA from indiscriminately sweeping up phone and Internet data under section 215 of the Patriot Act. Wyden, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has long argued that the dragnet does not actually prevent any attacks. Instead, the NSA would need a warrant to target suspects.
–Create a public advocate on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), the secret military court that approves NSA spying requests. Currently, the FISC has only rejected 0.03 percent of all requests, so it seems like privacy should have representation in the courtroom.
–Make Suing the NSA Possible. Last February, the Supreme Court declared that the ACLU couldn’t sue the NSA since they couldn’t prove damages. Unfortunately, since the NSA is so secretive, it’s kinda hard to prove who gets harmed. The new law would allow Senator Rand Paul to live out his libertarian dream of suing the federal government. Details are still scant; I’ve reached out to Wyden’s office for specifics on this provision.
This package has a decent shot at passing. While a bill to completely cut funding for the NSA’s dragnet program narrowly failed last July, a key Republican, Darrell Issa, came out in favor cutting off the NSA this month. So, there’s momentum to stop bulk collection of data, along with the other provisions.
Of course, none of this will likely be brought to a vote until President Obama’s NSA task force makes its recommendations later this fall. And, given that the government could shut down next Tuesday, and no one has yet made any headway on how to deal with military intervention in Syria, it’ll be a while before the most unproductive Congress in history can take up the issue.
Still, progress…maybe. Watch the press conference below:
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