Sean Michael Kerner

This week, Apple’s announcement of the new iPhone 5S with an integrated biometric fingerprint reader for device access has got a lot of attention. Instead of requiring users to type a password to get access to their devices, the fingerprint reader, dubbed “Touch ID” is the password. I’ve been using biometric devices for authentication for […]

AlienVault is continuing to raise new funding, as it pushes forward on its mission of expand the market for its open-source-based Unified Security Management platform. The security vendor has raised an additional $26.5 million in Series D funding this month, bringing the total funding since its founding in 2007 to $62 million. AlienVault CEO Barmak […]

Revelations made public last week about alleged National Security Agency (NSA) capabilities for defeating Internet cryptography are having a ripple effect, causing companies big and small to re-evaluate their use of cryptography. One of those vendors is none other than Google. According to a published report in The Washington Post, Google is accelerating its efforts […]

Microsoft is out with its monthly Patch Tuesday update, this time issuing 13 security bulletins, four of which are rated critical. Overall, the update patches 47 different vulnerabilities across the 13 advisories, spanning multiple Microsoft products, including Windows, Office, SharePoint and Internet Explorer. Among the critical advisories this month is MS13-068, which details a vulnerability […]

The cloud is an amorphous technological construct with varying degrees of performance and availability, depending on the location and the network of the end user. That’s where the Cedexis Radar cloud app performance and benchmarking service comes into play, providing users with visibility into cloud availability and performance metrics. Marty Kagan, co-founder and CEO of […]

In recent years, nearly every time I’ve seen the National Security Agency at a security event (they’re usually out in a recruiting capacity), they bring an Enigma machine. The Enigma is a code generating machine built by the German military that was cracked by the U.S military, and it played an important role in helping […]

Every organization today faces a similar set of challenges about implementing bring-your-own-device (BYOD) practices, secure access measures and new technology deployment. When you’re the CIO of a technology vendor, those challenges are magnified, as subject matter experts on any and every choice that the CIO has to make, are plentiful and often vocal. That’s the […]

Meeting government compliance regulations is often a complex task—one that Hewlett-Packard wants to help enterprises achieve. That’s where HP’s Data Privacy Services come into play as a new suite of services that are intended to help enable enterprises meet some of the complex demands of the modern regulatory environment. The new offering is intended to […]

A new version of the open-source PostgreSQL database is now available, providing improved reliability and data management features. PostgreSQL is a widely deployed open-source database with roots that go back to 1985 and the UC Berkeley Postgres database project. One of the key new features in PostgreSQL 9.3 is a capability known as Streaming-Only Remastering. […]

There is always a lot of talk about the word “open” in tech circles, especially when it comes to the cloud. After all, no one wants to be locked in and shackled to a “closed” system, right? On Monday, Sept. 9, my friend James Maguire, managing editor at Datamation, is hosting a Google Hangout on […]