The KIT ─ Knowledge & Information Technology
No. 141 - 1 Apr 2015
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In This Issue
Cloud Security Guide
Cloud Privacy Summit
Two Updated ACM TechPacks
Cloud Security Webinar Replay
Cyberattack Against GitHub
Seen Recently
Claude Baudoin

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Remember Google Gulp?          

"At Google our mission is to organize the world's information and make it useful and accessible to our users. But any piece of information's usefulness derives, to a depressing degree, from the cognitive ability of the user who's using it. That's why we're pleased to announce Google Gulp (BETA)™ with Auto-Drink™ (LIMITED RELEASE), a line of "smart drinks" designed to maximize your surfing efficiency by making you more intelligent, and less thirsty."

Yup, that was one in a long line of April Fool's jokes by Google, this one from 2005. For a complete list of such Google jokes and hoaxes over the years, click here.

Cloud Privacy in the Public Sector

The Cloud Standards Customer Council (CSCC) held a Summit on Cloud Privacy as it applies to the public sector on March 26 in Reston, Va. The following presentation slides are now available on the CSCC's Web site:

The presentations were followed by an interesting panel with representatives from Dell, Software AG, Electrosoft, and a cloud computing consultant, moderated by Claude Baudoin. The session was unfortunately not recorded, but let us know if you would like to see the annotated "seed" questions prepared for the panelists. 

ACM Updates Two TechPacks           

ACM TechPacks are curated collections of materials (articles, conference papers, etc.) that form a learning package on a given topic in computing. They are available to ACM members at no additional cost beyond the $99 annual dues (less for students and retired professionals). ACM has just updated two of its TechPacks:

You can read the introduction to each TechPack without being a member, but you will need your ACM username and password to access the actual materials. 

Cloud Security Webinar Replay
The March 17 webinar presenting version 2 of the Security for Cloud Computing guide from the CSCC is now available for replay on the CSCC's YouTube channel. Speakers include John Meegan, Chris Dotson and Mike Edwards (all of IBM), as well as  Claude Baudoin.
CyberAttack Against GitHub
GitHub has evolved from a repository for open-source code to a collaboration site used by many cross-organization projects to share technical deliverables. For example, some Object Management Group task forces use GitHub (together with action item tracking tools like JIRA) to share models, taxonomy fragments, etc. GitHub also stores links to copies of Web pages censored in China, in an attempt to help Chinese citizens gain access to the banned content. It is suspected that this is why it was hit, apparently by Chinese authorities, in a massive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack starting on March 26.
Seen Recently...

"How are standards like toothbrushes? Everyone has one, but no one wants to use somebody else's."

"How is adopting a standard similar to committing a murder? You need both a motivation and an opportunity." 

-- Trudy Curtis, Chairperson, Professional Petroleum Data Management (PPDM)

at the Standards Leadership Council Public Forum on March 19 in Houston