Data Center

Live Long and (Do Not) Prosper: Lessons and Reminders from Yesterday’s Wikipedia Outage

Yesterday's Wikipedia outage, which resulted from invalid DNS zone information, provides some good reminders about the best and worst attributes of active DNS management. The best part of the DNS is that it provides knowledgeable operators with a great tool to use to manage traffic around trouble spots on a network. In this case, Wikipedia was attempting to route around its European data center because... more

Malware and Botnet Operators Setting Up Their Own Data Centers

Dennis Fisher of Thread Post reports: "The malware writers and criminals who run botnets for years have been using shared hosting platforms and so-called bulletproof hosting providers as bases of operations for their online crimes. But, as law enforcement agencies and security experts have moved to take these providers offline, the criminals have taken the next step and begun setting up their own virtual data centers." more

Email Snooping Can Be Intrusion Upon Seclusion

Analysis could also affect liability of enterprises using cloud computing technologies... Local elected official Steinbach had an email account that was issued by the municipality. Third party Hostway provided the technology for the account. Steinbach logged in to her Hostway webmail account and noticed eleven messages from constituents had been forwarded by someone else to her political rival. more

Internet Vigilantism

Atrivo (aka Intercage), a Concord, California-based Internet hosting service, disappeared from the Internet for around two days recently. They didn't go bankrupt or suffer a physical catastrophe. Their providers simply shut them down by refusing their traffic. This might very well be the first time in history that the Internet community, a cooperative association of networks with no governing body, has collectively put someone out of business, if only briefly. more

Cloud Computing and Privacy

There has been a good deal of talk of late on the important topic of security and privacy in relation to cloud computing. Indeed there are some legitimate concerns and some work that needs to be done in this area in general, but I'm going to focus today on the latter term (indeed they are distinct -- as a CISSP security is my forte but I will talk more on this separately). more

Dutch Police Seize Italian Internet Provider’s Server at US Request

Dutch police seized a server belonging to Italian Internet provider Autistici/Inventati at US authorities' request, raising questions about cross-border law enforcement, terrorism sanctions and the vulnerability of European Internet infrastructure to American legal measures. more

Data Centers Can Profitably Clean Up Their Act

As opposition to large data centers grows, developers face mounting pressure to address environmental impacts, infrastructure costs and limited local economic benefits. Greater transparency and community engagement could prove more profitable than secrecy. more

The Economics Behind AI’s Infrastructure Boom

AI's infrastructure boom is consuming vast amounts of capital, power and computing hardware, raising questions about whether advertising, subscriptions and corporate spending can ultimately support the industry's expanding cost base. more

Africa Is Adopting AI but Who Is Governing the Risks?

African institutions are adopting AI across public services and business, but effective deployment requires governance structures that address cybersecurity, accountability, procurement, digital sovereignty, regulatory coordination and institutional capacity. more

Russian Attack Disrupts Internet and Digital Services Across Kyiv

A Russian attack disrupted Internet access for about 100,000 Kyiv-area households and affected data centers, hosting and court services, exposing disruptions across multiple infrastructure layers while leaving possible shared dependencies unclear. more

EU Sets Sustainability Labels for Larger Data Centers

The European Commission has adopted an A-to-G sustainability rating system for larger data centers, grading energy and water efficiency as EU computing demand grows and regulators consider binding performance standards. more

AWS Says Iran Strikes Caused Permanent Customer Data Loss in Bahrain and UAE

AWS says Iranian strikes caused permanent customer data loss in Bahrain and the UAE, exposing the limits of Availability Zone redundancy when physical destruction affects multiple cloud facilities within a region. more

Amazon Taps Qualcomm for AI Chips and Optical Data Center Networking With $60 Billion Purchase Milestones

Amazon's Qualcomm deal spans custom AI inference chips and optical networking, with equity warrants tied to purchasing milestones reaching $60 billion, potentially expanding competition across the data-center compute and connectivity supply chain. more

Canada Sets National Principles for Responsible Data-Centre Development

Canada's voluntary framework asks data-center developers to cover electricity-system costs, limit water and environmental impacts, disclose local effects and deliver national benefits as the country expands sovereign AI and cloud infrastructure. more

Digital Embassies: Could Africa Rethink Digital Sovereignty?

Estonia's data embassy model offers African governments a different approach to digital sovereignty, combining cross-border infrastructure, legal safeguards and geographic redundancy to keep critical state systems secure, recoverable and operational during major disruptions. more