Teraknor

Having been a bit on the 'busy' side for a little while I have not had much time to sit back, think and contemplate an article for this blog. Not that there hasn't been much happening, more that some of it is probably beyond blogworthiness at this moment (so watch this space). However, here is a thought ... I get to meet many educators in many situations and with this I often encounter a mentality that 'marketing' isn't doing their job properly. Having stuck at this education lark since the mid nineties I have some news for everyone - we were all complaining that marketing wasn't doing their job properly even when we had more students than we could shake a stick at. Personally, I prefer to try and work with the marketing and comms types ... we do see things differently they are not always perfect ... but dear academics nor are we, in fact they often find us to be amongst the most awkward bunch of cantankerous sods ever to walk this planet. Having wor...

As an experienced educator, having moved from industry into traditional ‘in class’ teaching then onto distance learning. Exploring what learning means both fascinates and bemuses me. Intrigued at how educators stick to old ideas in the face of new experiences that have actually been in common practice for an adult lifetime. Students who embrace new technologies yet like some traditions that have been with mankind for millennia. My day job is managing our own version of the Cisco Networking Academy programme within the UK Open University. Avoiding painful marketing hype, we typically reach around four hundred students, every year who wish to study the CCNA via distance learning. Their study mode is hybrid, a blend of inclass via day schools and at home using network simulators, remote labs, online content and complementing assessment. Combining traditions from the Cisco Networking Academy as well as the Open University, the reach over many years has been considerable. Yet, a ...

I noticed that I have not posted a blog entry for about two weeks. Not a worrisome prospect as one expects a natural ebb and flow when using social media. Sometimes there is too much pressure to publish, to perform and put something out there for the sake of it (like this post, maybe). However, I do get souls that tell me they struggle to find 'stuff' to write. Then don't, blogging is like breathing, it is best done without any effort. Forcing it makes it such hard work.

There’s a hole in the protection surrounding some of the internet’s supposedly secure websites. A group of researchers has discovered that cyber criminals and other hackers can attack websites that use the “https” security encryption using a method known as “Logjam”. This attack, which is thought to work on around 8% of the top one million websites, allows hackers to see important information that should be protected, such as payment details or private communication. Encryption is a way of turning information into a secret code in order to stop others from eavesdropping on your internet conversations. Every time you see a padlock or then letters “https” in the address bar of your web browser, everything being sent between your computer and the remote web server where the website you are viewing is stored is encrypted and should be secret. The discovery of the Logjam attack, which is possible because of a flaw in the security software, means this may not always be the case. Logja...

Cockpit control. Shutterstock Reports that a cybersecurity expert successfully hacked into an aeroplane’s control system from a passenger seat raises many worrying questions for the airline industry. It was once believed that the cockpit network that allows the pilot to control the plane was fully insulated and separate from the passenger network running the in-flight entertainment system. This should make it impossible for a hacker in a passenger seat to interfere with the course of the flight. But the unfolding story of this hacker’s achievement, which has prompted further investigation by authorities and rebuttals from plane manufacturers , means that this assumption needs to be revisited. In a similar way, it was once also believed that PIN protection was sufficient for ATMs. Then it was discovered that keystroke logging software can be used to translate sound signals created when pressing the ATM numeric keypad i...

To be fair, it is neither an art, nor a science. More an enthusiasm mixed with ample portions of determination. It may seem smug, one has just wandered past the million reader mark. However, it takes time and some luck to get there. Some articles involving celebrities, astronomy, aviation security and volcanoes get big hits. I am not jealous of my colleagues in science, they work on some cool stuff and can get the results in terms of hit count per article. So, I write about everyday information technology and internet security issues, interesting, geeky and definitely not as popular as some comet plodding around our solar system. However, having more articles in our university top ten (you have to rank over 100,000 readers per article), means that you have to be persistent, patient and occasionally quick of the block when a new story emerges. You do not know who will republish and some sites prove to be very fruitful. My worse read article has just over 1000 readers, the best ...

Sitting here this morning with a cup of coffee in hand and statistics in mind. Having just noticed that my overall hits on this blog have wandered past another milestone. On more occasions than I can now recall, I have been asked how I have been able to build up my readership. I give multiple answers, to be honest, it does depend on my mood and sense of humour at the time. However, there is no magic formulae. We all write about what we know (I hope) and we all write about what we enjoy (otherwise it would be silly). Once you have an idea of what it is you are going to write about, just do it and keep doing it. Don't be afraid to try out different subjects or ideas, do not be afraid of gaps or doing too much. It is easy to schedule blog posts, if you are full of ideas. You can easily link your blog to social media, Google+, twitter, facebook etc ... it does help encourage your readership. They will come from all kinds of interesting and unexpected places, not all are predicab...