IT Managed Services Provider Resource Recommendation Update on September 09, 2020

What does Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) mean?
Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) is a Microsoft specification for running high-level language program applications in different computer systems without changing the application code. CLI is based on the Microsoft .NET concept that some high-level language programs require modifications due to system hardware and processing constraints.

CLI compiles applications as Intermediate Language (IL), which is automatically compiled as native system code. This approach allows applications to run without code rewrites in limited systems.

Microsoft September 2020 Patch Tuesday security update fixes 129 vulnerabilities in Microsoft products across 15 products (Microsoft Windows, Edge (EdgeHTML-based and Chromium-based), ChakraCore, Internet Explorer (IE), SQL Server, Office and Office Services and Web Apps, Microsoft Dynamics, Visual Studio, Exchange Server, ASP.NET, OneDrive, and Azure DevOps), including 23 vulnerabilities are classified as Critical, and 105 are classified as Important, and one 1 as moderate, none of the addressed issues is a zero-day flaw. Read the full list of at September 2020 Security Updates release notes.

How the government is keeping hackers from disrupting coronavirus vaccine research

What does Functor mean?
A functor is a type of class in C++ that acts like a function. Experts point out that a functor is created by overloading the operator and passing one argument the way that one would to a conventional function, albeit with different results.

One way to talk about the use of a functor is that functors work as an alternative to global variables in passing more than one argument through a single parameter. Functors may be used in combination with standard template libraries in order to achieve these types of results.

For example, the use of a functor might influence how a developer or engineer adds values to an array through a particular function-oriented workflow. Another way to explain this is that functors can be valuable in terms of “mapping” data through an array approach or other format.

What does Memory Leak mean?
A memory leak is the gradual loss of available computer memory when a program repeatedly fails to return memory that it has obtained for temporary use.

Memory leaks are often caused by programming errors in computer code. For example, a programmer might dynamically allocate memory space for a variable of some type, but then forget to free up that space before the program completes. Should this happen, the system will have less free memory to use each time the program runs. Repeated running of the program or function that causes such memory loss can eventually crash the system.

Memory leaks can be exploited by attackers to gain access to sensitive data or purposely create a denial-of-service (DoS) condition. A garbage collector (GC) can help minimize memory leaks by automatically detecting when data is no longer needed and freeing up storage accordingly.

What does Loop Variable mean?
In computer programming, a loop variable is a variable that is set in order to execute some iterations of a “for” loop or other live structure.

A loop variable is a classical fixture in programming that helps computers to handle repeated instructions.

Here’s how this works — the loop variable is set at a particular integer. Then it’s set to increase by one during the length of the loop. When the integer reached reaches the number of desired repeats, the programmer directs the “for” loop to terminate.

So if you have “x equals one” and a “for” loop that operates until x equals five, given an increase of one in each loop iteration, you’ll have the operation run five times. That is, depending on where the execution step is in relation to the variable increase.

Traditional programmers are well familiar with loop variables. It’s a very simple tool in what has become an incredibly complex world of mathematics and programming syntax.

What does Deepfake AI (Deep Fake) mean?
Deepfake AI is a type of artificial intelligence used to create a convincing image, audio and video hoaxes. The term, which describes both the technology and the resulting bogus content, is a portmanteau of the terms deep learning and fake.

Deepfake content is created by using two competing AI algorithms — one is called the generator and the other is called the discriminator. Together, the generator and discriminator form something called a generative adversarial network (GAN).

The generator creates fake multimedia content and asks the discriminator to determine whether the content is authentic. Each time the discriminator accurately identifies content as being fake, it provides the generator with valuable information about how to improve the next deepfake.

ZeroTier offers an easy-to-manage, widely supported network virtualization platform to connect all your devices, cloud VMs and apps. Includes advanced features like a network rules engine, and applies automatic end-to-end encryption. Free for up to 50 nodes.

This user monitoring script from CyberDrain was written to keep bad actors from silently accessing a network through created accounts. AdministrativeMSP explains, “[An employee we just fired] tried to install a remote access tool, [which] creates a unique user per machine. Immediately our 24/7 support got e-mails saying new accounts got created at all clients.… Without this script, there is a chance he would have installed malware or we would not have seen he still had access.”

Faildesk is a humorous blog dedicated to all the IT professionals who work tirelessly to make sure “the system stays up.” Features jokes, gags and spoofs plus hundreds of posts with stories, pictures and video of real-life situations that may be only a sysadmin can appreciate.

Bash Guide is a tutorial that aims to teach beginners good BASH practice techniques and how to write simple scripts.

Brackets is a powerful, lightweight, open-source text editor that blends visual tools into the editor to offer help without getting in the way.

Microsoft published a resource document regarding the newly released C# 9.0 which supported on .NET 5 and adds the following features and enhancements to the C# language:

• Records
• Init only setters
• Top-level statements
• Pattern matching enhancements
• Native sized integers
• Function pointers
• Suppress emitting localsinit flag
• Target-typed new expressions
• static anonymous functions
• Target-typed conditional expressions
• Covariant return types
• Lambda discard parameters
• Attributes on local functions
• Module initializers
• New features for partial methods

What does Programming Language mean?
A programming language is a computer language engineered to create a standard form of commands. These commands can be interpreted into a code understood by a machine. Programs are created through programming languages to control the behaviour and output of a machine through accurate algorithms, similar to the human communication process.

A programming language is also known as a programming system, computer language or computer system.

A programming language is typically divided into two elements: syntax and semantics. There is pretty much always a specification document to define both elements. For example, an ISO standard defines C, while Perl has a dominant implementation used as a reference.

An algorithm is described using the programming language. Programming languages are typically called computer languages; however, some authors deem programming languages to be subsets of computer languages. Since the oldest forms of programming languages like COBOL and FORTRAN, thousands of computer languages have been developed.

What does Lisp mean?
Lisp is a family of computer programming languages that originated in 1958 and has since undergone a number of changes and dialects. It is considered the second-oldest high-level programming language in use today, after Fortran.

The name “Lisp” is derived from “list processing,” because linked lists are part of major data structures and the source code is made up of lists. Because of its origins, Lisp was originally considered an acronym and spelled “LISP.”

Initially, Lisp was designed to be used as a practical mathematical notation for computer programs. The language later gained popularity and was used further for conducting artificial intelligence research, primarily thanks to computer and cognitive scientist John McCarthy, who is generally credited with the invention of artificial intelligence.

The language has exhibited its usefulness over time. Lisp brought in many popular theoretical computer science ideas and concepts, such as automatic storage management, dynamic typing and the self-hosting compiler. Common Lisp and Scheme are two of the most popular practical specifications of Lisp that are still used for software/application development.

What does Chaos Engineering mean?
Chaos engineering is a strategy for stress testing software in a complex, distributed computing environment. An important goal of chaos engineering is to proactively identify which components of an application stack could cause cascading failures downstream.

Chaos engineering is a relatively new approach to software testing and software quality assurance (QA) and Netflix is a notable pioneer of the concept. The streaming media company was among the first to formalize the strategy and build tools the company’s engineers could use to run controlled tests in live production environments.

Today, engineers in many industry verticals work with Netflix’s open sourced Simian Army tools to gradually inject live systems with specfic types of failure. First they define the system’s normal behavior and then they deliberately introduce a disruption, such as rebooting a host container, to measure how it impacts overall system behavior.

What does Declarative Programming mean?
Declarative programming is a programming paradigm in which the programmer defines what needs to be accomplished by the program without defining how it needs to be implemented. In other words, the approach focuses on what needs to be achieved instead of instructing how to achieve it. It is different from an imperative program which has the command set to resolve a certain set of problems by describing the steps required to find the solution. Declarative programming describes a particular class of problems with language implementation taking care of finding the solution. The declarative programming approach helps in simplifying the programming behind some parallel processing applications.

Order of expression or statements or the replication of a statement would not have any impact in declarative programming. Declarative programming can be further categorized into constraint programming, logic programming and constraint logic programming. Prolog, SQL and embedded SQL are some of the well-known examples of declarative programming languages. Tools are provided to programmers in declarative programming to allow abstraction of the implementation and to help in the concentration of the issue.

There are many advantages associated with declarative programming. First of all, it minimizes mutability. Immutable data structures help in eliminating hard-to-detect bugs and are easier to handle. Programmers would find it easier to work with such programming approaches rather than ones with unclear procedures, implicit dependencies or with lots of mutable states. Another benefit with declarative programming is it reduces state side effects by favoring the use of complex constructs like higher order functions and pipelines and by discouraging variables. The programming approach also helps in making the code more understandable and more scalable.

What does For Loop mean?
For loop is a programming language conditional iterative statement which is used to check for certain conditions and then repeatedly execute a block of code as long as those conditions are met.

The for loop is distinguished from other looping statements through an explicit loop counter or loop variable which allows the body of the loop to know the exact sequencing of each iteration.

The For loop is used in many imperative programming languages notably C and C++ and comes from the English word ‘for’ which is used to state the purpose of an object or action, in this case, the purpose and details of the iteration.

For loops are generally used when the number of iterations is known or already established. For loops in different languages differ mainly by syntax and how the statements work as well as the level of expressiveness supported. But they generally fall into one of the following categories:

• Traditional For loops: found in C/C++ and contains three parts: the initialization, the condition, and afterthought or commonly known as increment/decrement.
• Iterator-based loops: this allows for the enumeration of a set of items which can be things other than number sequences such as a list of students. This is characterized by an explicit or implicit operator such as the aforementioned list of students. The loop then takes on each of the values in the set.
• Vectorized for loops: these acts as if processing all iterations are parallel

Google Chrome Version 85 update brings 10% faster page loads with Profile Guided Optimization (PGO), more tab tweaks such as Tab Groups Collapse, Tab Previews, and save data entered into PDF form.

What does ATM Jackpotting mean?
Jackpotting is a security attack in which a malicious actor exploits a vulnerability in an automated teller machine (ATM) in order to make the machine dispense cash.

Unlike card skimming exploits that seek to steal bank account numbers and passwords from ATMs, the vast majority of jackpot attacks target the machine’s cash reserves, which are not tied to the balance of any particular bank account.

In order to carry out this type of exploit, a jackpotter must physically break into the target ATM by removing a panel and exposing the machine’s components, including its USB port.

Once the criminals gain physical access, they can connect their own computing device to the ATM and infect the machine with malware to make it dispense cash. Jackpotters often dress up as bank maintenance staff and use social engineering techniques to avoid being arrested.

Older stand-alone ATMs, especially those in retail and service outlets, are currently the most popular targets for jackpotting exploits. In some countries, this type of exploit may also be referred to as an ATM cash-out attack.

Paessler SNMP Tester is a debugging tool for monitoring configurations that use SNMP. Allows you to run simple SNMP requests against a device in your network to debug SNMP activities. Can validate if your SNMP configuration will function with programs like PRTG Network Monitor.

Powershell Scripts is a collection of simple scripts that can help with a number of routine tasks.

StarWind V2V Converter/P2V Migrator is useful when migration or hypervisor switch is needed. The tool allows you to clone and transform virtual machines from one format to another and convert physical machines into virtual ones.

Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide is a tutorial intended to help beginner progress rapidly to the intermediate/advanced level. It serves as a textbook, a manual for self-study and a reference on shell scripting techniques. Provides exercises and examples that offer an opportunity to actually write scripts.

Protocol Family Encapsulations is a one-page reference for TCP/IP, Novell Netware, DECnet, AppleTalk, ISO and the 7-layer network model. Also shows a nice glossary of networking acronyms.

What does Query mean?
A query is a request for data or information from a database table or combination of tables. This data may be generated as results returned by Structured Query Language (SQL) or as pictorials, graphs or complex results, e.g., trend analyses from data-mining tools.

One of several different query languages may be used to perform a range of simple to complex database queries. SQL, the most well-known and widely-used query language, is familiar to most database administrators (DBAs).

For a machine to understand a request for information in the first place, the query must be written according to a code known as the query language. For example, if you go to a bank and ask “Can I have an espresso?” the teller might be puzzled.

SQL represents one of the standard languages used for database management purposes, while MySQL, instead, is the software using that specific language. Although SQL is a fairly universal query language, other commonly used ones include DMX, Datalog and AQL.

The query database feature is equal in the necessity to data storage capability. Thus, a number of query languages have been developed for different database engines and purposes, but SQL is by far the most ubiquitous and well-known. In fact, rookie database administrators often are surprised when they learn about the existence of other query languages.

Query languages generate different data types according to function. For example, SQL returns data in neat rows and columns and is very similar to Microsoft Excel in appearance.

Other query languages generate data as graphs or other complex data manipulations, e.g., data mining, which is the deep analysis of information that uncovers previously-unknown trends and relationships between distinct or divergent data. For example, a SQL manufacturing company query may reveal that monthly sales peak in June and July, or that female sales representatives continually outperform male counterparts during holiday months.

A database can be queried by less experienced users who are not trained in a specific query language. Using a pre-defined query written in a special query language to make a request isn’t the only way to request information from a database.

A user might choose available parameters from a default menu that will guide him or her through the search. This is a simple but less flexible method. The system can also provide the user with a default record where a few blank areas can be filled with the fields and value defining the query. This method is called “query by example” (QBE).

Microsoft extended security support of Windows 10 Enterprise 1803 and Windows 10 Education 1803 for 6 months to May 11, 2021, due to COVID-19 global pandemic and business impact. The original end-of-support date was to be Nov. 10.

Google released the alpha version of Jetpack Compose, Google’s UI toolkit for Android with new tools including animations and constraint layouts as well as performance optimizations. Production release of Jetpack Compose is expected in 2021.

What is Robotic process automation (RPA)?
Robotic process automation (RPA) is the use of software robots to handle high-volume, repeatable tasks that previously required a human to perform. RPA is best suited to handling data-oriented tasks that are rules-based and monotonous for humans to carry out.

RPA software records and then reproduces the steps a human being takes when interacting with an application’s graphical user interface. Essentially, RPA bots can be thought of as sophisticated macros that can learn from previous outputs.

RPA bots can be a cost-effective alternative to hiring additional staff or sending work to be outsourced. Because the technology tracks and monitors all the tasks that it automates, it can also help companies become more audit- and regulatory-compliant.

AWS GameLift FleetIQ Update General Availability (GA) Announced, enables developers to add low-cost, low-latency GameLift servers to existing on-premises or cloud-based server capacities. Visit AWS Blog to learn more about the GameLift FleetIQ update.

Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) Adds New Extended Client Library Supporting Message Payloads Up to 2 GB, through a bit of a hack—message payloads are actually stored in S3, and SNS delivers a reference to the location which can be fetched on the receiving end.

What does X-Y-Z Matrix mean?
An X-Y-Z matrix is a three-dimensional structure whereby the x-axis and y-axis denote the first two dimensions and the z-axis is the third dimension. In a graphic image, the x denotes width, y denotes height and the z represents depth.

An X-Y-Z matrix is also known as a 3D matrix.

With the advent of digital images and image processing, the X-Y-Z matrix has been employed to represent pixel data. It is most commonly utilized in 3D computer graphics and animation. Using the X-Y-Z matrix system produces a more lifelike view in computing and graphic designs. One big advantage of using the X-Y-Z matrix system is that the manipulation of data becomes very easy and simple algorithms are defined to bring forth changes in the given pixel data of an image under operation.