[$] Fedora KDE gets a promotion

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/997559/

The Fedora Project is set to welcome a second desktop edition to its
lineup after months (or years, depending when one starts the clock)
of discussions. The project recently decided to allow a new working group to
move forward with a KDE Plasma Desktop edition that will sit
alongside the existing GNOME-based Fedora Workstation
edition. This puts KDE on a more equal footing within the project,
which, it is hoped, will bring more contributors and users interested
in KDE to adopt Fedora as their Linux distribution of choice.

New IDR Log Search Enhancements: Accelerate, Streamline, and Simplify Investigations

Post Syndicated from Rapid7 original https://blog.rapid7.com/2024/11/15/new-idr-log-search-enhancements-accelerate-streamline-and-simplify-investigations/

Co-authored by Ed Montgomery & René Fusco, Rapid7

New IDR Log Search Enhancements: Accelerate, Streamline, and Simplify Investigations

In today’s cybersecurity landscape, organizations need robust detection and response solutions to stay ahead of evolving threats. Rapid7’s InsightIDR, the foundation of our Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service, empowers security teams with advanced analytics, automation, and expert-led investigations. Whether used as a standalone SIEM and XDR platform or in combination with MDR, InsightIDR’s latest Log Search enhancements bring even more value  across the board. These updates accelerate response times, simplify complex queries, and improve the investigation process for both our MDR clients and product-only customers.

These updates, including Simplified Query Building, Pre-Computed Queries, and Bloom Filters, enhance the speed, accuracy, and accessibility of log search for security teams, ensuring faster, more targeted threat investigations for organizations.

Let’s explore how these updates elevate the detection and response lifecycle.

Simplified Query Building: Empowering Analysts to Act Faster

A key element of any detection and response solution is the ability to quickly turn data into actionable insights. Simplified Query Building enables analysts to construct and refine log searches faster, without complex syntax or technical details. This user-friendly interface enables any InsightIDR user, regardless of technical expertise, to create advanced queries through point-and-click prompts, accessing critical data quickly to streamline investigations.

By lowering the barrier to creating queries, Simplified Query Building provides organizations with timely, data-backed insights into incidents, reducing investigation time for both Rapid7’s MDR team and InsightIDR customers. This update ensures that every security team member, regardless of tenure, can access and leverage the power of InsightIDR’s log data without becoming bogged down by technical complexities.

New IDR Log Search Enhancements: Accelerate, Streamline, and Simplify Investigations
InsightIDR – Simplified Query Building

Pre-Computed Queries: Reducing Time-to-Response for All Investigations

Time is critical when it comes to threat response.With Pre-Computed Queries (PCQs), both MDR and product-only customers benefit from reduced log search times. PCQs enable predictably fast, near-instant access to insights by pre-calculating query results in real-time as data arrives, enhancing responsiveness for all InsightIDR users.

Customer Feedback

“As an MSSP, InsightIDR’s ability to handle large amounts of data is key for identifying threats in our client environments. Pre-Computed Queries have reduced return times for complex searches by over 70%, allowing us to create more impactful insights for our clients.”

— Mat Cornish, Technical Director, Longwall Security

While InsightIDR already supports saving queries for reuse, PCQs take it further by pre-computing results, helping analysts to instantly identify patterns or gather evidence. Additionally, the Log Search home tab organizes queries by “Recent,” “Saved,” and “Pre-computed,” enabling users to quickly find what they need for streamlined incident handling. Whether you’re a customer conducting an in-house investigation or part of Rapid7’s MDR team, PCQs ensure faster insights and more efficient incident response.

New IDR Log Search Enhancements: Accelerate, Streamline, and Simplify Investigations
InsightIDR – Pre-Computed Queries

Bloom Filters: Accelerating Key Value Pair Searches for Precise Threat Hunts

Not all queries can be pre-calculated in advance. Security teams are frequently asked questions about potential exposure to specific indicators of compromise (IoCs), such as flagged IP addresses or hash values. With Bloom Filters, both MDR and product-only customers gain a performance boost in search time for precise threat hunts by reducing unnecessary data processing.

For exact match searches, like identifying a compromised IP address or hunting for a suspicious hash value where(hash.sha=”…”), Bloom Filters optimize search time by ruling out irrelevant data – enabling the algorithm to skip logs that would not have matches. This enhancement is implemented on the backend and occurs automatically for any search that contains an exact match key-value pair. Reducing the search space means accelerating analysts’ ability to hone in on the exact information they need, cutting down investigation time dramatically.

A recent research effort into InsightIDR’s new indexing approach, which leverages Bloom Filters, showed impressive results with:

  • Improved Efficiency: Approximately 40-60% of all searches have experienced noticeable speed improvements since deployment.
  • Increased Precision: The new index has enabled applicable queries to skip irrelevant data three to four times more effectively, leading to shorter search durations for even more efficient investigations.

Bringing It All Together: Faster, More Effective Detection and Response

Whether you’re a Rapid7 MDR customer or an InsightIDR product-only user, these Log Search updates significantly enhance detection and response capabilities. By reducing search times, simplifying complex queries, and pinpointing threats with greater accuracy, we provide every InsightIDR user with faster, more effective security outcomes.

This means:

  • Faster Detection: Pre-Computed Queries and Bloom Filters accelerate search processes, enabling quicker response to incidents across both MDR and product-only use cases.
  • Improved Visibility: Simplified Query Building ensures analysts can quickly refine searches and access the data needed for comprehensive investigations.
  • Targeted Threat Hunts: Optimized key-value pair searches focus on the most relevant data, delivering quicker results for security teams.

Want to see these improvements in action? Contact us today to learn how Rapid7’s MDR service can protect your organization. You can also try InsightIDR for free with a 30-day trial.

Security updates for Friday

Post Syndicated from daroc original https://lwn.net/Articles/998291/

Security updates have been issued by Debian (curl and unbound), Fedora (krb5 and microcode_ctl), Red Hat (kernel and kernel-rt), SUSE (glib2, python3-wxPython, and ucode-intel), and Ubuntu (golang-1.17, golang-1.18, libgd2, linux, linux-aws, linux-kvm, linux-lts-xenial, linux-gke, linux-raspi, linux-raspi, linux-raspi-5.4, and php7.0, php7.2).

Zero-day exploitation targeting Palo Alto Networks firewall management interfaces

Post Syndicated from Caitlin Condon original https://blog.rapid7.com/2024/11/15/etr-zero-day-exploitation-targeting-palo-alto-networks-firewall-management-interfaces/

Zero-day exploitation targeting Palo Alto Networks firewall management interfaces

On Friday, November 8, 2024, cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks (PAN) published a bulletin (PAN-SA-2024-0015) advising firewall customers to take steps to secure their firewall management interfaces amid unverified rumors of a possible new vulnerability. Rapid7 threat intelligence teams have also been monitoring rumors of a possible zero-day vulnerability, but until now, those rumors have been unsubstantiated.

Late in the evening of Thursday, November 14, the Palo Alto Networks advisory was updated to note that PAN had “observed threat activity exploiting an unauthenticated remote command execution vulnerability against a limited number of firewall management interfaces which are exposed to the Internet.” The firm indicated they are actively investigating. As of the morning of Friday, November 15, there is no CVE or fix for the issue PAN has identified.

Per the vendor bulletin:

  • Risk of exploitation is currently believed to be limited if access to the management interface access is restricted
  • No specific indicators of compromise (IOCs) are currently available
  • If the firewall management interface was exposed to the internet, PAN advises customers to monitor for suspicious threat activity (e.g., unrecognized configuration changes or users)
  • Prisma Access and Cloud NGFW are believed not to be affected, per the advisory; if this changes, Rapid7 will update this blog

Mitigation guidance

In lieu of a fix, Palo Alto Networks customers should ensure access to the firewall management interface is configured correctly in accordance with PAN’s recommended best practice deployment guidelines — namely, that access is restricted to trusted internal IPs only and the management interface is not exposed or accessible to the internet. More guidance is available here.

The Palo Alto Networks advisory also has directions on identifying internet-facing management interfaces and/or devices that may otherwise require remediation action. Rapid7 strongly recommends reviewing the advisory and configuration guidance. We will update this blog with further information as it becomes available, but as always, we encourage Palo Alto Networks customers to refer to the vendor advisory for the latest information.

Осмите избори – повече отрова или повече демокрация

Post Syndicated from Емилия Милчева original https://www.toest.bg/osmite-izbori-poveche-otrova-ili-poveche-demokratsiya/

Осмите избори – повече отрова или повече демокрация

Още преди да бъдат преброени бюлетините от седмите парламентарни избори за последните три години в България, политолози вече предсказваха осмите. Защо да се боим от избори – изборите лекуват демокрацията! Но каква демокрация? В държава, в която политическата нестабилност и сътресения станаха неотменни спътници в последните четири години, гласуването – това върховно право на всеки гражданин на демократично общество, бе сериозно опорочено, доверието в институциите, политическите лидери и партиите – силно снижено, а политическата апатия – качена в небесата. Изборите имат все по-слаба връзка с бъдещи политики, а партиите печелят избиратели благодарение на страстите, които разпалват, с битки и ненавист.

Как едни осми избори биха излекували поне една от тия болести на българската демокрация? За да успеят, ще трябва да възстановят истинския демократичен процес, в който гласуването е не само акт на участие, но и реален механизъм за избор на бъдещи политики. В момента изглежда, че българските политици преследват далеч по-прагматични цели, а политиката не само че се поляризира до крайност, но и полюсите си имат лица.

Президентът и Kой/Кои

През последните години на политическа криза лидерската роля не просто на президента като институция, а на Румен Радев като личност укрепна. На „Дондуков“ 2 се е окопала една много силна фигура със симпатии към Кремъл, но и към унгарския лидер Орбан. От 2021 г. насам Радев влезе в сблъсъци с лидерите на най-големите политически сили. Започна от най-могъщия, какъвто безспорно е създателят и водач на ГЕРБ Бойко Борисов, трикратен премиер. След поредица от взаимни нападки и ескалация на напрежение с протестите през лятото на 2021 г., с вдигнатия юмрук и нахлуването в Президентството, двамата днес са в студен мир, а понякога влизат и в тактически съдружия. 

Радев продължи с тези, на които осигури трамплин за политиката, като ги покани в служебното си правителство – създателите и съпредседатели на „Продължаваме промяната“ Кирил Петков и Асен Василев. Последваха сериозни схватки, а заради силата, която получи президентът с управлението на служебните си правителства, ПП и „Демократична България“ подеха инициативата за промяна на Конституцията, която да му отнеме тези правомощия. С новата конфигурация в Конституционния съд и внесената жалба срещу промените в Конституцията има шанс те да паднат, а Румен Радев – да си възвърне правомощията. Томахавките с ПП–ДБ сега са заровени, а заради общия враг – олигарха Делян Пеевски – Радев и коалицията са и (временно) в един лагер.

От началото на втория си мандат Радев влезе в конфликт с председателката на БСП Корнелия Нинова – един от хората, проправили му пътя в политиката. Но Нинова вече е изключена от БСП, а настоящото ръководство на социалистите се съобразява с Радев. В депутатските листи беше включена близката до него Наталия Киселова, която сега е предлагана и за председател на парламента от името на БСП – Обединена левица.

Пеевски се е позиционирал срещу Радев, когото нарича Мистър Кеш, подобно на противопоставянето с Борисов през 2021 г. заедно с тогавашния главен прокурор Иван Гешев. В действителност тази вражда легитимира и двамата като изтъкнати борци на сумо на политическия тепих.

Силата на Румен Радев не би била в политически проект – любима дъвка от поне две години, а във възстановяване на опцията за служебните кабинети. Дори инициаторите за конституционните промени ПП–ДБ вече са се отказали от публичната им защита и от аргумента, че не бива да се съсредоточава толкова власт в президентската институция. А с Румен Радев за президент всички евроскептични партии и формации с проруски и националпопулистки уклон, нароили се в последните години, утвърждават влиянието си сред обществото и формират един силен блок. Осмите избори ще са още един бонус за този тренд.

Какво се случва с партиите

Изявлението на вицепрезидентката Илияна Йотова, обявила 51-вия парламент за нелегитимен, както и жалбите за частично/пълно касиране на изборите хвърлят сянка върху служебното правителство на Димитър Главчев (а значи и върху ГЕРБ), което ги организира. От президентската институция не пропускат да изтъкнат при всеки удобен случай, че при техните служебни кабинети подобни безобразия не са се случвали. (Затова пък има други – като например 13-годишния договор за природен газ с турската държавна компания „Боташ“, получила достъп до българската газопреносна мрежа, а съответно и до европейската, срещу ниска такса. А „Булгаргаз“ поема задължение да плаща дневно по 486 514 долара на „Боташ“ от 1 януари 2023 г.)

Но освен министъра на вътрешните работи Атанас Илков, към когото са насочени значителни критики, отговорност носи и излъченият от служебния кабинет координатор на изборите Росен Карадимов. Той беше началник на кабинета на премиера на тройната коалиция Сергей Станишев, а един от служебните кабинети на Гълъб Донев, т.е. на президента, го постави за председател на Надзорния съвет на държавната Българска банка за развитие. 

Все още не е ясно дали решението за касиране на изборите от Конституционния съд няма да дойде, след като парламентът вече ще е в отпуск за поредната предизборна кампания. Но тежките съмнения за честността на вота от 27 октомври изиграха своята роля. 

Едни бъдещи парламентарни избори през март 2025 г. обаче няма да повторят настоящото разпределение на силите в 51-вия парламент. МЕЧ може и да не постигнат същия резултат. ГЕРБ ще бъдат омаломощени, а раздалечаването в коалицията ПП–ДБ на двете ѝ съставни части ще продължи. БСП я очаква тежък конгрес в началото на 2025 г. ДПС никога вече няма да е каквото беше преди разцеплението, а вероятно и двете партии, появили се на мястото на единното Движение, ще имат по-слаби резултати. Въпреки плашилата, които размахва Пеевски. 

Най-важното обаче е, че в хипотезата на осми избори те ще се проведат след избора на нов главен прокурор в началото на януари. А политическата задача за повечето парламентарно представени сили (не и за ГЕРБ–СДС, нито за ДПС – Ново начало) е да бъде спрян изборът на единствения кандидат – изпълняващия функциите главен прокурор Борислав Сарафов. Освен това политическите сили ще се опитат да изберат председател на парламента, който не е от партията, спечелила изборите – ГЕРБ. При поредни предсрочни избори той ще е бъдещият министър-председател и всички участвали в избора ще бъдат представени в евентуално служебно правителство.

Какво става със стратегическите задачи за България – еврозона, Шенген, обновяване на регулатори и политически представители в съдебната система, реформи и План за възстановяване и устойчивост? Сигналите, които идват от 51-вия парламент, са в регистъра на популизма, а гражданите трудно се ориентират в мъглявината от безплодна политическа реторика. Партиите не правят стратегии, само тактически ходове. 

Good Essay on the History of Bad Password Policies

Post Syndicated from Bruce Schneier original https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2024/11/good-essay-on-the-history-of-bad-password-policies.html

Stuart Schechter makes some good points on the history of bad password policies:

Morris and Thompson’s work brought much-needed data to highlight a problem that lots of people suspected was bad, but that had not been studied scientifically. Their work was a big step forward, if not for two mistakes that would impede future progress in improving passwords for decades.

First, was Morris and Thompson’s confidence that their solution, a password policy, would fix the underlying problem of weak passwords. They incorrectly assumed that if they prevented the specific categories of weakness that they had noted, that the result would be something strong. After implementing a requirement that password have multiple characters sets or more total characters, they wrote:

These improvements make it exceedingly difficult to find any individual password. The user is warned of the risks and if he cooperates, he is very safe indeed.

As should be obvious now, a user who chooses “p@ssword” to comply with policies such as those proposed by Morris and Thompson is not very safe indeed. Morris and Thompson assumed their intervention would be effective without testing its efficacy, considering its unintended consequences, or even defining a metric of success to test against. Not only did their hunch turn out to be wrong, but their second mistake prevented anyone from proving them wrong.

That second mistake was convincing sysadmins to hash passwords, so there was no way to evaluate how secure anyone’s password actually was. And it wasn’t until hackers started stealing and publishing large troves of actual passwords that we got the data: people are terrible at generating secure passwords, even with rules.

Приобщаване чрез доверие. Опитът на център „Анна Фройд“ за подкрепа на младежи

Post Syndicated from Надежда Цекулова original https://www.toest.bg/opitat-na-centar-anna-froyd-za-podkrepa-na-mladezhi/

Приобщаване чрез доверие. Опитът на център „Анна Фройд“ за подкрепа на младежи

Д-р Питър Фугъл е клиничен психолог. Близо четири десетилетия работи в услуги за деца с различни нужди, включително увреждания и детски психични заболявания. От 1995 до 2014 г. е клиничен директор на службата за психично здраве на деца и юноши (CAMHS) в Излингтън, Лондон. В момента д-р Фугъл е клиничен директор в Националния център за деца и семейства „Анна Фройд“ в Лондон и ръководител на Програмата за подобряване на достъпа на деца и млади хора до психологически терапии (CYP-IAPT), финансирана от Националната здравна служба (NHS).

Програмата има за цел да създаде насоки за цялостна трансформация на услугите, насочени към психичното здраве на децата и подрастващите, да повиши качеството на тези услуги, като разшири използването на практики, основани на доказателства, като създаде условия за пълноценно участие на децата, родителите и общността в тях и намали стигмата върху психичното страдание.

Питър Фугъл беше в България през октомври по покана на Ноу-хау центъра за алтернативни грижи за деца към Нов български университет и се включи в поредица от събития. Той взе участие в експертната дискусия за работа с деца и семейства в риск, организирана в София от европейската мрежа Eurochild. 

Лекцията на Питър Фугъл пред български експерти от сферата за закрила на деца и специалисти по психично здраве формално трябваше да представи иновативен подход за здравно-социална подкрепа на семейства, в които има родител или дете със зависимост. Когато терапевтът заговори обаче, още от първите му думи стана ясно, че това няма да е формално представяне на един инструмент, а задълбочен човешки разговор как група специалисти в Англия се опитват да върнат фокуса на комплексните здравно-социални услуги там, където уж изначално следва да е насочен – към нуждите на детето и семейството. 

Разговорът трябва да започне от възстановяване на доверието на всички нива,

сподели Фугъл с българските си колеги в самото начало. И продължи:

„Една от темите, които забелязах в дискусиите между експертите тук, беше недоверието: недоверие между семействата и професионалистите, недоверие между децата, семействата и други хора, както и недоверие между институциите, които би трябвало да ги подкрепят. 

Усилията за справяне с това всепроникващо недоверие стоят в основата на модела, който разработихме, особено с недоверието между институциите, с което се сблъскваме и в Англия. То беше толкова дълбоко, че срещнахме повече трудности в преодоляването на недоверието между институциите и насърчаването на взаимното им сътрудничество, отколкото между младите хора и възрастните. В Англия също сме изправени пред значителни предизвикателства, не сме разрешили много проблеми, затова съм тук не да натрапвам готови решения, а да представя нашите търсения и идеи.“ 

Една от целевите групи, с които екипът на Питър Фугъл работи, са деца, в чиито семейства има проблем със злоупотребата с вещества. Може да е някой от родителите, но може да е и самото дете. В Англия това са 5% от семействата, в САЩ са 10%. За България количествени данни липсват. Но не само. У нас по отношение на хората, които употребяват различни вещества или развиват зависимости, все още се използва терминология, която в голямата си част не е синхронизирана с научния апарат на съвременната медицина и психология. А думите имат значение, подчерта Питър Фугъл:

„По въпроса за злоупотребата с алкохол или вещества от страна на родителите забелязах непоследователния език, който се използва тук. Зависимостта е малка част от разстройството, свързано със злоупотреба с вещества. В момента именно този термин е по-често употребяван и широко разпространен.

Но разстройството, свързано със злоупотреба с вещества, не се отнася само до това колко пие или употребява един човек, а как това влияе върху функционирането му.

Някой може да пие редовно и да функционира напълно нормално. За разстройство говорим, когато това компрометира функционирането му, а при хората, които имат деца – когато е нарушена способността им да бъдат родители. Тази разлика е от съществено значение, защото насочва фокуса ни от степента на употреба към влиянието ѝ върху личността. Именно там се срещат интересът на здравната система към родителя и неговия психично-здравен проблем и интересът на системата за закрила към благополучието на детето.“

Спорeд Фугъл за проблеми, които засягат различни аспекти от човешкия живот – какъвто например е проблемната употреба, – трябва да има ясна и общоприета дефиниция, с която да боравят всички подкрепящи услуги:

Тази дефиниция води до втория ключов момент: решаването на проблема със злоупотребата с вещества не се ограничава до самия него, а включва и свързани въпроси – жилищни условия, управление на финансите, дългове и хазарт, насилие в семейството и др. Тези свързани проблеми влияят на функционирането на засегнатия човек и цялото му семейство, затова и изолираното третиране само на злоупотребата с вещества е невъзможно.

Във Великобритания има около 100 000 деца под закрила, като броят им се е увеличил значително след COVID-19, разказа Питър Фугъл. При около 60% от тях злоупотребата с вещества е част от семейния фон. Специалистът обясни, че макар привидно ситуациите често да са сходни, индивидуализираният подход е от съществено значение:

„Конфигурацията на проблемите в едно семейство е уникална. Въпреки че има случаи, когато зависимостта или тежките проблеми с веществата са основната грижа, това е по-рядко срещано, отколкото си представяте. Най-често ключът е в комбинацията от множество проблеми, усложняващи предизвикателствата пред семейството, затова и стратегиите за подкрепа трябва да целят да помогнат на засегнатия човек и семейството му да функционират по-добре, а не само да лекуват злоупотребата с вещества.“

В търсене на по-добри решения екипът на Питър Фугъл разработва метод за работа с хора, засегнати от проблемна употреба, и го прилага при деца и младежи в риск да бъдат отделени от семейството им. Методът цели да помогне на младежите да опознаят по-добре себе си, да разберат кои са силните им страни и да подобрят усещането за справяне с проблемите. Влиянието върху употребата би било част от ефекта, когато се постигне успех, но не е основна цел.

Целта е подобряване на благосъстоянието на човека, подчерта Питър Фугъл.

Работихме с младеж, който не виждаше себе си като човек с психични проблеми. Той не ходеше на училище, имаше напрегнати отношения с майка си и понякога употребяваше канабис. Идеята да се включи в услуга за психично здраве беше немислима за него.

Момчето имаше доверие на своя треньор по футбол – единствения стабилен възрастен в живота му. Когато се свързахме с треньора, той първоначално каза: „Аз не се занимавам с психично здраве, разбирам само от футбол.“ Но след няколко разговора се съгласи да помогне. Премина кратко обучение и с напътствия от нас стана мост между младежа и нашата услуга.

Един ден младежът се съгласи да се срещне с мен, защото треньорът му беше казал, че макар самият той да не вярва на психолози, на мен ми има доверие. Това промени нещата и отвори вратата за подкрепа към това момче. Младият човек в крайна сметка се включи в разговори с нас не защото търсеше помощ, а защото за първи път се почувства уважен и чут.

Тази история илюстрира ключовата роля на доверието, подчерта Фугъл. То често трябва да дойде от човек, на когото младежът вече се доверява, вместо някой специалист да се опитва да изгражда доверие от нулата, както работят традиционните услуги:

„Недоверието не е психично разстройство. То е индикация за преживяванията, които човек е имал в живота си. Ако искаме наистина да помогнем на един млад човек, трябва да се водим от въпроса защо той не ни се доверява, а не от усилието да преодолеем недоверието му. Трябва да бъдем любопитни към тези деца, да се опитаме да си представим през какво са преминали, за да станат такива, каквито са, и как се чувстват в момента, в който ние се срещаме със случая им.

Този процес се нарича „ментализиране“

и всъщност не е труден, всички ние го правим инстинктивно във всекидневието си. Просто тук, в работата, усилието да си представим мисловността на човека, на когото искаме да помогнем, е съзнателно и е ключова част от нашия инструментариум. Клиентът ви винаги ще усети искреното ви усилие да се поставите на негово място, да го разберете.“

Водени от тази идея, специалистите от Националния център за деца и семейства „Анна Фройд“ в Лондон разработват подхода „Интегративно лечение, базирано на адаптивна ментализация“, или AMBIT (Adaptive Mentalization Based Integrative Treatment). Това сложно за неспециалистите наименование обозначава комплексен подход, в центъра на който стоят хора с множество признаци на уязвимост и силно недоверие в системите за подкрепа:

Младите хора, на които ние искаме да помогнем, най-често не търсят помощ. Затова и помощта не се предоставя от един човек или екип, а чрез мрежа от взаимоотношения. Когато използваме този подход, откриваме, че около младежа най-често има някой стабилен възрастен, но той не се разпознава веднага от професионалистите. Предизвикателството е да се включат и оценят тези неформални опори, защото те са изключително важни.

Питър Фугъл представи и друг аспект на AMBIT – работата с професионалистите, които трябва да подкрепят даден младеж. От една страна, те трябва да развият доверието помежду си, а от друга – да получават подкрепа, за да запазят собственото си психично здраве.

„Както ви споменах в началото, и в Англия сериозен проблем беше да убедим специалистите от различни сфери да си взаимодействат и да си имат доверие. Едно изследване например показа, че здравните специалисти, които лекуват възрастни със зависимости, нямат и не събират информация дали тези пациенти са родители. А това е ключова част от картината. Затова ние създадохме екипи, които включват социални работници, учители или специалисти по приобщаващо образование, специалисти по психично здраве и по злоупотреба с вещества.

Този интегриран модел насърчава сътрудничеството и води до по-добри резултати за семействата. Неформалните взаимоотношения между членовете на екипа, изградени чрез споделени разговори и взаимно доверие, всъщност са по-ефективни от официалните обучения. Това увеличава и взаимната им подкрепа, защото хората в тези професии са подложени на огромен стрес и тревожност. И ако понякога човек е тревожен, че не знае какво да прави, в системата за закрила професионалистите нерядко са тревожни, защото знаят какво се случва, знаят какво да правят, знаят и какви са рисковете, и какъв е залогът.“

Любопитно и важно откритие на екипа на център „Анна Фройд“ е, че обединяването на здравната и социалната подкрепа за хора с проблемна употреба и техните семейства в една комплексна услуга е и икономически ефективно. Според Питър Фугъл при новия модел общите разходи за услуги за защита намаляват със значителни суми:

Знам, че това е ключов въпрос, когато трябва да убедите властите в нещо. Първоначално звучи сложно и скъпо да добавите специалисти по психично здраве в екипи, които се занимават със социална работа. Установихме обаче, че тази инвестиция се изплаща за около три месеца.

В Англия 25% от семействата, които са насочени към службите по психично здраве, изобщо не се появяват на определените им консултации. Социалните работници полагат огромни усилия и отделят работно време, равняващо се на милиони паунди, за да направят оценка, да уредят срещите им със специалисти по психично здраве, после да ги посещават, за да разберат защо не са се явили на тези срещи… Огромен труд, който не помага на никого.

Наред с другото специалистите по психично здраве в екипа помагат да се идентифицира помощта, която наистина да е полезна на конкретния човек и конкретното семейство. Според Питър Фугъл, въпреки всички предизвикателства, недостатъчни ресурси и кадри, този подход показва, че ако специалистите работят взаимосвързано, с доверие и с истинска любознателност относно нуждите на младежите и семействата им, това води до устойчива промяна:

„Ние често смятаме, че знаем от каква помощ има нужда уязвимият човек. И или не питаме хората, или ги питаме в неподходящ етап от работата си с тях от какво смятат, че имат нужда. Това не е някакъв тривиален въпрос, който можем да обсъдим мимоходом, а може би най-трудната задача в процеса. Какво младежите и родителите смятат, че би им помогнало? Понякога става дума за подкрепа, която просто да подобри функционирането им. За един специалист невинаги е лесно да приеме, че може да помогне на човек с проблемна употреба, без изобщо да се занимава със самата употреба.“

В рубриката „Разговори за здравеопазването“ Надежда Цекулова кани своите събеседници да поговорят без клишета и празнодумие за проблемите и решенията, болката и оздравяването, медицината и политиката.

Celebrating the community: Prabhath

Post Syndicated from Sophie Ashford original https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/celebrating-the-community-prabhath/

We love hearing from members of the community and sharing the stories of amazing young people, volunteers, and educators who are using their passion for technology to create positive change in the world around them.

An educator sits in a library.

Prabhath, the founder of the STEMUP Educational Foundation, began his journey into technology at an early age, influenced by his cousin, Harindra.

“He’s the one who opened up my eyes. Even though I didn’t have a laptop, he had a computer, and I used to go to their house and practise with it. That was the turning point in my life.”

This early exposure to technology, combined with support from his parents to leave his rural home in search of further education, set Prabhath on a path to address a crucial issue in Sri Lanka’s education system: the gap in opportunities for students, especially in STEM education. 

“There was a gap between the kids who are studying in Sri Lanka versus the kids in other developed markets. We tried our best to see how we can bridge this gap with our own capacity, with our own strengths.” 

Closing the gap through STEMUP

Recognising the need to close this gap in opportunities, Prabhath, along with four friends who worked with him in his day job as a Partner Technology Strategist, founded the STEMUP Educational Foundation in 2016.  STEMUP’s mission is straightforward but ambitious — it seeks to provide Sri Lankan students with equal access to STEM education, with a particular focus on those from underserved communities.

A group of people stands together, engaged in a lively discussion.

To help close the gap, Prabhath and his team sought to establish coding clubs for students across the country. Noting the lack of infrastructure and access to resources in many parts of Sri Lanka, they partnered with Code Club at the Raspberry Pi Foundation to get things moving. 

Their initiative started small with a Code Club in the Colombo Public Library, but things quickly gained traction. 

What began with just a handful of friends has now grown into a movement involving over 1,500 volunteers who are all working to provide free education in coding and emerging technologies to students who otherwise wouldn’t have access.

An educator helps a young person at a Code Club.

A key reason for STEMUP’s reach has been the mobilisation of university students to serve as mentors at the Code Clubs. Prabhath believes this partnership has not only helped the success of Code Club Sri Lanka, but also given the university students themselves a chance to grow, granting them opportunities to develop the life skills needed to thrive in the workforce. 

“The main challenge we see here today, when it comes to graduate students, is that they have the technology skills, but they don’t have soft skills. They don’t know how to do a presentation, how to manage a project from A to Z, right? By being a volunteer, that particular student can gain 360-degree knowledge.” 

Helping rural communities

STEMUP’s impact stretches beyond cities and into rural areas, where young people often have even fewer opportunities to engage with technology. The wish to address this imbalance  is a big motivator for the student mentors.

“When we go to rural areas, the kids don’t have much exposure to tech. They don’t know about the latest technologies. What are the new technologies for that development? And what subjects can they  study for the future job market? So I think I can help them. So I actually want to teach someone what I know.” – Kasun, Student and Code Club mentor

This lack of access to opportunities is precisely what STEMUP aims to change, giving students a platform to explore, innovate, and connect with the wider world.

Coolest Projects Sri Lanka

STEMUP recently held the first Coolest Projects Sri Lanka, a showcase for the creations of young learners. Prabhath first encountered Coolest Projects while attending the Raspberry Pi Foundation Asia Partner summit in Malaysia. 

“That was my first experience with the Coolest Projects,” says Prabhath, “and when I came back, I shared the idea with our board and fellow volunteers. They were all keen to bring it to Sri Lanka.” 

For Prabhath, the hope is that events like these will open students’ eyes to new possibilities. The first event certainly lived up to his hope. There was a lot of excitement, especially in rural areas, with multiple schools banding together and hiring buses to attend the event. 

“That kind of energy… because they do not have these opportunities to showcase what they have built, connect with like minded people, and connect with the industry.”

Building a better future

Looking ahead, Prabhath sees STEMUP’s work as a vital part of shaping the future of education in Sri Lanka. By bringing technology to public libraries, engaging university students as mentors, and giving kids hands-on experience with coding and emerging technologies, STEMUP is empowering the next generation to thrive in a digital world. 

“These programmes are really helpful for kids to win the future, be better citizens, and bring this country forward.”

Young people showcase their tech creations at Coolest Projects.

STEMUP is not just bridging a gap — it’s building a brighter, more equitable future for all students in Sri Lanka. We can’t wait to see what they achieve next!

Inspire the next generation of young coders

To find out how you and young creators you know can get involved in Coolest Projects, visit coolestprojects.org. If the young people in your community are just starting out on their computing journey, visit our projects site for free, fun beginner coding projects.

For more information to help you set up a Code Club in your community, visit codeclub.org.

Help us celebrate Prabhath and his inspiring journey with STEMUP by sharing this story on X, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

The post Celebrating the community: Prabhath appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.

PyPI now supports digital attestations

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/998215/

The Python Package Index (PyPI) has announced
that it has finalized support for PEP 740 (“Index support
for digital attestations”). Trail of Bits, which performed
much of the development work for the implementation, has an in-depth
blog post about the work and its adoption, as well as what is left
undone:

One thing is notably missing from all of this work:
downstream verification. […]

This isn’t an acceptable end state (cryptographic attestations have
defensive properties only insofar as they’re actually
verified), so we’re looking into ways to bring
verification to individual installing clients. In particular, we’re
currently working on a plugin architecture
for pip that will enable users to load
verification logic directly into their pip install
flows.

Your guide to AWS Analytics at AWS re:Invent 2024

Post Syndicated from Imtiaz Sayed original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/big-data/your-guide-to-aws-analytics-at-aws-reinvent-2024/

It’s AWS re:Invent time, where you turn your ideas into reality. Get a front row seat to hear real stories from AWS customers, experts and leaders about navigating pressing topics like generative AI and data analytics.

For data enthusiasts and data professionals alike, this blog is a curated and comprehensive guide to all analytics sessions, for you to efficiently plan your itinerary. Secure your spot early for must-attend sessions through the attendee portal. Can’t join in person? No worries – grab a free pass to stream live sessions online.

Join us at the AWS Analytics Kiosk in the AWS Village Expo to get your data questions answered by AWS experts, to dive deeper into re:Invent launches, participate in a data-centric quiz and AWS authored book giveaways.

Keynotes

KEY002 | CEO Keynote with Matt Garman | Tuesday, Dec 3 | 8:00 AM – 10:30 AM PST | Venetian | Level 2 | Venetian Ballroom F

Join AWS CEO Matt Garman to hear how AWS is innovating across every aspect of the world’s leading cloud. He explores how we are reinventing foundational building blocks as well as developing brand new experiences, all to empower customers and partners with what they need to build a better future.

KEY003 | Swami Sivasubramanian, Vice President, Data and AI at AWS | Wednesday, Dec 4 | 8:00 AM – 10:30 AM PST | Venetian | Level 2 | Venetian Ballroom F

Join Dr. Swami Sivasubramanian, VP of AI and Data at AWS, to discover how you can use a strong data foundation to create innovative and differentiated solutions for your customers. Hear from customer speakers with real-world examples of how they’ve used data to support a variety of use cases, including generative AI, to create unique customer experiences.

KEY005 | Dr. Werner Vogels (Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Amazon.com) | Thursday, Dec 5 | 8:30 AM – 10:30 AM PST | Venetian | Level 2 | Venetian Ballroom F

Join Dr. Werner Vogels, VP and CTO at Amazon.com, as he shares the critical lessons and strategies he’s learned for managing increasingly complex systems. The keynote explores the core principles for embracing complexity, drawing on Amazon experiences building distributed systems at massive scale.

Analytics Innovation Talk

ANT204-INT | Beyond boundaries: Converging analytics and AI to reshape the future | Wednesday, Dec 4 | 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM PST | Venetian | Level 5 | Palazzo Ballroom B

The boundaries between data analytics and AI are blurring as data workers’ behaviors evolve, and previously distinct data roles and use cases converge. Getting to near real-time, trustworthy insights has become paramount, so data workers are seeking seamless collaboration and interoperability across tools and data sources. In this talk, join Sirish Chandrasekaran, Director for Data Warehousing at AWS, and Rick Sears, Director for Data Processing at AWS, to envision a future with AWS where your data workers can effortlessly move between analyzing historical patterns, predicting future scenarios, and automating decision flows at scale, breaking through disparate tools and siloed workflows.

Breakout sessions

Dive into cutting-edge topics with re:Invent breakout sessions. These immersive, hour-long lectures are led by AWS experts, customers, and partners, offering you unparalleled insights and knowledge in a concise format. Whether you’re exploring the latest in cloud technology, AWS Analytics advancements, or industry-specific solutions, these sessions are designed to expand your horizon and inspire your next big idea.

Monday, Dec 2 Tuesday, Dec 3 Wednesday, Dec 4 Thursday, Dec 5

8:30 AM – 9:30 AM PST | MGM Grand

ANT324 | Accelerate value from data: Migrating from batch to stream processing

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT341 | Enhance performance with observability, security, and log analytics

8:30 AM – 9:30 AM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT343 | Monitor and manage data quality

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM PST |Mandalay Bay

ANT325 | Achieve seamless and secure data sharing

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PST| Mandalay Bay

ANT335 | Build highly performant data solutions with serverless analytics

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT327 | What’s new: Data streaming on AWS

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM PST | MGM Grand

BSI201|Supercharge your apps with embedded Amazon QuickSight and Amazon Q

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT340 | Revolutionize your search applications for generative AI

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT342 | Operate and scale managed Apache Kafka and Apache Flink clusters

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT349| Innovations in AWS analytics: Data warehousing and SQL analytics

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT336 | Build large-scale transactional data lakes with open table formats

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT344 | Cost-effective data processing with Amazon EMR

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM PST | Wynn

BSI101 | Reimagine business intelligence with generative AI

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM PST | Wynn

ANT334 | Scale with self-service analytics on AWS

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT329 | What’s new in search, observability & vectors in Amazon OpenSearch Service

 .

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT347 | Maximize efficiency and reduce costs with Amazon OpenSearch Service

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT328 | AI-powered analytics with Amazon Redshift Serverless & data sharing

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

BSI102 | What’s new with Amazon QuickSight

 .
.

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT346 | Innovations in AWS analytics: Data processing

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM PST| Mandalay Bay

ANT339 | Scaling to new heights with Amazon Redshift multi-cluster architecture

 .
.

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM PST | Venetian

ANT302 | Data foundation in the age of generative AI

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT303 | Explore what’s new in data governance with AWS analytics

 .
.

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT202 | Demystify and democratize access to your data with a business catalog

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT330 | Solving different data ingestion use cases with AWS

 .
.

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM PST | Wynn

ANT348 | Innovations in AWS analytics: Zero-ETL and data integrations

 . .
.

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

BSI206 | Scale BI to all your users with Amazon Q in QuickSight

 . .
.

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM PST | MGM Grand

BSI205 | Migrate to QuickSight: Reduce costs and increase productivity

 . .
.

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT345 | Modernize your data warehouse by moving to Amazon Redshift

 . .

Chalk talks

These hour-long, highly engaging sessions offer a unique blend of expert insight and collaborative learning. An AWS specialist kicks off with a concise, informative lecture, setting the stage for an in-depth, interactive Q&A. With a limited audience size, you’ll have the opportunity to dive deep into topics, ask pressing questions, and engage in meaningful discussions with both the presenter and fellow attendees.

Monday, Dec 2 Tuesday, Dec 3 Wednesday, Dec 4 Thursday, Dec 5

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PST | MGM Grand

ANT316-R | Architectural patterns for near real-time data analytics on AWS

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT315 | Amazon OpenSearch Service cost optimizations

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT305 | Strategies for efficient zero-ETL integrations

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT304-R1 | Accelerating the shift from batch to stream processing

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT337-R | Cost optimization for data analytics on AWS

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM PST | Wynn

ANT410 | Maximize your data performance with Amazon EMR on Amazon EKS

10:30 AM – 11:30 AM PST | MGM Grand

BSI304 | Security and governance: Safeguarding your data with Amazon QuickSight

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT411 | Data integration with AWS Glue and Amazon MWAA

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT337-R | Cost optimization for data analytics on AWS

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT332-R | Democratize generative AI data access without compromising on security

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT331-R1 | Build your data strategy for generative AI with Amazon Redshift

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT409-R1 | Optimize Apache Spark workloads with Amazon EMR Serverless

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT318 | Build serverless streaming data pipelines for real-time analytics

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT326 | Build multi-tenant data processing architectures

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM PST | Wynn

ANT317-R1 | Best practices for migrating to Amazon OpenSearch Service

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT320 | Data preparation authoring with AWS Glue Studio

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT412 | Ingest streaming data into Apache Iceberg tables with AWS streaming

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT413-R | Data governance with AWS analytics

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT323-R1 | Catalog and govern your data for generative AI

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT338 | Using natural language to author data integration applications

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT317-R | Best practices for migrating to Amazon OpenSearch Service

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM PST | Wynn

ANT323-R | Catalog and govern your data for generative AI

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT414-R1 | Scalable design patterns for Apache Iceberg–based data lakes

3:30 PM – 4:30 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT413-R1 | Data governance with AWS analytics

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT304-R | Accelerating the shift from batch to stream processing

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM PST | Wynn

ANT314 | Add search to your existing databases with Amazon OpenSearch Ingestion

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT333 | Streamline data access management with trusted identity propagation

 .
.

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT331-R | Build your data strategy for generative AI with Amazon Redshift

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT321 | Model your business structure with Amazon DataZone

 .
.

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT319 | Create a data marketplace with Amazon DataZone

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT322 | Modernize and simplify ETL with AWS Glue
.

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT414-R | Scalable design patterns for Apache Iceberg–based data lakes

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT337-R1 | Cost optimization for data analytics on AWS

 .
.

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT409-R | Optimize Apache Spark workloads with Amazon EMR Serverless

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT332-R1 | Democratize generative AI data access without compromising on security

 .
.

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT316-R1 | Architectural patterns for near real-time data analytics on AWS

 . .

Builders’ sessions

Immerse yourself in our builders’ sessions – a hands-on learning experience designed to elevate your AWS skills. These focused, hour-long workshops bring together a small group of up to ten attendees with a dedicated AWS expert at each table.

Monday, Dec 2 Tuesday, Dec 3 Wednesday, Dec 4

8:30 AM – 9:30 AM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT306-R | Orchestrate data and ML workflows with managed Apache Airflow

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT307-R | Seamless data sharing with Amazon Redshift

8:30 AM – 9:30 AM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT307-R3 | Seamless data sharing with Amazon Redshift

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT306-R1 | Orchestrate data and ML workflows with managed Apache Airflow

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM PST | Wynn

ANT401 | Vector search with Amazon OpenSearch Service

 .
.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM PST | Wynn

ANT306-R2 | Orchestrate data and ML workflows with managed Apache Airflow

 .
.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT307-R1 | Seamless data sharing with Amazon Redshift

 .
.

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT307-R2 | Seamless data sharing with Amazon Redshift

 .
.

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT306-R3 | Orchestrate data and ML workflows with managed Apache Airflow

 .

Workshops

Roll your sleeves in our dynamic 2-hour workshops, where you’ll tackle real-world challenges using AWS services. These interactive sessions kick off with a brief, informative lecture to set the stage, then quickly transition into hands-on problem-solving. Bring your laptop and prepare to build alongside AWS experts, who will guide you through practical applications of cloud computing concepts. Whether you’re new to AWS or looking to sharpen your skills, these workshops offer a unique opportunity to learn by doing, enabling you to leave with confidence and applicable knowledge in AWS technologies.

Mon, Dec 2 Tuesday, Dec 3 Wednesday, Dec 4 Thursday, Dec 5

12:00 PM – 2:00 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT404 | Migrating from self-managed Apache Kafka to Amazon MSK

11:30 AM – 1:30 PM PST | Venetian

ANT309 | Enhance insights for your data warehouse with zero-ETL & generative AI

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM PST | MGM Grand

ANT310 | Low-cost logging and observability with Amazon OpenSearch Service

12:00 PM – 2:00 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT350-R1 | End-to-end data integration and data engineering on AWS

3:00 PM – 5:00 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT312 | Unlock your enterprise data with intelligent document search

11:30 AM – 1:30 PM PST | MGM Grand

BSI204-R | Hands-on with Amazon Q in QuickSight: A step-by-step workshop

1:00 PM – 3:00 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT350-R | End-to-end data integration and data engineering on AWS

3:00 PM – 5:00 PM PST | Mandalay Bay

ANT402-R1 | Build open table data lakes for real-time insights with Apache Iceberg
.

12:30 PM – 2:30 PM PST | Caesars Forum

ANT402-R | Build open table data lakes for real-time insights with Apache Iceberg

4:00 PM – 6:00 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT308-R1 | Build and govern your data mesh with Amazon DataZone

3:30 PM – 5:30 PM PST | Venetian

BSI204-R1 | Hands-on with Amazon Q in QuickSight: A step-by-step workshop
.

 3:30 PM – 5:30 PM PST | Wynn

ANT308-R | Build and govern your data mesh with Amazon DataZone

 . .
.

4:30 PM – 6:30 PM PST | MGM Grand

ANT311 | Prepare your data for generative AI

 . .

Code talks

Dive into the world of practical AWS development with our engaging Code Talks. These sessions elevate the popular chalk talk format by shifting focus from architectural concepts to hands-on coding. Watch as expert speakers guide you through live coding demonstrations, showcasing real-world solutions in action. You’ll gain insights into the reasoning behind each implementation choice and witness the development process unfold in real-time. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or just starting your AWS journey, Code Talks offer a unique opportunity to enhance your skills and deepen your understanding of AWS solutions through practical, code-centric discussions.

Mon, Dec 2 Tuesday, Dec 3 Wednesday, Dec 4 Thursday, Dec 5

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM PST | Wynn

ANT407 | Predictive maintenance with Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM PST | Wynn

ANT406-R | Generative AI–powered search with Amazon OpenSearch Service

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM PST | Wynn

ANT408 | Working with UDFs in Amazon Redshift and Amazon Athena

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM PST | Wynn

ANT406-R1 | Generative AI–powered search with Amazon OpenSearch Service

Session IDs for chalk talks, builders’ sessions, workshops, and code talks that end with R (for example, ANT406-R), indicate repeat sessions.

Conclusion

We hope this post acts as your go-to resource for navigating the AWS analytics track at re:Invent 2024. For staying in the know about the most recent trends and advancements in AWS Analytics, follow our LinkedIn page.

About the Authors

Imtiaz (Taz) Sayed is the WW Tech Leader for Analytics at AWS. He enjoys engaging with the community on all things data and analytics. He can be reached through LinkedIn.

Navnit Shukla serves as an AWS Specialist Solutions Architect with a focus on Analytics. He possesses a strong enthusiasm for assisting clients in discovering valuable insights from their data. Through his expertise, he constructs innovative solutions that empower businesses to arrive at informed, data-driven choices. Notably, Navnit Shukla is the accomplished author of the book titled Data Wrangling on AWS. He can be reached through LinkedIn.

iKoolCore R2 Max Dual 10Gbase-T and 2.5GbE Fanless Mini PC Hands-on

Post Syndicated from Patrick Kennedy original https://www.servethehome.com/ikoolcore-r2-max-dual-10gbase-t-2-5gbe-mini-pc-intel-marvell-hands-on/

The iKoolCore R2 Max brings dual 10Gbase-T NICs, dual 2.5GbE NICs, and dual M.2 SSDs all into what can be a fanless mini PC package

The post iKoolCore R2 Max Dual 10Gbase-T and 2.5GbE Fanless Mini PC Hands-on appeared first on ServeTheHome.

7 Ways to Use Event Notifications to Streamline Application Workflows

Post Syndicated from Amrit Singh original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/7-ways-to-use-event-notifications-to-streamline-application-workflows/

A decorative image showing a cloud with an alert symbol.

Event-driven infrastructure is at the core of modern application development. It helps businesses streamline processes like transcoding user-uploaded video or processing images for tagging, kicks off downstream workflows immediately, and reduces complexity by automating multi-step processes across distributed services. 

Today, I’m sharing seven ways you can use Backblaze Event Notifications to accelerate application workflows, automate processes, streamline operations, and scale revenue. If you’re interested in Event Notifications, but you’re not using it to run applications, stay tuned for future posts sharing use cases for media management and backup and archive. 

Event Notifications for applications: Simplified automation

Event Notifications delivers near real-time alerts for changes in B2 Cloud Storage, simplifying workflows across the services that interact with your stored data. Teams can use Event Notifications to create end-to-end processes that scale efficiently and integrate directly with any external service that accepts webhooks. This means no more manual monitoring of storage or relying on complex intermediaries.

What are webhooks?

Webhooks, if you’re not familiar, are a way for applications to communicate with each other by sending data automatically based on specific events, e.g., HTTP POST requests with a JSON payload. Notably, our Event Notifications feature isn’t limited to a closed ecosystem or subset of business tools.

Automating common application tasks with Event Notifications allows you to reduce operational overhead by minimizing manual monitoring, accelerate processes across integrations with your preferred services, and reduce manual entry errors that can cost enterprises time and money. 

Top 7 use cases for applications

Let’s explore some practical ways Event Notifications can be leveraged within your tech stack:

1. User-generated content processing

For applications dealing with user-uploaded content, Event Notifications can be used to trigger tasks immediately upon data upload. Imagine a user uploading a video or image: An Event Notification could be sent to a transcoding service to format it, a tagging service to categorize it, or even a moderation tool to ensure it complies with your community standards—all in near real time, without manual intervention.

Social platform workflow

A diagram showing how to set up event notifications for social sharing.

By automating these processes, companies can ensure that user-generated content is formatted correctly, appropriately tagged, and moderated without delay. This not only saves time but guarantees a consistent user experience. 

2. Integrated alerts with automation tools

Event Notifications can easily integrate with productivity tools like Slack and Zapier, or any service that accepts a webhook, making it easy to provide team-wide awareness into changes in your storage environment without manual checks. This keeps teams informed and at the ready to be able to respond immediately to critical events.

Asset tracking and monitoring workflow

A diagram showing how you can set up event notifications for asset tracking and monitoring.

Additionally, for teams using workflow platforms such as Zapier to connect various services, Event Notifications makes it simple to trigger actions across multiple platforms, enabling powerful, automated workflows with your data in B2 Cloud Storage.

3. Surveillance and streaming automation

For applications managing large video files, such as surveillance or streaming platforms, Event Notifications can help automate the processing and distribution workflows. Videos can be transcoded, compressed, and prepared for delivery or playback promptly.

Streaming platform workflow

A diagram showing how to set up event notifications for a streaming media workflow.

This automation is also useful for time-sensitive content, where quick turnaround is essential. Automating video processing reduces the manual effort involved and ensures content is always ready for viewing in the preferred format as soon as it’s available.

4. AI workload automation

For businesses building AI applications, Event Notifications can be used to trigger AI workloads in real time, enabling faster processing and response. For instance, when new data is uploaded, alerts can trigger downstream services to process that data, such as converting images to text or analyzing content for insights. 

AI image to text workflow

A diagram showing how to set up event notifications of AI workloads.

In this case, this AI workflow ensures tasks start the moment data becomes available. Whether you’re running an image recognition service, analyzing datasets, or building AI models, Event Notifications eliminates the delays that come with manual processing. No matter what your downstream service is, Event Notifications provides the flexibility to integrate seamlessly with your AI workflows, improving real-time processing capabilities and enabling teams to focus on delivering better solutions rather than managing manual data flow.

5. Monitor data usage

Since Event Notifications messages are sent within seconds of files being uploaded and deleted, and contain the size of the file in question, you can easily and reliably track your data usage in near real time, helping you identify trends and potential issues.

Monitoring workflow

A diagram showing how to set up event notifications to monitor data usage.

In contrast with periodic usage reports, near real-time monitoring allows you to respond to situations as they are happening, mitigating risks and potentially reducing costs.

6. Respond to security events

Event Notifications can feed near real-time data to security information and event management (SIEM) systems, allowing you to detect and respond to anomalous access patterns as they are happening.

Security alert workflow

A diagram showing how to set up event notifications for security alerts.

Event Notifications allows you to take a proactive, rather than reactive, security posture, again mitigating risks and reducing costs.

7. Automatically trigger data integration

Event Notifications enable your data integration workloads to run within seconds of new data being uploaded to Backblaze B2, continuously delivering data to analytical systems and dashboards, giving you a live view of the state of your business.

Data integration workflow

A diagram showing how to set up event notifications to integrate and manage data.

Delivering data to dashboards within seconds or minutes of its availability enables near real-time insights, faster decision-making, and the ability to react to events as they occur.

Beyond these example use cases, Event Notifications opens up a wide range of possibilities for automating and optimizing workflows. You can use Event Notifications to automate metadata extraction and tagging for better content organization, and handle errors programmatically by triggering reprocessing tasks whenever issues arise. This flexibility makes it easy to automate how your infrastructure interacts with and reacts to data changes in B2 Cloud Storage, simplifying workflows across your distributed services.

Why Event Notifications matter for application workflows

The benefits of real-time notifications extend beyond simply saving time—they transform the way teams work, automate processes, and reduce the margin for error.

  • Awareness: Instant notifications for data changes, uploads, or deletions keep everyone on the same page.
  • Actionable insights: Whether it’s confirming a successful upload or catching an unexpected change, real-time alerts provide critical information that helps make informed decisions quickly.
  • Flexibility: Direct connections to services like transcoding, compute, or serverless applications mean more choice and less lock-in to specific vendors or tools.
  • Improved security: By instantly alerting teams to unauthorized changes or unusual activity, Event Notifications help maintain data integrity and support proactive security measures.
  • Cost efficiency: Automating tasks like media transcoding, data processing, or content delivery reduces the need for manual labor, saving on operational costs and freeing up resources for other strategic initiatives.

How Event Notifications compares

Unlike other offerings like Amazon’s messaging services, which are limited to specific ecosystems, Event Notifications integrates directly with any service that accepts webhooks, offering true flexibility and avoiding vendor lock-in.

Event Notifications is also designed for at-least-once delivery, ensuring critical notifications are not missed. This reliability is important for teams building workflows that require precision and a level of consistency their end users expect. 

The pricing for Event Notifications is simple and transparent, with 2,500 calls per day free, and just $0.004 per 10,000 transactions. This straightforward pricing applies no matter the service receiving the notification. This enables businesses to confidently scale their event-driven workflows, knowing exactly what to expect in terms of costs, regardless of the services they choose to integrate with. 

Ready to add automation to your application?

For existing customers working with a Backblaze account manager, Event Notifications is already enabled for you, and your account manager can assist with any questions. If you’re an existing customer not currently working with an account manager, please contact our Support team to request access to Event Notifications. 

New customers can contact our Sales team to learn more about how Event Notifications can streamline workflows and how to get started.

Once Event Notifications are enabled, log in to your Backblaze B2 account, navigate to the Buckets page, and click on the Event Notifications section. From there, you can set up notification rules for the events you want to track or configure notifications using our API.

For detailed instructions and best practices, visit our Event Notifications documentation.

The post 7 Ways to Use Event Notifications to Streamline Application Workflows appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup

Ingest telemetry messages in near real time with Amazon API Gateway, Amazon Data Firehose, and Amazon Location Service

Post Syndicated from Srini Ponnada original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/big-data/ingest-telemetry-messages-in-near-real-time-with-amazon-api-gateway-amazon-data-firehose-and-amazon-location-service/

Many organizations specializing in communications and navigation surveillance technologies are required to support multi-modal transportation supply chain markets such as road, water, air, space, and rail. One common use case is provisioning of emergency alerts services for multiple government agencies.

These organizations use third-party satellite-powered terminal devices for remote monitoring using telemetry and NMEA-0183 formatted messages generated in near real time. This post demonstrates how to implement a satellite-based remote alerting and response solution on the AWS Cloud to provide time-critical alerts and actionable insights, with a focus on telemetry message ingestion and alerts. Key services in the solution include Amazon API Gateway, Amazon Data Firehose, and Amazon Location Service.

The challenge

In the event of a disaster e.g. water flood, there is usually a lack of terrestrial data connectivity that prevents monitoring stations from taking actionable measures in real time. In the space analytics domain, many organizations deploy satellite-powered terminals on these monitoring stations.

These terminal devices transmit telemetry and NMEA-0183 formatted messages to a satellite network managed by a third-party entity, which is subsequently traversed down to an API endpoint.

Our AWS-powered solution aims to capture, enrich, and ingest satellite-powered telemetry messages as well as deliver alerts in near real time. This solution is based on AWS serverless services such as API Gateway, Data Firehose, and Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), and is able to scale to more than a million terminal devices transmitting an hourly state of health telemetry message over the satellite.

Solution overview

This telemetry message processing begins with an API endpoint created using API Gateway, securing HTTPS transmission over a satellite network. This endpoint receives raw JSON messages and responds with an HTTP 200 success code. We take advantage of the direct integration between API Gateway and Data Firehose to ingest these messages into Amazon S3 in near real time. The default message reception limit on an API Gateway endpoint is 10,000 messages per second, which can be increased upon request.

Upon receiving messages through API Gateway, Data Firehose batches them into 60-second intervals or 1 MB size files, whichever comes first, and delivers them to Amazon S3. This configuration enables near real-time processing, which is essential for timely alerts and responses. We use the built-in features of Data Firehose, including AWS Lambda for necessary data transformation and Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) for near real-time alerts. Additionally, Data Firehose converts JSON data to Parquet format before delivering it to Amazon S3, optimizing data consumption by tools like Amazon Athena, which are ideal for partitioned data formats.

To maintain up-to-date data, an AWS Glue crawler reads and updates the AWS Glue Data Catalog from transformed Parquet files. This crawler runs one time a day by default to optimize costs, but you can adjust its schedule to meet varying end-user requirements.

We use an AWS CloudFormation template to implement the solution architecture, as illustrated in the following diagram.

Cloudformation template to implement the solution architecture

Cloudformation template to implement the solution architecture

For this post, we deliver sample JSON formatted telemetry messages to an API Gateway endpoint test interface to simulate the satellite-powered terminal device functionality. API Gateway integrates with Data Firehose, which uses Lambda to perform the following actions in near real time:

  1. Parse the message and decode the data blob from base64 encoding to utf-8. Most third-party satellite-powered terminal devices transmit messages in an encoded format and require decoding to a standard readable format such as utf-8.
  2. Use Amazon Location and append with location specifics (such as street, city, and ZIP) based on the latitude and longitude of the terminal device.
  3. Detect if the solar panel battery of the terminal device is lower than the defined threshold and generate an alert through Amazon SNS to the user-provided email address. For simplicity, the CloudFormation template creates an SNS topic within the same account instead of a cross-account consumer application. You must subscribe to the topic using an email received at the provided email address.
  4. Ingest the messages in an S3 bucket received in 1 minute or aggregate to 1 MB size files.

The solution uses the following key services:

  • Amazon API Gateway – API Gateway is a fully managed service that makes it straightforward developers to create, publish, maintain, monitor, and secure APIs at any scale. APIs act as the entry point for applications to access data, business logic, or functionality from your backend services.
  • Amazon Data Firehose – Data Firehose is an extract, transform, and load (ETL) service that reliably captures, transforms, and delivers streaming data to data lakes, data stores, and analytics services.
  • AWS Glue – The AWS Glue Data Catalog is your persistent technical metadata store in the AWS Cloud. Each AWS account has one Data Catalog per AWS Region. Each Data Catalog is a highly scalable collection of tables organized into databases. A table is metadata representation of a collection of structured or semi-structured data stored in sources such as Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS), Apache Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), Amazon OpenSearch Service, and others.
  • IAM – With AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), you can specify who or what can access services and resources in AWS, centrally manage fine-grained permissions, and analyze access to refine permissions across AWS.
  • AWS Lambda – Lambda is a serverless, event-driven compute service that lets you run code for virtually any type of application or backend service without provisioning or managing servers. You can invoke Lambda functions from over 200 AWS services and software as a service (SaaS) applications, and only pay for what you use.
  • Amazon Location Service – Location Service makes it straightforward for developers to add location functionality, such as maps, points of interest, geocoding, routing, tracking, and geofencing, to their applications without sacrificing data security and user privacy.
  • Amazon S3 – Amazon S3 is an object storage service offering industry-leading scalability, data availability, security, and performance. Customers of all sizes and industries can store and protect any amount of data for virtually any use case, such as data lakes, cloud-centered applications, and mobile apps.
  • Amazon SNS – Amazon SNS sends notifications two ways: application-to-application (A2A) and application-to-person (A2P). A2A provides high-throughput, push-based, many-to-many messaging between distributed systems, microservices, and event-driven serverless applications. These applications include Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), Data Firehose, Lambda, and other HTTPS endpoints. A2P functionality lets you send messages to your customers with SMS texts, push notifications, and email.

Deploy the solution

AWS CloudFormation creates the API Gateway endpoint, Data Firehose delivery stream, Lambda function, Amazon Location index, SNS topic, S3 bucket, and AWS Glue database, table, and crawler. To deploy the solution, launch the CloudFormation stack and provide the following parameters:

  • S3 bucket name – The bucket that stores terminal device messages ingested in near real time by the Data Firehose delivery stream
  • Email address – The email of the user to subscribe for SNS alerts
  • Database name – The name of the AWS Glue database

Test the solution

The following is a sample JSON state of health telemetry message transmitted by a terminal device:

{
  "packetId": 29957891,
  "deviceType": 1,
  "deviceId": 6113,
  "userApplicationId": 65535,
  "organizationId": 65681,
  "data": "eyJsbiI6LTEwNC45NTUsInNpIjowLjAsImJpIjowLjIxMiwic3YiOjAuMDA4LCJsdCI6MzkuNTc1MiwiYnYiOjMuNzI4LCJkIjoxNjU4NzQ1MzM2LCJuIjo2NjksImEiOjE3MzguMCwicyI6NS4wLCJjIjozMjAuMCwiciI6LTEwMSwidGkiOjAuMDM2fQ==",
  "len": 142,
  "status": 0,
  "hiveRxTime": "2022-07-25T13:03:29"
}

The data blob in the preceding sample telemetry message is encoded in base64. The following chart explains the metadata of each key indicating state of health and location of the terminal device.

Parameter Key Sample Value Notes
Longitude ln -104.955 Negative = Westing from PM
Solar Panel Current si 0.176 (Amps)
Battery Current bi 0.228 (Amps)
Solar Panel Voltage sv 19.088 (Volts)
Latitude lt 39.5751 Positive = Northing from Equator
Battery Voltage bv 4.12 (Volts) Full charge ~4.12V Dead ~ 3.3V
Date and Time d 1658248415 Epoch Seconds
Number of Messages Sent Since Last Power Cycle n 531
Altitude a 1721.0 (Meters) GPS value
Speed s 1.0 (km/h) Stationary terminal reports non-zero value
Course: c 139.0 (degrees) Nautical heading convention
Last RSSI Value r -100 (dBm) >-90 = marginal link.
Modem Current ti 0.04 (Amps)

These telemetry messages can vary based on the default configuration of the device terminal manufacturer or user definitions.

To demonstrate the capability of the solution, we send the sample telemetry message to the API Gateway endpoint through its test interface, as shown in the following screenshot.

sample telemetry message

Sending sample telemetry message

After about a minute, you should see the delivered message to Amazon S3 through Data Firehose in the stage folder.

delivered message to Amazon S3

Delivered message to Amazon S3

You should also receive an SNS alert at the provided email address.

SNS alert message

SNS alert message

To see the results in Athena, we crawl this data with the AWS Glue crawler created by the CloudFormation template. By default, the crawler is scheduled daily to reflect newer records for the day in the stage table.

AWS Glue crawler execution

AWS Glue crawler execution

After the data is crawled successfully, you can query the results in Athena.

Query the results in Athena

Query results in Athena

Best practices and considerations

Keep in mind the following best practices when implementing this solution:

  • Make sure API Gateway is protected using an API key or other authorization method
  • Adhere to the least privilege principle for all created users and roles to mitigate potential security breaches
  • Conduct load testing of the solution using an API simulator tailored to your specific use case
  • Automate the solution using the AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK), AWS CloudFormation, or your preferred infrastructure as code (IaC) tools

Additionally, Data Firehose now supports zero buffering. For more information, refer to Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose now supports zero buffering.

Conclusion

In this post, we provided a proof of concept to implement a satellite-based remote alerting and response solution to provide time-critical alerts and actionable insights, for use cases in the space analytics domain. Make sure to adhere to AWS best practices and your organizational security policies before deploying this solution in a production environment.

Try out the solution for your own use case, and let us know your feedback and questions in the comments section.

About the authors

Srini Ponnada is a Sr. Data Architect at AWS. He has helped customers build scalable data warehousing and big data solutions for over 20 years. He loves to design and build efficient end-to-end solutions on AWS. In his spare time, he loves walking, and playing Tennis.

Munim Abbasi is currently a Sr. Data Architect at AWS with more than ten years of experience in Data & Analytics domain. Leveraging his core competencies in data architecture, design and engineering, he strives to make his customers empowered through their data by helping them deploy scalable cloud solutions adhering to AWS best practices. Outside of work, he holds great love for music, strength training and family.

Vivek Shrivastava is a Principal Data Architect, Data Lake in AWS Professional Services. He is a big data enthusiast and holds 14 AWS Certifications. He is passionate about helping customers build scalable and high-performance data analytics solutions in the cloud. In his spare time, he loves reading and finds areas for home automation.

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