Python als eine der beliebtesten Programmiersprachen bei der Cloud-Computing wurde weit im Web und Cloud-Anwendungen-Entwicklung auf verschiedenen Frameworks eingesetzt. Aufgrund des Ziels der Verwendung, und zwar die Lesbarkeit mit eleganten Codes zu verbessern, liegt Python auf den achten Platz auf dem TIOBE Programming Community Index im Jahr 2013.

Nach dem chinesischen Mondkalender ist das Jahr 2013 das python Jahr , auch das Jahr der Python. In den letzten Jahren verwenden immer mehr Programmierer das Python Programmierung als ihre Web-Programmiersprache. Inzwischen heißt es, dass die derzeit profitabelsten vier Programmiersprachen Objective-C, C++, C und Python sind.

Die Regeln für den Pythons Einzug sind für einige Programmierer, die ohne gute Programmierung Gewohnheit nicht gewöhnt. Wenn Sie Pythons Grammatik Stil nicht verwalten können, können Sie keinen Zugriff auf Kompilieren haben.

In allen Bereichen der Codierung ist die Popularität von Python nicht nicht zu leugnen. Von Web-Entwickler bis zu den Videospiel-Designern beschäfzigen sich viele Entwickler mit Python bei der Programierung. Der Grund liegt darin, dass Python einfach zu erlernen und anzuwenden ist. Auch ist es mächtig.

Heutzutage gibt es der Jenigen, die bereit sind, Python zu lernen, im Internet zahlreiche freie Ressourcen. Es wird behauptet, dass die Popularität von Python in Zukunft nicht verschwinden werden. Da Python immer beliebter ist, nutzen viele Python Programmierungsfirmen in China Python, um ihre Leistung zu opermieren.

RayooTech ist ein Anbieter von professionellen Software und IT-Dienstleistungen in China. Ausgestattet mit großen Entwicklungsteam, deren Mitglieder viele Erfahrung in verschiedenen Sprachen enthalten, wie zum Beispiel Python, C/C++, Objective-C, etc., ist RayooTech Ihre beste Wahl, wenn Sie eine Kooperation mit einem chinesischen Programmierungsunternehmen machen wollen.

Since 2008 we have witnessed the rise of mobile app ecosystems – iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone giving rise to millions of apps and billions of smartphones. We have also witnessed the collapse of legacy mobile platforms – Symbian, Java ME and BREW. This has led to this shift in mobile platforms, and the rapid growth of smartphones.

The cause of this upheaval in the mobile and software industry had less to do with the openness of Android or the user experience of Apple and more to do with a change of business models. Legacy mobile operating systems (e.g. Symbian) were designed around handset makers’ business models. As such, they were optimised to improve supply efficiencies in terms of cost and performance.

In contrast, new mobile app ecosystems (e.g. Android) are being designed around developers’ business models. As such, iOS, Android and Windows Phone are optimised to create and sustain demand from both users and developers.

The triumph of iOS and Android is a testament to the superiority of ecosystems economics over legacy business models.

The demand-led growth of app ecosystems has led to a non-linear growth of smartphone shipments that surpassed feature phone shipments for the first time in history. In addition, the winner-takes-all property of ecosystem economics has led to the Apple-Google duopoly. Today‘s platform landscape resembles the desktop OS market of the 90s which was dominated by a single platform, Microsoft Windows.

The elusive nature of ecosystem economics

The economics and business models of app ecosystems are based on network effects. By connecting users to developers, ecosystems create network effects, that is, they drive demand between users and developers: the more users, the more handsets, and therefore the more developers, the more apps and so more users. It’s a positive feedback loop that gives non-linear growth properties that outcompete traditional linear economies of scale. Network effects take place not just between users and developers, but also between all four sides of app ecosystems, including handset manufacturers, and network operators. The next chart shows the network effects at play within the iOS ecosystem, and the value added and captured, by each side.

Network effects are just the foundations of ecosystem economics. There are many more properties of ecosystem economics such as external subsidies, exit barriers (lock-in), stored value, non-linear growth, winner-takes-all effects, and many more. We will examine ecosystem economics as part of a future research paper – any comments on what we should include?

Because of their non-linear growth, ecosystem economics lead to winner-takes-all outcomes and highly concentrated markets. The first players in the market are able to inhibit the growth of latecomers by having disproportionately fast growth, but also by introducing exit barriers.

Today’s iOS and Android duopoly, and the difficulty that followers like Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Bada, Tizen, and Firefox OS face in catching up with the leaders, is a direct result of the economics driving mobile ecosystems. The only way to compete with Apple and Google is not head on, but by changing the basis of competition or by diluting the control points. How can this be achieved? We will expand on these options in a future post.

While we are convinced that ecosystem economics dictate the power play in mobile app ecosystems, the nature and the mechanics of such economics are not well understood. We all talk about ecosystems and network effects but rarely see these outlined, explained and quantified. Understanding and quantifying ecosystems economics is the key to understanding the competitive landscape of today’s app economy, assessing the value of an ecosystem and making informed decisions regarding the long term viability of platforms and the investment opportunity for developers, enterprises, handset OEMs, network operators and consumers.

We have developed a unique understanding of mobile ecosystems by modeling ecosystem economics and measuring developer economics.  In our effort to improve our understanding and our ability to assess the success or failure of an ecosystem, we are building a model that takes into account a variety of hard data and perceptions to determine an ecosystem performance index. The aim is to capture in a metric, the relative performance of each ecosystem against each other, in a way that also conveys information about its long-term viability and the size of the investment opportunity for developers, enterprises, handset makers, network operators and consumers alike.

Ecosystem performance

There is an abundance of data out there that points to the relative strength of each platform: every once in a while Apple and Google announce app-store data such as apps available, downloads, activations and money paid to developers to highlight their dominant position in the market. Analytics firms publish metrics around user engagement, monetization or eCPM for each of the platforms they monitor. VisionMobile measures the Developer Mindshare Index and developer revenues via our Developer Economics research and benchmarks ecosystem characteristics through our Market Sonar service.

Such metrics provide a glimpse of ecosystem performance and provide a great service as marketing messages for headline generation. But how important is all this data to ecosystem stakeholders? How are we to assess whether platform A is in a better position than platform B and what momentum each platform carries going forward? In other words, if an enterprise were to invest in one of these ecosystems, how would they go about evaluating them and reaching an investment decision from the perspective of users, partners or developers?

Ecosystem value is an indicator of the capacity of an ecosystem to create value for its stakeholders. The stakeholders of a platform include all those that capture and add value to an ecosystem, including consumers, enterprises, developers and businesses investing in or supporting the ecosystem (e.g. handset makers, operators, platform vendors). In order to measure this value we first need to understand how value is added to and captured from an ecosystem and to define performance indicators that are linked to the value of an ecosystem. In the following sections we will look at each stakeholder group separately in order to determine the performance KPIs that matter to each group.

Ecosystem value to users

Back in the day of the feature phone, consumer choice focused on which phone was best in serving four use cases: making phone calls, sending texts, taking photos and storing contacts. Differentiation across these use cases was quite limited among devices so other factors such as cost, design, carrier tariffs and coolness factor weighted much more on users’ decision process. With smartphones it’s not just about creating value around these four use cases, but more about the number and the value of use cases that an apps ecosystem creates for the user.

Nowadays phones are more like tools: flashlights, compasses and spirit levels. Phones are also media players, TVs and game consoles using via apps/services such as iTunes, YouTube and Angry Birds. Users now select a phone based on thousands of use cases that are realized via a million apps. It is not just the app count that matters, but also the quality, diversity, reliability, robustness of the apps and the ecosystem. The right mix of these ingredients is the key to creating user value and tapping into the new type of ecosystem economics.

At the same time, enterprise users value a different set of features and ecosystem metrics with security and separation of business/personal accounts featuring high on the list. Total cost of ownership is also important to enterprises that use a mobile platform to optimise their business processes.

The diversity of handset price points is also a significant ecosystem metric. Android has achieved wide adoption partly due to the availability of Android handsets from $50 to $500 points, while iOS covers mostly the top range. In western countries, operator subsidies can have a significant impact on consumer choice as they make devices more affordable to consumers at the cost of a contract lock-in. At the same time, in the price-sensitive, emerging markets that now drive smartphone growth, subsidies rarely apply.

Regional variations may have a significant impact on the overall value of a platform to users; availability of apps and services in local markets varies and therefore the utility of a platform may also very accordingly. In China, for example, Android is usually stripped of most or all Google services such as access to Google Play, thus diluting the value proposition of Android in this market.

Apart from the factors that attract users to a platform there are also inhibitors that prevent consumers from switching to a new platform. These relate to user investment in a platform – including the experience adaptation tax (i.e. the cost of adapting to a new UI), the cost of repurchasing apps on that platform, the need to seek alternatives where apps don’t exist.

Source: http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2013/05/a-game-of-ecosystems-measuring-ecosystem-performance/

In the past years, cloud computing has been a buzzword in its field. In the long term, cloud computing owns tremendous advantages. Its future development will follow some major trends.

As far as we know that the overall scale of China’s cloud industry is small, taking less than 3% of the global cloud computing market share. But its future is promising, it is predicted that the scale of China’s cloud computing industrial chain will reach to 750 billion or 1 trillion RMB.

Meanwhile, according to the report of foreign media, cloud computing service has become the main drive force of IT industry reformation. All kinds and sizes of organizations are starting to take advantage of hybrid cloud services. What is the trend of cloud computing this year in China?

+ Private cloud is getting popular – many people think that private cloud is not real cloud because of its lack of flexibility and its expensive price, while public cloud is the genuine way to improve IT services. However, the fact is that private cloud makes the deployment of organization’s existing data center faster and easier. In the near future, private cloud will achieve further development

+ PaaS will win the heart of developers – IaaS has seen a fast development through providing fast development and efficient deployment environment for applications. While PaaS simplifies application development process to largely increase developers’ work efficiency and flexibility. Compared with IaaS cloud services, the development process of PaaS is easier because of its efficient environment.

+ Hybrid cloud is still the practical choice for most organizations – Public cloud is widely used in computer field, especially for unpredictable, customer-oriented applications. And private cloud is indispensable for organizations to deal with different rules, standards and other non-technical problems. However, hybrid cloud, the combination of public cloud and private cloud, is still the practical choice for most organizations.

RayooTech Co., Ltd. is one of the well-known cloud computing companies in Chinese cloud application service market. We provide cloud computing services to global customers and help them with their businesses. RayooTech is dedicated to IT application research. We hope to better meet customer’s needs in the personalized cloud service time and gain long-term trust from customers.

Most of the mobile developers are considering iOS as a best platform to work with. That is true mobile programmers are getting good response from iOS platform in compare to other platforms. Android has the biggest user base in handheld devices market and this fact none can avoid if wish to exploit this vast audience.

When you have a brilliant idea to monetize on smartphone on world level Android has range of devices and range of versions running on such devices that lead you to the different nature of audiences if you wish to have for you. Against this iOS has good and advance audience, but restricted up to developed countries. Now it is depends on you to make selection of your audience for your app selling or for your business if you are going to custom app development as private app.

Android is Java base platform so very easy to carry Android application development with a reputed Android app development company. Getting seasoned Android developers is easy and cost effective moreover, Android development tasks are quick and with cheaper infrastructure. Now you may have question that what is preventing us to step in the Android programming. There are many things we don’t like about the Android platform and among them fragmentation is the first reality on the bank of Android, for hardware part as well as variations on OS part.

Android is open platform therefore, any handheld manufacturing company produce hardware device for Android OS and these devices are with different features and compatibility. Thus it is hard to assume that Android app that is working on one device group may not work on the others.

Android application programmers have always hard time to coding for various devices so they have to almost stick with some basic features. If they create advance features they have to do Android app programming such a way that the app should be down when it runs on lower versions of Android OS.

Google is try hard to manage the retention of the mobile developers on Android platform offering latest Android OS under the umbrella of Jelly Bean series but unfortunately very few are takers of it and majority of Android devices are running on backward versions. This thing makes life harder for Android apps programmers and reputed Android app development companies. If developers are managing coding issues then testing stood as a rock ahead. Recent survey says that there are nearly 400 Android devices are working in the hands of people around the globe so just imagine the complexities in the testing.

No doubt there are many cloud based testing services offer testing on the big chunk of Android devices through virtual ways but personal experience is matter more when a good quality is expected for totally bug free Android development. Apart from these Android is using latest Java libraries as well as its own library. Among these vast collections Android programmer has to find out essential functions, classes and other components for their custom usage. Thus Android developers have to manage their own Android libraries to access code snippet rapidly.

Source: http://www.spyghana.com/stepping-in-android-development/

First iPod has thought us how to do romance with music, then iPhone did it with words and now, iPad is doing for real romance through dating apps developed by notorious but sincere iPad application developers and dating sites. Today mobile dating market is worth of $ 2.0 billion and most of apps are of freemium type.

With iPhone dating is somewhat odd due to its tiny size where sharing good quality photos is a big activity. Here iPad developers can help you a lot to see the precious images of your dates with multiple zooms. Only looking at images are not enough, but we need many other features in the iPad app development which are setting iPad dating apps apart from the most of the dating sites on the web.

The biggest restriction for the dating sites on the web is that we have to find a place to surf the web like desktop or laptop. Desktop in particular is without privacy while with laptop you have some limited mobility and privacy. Now, game is altogether changed with the introduction of iPad in the dating market because iPad is offering total mobility and privacy as you can surf or start conversation from your bed, garden or even from your office too. If you are waiting for you girlfriend and need to pass your time you can take out your iPad and start finding the nearby partner using location based dating apps that is the result of smart iPad development efforts.

When you use latest location based dating app you have guarantee that you are in contact with a reliable partner located your nearby or at least your familiar areas and of the same culture and life standards.

The touch gesture of iPad offers you a lot of advantages like you can see the profiles of other date at the same time chat with someone else through you audio devices or texts. Sending messages, winks and flirts are easy due to real-time camera features.

Most of the iPad application developers have integrated social media networking sites in their dating apps so you can see the entire outfit of your dating partner at various angles on social media sites hence you need not rely on the photos and some text written on the dating sites on the web. Like magazines iPad apps let you turn profile pages one-by-one and doing texts simultaneously. Some smart entrepreneurs foresee that we can use facial coding and eye tracking function in webcam of the iPad and be capable to suggest the matches based on their responses to the particular profiles. Same the we can use this features to inform the partners to what their other end is doing and liking things about you. Thus we can get a good matching chemistry for our clients.

At present we have to just wait for that time and that will come soon. Despite these benefits iPad app programmers are busy to solve some security related problems. Since with iPad we are more exposed to the the bad intended people and they can get much of our security information through iPad dating apps. Moreover, location based services give our perfect location and situations to reach them us. Thus iPad apps programmers have some headaches to meet these challenges adequately to meet the safety requirements of their clients.

Source: http://www.spyghana.com/fixing-life-partners-for-ipad-app-development/

One of these frameworks is JQuery Mobile that is a great help in developing mobile app UIs across several platforms for mobile devices like Android and iOS. The advantage with this framework is code base that is extremely lightweight (weighing just 20KB when) in addition to several other elements like sliders and switches. If you do not like JQuery Mobile too much, you could try using some Moo Tools plugins that will help.

Titanium Mobile is another great framework for web development that is quite powerful and lets you use JavaScript, CSS and HTML while designing apps for operating systems like Android and iOS. It already has a dedicated developer community whose members are willing to lend a helping hand to other developers. Moreover, this framework supports user interface elements of the mobile operating systems like popovers, table views, and tabs. The built-in features enable interacting with the mobile’s file storage system and camera as well.

Developers must have surely heard of The-M-Project which is another JavaScript framework that can come in very handy while using the new HTML5 features that enhance development of mobile apps. The framework is based on the sought after bit of software architecture called model-view-controller (MVC) which most developers of today depend on. The additional benefit is that developers can work even without Internet connectivity as there is offline support as well. The project has an easy guide for new users who can get acquainted quickly.

One other framework that is specifically meant to be used by developers who work on mobile devices that are HTML5 capable is Jo. In addition to Android and iOS, they can work on Chrome OS and webOS platforms as well. The framework has user interface elements like widgets for login screens in addition to the widget for popups that is helpful for providing additional information anytime a user needs it.

For development tasks like event handling and DOM manipulation, and good animation effects, developers can use the framework called xui.js which is meant for Internet Explorer or WebKit. Similarly EmbedJS is a framework meant for embedded devices like mobile phones, tablets and even TVs. It is armed with multiple builds and can be used on platforms and browsers like Firefox (Mozilla) Android and iOS. You also have access to the tool EmbedJS Build Tool that lets you customize your build. This framework is based on Dojo; hence developers used to the API Syntax (Dojo) can start using this framework without any hassles.

Source: http://www.javascriptstyle.com/uses-of-javascript-in-mobile-application-development

Das offshore-Entwicklungszentrum auf Englisch Offshore-Development-Center (ODC) ist ein neues Modell für Outsourcing. Es kann nach den Anforderungen der Kunden die Gelände und das  professionelle Team zur Verfügung stellen, um die Arbeitsleistung der Kunden zu steigern und die Kosten der Operation zu senken. Inzwischen wird das ODC-Model weltweit als ein leistungsstärke Werkzeug, das den Kunden das Service während dem Entwicklungsprozess mit  Transparenz und Berechenbarkeit besser anbieten kann.

Im Prozess der strategischen Planung lässt es sich nicht ignorieren, dass man von der  Offshore-Entwicklung nicht nur über technische Fähigkeiten und hochwertige Produkte sowie Dienstleistungen sprechen, sondern auch über eine kompatibele, solide und vertrauensvolle Zusammenarbeit. Daher ist die Wahl der richtige ODC-Partner entscheidend für den Erfolg der offshore-Strategie Ihres Unternehmens.

Ein in China gründeres ODC kann ein wesentlicher Bestandteil der globalen Diversifikationsstrategie eines Unternehmens sein, weil das in China gründete ODC oft zu der ganzen Einstiegsstrategie einer Organisation auf den chinesischen Markt dient. Wenn es um Eingang oder Erhöhung der Bekanntheit auf dem chinesischen Markt geht, ist die dedizierte ODC, die zahlreichen professionellen Dienstleistungen anbietet, eine hervorragende Wahl für Organisationen. Darüber hinaus kann das ODC in China den Unternehmen mit besten Möglichkeiten zur Erforschung und Nutzung der globalen Ressourcen, was zur Erfüllung der verschiedenen Ziele führt.

RayooTech ist ein Anbieter von professionellen Software- und IT-Dienstleistungen in China. RayooTech hat enge Partnerschaft mit zahlreichen Kunden schon geschlossen. Inzwischen besitzen wir viele unternehmerische Fähigkeiten, die Fachwissenschaft und die Erfahrung zur Gründung und Verwaltung von ODC je nach der Aufforderung der Kunden .

We have seen a sudden surge in PHP development recently as there is an increased utility of online services. With every business vying for to get a fair size of its profit, an online presence has become inevitable. Along with this, the unavoidable presence in social networking sites and other public forums online has made things more demanding. We can see a sudden increase in the utility of web based applications especially in the field of science and education. Having said this, we can find out that creating innovative and interactive web sites and web applications need certain amount of expertise especially to embrace the success!

At this point, it would be interesting to scrutinize why PHP is the most chosen language when it comes to developing dynamic websites and web applications. As a matter of fact PHP is compatible with all known platforms such as windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. This is a huge benefit as the making of interactive web pages comes as really easy for a PHP developer. Other than this, the language is well compatible with all eminent web browsers and databases. Also, it allows a quicker development process no matter how extensive the website is. And at the same time, PHP development ensures great deal of safety and security which is what each user wishes to have in the first place. When creating a websites for a commercial use, a client look forward to have certain standard features along with the newest and need of the hour features. Hence, we can find out that so many factors make a programmer to choose PHP language to create websites and web based applications.

Also, we can observe the increasing trend in the area of PHP development business as a whole as many companies dedicatedly involved in PHP development, there is a huge rise in PHP development companies and especially in countries like India which is hugely involving in outsourcing work, it has become a major source of income. PHP development company India has already gained enough popularity in this regard. Also, there is an increasing trend in hire PHP developer as talent is required to fulfil the ever-growing demand.

Many choose PHP development company India because the cost they have to pay for a PHP developer is very less comparing to their country standard. They have the benefit of getting dedicated programmers with international standard and quality and also good customer care is assured. All these come in one package and that makes it really convenient for any user.

Source: http://www.groundreport.com/Business/Why-PHP-has-Become-the-Most-Chosen-Language-to-Dev/2949560

Creating a business website demands great effort, vast knowledge, and state-of-the-art technology. Most members from web development world would easily agree to this point. In such a scenario choosing an appropriate, user friendly, feature rich development platform become more than a necessity. Most of the business websites feature a number of functionalities that are customer friendly. Giving an array of goodies is something which cannot be overlooked because that is the base of business development.  Here, the user wants to have a great looking and functional interface incorporated with ultra modern technologies. Therefore, a web developer always looks forward to have fulfilled all these needs at the development stage itself. Hence Joomla application development fits their bill comfortably, just like the PHP application development become the most favored among web developers.

One can use Joomla for great designing with its custom based templates along with integrating graphics.  There is an advantage of easy configuration. Some of the outstanding benefits of using this platform is that its low maintenance cost. This is one thing each and every user wishes to have. And, needless to say, at the same time, it ensures a great deal of security for PHP web applications. There is also no worry about the operating systems because it runs on different operating systems comfortably. Another notable point is that the websites created with the help of Joomla easily provides high quality risk management. This is why it has become a most favored language for business websites such as ecommerce websites and online retail store websites. 

It does not mean that it is only apt for creating business web application development. We can see that a great number of community websites have been developed out of this platform. Websites such as social networking websites, ecommerce and business websites, job portals, all have tried their hand in this technology to derive the best result. Using the built in tools offered by this technology itself help a good programmer to come up with most productive websites. Features like blog, chat, search engine support, document management, project tracking, contact management, all contribute well to achieve the goal of creating the most modern virtual business environment. After going over these promising features, we may never be able to ignore Joomla because it has its own significance in web development and web application development, just like PHP application development.

Source: http://www.groundreport.com/Business/Joomla-Application-Development-and-Its-Significanc/2953237

In response to successful Java-based exploits against companies like Twitter, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft, and continued concern over “zero-day” security flaws that could allow an attacker to remotely execute malicious code that could compromise vulnerable systems., the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) has issued multiple security advisories concerning Java.

In the advisories issued to date, DHS recommends disabling Java in web browsers. In response, Oracle, which took over Java when it bought Sun, has released a number of patches, some out-of-band (earlier than scheduled), and in a recent patch made changes to how Java applets are handled within web browsers. 

In general, warnings potential security threats are nothing new and most network security managers consider them to be part of the daily IT landscape. The usual solution is to patch systems with vendor-supplied updates and follow vendor recommendations for best practices. However in this case, the advice to disable or uninstall the product, issued not by the vendor, but instead by governmental authorities and other third parties, creates an unusual set of challenges for organizations.

So, here are seven steps you can take to protect your network against Java-based exploits. Given its ubiquity, completely removing Java is probably out of the question for most organizations. But here’s a seven-step action plan that won’t necessarily guarantee security, but will help mitigate threats by creating awareness, hardening systems and reducing attack vectors.

1.  Perform an impact analysis

A good starting point is to identify where and how Java is used both inside and outside the organization. Does your organization provide Java-dependent applications that are accessed by vendors, clients and/or the general public? Unless you have already taken steps to limit the use of Java, you most likely will find it present in most Internet browsers, as part of the OS (especially certain versions of Mac OS) and in any number of popular applications. The latter is probably going to be the biggest unknown as a vast number of commercial and open source software applications are built on the Java platform. Start by ferreting out which applications use Java. Is the app business-critical? Knowing the full scope of your organization’s dependence upon Java-based apps and platforms is a necessary prerequisite to controlling risks. 

2.  Keep Java updated and patched at all times

It is of paramount importance to keep all computers and devices up to date with the latest version of Java. Oracle supports only the latest version – no security patches are available for previous versions. Obtain updates directly from Oracle to reduce the risk of code injection. Another important step is to uninstall older versions of Java manually, as simply installing the latest version does not necessarily ensure that older versions are removed. Consider limiting the use of Java-based apps to virtual machines that can be started up when needed and left unpowered when not.

Also keep in mind that some applications may use earlier versions of Java, and these could break after updating to the latest version. If your app relies on an outdated version of Java, this poses a much greater security risk and any outdated apps should be be updated or replaced.

3. Manage Java Control Panel settings

There are numerous settings available from the Java Control Panel (available on both Windows and Mac clients). These provide fairly granular control of how Java is configured on client computers from automating updates to managing security settings. Automatic updates can be configured to notify or download the latest update, but regrettably there is no current enterprise-wide capability to automatically install updates. This means manual steps are needed to ensure the latest updates are applied.

As for security settings, the last few updates of Java version 7 have been automatically set to use the ‘high’ security setting, which is designed to prompt users before running unsigned or self-signed applets. This is a change from recent versions of Java where the default was ‘medium’. From the Java Control Panel, you can also disable Java when you’re not using it, but there are some reports of unsigned and self-signed applets being allowed without prompting when you re-enable Java.

4. Harden web browsers

Wherever possible, disable Java in web browsers. If for some reason this is not an option, at least consider disabling remote access to Java applets. One solution is to use a proxy server that restricts remote Java requests, but allows them locally.

Another approach recommended by some IT administrators is to use two different browsers, one that has Java enabled for use when you absolutely need to access sites requiring Java and one for all other browsing. Enforcing this is in the enterprise might be challenging, but you could set up proxy rules that only allow one type of browser to access Java sites, while blocking others.

5.  BYOD endpoint control

In this age of BYOD, grappling with the many personal devices employees use to connect to the corporate network presents its own set of challenges. Java is widely used in mobile applications so you may want to develop corporate policies to govern how BYOD access is provided. Several of the newer ‘smart devices’ running Android, iOS, Windows Phone and Blackberry 10 operating systems do not embed Java. However, the Nokia 40 series and the Bada operating system developed by Samsung, an OS that is becoming more popular, are both Java-based. Also, it should be noted that since Java ME (Micro Edition) is restricted to JRE 1.3, it is somewhat unclear if any of the latest vulnerabilities are present in Java ME. However, by implementing endpoint control policies you can ensure that access to the enterprise network is restricted to only certain types of devices with the latest updates applied.

As mentioned in the introduction, Java is also used in a variety of other devices such as printers, security systems, payment terminals, etc. Try to identify all devices used in your organization that rely on Java and work closely with vendors to manage risks. Depending on the size of your organization, this may require a task force.

6. Review Java impacts on corporate websites and customer portals

Corporate websites are important marketing tools and frequently also a considerable source of revenue through e-commerce. If your website uses Java applets it might be time to make some changes as you don’t want to be caught with critical website functionality inoperable due to visitors having disabled Java. Also, when dealing with public end users you may encounter instances where users have not only disabled Java applets, but Javascript as well. To ensure high availability, use detection scripts to deal with this contingency and redirect customers as needed.

7.  If you are developing in Java, do so responsibly

If you are developing in Java, don’t add to the industry-wide problems by producing unsigned or self-signed apps. Sign all apps using a trusted certificate authority and adhere to other industry best practices for Java development. In an effort to encourage developers to use trusted certificate authorities, Oracle’s Java 7 Update 21 raises more red flags to users about the security risk of running unsigned applets.

Some third-party solutions such as the Entrust Authority Security Toolkit for the Java Platform allow Java developers to add security-related features like encryption and digital signatures to their applications.

Conclusion

Of late, Oracle has significantly stepped up its efforts to correct flaws and vulnerabilities in its Java platforms. However this is playing out as a game of cat and mouse, as new exploits are discovered sometimes within hours of the latest patch. The rapid change cycle is also causing other collateral consequences. Some users report being able to run unsigned applets in IE9 on Windows 7 even if the settings are ‘high’ or ‘super high’. Others are reporting issues with legacy applications not running properly under the latest releases of Java 7. Suffice it to say that many Java platforms and applications are in a state of flux, with  security concerns remaining. Hence the need to keep a watchful eye. Oracle declined comment on the topics in this article.

Source: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/051413-java-securing-269724.html?page=1