The BYOD movement seems to be changing the hardware landscape permanently and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. Naturally, this presents both opportunities and challenges. Security managers within the enterprise have less control then ever. “Anywhere access” has blurred the lines of what used to be called the corporate network perimeter.

So what are CIOs and CTOs specifically worried about with BYOD? Well for one, mobile devices can easily go missing while containing sensitive data and employers often cannot even assess the impact of data security breaches from compromised devices. But locking down employees’ personal devices is generally not an option.

So how can enterprises re-assert control over their data assets while still allowing employees to use their own smartphones as they choose? We’ll be discussing this and other questions during out live, interactive Q&A. So, be sure to clear your calendar and join in the discussion on March 26 at 9am PST.

Here’s How to Join the Discussion
Make sure you click Add to Calendar to get the event details and a reminder in your calendar. Then, on the day of the event, click here to join:

• layer7.com/live

To ask questions, you can:

• Tweet using the tag #Layer7Live
• Email techtalk@layer7.com
• Post a message on Facebook

Smart phones are ubiquitous, social networks are the norm and we are connected to applications on our devices all the time. We love applications like Instagram, Twitter, Evertnote and Snapchat. But we don’t like signing in and out of each of these applications across networks or devices. It’s awkward and cumbersome and we’re often doing it while on the go or commuting, with only one hand to use while tapping in our passwords. Besides, who wants to remember all those passwords anyway? And it’s not safe to use the same one for every application.

This is the major downside of using all these great new mobile applications. Most of us would gladly invite a scenario where we’d only need to log in once to access multiple applications. There’s social login – but is it safe and is our privacy secure? Remember what happened to Burger King’s Twitter account? Enter Single-Sign-On & OAuth for Mobile Applications.

On Tuesday Feb 26, we’ll be hosting a live interactive Tech Talk on security and Single Sign-On (SSO) for mobile applications. And I’m excited to welcome back Layer 7′s Chief Architect and resident OAuth expert Francois Lascelles. He’ll discuss how to provide SSO for mobile applications, without compromising the security of the apps or the APIs that power them. Francois will also be taking your questions throughout the Tech Talk. So, this will be a great opportunity to get answers to your questions about your own applications and the security that surrounds them.

Click here to get the event details and a reminder in your calendar.

On the day of the event, click here to join:

•   layer7.com/live

Submit your questions:

• Tweet using the tag #Layer7Live
• Email techtalk@layer7.com
• Post a message on Facebook

But do interfaces hosted on AWS and exposed to third-party developers contain significant vulnerabilities? Cloud services allow third-party access to applications and data through APIs. Failing to properly secure that access can put the data and applications at risk. So, how do you safely expose APIs in a cloud environment?

Understanding the cloud API model isn’t always easy. So, on January 29, we’re having a live discussion about publishing APIs in the AWS cloud, which may help answer questions surrounding exposing APIs in cloud environments. I’m excited to welcome Layer 7 Technologies Senior Software Developer Hirbod (Rod) Moshfeghi as our special guest for this API Tech Talk. This is a great opportunity to have your questions answered and to discuss the implications of publishing cloud-based APIs.

Here’s how to join the live discussion…

On the day of the event, click here to join:

• layer7.com/live

Submit your questions:

• Tweet using the tag #Layer7Live
• Email techtalk@layer7.com

This time around, Mike will be talking about Applying the USE Paradigm When Designing Your APIs.  The USE (Usable, Scalable, Evolvable) paradigm provides an extremely useful guide when creating high-level interfaces for your existing business objects and data storage.

Mike will be taking live questions on the USE paradigm and API design generally, so get ready to get involved. Tweet questions with the hashtag #layer7live or email techtalk@layer7.com. On the day, you can watch and chat live on the Tech Talk page.

This looks set to be a very special Tech Talk for anyone interested in API architecture and design – so don’t miss out; join us on Tuesday!

Building cloud- and API-driven mobile apps introduces complex challenges around syncing, caching and securing data. So, connect live with Layer 7 on Tuesday November 20, at 9am Pacific Time, when Alex will be answering your questions about how to address these challenges. Alex will also provide insight into a range of related best practices, including techniques for building cross-platform applications in HTML 5.

Click here to get the full event details and a reminder in your calendar. On the day of the event, join the event at layer7.com/live and tweet questions to #layer7live.

The hype around the WebSocket standard, which enables a type of bi-directional, socket-based communication not possible with conventional HTTP, has been steadily increasing over the last two years. As adoption of  WebSockets technology increases, API architects need to understand how they can use the protocol to build great APIs for mobile and Web applications.

In this Tech Talk, Ronnie will be discussing:

• The ins and outs of the WebSocket protocol
• The relationship between HTTP-based APIs and WebSockets
• Use cases that are a great fit for the WebSocket standard
• The challenges of securing a WebSockets connection

Of course, the discussion won’t be limited to just these topics. We also welcome any and all of your questions and comments. In fact, without them the spirit of Tech Talk Tuesday would cease to exist. So please start formulating your questions or comments and be sure to add the date to your calendar.

How to Attend
So be sure you click Add to Calendar in order to get the event details and a reminder on the day.

On the day of the event, join on Livestream or Facebook:

• livestream.com/layer7live
• facebook.com/Layer7/app_142371818162

To submit questions:

• Tweet using the hashtag #Layer7Live
• Email techtalk@layer7.com
• Check in & Chat through Facebook

And here are the full event details:

• Tech Talk Tuesday: WebSockets
  Tuesday September 18
  9am PDT | 12pm EDT | 5pm BST
  Add to Calendar

The importance of APIs continues once the infrastructure is in place. Applications in the cloud can expose their own APIs, opening data access to partners, mobile devices or other cloud technologies. This raises questions around how enterprises can effectively leverage cloud APIs while addressing the security and management concerns that will inevitably arise.

I’ll be discussing some of these concerns when I take part in Layer 7’s latest Tech Talk on Tuesday September 4 at 9am PDT/12pm EDT/5pm BST. The subject matter will be Publishing Cloud APIs and – like all our Tech Talks – this interactive Q&A will be broadcast live on the Layer 7 Facebook page and via Livestream.

Here’s how you can join the conversation:

• Tweet using the hashtag #Layer7Live
• Email techtalk@layer7.com
• Check in & Chat through Facebook

Feel free to ask questions around:

• Securely exposing APIs from a cloud-based solution
• Orchestrating APIs for value-added interfaces
• Enforcing access control and threat protection across hybrid cloud environments

I’m looking forward to chatting with you. Don’t forget to add the Tech Talk to your calendar. See you on Tuesday!

Firstly, I’m excited to be working with our new API Evangelist, Alex Gaber. He has a wealth of experience working with developer communities and he’s ready to answer questions and discuss strategies around developer community building. When it comes to this sort of thing,  Alex is the man. In fact, this weekend he’s onsite at Hack Denver, helping API publishers with their open APIs.

Secondly, I think it’s going to be a great chance for our API publishing audience to learn some really valuable lessons that may help them develop new business partnerships and revenue streams. And we’ll ride the momentum of our last Tech Talk, which had great attendance and – most importantly – excellent contributions from the audience.

Our aim with these Tech Talks is to create an informal channel for engaging with API experts in a live, interactive way. With that in mind, start thinking about any questions you might want to ask Alex, be sure to add Building a Developer Ecosystem to your calendar and join us on August 21 for another great Tech Talk.

On the day of the event, join on Livestream or Facebook:
»  livestream.com/layer7live
»  facebook.com/layer7

Tech Talk Tuesday: Building a Developer Ecosystem
Tuesday, August 21
9am PDT | 12pm EDT | 5pm BST

Submit your questions:
Tweet using the tag #Layer7Live
Email techtalk@layer7.com
Check-in & Chat through Facebook

Although I’m not as familiar with Android, there definitely seems to be a lack of tooling for enabling OAuth 2.0 on iOS today. The lack of client-side libraries for standards-based access control on mobile devices generally could be problematic for API adoption in the enterprise, as mobile applications represent one of the main targets for enterprise APIs.

Facilitating OAuth on mobile applications is going to be central to my presentation at next week’s Chicago Mobile Meetup where I’ve been invited to speak. At the meetup, we’ll be describing client-side OAuth tooling patterns, exchanging our ideas about different approaches and discussing some code samples.

From there, I will be making my way to Australia for an API Management Breakfast Seminar in Melbourne, where I’ll be talking about API Management in general but also covering the latest in OAuth 2.0 solutions. Finally, I’ll be moving on to the Gartner AADI Summit in Sydney, where Layer 7 will be at booth S6.

But OAuth’s journey towards becoming a standard hasn’t been completely smooth. Last week, the original editor of the OAuth 2.0 specification and author of OAuth 1.0, Eran Hammer, resigned and removed his name from the specifications. Layer 7′s own CTO, Scott Morrison, offered his support for the specification in a blog post titled Why I Still Like OAuth, in which he stated: “In the end, OAuth is something we all need and this is why this specification remains important. The genius of OAuth is that it empowers people to perform delegated authorization on their own, without the involvement of a cabal of security admins. And this is something that is really quite profound.”

Still, obvious questions remain: Is OAuth 2.0 a solid protocol for authentication? Should I stop building security architecture around such a tainted specification? What other means are there for authentication if OAuth has become too focused on the enterprise? Francois Lascelles will address these questions as well as discussing and commenting on the recent OAuth 2.0 draft approval during our next live Tech Talk, on August 7. Make sure you add this Tech Talk to your calendar, if you want to get the event details and a reminder on the day.

On the day of the event, join on Livestream or Facebook:

• livestream.com/layer7live
• facebook.com/Layer7/app_142371818162

And if you’d like to submit some questions:

• Tweet using the hashtag #Layer7Live
• Email techtalk@layer7.com
• Check in & Chat through Facebook