Do you remember David Kernell? If not, we’ll get back to him in a second.First, the Republican nominee for president of the United States, Donald Trump, this morning cheered Russian cybercriminals who are alleged to have hacked his Democratic opponent’s email and urged them to make public whatever they have stolen. Trump did this not over beers but in front of reporters at a press conference, after which he scolded one of the reporters to “be quiet” after she had the temerity to press him on whether a presidential candidate should be encouraging cybercrime.From a report on Talking Points Memo:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Yes, Belgium. Every time you read a story or visit a website devoted to worldwide IPv6 adoption rates, sitting atop the list of highest achievers is Belgium, otherwise better known for chocolate, waffles, beer and diamonds. Google, for example, has worldwide IPv6 adoption at about 12%, Belgium leading at 45%.For an explanation I turned to Eric Vyncke, co-chair of Belgium’s IPv6 Council. I emailed him a half-dozen questions about technology and culture and such that essentially could have been boiled down to one: Why Belgium? Here is his reply:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Sysadmin Day – last Friday of July, first Friday in our heartsYes, Sysadmin day is just around the corner again, as we prepare to recognize business IT’s foot soldiers in the war against downtime and general stuff-not-working-right-ness. Here are 10 ways to celebrate these great and deserving people. (MORE: Our 2015 look at Sysadmin Day)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
When applications were exclusively hosted in the corporate data center, remote sites had much lower bandwidth and each required its own WAN optimization device. According to conventional wisdom, if we increase bandwidth, performance will improve. However, without decreasing latency, application performance will continue to suffer—no matter how much bandwidth we throw at the network.Four main things contribute to latency:
Propagation delay
Serialization delay
Queuing delay
Processing delay
Propagation delayThis is the delay between two endpoints. For example, propagation delay is based on the speed of light measured at 5ms per 1000Km. The one-way propagation delay between a data center in New York and a branch in San Jose would be at least 24ms. This assumes a direct fiber path and no router hops, in which case the propagation delay will be significantly higher. For large carriers, one-way delays average 35-45 msec.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The SanDisk Connect wireless stick is a flash drive with a unique twist -- you can access it wirelessly. Whether it's in your pants pocket, in your bag, or on the picnic table at your campsite, the Connect wireless stick lets you stream media or move files wirelessly with up to three computers, phones or tablets simultaneously. Connections are made via built-in wifi (think "hotspot"), so no external wireless or internet services are needed. A USB connection is also available, if desired. Storage on this model is a generous 200GB. Reviewers on Amazon report at least 8-10 hours of battery life on one charge. This model is currently discounted 22% down to $93.56. Learn more and review buying options now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The SanDisk Connect wireless stick is a flash drive with a unique twist -- you can access it wirelessly. Whether it's in your pants pocket, in your bag, or on the picnic table at your campsite, the Connect wireless stick lets you stream media or move files wirelessly with up to three computers, phones or tablets simultaneously. Connections are made via built-in wifi (think "hotspot"), so no external wireless or internet services are needed. A USB connection is also available, if desired. Storage on this model is a generous 200GB. Reviewers on Amazon report at least 8-10 hours of battery life on one charge. This model is currently discounted 17% down to $99.95. Learn more and review buying options now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Hand-in-hand with the forthcoming adoption of a low-speed Ethernet standard by the IEEE, proponents of the technology will hold an interoperability plugfest in October to tout the readiness of 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T products.The new specification -- IEEE P802.3bz – defines 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T, significantly boosting the speed of traditional Ethernet without requiring the tearing out of current cabling.+More on Network World: Ethernet everywhere!+Perhaps most significantly 2.5GbE and 5GbE will allow connectivity to 802.11ac Wave 2 Access Points, considered by many to be the real driving force behind bringing up the speed of traditional NBase-T products.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Ailing Yahoo is selling off its operating business for about $4.8 billion to Verizon Communications, in a cash deal that will reduce the storied tech firm to mainly holding its cash, stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan and non-core patents.For Verizon, the acquisition will help it gain Yahoo’s 1 billion monthly active users, its internet properties and key applications like search and email, and its advertising systems. Verizon is not unfamiliar to the acquisition and integration of web companies after its 2015 acquisition of AOL for $4.4 billion, when it acquired similar assets.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: 5 free Ethernet tools you should check out
The transaction is expected to be completed by the first quarter of next year, subject to regulatory approvals, ending a long-drawn out bidding process for the company. After the transaction is closed, Yahoo will be integrated with AOL under Marni Walden, its executive vice president and president of the Product Innovation and New Businesses organization at Verizon, the communications company said Monday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
As press reports confirm Verizon’s long-anticipated acquisition of fallen Internet icon Yahoo, here’s a look at the Verizon-festooned Yahoo homepage that is already active.The URL is www.verizon.yahoo.com.
Note the prominent Verizon logo, as well as links to Verizon FiOS and other Verizon services.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
15% off Google OnHub AC1900 Wireless Wi-Fi RouterThe OnHub AC1900 wireless router from Google and TP-LINK is designed to make even the more complicated home networks run fast and efficiently. It supports over 100 devices at one time, providing speeds of up to 1900mbps. It's unique circular design with 13 antennas provides up to 2,500 square feet of reliable coverage. Streaming a movie or downloading large files? OnHub lets you manage speeds to specific devices or give a boost where/when needed. The On App lets you manage, prioritize and troubleshoot right from your device, at home or away. OnHub currently averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 500 people (read reviews). It's typical list price of $199.99 has been reduced 15% to $169.99. See the discounted Google OnHub AC1900 wireless router now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Dell has patched several critical flaws in its central management system for SonicWALL enterprise security appliances, such as firewalls and VPN gateways.If left unfixed, the vulnerabilities allow remote, unauthenticated attackers to gain full control of SonicWALL Global Management System (GMS) deployments and the devices managed through those systems.The SonicWALL GMS virtual appliance software has six vulnerabilities, four of which are rated critical, according to researchers from security firm Digital Defense.First, unauthenticated attackers could inject arbitrary commands through the system's web interface that would be executed with root privileges. This is possible through two vulnerable methods: set_time_config and set_dns.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Experts say spectrum pilfering is going to become a major industrial problem as software-defined radio becomes more prevalent. Software-defined radio allows frequencies and bands to be simply altered in a device through coding rather than via expensive hardware changes.Locating and detecting thieves who are looting bandwidth on radio spectrum could become easier, however, once a crowdsourcing project gets going.+ Also on Network World: Auto thieves adopting cybercrime-like tactics +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Hard on the heels of a similar pitch from AT&T, Verizon this morning is taking the wraps off a lineup of Virtual Network Services (VNS) that it bills as a natural extension of data-center virtualization that promises enterprise WAN customers fast, flexible provisioning as well as cost savings.
Industry analysts say such an expansion of existing software-defined networking will find an audience, but that not every customer will be ready for the deep end of the pool at the same time, a caveat Verizon readily acknowledges. The Verizon package – initially including security, WAN optimization and SD-WAN services -- offers customers multiple delivery and pricing models, as well as managed software from a roster of brand-name vendors such as Cisco and Juniper the company says will expand.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you want to be able to turn network services on and off the same way you do virtual machines, some big carriers are starting to think like you.On Thursday, Verizon announced enterprise services defined and activated through software, a move intended to help both the carrier and its customers save money and respond more quickly to changing needs. It could mean firing up a new carrier Ethernet link to a branch office in minutes instead of months, for example.Verizon’s Virtual Network Services announcement comes just days after AT&T introduced its own set of software-defined services and then partnered with Orange to help move more service smarts from hardware into software.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
When lots of people gather for concerts or sports events, cellular carriers often bring their networks to the scene with cell towers mounted on trucks, or COWs (cells on wheels). Not to be outdone, Comcast is joining the fray using Wi-Fi.The U.S. cable giant will bring WoW (Wi-Fi on Wheels) to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia next week. WoW is what it sounds like: a van with six access points (APs) mounted on a 40-foot mast.Each AP points in a different direction so the truck can deliver strong signals over a wide area. It can serve as many as 3,000 people within a range of 500 feet, according to Comcast. Those users can get speeds as much as five times as fast as cellular, the company says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Conscientious sysadmins face a dilemma on December 31, when a new leap second will threaten the stability of computer systems and networks.Scientists occasionally add a leap second to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the time reference most clocks are set by, so as to keep it in step with the earth's gradually slowing rotation. If they didn't, then clocks would be off by about a minute at midday by 2100.Computer systems don't like leap seconds as they are programmed to expect the same number of seconds in every minute of every hour of every day. The various ways of tricking them into accepting the extra second -- stretching out all the other seconds in the preceding minute, hour or day, repeating the same second twice, or creating a 61st second in a minute, can cause chaos as they affect different computers in different ways.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The OnHub AC1900 wireless router from Google and TP-LINK is designed to make even the more complicated home networks run fast and efficiently. It supports over 100 devices at one time, providing speeds of up to 1900mbps. It's unique circular design with 13 antennas provides up to 2,500 square feet of reliable coverage. Streaming a movie or downloading large files? OnHub lets you manage speeds to specific devices or give a boost where/when needed. The On App lets you manage, prioritize and troubleshoot right from your device, at home or away. OnHub currently averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 500 people (read reviews). It's typical list price of $199.99 has been reduced 15% to $169.99. See the discounted Google OnHub AC1900 wireless router now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
DDoS attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, combining multiple attack techniques that require different mitigation strategies, and abusing new protocols.Incident responders from Akamai recently helped mitigate a DDoS attack against an unnamed European media organization that peaked at 363G bps (bits per second) and 57 million packets per second.While the size itself was impressive and way above what a single organization could fight off on its own, the attack also stood out because it combined six different techniques, or vectors: DNS reflection, SYN flood, UDP fragment, PUSH flood, TCP flood, and UDP flood.Almost 60 percent of all DDoS attacks observed during the first quarter of this year were multi-vector attacks, Akamai said in a report released last month. The majority of them used two vectors, and only 2 percent used five or more techniques.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
AT&T uses artificial intelligence to tell if things are going wrong in its network. Soon, AI may know it before it happens.The carrier says it’s been using AI for decades in areas like call-center automation but developed it for each use as they came along. Now AT&T is pouring its AI smarts into a one platform that can be used with multiple applications.“I can’t just keep doing this once at a time. We need a foundation,” said Mazin Gilbert, assistant vice president of the company’s Inventive Sciences division, in an interview last week at the AT&T Shape conference in San Francisco.That foundation is about two million lines of the code that powers AT&T’s Domain 2.0 software-defined network, which the carrier built so it could roll out new services more quickly and efficiently. Along with its own AI code, much of which is open source, the company is using open-source components from partners including universities and third-party vendors.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A U.S. district court judge last week effectively ended a payphone company’s lawsuit against the City of New York, opening the door for an ambitious public Wi-Fi hotspot program to proceed.The payphone company, Telebeam, had sued the city in 2014, arguing that the city shouldn’t have been allowed to force Telebeam to cede up 1,300 public payphone sites when it awarded the contract to rival CityBridge.+ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Microsoft disavows 1B-or-bust goal for Windows 10 + Hackers claim to have launched DDoS attack that crashed Pokémon Go serversTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here