Four lesser-known Wi-Fi security threats and how to defend against them

It’s common knowledge that the best way to protect your home Wi-Fi network is by using a strong password. This will keep uninvited guests away and protect your network so eavesdroppers can’t intercept your communications. And we’ve known for more than a decade now that the old Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is so insecure that cracking it is practically child’s play.ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: 9 tips for speeding up your business Wi-Fi Once you’ve protected your network with Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2), here are four other vulnerability scenarios you should guard against.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

That online job candidate may be carrying a virus

January is the month when employees are most likely to think about changing jobs, according to a survey by Glassdoor. Almost one in five jobseekers cited January as the most popular month to make a move, which means that resumes, cover letters and reference contacts are eagerly shared through social media, email and company websites.Cyber thieves are eager to take advantage of the busy hiring season, too, and they’ve come up with several ways to infiltrate corporate systems. Security pros offer their tips on what to watch out for, and how to stop them.Cyber criminals use LinkedIn and other social media sites to bypass company defenses LinkedIn and other social networks are becoming targets for threat actors since they know it's a great way to bypass company's defenses, according to cybersecurity firm Cylance. LinkedIn is typically a site that is not blocked by network filters to allow HR departments the freedom to communicate with prospective job candidates.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

That online job candidate may be carrying a virus

January is the month when employees are most likely to think about changing jobs, according to a survey by Glassdoor. Almost one in five jobseekers cited January as the most popular month to make a move, which means that resumes, cover letters and reference contacts are eagerly shared through social media, email and company websites.Cyber thieves are eager to take advantage of the busy hiring season, too, and they’ve come up with several ways to infiltrate corporate systems. Security pros offer their tips on what to watch out for, and how to stop them.Cyber criminals use LinkedIn and other social media sites to bypass company defenses LinkedIn and other social networks are becoming targets for threat actors since they know it's a great way to bypass company's defenses, according to cybersecurity firm Cylance. LinkedIn is typically a site that is not blocked by network filters to allow HR departments the freedom to communicate with prospective job candidates.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco scrambling to fix a remote-code-execution problem in WebEx

Cisco’s Webex Browser Extension contain a critical bug that can open up customers’ entire computers to remote code execution attacks if the browsers visit websites containing specially crafted malicious code.The company says it is in the process of correcting the problem, and has apparently made a few initial steps toward a permanent fix. It says there is no workaround available.+More on Network World: 10 of the latest craziest and scariest things the TSA found on your fellow travelers+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco scrambling to fix a remote-code-execution problem in WebEx

Cisco’s Webex Browser Extension contain a critical bug that can open up customers’ entire computers to remote code execution attacks if the browsers visit websites containing specially crafted malicious code.The company says it is in the process of correcting the problem, and has apparently made a few initial steps toward a permanent fix. It says there is no workaround available.+More on Network World: 10 of the latest craziest and scariest things the TSA found on your fellow travelers+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How To Secure A Network For Free

5 Stadium WiFi Best Practices For The Super Bowl

Using Ansible Networking Modules

One of the engineers attending my Building Network Automation Solutions online course got the lab up and running, wanted to execute a simple IOS command from an Ansible playbook and failed.

He quickly realized he needs to set connection to local; for more details read this article on my automation web site or watch the Ansible for Networking Engineers webinar.

Cisco Interrupts AppDynamics’ IPO With a $3.7B Offer

The startup gets a unicorn-sized buyout.

Cisco’s Spark Board looks like an iPad — and acts like one

The Spark Board meeting device that Cisco Systems introduced on Tuesday is not so much a whiteboard or a videoconferencing screen as a giant tablet that everyone in the room can share.There’s even a “home” button in the center of the bottom bezel that takes you back to the main menu. If Apple didn’t have a partnership with Cisco, you might even expect it to accuse the networking giant of copying its iPad design.But Apple and Cisco are in fact working together, so closely that iPhones can work with the Spark Board a little more smoothly than other phones do. And in developing the new all-in-one device, Cisco focused on simplicity and ease of use, which haven’t exactly been hallmarks of the networking giant’s products up to now.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco’s Spark Board looks like an iPad — and acts like one

The Spark Board meeting device that Cisco Systems introduced on Tuesday is not so much a whiteboard or a videoconferencing screen as a giant tablet that everyone in the room can share.There’s even a “home” button in the center of the bottom bezel that takes you back to the main menu. If Apple didn’t have a partnership with Cisco, you might even expect it to accuse the networking giant of copying its iPad design.But Apple and Cisco are in fact working together, so closely that iPhones can work with the Spark Board a little more smoothly than other phones do. And in developing the new all-in-one device, Cisco focused on simplicity and ease of use, which haven’t exactly been hallmarks of the networking giant’s products up to now.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco snatches AppDynamics from IPO market for $3.7 billion

Cisco has agreed to acquire AppDynamics for $3.7 billion in cash and assumed equity awards, scooping up the application performance management company just days before its expected initial public offering. The deal, which Cisco announced late Tuesday, is expected to close by the end of April.AppDynamics was going to be the first tech company to go public in 2017, with its initial offering set for Thursday, January 26. Tech industry insiders and investors were watching AppDynamics’s IPO closely, because Wall Street investors’ treatment of its business could signal how other companies would fare later in 2017.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Android Instant Apps testing begins, gives developers 2 bites at the SEO apple

“Software companies are the medium through which investors give money to PR and advertising companies,” said Marv Goldschmidt, vice president of marketing at Lotus Development, a long time ago.His advice holds true today. The biggest problem mobile software developers have is getting their apps found, downloaded and installed. It isn’t creating great apps.Marketing campaigns boosting new-user download of an app are very expensive—so expensive that the leadership team at bookmarking app maker Pocket spent a week sequestered with designer impresario Jake Knapp focusing on the user experience to decrease early uninstalls, thus retaining more users per install without increasing marketing spend.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft’s OneDrive for Business gets Mac client, shared folder sync

Microsoft gave users and administrators of OneDrive for Business some new features on Tuesday that they’ve requested for a while.The company also launched a new Mac client for its business-focused cloud storage service that can be deployed outside the confines of the Mac App Store. Users will also be able to sync files from SharePoint sites and OneDrive for Business shared folders to their desktops, like they have been able to for files that they own.IDC Research Manager Chandana Gopal said in an interview that she saw the new features are Microsoft’s attempt to play catch up with other players in the enterprise cloud storage market like Box and Dropbox, which already offer Mac clients and broad syncing of all the files stored in their services. What’s more, Box and Dropbox are working on making it possible for people to stream files from the cloud to the desktop when they need them.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cyber criminals avoid fraud within their own ranks with new site

Sometimes it's not easy being a cyber criminal. In addition to law enforcement and private security companies, cyber thieves have to battle fraudsters out to beat them at their own game, but a web site offers to help.Ripper.cc has been maintaining a database of known “rippers” or scammers since June last year and security firm Digital Shadows, which has been investigating it, says it may help online black markets flourish.Fraud is a nagging problem in the cyber criminal world, according to Digital Shadows. Although some hackers believe in honor amongst thieves, others are peddling bogus goods, such as stolen credit card numbers or user credentials that turn out to be fake.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cyber criminals avoid fraud within their own ranks with new site

Sometimes it's not easy being a cyber criminal. In addition to law enforcement and private security companies, cyber thieves have to battle fraudsters out to beat them at their own game, but a web site offers to help.Ripper.cc has been maintaining a database of known “rippers” or scammers since June last year and security firm Digital Shadows, which has been investigating it, says it may help online black markets flourish.Fraud is a nagging problem in the cyber criminal world, according to Digital Shadows. Although some hackers believe in honor amongst thieves, others are peddling bogus goods, such as stolen credit card numbers or user credentials that turn out to be fake.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Getting Started With NETCONF and YANG on Cisco IOS XE

Everyone who has any interest in network automation inevitably comes across NETCONF and YANG. These technologies have mostly been implemented for and adopted by big telcos and service providers, while support in the enterprise/DC gear has been virtually non-existent. Things are starting to change now as NETCONF/YANG support has been introduced in the latest IOS XE software train. That’s why I think it’s high time I started another series of posts dedicated to YANG, NETCONF, RESTCONF and various open-source tools to interact with those interfaces.

New Microsoft CTO: Meet the real Kevin Scott (according to LinkedIn)

Call it the first real result from Microsoft's recently finalized $26B buyout of LinkedIn: The former has named the career networking site’s Kevin Scott as its new CTO, a job he will hold in addition to being LinkedIn’s SVP of Infrastructure. Having not actually met Scott, where else to start learning about him than on his LinkedIn page, which features a nice fresh post dated Jan. 24, 2017 and titled “Dream Jobs”? (I checked his Twitter profile too, but this self-described “Old School Geek, Husband, Father, Hacker of Things Large and Small” had no public posts there since late 2014.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Meet new Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott

Call it the first real result from Microsoft's recently finalized $26B buyout of LinkedIn: The former has named the career networking site’s Kevin Scott as its new CTO, a job he will hold in addition to being LinkedIn’s SVP of Infrastructure. Having not actually met Scott, where else to start learning about him than on his LinkedIn page, which features a nice fresh post dated Jan. 24, 2017 and titled “Dream Jobs”? (I checked his Twitter profile too, but this self-described “Old School Geek, Husband, Father, Hacker of Things Large and Small” had no public posts there since late 2014.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Data Center SDN Still Stuck in Trial Phase, IHS Says

Cisco and Juniper were named the top data center SDN vendors.