DARPA extreme DDOS project transforming network attack mitigation

Researchers with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have quickly moved to alter the way the military, public and private enterprises protect their networks from high-and low-speed distributed denial-of-service attacks with a program called Extreme DDoS Defense (XD3).The agency has since September awarded seven XD3 multi-million contracts to Georgia Tech, George Mason University, Invincea Labs, Raytheon BBN, Vencore Labs (two contracts) and this week to the University of Pennsylvania to radically alter DDOS defenses. One more contract is expected under the program.The UPenn project is developing defenses against distributed denial of service attacks that target specific protocols and their logic. These attacks are often difficult to diagnose and stop because the total volume of malicious traffic may be very low. The UPenn project attempts to pinpoint the specific protocol component that is under attack and then massively replicate that component to blunt the effects of the attack, DARPA stated.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

DARPA extreme DDOS project transforming network attack mitigation

Researchers with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have quickly moved to alter the way the military, public and private enterprises protect their networks from high-and low-speed distributed denial-of-service attacks with a program called Extreme DDoS Defense (XD3).The agency has since September awarded seven XD3 multi-million contracts to Georgia Tech, George Mason University, Invincea Labs, Raytheon BBN, Vencore Labs (two contracts) and this week to the University of Pennsylvania to radically alter DDOS defenses. One more contract is expected under the program.The UPenn project is developing defenses against distributed denial of service attacks that target specific protocols and their logic. These attacks are often difficult to diagnose and stop because the total volume of malicious traffic may be very low. The UPenn project attempts to pinpoint the specific protocol component that is under attack and then massively replicate that component to blunt the effects of the attack, DARPA stated.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Verizon Exec Says 5G Will Be an Overlay to LTE

5G initially will be a fixed wireless service, not mobile.

Criminal defendants demand to see FBI’s secret hacking tool

A secret FBI hacking tool, used to compromise the Tor anonymous browser in one investigation, is facing challenges from criminal defendants, perhaps putting its future in doubt.Defendants have demanded to see details of the FBI network investigative technique (NIT), the agency's name for the relatively recent hacking tool, in a handful of criminal cases, but the agency has refused to disclose the information.A judge in a high-profile child pornography case, in which a website called Playpen was accessible only through Tor, is trying to decide whether the FBI should disclose the NIT"s source code to the defendant.If the FBI shares the source code, its hacking tools may be compromised in future cases, but the U.S. Constitution's Sixth Amendment gives the defendant a right to confront his accusers and challenge their investigation.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Criminal defendants demand to see FBI’s secret hacking tool

A secret FBI hacking tool, used to compromise the Tor anonymous browser in one investigation, is facing challenges from criminal defendants, perhaps putting its future in doubt.Defendants have demanded to see details of the FBI network investigative technique (NIT), the agency's name for the relatively recent hacking tool, in a handful of criminal cases, but the agency has refused to disclose the information.A judge in a high-profile child pornography case, in which a website called Playpen was accessible only through Tor, is trying to decide whether the FBI should disclose the NIT"s source code to the defendant.If the FBI shares the source code, its hacking tools may be compromised in future cases, but the U.S. Constitution's Sixth Amendment gives the defendant a right to confront his accusers and challenge their investigation.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Android apps run securely on Chrome OS in Linux containers

With first-quarter shipments exceeding Macs in the United States, Chromebooks are very popular. Schools and enterprises choose Chromebooks for their very streamlined use case: low cost, fast boot security, simplicity and ease of administration.Chromebooks just got a little more complicated, but for the better, with Google’s announcement that the Android Play Store will be available on Chromebooks and that Android apps will run on the Chrome operating system. The million Android apps—which include popular apps such as Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Word and Skype and games such as Clash of Clans and Angry Birds—will remedy the Chromebook’s relative app sparsity.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Android apps run securely on Chrome OS in Linux containers

With first-quarter shipments exceeding Macs in the United States, Chromebooks are very popular. Schools and enterprises choose Chromebooks for their very streamlined use case: low cost, fast boot security, simplicity and ease of administration.Chromebooks just got a little more complicated, but for the better, with Google’s announcement that the Android Play Store will be available on Chromebooks and that Android apps will run on the Chrome operating system. The million Android apps—which include popular apps such as Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Word and Skype and games such as Clash of Clans and Angry Birds—will remedy the Chromebook’s relative app sparsity.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Data is being ‘hoarded,’ not commercialized

Massive amounts of data is being collected, but isn’t being used to generate business growth, says a public body that has recently completed funding a 2.5-year research project on the subject.Big data should be used in an entrepreneurial way to create “profitable information-based products and services,” says British government agency Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in a press release.At the moment, it’s just being “hoarded.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Stale beer no more: This app can tell you when it’s past its prime

There's a good chance your tastebuds would tell you when you're drinking stale beer, but now science has come to the rescue to spare them that pain.You can thank the chemists at Spain's Complutense University of Madrid, who have developed a sensor and Android app that can tell you when you shouldn't even bother having a sip.To monitor a beer's freshness, brewers often use chromatography techniques to measure indicative chemicals including furfural, a compound that appears during the aging process and gives beer a stale taste. The problem is, those techniques can be time-consuming and expensive.In this new work, published recently in the journal Analytical Chemistry, the researchers devised a system including sensor discs that detect the presence of furfural in beer. Made from a polymer similar to what's used to manufacture contact lenses, the sensors change color from yellow to pink when they come into contact with a beer containing furfural.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: the “buy now” button

Enter the “Buy Now” button. A team of researchers from UC Berkeley and Case Western have published a study showing that customers think they are getting traditional ownership rights when they buy digital media online, even when a vendor’s site includes legal terms (often buried in click-wrap agreements) purporting to limit those rights. —deeplinks

The post Worth Reading: the “buy now” button appeared first on 'net work.

Show 289: Hutto School District Puts VMware NSX To The Test (Sponsored)

On today's show, sponsored by VMware, we talk to a VMware NSX customer to get their real-life experiences with the technology. And just to make it more interesting, this customer also uses Cisco ACI, which we'll get into.

The post Show 289: Hutto School District Puts VMware NSX To The Test (Sponsored) appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Show 289: Hutto School District Puts VMware NSX To The Test (Sponsored)

On today's show, sponsored by VMware, we talk to a VMware NSX customer to get their real-life experiences with the technology. And just to make it more interesting, this customer also uses Cisco ACI, which we'll get into.

The post Show 289: Hutto School District Puts VMware NSX To The Test (Sponsored) appeared first on Packet Pushers.

The (R)Evolution of Network Operations

Don't rely on a hodge-podge of disjointed tools to run your network.

Packet Blast: Top Tech Blogs, May 20

Worm infects unpatched Ubiquiti wireless devices

Routers and other wireless devices made by Ubiquiti Networks have recently been infected by a worm that exploits a year-old remote unauthorized access vulnerability.The attack highlights one of the major issues with router security: the fact that the vast majority of them do not have an auto update mechanism and that their owners hardly ever update them manually.The worm creates a backdoor administrator account on vulnerable devices and then uses them to scan for and infect other devices on the same and other networks."This is an HTTP/HTTPS exploit that doesn't require authentication," Ubiquiti said in an advisory. "Simply having a radio on outdated firmware and having its http/https interface exposed to the Internet is enough to get infected."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worm infects unpatched Ubiquiti wireless devices

Routers and other wireless devices made by Ubiquiti Networks have recently been infected by a worm that exploits a year-old remote unauthorized access vulnerability.The attack highlights one of the major issues with router security: the fact that the vast majority of them do not have an auto update mechanism and that their owners hardly ever update them manually.The worm creates a backdoor administrator account on vulnerable devices and then uses them to scan for and infect other devices on the same and other networks."This is an HTTP/HTTPS exploit that doesn't require authentication," Ubiquiti said in an advisory. "Simply having a radio on outdated firmware and having its http/https interface exposed to the Internet is enough to get infected."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worm infects unpatched Ubiquiti wireless devices

Routers and other wireless devices made by Ubiquiti Networks have recently been infected by a worm that exploits a year-old remote unauthorized access vulnerability.The attack highlights one of the major issues with router security: the fact that the vast majority of them do not have an auto update mechanism and that their owners hardly ever update them manually.The worm creates a backdoor administrator account on vulnerable devices and then uses them to scan for and infect other devices on the same and other networks."This is an HTTP/HTTPS exploit that doesn't require authentication," Ubiquiti said in an advisory. "Simply having a radio on outdated firmware and having its http/https interface exposed to the Internet is enough to get infected."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

‘It’s time to take a stand’

“It’s time to take a stand,” says Redditor Grnslv, posting at r/iiiiiiitttttttttttt, “a subreddit dedicated specifically for Information Technology rage!”The stand in this case: opposition to compensation measured in calories. His screen capture explains: Redditor Grnslv Not everyone participating in the ensuing discussion was a hardliner.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

‘It’s time to take a stand’

“It’s time to take a stand,” says Redditor Grnslv, posting at r/iiiiiiitttttttttttt, “a subreddit dedicated specifically for Information Technology rage!”The stand in this case: opposition to compensation measured in calories. His screen capture explains: Redditor Grnslv Not everyone participating in the ensuing discussion was a hardliner.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google’s intelligent assistant, Google Home, was never a top-secret project

The announcement of the Google Home intelligent assistant was an unexpected but not really a surprise announcement. Leaks did not ruin the surprise, but rather Google’s open approach to innovation did. Through participation in open forums and open source projects, published papers, and the release of application programming interfaces (APIs), Google publicly signals its direction.Google Home was built using the Google Assistant software platform that was also announced this week. Think of Google Home generally as a hardware competitor to Amazon Echo, and Google Assistant is a software platform like Google Now but much more context aware and intelligent.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here