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Category Archives for "Networking"

The top 12 cloud security threats

Enterprises are no longer sitting on their hands, wondering if they should risk migrating applications and data to the cloud. They're doing it -- but security remains a serious concern.The first step in minimizing risk in the cloud is to identify the top security threats.[ Deep Dive: How to rethink security for the new world of IT. | Discover how to secure your systems with InfoWorld's Security newsletter. ] As the RSA Conference last week, the CSA (Cloud Security Alliance) listed the “Treacherous 12,” the top 12 cloud computing threats organizations face in 2016. The CSA released the report to help both cloud customers and providers focus their defensive efforts.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Power stations gone by 2030, report suggests

The writing is on the wall for large-scale, traditional power generation, according to an official energy-industry organization in a major developed nation.Decentralized energy, where power is sourced from rooftop photovoltaic solar panels, battery storage and other technology could supplant classic grid-based power stations in the UK by 2030, according to industry interviews conducted by the trade association Energy UK. Energy UK represents over 80 suppliers there, who serve 26 million customers.British electricity users will increasingly get their energy from small-scale electricity generation and storage, the association thinks.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Subscriber management on Juniper MX with FreeRadius

Quite often on my travels I sometimes encounter technologies I worked on a long time ago that I seem to bump into again later in life, in this case it’s terminating broadband subscribers. Many years ago I worked on large-scale Cisco platform terminating DSL business broadband users on Cisco 7200s over ATM, recently I’ve been involved in a couple of jobs where FTTC users are being terminated on Juniper MX480 routers, using double-tagging and PPPoE, this first post looks into how to setup a Juniper MX router from scratch and terminate PPPoE subscribers authenticated by RADIUS (in this case FreeRadius)

The topology:

topology

 

Equipment used for this is as follows:

  • MX-1 is a Juniper MX-5 router, acting as the BRAS or BNG
  • MX-2 is also an MX-5 is a generic PE with simulated external connectivity
  • EX-4500 is self explanatory, and is basically doing QinQ towards the BNG
  • RADIUS is an Ubuntu server running FreeRadius (explained in more detail later)
  • For Broadband subscribers, I’m lucky to have access to an IXIA XG12 tester

Before we get to the BNG side of things, lets take a look at the access network (EX-4500) essentially, this switch is doing several things:

ICANN stewardship transition plan sent to US government

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has submitted Thursday a plan for ending U.S. oversight of key technical Internet functions in favor of a global multi-stakeholder governance model.The complex new proposals aim to create an oversight body called the "empowered community" for enforcing community powers and include tighter rules for changes to certain bylaws of the organization. The Governmental Advisory Committee, consisting of representatives of governments, will continue to have an advisory role, though it will be better placed if it works in consensus, according to a document circulated by ICANN.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

CCIE – CCIE SPv4 Review by Nick Russo

My friend Nick Russo just took the SPv4 lab and passed it. This is his story.

On 8 March 2016, I passed Cisco’s CCIE Service Provider version 4 lab exam. It was my second attempt. I realize there is little information on the Internet about this test because it is still rather new. This blog post will detail my personal strategy for passing the CCIE SPv4 lab exam. Most CCIEs and CCDEs agree that a smart strategy is a critical part of passing any Cisco expert-level lab; many folks are technically proficient but need to remain organized to be effective.

Note: the views expressed in this blog post are mine alone and do not necessarily represent the views of Cisco. No correlation between my comments and Cisco’s recommendation study strategies should be made. Also note that no technical exam content is discussed here in accordance with Cisco’s CCIE NDA. Comments fishing for such information will be deleted.

First, the new blueprint has 3 sections: Troubleshooting (TSHOOT), Diagnostic (DIAG), and Configuration (CONFIG). The CCIE SPv4 program explains these topics in detail within the new blueprint so that is not discussed again here. Since each section is slightly different, one should have Continue reading

dt_aclcheck – Find a match in extended access list.

Some ACLs are short, some ACLs are really long!



Patch closes security hole in messaging encryption tool

A software component for encrypting instant messaging clients has a flaw that could let attackers take over users' machines, but there's now a patch for the vulnerability.The vulnerability is contained in libotr, short for OTR Messaging Library and Toolkit. The up-to-date version is now 4.1.1.OTR stands for Off-the-Record Messaging. It's a a cryptographic protocol that scrambles messages sent through clients including Pidgin, ChatSecure and Adium.The integer overflow flaw was found by Markus Vervier of the German company X41 D-Sec, which released an advisory. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Junos Space – checking processes are running

After two miserable nights trying to upgrade Space 13.1R1.6 to 14.1R1.9,  I finally called up JTAC for some assistance.  For some reason the upgrade started, but never finished – the GUI remaining in ‘maintenance mode’ for several hours.

What they did:

Checked the services – all were showing as down:

service jmp-watchdog status
service jboss status
service jboss-dc status

Tried to start jboss-dc, but it complained that it couldn’t write or create /var/log/jboss.

Did the following to change ownership from root:root on the /var/log directory:

chown jboss:root /var/log

Did this:

service jboss-dc start
service jboss start

At this point the GUI started showing ‘Junos space is preparing to start  up’, and after 20 minutes it changed to say the applications were deploying.


PHPBB and website integration

I needed to integrate a website login with a phpBB3 forum recently, and this blog post came in really useful:  http://www.3cc.org/blog/2010/03/integrating-your-existing-site-into-phpbb3/

The only issue with it was the logout section – it uses $_GET, but when I implement this I get a message saying that this is an ‘illegal use of $_GET’.

Instead, the logout code that worked for me was this – it uses request_var() instead:

<?php
$cp = request_var('cp', '');
if ($cp == "logout") {
$user->session_kill();
$user->session_begin();
echo "Logged out";
}
?>

Squiggly lines: The future of smartphone security?

If PINs, passwords and biometrics just aren't making you feel secure about your smartphone contents, researchers at Rutgers University might have a new alternative: free-form gestures.They've conducted a study of such doodling for smartphone security in the field  (initially with Android phones...sorry iPhone fans) and will formally publish this paper on "Free-Form Gesture Authentication in the Wild" in May. The system, which involved installing software on study participants'phones, enabled users to doodle using any number of fingers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Going to CiscoLive US 2016? Don’t Forget Your Kilt!

I don’t recall the exact details of how “#KiltedMonday” started last year at CiscoLive US 2015.

I just know

ucgod_kiltkiltedmonday

 

  • I’m SO joining this year!  — Just ordered my kilt.

speaker

 

  • Scott (@ScottMorrisCCIE) is not only planning on joining this year… but he is hoping it falls on the day he will be presenting scott

 

 

 

 

Emergency Flash Player patch fixes actively exploited vulnerability

Adobe Systems released new versions of Flash Player in order to fix 18 critical vulnerabilities that could be exploited to take over computers, including one flaw that's already targeted by attackers."Adobe is aware of a report that an exploit for CVE-2016-1010 is being used in limited, targeted attacks," the company said in a security advisory. The flaw stems from a heap overflow condition and was reported to Adobe by researchers from antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab.Kaspersky Lab did not immediately respond to an inquiry seeking more details about the targeted attacks in which the vulnerability is being exploited.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

FCC wants ISPs to get customer permission before sharing personal data

Broadband providers would often be required to get customer permission to use and share personal data they collect under regulations proposed by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Broadband providers have an unrivaled ability to track customers and collect personal data, and there currently are no specific rules covering broadband providers and customer privacy, FCC officials said Thursday. The goal of the rules is to give broadband customers notice, choice and control over their personal data, FCC officials said during a press briefing. "Your ISP handles all of your network traffic," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler wrote in the Huffington Post. "That means it has a broad view of all of your unencrypted online activity -- when you are online, the websites you visit, and the apps you use."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Kicked out of PCs, Blu-ray drives are revived in data centers

Blu-ray and DVD drives are being kicked out of PCs but finding a new life in data centers as storage that can retain data for up to 100 years.A massive new system from Sony called Everspan is a collection of optical drives that can store up to 181 petabytes of data. The system can expand to 55 feet in length and have hundreds of Blu-ray-like drives.The system will be used for long-term storage of data that isn't modified often, or information that businesses feel need to be retained for specific reasons. Everspan was announced and shown for the first time at the Open Compute Project (OCP) U.S. Summit 2016 this week, and will start shipping to customers in July.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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