DOJ cracks San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone

The U.S. government has managed to access the iPhone used by San Bernardino gunman Syed Rizwan Farook, bypassing a passcode that had the FBI stymied for several weeks. "The government has now successfully accessed the data stored on Farook’s iPhone and therefore no longer requires the assistance from Apple," the Department of Justice said in a court filing on Monday. The filing didn’t detail the method used to access the phone, but U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker said in a statement that it had been accomplished with the help of a third party.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Going to IETF 95? Join the TLS 1.3 hackathon

If you’re in Buenos Aires on April 2-3 and are interested in building, come join the IETF Hackathon. CloudFlare and Mozilla will be working on TLS 1.3, the first new version of TLS in eight years!

At the hackathon we’ll be focusing on implementing the latest draft of TLS 1.3 and testing interoperability between existing implementations written in C, Go, OCaml, JavaScript and F*. If you have experience with network programming and cryptography, come hack on the latest and greatest protocol and help find problems before it is finalized. If you’re planning on attending, add your name to the Hackathon wiki. If you can’t make it, but implementing cryptographic protocols is your cup of tea, apply to join the CloudFlare team!

We’re very excited about TLS 1.3, which brings both security and performance improvements to HTTPS. In fact, if you have a client that speaks TLS 1.3 draft 10, you can read this blog on our TLS 1.3 mirror: tls13.cloudflare.com.

We hope to see you there!

Macvlan vs Ipvlan

I’ve covered macvlans in the Bridge vs Macvlan post. If you are new to macvlan concept, go ahead and read it first.

Macvlan

To recap: Macvlan allows you to configure sub-interfaces (also termed slave devices) of a parent, physical Ethernet interface (also termed upper device), each with its own unique MAC address, and consequently its own IP address. Applications, VMs and containers can then bind to a specific sub-interface to connect directly to the physical network, using their own MAC and IP address.

Linux Macvlan

Macvlan is a near-ideal solution to natively connect VMs and containers to a physical network, but it has its shortcomings:

  • The switch the host is connected to may have a policy that limits the number of different MAC addresses on a physical port. Although you should really work with your network administrator to change the policy, there are times when this might not be possible (or you just need to set up a quick PoC).
  • Many NICs have a limit on the number of MAC addresses they support in hardware. Exceeding the limit may affect the performance.
  • IEEE 802.11 doesn’t like multiple MAC addresses on a single client. It is likely macvlan sub-interfaces will be blocked Continue reading

The Design Mindset (3)

So you’ve spent time asking what, observing the network as a system, and considering what has actually been done in the past. And you’ve spent time asking why, trying to figure out the purpose (or lack of purpose) behind the configuration and design choices made in the past. You’ve followed the design mindset to this point, so now you can jump in and make like a wrecking ball (or a bull in a china shop), changing things so they’re better, and the new requirements you have can fit right in. Right?

Wrong.

As an example, I want to take you back to another part of a story I told here about my early days in the networking world. Before losing the war over Banyan Vines, I actually encountered an obstacle that should have been telling—but I was too much of a noob at the time to recognize it for the warning it really was. At the time, I had written a short paper comparing Vines to Netware; the paper was, perhaps, ten pages long, and I thought it did a pretty good job of comparing the two network operating systems. Heck, I’d even put together a page showing how Vines Continue reading

NAND mirroring proof-of-concept show that FBI could use it to crack iPhone

So NAND mirroring doesn’t work to crack into Syed Farook's work iPhone and grab the contents, huh? Tell that to the security researcher’s proof-of-concept demonstration.iPhone forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski previously suggested the FBI could use NAND mirroring to get information off the locked San Bernadino shooter’s iPhone; yet FBI Director James Comey claimed that making a copy of the phone’s chip to get around the passcode “doesn’t work” and the solution would be “software-based.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Change Control: Embrace the Red Tape

Change control isn’t so bad. With the underlying goal of risk mitigation, good change control can save a network engineer from the dreaded resume generating event we sweat over during cutovers. Change management frameworks such as ITIL layer an element of bureaucracy over network operations to provide a basis for a quantitative approach to IT […]

The post Change Control: Embrace the Red Tape appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Change Control: Embrace the Red Tape

Change control isn’t so bad. With the underlying goal of risk mitigation, good change control can save a network engineer from the dreaded resume generating event we sweat over during cutovers. Change management frameworks such as ITIL layer an element of bureaucracy over network operations to provide a basis for a quantitative approach to IT […]

The post Change Control: Embrace the Red Tape appeared first on Packet Pushers.

46% off APC Back-UPS Pro Uninterruptible Power Supply – Deal Alert

Relying on a cheap power strip to protect your valuable electronic systems can be risky. Unexpected power disruptions and voltage fluctuations can disconnect and cause massive damage to your networking equipment, televisions, gaming equipment, security systems or anything else you've got plugged in. Enter the APC Back-UPS Pro BR1500G uninterruptible power supply. List price is $310, but after a dramatic $143 discount you can purchase this unit now for $166.97 (See on Amazon). It is currently rated 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 1,700 reviewers (read reviews).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple demands delay in NY iPhone case

Apple last week asked a federal magistrate in New York to extend a court filing deadline until after the government decides whether it can unlock a different iPhone in a similar case, documents revealed.The New York case involved an iPhone used by a convicted drug dealer. Last year, the the Department of Justice (DOJ) requested a court order compelling Apple to help authorities crack that phone's security so that investigators could access its data. When Apple contested the motion in October it gave the first hint that it had drawn a line in the sand on assisting authorities.Magistrate Judge James Orenstein refused the government's demand, but the DOJ has appealed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

ISPs are breaking net neutrality rules, advocacy groups say

Internet service providers are picking "winners and losers" in violation of U.S. net neutrality rules by selectively exempting Web traffic from their monthly data caps, according to a coalition of more than 50 advocacy groups.The Federal Communications Commission should stop ISPs from exempting selected Web traffic, known as offering zero-rating plans, and enforce its year-old net neutrality rules, the digital rights and consumer groups said in a letter to the agency Monday.INSIDER: 5 tricks to improve poor TCP performance Zero-rating plans "present a serious threat" to the open Internet, the letter said. "They distort competition, thwart innovation, threaten free speech, and restrict consumer choice."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here