Wi-Fi & Networks
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Worm infects unpatched Ubiquiti wireless devices
Routers and other wireless devices made by Ubiquiti Networks have been infected by a worm that exploits a one-year-old remote unauthorized access vulnerability.News
Cisco patches high severity flaws in its Web Security Appliance
Cisco Systems has fixed four denial-of-service vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit to cause Web Security Appliance devices to stop processing traffic correctly.
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Network spending still hampered by economic jitters, Cisco says
Economic uncertainty is still putting a damper on some network spending, and that won't change in the next few months, Cisco Systems said Wednesday.News
Nest releases open-source version of Thread networking protocol for smart devices
Thread, an open wireless protocol for the Internet of things, is getting a boost from one of its biggest boosters, Google-owned Nest Labs.News
Networks need automation — just ask the U.S. military
IT professionals are looking to software-defined networking to automate what are still complex and vulnerable systems controlled by human engineers. Major General Sarah Zabel knows where they’re coming from.
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Enterprise networkers have organized: Here are their demands
A user group for enterprise IT managers is taking on software-defined networking, calling for new technologies they say would better serve enterprise needs.News
Aruba fixes networking device flaws that could open doors for hackers
Wireless networking device manufacturer Aruba Networks has fixed multiple vulnerabilities in its software that could, under certain circumstances, allow attackers to compromise devices.News
Cisco patch stops attackers from taking over TelePresence systems
Cisco Systems has fixed a critical vulnerability that could allow attackers to take over TelePresence systems, as well as other high-severity flaws in Cisco FirePOWER and Adaptive Security Appliance devices.News
FCC wireless auction hits spectrum target, paving the way for fast, reliable 5G
Television stations have volunteered to sell off 126MHz of 'beach front' wireless spectrum to mobile carriers in an ongoing U.S. Federal Communications Commission auction, potentially bringing higher speeds and more reliable networks to customers.News
Comcast raises trial data caps to a terabyte but won’t commit to nationwide rollout
Comcast has increased its broadband data caps to a terabyte per month, the company said Wednesday. But company executives seem to think that everyone will be subject to them before long.News
Empty DDoS threats earn extortion group over $100,000
A group of cybercriminals extorted over $100,000 from companies by threatening to launch DDoS attacks against them, without even having the capability to do so.News
For the remotest IoT gear, cellular and satellite are coming together
AT&T and satellite integration company Globecomm joined hands on Monday to let enterprises buy and manage both cellular and satellite connectivity from AT&T.News
Cisco fixes serious denial-of-service flaws in wireless LAN controllers, other products
Cisco Systems has released patches to fix serious denial-of-service flaws in its Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) software, Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software and the Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol (SRTP) library that's used in many products.News
Network woes? The cloud is coming to the rescue
Nyansa, based in Silicon Valley, emerged from stealth mode on Monday with Voyance, a cloud-based SaaS (software-as-a-service) offering that analyzes inputs from wired and wireless LANs to gauge users' actual experiences on a network.News
Massive application-layer attacks could defeat hybrid DDoS protection
Security researchers have recently observed a large application-layer distributed denial-of-service attack using a new technique that could foil DDoS defenses and could spell trouble for website operators.News
This startup uses math to show whether your network is safe
How do you know your network is safe from attacks and failures? Veriflow, a startup with backing from the U.S. Defense Department, says it can make sure.News
Microsoft is putting Windows 10 and Cortana at the center of smart homes
Are you too lazy to open the door or switch on a light? Let Windows 10 and its Cortana voice-activated digital assistant do the job for you.News
New wireless tech from MIT promises password-free Wi-Fi
New wireless technology developed by researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab promises to kill the Wi-Fi password at last.News
Your router could succumb to a new Telnet worm
A new worm called Remaiten infects Linux-based embedded systems by exploiting weak Telnet passwords.News
Quantum networkers, watch out: Twisting light slows it down
Scientists at the University of Ottawa say twisting light into a corkscrew shape slows it down. Doing this can cut 0.1 percent off the speed of light, a tiny tap of the brakes that nevertheless could create a traffic jam for future networks and even quantum computing.News
Startup Sigfox wins over a carrier as new radios battle for the future of IoT
Altice, a network operator active in the U.S. and across Europe, is betting on French company Sigfox to expand its machine-to-machine business, even as it tests LTE-M, a narrowband version of the 4G standard slimmed down for the Internet of Things.News
Amazon starts selling Comcast Internet and TV subscriptions with dedicated help lines
Amazon's new cable store offers Comcast's Internet and cable services.Reviews
Linksys EA7500 Wi-Fi router review: MU-MIMO made affordable (but no more useful)
This router is a good performer, but it's too early in the game to pay more for multi-user MIMO.News
T-Mobile’s Binge On now lets you binge on unlimited porn
T-Mobile's Binge On program has added support for porn site MiKandi.News
Comcast starts rolling out blazing-fast Gigabit Internet
Comcast is offering blazing fast Internet service in Atlanta at a good price, as long as you don't mind a heavy commitment.News
AT&T wants the world to see its software for spinning up services
AT&T has revealed details of a software platform that makes it easier for customers to order new services, and the company may release the code as open source for other service providers to use.News
This one patch panel trick will make all your cables the right length
PatchBox cables automatically adjust to the distance between your patch panel and your server shelf.News
For Germany’s cloud providers, it’s location, location, location
German telecos are rolling out new cloud services this week to compete with those from the big U.S. providers. Their selling point is location — though their “home grown” infrastructure is still dependent on technology from U.S. and Chinese suppliers.News
After New York, gigabit public Wi-Fi comes to Berlin
New York got its first taste of free gigabit Wi-Fi in January, when CityBridge turned on its first LinkNYC hotspots. Now it's Berlin's turn.News
Vodafone readies pan-European virtual private cloud service for SMEs
Small businesses with global ambitions will soon have a new cloud partner — at least wherever Vodafone has data centers.News
Cisco patches serious flaws in cable modems and home gateways
Cisco Systems has patched high-impact vulnerabilities in several of its cable modem and residential gateway devices that are distributed by some ISPs to their customers.News
Google has joined Facebook’s Open Compute Project and submitted a 48-volt rack design
Google has joined Facebook's Open Compute Project and proposed a new design for server racks that could help cloud data centers cut their energy bills.
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Facebook’s open network gear hits the big time at Equinix
Facebook's open networking technology is making inroads into the data center establishment, with global giant Equinix adopting the company's Wedge switch design and an open-source architecture in some of its facilities.
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Pump up your powerline: How to get the best performance from a HomePlug network
HomePlug powerline networks can sometimes reach places your Wi-Fi gear can’t. We’ll show you how to optimize your network’s performance and troubleshoot any problems you might encounter.News
Facebook shows off progress in using lasers to deliver Internet
A key part of Facebook's ambitious plan to deliver Internet connectivity via drone is an air-to-ground laser link that will connect the high-flying aircraft to the Internet, and on Tuesday, Facebook showed off important progress it's made in realizing that technology.News
Cisco issues critical patch for Nexus switches to remove hardcoded credentials
Cisco Systems has released software updates for its Nexus 3000 and 3500 switches in order to remove a default administrative account with static credentials that could allow remote attackers to compromise devices.News
Serious flaws discovered in Netgear and D-Link devices during mass firmware analysis
A team of security researchers found serious vulnerabilities in over a dozen wireless routers and access points from Netgear and D-Link with the help of an open-source framework that can be used to perform dynamic security analysis on embedded firmware.News
‘Passive Wi-Fi’ researchers promise to cut Wi-Fi power by 10,000x
Researchers at the University of Washington say they've discovered passive Wi-Fi: a way to reduce Wi-Fi power to the microwatt level, useful for sensors or the Internet of Things.News
Asus agrees to 20 years of audits to settle “pervasive” router insecurity charges
Asus has agreed to settle a U.S. Federal Trade Commission complaint that the company failed to take reasonable steps to secure the software on its routers, the agency said Tuesday.News
Apple and the FBI will need to compromise, Cisco’s CEO says
Cisco Systems CEO Chuck Robbins gave up a chance to strongly support enterprise mobility partner Apple in its fight with the FBI over iPhone encryption.News
Beyond Centrino: Intel drives device changes for a 5G world
Intel sparked a wireless revolution in 2003 with its Centrino program to connect laptops over Wi-Fi, and now the emerging 5G standard could bring another big change in the way devices communicate.News
Facebook aims to extend Open Compute model to telecom gear
Facebook is extending its collaborative model for developing low-cost compute and networking hardware to telecommunications gear as well, focusing on three areas — access, backhaul, and core and management.News
The hottest item at Mobile World Congress won’t be for sale
In Barcelona, you really can buy happiness. (It's called Iberico, a delicious Spanish ham.) But you can't buy unlicensed spectrum, and yet it's going to be the hottest thing at Mobile World Congress next week.News
Hard-coded password exposes up to 46,000 video surveillance DVRs to hacking
Up to 46,000 Internet accessible digital video recorders (DVRs) that are used to monitor and record video streams from surveillance cameras in homes and businesses can be easily taken over by hackers.News
Critical VPN key exchange flaw exposes Cisco security appliances to remote hacking
Cisco Systems patched a critical vulnerability that could allow remote attackers to take over Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) firewalls configured as virtual private network servers by simply sending malformed network packets to them.
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Stock-market jitters have rocked network spending, Cisco says
The world's financial markets got off to such a rough start this year that some enterprises froze plans to upgrade their campus networks, according to Cisco.News
5G might be your next home broadband service
An AT&T regulatory filing last week shed light on a lesser-known aspect of the emerging 5G wireless standard that could be a boon to some consumers: Home broadband.
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Serious flaws found in Netgear’s NMS300 network management system
Serious vulnerabilities in the Netgear NMS300 ProSafe network management system, an application used to discover, monitor and configure a wide range of network devices, can allow hackers to take control of the servers it's running on.News
Cisco will get stronger in IoT by buying Jasper for $1.4 billion
Cisco Systems plans to acquire Internet of Things platform company Jasper Technologies for more than US$1.4 billion, giving the networking giant an even larger role in enterprises' growing use of IoT.News