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Jeff Caruso

$3.4B is Cisco's final offer

Cisco ups offer for videoconferencing firm Tandberg to $3.4 billion.
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Mon, 11/16/09 - 8:40pm.

Cisco has raised its offer for videoconferencing company Tandberg to $3.4 billion, IDG News Service reports.

The previous offer was $3.0 billion, and Cisco had struggled to convince the shareholders that it was a fair price.

Obviously, Cisco's raise indicates that the company takes videoconfernecing pretty seriously, and that TelePresence is not enough.

Halloween treats at Network World

Mad science projects, IT industry graveyard, terrifying security tales, and more.
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Wed, 10/28/09 - 11:04am.

It's a full moon here at Network World, with Halloween stuff bursting forth from every page. Michael Cooney collected a dozen projects that seem to have been inspired by mad scientists. Keith Shaw pulls out the spooky sound effects for the annual podcast, "True Tales of Terrifying Security."

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Where to start Patch Tuesday cleanup?

Fallout from Microsoft's Patch Tuesday announcement.
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Wed, 10/14/09 - 10:44am.

I'm not sure there's any such thing as a small Patch Tuesday. Microsoft this week released 13 patches, many of them critical and many of them getting strong reactions among experts.

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Lotus says Microsoft's numbers are 'ridiculous and fabricated'

Lotus strikes back at Microsoft's claims of migrations from Notes to Exchange.
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Tue, 09/22/09 - 3:43pm.

Network World's John Fontana writes:

Lotus Software GM Bob Picciano has grown tired of the "hot wind" blowing out of Redmond carrying claims that Exchange is displacing Notes and is singling out CEO Steve Ballmer and COO Kevin Turner as the main culprits spreading "ridiculous and fabricated" information.

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Verizon speaks out against Nortel sale

Jim Duffy reports that Verizon has filed court documents opposing the sale of Nortel's enterprise business to Avaya.
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Thu, 09/10/09 - 4:55pm.

Jim Duffy reports that Verizon has filed court documents opposing the sale of Nortel's enterprise business to Avaya.

Verizon fears that support contracts will end and cut off key customers, he writes. More importantly, Verizon says, "Communications networks critical to the operation of the federal government, and the defense, safety, health and security of the American public are at risk."

Read the full article.

Cisco fixes DoS vulnerability in routers and switches

Cisco has patched a software hole that could lead to a denial-of-service attack.
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Wed, 09/09/09 - 3:20pm.

Network World's Jim Duffy writes that Cisco has patched a software hole that could lead to a denial-of-service attack on routers and switches.

From the article:

The vulnerability allows attackers to manipulate the state of TCP connections, according to a Cisco security advisory released this week. By manipulating the state of a TCP connection, an attacker could force the TCP connection to remain in a long-lived state, possibly indefinitely.

Qwest second U.S. carrier to announce move to 100G

Qwest and Verizon Business both moving toward 100 Gigabit Ethernet
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Wed, 09/02/09 - 4:38pm.

Verizon Business is testing 100 Gbps links, with the intent of deploying the technology in its backbone next year. Now, Brad Reed reports that Qwest is also upgrading its backbone to 100G. The company says the project will continue throughout 2010.

Analysts recently noted that 100G Ethernet equipment could go to market faster than 40G.

Wi-Fi's WPA encryption cracked in 60 seconds

Japanese researchers find a faster way to break common encryption mechanism.
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Thu, 08/27/09 - 4:02pm.

You may remember that researchers last year cracked Wi-Fi's WPA encryption - which was supposed to be vastly improved over the previous standard, WEP.

But Japanese researchers "have taken the attack to a new level," cracking the code in a minute.

Good news / bad news on phishing

Phishing attacks are down, but that just means you need to look out for something else.
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Wed, 08/26/09 - 1:45pm.

The good news, according to IBM, is that spam-based phishing attacks are down noticeably. The bad news is that this probably means attackers are just shifting to other methods for stealing personal data that are more effective.

Russian criminals are apparently the biggest believers in phishing, as Russia is the top country of origin for that type of attack.

Ellen Messmer has details.

Microsoft's newest virtualization software won't be at VMworld - why not?

Microsoft could show its virtualization software, but won't.
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Tue, 08/25/09 - 4:06pm.

Network World's John Fontana notes that Microsoft's newly updated System Center Virtual Machine Manager won't be in the company's booth at the VMworld show next week.

Why not? Microsoft is saying that it's VMware's show, and VMware has set rules that forbid Microsoft from showing the software. VMware, however, says it has no plans to enforce the restriction.

So what's Microsoft doing?

Windows WINS attacks coming from China

Researchers have found the source of recent attacks on Windows Server service.
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Wed, 08/19/09 - 12:22pm.

Yesterday, John Fontana reported that the vulnerability in the WINS service on Windows server was being exploited, and now researchers have found that the attacks are coming from China, despite some troubles with the undersea cables linking China to other parts of the world.

Poor password protection just makes it easier for the hackers

Account password-reset procedures are a joke, blogger writes.
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Tue, 08/18/09 - 4:27pm.

This week, blogger Jamey Heary marvels at just how easy it is for him to get his passwords reset. With information that could be found on an airline boarding pass, the gates can be opened.

More details here.

Black Hat roundup

In one of the more exciting Black Hat conferences in recent memory, researchers revealed holes in everything from SSL to Microsoft software to the iPhone's SMS.
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Thu, 07/30/09 - 2:52pm.

In one of the more exciting Black Hat conferences in recent memory, researchers revealed holes in everything from SSL to Microsoft software to the iPhone's SMS. Here are some of the best stories from the conference:
More holes found in SSL
The truth about new SSL attacks
New features can open up Cisco IOS to hackers

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Targeted spam makes you feel important and knowledgeable. Not that you aren't

Spam that doesn't look like spam, but you have to beware anyway.
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Tue, 07/28/09 - 4:27pm.

One of the editors here recently started receiving spam that doesn't really look like spam. It looks like a simple request for information, and there's no link to click. Here's a sample:

Do you have to dial a 1 on a wireless phone?
Since you have experience, I was hoping you could give me some clues as to what you look out for.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Thankyou,
Tony

Seems harmless enough, right? And on its own, you might even be tempted to respond in a helpful way. Until you get this one a couple of hours later:

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PDF exploit in the wild, drops Trojan on users' systems

Symantec issues warning about an Adobe Acrobat PDF file that exploits a vulnerability to drop a Trojan on a user's system
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Wed, 07/22/09 - 2:50pm.

UPDATE: Ellen Messmer has a full story here.

Symantec issued this warning regarding Adobe Acrobat PDF files:

Symantec Security Response recently came into possession of an Adobe Acrobat PDF file that is exploiting a vulnerability and, when opening, drops and executes a malicious binary onto a user’s system. The malicious PDF files are detected as Trojan.Pidief.G and the dropped files as Trojan Horse.

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America's 10 most wanted botnets

The worst of the worst.
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Wed, 07/22/09 - 11:04am.

Botnets are emerging as the shadow network infrastructure of the Internet - the "botsphere," perhaps - one that is available for hire by spammers and others who would like to use a massive cloud-computing infrastructure for denial-of-service attacks and other shady dealings.

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5 technologies Iran uses to censor the Web #iranelection

A look at some of the tools of censorship.
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Mon, 07/20/09 - 4:10pm.

We've heard a lot about the technologies - mainly Twitter - that Iranians have been using to communicate with each other and the rest of the world.

Now, Brad Reed looks at five of the technologies and techniques that the Iranian government uses to censor the Internet.

Netbook shipments to double this year

The economy is making cheaper netbooks popular.
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Tue, 07/14/09 - 12:33pm.

The IDG News Service is reporting that netbooks are flying off the shelves. Research firm DisplaySearch says 16 million netbooks shipped last year, and 32 million could ship this year.

Meanwhile, laptop shipments are expected to be flat, at 129 million.

This is all not very surprising, given the low price point of netbooks, at $300 to $500. But while you may be tempted, netbooks may not be for you.

Social Security numbers can be "guessed"

Social Security numbers can be deduced from other information
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Tue, 07/07/09 - 11:27am.

You may know that Social Security numbers historically have been based in part on geographical location. But a new study suggests that with a little number-crunching, you can figure out someone's full SSN if you know their date and place of birth.

And before you say such information is as hard to come by as the SSN itself, consider what people put on their Facebook pages.

Nortel exec: Bay Networks glory can return after some "chemotherapy"

Nortel's John McHugh on Bay Networks
Submitted by Jeff Caruso on Wed, 07/01/09 - 4:01pm.

I recently wrote about Nortel's current woes, and how they could (at least in part) be traced back to its acquisition of Bay Networks. That got the attention of Nortel's current VP and GM of its enterprise group, John McHugh, who talked to Tim Greene about resurrecting the old Bay Networks - both the name and the energy.

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About NetFlash
Jeff Caruso is Executive Online Editor at Network World.