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It’s May 1st again, which means it’s time for our annual Open Source Conference, a time to celebrate the multitude of free and open source software developers world wide. Even more so than last May 1st, I’m very impressed to see the large turnout and the great feedback after the keynote and four tracks on Big Data, Cloud, Internet of Everything (IoE), and Software Defined Networking (SDN). Our keynote was from Dan Frye, a wonderful friend and partner at IBM. Wonderful to see Doug Cutting from Cloudera, Adrian Cockroft from Netflix, Troy Torman from Rackspace, Chris Wright from Red Hat, Juan Negron from Canonical, Mark Hinkle from Citrix and Vijoy Pandey from IBM and the great discussions that ensued. My thanks to Bhushan Kanekar who helped me put together the SDN track and also to our other tracks leaders, Mark Voelker for Big Data, Kyle Mestery and Brian Mullen for Cloud, and Fabio Maino and Laurent Philonenko for IoE and Collaboration — it’s great to see these guys come of age in open source, enjoying the moment and helping the open community grow. To all those of you who came, contributed and enjoyed this event, we salute you! Open at Cisco is proving it has indeed become a vibrant and fast growing community. Happy May Day!



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Prologue

On April 10, 2013, a collective of politically motivated hacktivists announced a round of planned attacks called #OPUSA. These attacks, slated to begin May 7, 2013, are to be launched against U.S.-based targets. #OPUSA is a follow-up to #OPISRAEL, which were a series of attacks carried out on April 7 against Israeli-based targets. Our goal here is to summarize and inform readers of resources, recommendations, network mitigations, and best practices that are available to prevent, mitigate, respond to, or dilute the effectiveness of these attacks. This blog was a collaborative effort between myself, Kevin TimmJoseph KarpenkoPanos Kampanakis, and the Cisco TRAC team.

Analysis

If the attackers follow the same patterns as previously witnessed during the #OPISRAEL attacks, then targets can expect a mixture of attacks. Major components of previous attacks consisted of denial of service attacks and web application exploits, ranging from advanced ad-hoc attempts to simple website defacements. In the past, attackers used such tools as LOICHOIC, and Slowloris.

Publicly announced attacks of this nature can have highly volatile credibility. In some cases, the announcements exist only for the purpose of gaining notoriety. In other cases, they are enhanced by increased publicity. Given the lack of specific details about participation or capabilities, the exact severity of the attack can’t be known until it (possibly) happens. Continue reading “Coordinated Attacks Against the U.S. Government and Banking Infrastructure”



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A connected toothbrush that gives you a virtual checkup every time you brush – is that weird, or near-term reality?

I recently came across the article “25 Weirdest Things in the ‘Internet of Things’” in InfoWorld, which focuses on the different – and what many might consider unorthodox – ways in which the Internet is now playing a part in our everyday lives. The article outlines the many things that could someday be connected to the Internet, and the chain reaction that these connections(and their insights) will have.

Cisco_2-kids

Continue reading “Weird? Or Previously Unexplored?”



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In this week’s episode of Engineers Unplugged, Bas Raayman from EMC and Caroline Orloff from ServiceMesh take on “what is the software defined data center and how is it like/different from the cloud”? Let’s watch and see what they conclude:

Bas Raayman, Caroline Orloff, and the First Ever Cloud Management Platform Unicorn.
Bas Raayman, Caroline Orloff, and the First Ever Cloud Management Platform Unicorn.

Welcome to Engineers Unplugged, where technologists talk to each other the way they know best, with a whiteboard. The rules are simple:

  1. Episodes will publish weekly (or as close to it as we can manage)
  2. Subscribe to the podcast here: engineersunplugged.com
  3. Follow the #engineersunplugged conversation on Twitter
  4. Submit ideas for episodes or volunteer to appear by Tweeting to @CommsNinja
  5. Practice drawing unicorns

Where do you think the industry is in terms of SDDC adoption? Predictions for the future? Join the conversation online! We’ll see you live, next week at #EMCWorld.



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I am pleased to announce that Cisco has become a Partner in the U.S. Department of Energy EV Everywhere Grand Challenge.

Cisco joined the challenge as we were already working to expand our existing electric vehicle charging capabilities in both our domestic and global locations.  We agree with the principles of the program to increase consumer access to plug-in vehicle (PEV) charging opportunities and potentially double the all-electric daily commuting distance for a PEV driver. By providing workplace charging, Cisco enables employees to choose a PEV, for sustainability or operating cost reasons, by effectively extending their range and flexibility.

Continue reading “Taking Carbon out of Commuting”



Authors

Ali Ahmed

Senior Manager

Workplace Resources Global Energy Management and Sustainability

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Following on from my recent blog about “Is Manufacturing Coming Back to the US?” one of Morgan Stanley’s Investment guys, Ruchir Sharma, (Managing Director and the head of the Emerging Markets Equity team) has a book out called ‘Breakout Nations’ and in it he says:

“Every Investment idea is right for a while”

He was talking to Fareed Zakaria on his GPS program. Fareed cited that in the 1980’s investing in Japan made you a big winner until the 90’s came around. In the 1990’s it was all about Tech stocks. Then the Tech bubble burst. The Fad for the 2000’s was emerging markets.

And he asked are emerging markets submerging? I was interested mainly because the discussion lead to which countries invest most in R&D, and that is a leading indicator of success for economies worldwide. In fact, the numbers don’t lie. It looks like we may be entering a new phase with different leaders of growth, and it may be the US that becomes the new focus of manufacturing and innovation.

Continue reading “Research and Development – Who are the Global Leaders?”



Authors

Peter Granger

Senior Sales Transformation Manager

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 If you find yourself in Austin, Texas next week, you’ll want to swing by the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) Meeting and Tradeshow which runs from May 5-7. 

ATA 2013 ConferenceGrowing annually by leaps and bounds, ATA 2013 is expected to be their biggest and best conference yet, with over 6000 attendees.  The ATA 2013 exhibit hall will host 300 leading vendors with groundbreaking remote healthcare technologies and services.

And you can count on Cisco to be there front and center.   

American Express Gift CardSo while you’re there, don’t miss a visit to the Cisco booth (#332) to see market leading solutions that overcome the barrier of distance while improving the patient experience.  If you take a second to let us scan your name badge, you’ll be in the running for a chance to win a $250 American Express gift card!

Finally, don’t miss Cisco executives in these two sessions:

Monday, May 6: 3:00 – 4:00 pm
Selling Abroad: Companies Making an Impact in the International Market
David W. Plummer, General Manager, Cisco HealthPresence

Monday, May 6: 4:15 – 5:15 pm
Market Watch: Not All Telehealth Markets are Equal
Barbara Casey, Senior Executive Director, Cisco Healthcare Business Transformation

In the meantime, you can learn more about Cisco Care-at-a-Distance solutions for telehealth by clicking here. 

We’ll see you in Austin!



Authors

Mike Haymaker

Healthcare Industry Marketing

No Longer with Cisco

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Last Friday (April 26), ESET and Sucuri simultaneously blogged about the discovery of Linux/CDorked, a backdoor impacting Apache servers running cPanel. Since that announcement, there has been some confusion surrounding the exact nature of these attacks. Rather than reinvent the analysis that has already been done, this blog post is intended to clear up some of the confusion.

When did Linux/CDorked first appear?
According to Cisco TRAC analysis, the first encounter was on March 4, 2013.

How is Linux/CDorked related to DarkLeech?
The appearance of Linux/CDorked coincided with a drop in the number of DarkLeech infections, an indication the attacker(s) may be one and the same.

Unlike DarkLeech, the Linux/CDorked infections appear to be only targeting Apache servers with cPanel installed. Conversely, DarkLeech was found on servers running a variety of control panels (or not).  Continue reading “Linux/CDorked FAQs”



Authors

Mary Landesman

Senior Security Researcher

Cisco TRAC

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UA Demo
See how simple Unified Access can be!

Cisco Unified Access delivers a unique solution for enterprises facing a BYOD world: one policy, one management, and one network for wired, wireless, and virtual private networks. It helps businesses deliver new connected experiences, as opposed to getting bogged down by operational complexity.Skeptical? Click on the image to the right to try a brief, modular demo that illustrates just how simple Unified Access can be.

The demo shows the value and ease-of-use of the Cisco Unified Access solution through common enterprise use cases. The demo also highlights the increased visibility, control, flexibility and security enabled by the Cisco Unified Access architecture. Continue reading “Cisco Unified Access Solution in Action: The Real Deal”



Authors

Pradeep Parmar

Senior Marketing Manager

Enterprise Networks