Year: 2013

April 2, 2013 Leave a Comment
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Cisco Live 2013 – a Showcase for IPv6 Technology

simloBy Steve Simlo, IPv6 Product Manager, Cisco

Network Operating Systems Technology Group

We’ve been actively promoting the adoption of IPv6 at various venues – back in January at Cisco Live London, and a few weeks ago at the V6 World Congress, which focused on the adoption of IPv6 in mobile networks.

Our next big venue is Cisco Live in Orlando, Florida June 23-27, 2013 and I want to take the opportunity to reflect on how IPv6 is becoming an increasingly important component of the event agenda, infrastructure and look forward to some of our future ideas for Orlando.

I have personally participated in Cisco Live for over 15 years as a speaker but this was my first time as a member of the IPv6 Team. For those of you who do now know I am the Product Manager for IPv6 in Cisco’s Core Technology team that we call Network Operating Systems Technology Group.

My observations on what I saw and heard in London were as follows: Continue reading “Cisco Live 2013 – a Showcase for IPv6 Technology”



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Stephen Liu

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Apache Darkleech Compromises

Dan Goodin, editor at Ars Technica, has been tracking and compiling info on an elusive series of website compromises that could be impacting tens of thousands of otherwise perfectly legitimate sites. While various researchers have reported various segments of the attacks, until Dan’s article, no one had connected the dots and linked them all together.

Dubbed “Darkleech,” thousands of Web servers across the globe running Apache 2.2.2 and above are infected with an SSHD backdoor that allows remote attackers to upload and configure malicious Apache modules. These modules are then used to turn hosted sites into attack sites, dynamically injecting iframes in real-time, only at the moment of visit.

Because the iframes are dynamically injected only when the pages are accessed, this makes discovery and remediation particularly difficult. Further, the attackers employ a sophisticated array of conditional criteria to avoid detection:

  • Checking IP addresses and blacklisting security researchers, site owners, and the compromised hosting providers;
  • Checking User Agents to target specific operating systems (to date, Windows systems);
  • Blacklisting search engine spiders;
  • Checking cookies to “wait list” recent visitors;
  • Checking referrer URLs to ensure visitor is coming in via valid search engine results. Continue reading “Apache Darkleech Compromises”


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Mary Landesman

Senior Security Researcher

Cisco TRAC

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Impact of Cisco Open Network Environment on SDN

For those of you familiar with the movie “This is Spinal Tap” the volume on SDN has been turned up to 11 for some time. However, too much of the sound is around the technology and not on the benefits to network operators. In fact, Cisco views SDN technology and our Open Network Environment (ONE) as an opportunity for service providers to monetize and optimize their existing assets. In other words – leverage existing investments as much as possible and build SDN and programmatic Cisco ONE capabilities on top of them. Continue reading “Impact of Cisco Open Network Environment on SDN”



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Stephen Liu

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Cisco Sizzle – March Edition

Welcome to the Cisco Sizzle! Each month, we’re rounding up the best of the best froCisco_Sizzle_Finalm across our social media channels for your reading pleasure. From the most read blog posts to the top engaging content on Facebook or LinkedIn, catch up on things you might have missed, or on the articles you just want to see again, all in one place.

Let’s take a look back at the top content from March…

Tomorrow Starts Here
Explore how the Internet of Everything will change the way we work, live, play and learn.

Connected World Technology Report
Calling all IT professionals! Over two thirds of the IT managers agree that Big Data will be a strategic priority for their companies in 2013 and over the next five years as well. Do you agree? Is Big Data a strategic priority for your company?

Cisco on Fortune’s Most Admired
Once again, Cisco is honored to be on Fortune Magazine’s “World’s Most Admired Companies” List. Fortune tells us that the Most Admired list is the “definitive report card on corporate reputations.” Congratulations to our employees, and thanks to Fortune for the honor!

Understanding the Different Types of Wireless Routers
If your small business has grown and your workforce has become more m734216_10151813220863032_619814475_nobile, you may be considering adding wireless to your network. Cisco explains the basics so you can identify which wireless router best fits your needs.

TeleWork Week
If you telecommuted for a week, how much time do you think you would save?

Network Madness
Don’t worry network managers; we’ve got you covered. Find out about Cisco’s solutions to Network Madness.

Check out the Cisco Storify feed for even more great content!



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LaSandra Brill

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Cloud for Local Government Global Blog Series: The Truth About The Cloud…It’s Not Magic

When I stepped outside this morning, new clouds were forming by the second.

By the time I reached my car, they had transformed a static blue sky into a pulsing network of dynamic gray structures. It was so fast it seemed like a magic trick.

Transforming existing government IT services into cloud services is absolutely not magic.

It’s a process, a series of phased steps. It’s a journey that requires smarter security, integration with legacy systems and processes, and substantial expertise and experience.

Feeling the pressure

Cloud computing is shifting from an option to must-have. If you’re an IT professional working in local, state/province, or national government, the pressure you’re feeling to move to the cloud is palpable, and growing by the week.

You face increasing pressure to reduce costs—and concurrently expand services, data sharing, and information access. Simultaneously, rising security challenges demand that you use new approaches for securing data and compliance.

There’s also mounting pressure to deploy applications more quickly and consistently, and downsize your data centers and environmental footprint.

A cloud model can relieve all these pressures. Cloud computing presents you with a huge opportunity—for your organization and your career—to transform the way that people access and use data, and the way that you store and secure it.

Continue reading “Cloud for Local Government Global Blog Series: The Truth About The Cloud…It’s Not Magic”



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CherylHewett

Global Public Sector Marketing Lead

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I Can’t Keep Up with All These Cisco Security Advisories: Do I Have to Upgrade?

“A security advisory was just published! Should I hurry and upgrade all my Cisco devices now?”

This is a question that I am being asked by customers on a regular basis. In fact, I am also asked why there are so many security vulnerability advisories. To start with the second question: Cisco is committed to protecting customers by sharing critical security-related information in a very transparent way. Even if security vulnerabilities are found internally, the Cisco Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) – which is my team – investigates, drives to resolution, and discloses such vulnerabilities. To quickly answer the first question, don’t panic, as you may not have to immediately upgrade your device. However, in this article I will discuss some of the guidelines and best practices for responding to Cisco security vulnerability reports.

Continue reading “I Can’t Keep Up with All These Cisco Security Advisories: Do I Have to Upgrade?”



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Omar Santos

Distinguished Engineer

Cisco Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) Security Research and Operations

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David McGrew Discusses Legacy Encryption Solutions with Mike Danseglio of 1105 Media at RSA 2013

Today, many encrypted networks use insecure cryptography. Attackers exploiting weak cryptography are nearly undetectable, and the data you think is secure is less safe every day. Legacy encryption technology can’t keep up with current advances in hacking and brute force computing power. Additionally, legacy solutions are increasingly inefficient as security levels rise, and perform poorly at high data rates. In order to stay ahead of this challenge, encryption needs to evolve.

Continue reading “David McGrew Discusses Legacy Encryption Solutions with Mike Danseglio of 1105 Media at RSA 2013”



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David McGrew

Cisco Fellow

Security

April 1, 2013 Leave a Comment
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This year at EG, Everything is Learning — and Learning is Everything.

EG7Once again this year, Cisco is a proud to sponsor the EG 7 Conference in Monterey, California, April 18-20, 2013. The theme this year is Everything is Learning — and Learning is Everything,  and many of the world’s leading inventors, explorers, educators, entertainers, artists and entrepreneurs are coming together to probe these frontiers.  The content is truly inspirational.

Everything is learning… and in higher education, the sea change has become a tsunami: Stanford-born Udacity and Coursera are racing with edX from Harvard and MIT to flood university curricula online.  Will this be the most significant transformation of universities to date?  After all, these thrusts aspire to reach billions of learners — anywhere, anytime.

At EG this year, the founding CEO’s of all these movements are speaking: Sebastian Thrun, Daphne Koller, and Anant Agarwal.  This is a revolution in the way higher education is purveyed.  How it affects learners around the world — the billions who may someday benefit — remains to be seen.

Continue reading “This year at EG, Everything is Learning — and Learning is Everything.”



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Victoria Ryan

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Network Threats Are Hitching a Ride in Mobile Environments [Crosspost]

Protecting Your Business in an “Any to Any” World

Innovation never stops in the mobile world, and that rule applies to security threats as well. Network attacks are becoming more sophisticated and even high-tech businesses with the most advanced security may find themselves in the crosshairs as we shift to more devices and anywhere access.

Just a few weeks ago, multiple leading social networking and large enterprises were hit with an attack when their employees visited a known and trusted website focused on mobile application development. Continue reading “Network Threats Are Hitching a Ride in Mobile Environments [Crosspost]”



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Michael Fuhrman

Vice President

Security Services and Cloud Operations