Techworld.com Networking News

Ruckus takes its WLANs higher

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 06:00:00 GMT

And treads on Cisco's toes in the campus.

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

Kaminsky flaw prompts DNS server overhaul

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:37:00 GMT

Cache poisoning sends Nominum back to drawing board.

One of the companies most at risk from the notorious DNS cache poisoning vulnerability has overhauled security in the latest release of its DNS server software in what looks like a major code rethink.

Kaminsky flaw prompts major DNS server overhaul

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:37:00 GMT

Cache poisoning sends Nominum back to drawing board.

One of the companies most at risk from the notorious <a href=" http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?newsid=102315"> DNS cache poisoning vulnerability</a> has overhauled security in the latest release of its DNS server software in what looks like a major code rethink.<a href="http://www.nominum.com/index.php" target="_blank"> Nominum</a>, which supplies a decent chunk of the global market for such servers, said it has just finished rolling out a major security upgrade to its server platform, Vantio caching DNS server, and introduced a range of new security "layers" beyond the basic Source Port Randomisation (UDP SPR) fix suggested at the time the flaw was <a href="http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?newsid=102125 "> announced in early July</a> by IOActive researcher, Dan Kaminsky.The latest release of Vantio now features a swathe of security features that weren't there before, including the ability to block poisoning attacks against valuable domains, enhanced query response spoofing defences which switches DNS resolution to a secure back-channel if attacked, and a new Query Response Screening system to weed out DNS poisoning attempts with fake requests.The server also now logs where attacks originate - in contrast to the Internet generally, it is very hard to hide form DNS servers - and alerts an ISP or network if attacks have been detected.Importantly, Nominum has also come up with a fix for the potentially major issue of using Network Address Translation (NAT) in front of an otherwise patched DNS server. Firewall and load balancing NAT assigns UDP ports sequentially, which would have rendered the port randomisation defence useless.Given that the official defence against the cache poisoning flaw has been UDP source port randomisation, the Nominum overhaul comes in the nick of time. This was always seen as insufficient to keep out hackers indefinitely although it had been implemented as an interim step.This modest expectation turned out to be accurate, with Russian researcher <a href="http://tservice.net.ru/~s0mbre/blog/devel/networking/dns/2008_08_08.html" target="_blank"> Evgeniy Polyakov</a> managing a proof-of-concept cache pollution hack in 10-hours using equipment that bombarded a full-patched BIND DNS server with fake DNS requests.Just as the Kaminsky flaw has turned out to be no ordinary security scare, Nominum is no run-of-the-mill seller of Internet software. Chaired since 2001 by noted DNS luminary Paul Mockapetris, the company is responsible for resolving the domain requests of an estimated 120 million Internet subscribers to the real IP numbers that underlie them.Along with a number of other large software outfits, Nominum was also key player in efforts by the industry and Kaminsky to resolve the flaw during the months it was kept under wraps. The vulnerability was <a href="http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?newsid=3276" target="_blank"> eventually made public</a> by Kaminsky in July with a follow-up presentation by him at Black Hat in early August in which he gave the company a prominent name check.Despite being a relatively obscure part of the Internet's inner workings, DNS server issues have in fact arrived in a steady stream in recent years. These have been restricted in the main to problems in products from individual vendors, however. Finding a serious flaw that affects the whole Internet DNS system will go down as Kaminsky's achievement.<script type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="<a href="></script>

IEEE standardises fast Wi-Fi roaming

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:57:00 GMT

Good news for VoIP.

The IEEE has completed 802.11r, a standard that lets Wi-Fi devices roam quickly between access points, improving the performance of VoIP on enterprise LANs.

Star offers low-cost disaster recovery

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:20:00 GMT

Critical switch for DNS crashes.

Hosting company Star has announced a new service that it claimed can help enterprises keep systems running in the event of a major server crash.

VoSKY tames Skype with new gateway

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:50:00 GMT

Hangs popular network from ordinary IP PBX.

VoIP startup VoSKY has announced the first appliance to allow mainstream SIP-based IP PBXs to interconnect with the Skype network.

Network Instruments claims network data recorder capacity record

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:21:00 GMT

Device can store weeks of net traffic, even at 10G speeds.

Network Instruments has developed what it claims is the largest network data recorder available. The GigaStor SAS has a capacity of up to 288 terabytes, and was originally developed for a US military customer which needed to store a month's worth of the traffic on its network, said Douglas Smith, the company's president and co-founder.

PacketTrap puts management into Perspective

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:22:00 GMT

Gamers show the way

It's not quite Call of Duty but games designers have played their part in developing a network management product. PacketTrap's Perspective, which comes out in early September has been designed to be extremely intuitive, according to Anna Yen, PacketTrap's VP of marketing.

Packet Trap puts management into Perspective

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:22:00 GMT

Gamers show the way

It's not quite Call of Duty but games designers have played their part in developing a network management product. Packet Trap's Perspective, which comes out in early September has been designed to be extremely intuitive, according to Anna Yen, Packet Trap's VP of marketing.

One size fits all for WAN acceleration, claims Expand

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 07:11:00 GMT

Branch office WAN appliance is licence-keyed for growth.

Replacing different-capacity WAN accelerators with a standard-sized but software-limited box can cut costs and reduce upgrade woes, Expand Networks has claimed.

Kabel-X claims cheap way to replace copper

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:09:00 GMT

Broadband boost for less bunce.

A company is offering a unique and less-invasive cable replacement technology, which could prove useful for carriers looking to replace their aging copper infrastructure with fibre, without incurring the cost and disruption of digging up the old cabling.

Unified comms boost for customer satisfaction

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:17:00 GMT

Cost not a main driver.

Early users of unified comms systems have found that improved customer satisfaction scores higher than cost savings when it comes to assessing the benefits. That’s the surprising conclusion from a survey carried out by Vanson Bourne looking at the way that unified comms has been adopted in the UK.

iPhone gets 802.1x authentication

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:52:00 GMT

And cheap VoIP calls.

Apple has given the iPhone the ability to log in securely to enterprise networks, boosting its credentials as a business device. The latest software also supports new third party applications including VoIP.

Matasano launches multi-firewall dashboard

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:14:00 GMT

Keeping firewall sprawl under control.

Security research and consulting firm Matasano has entered the security appliance game with a new product called Playbook, designed to take some of the pain out of managing large numbers of firewalls from different vendors.

MessageLabs secures email backup

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 06:36:00 GMT

Promises extra safety for remote failover system.

MessageLabs, best known as a provider of email security services, last week introduced a managed email backup service that has as a selling point the same security features built into the company's other products.

Netgear offers customisable open source router

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:26:00 GMT

Plug and program.

Netgear joined a select band of network equipment makers after announcing the release of an open source wireless router, designed to be highly customisable.

Qumranet tests distributed desktop virtualisation

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:11:00 GMT

KVM sponsor aims to go multi-site.

Qumranet, the commercial sponsor of the KVM virtualisation software, has begun beta-testing a desktop virtualisation system aimed at geographically distributed organisations.

SolarWinds simplifies large network monitoring

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:02:00 GMT

Putting it all on one screen.

Network management software company SolarWinds on Tuesday updated its flagship Orion software, with a focus on making it easier to monitor large or geographically distributed networks.

Sipera secures advanced UC networks

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:44:00 GMT

Simplifying security for SIP trunks and mobile deployments.

Sipera Systems, a security firm focusing on unified communications (UC), has announced a new edition of the Sipera IPCS range of security appliances adding functions for more advanced corporate IP telephony networks.

WildPackets takes aim at 10Gig networks

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:10:00 GMT

Complex networks becoming mainstream?

WildPackets this week introduced a highly extensible data recorder for 10 Gigabit (10Gig) Ethernet networks, the latest sign that 10Gig networks are gaining wider acceptance, even among medium-sized businesses.

Handset issues may hurt femtocells

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:47:00 GMT

Warns industry expert.

Femtocells may be stymied by handsets that can't make best use of them, even though an industry agreement has been signed which should make the indoor base stations a fundamental part of future wireless networks including WiMax and LTE.

Force10 touts supercomputing success

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:13:00 GMT

10Gig switches integral to the numbercrunchers.

10Gig Ethernet specialist Force10 Networks has claimed that its switch/routers are now integral to more than a dozen of the world's top 40 supercomputers. They include the US Los Alamos National Laboratory's Roadrunner, which currently ranks as the world's most powerful supercomputer and was the first to reach a peak performance of 1 Petaflop.

Ruby creators warn of serious flaws

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:30:00 GMT

Bugs turn trendy language into deadly weapon.

The Ruby programming language, which has become popular as the basis for web 2.0 sites such as Twitter, contains serious security flaws that could allow attackers to take over an organisation's web server, according to the Ruby development team.

Amsterdam switches on Europe's first mobile WiMax network

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 01:10:00 GMT

Meanwhile, the UK waits... and waits.

Dutch broadband start-up Worldmax on Tuesday demonstrated what it said is Europe's first mobile WiMax network, built by Alcatel-Lucent over the past five months and set to go fully online at the end of this summer.

Femto cells get a surprise standard

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 07:23:00 GMT

And it owes a lot to UMA.

Operators and vendors have agreed a standard which could speed up the arrival of femtocells - the indoor base stations which are designed to improve coverage of 3G networks indoors by piggy-backing on home and office broadband.