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Thursday, February 18, 2016

Gadarene swine

I've been ranting about the way we, possessed by the demons of the Internet of Things, are rushing like the Gadarene Swine to our doom. Below the fold, the latest rant in the series, which wanders off into related, but equally doom-laden areas.

Harvard's Berkman Center recently published a study entitled Don’t Panic: Making Progress on the ‘Going Dark’ Debate. The study group was convened by Matt Olsen, Bruce Schneier, and Jonathan Zittrain, and the New York Times reports:
Among the chief authors of the report is Matthew G. Olsen, who was a director of the National Counterterrorism Center under Mr. Obama and a general counsel of the National Security Agency.

Two current senior officials of the N.S.A. — John DeLong, the head of the agency’s Commercial Solutions Center, and Anne Neuberger, the agency’s chief risk officer — are described in the report as “core members” of the group, but did not sign the report because they could not act on behalf of the agency or the United States government in endorsing its conclusions, government officials said.
Two of the report's conclusions are:
  • Networked sensors and the Internet of Things are projected to grow substantially, and this has the potential to drastically change surveillance. The still images, video, and audio captured by these devices may enable real-time intercept and recording with after-the fact access. Thus an inability to monitor an encrypted channel could be mitigated by the ability to monitor from afar a person through a different channel.
  • Metadata is not encrypted, and the vast majority is likely to remain so. This is data that needs to stay unencrypted in order for the systems to operate: location data from cell phones and other devices, telephone calling records, header information in e-mail, and so on. This information provides an enormous amount of surveillance data that was unavailable before these systems became widespread.
The intelligence community agrees:
James Clapper, the US director of national intelligence, was more direct in testimony submitted to the Senate on Tuesday as part of an assessment of threats facing the United States.

“In the future, intelligence services might use the [internet of things] for identification, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment, or to gain access to networks or user credentials,” Clapper said.
Xeni Jardin at BoingBoing points out that:
The war on encryption waged by the F.B.I. and other intelligence agencies is unnecessary, because the data trails we voluntarily leak allow “Internet of Things” devices and social media networks to track us in ways the government can access.
Not to mention that yesterday's revelation of a buffer overflow in glibc means that much of the IoT is vulnerable and is unlikely to be patched. This bug won't be the last of its kind, so the agencies are likely to retain their ability to spy even if IoT vendors clean up their act.

The intelligence agencies aren't the only ones enjoying their new-found surveillance capabilities. J.M. Porup at Ars Technica reports:
Shodan, a search engine for the Internet of Things (IoT), recently launched a new section that lets users easily browse vulnerable webcams.

The feed includes images of marijuana plantations, back rooms of banks, children, kitchens, living rooms, garages, front gardens, back gardens, ski slopes, swimming pools, colleges and schools, laboratories, and cash register cameras in retail stores, according to Dan Tentler, a security researcher who has spent several years investigating webcam security.
And sleeping babies.

Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing starts a recent book review:
Nitesh Dhanjani's 2015 O'Reilly book Abusing the Internet of Things: Blackouts, Freakouts, and Stakeouts is a very practical existence-proof of the inadequacy and urgency of Internet of Things security.
Abusing the Internet of Things is structured just like one of those cookbooks, only the recipes explain the (relatively simple) steps you need take to compromise everything from a smart lightbulb -- one recipe explains how to plunge a smart lighting system into permanent, irrevocable darkness -- to a smart baby-monitor (this was published months before a family in San Francisco woke to discover a griefer terrorizing their toddler through his bedside monitor) to a smart TV to -- what else? -- a smart car.
Of course, companies can avoid any liability for harm caused by their shoddy security practices by copying VTech and disclaiming responsibility in their terms and conditions. Commisioner Julie Brill of the FTC addressed these problems in her closing plenary of the Fall 2016 CNI meeting. But Cory Doctorow points out the pressure on the FTC not to do anything:
Companies that use and trade in personal information rely on the people involved not discovering what's going on. For example, one data-broker sells its services to retailers as a means of getting the home addresses and other information of their customers in secret, avoiding "losing customers who feel that you’re invading their privacy."
Of course, many of these information leaks are accidental, but the sad truth is that the pervasive surveillance enabled by the Internet, and especially by the Things in it, is not just the favored business model of government agencies but also of pretty much any company that can figure out how to collect and sell information. Conor Friedersdorf at The Atlantic has the example of a company that has, Vigilant Solutions:
Throughout the United States—outside private houses, apartment complexes, shopping centers, and businesses with large employee parking lots—a private corporation, Vigilant Solutions, is taking photos of cars and trucks with its vast network of unobtrusive cameras. It retains location data on each of those pictures, and sells it.
The company has taken roughly 2.2 billion license-plate photos to date. Each month, it captures and permanently stores about 80 million additional geotagged images. They may well have photographed your license plate. As a result, your whereabouts at given moments in the past are permanently stored. Vigilant Solutions profits by selling access to this data (and tries to safeguard it against hackers). Your diminished privacy is their product.
Supreme Court jurisprudence on GPS tracking suggests that repeatedly collecting data “at a moment in time” until you’ve built a police database of 2.2 billion such moments is akin to building a mosaic of information so complete and intrusive that it may violate the Constitutional rights of those subject to it.
Many powerful interests are aligned in wanting to know where the cars of individuals are parked. Unable to legally install tracking devices themselves, they pay for the next best alternative—and it’s gradually becoming a functional equivalent. More laws might be passed to stymie this trend if more Americans knew that private corporations and police agencies conspire to keep records of their whereabouts.
You are paying for this technology through your taxes:
During the past five years, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has distributed more than $50 million in federal grants to law-enforcement agencies—ranging from sprawling Los Angeles to little Crisp County, Georgia, population 23,000—for automated license-plate recognition systems,
And also because police forces are either paying Vigilant for access to its data or giving them a piece of the action:
Vigilant Solutions, one of the country’s largest brokers of vehicle surveillance technology, is offering a hell of a deal to law enforcement agencies in Texas: a whole suite of automated license plate reader (ALPR) equipment and access to the company’s massive databases and analytical tools—and it won’t cost the agency a dime.
Vigilant is leveraging H.B. 121, a new Texas law passed in 2015 that allows officers to install credit and debit card readers in their patrol vehicles to take payment on the spot for unpaid court fines, also known as capias warrants. When the law passed, Texas legislators argued that not only would it help local government with their budgets, it would also benefit the public and police.
The “warrant redemption” program works like this. The agency is given no-cost license plate readers as well as free access to LEARN-NVLS, the ALPR data system Vigilant says contains more than 2.8-billion plate scans and is growing by more than 70-million scans a month. This also includes a wide variety of analytical and predictive software tools. Also, the agency is merely licensing the technology; Vigilant can take it back at any time.

The government agency in turn gives Vigilant access to information about all its outstanding court fees, which the company then turns into a hot list to feed into the free ALPR systems. As police cars patrol the city, they ping on license plates associated with the fees. The officer then pulls the driver over and offers them a devil’s bargain: get arrested, or pay the original fine with an extra 25% processing fee tacked on, all of which goes to Vigilant.
Alex Campbell and Kendall Taggart's The Ticket Machine is a must-read, in-depth look at how this works. Yves Smith at naked capitalism points out how the private equity (PE) and security worlds have become intertwined:
And a contact who knows the private equity world pointed out (emphasis mine):
Morgan Stanley’s PE arm lists [Vigilant Solutions parent, Digital Recognition Network] as an investment, which is a good example of how enmeshed PE has become in the security/intelligence state. The spooks, I am sure, love the secrecy of PE compared to public markets. And the love goes both ways, as it is my experience that PE people love the spooks because returns are able to be generated by influence peddling behind closed doors, and also because they just find them intellectually interesting.
In other words, proprietary opposition research, which is often hard to distinguish from blackmail.
No-one is in a position to make educated trade-offs between the societal and personal costs and benefits of the Things they connect to their own Internet. How much worse is it when they had no say in what the Things were and where they were deployed?

Notice the similarities between this rush to exploit technical capabilities without regard for the possible downsides and the escalation of cyberwar. James Ball at Buzzfeed reports that Alex Gibney's new documentary Zero Days reveals that:
The United States hacked into critical civilian and military infrastructure in Iran to allow its operatives to disable the country with a devastating series of cyberattacks at a moment’s notice,
The targets of the U.S. hacking operations, covered by the code name “NITRO ZEUS,” include power plants, transport infrastructure, and air defenses, the film will state, with agents entering these protected systems nightly to make sure the attacks were still deployable.
the U.S.-Israel “Stuxnet” worm — which destroyed around 1 in 5 of the centrifuges used in Iran’s nuclear program — was just a small part of a much larger set of offensive capabilities developed against the nation.
The cyberwarriors don't seem to have paid much attention to the possible downsides:
The State Department was seen by those in other agencies as a “wet blanket” when it came to operations for expressing concerns about violating the sovereignty of third-party nations’ cyberspace, or about operations that could have significant impact on civilians.
one confidential source expressed concerns to Gibney about the extent of NITRO ZEUS, saying some planners had “no fucking clue” as to the consequences of some of the proposed attacks.

“You take down part of a grid,” they told him, “you can accidentally take down electricity in the entire country.”
At least Michael Hayden seems to have a "f**king clue":
Michael Hayden, a former director of both the CIA and the NSA, told Gibney the U.S. action risks creating new international norms of cyber warfare.

“I know no operational details and don’t know what anyone did or didn’t do before someone decided to use the weapon, all right,” he said. “I do know this: If we go out and do something, most of the rest of the world now thinks that’s a new standard, and it’s something they now feel legitimated to do as well.
Exactly. And why would anyone think that the US was less vulnerable than Iran to these kind of attacks? But USA Inc's terms and conditions mean that the cyberwarriors bear no liability for the foreseeable consequences of their actions.

David Sanger and Mark Mazzetti at the New York Times have other details of the NITRO ZEUS program.

Similarly, the NSA has a program called SKYNET that uses machine learning techniques on data collected from Pakistan's phone network to target for assassination by drone or death squad people whose behavior is deemed characteristic of terrorists. Machine learning experts estimate that it may have killed thousands of innocent people. Cory Doctorow's response on Dave Farber's IP list is a must-read analysis of the problem:
At root, this is a story about the problems that occur in the absence [of] adversarial peer review. NSA and GCHQ cut corners in their machine-learning approach, and no one called them on it, and they deployed it, and it kills people.

But is also a microcosm of the spy services' culture of secrecy and the way that the lack of peer review turns into missteps.

You could ask for no better proof that the NSA believed its actions would never be subjected to public scrutiny than the fact that they called the program SKYNET.
We all remember how that turned out, right?
Skynet launched nuclear missiles under its command at Russia, which responded with a nuclear counter-attack against the U.S. and its allies. Consequent to the nuclear exchange, over three billion people were killed in an event that came to be known as Judgment Day.

David. said...

I mentioned the glibc vulnerability in passing above. Dan Kaminsky's A Skeleton Key of Unknown Strength is a must-read explanation of the vulnerability and its consequences.

As far as we know the glibc vulnerability was an accident. Last Thursday's IoT disaster, detailed in Brain Krebs This is Why People Fear the ‘Internet of Things’ is deliberate and ongoing:

"This is the nightmare “Internet of Things” (IoT) scenario for any system administrator: The IP cameras that you bought to secure your physical space suddenly turn into a vast cloud network designed to share your pictures and videos far and wide. The best part? It’s all plug-and-play, no configuration necessary!"

A Chinese company, ThroughTek, is providing IoT manufacturers with on-by-default, hard-to-disable, firewall-piercing P2P technology that is showing up in everything frrom "smart plugs" to DVRs:

"ThroughTek did not respond to requests for comment. A ThroughTek press release from October 2015 announced that the company’s P2P network — which it calls the Kalay Network — had grown to support more than seven million connected devices and 100 million “IoT connections.”"

This is another very bad problem:

“Given the seemingly cavalier attitude and the almost certain lack of automatic updates, it is almost certain that these devices are remotely exploitable,” he added. “It is no wonder that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is worried about the Internet of Things, how many government officials have or may unwittingly install potential spies like this in their home.”

And it isn't just that they are exploitable, James Clapper is probably also worried that continuous video surveillance of government official's homes is ending up in the hands of a Chinese company. Of course, this also applies to Chinese government officials, which is why it is a feature not a bug from the Chinese government's point of view. But the devices are probably exploitable, which means that both sides have it all. Mutually Assured Destruction is a great idea, to get back to Skynet.

Another must-read is Robert Epstein's The new mind control. Its long and you have to read to the end to understand the oint but, trust me, its worth your time.

I hope to have more to write on these posts soon.

David. said...

Robert Epstein gave an EE380 talk The Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME) and Its Unparalleled Power To Influence How We Think last October 28. Video is available on YouTube.

David. said...

Intel's Dirk Hondel interviewed Linus Torvald at the Linux Foundation's 2016 Embedded Linux Conference & OpenIoT Summit:

Torvalds continued, "Job one is to get the job done. In a new industry things will get done without security. Security plays second fiddle. It will be slightly distressing if someone hacks into my home furnace and turns up my heat to 95, I'll be bothered."

Torvalds added, "In theory open source can be patched. In practice vendors get in the way." Anyone who follows the gap between Google's Android security patches and when vendors ship the patches--if ever--knows what he's talking about.

Still, Torvalds said, while "not all Linux devices get the love they deserve, in proprietary systems, you're often left with old security holes. For example, the iPhone 4 was released in 2010 but by 2014 Apple was no longer supporting it with operating system and security patches.

David. said...

Kieren McCarthy at The Register reports on a Green Paper from the Commerce Dept asking for input into developing Federal policy about the IoT

David. said...

Today's IoT vulnerability affects every Thing in Samsun'd SmartThings ecosystem. Two separate vulnerabilities discovered by researchers at U. Mich provide the bad guys capabilities such as"

"unlock doors, modify home access codes, create false smoke detector alarms, or put security and automation devices into vacation mode"

David. said...

Todays IoT nightmare is a pair of attacks on Programmable Logic Controllers, such as the ones in power stations. The Register has confirmed that they can be combined. Attack #1:

"The programmable logic controller (PLC) worm is the brain child of German hackers Ralf Spenneberg and Maik Brüggeman ... and, unlike any past attacks, is able to spread from devices without the need of an infected laptop or desktop.

All other PLC malware such as Stuxnet relied on having an infected computer to spread to other controllers, meaning an infection could be stopped from proliferating by removing those machines.

Spenneberg and Brüggeman claim the attack spreads like cancer between default Siemens S7 1200 PLCs, and could be reworked to target other systems."

Attack #2:

"IOActive researcher Alexander Bolshev told The Register his work allows frequency and amplitude modifications in waves generated by control PLCs to allow an attack to be masked.

The research, which he conducted alongside Honeywell security boffin Marina Krotofil, means an attacker could, for example, break into a remote station along a major gas line, determine normal frequency patterns, and repeat those waves with high-frequency components added to cloak a destructive intrusion."

David. said...

Jean-Louis Gassée weighs in on the risks of cars in the Internet of Things.

David. said...

And so does Jonathan Gitlin at Ars Technica with The connected car may be the dumbest idea ever, but it’s not going away.

David. said...

And at The Register Joe Fay reports on Josh Corman's talk to the Building IoT conference:

"Corman zeroed in on our increasingly connected cars and medical devices as key targets. The consequences of mass compromising of connected vehicles, for example, would be confidence in vehicle manufacturers, transport infrastructure and knock-on effects at the GDP level."

David. said...

Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing reports on a paper in World Nuerosurgery that discusses the dystopian security issues posed by brain implants. People's brains becoming Things in the Internet; what could possibly go wrong?

David. said...

Joanna Stern at the WSJ has a must-read piece that starts:

"Let’s play a game. Which of the following is a real smartphone-connected product?

A) A bottle that tracks your H2O intake
B) A bowl that tracks your dog’s H2O intake
C) An umbrella that reminds you not to leave it behind
D) A tampon that reminds you when it is time for a change

It is actually a trick question. All four of these “smart” items have either been announced by startups or are already shipping."

and continues:

"There is even greater irony: Instead of solving the hassles of everyday life, they create more of them. I’ve been testing many products that simply don’t work as promised."

The stories of how they don't work are hilarious:

"he did still think it was necessary to build a $700 juice machine that won’t make juice if your Wi-Fi is down. I repeat: No juice if your Wi-Fi is down."

But there isn't a single mention in the story of what could happen when the bad guys compromise your tampon, umbrella, juice machine, egg tray, water bottle, or smart bra.

David. said...

Yet more evidence that anonymizing data from the Things in the Internet doesn't work, Karl Bode at Ars Technica reports that 15 minutes of data from only the brake pedal can identify a driver.

David. said...

Of course, it isn't just the bad guys who are interested in exploiting the insecurity of the Things in the Internet, the "good" guys are too:

"[NSA deputy director] Ledgett isn’t the only intelligence official to identity the growing Internet of Things as a possibility for global spying. The Director of National Intelligence himself said during a Senate hearing on worldwide threats in February that interconnected devices could be useful “for identification, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment, or to gain access to networks or user credentials.”"


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Festivals of Japan: Oga no Namahage Festival

The Oga no Namahage Festival features namahage, a strange deity resembling a demon, which is known as oni in Japanese.

By 2 min read

The Oga no Namahage Festival is a winter festival held on New Year’s Eve around Oga City in Akita Prefecture. The festival is an ancient folk tradition where young men dress as namahage (a type of demon/ogre) and visit the homes of local children to warn them not to be lazy or bad in the coming New Year.

The origins of the demons are shrouded by history. Some say they were originally ship-wrecked sailors. Others say they are demons introduced by a Chinese Emperor 2,000 years ago. Whatever they are they are now a local institution and a tradition has been passed down from generation to generation since ancient times in Japan.

Similar traditions and rituals can be found throughout Japan but the most famous is on the Oga Peninsula located in northern Honshu, Japan. To the local people, the namahage are visiting gods that come to warn against laziness, and bring protection from illness and disasters, as well as help provide a good harvest and plentiful food from the mountains and sea. The namahage are welcomed into each house as guests with offerings of mochi and sake.

Festival Highlights

On New Year’s Eve, small groups of around 2 or 3 young village men disguise themselves as the grotesquely looking demons. The costumes include large demon masks, straw raincoats called mino and waist-bands. The namahage holding wooden knives and sacred wands go around at night visiting homes of local children in Oga City, shouting out menacing cries to scare the children and threats to carry off bad kids. The wooden wands hung with paper streamers called gohei, symbolize their status as Shinto gods. The purpose of the namahage is to scare the living daylights out of the young children in hope that they will behave in the New Year, or face the consequences.

The namahage travel with a “naughty and nice” book, kind of like Santa Claus and use the information about the inhabitants of each house to admonish the children. Parents can inform the namahage in advance with details about their children and how they want them to behave better. These can include such things as to study harder, help around the house or to always remember to wash behind their ears.

It is a strange custom that encourages young children to obey their parents and to behave, which are important qualities in Japan’s heavily structured society.

Location: Oga City, Akita Prefecture
When: December 31
Time: New Year’s Eve
Cost: FREE
Official Website:

From Tokyo take the Akita Shinkansen to JR Akita Station. JR Oga Station is about 1 hour from JR Akita Station on the JR Oga Line.

  • I just read today that Japan is planning to add Namahage deity visits to UNESCO heritage list. I hope it is successful in order to help preserve and revitalize this ancient Japanese folk custom.

Tokyo Illuminates During the Holidays

Tokyo comes alive with the glow of Christmas lights during the holiday season.

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Scrub Off Summer At Yukemurino Sato Onsen

Scrub off the summer grime and dip into your own bucket of relaxation at the Yukemurino Sato Onsen.

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Ohori Park: A Beautiful Bit of Nature in the Heart of Fukuoka

Whether you walk around the castle, paddle the swan boat on the lake, or just sit down and enjoy the scenery, Ohori Koen will always leave you feeling refreshed and happy.

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INE’s Cloud Week may have come to a close, but that doesn’t mean the fun is over! With our recap, you can enjoy all of the content again, or for the first time if you weren’t able to join us during the live events. Read More
Cloud computing has quickly become a critical component of global business operations of all sizes. As with many other aspects of the IT industry, it continues to evolve and grow, all while maintaining its significance and becoming one of the most sought after skills of professionals in the IT world.  Read More
The wait is over, and cloud week is officially here; but don’t worry - no umbrellas needed. We’re not talking grey skies and rain, we’re talking about a week-long celebration of all things cloud! Whether you are a cloud novice or cloud pro, we have featured content for all professional levels and backgrounds. Read More
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Blog Posts in March 2011

Cisco, congratulations on yesterday’s megalaunch!

Cisco’s Data Center megalaunch is probably old news by now. They announced numerous new Nexus products, linecards for Catalyst 6500 (will that box ever retire?), UCS servers, tons of FCoE-related features and few extra goodies I’m most interested in (LISP and MPLS/VPN on Nexus 7000). Scott Lowe and Chad Sakac already wrote extensive reviews of the new products and features, so I’d just like to say: Congratulations! Well done! Keep surprising me with good news ;)

see 2 comments

Open Networking Foundation – fabric craziness reaches new heights

Some of the biggest buyers of the networking gear have decided to squeeze some extra discount out of the networking vendors and threatened them with open-source alternative, hoping to repeat the Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP saga that made it possible to build server farms out of low-cost commodity gear with almost zero licensing costs. They formed the Open Networking Foundation, found a convenient technology (OpenFlow) and launched another major entrant in the Buzzword Bingo – Software-Defined Networking (SDN).

Networking vendors, either trying to protect their margins by stalling the progress of this initiative, or stampeding into another Wild West Gold Rush (hoping to unseat their bigger competitors with low-cost standard-based alternatives) have joined the foundation in hordes; the list of initial members reads like Who’s Who in Networking.

read more see 10 comments

NAT-PT is dead! Long live NAT-64!

I’m getting questions like this one all the time: “Where are we with NAT-PT? It was implemented in IOS quite a few years ago but it has never made it into ASA code.

Bad news first: NAT-PT is dead. Repeat after me: NAT-PT is dead. Got it? OK.

More bad news: NAT-PT in Cisco IOS was seriously broken after they pulled fast switching code out of IOS. Whatever is left in Cisco IOS might be good enough for a proof-of-concept or early deployment trials, but not for a production-grade solution.

read more see 8 comments

MPLS/VPN-over-GRE-over-IPSec: Does It Really Work?

Short answer: yes, it does.

During the geeky chat we had just after we’d finished recording the Data Center Fabric Packet Pushers podcast, Kurt (@networkjanitor) Bales asked me whether the MPLS/VPN-over-DMVPN scenarios I’m describing in Enterprise MPLS/VPN Deployment webinar really work (they do seem a bit complex).

I always test the router configurations I use in my webinars and I usually share them with the attendees. Enterprise MPLS/VPN Deployment webinar includes a complete sets of router configurations covering 10 scenarios, including five different MPLS/VPN-over-DMVPN designs, so you can easily test them in your lab and verify that they do work. But what about a live deployment?

read more see 15 comments

TRILL/Fabric Path – STP integration

Every Data Center fabric technology has to integrate seamlessly with legacy equipment running the venerable Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) or one of its facelifted incarnations (for example, RSTP or MST). The alternative, called rip-and-replace when talking about other vendors’ boxes or synchronized upgrade when promoting your wares (no, I haven’t heard it yet, but I’m sure it’s coming), is simply indigestible to most data center architects.

TRILL and Cisco’s proprietary Fabric Path take a very definitive stance: the new fabric is the backbone of the network routing TRILL-encapsulated layer-2 frames across bridged segments (TRILL) or contiguous backbone (Fabric Path). Both architectures segment the original STP domain into small chunks at the edges of the network as shown in the following figure:

read more see 2 comments

IPv6-enabling your legacy applications with F5 BIG-IP LTM

In every enterprise-focused IPv6 presentation, including my Enterprise IPv6 – the first steps webinar, I’m telling the attendees that they can easily make their legacy applications reachable over IPv6 with a little help from F5 load balancers. After all, Facebook is doing exactly that, so it should work (in theory) ... but as we all know, in practice, the theory and practice are wildly different.

read more see 2 comments

Don’t try to fake Multi-chassis Link Aggregation (MLAG)

Martin sent me an interesting challenge: he needs to connect an HP switch in a blade enclosure to a pair of Catalyst 3500G switches. His Catalysts are not stackable and he needs the full bandwidth between the switches, so he decided to fake the multi-chassis link aggregation functionality by configuring static LAG on the HP switch and disabling STP on it (the Catalysts have no idea they're talking to the same switch):

read more see 10 comments

IPv6 security issues: Fixing implementation problems

Let’s assume we’re all past the IPv6 myths phase and know that IPv6 does not offer more (or less) inherent security than IPv4. Will the IPv6 networks be as secure as IPv4 ones? Not necessarily, because we’re lacking feature parity and implementation experience. As I explained in the “IPv6 security issues: Fixing implementation problems” I wrote for SearchTelecom:

Until equipment vendors fill in the gaps and offer true feature parity between IPv4 and IPv6 security features, we can expect the IPv6 networks to be less secure that today’s IPv4 networks -- not because IPv6 is insecure, but because today’s IPv6 implementations still lag behind their IPv4 counterparts.

Read more @ SearchTelecom (or consider the excellent IPv6 Security book by Eric Vyncke).

see 1 comments

You can't ignore IPv6 any longer (in seven steps)

We know the world will eventually run out of IPv4 addresses, but while at least some service providers got the message and already deployed IPv6, it seems like most enterprise IT departments still practice the denial strategy. It’s worrisome to read articles from Jeff Doyle describing the ignorance of his enterprise clients, so I’ll try (yet again) to explain why you should start IPv6 planning NOW.

read more see 14 comments

Does Bridge Assurance Make UDLD Obsolete?

I got an interesting question from Andrew:

Would you say that bridge assurance makes UDLD unnecessary? It doesn't seem clear from any resource I've found so far (either on Cisco's docs or on Google)."

It’s important to remember that UDLD works on physical links whereas bridge assurance works on top of STP (which also implies it works above link aggregation/port channel mechanisms). UDLD can detect individual link failure (even when the link is part a LAG); bridge assurance can detect unaggregated link failures, total LAG failure, misconfigured remote port or a malfunctioning switch.

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Get the right troubleshooting tools for the job

A while ago Matthew Norwood wrote an excellent article describing the troubleshooting process they used to figure out why a particular web application worked way too slowly. Greg Ferro was quick to point out that it doesn’t make sense to assume the network is the problem and work through the whole chain slowly eliminating every potential networking device as the source of the problem when you might be facing an application design issue. However, there’s an even more important consideration: your network troubleshooting toolbox lacks the right troubleshooting tools for this job.

read more see 9 comments

Ensuring multi-tenant security in cloud services

One of the interesting problems I was facing in the recent weeks was multi-tenant security. Combine it with fuzzy all-encompassing vapor-based terminology and you have a perfect mix that can fit anything you want to sell. In the Ensuring multi-tenant security in cloud services I wrote for I tried to structure the cloudy visions a bit: let’s figure out which type of service we’re talking about, then we can discuss what security mechanisms make sense.

As you might expect, I find IaaS the most challenging as you’re bound to hit a number of roadblocks, from VLAN limitations to architectural limitations of virtual security appliances.

Read more @ SearchTelecom ...

see 2 comments

Framed-IPv6-Prefix used as delegated DHCPv6 prefix

Chris Pollock from io Networks was kind enough to share yet another method of implementing DHCPv6 prefix delegation on PPP interfaces in his comment to my DHCPv6-RADIUS integration: the Cisco way blog post: if you tell the router not to use the Framed-IPv6-Prefix passed from RADIUS in the list of prefixes advertised in RA messages with the no ipv6 nd prefix framed-ipv6-prefix interface configuration command, the router uses the prefix sent from the RADIUS server as delegated prefix.

This setup works reliably in IOS release 15.0M. 12.2SRE3 (running on a 7206) includes the framed-IPv6-prefix in RA advertisements and DHCPv6 IA_PD reply, totally confusing the CPE.

read more see 10 comments

Delegated IPv6 prefixes – RADIUS configuration

In the Building Large IPv6 Service Provider Networks webinar I described how Cisco IOS uses two RADIUS requests to authenticate an IPv6 user (request#1) and get the delegated prefix (request#2). The second request is sent with a modified username (-dhcpv6 is appended to the original username) and an empty password (the fact that is conveniently glossed over in all Cisco documentation I found).

FreeRADIUS server is smart enough to bark at an empty password, to force the RADIUS server to accept a username with no password you have to use Auth-Type := Accept:

Site-A-dhcpv6   Auth-Type := Accept
cisco-avpair = "ipv6:prefix#1=fec0:1:2400:1100::/56"
read more see 6 comments

Internet morons are so amazing!

A few days ago I used Google to search for an article I’d written. My article was among the top results, but there was also another web site with very similar text. I’m used to blockheads publishing content stolen from my RSS feed (which is one of the primary reasons you won’t see a full feed of my blog any time soon), but this guy seemed to be copying the whole articles ... only they sounded somewhat crazy. For example,

Yesterday I described how the IPv6 architects split the functionality of IPCP into three different protocols (IPCPv6, RA and DHCPv6). While the split undoubtedly makes sense from the academic perspective, the service providers offering PPP-based services (including DSL and retrograde uses of PPP-over-FTTH) went berserk.

... became ...

Yesterday we dеѕсrіbеd hοw thе IPv6 architects rip thе functionality οf IPCP іntο 3 odd protocols (IPCPv6, RA аnd DHCPv6). Whіlе thе rip positively mаkеѕ clarity frοm thе educational perspective, thе use providers charity PPP-based services (counting DSL аnd opposing uses οf PPP-over-FTTH) wеnt berserk.
read more see 17 comments

Don’t lie about proprietary protocols

A few months ago Brocade launched its own version of Data Center Fabric (VCS) and the VDX series of switches claiming that:

The Ethernet Fabric is an advanced multi-path network utilizing an emerging standard called Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL).

Those familiar with TRILL were immediately suspicious as some of the Brocade’s materials mentioned TRILL in the same sentence as FSPF, but we could not go beyond speculations. The Brocade’s Network OS Administrator’s Guide (Supporting Network OS v2.0, December 2010) shows a clear picture.

read more see 9 comments

The Data Center Fabric architectures

Have you noticed how quickly fabric got as meaningless as switching and cloud? Everyone is selling you data center fabric and no two vendors have something remotely similar in mind. You know it’s always more fun to look beyond white papers and marketectures and figure out what’s really going on behind the scenes (warning: you might be as disappointed as Dorothy was). I was able to identify three major architectures (at least two of them claiming to be omnipotent fabrics).

Business as usual

Each networking device (let’s confuse everyone and call them switches) works independently and remains a separate management and configuration entity. This approach has been used for decades in building the global Internet and thus has proven scalability. It also has well-known drawbacks (large number of managed devices) and usually requires thorough design to scale well.

read more see 19 comments

DHCPv6-RADIUS integration: the Cisco way

Yesterday I described how the IPv6 architects split the functionality of IPCP into three different protocols (IPCPv6, RA and DHCPv6). While the split undoubtedly makes sense from the academic perspective, the service providers offering PPP-based services (including DSL and retrograde uses of PPP-over-FTTH) went berserk. They were already using RADIUS to authenticate PPP users ... and were not thrilled by the idea that they should deploy DHCPv6 servers just to make the protocol stack look nicer.

read more see 4 comments

Last week I got an interesting tweet: “Hey @ioshints can you tell me what is the radius parameter to send ipv6 dns servers at pppoe negotiation?” It turned out that the writer wanted to propagate IPv6 DNS server address with IPv6CP, which doesn’t work. Contrary to IPCP, IPv6CP provides just the bare acknowledgement that the two nodes are willing to use IPv6. All other parameters have to be negotiated with DHCPv6 or ICMPv6 (RA/SLAAC).

The following table compares the capabilities of IPCP with those offered by a combination of DHCPv6, SLAAC and RA (IPv6CP is totally useless as a host parameter negotiation tool):

read more see 2 comments


text:
Invest in a display fridge and better your business

Owning a glass-door fridge is essential if you are running a food-related enterprise. It forms a functional purpose by offering a place to keep perishable food items as well as playing a role in the marketing of your food service. A modern commercial fridge offers you additional benefits such as digital controllers, low noise, and illuminated shelves. Read our blog to learn more about the reasons why these fridges play a vital role in the food industry. If you want to boost sales, find a display fridge for sale on Junk Mail.

1. The visual element

A glass-door fridge adds to the aesthetic appeal of your store. Displaying food items in these fridges adds an attractive visual element to your enterprise, which helps to promote sales. Glass fridges can be used as a counter or can be placed near the cash counter. With an extensive range of options available, you are sure to find one which matches your requirements.

display fridge for sale buy kitchen display

The variety of sizes means that you can select a fridge that can accommodate the amount of stock you need to display. If you have limited space, you can buy a compact fridge to display drinks along a counter. This maximises on space as well as putting chilled drinks within easy reach of your customers. When you are looking for a display fridge for sale, you’ll need to consider the capacity of the fridge, the interior temperature as well as the type of food it was built to display.

2. Display area

Another advantage of owning a commercial fridge with a glass door is that it provides an excellent place to display food. Having an attractive display area is particularly important for bakeries and ice-cream shops. Restaurants can use these fridges to display pastries and cakes. A clearly visible display promotes sales by drawing attention to food that is on sale.

3. Convenience

A display fridge allows you to keep your products neatly organised, which makes it more convenient for customers to find what they’re looking for. With a glass door, customers can see the products without opening the fridge, which makes it easier to choose products while also helping to maintain a cool temperature inside the fridge. When fridges are opened, cool air is lost and more energy is used to lower the temperature again.

display fridge for sale food bakery

4. More hygienic and easier to clean

Hygiene is vital in the food industry, and the advantage of glass-door fridges is that they are easy to keep clean. You can remove dirt from the glass door by using a damp cloth. As you have a clear view into the fridge, it’s easy to notice any stains and clean them up. A glass-door fridge improves the hygiene of your business by making it easy for customers to view the food without touching it. They keep the food cool and prevent it from spoiling before its sell-by date. This method of storing and displaying food also helps to stop dust and dirt from collecting on it. When food and beverages are kept at the right temperature, it helps to prevent food poisoning.

5. It’s a great marketing tool

Marketing is vital to the success of any business. When you invest in a glass-door fridge, you also get an excellent marketing tool. You’ll get great returns when your display helps to boost sales and contributes to higher profits.

6. People can serve themselves

If you have a fridge with a glass door, you can save money by letting people help themselves rather than employing food service staff. With food items organised neatly within the fridge, customers can easily find what they are looking for and serve themselves.

kitchen bakery for sale display fridge

Photo by Jessica Furtney on Unsplash

Now that you know more about the advantages of owning these appliances, you can find a display fridge for sale on Junk Mail.

Invest in a display fridge and better your business | Junk Mail blog
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Invest in a display fridge and better your business | Junk Mail blog
Owning a glass-door fridge is essential if you are running a food-related enterprise. It keeps perishable food items safe and markets your food service.
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text:
054 iTunes Myths and Misinformation For Podcasters, Video vs Audio Podcasts in iTunes And Bagpipes

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Quick Episode Summary:

  • Intro :12
  • Promo 1: Virtual Coffee With Lisette 1:44
  • On the Libsyn Blog! 2:22
  • Promo 2: The Americana Music Show 4:06
  • How we feature YOU 4:39
  • Promo 3: KO Sales Coach 7:06
  • Rob & Elsie Conversation 7:34
    • A little gear deal mention!
    • Facebook Ads and podcasters – audio feedback from Marc Gunn 14:08
    • A special promo all about bagpipes, just for Rob 18:43
    • Should we care about what’s going on with radio or concentrate on our own podcasting stuff 21:03
    • How much promotion of your episode is enough on Twitter? What’s your twitter strategy?
    • It’s not THAT hard to create premium content for your podcast – really
    • An update on how iTunes figures out the popularity rating for each episode
    • Should you do a video podcast AND audio podcast in iTunes?
    • Podcasts might be headed into popular vernacular
    • What options to does Libsyn provide to embed content in other sites?
    • The MYTH of 8 weeks on New & Noteworthy
    • What is the difference between “Top Podcasts” and “What’s Hot” in iTunes?
    • Is the “All Podcasts” section in iTunes just random?
    • When should you use a custom permalink in Libsyn and when should you not
    • Feedburner is on it’s way out – we have some proof
    • We’ll talk about Blab and a warning about doing live for the sake of doing live
    • STATS, STATS, STATS!!! Median and mean numbers for July – August
    • Where have Rob and Elsie been and where Libsyn is going

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Friday, August 8, 2014

Modern Group Announces $1,000 Signing Bonus Program For Service Technicians

Modern Group is Hiring Technicians For All Branches and Divisions

$1,000 Signing Bonus For All Hired Techs After 90 Days

Contact Our HR Department:

Email:  | Call: 800-866-3376

Modern Group's business is growing fast and we need qualified technicians to serve our customers. We are offering a $1,000 signing bonus to all technicians hired who stay with us for 90 days, but we know you'll want to stay with Modern for the rest of your career!
We service all makes and models of:
  • Forklifts
  • Generators
  • Arborist Equipment
  • Cranes and Bucket Trucks
  • Light Construction Products
  • Dock and Warehouse Equipment
Modern covers New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, and Northern Delaware from seven service branch locations:

Modern Offers:

  • Competitive Wages
  • Regular Hours
  • Training & Certification Support
  • Medical & Dental Coverage
  • 401k Savings Plans
  • 100% Employee Ownership