The dangers of weak passwords on Social sites (Facebook / Linkedin)

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Posted on 9th March 2010 by admin in Barracuda Web Filter | Fortinet | Web Filter

– Phishers Used Facebook to Penetrate Financial Firm’s Computer System (March 4, 2010)

Phishers used Facebook to burrow their way into the network of a large US financial company last year.

The attackers took control of one employee’s Facebook account and using information culled from that individual’s friends’ profiles, sent what appeared to be personal messages to several other company employees about pictures taken at a company picnic.

The phishers learned of the picnic through postings on the hijacked account.  When one of the other employees received a message asking her to click on a link that would allow her to view the pictures, her computer became infected with keystroke logging malware.

When that employee logged in to a VPN account to access the company network, the attackers were able to capture the necessary information to gain access to that network.  The intruders managed to get deeper into the network and take control of two servers before they were detected.

Original Story: http://lastwatchdog.com/facebook-phishers-breached-corporate-network/

Use a different hard password for each publicly accessible website service you use and be suspicious of links in e-mail even if they appear to be from friends.

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Barracuda Load Balancer Firmware Release 3.1

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Posted on 12th February 2010 by admin in Barracuda Load Balancer

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Barracuda Networks has announced that the Load Balancer now includes Layer 7 Content Routing and Global Server Load Balancing.  Details from their press release:

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Campbell, Calif., Feb. 4, 2010 – Barracuda Networks Inc. today announced new features for the Barracuda Load Balancer, including Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) and Layer 7 content routing.  Available on Barracuda Load Balancer models 440 and 640, GSLB utilizes a built-in geographical IP database that ensures traffic redirection to the next available data center in the event of outage or other performance hindering event at the primary data center.

Layer 7 content routing enables administrators to direct Web traffic to different server groups based on the content of the incoming request.  Content rules can be based on any part of the incoming traffic such HTTP headers, URLs and parameters.  The application modules can be deployed on multiple servers and using content rules the Barracuda Load Balancer will retrieve the correct content based on the URL path, sub domain or application parameters.  Layer 7 content routing is available in Barracuda Load Balancer models 340 and above.

“Unlike competing solutions, new content routing capabilities are powered by a comprehensive rules engine enabling administrators to deploy large applications across multiple servers,” said Stephen Pao, vice president of product management for Barracuda Networks.  “The Barracuda Load Balancer continues to offer exceptional ease-of-use for an enterprise-class application delivery solution at an affordable price.” 

Barracuda Load Balancer firmware 3.1 adds support for 802.1Q-based virtual LAN (VLAN) tagging for advanced deployments.  Utilizing this capability, the Barracuda Load Balancer can distribute traffic between servers that are deployed in different VLAN subgroups, enabling administrators to segment their backend server networks by application or user group.  The Barracuda Load Balancer also introduces support for one-armed proxy deployments, allowing administrators to determine exactly what network traffic to route through the Barracuda Load Balancer.

In addition, traffic acceleration technologies such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) multiplexing have been incorporated to improve application response times.  TCP multiplexing allows the Barracuda

Load Balancer to reuse existing network connections and removes the overhead associated with creating or terminating connections.  This connection pooling enables administrators to achieve greater efficiency among servers and faster performing applications.

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If you like, you can view the original press release

Pricing and Availability
The new Barracuda Load Balancer firmware 3.1 is immediately available to current and future Barracuda Load Balancer customers.  The Barracuda Load Balancer comes in four models ranging in price from $1,499 to $8,999 depending on the model with no per port charges or per server licensing fees.

If you would like more information on the Barracuda Load Balancer, please visit BarracudaNetworks.ca

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Network Instrument’s “State of the Network Global Study”

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Posted on 16th November 2009 by admin in Uncategorized

Even though there has been a huge adoption of virtual environments, the recent Network Instruments "State of the Network Global Study" came out,and shows that three quarters of networks lack the appropriate tools, and visibility.

Here is the original press release on the study.

Key Statistics

Virtualization

  • 75% of respondents have implemented virtualization
  • 75% lacked adequate tools, visibility, or information to troubleshoot problems Economic Impact
  • 73% were being asked to do more with fewer resources
  • 65% of IT staffs had not experienced layoffs Performance Troubleshooting
  • 80% cited identifying the problem source as their primary troubleshooting concern
  • 40% identified ensuring application performance as their biggest challenge Unified Communications
  • 60% will have implemented video by 2010
  • 57% will have implemented unified messaging systems by 2010

With the economy impacting every facet of society, it wasn’t surprising that the network is not immune from its effect. The need to reduce costs not only means IT staffs are managing leaner and meaner networks, it also generated higher than expected adoption rates for technologies like virtualization and unified communications. In querying nearly 450 network professionals, it was clear that cost savings will be the primary driver for technology adoption over the next two years.

If you’re interested in learning more about the study, you can download the pdf here.

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Simple Cost-Effective Web Acceleration with WEBaXcel

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Posted on 22nd July 2009 by admin in Uncategorized | WEBaXcel | Web Acceleration

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WEBaXcel Appliance

The new WEBaXcel Appliance is an advanced web acceleration product designed to optimize the performance of your web-based applications and downloads. The WEBaXcel accelerates web connectivity across one or more Internet links (two or more broadband links are recommended for best performance).

It will dramatically speed up web sessions and downloads and can work with either a single Internet connection, or up to three connections – although multiple connections are recommended.

Reliability

How crticial is Internet access to your business?  The WEBaXcel appliance ensures that all connectivity out to the Internet stays up and running 24/7 by automatically failing over to a secondary inexpensive broadband link.

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Network Instruments Virtual Monitoring

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Posted on 6th July 2009 by admin in Network Instruments | Network Instruments Gigastor | Virtualization

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As people expand the number of applications running in virtual environments, they need to look at visibility whether they can monitor and analyze virtual traffic for ensuring performance or security.

Most companies handle this by placing appliances on the physical network and tracking VM communications when they hit the physical network. This however ignores communications that stay within the virtual host.

If you have multiple VMs within the same virtual host communicating with each other, you’d need to place a software analyzer or probe within the virtual host to monitor the internal communications.

This is a good solution, but it ignores the realities that people want to extend the power of their existing analysis devices into virtual environments. In Network Instrument’s case, people have come to rely on retrospective network analysis in their GigaStor to troubleshoot sporadic problems. GigaStor is like a TiVo for your network capturing terabytes of packets for later playback and analysis. So, rather than being notified of a problem by the user and starting a packet capture, you’re always recording network activities and can simply rewind the network and troubleshoot. Because of the need for hardware, this solution can never be virtualized. So, that’s where the Virtual TAP comes in to complete the virtualized offering. The Virtual TAP copies all communications between VMs on the virtual host and pushes them out to the GigaStor.

So, with this Network Instruments solution you’re able to monitor performance in both virtual and physical environments. You can monitor application and network performance from a single integrated console interface using Observer or enterprise-wide using the Observer Reporting Server. One benefit that we haven’t covered with the Virtual TAP is that you can also push the internal communications out to any other hardware or software product needing access to the virtual environment. Network Instruments is also the first in the performance analysis space to offer this.

Some External Resources

Networking World (March 25) – Product of the Week

http://www.networkworld.com/slideshows/2009/033009-products-of-the-week.html#slide9

Enterprise Systems (March 23) – Network Instruments’ Observer Combines Physical, Virtual Visibility

http://esj.com/articles/2009/03/23/network-instruments-observer-combines-physical-virtual-visibility.aspx

Network World (March 25) – Outing blind spots in the virtual realm

http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/nsm/2009/032309nsm2.html?hpg1=bn

Virtual Strategy Magazine (March 23) – Network Instruments Closes the Gap (PODCAST)

http://www.virtual-strategy.com/VSM-Podcasts/Network-Instruments-Closes-the-Gap.html

Network World (March 23) – Why Network Managers should care about VMs

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/40013

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The FortiOS 4.0 innovation milestone – by Michael Xie

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Posted on 5th March 2009 by admin in Fortinet

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Michael Xie

Michael Xie

The FortiOS 4.0 innovation milestone

This portion of a post by Michael Xie, co founder of Fortinet celebrates their new FortiOS 4.0.

Original Post at: http://blog.fortinet.com/the-fortios-40-innovation-milestone/

Today was another big milestone in the history of the company I co-founded and I’m very happy to have this opportunity to tell you about it. Fortinet has released FortiOS 4.0, the firmware upgrade for our FortiGate security systems. This release is the result of a tremendous effort by our development teams over the better part of 12+ months. These highly skilled and talented teams worked hard to design and implement these technology innovations so that we could confidently put the product in front of our customers.

Even in this time of economic uncertainty, I believe that innovation is our greatest strength. While other security vendors are merely coasting along, Fortinet is focused more than ever on expanding our vision for comprehensive and easily managed network security solutions. We are continuously updating our FortiOS firmware and each release builds upon our existing, pioneering innovations. For example, with FortiOS 3.0, Fortinet became the first security hardware company to offer VoIP / IM / P2P security; we were also the first security vendor to deliver integrated SSL VPN with complete content inspection. We’ve now built upon that technology to offer full application control and prioritization of more than 1,000 apps. Overall, our FortiOS 4.0 release delivers on two main objectives:

  1. Give our FortiGate customers access to security technologies and features that were previously only available via a combination of standalone vendors
  2. Continue to drive the increased security capabilities that help protect our customers from the never-ending and evolving threat landscape

FortiOS 4.0 introduces several features, the four most significant of which I want to highlight here:

  • Application Control
  • Data Leakage Prevention
  • WAN Optimization
  • SSL Inspection

more…

Product Links: FortiGate Firewalls

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Network Instrument’s “Destination: Performance” Tour

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Posted on 3rd February 2009 by admin in Featured | Network Instruments | Network Management

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Network Instruments has announced their “Destination Performance” tour. Here’s their announcement:

Destination: Performance

Network Instruments’ game-changing approach to network monitoring, troubleshooting, and analysis is so solid you’ve got to see it for yourself.

Avoid the roadside breakdowns that leave businesses and their clients stranded. From company-wide reports to deep packet analysis, we’ll show you the smooth road to an efficient network and a healthy business.

Join us for lunch and tips from the experts.

We’ll discuss:

  • Application performance monitoring
  • VoIP and UC analysis
  • Device and route monitoring
  • Back-in-time troubleshooting
  • Enterprise-wide reporting

Plus, get a first look at our newly released Observer 13 analysis solution.

The Destination: Performance tour is scheduled to stop in the following cities:

  • Minneapolis, MN – February 12, 2009
  • Dallas, TX – March 3, 2009
  • Chicago, IL – March 4, 2009
  • Toronto, ON – March 5, 2009
  • Boston, MA – March 10, 2009
  • Philadelphia, PA – March 11, 2009
  • Atlanta, GA – March 12, 2009
  • Phoenix, AZ – March 24, 2009
  • San Francisco, CA – March 25, 2009
  • Seattle, WA – March 26, 2009

Questions?   Contact Will McClain

About Network Instruments

Network Instruments, a leading provider of innovative analysis solutions, helps organizations and enterprises ensure the delivery of business-critical applications on their networks. The company’s monitoring and reporting products provide comprehensive visibility into networks and applications to optimize network performance, speed troubleshooting, and assist long-term capacity planning. Network Instruments solutions provide integrated enterprise-wide reporting and back-in-time investigation capabilities for troubleshooting networks. The company is headquartered in Minneapolis with sales offices worldwide and distributors in over 50 countries.

To see Network Instruments products, visit http://www.packetsniffers.com, operated by Optrics Engineering, a Network Instruments partner.

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Barracuda Web Site Firewall Garners SC Magazine Best Buy!

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Posted on 22nd January 2009 by admin in Network Security | Web Site Firewall

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From SC Magazine:

The Web Site Firewall Model 460 is an application protection firewall, which resides on a single appliance device. The tool recognizes attacks by monitoring network traffic to and from the web server. The default configuration for the device is to run in bridge mode, but it can also be installed in a routed mode. Bridge mode allows the device to inspect traffic bi-directionally to the web server without the use of an IP address. The routed mode is similar to a traditional network configuration, whereby a separate IP address is installed on each interface of the website firewall. This configuration can cause a few problems, which the bridge avoids.

For example, the 460 becomes an inline device, which can cause a central point of failure. For this type of deployment, we recommend using the 460’s redundant configuration. In the default mode, the tool does not stop network traffic if the unit fails. However, all traffic to and from the website would be blocked in the routed mode. The routed configuration is what is known as a “fail secure” configuration. This means that if the Web Site Firewall Model 460 does not explicitly permit the traffic, it will be dropped. The logging on the tool is performed via the syslog protocol. Several different types of events can be configured to send traffic to the syslog server.

As an integrator of many types of systems, the Web Site Firewall Model 460 in bridge mode has “goes in to” and “goes out of” ports. The installation and configuration are as simple as it comes. The entire installation and configuration guide takes up only a single piece of paper. Additional documentation covers the routing installation method, as well as very detailed explanations of the events which triggered alerts.

Support is offered through phone, email and a website. Email support is available 24/7 for all customers, and additional support is available for a higher fee. Barracuda also provides a website with a knowledge base, FAQ and live chat options for support.

The Barracuda offering is priced at $8,999 with no “per user” fees on top of that price. This puts the cost of the device at the lower end of the spectrum.

..end of SC Magazine story. To see the original article, visit SC Magazine.

Pricing and Availability

The Barracuda Web Site Firewall is available in three models: Barracuda Web Site Firewall 360, 460 and 660. U.S. pricing starts at $4,999. International pricing and availability varies based on region. For more information, please visit http://www.barracudanetworks.ca/website-firewall.aspx.

About the Barracuda Web Site Firewall

The Barracuda Web Site Firewall is a complete and powerful security solution for Web applications and Web sites.

The Barracuda Web Site Firewall provides award-winning protection against hackers leveraging protocol or application vulnerabilities to instigate data theft, denial of service or defacement of your Web site.

Many applications are vulnerable to such attacks because application developers do not consistently employ secure coding practices. Barracuda Web Site Firewall is designed to combat all attack types that have been categorized as significant threats, including:

  • Cross Site Scripting (XSS)
  • SQL injection flaws
  • OS command injections
  • Site reconnaissance
  • Session hijacking
  • Application denial of service
  • Malicious probes/crawlers
  • Cookie/session tampering
  • Path traversal
  • Information leakage

To learn more about the Barracuda Web Site Firewall, see the product information pages on BarracudNetworks.ca.

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PacketTrap.ca – Network Management Software

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Posted on 15th December 2008 by admin in Featured | Network Monitoring | PacketTrap

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PacketTrap Perspectives Dashboard

PacketTrap Perspective's Dashboard

With over 50,000 corporate users in more than 100 countries, PacketTrap provides affordable enterprise class network and application management software that improves performance across their customer’s most complex networks.

PacketTrap’s flagship solution, PacketTrap Perspective, provides IT professionals with a 360 degree view of their single and multi-site networks and allows them to manage and maintain their infrastructure from a single interface.
PacketTrap Perspective is a comprehensive and affordable network management and application monitoring solution for single and multi-site networks. It solves the problems associated with bandwidth, performance, and connectivity and allows you to take back control of your network.

The PacketTrap pt360 Tool Suite consolidates dozens of network management and monitoring tools into a single, integrated interface.

PacketTrap Perspectives Dashboard

PacketTrap pt360 Tool Suite's Dashboard

It also works well with virtual networks.   You can easily monitor your virtual environment. Automatically discover your host ESX servers and associated guest VMs. Gather key statistics like status, CPU, memory, disk and interface traffic.

All of the PacketTrap products can be downloaded for trial, and evaluation from the evaluation page.

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Google Acting Slow?

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Posted on 9th December 2008 by admin in Web Filter

(An interesting article by Joel Esler, published on the Internet Storm Center):

Everyday we receive about 20 reports of “www.xwebsitehere.com” being slow.  Today we’ve received a few reports about Google being slow.  One reader (thanks Neal) even wrote in to say that after he did some monitoring on his connections, he isolated it down to “pagead2.googlesyndication.com”.  Obviously, from the hostname being one of the servers that serves ads to lots of websites. 

Neal stated that after he blacklisted this hostname, his browsing went back to normal.  Anyone else experiencing similar?

(Yes we have received several reports of Google being slow, I’m asking if you can replicate the “pagead2″ issue.)

 Update:  We haven’t heard any more about this today, so, I’m not sure of the end result.  Personally, if my Google Ads are a little slow in loading…  I’m not sure I mind much.

Update 2:  We just received an email from a reader in Denmark, using Everydns.net, is having his Google DNS queries redirected to a Yahoo server.  No more info than that at this time.

– Joel Esler http://www.joelesler.net

 

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