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Submission + - Hotel group asks FCC for permission to block some outside Wi-Fi

alphadogg writes: The FCC will soon decide whether to lay down rules regarding hotels’ ability to block personal Wi-Fi hotspots inside their buildings, a practice that recently earned Marriott International a $600,000 fine. Back in August, Marriott, business partner Ryman Hospitality Properties and trade group the American Hotel and Lodging Association asked the FCC to clarify when hotels can block outside Wi-Fi hotspots in order to protect their internal Wi-Fi services.

Submission + - Vulnerability in embedded Web server exposes millions of routers to hacking (networkworld.com)

alphadogg writes: A serious vulnerability in an embedded Web server used by many router models from different manufacturers allows remote attackers to take control of affected devices over the Internet. A compromised router can have wide-ranging implications for the security of home and business networks as it allows attackers to sniff inbound and outbound traffic and provides them with a foothold inside the network from where they can launch attacks against other systems. It also gives them a man-in-the-middle position to strip SSL from secure connections and hijack DNS settings to misrepresent trusted websites. The new vulnerability was discovered by researchers from Check Point Software Technologies and is located in RomPager, an embedded Web server used by many routers to host their Web-based administration interfaces.

Submission + - Ping Identity co-founder now has sights set on commercial drone management (networkworld.com)

alphadogg writes: The Federal Aviation Administration has taken a hard line so far against most commercial uses of unmanned aerial vehicles (i.e.,drones) for safety and privacy reasons. But one other good reason for taking things slow is that the software for managing such drones has trailed hardware development. A new company called PixiePath launched by Ping Identity co-founder Bryan Field-Elliot seeks to address the software shortage by delivering SaaS-based tools for controlling fleets of commercial drones. Because of the FAA taking its time outlining rules, PixiePath could find its biggest early opportunities up North or overseas.

Submission + - Remember when Cisco sued Apple over the iPhone name? (networkworld.com)

alphadogg writes: Cisco Systems' General Counsel Mark Chandler, explaining Friday's blockbuster patent and copyright infringement lawsuits against switching rival Arista Networks, http://www.networkworld.com/ar... emphasized that "I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve initiated suit against a competitor, supplier or customer." Chandler might be right, but he's probably pretty close to having to resort to his second hand for counting lawsuits. And when Cisco does sue, it makes a splash. Remember when the company lawyered up vs. Apple seven years ago over the name of a brand new little device dubbed iPhone?

Submission + - Cisco slaps Arista Networks with suit for "brazen" patent infringement (networkworld.com)

alphadogg writes: Cisco today filed two lawsuits against data center switch competitor Arista Networks for allegedly violating its intellectual property. One suit is for patent infringement, which charges Arista with violating 14 Cisco patents for 12 features in the Arista EOS operating system. The second suit is for extensive copying of Cisco’s user manuals and command line structures, right down to the grammatical errors within them. “This is not an accident but a strategy,” says a source familiar with the matter. “It was a deliberate, brazen and blatant intellectual property violation in order to gain competitive advantage in the marketplace. Arista’s shortcutting to get to market and win share.”

Submission + - How UPS uses analytics to drive down costs (networkworld.com)

alphadogg writes: When you have an organization the size of UPS – with 99,000 vehicles and 424,000 employees – every single little bit of efficiency that can be squeezed out of daily operations translates into a big deal. UPS has been using analytics to do just that for a long time now, and keeps getting better and better at it. Network World caught up with UPS Senior Director of Process Management Jack Levis for an update on their latest achievements.

Submission + - Big IT vendors mostly mum on commercial drone plans (networkworld.com)

alphadogg writes: Word that the Federal Aviation Administration might take a very hard line on commercial drone use has those with designs on such activity nervous. But as for big enterprise IT vendors, it's really hard to tell what they think because they're keeping any plans in this field very hush-hush. More consumer oriented companies like Amazon, Facebook and Google are active, but companies like IBM and HP are quiet, while Microsoft affirms it has nothing doing. A former FAA lawyer says sitting on the sidelines even during this unsure regulatory period is probably not a great idea. "I have a hard time believing they don't have some sort of programs in place," attorney Mark Dombroff says.

Submission + - Debian devs vote down anti-systemd measure, sponsor steps down (networkworld.com)

alphadogg writes: Debian developers voted down a proposal that would have weakened the Linux distribution’s integration with a controversial system software package on Tuesday, in a victory for systemd supporters. The proposal, promulgated by former Debian project leader Ian Jackson, called for all Debian software to be effectively init-system-agnostic – the aim being to limit just how tightly bound to and dependent upon systemd Debian could become.

Submission + - The 10 mightiest supercomputers on the planet (networkworld.com)

alphadogg writes: It was a familiar top 10 released today by the authors of the twice-annual Top500 ranking of world supercomputers, http://www.top500.org/blog/blo... most entries largely unchanged from this summer’s list. China retains top spot for fourth consecutive Top500 list as the annual SuperComputing conference kicks off in New Orleans.

Submission + - U.S. government issues alert about Apple iOS "Masque Attack" threat (networkworld.com)

alphadogg writes: Three days after security company FireEye warned of an iPhone/iPad threat dubbed "Masque Attack", the U.S. government has issued a warning of its own about this new risk by malicious third-party apps to Apple iOS devices. US-CERT warned: https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/a... "This attack works by luring users to install an app from a source other than the iOS App Store or their organizations’ provisioning system. In order for the attack to succeed, a user must install an untrusted app, such as one delivered through a phishing link." Revelations of Masque came on the heels of a related exploit (that also threatens Macs) called WireLurker.

Submission + - Google quadruples Nobel Prize in Computing to $1M (networkworld.com)

alphadogg writes: The Association for Computing Machinery has announced that its annual A.M. Turing Award, sometimes called the Nobel Prize in Computing, will now come with a $1M award courtesy of Google. Previously, the award came with a $250K prize funded by Google and Intel. The award, which goes to "an individual selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community," is generally doled out in February or March. This past March, the winner was Microsoft Research principal Leslie Lambert. The ACM says the bigger prize should raise the award's visibility.

Submission + - Cisco rival Juniper ousts CEO Kheradpir (networkworld.com)

alphadogg writes: Juniper Networks has replaced recently appointed CEO Shaygan Kheradpir with Executive Vice President Rami Rahim effective immediately. Kheradpir was removed by the Juniper board following a review of “his leadership and his conduct in connection with a particular negotiation with a customer,” the company said in a statement. An internal memo from the company Chairman, obtained by Network World, states that the company had doubters when it came to industry leadership.

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