A Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) helps to architect and drive an organization’s security strategy. The role requires technical chops and business acumen. You also need strong communication skills to help executives understand risk and response, choose the right metrics to measure infosec effectiveness, and provide guidance to the technical teams actually running security operations. ... Read more »...
Take a Network Break! This week we warn of significant vulnerabilities in WhatsUp Gold and Cisco NX-OS. We also discuss US federal reaction to the penetration of US telco networks by Chinese state actors. These reactions include network and visibility hardening guidelines from CISA, the FBI (reluctantly) recommending the use of encrypted messaging apps, and ... Read more »...
Today on Heavy Networking, sponsored by Palo Alto Networks, we explore how virtual patching can be used to protect IoT and OT devices. Virtual patching leverages intrusion detection and intrusion prevention, combined with threat research, to block exploits targeting IoT and OT devices. Why would you use virtual patching? When it comes to IoT and ... Read more »...
Ongoing education and training is a constant in a networking career, especially if you want to advance. And certifications are a common path forward. On today’s episode, guest Andreas Baekdahl shares his journey from traditional networking to automation architect and certification instructor. Along the way, he’s had his share of challenges and failures, and he ... Read more »...
Public cloud networks can be a bit of a black box when it comes to monitoring and troubleshooting. Today on Day Two DevOps we talk with sponsor Cisco ThousandEyes about its Cloud Insights tool, which aims to open that box so you can see exactly what’s going on in your cloud networks, identify problems, help ... Read more »...
Our monthly news roundup discusses liability insurance for CISOs (if you are one, you should get it), serious intrusions of US telecom companies by Chinese state actors (according to the FBI), and a novel attack that leapt across multiple Wi-Fi networks. We also discuss significant vulnerabilities affecting Palo Alto Networks’ Expedition migration product, how fake ... Read more »...
Take a Network Break! We’ve got a full menu for our post-Thanksgiving episode. We start with a host of critical CVEs affecting Veritas and a couple more for QNAP. Cisco announces EOL for two version of its ACI software, Verizon runs field trials for 1.6Tbps throughput in a single wavelength (with Ciena optical transceivers), and ... Read more »
System Initiative is a new product that aims to improve on Infrastructure as Code (IaC). On today’s episode we talk with System Initiative creator Adam Jacob to find out why he wanted to improve on IaC, how System Initiative works, how it compares to other platforms in the market, how it handles key features such ... Read more »
Cyber insurance provides compensation if a company suffers financial loss due to a security incident such as a ransonware payment, costs of data recovery, legal expenses or fines, or damage to a company’s reputation. Today on the Packet Protector podcast, we discuss the ins and outs of cyber insurance with a policy holder. Joe Stern ... Read more »
Take a Network Break! We start with a brief follow-up on our CVE coverage, and then dive into a serious one-two set of vulnerabilities being exploited in Palo Alto Networks software, VMware taking a second crack at patching a vCenter vulnerability, and notable CVEs in D-Link and HPC gear. An AI company loses a quarter ... Read more »
The BGP Monitoring Protocol, or BMP, is an IETF standard. With BMP you can send BGP prefixes and updates from a router to a collector before any policy filters are applied. Once collected, you can analyze this routing data without any impact on the router itself. On today’s Heavy Networking, we talk with Bart Dorlandt, ... Read more »
Hiring is never an easy process. On today’s show, guest Brian Hogan and host Laura Santamaria explore the intricacies of hiring top performers in the tech industry. Brian talks about how to set up a fair and structured interview process, including the use of rubrics to evaluate candidates consistently. He discusses the challenges of assessing ... Read more »
Traditional network monitoring was built around SNMP and logs. And while there’s still a role for these sources, network observability aims to incorporate more data to help you build a holistic picture of the network and its behavior and performance. These sources can include flows, streaming telemetry, APIs, NETCONF, the CLI, deep packet inspection, synthetic ... Read more »...
Surveillance is a fact of life with modern technology, be it corporate data harvesting or government snooping. If you’re thinking about personal privacy, today’s episode covers common tools for communication and Web browsing. We dig into the end-to-end encryption capabilities of the messaging tools Signal and WhatsApp, look at the capabilities and limits of the ... Read more »
Take a Network Break! This week we get an update on SonicWall’s new firewall warranty. We also cover Cisco’s Wi-Fi 7 launch; in addition to new APs, Cisco also updates its branding and rolls out “simplified” licensing that bundles features you might not want. Aviatrix adds a PaaS option for its cloud networking software, but ... Read more »
On today’s episode, artificial intelligence with sponsor Selector.AI. If you’re curious and maybe still skeptical about the value AI brings to network operations, listen to this episode. Selector is on the forefront of AIOps for networking, building models that are customized and specifically targeted at networks. What Selector is doing is NOT simply the low-hanging ... Read more »...
With the current cultural emphasis on AI and how that is changing our world, we often forget the human element of individuals and teams when building an effective software development team. On today’s Day Two DevOps, we explore the psychology behind software teams, psychological safety for those teams and how the advent of AI plays ... Read more »
Microsoft’s Active Directory and Entra ID are valuable targets for attackers because they store critical identity information. On today’s Packet Protector, we talk with penetration tester and security consultant Eric Kuehn about how he approaches compromising AD/Entra ID, common problems he sees during client engagements, quick wins for administrators and security pros to fortify their ... Read more »...
Take a Network Break! This week we cover a serious Cisco vulnerability, SonicWall offering a firewall warranty, and a security advisory from ID provider Okta. Apple buys a stake in a satellite telecommunications company, Lumen and Google team up on a joint networking/AI deal, and we check on financial results from Arista Networks, Extreme Networks, ... Read more »...
On today’s episode, we chat with wireless ISP engineer Elijah Zeida. Elijah had an interesting connectivity challenge to solve for a remote mountain town that relies on a wireless connection for Internet access, and not much budget to solve it with. But he got it done by building his own SD-WAN using Mikrotik boxes and ... Read more »
Everyone has their own hot take or bit of wisdom to share regarding technical leadership. Today, host Laura Santamaria weaves these insights on communication, collaboration, decision making and more from her guests on the first six episodes of Technically Leadership. Listen, reflect and then apply to your own leadership role. Episode Links: Laura Santamaria Packet ... Read more »
Ostinato is a network traffic generator aimed at network engineers who need test traffic, whether in a lab or production, to do things such as test circuit bandwidth, determine if SD-WAN or load balancing rules are working as intended, investigate packet drops, and more. Originally released as an open-source project, Ostinato is now offered as ... Read more »...
We are firmly entrenched in a hybrid cloud world, from on-prem data centers to multiple cloud platforms to branch and remote offices, not to mention wandering end users connecting via VPN. While the network is the common substrate among all these locations, every cloud provider has its own network implementation. Managing, monitoring and securing all ... Read more »...
Security professionals often have an impulse to want to move on to the next new thing. While that can be helpful in a field that thrives on change, it can also make it hard to focus on routine tasks and mundane (yet essential) security controls and practices. Whether this impulse is due to varying degrees ... Read more »
Take a Network Break! This week we discuss Google adding traffic shaping to its cross-cloud interconnect, Aviatrix bringing hybrid cloud transit to its cloud networking service, and Microsoft forcing MFA for Entra ID customers. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella forgoes $5 million in incentive pay for Microsoft security lapses, Extreme Networks adds new features to its ... Read more »...
Alkira provides a Multi-Cloud Networking Service (MCNS) that lets you connect public cloud and on-prem locations using a cloud-delivered, as-a-service approach. But Alkira offers more than just multi-cloud connectivity. On today’s sponsored episode of Heavy Networking, we dig into Alkira’s full set of offerings, which include networking, visibility, governance, and security controls such as firewalls ... Read more »...
AI is being integrated and adopted across much of the IT world, but can it work magic in transforming old legacy code into shiny modern code? When it comes to this magic trick, it’s important to look behind the curtain. On today’s Day Two DevOps podcast we discuss the reality of AI in refactoring code ... Read more »
This episode was recorded live at Security Field Day (XFD) 12 in October, 2024. As delegates at the event, JJ and Drew heard presentations from DigiCert, Dell Technologies, SonicWall, and Citrix. These presentations covered topics including digital certificate management, post-quantum cryptography, supply chain security, recovering from ransomware, Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), and Secure Service ... Read more »...
Take a Network Break! This week we discuss a new ZTNA offering from NaaS startup Alkira, a serious vulnerability in Fortinet’s management software under active exploit, and a less-serious vulnerability in Cisco security software that’s also being exploited. Gluware adds new AI copilots to its network automation software, a judge orders Broadcom to continue to ... Read more »...
Ethernet competes with InfiniBand as a network fabric for AI workloads such as model training. One issue is that AI jobs don’t tolerate latency, drops, and retransmits. In other words, AI workloads do best with a lossless network. And while Ethernet has kept up with increasing demands to support greater bandwidth and throughput, it was ... Read more »
