Just out of curiosity, would it be possible to do point-to-point laser beams through the air that could get to gigabit speed? Obviously, they would have to be pretty high powered lasers to get any kind of real distance, just curious if it is being done.
But surely if the product starts to function in a degraded manor because it was pwned due to bad security, this affects the manufacturer too when people don't buy that product any more because it is crap...
The thing is, they don't necessarily need to be that good at network security. They can write the crappiest code in the world but it doesn't take a genius to create a simple iptables rule to block all new incoming traffic. Or to use HTTPS when checking for new firmware. The little Linux distro they are probably using (because they are cheap) has this functionality. No extra coding or time required.
It seems to me that if you have the knowledge to design the hardware, you know networking.... where is the disconnect?
- Don't have ports open to the Internet ("stealth" or otherwise) by default
Okay. And precisely how do you expect Skype to work? FaceTime? Windows Update? POP/IMAP e-mail? watch all that traffic shuffle over 80 and 443, thus making 'ports' useless...or the applications, in the short term. Saying 'screw FaceTime' is a guaranteed way to ensure that people blame the router, and replace it with something basically mirroring what the router does now.
I meant this from the perspective of the router itself. All too often routers have remote management turned or ports that appear filtered to a scan but are really just waiting for a "magic packet" in order to initiate a remote console.
- Don't use unencrypted protocols... period
That's beyond the scope of responsibilities for a router. With respect to the greater internet, kindly inform me why Windows/Android/iOS Updates need to be encrypted...or Netflix streams (DRM notwithstanding)...or a dozen other kinds of data that are high volume and don't have security requirements...there's no need to waste CPU cycles on them.
Again, from the perspective of the router. When you go to check for new firmware, use encrypted protocols.
- Don't enable wireless by default
A wireless router that ships with wireless disabled...you must be delusional. Remember, there are a whole lot of laptops being sold now that don't have wired capabilities...and cell phones and tablets don't have them at all. People buy routers explicitly for this purpose, and disabling it by default is a guaranteed way to ensure that people return them saying "it doesn't work", the high rate of returns making the entire retail chain roll their eyes, the brand getting a bad reputation, and being suicide for the product. No. Netgear has this right - ship it with a unique WPA2 password, by default, written on the bottom of the router. That is how the wireless problem is, for all practical purposes, solved.
Yes, I amend my statement. Either ship with wireless disabled but then provide a CD that will set everything up for the user in a secure fashion, or do as you suggest, enable wireless but use a unique password clearly labeled on the device itself.
I just don't understand how people who design commodity networking gear can be so bad at network security.
I am by no means a network expert, but it seems as though some of these things are just common sense....
- Don't have ports open to the Internet ("stealth" or otherwise) by default - Don't use unencrypted protocols... period - Don't enable wireless by default
Seems like just doing those things our routers would be a lot safer than they are now.
Mod parent up. There's a time and a place for energy saving and sometimes it's NEVER.
Well, energy savings as implemented currently anyway.
I would argue that there is always a place for energy savings. It just may not be something an end user can implement but it could be designed into the system.
Power save settings can be annoying on some computers, but that doesn't mean it is impossible to design an energy efficient computer that functions well.
My favorite dig at Windows 95 was that it came on like 22 floppy disks.
Oh, I want to install TCP/IP networking.... Ok, insert floppy disk 3 followed by floppy disk 20.... oh, don't have either of those? no networking for you!
For me, Windows 95 solved a huge issue I was having at the time.
The problem was plug and play and under DOS. Each manufacturer had their own proprietary PnP configuration utility and they were often mutually exclusive.
I seem to recall that I had a shiny new graphics card (Diamond Stealth II I think) and a sound card (SB16) that I COULD NOT get to work together in the same system under DOS.
Windows 95 was a godsend at the time that worked its PnP magic to get both working at the same time.
Yeah, I often wonder why people put work e-mail on their personal phone....
When I am in the office, I have my e-mail up. When I am at home... it is my time.
I am with you, I am old enough to have seen the rise of the Internet and mobile computing and I am certainly not beholden to it.
It is certainly nice to be able to route a bus trip while standing on a strange street corner or download and listen to podcasts without having to involve other devices or take a phone call wherever you are or send/receive the occasional text message. But that is about the extent to which I use my phone.
It seems like most people use their phones at social events as a measure of status more than anything...
Ahem, let me just check my phone.... oh, what that? Why yes, this IS the new ePhone 2000 cylinder with feedback buzz touch... See? The whole thing is a screen... I can check faceweb from any angle...
I am sitting there talking to him and his phone will buzz, beep and blink.. kind of hard to ignore actually. I will continue to talk and he will make sort of agreeable grunting sounds while his eyes flick between me and the screen of his device... then he will ask me what I was saying, not having paid attention to either me nor his device...
I have relied on public transit every day for years (I don't own a car) and I am continually amazed at the lack of empathy and disregard for other people that some have.
Even still, I wouldn't say that most people are rude.... It just seems that way sometimes because the obnoxious ones are disproportionately so.
What really gets me annoyed with people is not mobile device use (it is oddly reverent to see a train full of people with their heads bowed looking at their phones) it is littering in public places... why do people think it is acceptable to throw cigarette butts on the ground or pee all over public toilets?
SaaS is simply the way things are heading. Running your own servers will become less and less common as internet connections get faster and faster.
You will simply not be able to compete financially with cloud-based services. Who will want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a small server room and be responsible for their own DR solution, licensing and upgrade costs and be subject to unexpected expenses for failures and downtime when they can spend around $30,000 per year and have all of that stuff bundled abstracted away?
If you want to stay working in the IT field, you need to go with the flow and change with the times.
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Perhaps I could get funding for a study to prove that imbibing liquids directly correlates to excretion of liquids...
Just out of curiosity, would it be possible to do point-to-point laser beams through the air that could get to gigabit speed? Obviously, they would have to be pretty high powered lasers to get any kind of real distance, just curious if it is being done.
But surely if the product starts to function in a degraded manor because it was pwned due to bad security, this affects the manufacturer too when people don't buy that product any more because it is crap...
The thing is, they don't necessarily need to be that good at network security. They can write the crappiest code in the world but it doesn't take a genius to create a simple iptables rule to block all new incoming traffic. Or to use HTTPS when checking for new firmware. The little Linux distro they are probably using (because they are cheap) has this functionality. No extra coding or time required.
It seems to me that if you have the knowledge to design the hardware, you know networking.... where is the disconnect?
- Don't have ports open to the Internet ("stealth" or otherwise) by default
Okay. And precisely how do you expect Skype to work? FaceTime? Windows Update? POP/IMAP e-mail? watch all that traffic shuffle over 80 and 443, thus making 'ports' useless...or the applications, in the short term. Saying 'screw FaceTime' is a guaranteed way to ensure that people blame the router, and replace it with something basically mirroring what the router does now.
I meant this from the perspective of the router itself. All too often routers have remote management turned or ports that appear filtered to a scan but are really just waiting for a "magic packet" in order to initiate a remote console.
- Don't use unencrypted protocols... period
That's beyond the scope of responsibilities for a router. With respect to the greater internet, kindly inform me why Windows/Android/iOS Updates need to be encrypted...or Netflix streams (DRM notwithstanding)...or a dozen other kinds of data that are high volume and don't have security requirements...there's no need to waste CPU cycles on them.
Again, from the perspective of the router. When you go to check for new firmware, use encrypted protocols.
- Don't enable wireless by default
A wireless router that ships with wireless disabled...you must be delusional. Remember, there are a whole lot of laptops being sold now that don't have wired capabilities...and cell phones and tablets don't have them at all. People buy routers explicitly for this purpose, and disabling it by default is a guaranteed way to ensure that people return them saying "it doesn't work", the high rate of returns making the entire retail chain roll their eyes, the brand getting a bad reputation, and being suicide for the product. No. Netgear has this right - ship it with a unique WPA2 password, by default, written on the bottom of the router. That is how the wireless problem is, for all practical purposes, solved.
Yes, I amend my statement. Either ship with wireless disabled but then provide a CD that will set everything up for the user in a secure fashion, or do as you suggest, enable wireless but use a unique password clearly labeled on the device itself.
is a firewall for the firewall.
I just don't understand how people who design commodity networking gear can be so bad at network security.
I am by no means a network expert, but it seems as though some of these things are just common sense....
- Don't have ports open to the Internet ("stealth" or otherwise) by default
- Don't use unencrypted protocols... period
- Don't enable wireless by default
Seems like just doing those things our routers would be a lot safer than they are now.
Yeah, you know what would be really nice? If Apple wrote some good apps for other operating systems.
Licensing 3rd party software for AirPlay and AirPrint services in a Windows network is stupid and on top of that it doesn't work all that well.
Microsoft makes really good apps for Apple products, it would be awfully nice if Apple returned the favor.
Mod parent up. There's a time and a place for energy saving and sometimes it's NEVER.
Well, energy savings as implemented currently anyway.
I would argue that there is always a place for energy savings. It just may not be something an end user can implement but it could be designed into the system.
Power save settings can be annoying on some computers, but that doesn't mean it is impossible to design an energy efficient computer that functions well.
This is exactly what I do. I only have the computer on when I am using it.
The paper is vague on this point, but it seems to imply that the computer is running all the time.
Science debunks religion once again.
I am sure that this time those religious folks will come around...
The problem I have with donating organs is they only go to financially viable recipients.
Deliberate choices are made at the time of harvesting which ensure that only those who are likely able to pay will get the organ.
This makes me angry enough that I removed my donor status from my driver's license.
Yep, if I can't watch World War Z and The Hunger Games on repeat for all time then I am not going to be a paying customer...
My favorite dig at Windows 95 was that it came on like 22 floppy disks.
Oh, I want to install TCP/IP networking.... Ok, insert floppy disk 3 followed by floppy disk 20.... oh, don't have either of those? no networking for you!
For me, Windows 95 solved a huge issue I was having at the time.
The problem was plug and play and under DOS. Each manufacturer had their own proprietary PnP configuration utility and they were often mutually exclusive.
I seem to recall that I had a shiny new graphics card (Diamond Stealth II I think) and a sound card (SB16) that I COULD NOT get to work together in the same system under DOS.
Windows 95 was a godsend at the time that worked its PnP magic to get both working at the same time.
Yeah, I seem to recall figuring out a key that worked after less than an hour of trying different things.
I believe it was 12345-67890-09876-54321 that worked for me.
Thank you for posting this.
If there is anything I have learned in life, it is that my own life experience does not equal anyone else's life experience.
That is to say, just because I don't understand someone's motives, emotions or actions, doesn't mean they are invalid or wrong.
Try to be empathetic to others plights instead of calling them crazy.
Yeah, I often wonder why people put work e-mail on their personal phone....
When I am in the office, I have my e-mail up. When I am at home... it is my time.
I am with you, I am old enough to have seen the rise of the Internet and mobile computing and I am certainly not beholden to it.
It is certainly nice to be able to route a bus trip while standing on a strange street corner or download and listen to podcasts without having to involve other devices or take a phone call wherever you are or send/receive the occasional text message. But that is about the extent to which I use my phone.
It seems like most people use their phones at social events as a measure of status more than anything...
Ahem, let me just check my phone.... oh, what that? Why yes, this IS the new ePhone 2000 cylinder with feedback buzz touch... See? The whole thing is a screen... I can check faceweb from any angle...
In other words: Use the device as the tool that it is...
I have a coworker who does this constantly.
I am sitting there talking to him and his phone will buzz, beep and blink.. kind of hard to ignore actually. I will continue to talk and he will make sort of agreeable grunting sounds while his eyes flick between me and the screen of his device... then he will ask me what I was saying, not having paid attention to either me nor his device...
I have relied on public transit every day for years (I don't own a car) and I am continually amazed at the lack of empathy and disregard for other people that some have.
Even still, I wouldn't say that most people are rude.... It just seems that way sometimes because the obnoxious ones are disproportionately so.
What really gets me annoyed with people is not mobile device use (it is oddly reverent to see a train full of people with their heads bowed looking at their phones) it is littering in public places... why do people think it is acceptable to throw cigarette butts on the ground or pee all over public toilets?
Geez man, VNC? X11? I cannot think of a slower remote desktop solution.
RDP or, if possible, ICA or RGS are way better solutions for remote desktop.
I was thinking Intellivision... Each game came with an overlay for the generic controller with specific labeling for that game.
I like this notion of openness.
Everyone benefits from public hotspots.
I even do it myself. I have 1Gbps Internet service and I carve out 100Mbps and offer it as an open wifi network in my apartment building.
You are part of the old guard.
SaaS is simply the way things are heading. Running your own servers will become less and less common as internet connections get faster and faster.
You will simply not be able to compete financially with cloud-based services. Who will want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a small server room and be responsible for their own DR solution, licensing and upgrade costs and be subject to unexpected expenses for failures and downtime when they can spend around $30,000 per year and have all of that stuff bundled abstracted away?
If you want to stay working in the IT field, you need to go with the flow and change with the times.