An attacker can exploit the vulnerability by sending a malformed protocol-specific Telnet command while establishing a connection to the affected device, because of a flaw in how the protocol fails to properly process some commands.
Cisco said that there are “no workarounds” to address the vulnerability, but it said that disabling Telnet would “eliminate” some risks.
Source: Hundreds of Cisco switches vulnerable to flaw found in WikiLeaks files | ZDNet
The letter follows new revelations, including photos, published in a book based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden alleging that the NSA intercepted equipment from Cisco and other manufacturers and loaded them with surveillance software. The photos, which have not been independently verified, appear to show NSA technicians working with Cisco equipment. Cisco is not said to have cooperated in the NSA’s efforts.
via In Letter to Obama, Cisco CEO Complains About NSA Allegations | Re/code.
Time Warner, Charter, and other cable companies are being sued by Rockstar for using Cisco equipment, like modems and cable boxes that run on standards such as DOCSIS.
“Cisco and Nortel were working and selling products in the same market for decades,” points out Cisco’s outside lawyer on the case, John Desmarais. “They never bothered each other, never sued each other, never threatened each other with infringement. If Nortel really thought those patents were infringed by Cisco, you think something would have been brought up.”
via Cisco moves to fend off Rockstar patent assault on its customers | Ars Technica.
The network project would similarly provide an alternative to vendors like Cisco, Arista Networks, and Dell’s Force 10 division. The Open Compute Project promises a “specification and a reference box for an open, OS-agnostic top-of-rack switch.” Whether that reference box will be based on an amalgam of submitted specifications or just one of them isn’t clear yet, and no release date has been set.
via Cisco-threatening open switch coming from Facebook, Intel, and Broadcom | Ars Technica.
In response to today’s Facebook announcement, Cisco said in a statement to Ars, “It’s important to acknowledge that the largest web-scale companies driving OCP have the skills, resources, and specialized traffic patterns that justify considering this approach carefully. However, most IT departments won’t relish taking on the additional operational cost, skills and expertise that are required to integrate their own technology.
The industry has been divided on the choice of a common video codec for some time, namely because the industry standard–H.264–requires royalty payments to MPEG LA. Today, I am pleased to announce Cisco is making a bold move to take concerns about these payments off the table.
We plan to open-source our H.264 codec, and to provide it as a binary module that can be downloaded for free from the Internet. Cisco will not pass on our MPEG LA licensing costs for this module, and based on the current licensing environment, this will effectively make H.264 free for use in WebRTC.
Google will eventually be completely replacing all the routers with its Aruba gear. It expects the process to take 18 months. Cisco would not confirm if it was the exclusive supplier for AT&T’s 7,000 store deployment, but it’s safe to say it will be getting the boot from several Starbucks locations, in the least
via Aruba Networks Replaces Cisco in Starbucks | Light Reading.
Cisco’s SON technology is part of its Quantum software network management tools that can manage the hodgepodge of small cells and integrate them with the macro network core.
via Light Reading – Cisco Brings SON Innovation to Israel.
I don’t understand how this differs from SDN.
The next Cisco Systems Inc. is apparently named the “CTR” and is aiming for densities of at least 1Tbit/s per slot, according to a Cisco document obtained by Light Reading.
via Light Reading – Cisco Preps Its Next Core Router: The ‘CTR’.
VirnetX sued Cisco, Apple, NEC and others back in 2010, and it won over $368 million from Apple earlier this year. It also has separate litigation pending against Apple and Mitel Networks.
via Cisco beats patent holder VirnetX, which sought $258 million over VPN patent | Ars Technica.
Optical chip-to-chip connections will definitely be a factor in Cisco’s next-generation ASICs, and the company already has the technology working in the lab, Ward told Light Reading.
via Light Reading – Cisco Goes Inside With Silicon Photonics.