NetWitness Uncovers Massive ZeuS Botnet

A global botnet known as "Kneber" has compromised some 74,000 PCs worldwide while being detected by less than 10% of anti-virus products and eluding corporate intrusion detection systems (IDS), according to a newly published paper by NetWitness, a network security firm based in Herndon, Virginia. The story was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.


The infection is believed to have spread to major corporations and government agencies using a ZeuS trojan attack. The botnet is designed to steal log-in data on webforms, including banking details. Additionally, NetWitness claims the botnet can search for and copy any file that is resident on the host PC. Its data indicates that the malware is most present on Windows XP and Windows Vista systems. NetWitness said the exploit campaign has been running for over a year and is still active.


The company has posted a 17-page whitepaper on the topic to its website.
http://www.netwitness.com/http://

• NetWitness is headed by Amit Yoran, who previously was Director of the US-CERT and National Cyber Security Division of the Department of Homeland Security. He also served as CEO and advisor to In-Q-Tel, the venture capital arm of the CIA.

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Verizon Wireless Selects Juniper's SRX Gateway

Verizon Wireless has selected Juniper Networks' SRX Series Services Gateway to provide added network protection for mobile data users. Financial terms were not disclosed.


Juniper's solutions for mobile data security include the SRX Series Services Gateway, a high-performance, carrier-grade security and networking platform capable of 120Gbps of firewall performance, 30Gbps of IPS performance, 10M sessions, and the integrated AppSecure services suite.
http://www.juniper.net

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ADVA Tunes its FSP 3000 for Cloud Computing

ADVA Optical Networking released a new version of its flagship FSP 3000 product optimized for cloud computing applications. With cloud computing, data center operators must deliver reliable storage and compute resources at often very short notice. The new capabilities are designed to help operators provide ultra-high bandwidth between data centers and remote backup locations.


ADVA's FSP 3000 is a multi-service metro and regional transport platform supporting optical access, backhaul and wavelength services. It is also used private enterprise networks over dark fiber. As a WDM system, it offers up to 80 protected wavelength carried over various topologies.


ADVA said its enhanced FSP 3000 empowers an operator to choose any transport protocol at any rate and transport it over a fully tunable long-haul DWDM channel. Specifically, the FSP 3000 can deliver speeds that range from 1, 2, 4, 8 to 10 Gbps, while addressing all storage interfaces currently in use in today's data centers, including Fibre Channel, InfiniBand and Ethernet, among others.


In addition, the FSP 3000 offers optional encryption. Security is addressed at the most efficient and cost-effective transport layer, providing high security with minimum impact on latency. It thereby creates a strong and viable solution for high-performance networks in the data center and cloud computing environment.


"In the context of Cloud Computing, the network is a critical asset and the selection of the right transport technology is vitally important. Most existing multi-protocol platforms require protocol conversion and add significant latency to the network. Our new FSP 3000 does not," stated Christoph Glingener, chief technology officer of ADVA Optical Networking.
http://www.advaoptical.comhttp://

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Huawei Joins GreenTouch Consortium

Huawei has joined the GreenTouch consortium as a founding member, joining 15 other companies.


The consortium, which was organized by Bell Labs, aims to create the technologies needed to make communications networks 1000 times more energy efficient than they are today. Specifically, the Green Touch initiative aims to develop and demonstrate fundamental technologies within five years that could lead to radical redesign of how networks are built and operated.


In addition to expanding its membership, this week the GreenTouch consortium reached a crucial milestone in its development -- convening an inaugural meeting of its founding members to establish an operating framework, set out guidelines for intellectual property management and define technology parameters.
http://www.greentouch.org

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FCC's Genachowski: 100 Squared Initiative Targets 100 Million Households at 100 Mbps

Ahead of the upcoming National Broadband Plan due for Congressional delivery next month, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the nation should do more to encourage the adoption of next gen services. On his blog, Genachowski revealed that the FCC's National Broadband Plan will include the following key recommendations:

• 100 Squared Initiative: 100 million households at a minimum of 100 megabits per second (Mbs) -- the world's largest market of high-speed broadband users -- to ensure that new businesses are created in America and stay in America.



• Broadband Testbeds: Encourage the creation of ultra high-speed broadband testbeds as fast, or faster, than any Internet service in the world, so that America is hosting the experiments that produce tomorrow's ideas and industries.



• Digital Opportunities: Expand digital opportunities by moving our adoption rates from roughly 65 percent to more than 90 percent and making sure that every child in America is digitally literate by the time he or she leaves high school.

http://blog.broadband.gov/?entryId=172759http://

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Verizon Wireless Chooses Rohde & Schwarz Tests for the Certification of LTE Devices

Verizon Wireless has selected Rohde & Schwarz as a provider of testing solutions for the certification of devices that will operate on its forthcoming LTE network. Specifically, Rohde & Schwarz will provide system simulators, channel simulators and software for automation. This is the first time that companies have worked together for device testing platforms.


Verizon Wireless previously announced it is working with Spirent Communications as a provider of testing equipment solutions for wireless devices that will operate on its 4G LTE wireless network.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/ltehttp://www2.rohde-schwarz.com/

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CNN to Air "We Were Warned: Cyber Shockwave" on Feb 20, 21

Cyber ShockWave, a simulated cyber attack on the United States that was held this week in Washington D.C., brought together a bipartisan group of former senior administration and national security officials playing the roles of Cabinet members. The exercise simulated how the government would develop a real-time response to a large-scale cyber crisis affecting much of the nation. The simulation envisioned an attack that unfolds over a single day in July 2011.


The simulation, which was created by former CIA Director General Michael Hayden and the BPC's National Security Preparedness Group, led by the co-chairs of the 9/11 Commission, Governor Thomas Kean and Congressman Lee Hamilton, is described as follows:


When the Cabinet convenes to face this crisis, 20 million of the nation's smart phones have already stopped working. The attack, the result of a malware program that had been planted in phones months earlier through a popular "March Madness" basketball bracket application, disrupts mobile service for millions. The attack escalates, shutting down an electronic energy trading platform and crippling the power grid on the Eastern seaboard.


Former senior administration officials and national security experts participating in the event included Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff as National Security Advisor; Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte as Secretary of State; White House Homeland Security Advisor Fran Townsend as Secretary of
Homeland Security; Director of Central Intelligence John McLaughlin as Director of National Intelligence; Senator Bennett Johnston as Secretary of Energy; Director of the National Economic Council Stephen Friedman as
Secretary of Treasury; Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick as Attorney General; White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart as Counselor to the President; General Counsel of the National Security Agency Stewart Baker as Cyber Coordinator; and Deputy Commander U.S. European Command Charles F. Wald as Secretary of Defense.


Cyber ShockWave was sponsored by General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, SMobile Systems, Southern Company, Georgetown University, and PayPal with contributions from Symantec Corporation.


CNN will air the event exclusively as "We Were Warned: Cyber Shockwave" on Saturday, February 20 and Sunday, February 21 at 8:00pm, 11:00pm and 2:00am ET each night.
http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/http://

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ZTE Debuts 160 Gbps Mobile Packet Gateway

ZTE introduced its next generation packet gateway product with a capacity of 160 Gbps for mobile core network requirements.


The ZXUN xGW delivers service based policy control for the mobile core of EVDO, WiMAX, HSPA+ or LTE networks.
The platform leverages multi-core network processor for hardware-based QoS guarantees. It provides inspection on IP flows from L3 to L7, and supports direct tunnel capabilities to divert select traffic directly to the Internet.


ZTE said the same platform could also be used for WiFi and xDSL/xPON fixed broadband access.

http://www.zte.com.cnhttp://

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Huawei Shows Triple-mode Modem: LTE, UMTS and GSM

Huawei unveiled the first triple-mode LTE modem compatible with all three major network standards: LTE, UMTS, and GSM. The triple-mode modem, based on Qualcomm's MDM9200TM chipset, will enable end-users to surf with high speed provided by LTE technology while seamlessly switching to other standards (UMTS or GSM). The modem also supports multiple mainstream LTE frequencies.


The Huawei E398 modem will be initially launched in the world's first LTE/GSM shared network in Sweden operated by Net4Mobility, a joint infrastructure venture between Tele2 Sweden and Telenor Sweden. Pricing was not disclosed.
http://www.huawei.com

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Alcatel-Lucent Plans LTE with Telecom Italia

Alcatel-Lucent and Telecom Italia signed a cooperation agreement that includes an LTE trial. The joint program aims to assess the evolution of mobile radio access network, in order to prepare Telecom Italia to offer its customers a wider range of next-generation services.


TI Lab and Bell Labs will have initiated an end-to-end LTE program. The trial will assess how to deploy next-generation mobile access technology and how to fully exploit its capabilities, in order to introduce new mobile services, while reducing the time-to-market. To this end, the field trial will also focus on the usage of small cell solutions (such as pico cells) to address hot spot and indoor coverage applications, and their related throughput and latency performance.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.comhttp://

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NTT Com Expands Global e-VLAN to Australia

NTT Communications (NTT Com) is extending its layer-2, Global e-VLAN service to Australia. With the launch, the service will be available in 12 countries and regions worldwide.


NTT Com customers will have the added benefit of being able to choose between either Global e-VLAN or Arcstar Global IP-VPN, NTT Com's existing MPLS-based layer 3 service for private networks operating over shared network infrastructure.
http://www.ntt.co.jp

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Telstra's HSPA+ Dual Carrier Upgrade Supports 42 Mbps

Telstra has completed the upgrade of its "Next G" HSPA+ network with Dual Carrier technology, providing peak network downlink speeds of 42Mbps. Actual customer rates will be below the theoretical peak.


The first HSPA+ dual-carrier device will be a modem from Sierra Wireless. It goes on sale in Australia later this year and Telstra expects customers using the device will experience typical speeds in selected locations around double those seen currently with the fastest 3G devices on its network.


The upgrade of Telstra's network to HSPA+ Dual Carrier was achieved in conjunction with network partner Ericsson, with Qualcomm and Sierra Wireless joining the team to deliver a HSPA+ Dual Carrier chipset and device. This is the same team that delivered the world's first HSPA+ network and device at last year's Mobile World Congress.


"With HSPA+ Dual Carrier technology we expect to offer speeds that are comparable to the initial speeds we have seen reported from some fledgling 4G LTE networks," said Telstra CEO David Thodey . "Put simply HSPA+ Dual Carrier will give Australians the bandwidth to operate their wireless devices at consistently high speeds."


"While LTE remains on Telstra's technology roadmap there is a huge amount of potential remaining in HSPA+. We will take full advantage of this by again doubling our peak network speeds to 84Mbps through the implementation of HSPA+ Dual Carrier plus MIMO technology during 2011," Mr Thodey said.
http://www.telstra.com
http://www.ericsson.com

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Cisco Marks 20th Anniversary Since IPO

Cisco noted the 20th anniversary since becoming a publicly-traded company. Cisco Systems first appeared on NASDAQ on February 16, 1990 at a split-adjusted price of about 6 cents.
http://www.cisco.comhttp://

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Telefónica and ZTE to Launch Movistar Handsets in Latin America

Telefónica will begin promoting ZTE's Movistar branded handsets in 12 Latin American countries during 2010, starting in Q2. The companies signed an agreement for the development of additional mobile devices. ZTE will manufacture Movistar branded handsets exclusively available for Telefónica in Latin America.
http://www.zte.com.cnhttp://www.telefonica.com

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Bytemobile: 10% of Mobile Users Generate 85% of Traffic

A minority of mobile data users consume the majority of network bandwidth -- with 10% generating approximately 85% of total traffic, according to a new 1Q 2010 Global Metrics Report from Bytemobile.


The report anonymously sources the aggregate data traffic in a global cross-section of Bytemobile customers' wireless networks and provides insight into the current state of the mobile ecosystem.


Bytemobile said an analysis of various 3G networks indicates that the data traffic mix is consistent across geographies -- with video as the dominant form of traffic. Other key data from the report:

• Video is the dominant form of laptop-generated wireless traffic. However, automatic software updates consume 10% of the total laptop-generated volume in networks.



• Consistent with 4Q 2009, internet videos average approximately five minutes in length, but users watch them for an average of less than 60 seconds.



• Generally, the majority of mobile videos are downloaded by more than one user, with 36% of videos downloaded up to 100 times and 6% of videos downloaded 1,000 times or more.

http://www.bytemobile.comhttp://

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