For three days, InteropNet is one of the largest hacking targets on the planet. Attacks and threats come from both inside and outside the network. While the external attacks are certainly more malicious in intent, most of the internal ones ended up being due to misconfiguration or just plain misunderstanding.
Lets play a game. Its called Malicious or Not:
1.Video streaming devices flooded the network with millions of multicast packets per second. EM7 noticed a big bump in latency on that network segment at the same time that the Enterasys Dragon IDS caught the flood of packets. Both tools could tell the origin of the packets and traced them back to misconfigured video multicast devices. In this case Not Malicious, but the result was still degradation to that network segment until the problem was fixed.
2.One vendor at the show purposely scanned all other devices on the show network to model them in their product demos. They didnt ask anyones permission (or at least they didnt ask ours). They purposely used multiple community strings to see if any would work. Malicious or Not? Ill let you guys take this one. Personally I dont think they meant it to be malicious, but as a monitoring tool in this space, they should have known that doing all that scanning would actually degrade network and other vendors device performance. I wonder if this is the vendor that was telling people that it does this at every show, and this is the first time its been caught.
Connect the Vendors Enterasys took care of external attacks by identifying them and asking Qwest to block them. But its with the internal devices behaving badly, that the real fun began. It took a combination of vendors to identify, confirm and track down the offenders on the network. First Enterasys Dragon IDS alerted on suspicious behaviors. Dragon identified what IP, MAC address or port on a switch was having the issue - which information was cross-checked against vendor registry info in EM7 to track down offenders to a booth, a room or a wireless access point in the facility. Splunk was also used to look at logs and verify the source of bad behavior.
For tracking down wireless misbehavior, Aruba Networks had a cool tool that took the info from Dragon and EM7 and used it to literally triangulate the location (down to a laptop).
Before the show started, we played wireless security hide and seek - testing our security process by sending people out with laptops and finding them, gps-style, whether they were walking around or hiding under a desk.
Overall, I think the real-life multi-vendor network security solutions Ive described here are great examples of why interoperability is so important and why InteropNet was such a great experience.
Throughout the country schools are suffering. Not only are schools dealing with teacher shortages, threats of violence, poor test scores, poor nationwide school rankings, and budget problems, they are also dealing with uninvolved communities. Why is an involved community a better place for a school? Well here are a few reasons why getting involved with your area school can seriously help.
Donating Money
Schools are one of the biggest non-profit systems in the country. Schools depend on government funding to keep them afloat. When schools get poor test scores, poor reviews, or low overall rankings, their funding is reduced. Many schools are fighting to keep after school programs, art programs, and sports programs in neighborhoods where the families just cannot afford it. Donating money to your area school can seriously aide where aide is truly needed. If your school needs money for uniforms, donate. If your school needs money for classroom or teacher supplies, donate it. If your school needs money for an after school program, donate it. You would not believe all the things that can be accomplished if one community just banded around its schools and gave.
Donating Time
If you just don't have the money to give, you can give a little of yourself. Many schools have booster programs that are designed to help the school make money through planning community events or running school bingos. If you have some time to set aside, donate it to your school's booster club and man a table at a carnival, sell candy bars at a football game, or pass out fliers regarding the school's next fundraiser. Donating time can be just as good as donating money.
Not only can you donate your time to help your school earn a little money, you can donate your time as a tutor. Many kids fall behind due to larger class sizes, fear of being ridiculed, and lack of proper supervision. If you have time and brain power to donate as a tutor, you can play a crucial part in the life of a child. If you are good in Math, English, History, or even computer sciences you can give a child a bit of your time and help them succeed. It is important that you understand that money isn't everything, time can really be more precious than gold.
Donating Supplies
With falling employment rates and rising costs, many families just cannot afford the basics of school supplies. Donating reams of paper, boxes of pencils, an old computer or TV can actually help your local school. Schools in some areas are seriously struggling with the inability to afford classroom supplies. Many schools end up having to use outdated lab equipment, which may actually prove to be dangerous. Schools are also struggling to afford teacher supplies, which leaves the teacher having to foot the bill for many of the things they need to teach your child. When the economy suffers, so does the quality of education in our local schools. Donating school supplies can really help make a difference in your community.
Donating Word of Mouth
Believe it or not, schools don't really like to advertise their shortcomings. If you know that a school in your community is in need, tell someone about it. In turn, that person may tell someone else about it. Soon, you may have many people all willing to help, but really not having an idea how to do it. Let your friends and family know how to help the schools in the area. If you know someone who owns a printing company, ask them to donate some paper. If you know someone who loves math and has a few hours a week free, ask them to help tutor a few kids from the math classes. If you know someone who works in an office supplies store, ask them to see about helping the students get discounts on school supplies, and the teachers a discount on their teaching supplies. Getting involved in your community schools really isn't hard at all.
When your community gets involved, you won't believe the change that can happen in struggling schools. Get up, get out there, and help the next generation get the education they deserve.
Both Ben Needles & Seomul Evans are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.