In-brief: The security firm Qualys is warning of a serious and remotely exploitable vulnerability in a function of the GNU C Library (glibc) known as gethostbyname. The security hole raises more questions about dangers lurking in legacy, open source software.
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New ZigBee IoT Standard To Replace Six Others
One of the main players in the Internet of Things communications space, The ZigBee Alliance, announced that it has merged six existing standards covering everything from building automation to healthcare to form a single standard:ZigBee 3.0. The announcement, last week, comes as ZigBee looks to compete with other emerging IoT standards. It says ZigBee 3.0 will provide interoperability among a wide range of smart devices that communicate based on its technology, laying the ground work for an expansion of IoT technologies. The new standard is being tested. According to the Alliance, the initial release of ZigBee 3.0 includes ZigBee Home Automation, ZigBee Light Link, ZigBee Building Automation, ZigBee Retail Services, ZigBee Health Care, and ZigBee Telecommunication services. The switch will impact tens of millions of devices already using ZigBee standards. However, the transition to ZigBee 3.0 will be gradual, as devices designed to use some of its constituent standards eventually transition to the unified […]
Thread Gets Boost from Freescale Beta Program | EDN
We covered the announcement of Thread, a proposed IoT communications standard back in July. The question for Thread, as with competing IoT standards like Open Internet Connect and The AllSeen Alliance, is who will adopt it. Needless to say: without the embrace of software and device makers, even the best standard will wither on the vine. Now its seems like Thread is getting a boost from Freescale Semiconductor. That company last week announced a beta program that will give developers access to its own implementation of the Thread draft specification. As this report over at EDN Newtork notes, Freescale said at the Electronica 2014 conference that it is offering Thread-compliant versions of its Kinetis W series of wireless microcontrollers. The move is designed to encourage companies to create Thread-enabled products based on Freescale’s Kinetis platform. Freescale’s Kinetis family of devices are designed to enable connections between devices for home automation, healthcare, smart energy […]
US Postal Service Suspends Telecommuting Following Massive Data Breach
Following a publicized breach at the US Postal Service, that organization is discontinuing virtual private network (VPN) connections into its network, according to reports. The Postal Service took the unusual step after acknowledging, earlier this week, that a breach of their network security exposed data on 800,000 employees and 2.9 million customers. According to a statement from a USPS spokesman to the online publication Dark Reading, the virtual private network (VPN) service for postal employees was taken down this weekend and will not be brought back up until a version with more “robust security features can be installed.” “As a result, telecommuting has been suspended until further notice,” he said. Remote access tools including VPNs and remote desktop applications like Citrix are a frequent source of compromises of corporate networks. Most recently, compromised employee systems are believed to be the source of an attack on JP Morgan’s network. VPN software that was vulnerable to the […]
Refrigerator Spam And Other Tall Tales: The Enterprise IoT Risk
On Thursday, I will chair an excellent discussion of security and the Internet of Things at the Qualys Security Conference (QSC) in Las Vegas. The discussion has the working title “Refrigerator Spam and Other Tall Tales: Assessing the Real Internet of Things Risk for Your Organization.“ As the title suggests, we’ll be disclaiming the FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) that surrounds much of the IoT and security space, while also highlighting the real risks that more and diverse connected devices pose to enterprises. I’ll be joined on stage by some truly exceptional minds. Among them: Danny McPherson, the Senior Vice President and Chief Security Officer at Verisign and Jonathan Trull, Chief Information Security Officer, Qualys. (Jon was our guest at the first Security Ledger/Invincea CISO hangout last week.). On stage with us will be Chris Rezendes, the President of INEX Advisors and one of our moderators at The Security of Things Forum. We’ll also be joined […]
