Tag: Linksys

Cisco Tuesday announced a slew of routers and switches designed to address the explosion of home networked devices, from smartphones to table computers to Internet-enabled TVs.

Cisco says the market for home wireless routers, especially 802.11n gear, is ripe for expansion. It cites a November IDC report that found only 39% of U.S. homes have wireless, and just 11% are using 802.11n devices. Adoption of 802.11n is expected to nearly double over the next five years, as home users buy and install Wi-Fi-based devices, including smartphones, tablet computers and Internet-enabled TVs, Cisco says.

IN PICTURES: Cisco revamps Linksys with 7 new products

The new E-Series routers include the $60 entry-level E1200 (replacing the E1000), the $80 E1500, the $100 E2500 (simultaneous dual-band) and the $160 E3200 (home entertainment-driven). On the high end, Cisco is more widely distributing the $180 E4200, which was

Cisco also announced three new switches – the $30 SE1500 offers five 10/100 ports, the $55 SE2500 offers five Gigabit Ethernet ports, and the $75 SE2800 offers eight additional Gigabit Ethernet ports. The switches provide QoS for traffic prioritization, auto-sensing ports and “sleep mode” power saving options (for the two higher-end switches).

Cisco’s new crop of routers still don’t include IPv6, but Cisco promises that a free firmware upgrade will be available no later than the fall. Cisco had promised that IPv6 would ship in April for the high-end E4200 that launched in January, and the company reiterated that promise to Network World last week.

As for the remaining routers, availability of the firmware upgrades will “trickle in,” said Scott Kabat, director of marketing for Cisco Consumer Products. The firmware upgrade will automatically install but requires the user to manually trigger it by opening the management software. Cisco has still not revealed if firmware upgrades that include IPv6 will be made available to any router introduced before 2011.

Like the E4200 router, the E3200 includes a USB port for attaching an external hard drive, creating a network-attached storage device that operates through the router. The E3200 also supports the virtual USB option, which would allow for USB-enabled printers to connect across the network. However, Cisco says that this may require a software/firmware update, planned for summer.

Each of the new routers also includes Cisco Connect software, which aims to make router installation much easier and support parental controls that include time-of-day access and domain blocking. It also allows the setup of separate guest network access for visitors.

Read more about lans & wans in Network World’s LANs & WANs section.

Cisco has announced a series of routers and switches designed to cope with the explosion of home networked devices, from smartphones to desktops to Internet-enabled televisions.

Cisco says that the market for wireless routers at home, especially 802.11n gear, is ripe for expansion. It cites a November report by IDC found that only 39% of U.S. households have wireless, and only 11% use 802.11n devices. Adoption of 802.11n is expected to nearly double over the next five years, as home users purchase and install Wi-Fi based devices, including smart phones, tablet computers and Internet-enabled televisions, Cisco says.

IN PICTURES: Linksys Cisco renewal with 7 new products

The new E-Series routers include the E1200 $ 60 entry-level (replacing the E1000), the $ 80 E1500, the E2500 $ 100 (simultaneous dual-band) and the E3200 $ 160 (home entertainment, motor .) At the high end of Cisco’s most widely distributed of the E4200 $ 180, which was announced in January.

Cisco also announced three new switches – the SE1500 $ 30 provides five 10/100 ports, the $ 55 SE2500 features five Gigabit Ethernet ports, and $ 75 SE2800 offers eight additional Gigabit Ethernet ports. The switches provide QoS for traffic prioritization, and auto-sensing ports “sleep mode” power saving options (for both high-end switches).

new crop of Cisco routers include IPv6 yet, but Cisco promises that a free firmware update will be available by fall. IPv6 Cisco had promised to ship in April, the high-end E4200 launched in January, and the company reiterated that the promise of the World Wide Web last week.

As for the rest of routers, the availability of firmware updates trickle, “said Scott Kabat, director of marketing for Cisco Consumer Products. The firmware update will install automatically, but requires the user to manually activate the open management software. Cisco has not yet revealed whether the firmware updates that include IPv6 will be made available to any router introduced before 2011.

Like the router E4200, the E3200 includes a USB port to connect an external hard drive, creating a storage device connected to the network that operates through the router. The E3200 also supports virtual USB option, which allows the ability to connect USB printers over the network. However, Cisco says this may require a software / firmware update, scheduled for the summer.

Each of the new Cisco routers also includes the Connect software, which aims to make installation easier and router support parental controls that include access to the time of day and domain blocking. It also allows configuration of network-independent access assessment for visitors.

Ever wanted to cut millions of routers? Or try to stop someone doing it?

Perhaps a discussion at the next Black Hat conference in Las Vegas will help the objectives of one or both. And its title, “How to cut millions of routers,” cuts right to the chase as well.

The talk will be by Craig Heffner, senior security engineer seismic LLC, a Maryland-based provider of products cybersecurity at the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies. In it, apparently Heffner disclosed how to exploit a lot of consumer routers through DNS rebinding, an existing technique in which attackers turn “browsers in the Web proxies are victims attackers bidding.

DNS rebinding trick browsers in search of the internal network servers of the victim under the direction of the attacker, who may order to find and send corporate data to an external machine while evading detection by the user and not to tamper with DNS servers. Discussion Heffner to describe how you can use to access the internal router facing administrative interface without previous knowledge of the destination router or its settings, and bypass all the safeguards in place rebinding.

Heffner even show a tool that automates the attack and allows the attacker to browse the destination router interface in real time, allowing the exploitation of vulnerabilities or connection through the default credentials.

Cisco Linksys routers are vulnerable to court, such as under the brand names ActionTec, Asus, Belkin, Dell and Thompson. ActionTec routers are CPE in the Verizon FiOS service and talk Heffner will include a live demonstration on how to infiltrate a FiOS router by rebinding hack.