The latest Cisco IOS version was 12.4 until recently when Cisco IOS version 15.0 was introduced. Have you noticed the jump from version 12 to 15? Do you wonder why versions 13 and 14 were skipped? Well, rumors say that Cisco avoided those version numbers because 13 is considered unlucky in the Western Culture and […]
Cisco Launches SA 500 Series Security Appliance
Cisco announced a new security appliance model, the SA500 series, which is focused for the small business market. Cisco tried to fill the gap of the UTM (Unified Threat Management) appliance market in which other competitors (such as Fortinet, Checkpoint etc) were already ahead. Following the philosophy of the UTM appliance, the SA500 offers an […]
BlackHat 2009 Router Exploitation Presentation
I was reading an interesting presentation the other day, taken from BlackHat USA 2009 Briefings from Felix Lindner, and thought about sharing the main points here. The guy presents a reasonable analysis of the current situation regarding Router security and exploitation. As we all know, routers are exploitable of course, but not as easy as […]
Cisco IOS Command Line Interface Keyboard Shortcuts
Learning to configure your Cisco devices from the Command Line Interface (CLI) is an essential step towards your Cisco networking career. This means that you need to learn how to configure the Cisco IOS operating system which runs on routers, switches and other network devices. Acquiring this hands-on experience with the Cisco IOS CLI will […]
Cisco ASA 5500 new software 8.2 released
A new software version 8.2 was released for the Cisco ASA 5500 appliance in mid-April 2009. All prior ASA releases (7.0, 7.2, 8.0, and 8.1) can be upgraded to version 8.2. If you have a Cisco SMARTnet services contract you can download version 8.2 free of charge. All ASA models (from 5505 up to 5580) […]
Top 10 technical certifications for 2009
A few days ago I stumbled upon a post on About.com which listed the top 10 technical certifications for 2009. The rankings were evaluated according to the website’s visitors feedback, to the profitability and relevancy to today’s market, and from the popularity of the certifications discussed on the site. First on the list is Cisco […]
User Authentication for Web Server Access on Cisco ASA Firewall
Imagine the following scenario: We have a web server on a DMZ protected by a Cisco ASA 5500 firewall. We would like to allow external Internet users to access this web server only after they successfully authenticate with a username/password credential. Maybe this scenario could be applicable in situations where we need to allow employees […]
Cisco Branch Virtual Office Solutions – Network Design
Extending the central office enterprise environment to remote branch office locations gives employees greater flexibility while enhancing productivity and reducing costs. Cisco Virtual Office solution is an umbrella of technologies and products that delivers secure data, voice, and video communication to remote teleworkers and branch offices, providing to remote employees a seamless office-caliber experience to […]
Passing non-IP Traffic over IPSEC VPN using GRE over IPSEC
IPSEC VPN is a great technology for encrypting and securing communications between networks (used also in VPN software clients as well). The only drawback is that IPSEC supports ONLY pure IP unicast traffic and nothing else. If you want to securely pass multicast or non-IP traffic between sites then IPSEC alone will not work. Fortunately Cisco […]
Latest Vulnerabilities in Cisco PIX and ASA.
On October 22, Cisco announced three vulnerabilities in the Cisco ASA 5500 series and PIX Firewall models running software versions 7.x and 8.x. ( See Cisco Security Advisory) The three security issues identified are the following: Windows NT Domain Authentication Bypass Vulnerability Cisco ASA or PIX security appliances configured for IPSec or SSL-based remote access VPNs using Windows […]
Average Salary of Cisco Engineers in UK for 2008
According to the site http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk , IT Jobs in 2008 that have requested Cisco Experience and skills for recruitment, are offering an average salary of £41,802 UK Pounds per year. During the same period last year, the average salary was £43,462 (-3.82 % decrease in 2008). This shows that recession is hitting the IT industry […]
Cisco is no 6 in the 100-Best-Companies-to-Work list
FORTUNE magazine published a list with the “100 Best Companies to work” for 2008, and Cisco Systems is no. 6 in the list. Specifically, Cisco is recognized as a company that keeps the balance between work and modern life, offers many choices and innovation in the field of communications, and provides competitive salaries and has low rate of withdrawal […]
Technical Assistance Center (TAC) Vs NetPro Connection Forum
If you purchase a service contract with Cisco, you can have access to the so called TAC service (Technical Assistance Center) which is a technical support team spread all over the world to assist you in troubleshooting and solving any technical Cisco problem you may have. When you open a TAC case, they usually ask […]