Eliana Willis

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    in Networking

    New Cisco Webex ad shows rapid evolution of collaboration

    Earlier this month, CNBC’s Jim Cramer was discussing Cisco Systems on his “Mad Money” talk show. One of the markets he discusses frequently is the collaboration space, and he called a recent Cisco Webex TV ad “quite compelling.” After he made the comment, I watched the ad and agreed with Cramer because it highlighted much of the recent innovation from the Webex group. Educating buyers on what’s new can be difficult, but showing them how those things can be used can be even more difficult. The real-world uses cases are what I thought made the ad compelling. As an analyst and IT pro before that, I’ve been looking at collaboration tools since the days of the roll-around video carts. During that time, I do not remember a year in which there has been as much innovation as this past one. Much of the recent innovation was driven by the increased reliance on these tools, and many people were forced to work remotely because of the pandemic. One of the challenges vendors like Cisco have is exposing buyers to all the new features that have been added in recent months. Unless one follows the market day after day, like I do as a market research analyst, it would be impossible to know what those are. Webex innovation on display The ad Cramer was referring to can be found on YouTube, and it highlights how the McLaren F1 racing team is using Webex. Here are some of the recent features that are included in the product of which many people are unaware. New devices. At the eight-second mark, a McLaren person named Zak logs on to the new Cisco Deskpro endpoint. On the screen, it states that Zak can tap the screen or open the Webex app to get started. During the past year, Webex has rolled out a number of new endpoints that interoperate seamlessly with the software to make using the technology simple. Apple is near-perfect in this area with consumer technology, and Cisco is doing the same with corporate tech. Mobile app. Historically, most collaboration vendors thought desktop first, with mobile being an afterthought. Now that everyone is working from everywhere, the mobile experience needs to be as good or better than the desktop. At the 16-second mark of the video, you can see a person walking and Webexing on his mobile with six other participants. I’ve used Webex mobile and find the experience to be easy and intuitive. Polling. At 18 seconds, the McLaren team is running a poll through Webex. What is seen on screen is the integration of Slido, a recent acquisition by Cisco that makes audience interaction easier. With Slido, the host of the session could ask something like: “Who has the best fans,” and respondents can type their reply. The popularity of the response is reflected by the size of the font. Apparently, Australia has the best fans.Real-time translation. We work in a global environment, making language an issue with online meetings–particularly if one speaks too fast, as I am often accused of doing. At 30 seconds, it shows the conversation being translated into simplified Chinese, while the speaker is talking in English. This was enabled on a tabled with a tap of the finger. Noise removal. There are many cases when someone is on a video call and the background noise disrupts the call. In this case, the McLaren team member is in a lab and people are working around them. Typically, in this situation, the person would need to leave the room and go somewhere quiet for the call. At the 41-second mark in the video, the person taps Noise Removal, and it eliminates all background noise. I’ve used this feature and can attest to the fact it works as advertised. One more note: the video shows this being done on a Cisco Deskpro, but it’s also available in the desktop and mobile clients.The above is just a small snippet of the new features in Webex. Last month, Cisco held an event where it rolled out its new Webex Suite and modernized logo. ZDNet’s Stephanie Condon provided a summary of the event in this post. In her post, she highlighted that Webex has added 800 new features since last September and 400 since March. Videos, such as the McLaren one, are an effective way of highlighting some features, but it’s critical that businesses do their homework when making a purchase decision. Collaboration platforms like Webex’s are important for hybrid working. Buyers need to understand that the products available today are light years ahead of where they were just a year ago. My word of advice is not to make a purchase based on who the incumbent is or the fact that it comes bundled with other software. Many of the advanced features can make a significant difference in productivity. The right vendor will help the business run smoothly and efficiently, whereas the wrong choice will hold the company back. More

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    in Information Technology

    Ransomware attempt volume sets record, reaches more than 300 million for first half of 2021: SonicWall

    A new report from SonicWall found that attempted ransomware attacks skyrocketed in the first half of 2021, with 304.7 million attempted attacks seen by the company. SonicWall researchers saw a record number of attempted attacks in both April and May but both months were beat by June, which had a record 78.4 million attempted ransomware attacks.The total figure of ransomware attacks seen by SonicWall in the first half of 2021 smashed the 2020 total of 304.6 million. The fact that the first six months of 2021 have already surpassed all of 2020 alarmed SonicWall researchers, who added that it represented a 151% year-on-year increase.”Even if we don’t record a single ransomware attempt in the entire second half (which is irrationally optimistic), 2021 will already go down as the worst year for ransomware SonicWall has ever recorded,” the report said. 
    SonicWall
    According to the 2021 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report, ransomware volume seen by the company hit massive year-to-date spikes in the US at 185% and the UK at 144%. The US, UK, Germany, South Africa and Brazil topped the list of countries most impacted by ransomware in the first half of 2021. Within the US, the hardest hit states from a ransomware perspective were Florida, which saw 111.1 million ransomware attempts. New York had 26.4 million, while Idaho saw 20.5 million, and Rhode Island as well as Louisiana dealt with nearly 9 million.

    The report was compiled based on information gathered by the SonicWall Capture Threat Network, which “monitors and collects information from global devices” including more than 1.1 million security sensors in 215 countries and territories. The report also features cross-vector, threat related information shared among SonicWall security systems, including firewalls, email security devices, endpoint security solutions, honeypots, content filtering systems and the SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection multi-engine sandbox. The network collects malware and IP reputation data from tens of thousands of firewalls and email security devices around the globe. The report also gleans insights through shared threat intelligence from more than 50 industry collaboration groups and research organizations.

    The report notes that the ransomware problem continues to worsen, and the data proved that Q2 was far worse than Q1 for 2021. Q2 was the worst quarter ever recorded by the company, with a ransomware volume of 188.9 million, far surpassing the Q1 figure of 115.8 million. Ransomware attacks are also increasingly spreading worldwide. Europe suffered a 234% increase in ransomware volume while North America saw increases of 180%. Asia saw its high point in March.But the US still leads the way globally, nearly matching the ransomware volume of the next nine countries on the top 10 list for most attacked countries. 
    SonicWall
    For 2021, the most commonly attacked industry is the government, seeing three times as many attacks as last year. Government targets face more attacks than almost every other industry each month. By June, government customers saw 10 times as many ransomware attempts and an overall spike of 917%Customers in the education field also saw a significant number of ransomware attempts, with an increase of 615%. SonicWall Capture Labs threat researchers found alarming ransomware spikes across healthcare (594%) and retail (264%) organizations as well.The Ryuk, Cerber and SamSam ransomware groups accounted for 64% of all attempted ransomware attacks, according to data from SonicWall’s Capture Labs. Ryuk alone accounted for 93.9 million attempts, tripling the number of Ryuk attempts seen in the first six months of 2020.Cerber ended 2020 as the number two most seen ransomware family, according to SonicWall, and continued this trend with 52.5 million attempted attacks for the first six months of 2021, ramping up efforts in April and May. SamSam was able to double its volume from 2020 in the first half of 2021 with 49.7 million attempted attacks. In June alone, the group launched 15.7 million attacks. SonicWall CEO Bill Conner said the latest data shows that sophisticated threat actors are adapting their tactics and embracing ransomware to reap financial gain and sow discord. “With remote working still widespread, businesses continue to be highly exposed to risk, and criminals are acutely aware of uncertainty across the cyber landscape,” Conner said. 
    SonicWall
    The report also tracks malware, finding that compared to 2020, the instances seen by SonicWall have been decreasing since its peak of 10.5 billion instances in 2018. Malware reached a six year low in 2020 with 5.6 billion malware attempts and 2021 saw 2.5 billion malware attempts in the first six months of this year.”But as it will become apparent by reading the rest of this report, less malware isn’t the same as less cybercrime. Instead, it’s a sign that the traditional malware associated with spray-and-pray attacks of yesterday is being abandoned…usually in favor of more specialized, more sophisticated and more targeted attacks, capable of making criminals much more money and leaving much more devastation in their path,” the report said. Both North America and Europe saw dips in malware volume but Asian countries saw a 23% increase. Malware skyrocketed in India and Germany in the first part of the year, with India seeing 147.2 million malware attempts, an increase of 83% year over year, and Germany seeing 150.4 million malware attempts. Germany’s figures represented a staggering 465% increase.SonicWall researchers note that some countries outside of the top 10 list were still suffering from malware. SonicWall said an organization in Vietnam had a 36.4% chance of seeing a malware attempt, higher than any other country. The company’s Real-Time Deep Memory InspectionTM also discovered 185,945 “never-before-seen” malware variants, up 54% from the first half of 2020.The report did include some good news. The volume of malicious PDF files and Office files dropped for the first time since 2018. Malware targeting IoT skyrocketed in 2021 with more than 32 million attacks, and in the US attempts on IoT increased by 15%. “While the nine vulnerabilities, collectively known as ‘Name:Wreck,’ all have patches available as of the time of this writing, many IoT devices lack the ability to be easily patched (or patched at all), meaning we may see attacks arising from these vulnerabilities for years into the future,” the report noted.
    SonicWall
    Cryptojacking attempts also grew a staggering amount in the first half of 2021. Of the 51.1 million cyrptojacking attempts in 2021, the number of attacks rose 118% in Asia and 248% in Europe.”The continued rise of ransomware, cryptojacking and other unique forms of malware targeted at monetization, along with their evolution of tactics, are evidence that cybercriminal activity always follows the money and rapidly adapts to new opportunities and changing environments,” said SonicWall Vice President of Platform Architecture Dmitriy Ayrapetov. More

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    in Networking

    Mediacom cable internet review: Speed isn't everything

    Mediacom boasts impressive high-speed internet ranging from 60 Mbps to a whopping 1,000 Mbps. It’s unlikely that you’ll need speeds that high; even 100 Mbps is plenty for a household of video streamers, although the extra speed is a nice buffer if you live with many online gamers. And if your home has previously had trouble maintaining those high speeds, Mediacom has you covered: Its Xtream WiFi mesh system helps eliminate dead zones.Be warned: Mediacom consistently ranks far below average in surveys from J.D. Power, and the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), with users citing billing issues and frequent outages. However, if you do sign up and are unhappy with your service, Mediacom has a 90-day money-back guarantee for your peace of mind.

    The claim

    One tagline from Mediacom stands out: The company claims that “every service from Mediacom can be customized to fit your needs.” On its own, this implies that consumers can completely design their services to their specific usage habits.

    Is it true?

    No.Mediacom’s “customization” really just entails selecting from its speed options. It has a range of high-speed choices: 60 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 200 Mbps, 500 Mbps, and 1,000 Mbps. However, if you want something a little slower (and cheaper) for more basic internet use or fewer users, you can’t “customize” the internet service to anything less than 60 Mbps. And because data caps are tied to speed plans, there is no way to customize that part of your plan, either.

    Features

    Standout featuresHigh speeds and data limit options, money-back guarantee, Xtream Wi-Fi routerSpeed options60 Mbps100 Mbps200 Mbps500 Mbps1,000 MbpsData caps400 GB-6,000 GBMonthly pricingStarts at $25Extra fees$10 modem rental$10 activation fee$10 per 50GB over your plan’s data limit$100 installation feeJ.D. Power rating2/5ACSI score56/100

    High-speed plans

    Plans and pricing will vary heavily depending on your location, but we found that Mediacom generally offered affordable high speeds. Mediacom’s internet plans cater to the active internet user, with a vast range of speeds from 60 Mbps to 1,000 Mbps. When setting up your service, you choose a base plan of either 60 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 200 Mbps, 500 Mbps, or 1,000 Mbps. Prices start at $25 and increase by about $10 for each tier.

    Xtream WiFi router

    Mediacom advertises its version of a mesh WiFi system called Xtream WiFi. Basically, Xtream uses additional router pods to eliminate dead zones and better extend WiFi throughout large homes. Mediacom claims that this is suited for homes between 1,000 and 3,000 square feet, or two or more floors. The system is free for the first three months of service, but anything beyond that costs $5 per month. If you live in a large home that struggles to maintain strong WiFi performance in every area, Xtream is worth considering.

    Data caps

    Like with speed, Mediacom’s data options will appeal to advanced internet users and large homes. As you increase your speed plans, data limits increase in increments, starting at 400 GB and climbing to 6,000 GB. Though some providers offer unlimited data, 6,000 GB is plenty for most people. For reference, Comcast Xfinity reports that the average data usage of its customers hovers around 130 GB per month.

    90-day money-back guarantee

    As a small redemption for its subpar customer service, Mediacom does offer a 90-day money-back guarantee. If you experience any grievances within the first 90 days of service, you may cancel your service without penalty. Be sure to follow up about your refund; Mediacom’s guarantee promises a full refund of monthly service and equipment rental only “on request.”

    Possible drawbacks

    Customer serviceWhen it comes to satisfying its customers, Mediacom falls short. The American Consumer Satisfaction Index rated it 56/100, and it only managed to rank in the West region with 2/5 from J.D. Power, the lowest publishable score. Mediacom complaints typically consist of unresolved issues, frequent outages, and double billing.FeesIn most cities, Mediacom promotes TV and internet service starting at just $40 per month, a bundle that unlocks 100+ channels and 60 Mbps of speed. While it seems like an excellent deal, it won’t be reflected on your bill: You’ll be responsible for a $10 modem rental fee and a $10 local station surcharge each month, plus a one-time $10 activation fee and $100 installation fee.Average reliabilityAcross all types of internet, Mediacom provides fairly average reliability to customers. In 2016, the Federal Communications Commission reported on the performance and reliability of internet providers, including how often their subscribers receive advertised speeds. Mediacom provided advertised speeds about 80% percent of the time. That’s better than Cox, which does so 75% of the time — but it pales in comparison to Comcast, which achieves its advertised speeds just over 90% of the time.

    The competition

    How does Mediacom compare with AT&T Internet?

    AT&T Internet consistently tops the charts for its customer service, the polar opposite of Mediacom. While technically a DSL service, AT&T also offers high speeds and high data limits (though, like any internet service, these plans vary based on AT&T’s limited availability). Package options for internet service alone are pretty limited, and unlike Mediacom, you’ll have to bundle to choose between speeds. If you value customer service and have decent AT&T plan options where you live, it’s worth considering — but for wider range of speeds, Mediacom may still be your best bet.

    How does Mediacom compare with Charter Spectrum?

    Charter Spectrum doesn’t cap your data, and it offers a few bundling perks. You’ll get a free modem, free DVR service, and free installation with its Triple Play plan — significant savings (nearly $200 in the first year), especially next to Mediacom’s fees. Its plans are simple, with only two options for speed: 60 Mbps or 100 Mbps. However, those speeds are more than enough for most households, meaning Spectrum could very well offer you the better deal.

    How does Mediacom compared with WOW! Internet?

    WOW! Internet is another provider with no data caps and decent speeds. And at only $40 for 100 Mbps in most areas, it’s a better value than Mediacom’s 60 Mbps for the same price. WOW! is great for streamers and ranks in the top ten on the Netflix speed index (measurements of Netflix performance). In July of 2018, it ranked a full 11 spots higher than Mediacom, proving that it potentially offers greater reliability and greater value.

    What is Mediacom’s speed boost?

    Mediacom used to offer just two base plans (60 Mbps and 100 Mbps), with the option to add a “speed boost” during checkout to access its faster tiers. It’s since retired this way of framing its plans, instead offering each speed on its own individual plan, but it still refers to each speed tier as a “speed boost” upon checkout.

    Where is Mediacom available?

    Mediacom has a presence in 22 states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Availability varies within those states, so enter your address on Mediacom’s website to make sure it services your ZIP code. If Mediacom doesn’t service your state, check out our review of the best internet providers for other options.

    The bottom line

    Mediacom offers impressively high speeds and unique options for data limits that will appeal to streaming-heavy households. Still, because its customer service reputation is so poor, you’ll want to weigh which features matter most to you before choosing your internet provider.

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    Cox Communications review: Fast internet speeds

    Cox Communications (“Cox”) is a broadband communications and entertainment company, providing internet, TV, phone, and smart home security solutions to residential customers across the US over its own nationwide IP network. Currently providing service in 19 states, 1,300 zip codes, and over 6 million homes and businesses across the country, Cox is the largest private telecom company in America. Cox claims to be no. 1 for streaming video according to Nielsen data and an analysis done by Ookla of Speedtest Intelligence data. Likewise, Cox offers the fastest speeds everywhere (in locations where Cox is available), access to over 3 million wifi hotspots while travelling, a free security suite, and Gig speed connections. However, Cox is more than just an internet provider as it vies to compete with the likes of Sling, Hulu, DirecTV, and YouTubeTV as an OnDemand TV provider.   Cox says it’s committed to bringing the fastest speeds to its customers. In October of 2019, Cox announced an automatic increase in speeds for the Connect2Compete customers, the low-cost product targeted at first-time internet subscribers. On the other end of the spectrum, Cox launched its EliteGamer service to enhance the gaming experience and improve connections between servers and players across its footprint in June 2020. Despite efforts to bring faster speeds to all tiers of customers and services, Cox has been imposing slowdowns to internet speeds in effort to curb excessive usage despite unlimited data. All Cox internet plans include 1.25 TB per month of data usage, but users with exceptionally high data usage are being asked to curb their usage or face termination of service.

    Best forUser-friendly websiteClearly communicated pricingNot forLow pricesBundling optionsCox internet plans and pricesPlanPriceDownload/Upload SpeedConnection TypeBest forInternet Starter$20/mo10 MbpsCableLight StreamersStraightUp Internet$50/mo25 MbpsCablePrepaid service for those seeking flexibility & no contractsInternet Essential$30/mo50 MbpsCableSocial NetworkersInternet Preferred$50/mo150 MbpsCableFrequent Online GamersInternet Ultimate$70/mo500 MbpsCableHouse of MultitaskersGigablast$100/mo940 MbpsCable/FiberMega UsersData effective 9/28/2020* Package availability depends on location, prices may vary

    View Now at Cox

    Cable plans, speed, and data

    Cox makes shopping for the right plan online easy, eliminating the need to sit on the phone with a sales rep for an hour. After entering your address on the site and confirming service is available in your area, you can view promotional pricing by service or bundle. Post-promotional pricing is also clearly displayed. There are typically six plans to choose from between 10 Mbps and 940 Mbps — speeds for any lifestyle. Pricing ranges from $20 per month to $100 per month and will rise after the first year by about $15 to $30 per month, depending on the plan.Once you select a service, the website will walk you through “customizations” to your service by offering additional products and rental internet equipment. Finally, you will enter your personal information to create a profile and verify your identity and perform a routine credit check. 

    Who is each Cox plan best for?

    Internet Starter — Best for light streamers, because streaming in SD and downloading photos, music, etc. Uses minimal bandwidth.StraightUp Internet — Best for individuals seeking a no-surprises service. This plan includes a modem and eliminates the annual contract, credit check, deposit and any additional fees. Internet Essential — Best for social networkers, because fast uploads allow you to post photos and videos quicker.Internet Preferred — Best for frequent online gamers, because fast download and upload speeds help guard against lag.Internet Ultimate — Best for a house of multitaskers, because the increased bandwidth supports multiple users across multiple devices.Gigablast — Best for mega users, because gigabit speeds allow you to perform data-heavy tasks lightning fast.

    How fast is Cox internet?

    In the FCC’s seventh Measuring Fixed Broadband Report, the FCC analyzed the actual speeds customers were receiving from internet providers, against the speeds advertised. Cox performed pretty well, with its customers receiving 95% or more of advertised speeds about 90% of the time. It beat out Comcast, Mediacom, and Time Warner for cable providers. This report tells us you’re likely to experience internet speeds as advertised. 

    Internet availability

    Cox is one of the most widely available cable internet providers with a presence in 19 states. Its strongest coverage areas include Arizona, California, Nevada, and Virginia. 

    Other factors to consider

    Simple equipmentYour internet plan will come with Cox’s Panoramic WiFi, its version of a mesh WiFi system. Mesh WiFi uses a web of connected devices to provide better internet coverage throughout the house. Replacing the single router system can mean no weird dead zones in the basement or around corners. It’s $11 per month, a standard fee for renting internet equipment. There’s also a Panoramic WiFi app that lets you view and manage any connected devices and the WiFi connection. You can easily pause it for dinner or set time limitations on certain devices. The device also automatically updates itself for security and firmware updates. Contracts and feesA 12-month contract is standard for Cox internet plans — pretty standard for the industry. If this sounds like a big commitment, Cox does offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you’ll have some time to try the service out. You can also opt for a month-to-month contract for $10 more per month. Cox doesn’t have many other fees. It’ll cost $11 per month for the Panoramic WiFi Gateway, and if you bundle TV and internet, there may be a $50 installation fee. Notable fees$10 charge for up to 50 GB of additional data$11/mo Panoramic WiFi Gateway$5/mo Additional Elite Gamer Connections$10/mo Cox Complete Care$50 Installation Fee (on TV/Internet bundles)*Sometimes waived for certain packages or online orders.TV bundlesYou can add a TV package to your internet service for between $16 more per month. The channel packages range from 75 to 250 channels. The Contour TV Ultimate plan, the 250+ channel package, includes NFL RedZone, HBO, Cinemax, and Playboy. Otherwise, these channels are optional on a channel-by-channel basis to the Contour TV plan (140+ channels) only. Customer serviceCox earns pretty average satisfaction ratings compared to other ISPs. In J.D. Power’s 2020 survey, it scored right around the industry average in all three regions it covers. The study polls customers’ opinions on performance, cost, billing, and communication. Cox received lower scores in cost of service and communication, but overall, the company does as good a job as most providers. 

    Cox vs. other providers

     Starting PriceSpeeds ConnectionConnectionContractCox$20/mo. *10-940 MbpsCable, Fiber12 months, month-to-month*& no contractsFrontier$40/mo. *DSL: 6-45 MbpsFiber: 50-940 MbpsDSL, FiberNo contractsAT&T$50/mo.*DSL: 10-100 MbpsFiber: 940 MbpsDSL, Fiber1 year*Xfinity$20/mo*25-1,000 MbpsCable, Fiber12 months, month-to-month **Prices for stand-alone internet service, current at time of publication. Prices may vary by location. Contract length may vary and it’s subject to the starting price presented above.

    Cox Communications vs. AT&T

    While the two providers do have overlap in their coverage area, several factors should weigh into your decision on which carrier to choose as your internet service provider. AT&T provides internet through Fiber and DSL while Cox utilizes Fiber and cable. Fiber is far superior to both DSL and cable, yet access to fiber is highly dependent on your locale. If it comes down to DSL versus cable, Cox will generally offer a better connection than you’d get through AT&T’s DSL. Despite the variables in comparing the speed of the two providers, price-sensitive customers will often find that Cox is the most transparent about its pricing and contract structure. 

    Cox Communications vs. Xfinity

    Both Cox and Xfinity provide internet service via cable or fiber and offer several plan speeds. Xfinity has a slightly larger coverage area and may be more accessible than Cox. When it comes to value, though, Xfinity provides a little more bang for the buck. For example, Xfinity’s 150 Mbps plan comes in at $55 dollars versus $60 with Cox.

    How much does Cox charge for the internet?

    Cox offers internet packages beginning at $10 per month for download speeds of 10 Mbps. More robust and sophisticated users can select a range of packages and download speeds up to the Gigablast package offering 1 Gbps of download speeds (via Fiber where available) for $120 per month. 

    Does Cox offer the internet only?

    In addition to internet service, Cox offers a variety of broadband services ranging from streaming television, phone, and security monitoring. 

    How much is Cox internet after 12 months?

    Cox offers new customers promotional pricing for the duration of the term of their signed contract. Typically, promotional pricing is offered for a 12 month contract. Upon the expiration of the contract, pricing increases average approximately $30 per month depending upon your package. Cox’s website offers clear visibility into pricing and fees by month to provide more transparency to customers than the average provider. 

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    The average consumer loses over $150 a year renting a router from their ISP

    Fast facts:Our analysis of data from major ISPs found that the average customer who rents equipment for their internet service could save upwards of $150 per year by purchasing their own router.In contrast, a top-rated router can be as cheap as $70 as a one-time expense.

    Purchasing personal equipment will save consumers $750 over the lifetime of a router and thousands more over a lifetime of internet usage.It’s something that most people don’t think about, but when they sign up for residential internet service, there are often several hidden costs that can drastically increase their monthly bill. One of the most expensive additions is paying to rent equipment directly from the ISP like a router and modem. While most people might not notice a $10-$15 addition on the cable bill each month, over the lifetime of a service plan, those costs can add up to hundreds or even thousands of dollars in unnecessary fees.To get a specific number, we pulled data from all major ISPs to average out how much customers are paying to rent equipment directly from their cable company. For internet service, for example, the average customer is paying between $12-$15 per month to rent equipment like a router and modem.Over the lifetime of a cable contract, this could end up being thousands of dollars. In other words, you could end up making costly payments for a piece of equipment that costs less than $100 that will last years.By researching major e-commerce platforms, consumers can easily find a high-quality router for $50-$70, depending on their needs. This one-time expense will pay for itself in under six months, and will rarely need a replacement or upgrade. Even more expensive, top-of-the-line routers will pay for themselves within a year or two.

    There might be an argument that many consumers feel intimidated by managing their own equipment, as things like set up and maintenance can feel technically demanding for the average person. While most ISPs won’t provide service on the equipment you’re not renting from them, it’s rare for a router to need much more maintenance than the occasional reset. Once the initial setup is complete, it would be unusual to need much more technical support.We spoke with several cable customers about their experience setting up their own router, and they found it to be far less complicated than they had imagined.

    “It took maybe 15 minutes and I’m not a technical person. I followed the instructions in the box and had my own router working with no issues at all,” one respondent said when asked about their experience.It can be important to upgrade equipment every so often, but it’s not an annual requirement or even every two to three-year commitment. While the demand for faster downloads for things like movies and TV streaming services or online games has never been higher, most routers will be up to the task for years to come. And while technology and security changes may cause the need for an update after five years or so, major brands will continue to support their products.If you are looking for a simple way to trim expenses from your monthly budget, consider purchasing your own router instead of renting it directly from your ISP.

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    in Networking

    ProtonVPN gets serious speed boost with VPN Accelerator

    ProtonVPN has long been a good Virtual Private Network (VPN) system. But, now that it’s sped up its connection by up to 400%, it demands your attention.

    This new speed boost “VPN Accelerator,” is enabled by default on all ProtonVPN paid accounts and with all the ProtonVPN apps. It also works with all of ProtonVPN and is available for all users. VPN Accelerator will give you its speed boost no matter which VPN protocol you use:  OpenVPN TCP, OpenVPN UDP, Wireguard, or IKEv2 VPN protocols.How? By making a variety of improvements. For example, to give the popular OpenVPN and other single-threaded protocols a kick in the pants, ProtonVPN has re-written OpenVPN so that multiple OpenVPN processes per server now run to take advantage of multi-core processors. That’s a good start, but to further improve it, since by itself this doesn’t properly load-balance OpenVPN processes, other code changes make sure the OpenVPN load is properly distributed between the multiple processes. Similar techniques were applied by other VPN protocols.TCP, the internet’s fundamental network protocol, overall throughput is inversely proportional to latency and packet loss. In English, the more slowdowns and data loss there is in a connection, the slower the connection will go. In practical terms, the farther away a server is from you, the more likely it is you’ll have poor latency and lose data packets. The result is lower network speeds. This isn’t a VPN problem, it’s just the nature of the internet. But, VPNs tend to amplify this program by increasing the distance of the end-to-end path from your device to the final server. As Andy Yen, ProtonVPN’s co-founder explained, “To give an extreme example, if you were in Switzerland, connected to a server in New Zealand, and visited a website in the US, your traffic would travel most of the way around the world, resulting in approximately 600 ms of round trip delay (RTD) latency.”To address this issue, ProtonVPN breaks up the 600 ms path into shorter paths. This gives you much faster throughput along each of the shorter paths. The net result is better-combined performance over the entire connection. To squeeze even more speed from the connection, VPN Accelerator also uses the TCP delay-controlled flow control algorithm BBR on longer paths or congested networks, which suffer from packet loss. BBR recovers faster and ramps up quicker once a data transfer starts. 

    How important is this? According to Yen, “For high latency servers, or when there is packet loss, the performance increase can be game-changing. … Even with just 1.5% packet loss, BBR provides a 100x performance improvement compared to other congestion control algorithms.” That’s impressive.ProtonVPN also did some tuning on Linux’s TCP congestion algorithms and protocol-specific issues that can lead to networking socket stalls. The program also now circumvents the normal packet processing path for “known traffic.” This significantly increases speed while decreasing latency. Finally, as before, ProtonVPN doesn’t use virtual machines (VM)s or containers. Instead, its entire infrastructure runs on bare-metal servers. This eliminates forwarding encrypted packets between VMs or containers and their host machines. This also reduces latency and boosts speed.When you put it all together, as a user you’ll see the greatest gains when you access a site located far away from you. When you connect to a server that’s close by, you may not see significant speed improvements. But, you don’t have to worry about that. ProtonVPN does all this invisibly and automatically. In practice, I found ProtonVPN delivered the speed goods when I used it from my home office in Asheville, NC to connect with sites in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Japan, and New Zealand. The speed increase wasn’t as noticeable, however, when I used it to connect with sites in the States. If this sounds like ProtonVPN’s developers really know their networking stuff it’s because they do. The company was founded by CERN (European Center for Nuclear Research) engineers and scientists who wanted to protect activists and journalists with the best possible technical protection. Besides technology, ProtonVPN is based in Switzerland with its very strong privacy laws.ProtonVPN will run on pretty much any platform you want to use it on. It comes with a variety of service levels and prices. It also has a free tier.

    I usually recommend avoiding free VPN services, but I’ll make an exception for ProtonVPN. While this service only offers 23 servers in 3 countries with a single speed-limited VPN connection, it doesn’t throttle your traffic. You can use it for free all year round. Next up is ProtonVPN Basic. This costs $5 per month or $4 a month on the $48 annual plan. With this tier, you can use 350+ servers in 40+ countries. P2P and BitTorrent file sharing are also allowed at this tier and you get access to the NetShield adblocker.At the top, you’ll find the ProtonVPN Plus plan. For this level of network protection, you’ll pay $10 a month or $8 a month with a yearly $96 plan. With this plan, you can use 1200+ servers in 55 countries with over 10 simultaneous VPN connections. It also supports internet speeds of up to 10 Gbps. I wish I could get speeds like that! This level also supports streaming services. Finally, it also includes Secure Core VPN, which bounces your traffic across ProtonVPN servers to make it even harder to track, and TOR over VPN, which uses the TOR network to further hide your online tracks. In addition, for $288 a year, the Visionary plan gives you everything you get with Plus and a ProtonMail Visionary email account. This is a high-security email plan. It provides you with end-to-end encryption and zero-access encrypted email. Only you and the people you send messages to can read your mail. No one else can, including Proton.  So, if you’re really serious about security and you want good VPN performance as well I recommend you give ProtonVPN a try. They’re, in a word, impressive. 

    Simultaneous Connections: Depends on the plan.Kill Switch: YesPlatforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, routersLogging: None, except billing dataCountries: 55Servers: 1,200+Trial/MBG: 30 day

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    Microsoft: This Windows and Linux malware does everything it can to stay on your network

    Microsoft has continued its analysis of the LemonDuck malware, known for installing crypto-miners in enterprise environments. It makes a strong case for why it is worth removing it from your network.  This group, according to Microsoft, has a well-stocked arsenal of hacking tools, tricks and exploits aimed at one thing: for their malware to retain exclusive access to a compromised network for as long as possible. While crypto-mining malware could be just a nuisance, LemonDuck attributes suggest the attacker group really do try to own compromised networks by disabling anti-malware, removing rival malware, and even automatically patching vulnerabilities — a competitive effort to keep rival attackers from feeding off its turf.  “This allows them to limit the visibility of the attack to [security operations center] analysts within an organization who might be prioritizing unpatched devices for investigation, or who would overlook devices that do not have a high volume of malware present,” Microsoft explained in a follow-up analysis of LemonDuck to one it published previously. The critical so-called ProxyLogon Microsoft Exchange Server exploits from March and April were treated this way by LemonDuck attackers. They used the bugs to install web shells on Exchange servers for remote access to unpatched systems and to install additional LemonDuck malware. In some cases, LemonDuck attackers used renamed copies of the Microsoft Exchange On-Premises Mitigation Tool (released by Microsoft on March 15) to fix the bug they had used to gain access in the first place, according to Microsoft.   “They did so while maintaining full access to compromised devices and limiting other actors from abusing the same Exchange vulnerabilities,” it adds.  They also use file-less malware that executes in-memory and process injection, making it harder to remove from an environment. 

    Microsoft’s description of LemonDuck’s techniques and tools suggest the group put a lot of effort into being difficult to kick off a network while using multiple methods to gain a foothold, including exploits, password guessing attacks and exploits against SSH, MSSQL, SMB, Exchange, RDP, REDIS and Hadoop YARN for Linux and Windows systems. LemonDuck’s automated entry relies on a small file with JavaScript to launch a PowerShell CMD process that launches Notepad and the PowerShell script inside the JavaScript.  The manual entry includes RDP brute force password attacks or Exchange bugs. Human actors generate scheduled tasks and scripts to create file-less persistence by re-running the PowerShell download script to pull in command and control (C2) infrastructure. It’s all about re-enabling any malware components that have been disabled or removed. Remember that web shells persist on a system even after being patched.  To make persistence more resilient, they host scripts on multiple sites (making it difficult to take down), and as a backup, also use WMI Event Consumers, or an arsenal of tools that includes access RDP access, Exchange web shells, Screen Connect, and remote access tools (RATs). LemonDuck attempts to automatically disable the cloud-based Microsoft Defender for Endpoint real-time monitoring by adding the entire C: drive to the Microsoft Defender exclusion list. Windows 10 “Tamper protection” should prevent these actions.    Other vendors’ targeted by LemonDuck’s anti-malware removal activities include ESET, Kaspersky, Avast, Norton Security, and MalwareBytes.  Once inside a network, one of LemonDuck’s tools tries to assess whether a compromised device is running Outlook. If so, it scans the mailbox for contacts and starts spreading malware in emails with .zip, .js, or .doc/.rtf files attached.     “The attackers were also observed manually re-entering an environment, especially in instances where edge vulnerabilities were used as an initial entry vector,” Microsoft explains.  “The attackers also patch the vulnerability they used to enter the network to prevent other attackers from gaining entry. As mentioned, the attackers were seen using a copy of a Microsoft-provided mitigation tool for Exchange ProxyLogon vulnerability, which they hosted on their infrastructure, to ensure other attackers don’t gain web shell access the way they had.” In other words, LemonDuck might only be deploying crypto-miners that drain CPU resources, but the lengths they go to stay on a network put them in a different light than just a nuisance. It could be well-worth security teams’ time to review Microsoft’s tips towards the end of its analysis for hunting down LemonDuck threats and tools on a network because once LemonDuck is aboard, it really doesn’t want to leave. More

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    VPN deal: Save 30% on the highest-rated VPN services

    StackCommerce
    The world is opening up again to travel, but while you’re researching all the best travel tech you’ll need to take with you, don’t forget to grab a VPN subscription before you go. Not only will you want to stay safe on public WiFi in all those neat cafes, but you may want to pass the time in airports watching some of your favorite content from back home and it could be restricted in your location. A good VPN is key to your security and a big help with entertainment, so take a look at some of the bargains on offer at the moment.

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