Okay .. looks like a spider doesn't it ? If you
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Yeah, guys this is pretty much why you should have a MAC based protection enabled in wireless routers. Not fool-proof either, but very save.

Security researchers claims they have refined an existing WPA crack, making it more efficient that earlier reports. Cryptographic expert Erik Tews will appear at PacSec security conference in Tokyo next week with his presentation, "Gone in 900 seconds: Some Crypto issues with WPA." There, Tews is expected to show off his discoveries in TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) cracking, that allow WPA to be broken in a brief 12-15 minute window.

TKIP itself is not really crackable, since it is a Per-Packet Key, but once it is initialized, the Pairwise Master Key (PMK) can be obtained. From there, the conventional method of breaking in involved a brute force dictionary attack, or a long process of elimination by trying millions of options. 

Tews and his partner Martin Beck have discovered a "mathematical breakthrough" that allows the WPA encryption to be cracked dramatically faster. Some of the tools Tews and Beck used are rumored to have been already included in Aircrack-ng WEP/WPA PSK cracking tool. However, the encryption keys from PC to Router have not been cracked in this attack.

So that's the cyber equivalent of Gone in 60 seconds 15 minutes ... I guess.

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NetGear this week released its SXRN3205 ProSafe Wireless-N Virtual Private Network (VPN) firewall, which the company claims is the first to combine dual band 5.0/2.4GHz Wireless-N with SSL and IPsec VPN.

The company has integrated its Dual WAN Gigabit SSL VPN firewall with a dual-band Wireless-N access point, which is also backwards compatible with 802.11g on the 2.4GHz band. The platform supports up to five Secure Socket Layer tunnels and five IP Security tunnels simultaneously, offering secure remote connections for 25 user applications. The SSL tunnels allow remote access to data without needing to install a software client, and offer automatic cache cleanup after a session has ended.

IPsec tunnels connect site-to-site offices and offer legacy, client-based remote access. The Firewall features denial-of-service (DoS) attack protection, stateful packet inspection (SPI), URL keyword filtering, SYSLOG support, and e-mail reporting.

Dual band support will keep offices connected through equipment transition from the older 802.11g/b standard to Wireless-N, which is claimed to offer up to fifteen times the speed and ten times the coverage area. The SXRN3205 ProSafe Wireless-N firewall is available now for a suggested price of $485.

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Researchers at Boston University are working on the next generation of wireless communications technology based on visible light instead of radio waves. Cellular News reports the scientists aim to create "Smart Lighting" LEDs with built-in data communications capabilities. This technology would work by flickering light in patterns - so fast the change is imperceptible to the human eye.

­Boston University's College of Engineering is launching a program, under a National Science Foundation grant, to develop the next generation of wireless communications technology based on visible light instead of radio waves. Researchers expect to piggyback data communications capabilities on low-power light emitting diodes, or LEDs, to create "Smart Lighting" that would be faster and more secure than current network technology.

This initiative aims to develop an optical communication technology that would make an LED light the equivalent of a Wi-Fi access point.

"Imagine if your computer, iPhone, TV, radio and thermostat could all communicate with you when you walked in a room just by flipping the wall light switch and without the usual cluster of wires," said BU Engineering Professor Thomas Little. "This could be done with an LED-based communications network that also provides light - all over existing power lines with low power consumption, high reliability and no electromagnetic interference. Ultimately, the system is expected to be applicable from existing illumination devices, like swapping light bulbs for LEDs."

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Sonnet Technologies recently launched its Aria Extreme N PCI 802.11n wireless PCI card for Power Mac G4 and G5 and Windows desktop computers. it's funky looking with the three 2TX/3RX antennas, the card is backwards compatible with 802.11b and 802.11g routers and related equipment. It connects to any Windows PC via a PCI or PCI-X card slot and supports WEP, WPA and WPA2 security protocols, while network encryption is handled by AES and TKIP standards.

The draft-N wireless card offers as much as twice the range and about 2.5 times the speed of the previously fast 802.11g network. It will work with AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express base stations and equivalent wireless hubs.

The Aria Extreme N PCI card is compatible with Mac OS 10.4 and newer in the Power Mac G5 with PCI or PCI-X slots and the Power Mac G4, excluding the Cube, as well as Windows XP SP2 or Vista PCs. It is currently available in stores and online, priced at roughly $100.

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Information has reached our doorsteps that Trapeze Networks proposed Wi-Fi standard that should reduce the high power use of wireless networks. Known as 802.11v, the tentative format would more intelligently check for a connection and shut off the radio on either the router or devices themselves earlier when they idle, reducing the wasted energy and drawing out battery life.

It would further send traffic maps to prevent end devices from having to send as much information on the network.

The technology should also have a side benefit for turning devices back on, the company says. While it exists in some form for newer business notebooks using Intel's vPro platform, a new addition would support software waking up any 802.11v device over the wireless network for it to run a task without users themselves being nearby. More location-based features are also built-in that would be useful for emergencies and other times when GPS isn't available.

The IEEE standards group, which controls the Wi-Fi standard, isn't set to have a final version of 802.11v ready until 2010 but also has yet to unveil every aspect of the technology, including its speed versus 802.11n

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Sam Knows publishes its long awaiting performance report, published today sam knows limited published the results of its long awaited broadband performance reports from the UK's ISP's.

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/pm/PM_Summer_08.pdf
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It really is quite an achievement .. Corsair announced today that its Dominator DDR3 memory modules shattered the record for frequency. The record was set using the Asus ROG Rampage Extreme motherboard (Intel X48 chipset) and Corsair Dominator memory, utilizing Corsair
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I gotta admit really to like Linksys products. I just never have issues with them. Cisco unveiled a new Linksys wireless router, the WRT610N. This device will be available for around $200 and it offers simultaneous dual-N band that allows you to use the 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrum at the same time.

Building on the heritage of the award-winning WRT600N, the WRT610N is designed to achieve true Wireless-N performance in both the 5GHz and 2.4GHz spectrums. The WRT610N effectively provides consumers two networks to which they can connect devices. It is recommended that consumers connect entertainment-oriented devices, such as a Media Center Extenders, audio players or Personal Video Recorders, to the wider 5GHz band, while connecting other devices, like PCs, Print Servers, or Network Attached Storage to the more common 2.4GHz band.

Dual-N Band Wireless networking allows consumers to utilize both the 2.4GHz wireless spectrum and the wider, more available 5GHz wireless spectrum to address their networking needs. The 5GHz spectrum provides more than seven times the number of non-overlapping wireless channels, allowing for clearer transmissions, while the 2.4GHz spectrum allows older network devices like print servers or Wireless-G and Single-Band Wireless-N PCs to access the network. Where the WRT610N stands out is that it allows consumers to achieve full Wireless-N network speeds on both bands at the same time.

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Too funny, definitely a parody. I just spotted this one over at techamok, a poor IT guy is forced to pause his Halo game in order to deal with a bunch of dumb employees who are absolute morons. Voices have been altered to protect identities, it's not a company of elves. Have a look, pretty hilarious stuff make sure your sound is on.


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Over the past days here at Guru3D.com we have been implementing a series of software updates. We worked on an improved commenting system and SEO optimized URLs.

Effecitvely immediately the old style URLs will no longer work. So if you click an old article link or got here linked from somewhere else forget it, please enter our articles and hardware reviews and select the article you wanted to read.

Example old URL:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/518/

Example new URL:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/bfg-geforce-9800-gtx-512mb-ocx-review/

There are still a couple of things that will be updated early this week, we'll keep you posted on that.

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