IWL's Expert Insights on Network Emulation and Protocol Testing
TLS Finally on the Way Out
Info Security recently published an article about the Payment Card Industry's final push to force the adoption of TLS 1.1 or higher. This article provides a good summary of the evolution of SSL/TLS, the pitfalls of earlier versions, and advantages of the most recent standards …
KMAX Changes Its Passwords
The state of California has enacted a new law that affects the way that initial passwords are established on network attached devices TITLE 1.81.26. Security of Connected Devices. It is a sensible law that will improve the security of devices on the internet. As a consequence of these new requirements IWL is making a few changes to KMAX …
Open Source Does Not Equal Better Quality or Greater Security
Open source advocates have long proclaimed the intrinsic quality and security of open source code. They argue that because the code is open it is inspected by many eyes and tested by many hands. I dispute that argument. Code will become better through more inspection, and improved testing, no matter whether that code is "open", "free", or "proprietary" …
Test Results for libssh Bug on KMAX, Mini Maxwell, and Maxwell Pro
IWL Engineering has completed its investigation of the CVE-2018-10933 security flaw (libssh bug) and found that this bug is not present in our products. Based on testing conducted by IWL engineers, there is no indication that either Mini Maxwell or KMAX is subject to the libssh flaw. For the Maxwell Pro products, based on RedHat Fedora, RedHat has stated that its systems are not vulnerable; our testing is consistent with that …
New MQTT Test Suite
IWL today announced a new addition to its family of network test suites: the IWL MQTT Test Suite. Cloud platform providers using MQTT can enhance their solutions to help clients test their apps before launching. IoT implementers can test their apps and devices with a high quality, commercial test suite in their lab or in the cloud …
A Graphical Network Simulator for Windows
Why should I use the KMAX Network Simulator when Windows 10 has a built-in mobile network emulator? Unlike the Windows Phone Emulator, the KMAX Network Simulator emulates the network conditions that will confront all mobile devices on all types of networks (not just 3G/4G cellular), under both typical and adverse network conditions …
Jeopardize Democracy Over a Few Lines of Code
The Los Angeles Times reported today that "More than 23,000 Californians were registered to vote incorrectly by state DMV." This error should have been caught in BETA testing when voter input was compared with data to be sent to the DMV. Was such a test designed and planned? Was this type of BETA test executed? …
How to Create Awe-Inspiring Network Protocol Test Suites
The cost of computer security breaches is no longer hypothetical. According to the Cisco 2018 Annual Cybersecurity Report (page 46), more than half (53 percent) of all attacks resulted in financial damages of more than US$500,000 (for each organization), including, but not limited to, lost revenue, customers, opportunities, and out-of-pocket costs. Interestingly, about 19% of the attacks resulted in financial damages of more than US$2.5 Million per organization! …
Bandwidth Limiter Overview
Network bandwidth is the maximum data throughput in a specific segment of a digital communication system. For example, a wireless access point rated at 300 Mbps network bandwidth, will support data transiting through the access point at a rate no greater than 300 Mbps. Higher performance devices with data flowing through the access point would be "bandwidth limited" by the access point …
Are You Ready for the New Challenges of QUIC?
In 2013, Google announced a new transport protocol, the QUIC protocol (Quick UDP Internet Connections). QUIC’s original goal was to reduce transport latency, particularly with users of web apps (that use HTTP over TCP). The goal was later expanded to provide a reliable, connection-oriented, low-latency, fully encrypted transport layer. Approximately 0.9% of all websites use QUIC …
Understanding Network Emulators, Network Modelers, Network Simulators
Network emulators, network modelers and network simulators -- how do they differ? How do I know what solution would be right for my application? How do I compare an emulator vs a simulator? Modelers, simulators, and emulators represent a continuum, that begins with pure mathematical software models and moves towards the physical reality of emulation …
Measuring Bits and Gravitational Waves
How do you measure gravitational waves? How does that compare to counting bits in networking? In June 2017, IWL Staff attended a fascinating lecture by Dr. Jess McIver of CalTech titled "Einstein Gravitational Waves and Black Holes". Dr. McIver described the operation of the LIGO project for detecting gravitational waves. So when an article appeared on the history of the early efforts to detect gravitational waves, ultimately resulting in LIGO, we eagerly read it …