[AusNOG] "All your router devices are belong to us"

[Ben Dale]

There are a few [1] other [2] vendors [3] that have been pushing the cloud-based management of enterprise network devices for some time now.  Admittedly non of these guys have the pervasiveness of the big C, but they are popping up around the place, and if Cisco is pursuing this then I imagine customers must be asking for it.

The "all-in-the-cloud" message is pretty compelling for some enterprise shops whose core business is not IT, but for reasons already raised, the off-shore privacy and security implications remain largely unexplored and often simply ignored.

On the technical side though, the biggest issue I see is that the time when most enterprises need access to network management/monitoring the most is when something is down, and that something can just as easily be/is usually "the cloud".  The rest of the time, the blinking boxes in the cupboard just work.

Interesting times ahead.

[1] http://www.meraki.com/
[2] http://www.aerohive.com
[3] http://www.thecloud.net/


On 30/06/2012, at 11:56 AM, Heinz N wrote:

> I just saw this on slashdot. Get the tin foil hats out.
> 
> http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/06/29/1425210/cisco-pushing-cloud-connect-router-firmware-allows-web-history-tracking
> 
> and
> 
> http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/vptu9/linksys_just_pushed_and_installed_without_my
> 
> Seems CISCO is disallowing local admin to their low end home/SOHO routers. Admin can apparently now only be done through their cloud (since when does a cloud ever fail!!?)...... Their conditions also state that they can monitor your traffic as they wish (and the "patriot act" NSA, FBI etc etc). No telling what the bandwidth implications of this are: and who will pay for the extra unauthorised traffic?
> 
> You may want to rethink your equipment for SOHO clients.
> 
> The whole issue with Telstra tracking HTTP traffic is just the start. How long before your new "trusted computing" motherboard reflashes itself and starts reporting all your stuff to Redmond (or China).
> 
> I am happy to stick with my dumb bridged modem talking to a Linux router running iptables. Very cheap and with all the functionality of the most expensive routers and it doesn't report to some mothership cloud.
> 
> Heinz N.
> _______________________________________________
> AusNOG mailing list
> AusNOG at lists.ausnog.net
> http://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog
>