Category: Network visibility

Endace Packets – Laser Surgery for the Data Center!

Original Entry by : Mike Heumann

Medical procedures today are characterized by precision.  Thirty years ago, most cancer surgeries involved general anesthetic, “opening up” the patient, invasive and radical procedures, extended hospital stays for recovery, and in many cases. significant side effects.  Today, a surgeon can make a small incision, insert a laser probe, and “zap” the tumor, in many cases under no more than a local anesthetic.  The benefits are faster recoveries and little to no side effects.

Today marks the launch of Endace Packets, a protocol analyzer for EndaceProbes, which brings the same level of “laser precision” to the Network Operations (NetOps) and Security Operations (SecOps) process.  Many of you are familiar with Wireshark, the open source network analysis tool.  Wireshark has been the de facto standard for packet analysis in the Ethernet world for nearly a decade, and is used extensively by both NetOps and SecOps personnel.  However, the file sizes of traces produced from 10Gb Ethernet (10GbE) networks is a challenge for Wireshark, as anyone who has used Wireshark on such a trace can attest.  Like surgeries of old, you need to “open up” the patient to find the particular data of interest, which slows issue resolution

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Black Hat 2013 – It’s Hogwarts for Information Security Wizards (Or CIA Spooks)

Original Entry by : Sonny Singh

Imagine if Harry Potter’s life had been altered in an Aeon Flux, dystopian kind of way? Instead of inheriting wizard-like-skills and a matching lightning bolt scar on his forehead, he was conversely born with an astute affinity towards programming code, breaching internet firewalls and perhaps secretly working for the CIA?

If this were the case, Harry would clearly need to go to an academic institution worthy of his Information Security (InfoSec) inclined disposition, right? Believe it or not, such an institution actually exists – called “Black Hat,” and it is held yearly in Las Vegas.  Black Hat is a symposium that brings together the best minds in security to define tomorrow’s information security landscape with the ultimate goal of providing the essential knowledge and skills needed to defend the government and enterprises against today’s threats. Before we delve deeper, let’s first define what InfoSec is why it’s an extremely important topic to address in the technology sector.

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Taming the Big Data Beast with Endace Network Recorders

Original Entry by : Sonny Singh

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Big data, the darling buzz words that have transcended the boundaries of the tech industry and proliferated every water-cooler conversation from Silicon Valley to Shanghai took a bit of a beating recently. You see, there has been a little scandal that has percolated through every global media outlet out there and stems from allegations that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been secretly compiling and storing people’s personal web and phone records (without their consent, of course), leading to a much larger debate around the validity of such extensive data-gathering operations in general.

However, like any accused criminal that has to yet to be proven guilty, unless all the facts are gathered and the jury hears both sides of the story, it would be premature to pass sentencing. It’s important to look past the negative publicity that ultimately detracts from all the positive aspects of big data and the equally positive impact it will invoke on our society as a whole.

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Tools, Tools, and more Tools…introducing the Endace Fusion Program

Original Entry by : Sri Sundaralingam

Large enterprise customers are struggling to leverage and get better return on investment from various Network Operations (NetOps) and Security Operations (SecOps) tools. In a recent end user study we conducted, large enterprise organizations (banks, eCommerce companies, healthcare organizations, managed service providers) have in the order of 100+ tools deployed among NetOps and SecOps teams. We had a chance to closely observe both NetOps and SecOps analysts, their workflow, and how they leverage some of the common tools. Immediately one pattern jumped out – every analyst has their favorite set of tools and a particular workflow!

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