---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <AFA00737-B3AF-43A5-882E-068842AD5313@roscom.com> Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2017 23:48:56 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: How Level 3's Tiny Error Shut Off the Internet for Parts of the US. How Level 3's Tiny Error Shut Off the Internet for Parts of the US A YEAR AGO, a DDoS attack caused internet outages around the US by targeting the internet-infrastructure company Dyn, which provides Domain Name System services to look up web servers. Monday saw a nationwide series of outages as well, but with a more pedestrian cause: a misconfiguration at Level 3, an internet backbone company - and enterprise ISP - that underpins other big networks. Network analysts say that the misconfiguration was a routing issue that created a ripple effect, causing problems for companies like Comcast, Spectrum, Verizon, Cox, and RCN across the country. https://www.wired.com/story/how-a-tiny-error-shut-off-the-internet-for-parts-of-the-us/ ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20171107143128.GA715@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2017 09:31:28 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Bamboozled: Dispute over Verizon cell phone offer infuriates customer By Karin Price Mueller Lisa Watznauer has been a customer of Verizon Wireless for more than a decade. When she was ready for a new cell phone, she shopped around on the company's website until she found what looked like a good deal. But in most of the year since her November 2016 purchase, Watznauer engaged in a monthly battle with Verizon Wireless over her bill. http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2017/11/bamboozled_dispute_over_verizon_cell_phone_offer_i.html -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <94AD82AB-D96E-4D81-896D-A56BF7A92372@roscom.com> Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2017 23:21:34 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Flaw crippling millions of crypto keys is worse than first disclosed Flaw crippling millions of crypto keys is worse than first disclosed Estonia abruptly suspends digital ID cards as crypto attacks get easier and cheaper. A crippling flaw affecting millions - and possibly hundreds of millions - of encryption keys used in some of the highest-stakes security settings is considerably easier to exploit than originally reported, cryptographers declared over the weekend. The assessment came as Estonia abruptly suspended 760,000 national ID cards used for voting, filing taxes, and encrypting sensitive documents. The critical weakness allows attackers to calculate the private portion of any vulnerable key using nothing more than the corresponding public portion. Hackers can then use the private key to impersonate key owners, decrypt sensitive data, sneak malicious code into digitally signed software, and bypass protections that prevent accessing or tampering with stolen PCs. When researchers first disclosed the flaw three weeks ago, they estimated it would cost an attacker renting time on a commercial cloud service an average of $38 and 25 minutes to break a vulnerable 1024-bit key and $20,000 and nine days for a 2048-bit key. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/11/flaw-crippling-millions-of-crypto-keys-is-worse-than-first-disclosed/ ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20171107141650.GA501@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2017 09:16:50 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: No end in sight in WBOC dispute with Verizon Fios By Jeff Neiburg The dispute between Draper Media's WBOC and Verizon Fios is still going more than a month after Verizon stopped carrying WBOC stations. And there doesn't appear to be an end in sight for the estimated 18,500 homes impacted in Sussex and Kent counties. Verizon Fios customers in those markets have been without CBS and FOX (and WBOC Classics) since the beginning of October, not ideal timing with football season in full swing and the Major League Baseball playoffs occurring almost entirely in October with many games, including the epic, seven-game World Series, broadcast on FOX. http://www.delawareonline.com/story/money/business/2017/11/06/no-end-sight-wboc-dispute-verizon-fios/836131001/ -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20171107152703.GA1400@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2017 10:27:03 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: DON'T PAY VERIZON'S $10 'PREMIUM VIDEO' UPCHARGE Don't Pay Verizon's $10 'Premium Video' Upcharge There's a lot not to like about Verizon's initiative, which kicks in Friday, to charge $10 per month extra - per line! - for the privilege of streaming video at better than 720p resolution. There's the gall that Verizon throttled its unlimited plan in the first place. There's the pernicious creep of tacked-on charges industry-wide. But most of all, there's this: On almost every smart phone, your eyes can't even tell the difference. You'll be paying $120 a year extra, with nothing to show for it. The mini-saga began over the summer, when Verizon first announced that it would turn its "unlimited" plan into two separate plans. The first, the $75 Go Unlimited rate, caps all streaming video at 480p resolution. That's "standard def," a level at which you can see individual pixels when you're streaming video. For $85, Verizon would bump you up to 720p, or 1080p on tablets, and that was it. https://www.wired.com/story/dont-pay-verizons-premium-video-upcharge/ -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Wed, 08 Nov 2017