News in Networking: ONUG, Bufferbloat, and DDoSing with IoT

This week’s top story picks from the Kentik team.

We’re launching a weekly blog series called “News in Networking.” Starting today, every Wednesday we’ll give you a glance at the industry news our team at Kentik is reading. If you like our weekly aggregation and want to see it more regularly, or if you want to weigh in on any of the stories, tweet us at @kentikinc!

Here’s what’s happening this week:

• ONUG Spring 2017 conference issues include barriers to cloud adoption (SearchSDN) The Open Networking User Group (ONUG) Spring 2017 conference is underway in San Francisco. Kentik CTO Dan Ellis is on a panel today on how traditional tools are inadequate for modern networks. This TechTarget’s SearchSDN article says you can also expect to hear Amazon and Microsoft talking about barriers to enterprise cloud adoption.
• The hidden cause of slow Internet and how to fix it (NetworkWorld) A TCP-related phenomenon known as “bufferbloat” is a real thing, according to NetworkWorld’s Phil Hippensteel, who interviewed Jim Gettys, the Google computer programmer uncovering it. “What is not fully understood is the extent of its impact on the normal flow of Internet traffic,” reports Hippensteel.
• 8 DDoS Attacks That Made Enterprises Rethink IoT Security (CRN) DDoS attacks via IoT devices have wreaked havoc on universities, Netflix, Twitter and even banks in Russia. CRN listed those attacks among the eight that should make enterprises rethink IoT security. To validate the spike in attacks, CRN cites Neustar “mitigated 40 percent more DDoS attacks from January through November, compared to the year earlier.”
• Verizon, AT&T in billion-dollar bidding war (Wall Street Journal) Verizon bid $1.8 billion for Straight Path Communications, reported WSJ’s Thomas Gryta and Ryan Knutson. Earlier this month, AT&T offered $1.6 billion for Straight Path, a potentially critical player in the move towards 5G networks.
• F.C.C. Leader Seeks Tech Companies’ Views on Net Neutrality (The New York Times) FCC Chairman Ajit Pai recently met with Cisco, Oracle, Intel and Facebook leaders, seeking feedback on his plans to roll back net neutrality rules. Pai’s proposal is set to be announced Wednesday afternoon.