How to hack a network in nine easy steps

Grey hat hackers have released proof of concept code to exploit a wide variety of previously-announced security vulnerabilities to Cisco Systems' networking kit.

The exploits highlight nine separate flaws involving its IOS software, routers and PIX firewall technology.

It's relatively common to release proof of concept code for PC and browser flaws; but it’s much rarer to see such code applied to networking systems flaws, which are generally considered harder to exploit.

This networking exploit code re-emphasises the need to patch vulnerable systems against DDoS risks. Cisco has released software upgrades and workarounds to defend against the flaws as explained here. ®

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