Uplevel delivers SD-WAN to small business; gives high-quality VoIP, reliable Internet and 75 percent savings

Uplevel Systems now offers software-defined Wide Area Network or "SD-WAN" capabilities optimized for small to medium businesses (SMBs). SD-WAN traditionally involves replacing costly telecom services with cost-effective Internet connections between sites. 

Smaller companies find SD-WAN cost-prohibitive because most offerings include advanced features and other "bells and whistles" they must pay for but do not need. In practice, the prospective cost savings also may be compromised by poorly performing Internet connections or call quality between sites.

The Uplevel solution optimizes SD-WAN for small business in four critical ways, including ensuring call quality for voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Phone systems are still the lifeblood of many small businesses and voice call quality is highly sensitive to delays of mere tenths of a second. 

Uplevel's integrated managed service platform includes built-in VoIP quality of service (QoS) mechanisms that ensure voice calls always receive priority over data and other "best effort" transactions and also eliminate packet loss that can lead to poor call quality. 

Uplevel delivers a targeted and reliable small business SD-WAN solution that removes both cost and complexity to deliver the features and benefits SMBs need. Uplevel eliminates traditional upfront costs of approximately $1,000 per site and reduces ongoing costs by 75 percent or more versus traditional solutions. 

Along with adding failover and load balancing optimizing quality and reliability, the Uplevel solution reduces upfront equipment costs by up to $3,000 per site. Users can log in safely using secure virtual private network (VPN) services and cloud-based management allows MSPs to manage multiple sites in real time from anywhere on the device of their choice. 

The Uplevel solution enables two SD-WAN mechanisms for improving and maintaining reliability: "Failover" whereby companies purchase a second Internet connection to provide backup, and "load balancing" in which two primary Internet connections remain in use at all times with traffic distributed to achieve the desired bandwidth at the lowest possible cost.

Cubic announces NIAP Common Criteria Testing Validation for DTECH Labs Products with Aruba VMC

Cubic Corp. announced that its Cubic Mission Solutions (CMS) business division completed National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP) Common Criteria testing and validation for its DTECH M3X and M3-SE servers using version 8.2 of Virtual Mobility Controller (VMC) from Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. 

The M3X-APP and M3-SE-SVR4 are now listed as IPsec VPN Gateway, Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) Access System and Traffic Filtering Firewall solutions on the NSA CSfC Components List.

The combination of Aruba VMC with Cubic’s modular servers provides highly secure networking utilizing VPN, Wireless Lan Controller (WLC) and firewall capabilities in a small ruggedized platform that meets MIL-STD 810 and 461 test methods.

Cubic offers networked Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities for defense, intelligence, security and commercial missions. These solutions provide information capture, assessment, exploitation and dissemination in a secure network-centric environment. Enabled by six decades of success, Cubic’s commitment to continuous innovation ensures that customers are prepared for their next mission.

Cubic's DTECH M3 Series servers such as the M3X-APP and M3-SE-SVR4 are a crucial component of many U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and international defense partners’ programs and infrastructure. 

The Aruba and Cubic solution allows the hyper-enabled operator to safely transmit secure/classified data over available commercial or unsecured networks. The Aruba and Cubic products validated in this process represent a best-in-class solution offering unsurpassed quality and performance.

“Common criteria validation and the inclusion of Cubic equipment on the National Security Agency (NSA) CSfC Components List marks a significant evolution in our CSfC partnering strategy. We are trusted by our most demanding customers to provide a reliable and secure solution for their most challenging missions,” said Mike Barthlow, senior vice president and general manager, Rugged IoT, Cubic Mission Solutions. “This milestone represents an important step forward in our commitment to both the CSfC program and to our broad base of DoD customers with secure wireless needs.”

New Trend Micro report highlights how underground intrusion specialists team up with ransomware groups

A new report from Trend Micro highlights how “access-as-a-service” providers and ransomware groups have come together to compromise and victimize more targets. 

Alliances between these types of cybercriminal teams can allow malware to spread further and faster into lucrative targets, most often company networks. A ransomware’s lifespan is fueled by finding new victims, a need that can be fulfilled by the intrusion experts that rent or sell access to different company networks.

A report from the Advanced Intelligence (AdvIntel) security organization shows how the complex underground syndicates and different malware groups can operate together. 

As AdvIntel details in the report, ransomware groups pursue different strategies to deliver their malware, while network intrusion experts are always looking for ways to monetize their access skills. A partnership between such groups is mutually beneficial.    

The prices for access range from US$3,000 to $20,000. The most expensive “package” the group was selling included full access to a company’s administrative panel, server hosts, and corporate VPN networks. Apparently the group was able to gain access through a variety of techniques, including abusing pentesting tools like Metasploit and Cobalt Strike Beacon.