The week in security: Can the software-defined future save the Internet?

As Cisco wrapped up another of its massive Australian Cisco Live! conferences, the importance of software-defined networking and security stood out as a common theme that is driving integration and flexibility across the company’s expansive product range.

Businesses have different requirements from their telecommunications than home users do, which is why nbn is seeing strong interest in its recently-launched business-focused services.

Yet not everyone is as concerned about companies’ perspectives: companies and governments are killing the World Wide Web, the platform’s inventor Tim Berners-Lee has warned in a scathing assessment of the state of the Internet.

And it’s not just about the depredations of attacks like ransomware, whose appeal as a recurring revenue model for cybercriminals is significant.

There were concerns that hackers are using a previously undocumented backdoor program to carry malware communications over the Slack collaboration network.

It’s just one more way that malware is owning the Internet, with reports that SimBad adware apps had been downloaded from the Google Play app store nearly 150m times.

Interestingly, system administrators had pushed Google to change the way two-factor authentication is handled when accessing its G Suite business products, with many concerned about staff using SMS codes to sign into their accounts.

Meanwhile, Cisco plugged a critical password-handling flaw in its Common Services Platform Collector.