computer science

Ubiquiti

Ubiquiti is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Ubiquiti rather than just read about it. In short: Ubiquiti Inc. (formerly Ubiquiti Networks, Inc.) is an American technology company founded in San Jose, California, in 2003.

Key takeaways

Ubiquiti belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Ubiquiti to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Ubiquiti from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Ubiquiti Inc. (formerly Ubiquiti Networks, Inc.) is an American technology company founded in San Jose, California, in 2003. Now based in New York City, Ubiquiti manufactures and sells wireless data communication and wired products for enterprises and homes under multiple brand names. On October 13, 2011, Ubiquiti had its initial public offering (IPO) at 7.04 million shares, at $15 per share, raising $30.5 million.

Products Ubiquiti's first product line was its "Super Range" mini-PCI radio card series, which was followed by other wireless products. The company's Xtreme Range (XR) cards operated on non-standard IEEE 802.11 bands, which reduced the impact of congestion in the 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz bands. In August 2007 a group of Italian amateur radio operators set a distance world record for point-to-point links in the 5.8 GHz spectrum. Using two XR5 cards and a pair of 35 dBi dish antennas, the Italian team was able to establish a 304 km (about 188 mi) link at data rates between 4 and 5 Mbit/s. The company (under its "Ubiquiti Labs" brand) also manufactures a home-oriented wireless mesh network router and access point combination device, as a consumer-level product called AmpliFi.

Brands

Ubiquiti product lines include UniFi, AmpliFi, EdgeMax, UISP, airMAX, airFiber, GigaBeam, and UFiber. Their most well known product line is UniFi which is focused on home, prosumer, business wired and wireless networking in addition to IP cameras, physical access control systems, and VoIP phones. The EdgeMax product line is dedicated to wired networking, containing only routers and switches. UISP, announced in 2020, is a range of products for internet service providers. airMAX is a product line dedicated to creating point-to-point (PtP) and point-to-multi-point (PtMP) links between networks. airFiber and UFiber are used by wireless and fiber Internet service providers (ISP) respectively.

Software products Ubiquiti develops a variety of software controllers for their various products including access points, routers, switches, cameras, and locks. These controllers manage all connected devices and provide a single point for configuration and administration. The software is included as part of UniFi OS, an operating system that runs on devices called UniFi OS Consoles (UniFi Dream Machine, Dream Wall, Dream Router, Cloud Key). The UniFi Network controller can alternatively be installed on Linux, FreeBSD, macOS, or Windows, while the other applications included with UniFi OS such as UniFi Protect and UniFi Access must be installed on a UniFi OS Console device. WiFiman is an internet speed test and network analyzer tool that is integrated into most Ubiquiti products. It has mobile apps and a web version.

Security issues

U-Boot configuration extraction In 2013, a security issue was discovered in the version of the U-Boot boot loader shipped on Ubiquiti's devices. It was possible to extract the plaintext configuration from the device without leaving a trace using Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) and an Ethernet cable, revealing information such as passwords. While the issue is fixed in current versions of Ubiquiti hardware, despite many requests and acknowledgment that they are using GPL-protected application, Ubiquiti refused to provide the source code for the GNU General Public License (GPL)-licensed U-Boot. This made it impractical for Ubiquiti's customers to fix the issue. The GPL-licensed code was released eventually.

Upatre Trojan It was reported by online reporter Brian Krebs, on June 15, 2015, that "Recently, researchers at the Fujitsu Security Operations Center in Warrington, UK began tracking [the] Upatre [trojan software] being served from hundreds of compromised home routers – particularly routers powered by MikroTik and Ubiquiti's airOS". Bryan Campbell of the Fujitsu Security Operations Center in Warrington, UK was reported as saying: "We have seen literally hundreds of wireless access points and routers connected in relation to this botnet, usually AirOS ... The consistency in which the botnet is communicating with compromised routers in relation to both distribution and communication leads us to believe known vulnerabilities are being exploited in the firmware which allows this to occur."

2021 alleged data breach and lawsuit In January 2021, a potential data breach of cloud accounts was reported, with customer credentials having potentially been exposed to an unauthorized third party. In March 2021 security blogger Brian Krebs reported that a whistleblower disclosed that Ubiquiti's January statement downplayed the extent of the data breach in an effort to protect the company's stock price. Furthermore, the whistleblower claimed that the company's response to the breach put the security of its customers at risk. Ubiquiti responded to Krebs's reporting in a blog post, stating that the attacker "never claimed to have accessed any customer information" and "unsuccessfully attempted to extort the company by threatening to release stolen source code and specific IT credentials." Ubiquiti further wrote that they "believe that customer data was not the target of, or otherwise accessed in connection with, the incident." On December 1, 2021, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York charged a former high-level employee of Ubiquiti for data theft and wire fraud, alleging that the "data breach" was in fact an inside job aimed at extorting millions of dollars from the company. The indictment also claimed that the employee caused further damage "by causing the publication of misleading news articles about the company's handling of the breach that he perpetrated, which were followed by a significant drop in the company's share price associated with the loss of billions of dollars in its market capitalization." The Verge reported that the indictment shed new light on the supposed breach and appeared to back up Ubiquiti's statement that no customer data was compromised. In March 2022, Ubiquiti filed a lawsuit against Brian Krebs, alleging defamation for his reporting on their security issues. Both parties resolved their dispute outside the court in September 2022.

Other In 2015, Ubiquiti revealed that it lost $46.7 million when its finance department was tricked into sending money to someone posing as an employee.

Legal difficulties

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ubiquiti

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ubiquiti claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Ubiquiti before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Ubiquiti ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Ubiquiti

In research: Ubiquiti appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Ubiquiti in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Ubiquiti is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2005 establishments in California, American companies established in 2005, Companies based in New York City, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ubiquiti outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Ubiquiti in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ubiquiti means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Ubiquiti out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ubiquiti in simple terms?

Ubiquiti Inc. (formerly Ubiquiti Networks, Inc.) is an American technology company founded in San Jose, California, in 2003.

Why does Ubiquiti matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Ubiquiti?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Ubiquiti.