Recently, I read an article that suggested the 'human firewall' is broken and that it cannot be fixed. This observation comes from a company that provides commercial technical solutions to assist with mitigating cyber threats. The first aspect of this comment I would like to address is the element referred to as ‘the human firewall.’ Let's call it...

21st Century Oncology, a Florida-based chain of 181 cancer treatment centers in the US and Latin America, announced earlier this month that an unauthorized intrusion into one of its databases may have exposed patient information. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the clinic said it is...

China has called for increased cooperation with the FBI on matters pertaining to internet security and counterterrorism. Reuters reports that Guo Shengkun, China's minister of public safety, recently told FBI Director James Comey in a Beijing meeting that his country was willing to enhance its mutual trust and respect with the United States with...

What is SCM? Well, let’s start with what it stands for. Generally, it represents "Security Configuration Management," but it is also referred to as "Secure Configuration Management." Both are equally acceptable and mean the same thing. SCM exists at the point where IT Security and IT Operations meet. It’s a software-based solution that aims to...

Last weekend, I was doing some work around the house and needed a flashlight. I cursed having to get up and get one from the closet when my daughter said, "Use the flashlight app, Dad." Then we discovered that my Android phone doesn't have a built-in light. This, of course, led me to look for an app and spend much more time than getting off my lazy...

Code.org has fixed an error on its website that accidentally exposed email addresses belonging to its volunteers. On Saturday, Hadi Partovi, the CEO of the non-profit organization that encourages students to learn about computer science, issued a statement of apology on the company's blog. "On Friday night we discovered and fixed an error in the...

Recently, there has been a lot of publicity regarding the new national cyber security plan and the billions of dollars pledged to its various parts, including the appointment of the United States' first ever federal chief information security officer (CISO). We understand in large part that the monies “pledged” are goals and aspirations. They are...

Staminus, a global Web security company specializing in protecting against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, has reportedly fallen victim to a massive hack. According to a report by investigative journalist Brian Krebs, the company’s entire network was knocked offline for more than 20 hours until Thursday evening. On Friday afternoon,...

A typo helped prevent a group of hackers from successfully stealing one billion dollars during a bank heist that occurred last month. In the heist, a group of attackers infiltrated Bangladesh Bank's systems and made off with the credentials necessary for making payment transfers, reports Reuters. ...

In the information security space, there’s no shortage of insight that says increased technology and hardware are needed to combat the loss of information from expensive IT infrastructure. However, the real problems often lie in fallible human beings who’ve been entrusted to maintain the infrastructure and are failing to do so. Meanwhile, it’s...

Security Configuration Management (SCM) exists where IT security and IT operations meet. It has evolved over the years from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘must-have.’ The last line of defence is on the endpoint, as network intrusion detection becomes less effective and as the attacks become more sophisticated. One area where a good SCM solution should...

Researchers have discovered a sophisticated strain of Android malware targeting the mobile banking apps of some of Australia’s largest banks. Experts at IT security company ESET said the malware ­­­­– dubbed Android/Spy.Agent.SI – is not only capable of stealing users’ credentials but also thwarting two-factor authentication. “The malware . . ....

As a security professional, I attend many conferences and networking events. I often overhear people at these events use the following exit line: “It was great meeting you. I’ll be sure to add you on LinkedIn.” Many people use LinkedIn as a virtual business card or an online resume. While LinkedIn is a great networking tool, it can also be used for...

Google has patched three security issues in Chrome 49, the most recent version of its popular web browser. On Tuesday, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) released a bulletin announcing the tech giant's latest round of patches. "Google has released Chrome version 49.0.2623.87 to address multiple vulnerabilities for Windows...

Did you visit a Rosen Hotels & Resorts property between September 2014 and February 2016? If so, there's a chance that your credit card details may be in the hands of a criminal gang. Rosen Hotels has published a statement on its website, revealing that it is the latest in a long line of hotel chains and retailers to have suffered at the hands of...

Have you ever noticed that your friends (or family) who work in technology seem a bit more stressed than the average hedge-fund trader? One would expect that a person who deals with multi-million dollar deals would be on the high-end of the stress spectrum, whereas a person who deals mainly with bits and bytes would be far less stressed. A recent...

Today’s VERT Alert addresses 13 new Microsoft Security Bulletins. VERT is actively working on coverage for these bulletins in order to meet our 24-hour SLA and expects to ship ASPL-660 on Wednesday, March 9th. Ease of Use (published exploits) to Risk Table Automated Exploit Easy ...

A telephone scam has conned a woman out of £8,000, half of which was set aside to help pay for her daughter's wedding. The Courier reports that Sylvia Bentley, 65, a Coupar Angus pensioner, was recently contacted by con artists who claimed they were employees of her TV provider. Those scammers, in turn, tricked Bentley into granting them remote...

Tripwire isn't a patch management company, so why we conducted an extensive survey on patch fatigue is a worthwhile question to ask. The fact is, we spend a lot of time talking about and working with patches, even though we never actually deploy one for a customer. We spend so much time on patching because we're a vulnerability management vendor....

In a world where we must assume our enterprises have already been breached, monitoring the perimeter is too little, too late. Continuous monitoring, a la CDM, tells you where you are vulnerable and what to fix, but not where you are already bleeding. In my post on why change detection is so important, I talked about the growing importance of change...