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How and Why Small Businesses Are Investing in Cybersecurity

Businesses of all sizes are taking note that cyber threats are continually on the rise. No one is safe. In our digital world, you just can't be too cautious when it comes to protecting your data. This is true whether your company employs 200,000 or 10 employees. Cyber criminals have no bounds. They just want to profit off of your information. That...
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How & Why is Ransomware Becoming So Popular?

Organized cybercrime is a business just like any other legitimate business; they want to have low-risk and efficient operations in order to maximize their profits. The main caveat for criminals is that pesky problem of getting caught and spending the rest of your life in jail. Data is the currency of the 21st century – historically, cyber criminals...
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Are You Using a Secure Tax e-Filing Site?

These days, consumers are constantly being pushed to move away from paper correspondence and communication to an electronic alternative. Every time I sign into my bank account, I’m reminded of my option to forego the physical receipt of my monthly statement and go paperless. While the benefits of going paperless are clear to both businesses and...
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The 'Human Firewall' Is Dead - Long Live the People

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...
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The Ad Blocking Conundrum: Stealing or a Sound Security Practice?

Is using ad blocking software stealing or is it a sound security practice? On one hand, many websites and content creators make money from advertising. They certainly deserve to be compensated for their time and effort. On the other hand, advertising – at best – can be annoying, and at worst, can serve up malware, suck up bandwidth and redirect...
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Security Mentors: Honoring Those Who Fuel Our Love of Infosec

Thanksgiving is a time for reflection. It provides us with a space for acknowledging all those many people and life experiences that one way or another enrich our lives, year after year. With the spirit of Thanksgiving in mind, we have gathered together the comments of some of the industry's leading professionals on who they are thankful for fueling...
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Security for Life: Promoting the Development of a Security Professional

This week marks the fifth and final week of National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) 2015. A program sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in cooperation with the National Cyber Security Alliance and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, NCSAM emphasizes our shared responsibility in strengthening the cyber...
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Security Hygiene: Protecting Your Evolving Digital Life

This week marks Week 4 in National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), a program sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in cooperation with the National Cyber Security Alliance and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center. NCSAM emphasizes our shared responsibility in strengthening the cyber security posture of our...
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The Anatomy of a Sakawa Scam

The styles associated with Sakawa scammers have been highlighted in previous articles, but today I would like to describe the anatomy of a scam for people to be aware of just how they complete these wicked assaults on our inboxes. This could serve as a guide for Sakawa, but is intended to give insight. Nothing is new here – these guides are passed...
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How to Deal with the Rise of Digital Abuse

On my way to a client site, I was listening with interest to a report on Radio 4 discussing a news article covering the rise of offences against women, including offences associated with the cowardly utilisation of the Internet to target, stalk, and to impose mental anguish and misery on the intended target of abuse. However, to maintain the correct...
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Gift Card Fraud: How It’s Committed and Why It’s So Lucrative

Gift cards have caused quite a headache for retailers in the last month, exposing another way that fraudulent activity can eat into razor-thin profit margins. Gift card fraud can range from physical theft to cloning to exploiting programming errors on the merchant side. The methods of attack are very similar to what is seen with credit card fraud,...
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Infosecurity Europe – Day 1 Highlights

With a reported 17,000 people flocking to Europe's largest security conference this week, there is no doubt that the industry is expanding vastly. Here, you’ll find hundreds of vendors, a variety of workshops and a range of sessions for professionals in the field, no matter what level. From technical insights to business risks, the events is a great...
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Lessons Learned from RSA Conference 2015

After an action-packed week at RSA, we’re happy to say this year’s show didn’t disappoint, as it encouraged the information security community to “challenge today’s security thinking.” We saw consistent themes across many presentation topics, as well as vendors’ messaging, including one of the biggest issues seen in the recently released Verizon...
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Improving Cyber Security Literacy in Boards & Executives

The recent Anthem hack that may have compromised 80 million people’s personal health information reveals just how mainstream data breaches have become in recent years. In response to this rapidly evolving threat landscape, Boards of Directors (BoDs) and executives are now more aware of today’s cyber threats and how they might adversely affect...
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Intrusion detection and the “kill chain”

Last week, I sat in on a briefing by a guy who calls himself “Four” who happens to be involved in intrusion detection for Facebook. He shared some interesting perspective at the Black Hat conference through a discussion of ”Intrusion Detection Along the Kill Chain.” The information Four presented is based on the work done by Eric M. Hutchins, Michael J. Cloppert, Rohan M. Amin, Ph.D of Lockheed...