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Surfing the New Wave of Endpoint Security

Today, the modern IT environment has evolved beyond personal computers to include servers, workstations and point-of-sale (PoS) terminals. This complexity is forcing admins and security personnel everywhere to rethink how to protect all of their new endpoints. Eric Ogren, Senior Security Analyst at 451 Research, in particular sees that a new era in...
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Ukrainian Attack: Another Wake Up Call?

Critical infrastructure is under attack with disastrous implications that could alter our environment, such as disrupting service or even threatening public safety. The Ukraine attack resulting in six hours of loss of power for more than 80,000 customers is a recent reminder. According to an October 2015 report in CyberWarNews, “every bit of U.S....
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A Guide on 4 Common Facebook Scams

In January, I discussed how scammers commonly use money-based schemes, bot spam, pay-per-follower ploys, illegitimate direct messages (DMs), and worms to harass Twitter users. These malicious actors are in it for the money and/or for unauthorized access. They do not care where or how they need to compromise someone in order to obtain what they want,...
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Centene Begins Notifying 950,000 Members of Possible Data Breach

Centene Corporation has begun the process of notifying 950,000 members who may have been affected by a possible data breach. On Monday, the multi-line healthcare enterprise announced that it was launching a search for six hard drives that are currently unaccounted for among its information technology assets: "Centene takes the privacy and security...
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Cyberwarfare in 2016: The Virtual Battle for Your Information

In the 21st century, we can expect information technology to play a major role in international espionage and conflict. We hear constant news reports of data theft. Accusations made by world powers of online tampering or detrimental hacking are a common occurrence. Many of these accusations go unfounded, but they prove that the internet is...
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The Halfling-Dragon Principle of Password Creation

There’s an old principle in tabletop RPG (Role Playing Games) circles that goes something like this: If you find yourself in the company of a halfling and an ill-tempered dragon, remember that you do not have to outrun the dragon; you simply have to outrun the halfling. In the context of security and specifically password creation, this principle...
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Security as Discipline, Not Technology

It’s not much of a stretch these days to say that technology is becoming essential to our daily lives. We trust so much to our technology, from our bank accounts and financial statements to sensitive medical records and even (potentially) embarrassing personal information. We have complex interactions with non-human entities in which we share...
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Reaping the Returns of an Information Security Investment

People ask me, “What do you do?” When I answer with, “I am a penetration tester,” I find that people generally just nod along and pretend they know what it is that I actually do. However, on the day where I am in the mood to razzle dazzle, I answer with “I am a hacker!” The reactions generally vary between priceless disbelief and excitement. But in...
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Hackers Steal $55 million From Boeing Supplier

Aerospace parts manufacturer FACC says that its financial accounting department has been attacked by hackers, who managed to steal approximately €50 million ($54.5 million) from its coffers. Perhaps surprisingly, the company, whose largest shareholder is a Chinese aviation corporation, appears not to have been hacked for its data or intellectual...
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Why Do I Need A SIEM?

In my previous post in this series, we discussed that a "SIEM" is defined as a group of complex technologies that together, provide a centralized bird's-eye-view into an infrastructure. Furthermore, it provides analysis and workflow, correlation, normalization, aggregation and reporting, as well as log management. In this next post, I hope to answer...
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5 Information Security Trends for 2016

Online security trends continue to evolve. This year, online extortion will become more prevalent. We also expect that at least one consumer-grade IoT smart device failure will be lethal. Ransomware will make further inroads, since the majority go unreported. China will drive mobile malware growth to 20M, and cybercrime legislation will take a...
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Exploiting WPA2 In a Citywide Wi-Fi

With mobile phones in almost every pocket today, the payphone has lost its usefulness for perhaps everyone – except maybe Clark Kent. This is why New York City held a competition looking for the best ideas to make appropriate use of this valuable real-estate spread throughout the city. About a year after the contest winner was announced, the city...