Security

Alright, I would be first to admit that a term like Bluesnarfing sounds like something coming back up after a hard night of partying. Yet in reality, it is significant enough that the United States’ own US-CERT has stated that this form of wireless data snooping is a serious threat.
Should we stop using Bluetooth headsets […]

Normally I am not one to follow Linus Torvalds anymore than I might follow the happenings of Bill Gates. To be blunt, I really do not care. But I found his thoughts on people that share security exploits interesting. The overall argument seems to make enough sense, place less importance on the person pointing out […]

At Tech Ed IT Pro 2008 in Orlando Florida, Richard and I talk to Hal Rottenberg and Carter Shanklin about VMWare’s support for Powershell. VMWare has added an extensive Powershell accessible interface to VMWare to simplify the automation of virtual machine related tasks.
Hal Rottenberg is a Senior Systems Administrator with IBM’s prestigious Internet Security Systems […]

Well this is a real eye opener! Imagine discovering that some codec a client of yours downloads and installs manages to change the DNS settings for their router. Talk about a gateway into a ton of trouble! And despite countless warnings, we are only now hearing about it actually happening - is it luck? Regardless […]

Learn how to eliminate risk in your IT environment.
This ForwardView Web show describes how security appliances, which incorporate an array of security functions, can help you ward off security breaches without breaking the bank or hiring more IT staff.
This Web show was featured in ForwardView, the premier IBM eMagazine that provides growing businesses with the […]

Learn more about today’s evolving, interrelated online threats to your business, and what you can do about them.
Being open for business is synonymous with being online. Your employees need to communicate at various locations and access various types of business information stored electronically. But the openness of online business activity is synonymous with danger. The […]

Survey says: iPods and other portable storage devices are a growing threat in the workplace.
Credant Technologies’ survey on portable storage devices asked 323 IT professionals about the potential security impact of iPods, USB flash drives and other devices in order to discover what security impact these new devices have on the workplace.
Surprisingly, although organizations see […]

This report is designed to help highlight the key security trends of today and suggest ways to defend against the sophisticated new generation of Internet threats certain to arise in the future.
The overall trends in spam and malware can be characterized by a larger number of more targeted, stealthy, and sophisticated attacks. Specific observations include:

Spam […]

It doesn’t take crashed drive or flooded office to destroy data — just one disgruntled employee is all it takes.If you are a small business — heck, a business of any size — do you have a tested data backup plan? An off-site storage routine?
Watch this clip on CNN.com to see exactly what can happen […]

Vista lets you place restrictions on hardware devices to protect against data theft. You can place restrictions on device installation, limit access to devices already installed and control Autoplay settings for removable devices.
Another way that data theft can occur is through the installation of hardware such as removable storage devices. For example, an attacker […]

Another technology designed to protect data is the Encrypting File System (EFS). Files that have been protected using EFS are encrypted at the file-system level. The benefit of this is that the files can only be opened by the user with the appropriate private key and certificate. Even if you were to reinstall the operating […]

I’m going to go off on a bit of a (somewhat grumpy) lecture here in hopes that people will stop long enough to listen. A little Gestalt therapy, if you will. Ultimately I hope at least one person recognizes a need and acts on it.
If I had a dime for every time I have personally […]

Bitlocker Drive Encryption protects against data theft by encrypting the entire Windows volume. It ensures that your data remains encrypted, even if the computer is tampered with. For example, someone moves your hard drive to another computer by a malicious user, he or she will not be able to view the contents of it.
Bitlocker Drive […]

When securing our computers, we focus a lot of our attention on configuring a firewall and setting permissions. However, many people overlook the possibility of computer theft and forget to take precautions against this type of attack. Yet, once a malicious user steals your computer, they can move the hard drive into another computer and […]

At one time, I swore by RoboForm as I felt it was the best way to handle password management on Windows. Unfortunately, the company that creates this otherwise great software has decided not to join the ranks of other companies that understand that we are becoming a cross platform society. Hence, I can no longer […]

Keeping in mind that the issue described here, would not affect me as do not use Windows as my primary OS. The following article did make me wonder who is asleep at the wheel over at Skype these days.
“The problem lies in the fact that Skype uses a Windows Internet Explorer component with inappropriate security […]

This is not really a Just Ask Matt today. No, this email below was sent my way by proxy and to be honest, it took me by surprise. Take a look…
I currently have a Macbook Pro 15.4″ and my modem is in the living. So of course I use a wireless router (Netgear RangeMax Next […]

Sign up for the Endpoint Challenge!
Take this quick challenge to find if your endpoints are secure. By taking this brief questionnaire, you will gain valuable information on aspects of endpoint security that should be considered in building out best practices against future threats.
At the end of the challenge, you will receive a scorecard that […]