Kevin Beaver's Security Blog

Inc.com had a piece on AI adoption/perception/strategy recently. I feel that it provides some interesting insight into what's to come as it relates to dealing with employees working for - and against - the business...especially as it relates to sabotaging AI efforts. Lots of things for IT and security leaders and admins to pay attention to that I've summarized here: Challenges in Adoption 72% of C-suite leaders reported significant challenges ...

The new realities of career networking

They say your network is everything. I’d argue that what truly matters is your time and your knowledge - those are the real currencies in today’s business world. Still, there’s no denying that staying connected, especially online, plays a critical role in your long-term success. The old saying “It’s who you know” has evolved into “It’s who knows you.” In our hyperconnected reality - where virtual presence carries as much ...

Using zero-based thinking to improve your security program

It's almost 2025. We've known for quite some time what needs to be done in terms of information security. Most best practices and standards have been around for decades... Still, it seems that many businesses are getting hit as hard as ever with security incidents and breaches.  How can you move past this current state of risk? How can you start making strides in your information security program to get ...

Extremely blessed to go from near death to keynote speaking again

My rising from the ashes moment... Just a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to serve as a keynote speaker to hundreds of people at the TribalNet conference in Las Vegas, NV. What a show! Great people. Super well-run event. 👍 This wasn't just any speaking engagement for me, though...Three years ago, I was one notch above being bedridden...most of the time. I was experiencing pain and dozens and ...

It’s 2024, yet college football’s Power Four teams were using unencrypted GSC helmet communications

Just when you think most people understand the basics of security, along comes a story like the following: Sources: College helmet communications on unencrypted frequencies Really!? All those efforts that coaches go to covering their mouths with their play cards...then this. According to the ESPN piece, execs for the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten and ACC have worked with GSC, the manufacturer of these coach to player communication systems, to ...

Career networking success – what you should do…and not do

If you work in IT or information security, there's one thing that you'll want to be good at: networking. No, not the TCP/IP and Ethernet stuff but networking for your career. You can do this both internally within your own company as well as externally, networking with outsiders. Even if you have a job, rubbing elbows with the right people today can end up landing you work down the road ...

Find at-risk internal user accounts with myNetWatchman’s Active Directory Audit tool

I'm always on the lookout for new tools that can do new and interesting things for those of us working in information security. They are few and far between, it seems, at least in the context of vulnerability and penetration testing. However, I've found one that can pay huge dividends. It's called Active Directory Audit by threat intelligence company, myNetWatchman. You know how threat intelligence vendors can find compromised login ...

3 resources to help with the SEC’s cybersecurity ruling on incident reporting

There's been a lot of buzz in recent months regarding the new US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cybersecurity ruling involving incident resporting. Check out the following resources I created for the folks at web application and API vulnerability scanning vendor Probely. We help you cut through the noise and understand what really matters in the context of incident reporting/response and, especially, its impact on overall application security. SEC Cybersecurity ...

Too many people, too many policies, too much busy work! Security has to wait…

Busy, busy, busy...That's what everyone working in and around IT/security seems to be these days. Ditto for the average user. So many things to do and not enough time to do them. It appears that everyone is completely overwhelmed with work, putting out fires, rather than focusing on  productive work that moves the business forward. But is this really the case? Based on studies I've seen and things I witnessed ...

Cybersecurity All-In-One For Dummies – a new book my vulnerability and penetration testing content is featured in

I was recently surprised to find out about this new book - Cybersecurity All-In-One For Dummies - that much of my Hacking For Dummies content is featured in. The following chapters from my book are included: Introduction to Vulnerability and Penetration Testing Cracking the Hacker Mindset Developing Your Security Testing Plan Hacking methodology Information Gathering Social Engineering Physical Security With all the other content included, this book is a very ...