• 08 Feb 2012

    Video: My new whitepaper on SQL Server security threats & compliance

    Check out my new whitepaper The SQL Security Security Threat - It's closer than you think sponsored by Idera:...

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  • 03 Jan 2012

    Damballa’s Fight Against Advanced Malware

    Malware being out of sight and out of mind often creates the perception that risks aren't present. Just because there’s no perceived risk, doesn’t mean it’s not there. Heads buried in the sand over the real malware threat leads to breaches that most organizations aren't prepared to handle. Having worked on a project involving an APT infection, I’ve seen first-hand how ugly this stuff can get.Endpoint protection isn’t enough. Analyzing ...

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  • 17 Dec 2011

    WebInspect: How SQL injection testing *should* be done

    SQL injection is arguably the grandest of all security vulnerabilities. It can be exploited anonymously over the Internet to gain full access to sensitive information - and no one will ever know it occurred. Yet time and again it's either: overlooked by people who don't test all of their critical systems from every possible angle overlooked by people who haven't learned how to properly use their Web vulnerability scanners overlooked ...

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  • 16 Dec 2011

    AlgoSec & what happens when you don’t look for flaws from every angle

    I recently had the opportunity to see how well AlgoSec's Firewall Analyzer performs in a real-world security assessment. Long story short, Firewall Analyzer found a weak password on an Internet-facing firewall that would've gone undetected otherwise. A traditional vulnerability scanner didn't find it nor did two different Web vulnerability scanners. Nothing was uncovered via manual analysis either.Only AlgoSec's Firewall Analyzer found the weakness...no doubt a flaw that would've been exploited ...

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  • 07 Dec 2011

    BitLocker, Passware…heads in sand everywhere!

    Three times in the past three weeks. That's how many conversations I've had people who have blown off any sort of technical or operational weaknesses associated with Microsoft BitLocker when using it as an enterprise full disk encryption solution. They're well-documented. I highlighted these issues in my recent whitepaper The Hidden Costs of Microsoft BitLocker as well.I've said it before and I'll continue saying it: I've sung the praises of ...

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  • 06 Dec 2011

    School staff members and porn – Why you should care

    Here's an interesting read on government employees trying to make an extra buck by serving up pornography on their high school-issued computers. What a lovely story.Don't think this kind of behavior is random. I've seen this very thing at the university level during a security assessment I did early on in my information security consulting venture.You see, one thing I do during my internal security assessments is connect a network ...

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  • 06 Oct 2011

    My latest bits on Windows 7, Microsoft SCM and Metasploit

    Here are some new pieces I've written for my friends at TechTarget on Windows security that you may be interested in including bits on the often overlooked but oh so valuable Security Compliance Manager and Metasploit:Using Windows 7 management tools to your advantageGetting to know Security Compliance ManagerWhy aren’t you using Metasploit to expose Windows vulnerabilities?You know the deal, be sure to check out www.principlelogic.com/resources.html for links to all of ...

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  • 21 Sep 2011

    Buying, selling & consigning used hardware great for IT budgets

    In IT and information security we're required to come up with creative ways to save money any way we can. Well, how about this novel idea: buy used network and computer hardware, or sell what you've already go so you can upgrade.A good friend of mine works at a company (Riverside) that does just that. They buy, sell and consign used network and computer hardware to help businesses save (or ...

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  • 14 Jul 2011

    eEye’s Metasploit integration – we need more of this!

    Kudos to eEye Digital Security for integrating Metasploit within their Retina vulnerability scanner. According to this recent press release:"Using the free Retina Community scanner or the Retina Network Security Scanner (version 5.13.0 or higher), users can see whether a vulnerability has an associated exploit from Core Impact, Metasploit, or Exploit-db.com, allowing IT Security professionals to better prioritize vulnerabilities and fix the biggest risks first. In addition, if a Metasploit exploit ...

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  • 27 Jun 2011

    The value of partial code scanning, now

    Check out my new piece on the business value of partial code scanning where I outline why it's better to start your source code analysis now instead of waiting around until certain milestones of your development projects are reached or your software applications are completed altogether.It's kind of funny and ironic that we humans are all about instant gratification, yet with information risk issues such as source code analysis, we ...

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