Here's a bit on the proposed law by Democrat Ellen Corbett from California on Facebook being forced to give parents access to their kids' Facebook pages (CA SB 242). I don't disagree with the premise of parents getting or needing access...It's just sad that the government has to get involved.In fact, why do parents need the government to get this information from their kids in the first place!? Well, we ...
Continue Reading...Here's a good read on the lengths Osama bin Laden when to in order to keep his electronic communications under wraps. I won't spoil the details but it's a pretty old school approach. Check it out and imagine being in one of the coffee shops where the emails were being sent out...I wonder if his thumb drives were encrypted?? Like many, I doubt they thought that one through. :-)...
Continue Reading...Some new news out today was about Novell completing its sale to Attachmate. Wow, the end of an era...Novell really does have a special place in my heart - NetWare was the first network operating system I learned, way back in the version 2.15c days. Anyone remember those? Then I moved on to v2.2, 3.12, 4.0 and then 4.1. I obtained my first IT certification - the CNE - that ...
Continue Reading...Here's some big time scary stuff personally and something that'll no doubt lead to big time security problems for the enterprise. Michigan State Police are copying data off of smartphones during minor traffic stops using the Cellebrite Universal Forensics Extraction Device. Images, address books, files, whatever...it's now fair game for the police (Gestapo?) in Michigan to take whatever whenever.Is this government out of control or what!?I know we've all but ...
Continue Reading...Here's a good reason why you need to remind your employees of the risks of using laptops in coffee shops and other public places. Once the thief has it, it's all over...unless of course a brave (stupid?) coffee shop employee comes to your rescue.A good rule of thumb is if you're setting up shop for a while then use a laptop lock to secure the system to the table. Most ...
Continue Reading...I thought this Marxist/Obama philosophy was very fitting for our symbolic day today here in the U.S. The general belief that the government should decide what the people need is what's driving our country...and the world. And we wonder why we can't get out of this economic mess! The reality is that the economy cannot be taxed into prosperity but that's what the politicians want to make us believe...especially if ...
Continue Reading...You may have read that Gartner projects IT spending to increase in 2011. It's great news that may lead to hiring new staff or at least new consultants for your IT and information security projects....Just proceed with caution and don't fall for the "I'm certified therefore I'm all you need" persona that's rampant in our industry.There are a lot of people out there looking for work - many of which ...
Continue Reading...Have you checked out the Chronology of Data Breaches lately?...Very interesting stats on known data breaches. I peruse the site through every now and then and it seems that every time I do there's an organization that 1) I've done business with (for personal stuff) or 2) as in the case of MicroBilt Corporation's breach posted last week they're right down the road from me.Does the six degrees of separation ...
Continue Reading...Here's a good read from @arstechnica on the HBGary story. It's a fascinating story in and of itself. But the oversights related to information security "best practices" is amazing. What is it going to take to get people to focus on the basics? Seriously, folks...Forget about all the fancy hack attacks and complex exploits for now and fix the low-hanging fruit. It's basic triage - stop the bleeding first. Focus ...
Continue Reading...You have to watch this video. Seriously, stop what you're doing now and watch this. This issue has a profound affect on you, your family, your friends - everyone around us. It'll make you cry. No matter how good a driver you are and no matter how much you've heard about this topic - everyone needs to see this video. Please pass it along....
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