If you use WordPress, take note. My colleague Robert Abela, one of the foremost experts on WordPress security, has a new course at Udemy.com on Securing a WordPress Blog or Website for Beginners that you should check out. The course costs $15. When you use the coupon code OnWheels, you'll receive a $5 (33%) discount. Don't let your guard down because "it's just a marketing site". WordPress-based sites can have ...
Continue Reading...I wrote recently about performing source code analysis for mobile apps. I'm seeing some crazy stuff that I didn't think I'd see in mobile apps (but I'm not really surprised) related to session manipulation, hard-coded cryptographic keys and the like which underscores the importance of the exercise.But there's another side to mobile app security assessments - it's simply manual analysis. That is poking around with the apps and the mobile ...
Continue Reading...Here's a good post from Elcomsoft's Vladimir Katalov that underscores the dangers of many things I've written and spoken about in recent years: Cloud security - especially as it relates to mobile apps (and in the case of this piece, iCloud) Mobile control - BYOD, MDM and all those buzzwords sound nice but what exactly are you doing to ensure the business information that's being carelessly handled by your employees ...
Continue Reading...I thought this quote from Ronald Reagan was quite fitting for President's Day:"If history teaches anything, it teaches that self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly."...
Continue Reading...I plan to write a related post soon on my mobile app security assessments. In the meantime, I wanted to share a tool with you that plays a key role in mobile app security: Checkmarx CxDeveloper (or perhaps more appropriately called CxSuite).If you're a developer, QA professional, security manager, or IT generalist, this is a good tool to have for all of those gotta-have-now apps that everyone is throwing together ...
Continue Reading...Every time I browse the Chronology of Data Breaches and read the headlines coming out from Dark Reading, threatpost, and the like, I can't help but shake my head. What is it really going to take to get people - mostly management, but some in IT - to fix the stupid, silly, low-hanging fruit that's plaguing so many networks today...? Well, here's a new piece I wrote for the nice ...
Continue Reading...Great IT & infosec-related quote:"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something." -PlatoGood communication is arguably the most important factor for success....
Continue Reading...Well, it's here...the fourth edition of my book Hacking For Dummies is officially available today!Starting summer of 2012 and ending just before Christmas, I put in over 200 hours of blood, sweat, tears, and occasional cussing into this edition...more than any previous updates to the book. That said, my savvy technical editor, Peter Davis, and the wonderful editors at Wiley, Becky Huehls, Virginia Sanders, and Amy Fandrei were the real ...
Continue Reading...Here's an interesting story from Slashdot today about a college student being expelled after pointing out flaws in his college's student information system.What he's seeing is no surprise. Starting with my days working for IBM's EduQuest division, for the past 20 years or so I've seen numerous K-12 and higher education student information systems chock full of security flaws. Stupid, silly security flaws like SQL injection, cross-site request forgery, URL ...
Continue Reading...With this being your final day on the air, I thought it would be appropriate for me to send you a note of thanks for all you've done for me the past 20 years or so that I've listened to your radio show. Rather than wax poetic in paragraph format I want to list out the things you've taught me that have greatly enhanced my life.Neal, you have taught me:To ...
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