Voltaire is famous for noting that the main problem with common sense is that it's not all that common. Proof of that abounds in the security industry, where people who should know better do idiotic things daily, according to Roger G. Johnston, a member of the vulnerability assessment team at Argonne National Laboratory.
Bill Brenner | 12 Aug | Read more
Though I've been writing about Internet security for six-plus years, there's an interesting problem in the industry that I've only noticed in the last couple years: Security executives and the hacking community tend to live in different worlds.
Bill Brenner | 28 Jul | Read more
Any company that does business online knows the importance of mastering search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to get their content atop the Google rankings. It turns out malware pushers care about SEO, too, and at DefCon later this week researchers will show just how big a deal it has become.
Bill Brenner | 28 Jul | Read more
An open letter to those who are distraught over the impending retirement of Windows XP SP2:
Bill Brenner | 30 Jun | Read more
When it comes to mobile devices, IT security practitioners prefer employees use a BlackBerry because it's easier to control the data users share on them than, say, an Android or iPhone. But as consumer-based devices like the Apple brands get more sophisticated with each release, it's getting harder to keep them out of the workplace. Proliferation of the iPad has only heightened enterprise hunger.
Bill Brenner | 24 Jun | Read more
Everything I've learned about mobile security tells me it's bad to use the consumer-based technology for work. That's where all the bad stuff comes from. That includes devices like the iPhone and iPad.
Bill Brenner | 17 Jun | Read more
IT security practitioners typically greet vendor-based studies with skepticism because they come off as a sales pitch for whatever products that vendor sells. People become especially leery when a study leads to the predicted death of a particular security tool. But when looked at cumulatively, such studies offer small snapshots of why companies are making certain security decisions.
Bill Brenner | 03 Jun | Read more
In many IT security shops, administrators rely on open-source tools to keep up with the malware bad guys continue to toss their way. One industry favorite is Sourcefire, parent of <a href="http://www.csoonline.com/article/546763/Tuning_Snort_with_Host_Attribute_Tables">the Snort IDS tool</a> and ClamAV.
Bill Brenner | 13 May | Read more
Amit Yoran was the Department of Homeland Security's first director of the National Cyber Security Division of the Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection office. But by September 2004 he was frustrated by what he saw as a lack of concern and commitment to Internet security. So he quit his post.
Bill Brenner | 22 Apr | Read more
White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt says the information security community is right to be spooked by massive, coordinated attacks that recently targeted Google. But he rejects the notion that this is cybergeddon, and believes the best defense remains in the hands of the private sector.
Bill Brenner | 08 Apr | Read more
When security vendors used to pitch articles on smart phone malware, my blood ran cold.
Bill Brenner | 01 Apr | Read more
The security community has grown to depend on some basic technologies in the fight against cyber thieves, such as antivirus software and firewalls. But are practitioners clinging to tools that outlived their usefulness long ago? Were those tools ever really useful to begin with?
Bill Brenner | 25 Mar | Read more
Security vendors are launching a gazillion products this week at RSA Conference 2010, but hidden in all of those press releases are a few nuggets that illustrate the big picture trends.
Bill Brenner | 02 Mar | Read more
Social networking and cloud computing threats abound, our annual Global Information Security Survey finds, making information security important once again to business leaders.
Bill Brenner | 16 Oct | Read more
Here's how privacy went the way of the dinosaur, how we let it happen and how we might be able to get some of it back
Bill Brenner | 14 Oct | Read more