As organizations try to rein in technology budgets, IT staff members are constantly tasked with doing more and providing better services, all the while keeping costs and staff to a minimum. Couple this with increased usage of applications in the cloud, and the security issues entailed therein and you have a perfect combination for delays and disgruntled users.
Dean Wiech | 16 Feb | Read more
As businesses roll-out their BYOD strategies, most CIOs and CEOs have no idea that many of the mobile apps allowed to touch corporate systems and data engage in risky behaviours that could compromise data security and policy. This danger was underscored recently when the free iOS Flashlight APP secretly recorded personal user information such as location of phone, details of the owner, etc., and sent it on to advertisers.
Vincent Smyth | 12 Feb | Read more
2015 is likely to be ‘as bad or worse’ for large-scale data breaches than 2014, when a series of incidents at large companies exposed the sensitive information of millions of people and businesses, according to a new report.
More and more cyber-criminals are tunnelling attacks in SSL encryption to evade detection by firewalls and other security products. SSL represents not just a chink in enterprises’ armour, but an enormous crater that malicious actors can exploit.
Greg Barnes | 06 Feb | Read more
Every business holds at least some sensitive data. This may be sensitive personal information belonging to clients or employees, or confidential data relating to business operations. Keeping this secret information secret should be a concern to every business, no matter what industry or size.
James Billingsley | 30 Jan | Read more
For years, passwords have been the dominant means by which organisations authenticate customer access to online services. Password-based authentication is easy and familiar for customers, and is initially inexpensive for organizations to deploy at scale. But, while password-based authentication may be appropriate in some instances, it is no longer suitable for the wide range of services where it is currently being used.
Steve Durbin | 13 Jan | Read more
Mobile technology has redefined the way businesses operate, unleashing unprecedented levels of flexibility, collaboration and communication.
David Balazsy | 13 Jan | Read more
Cybersecurity chiefs aren’t the only ones worrying about hackers these days. Anyone who uses a credit card or stores family photos in the cloud has nagging concerns about data security. Small business owners are worried, too.
Paul Lipman | 12 Jan | Read more
In 2014, large retailers, franchises and small businesses alike were affected by new vulnerabilities and malware targeting point-of-sale (POS) devices, systems and vendors. One recent vulnerability affecting POS devices and systems was detailed by the US-CERT in its Vulnerability Notes Database.
With over one billion Android devices activated, the platform’s popularity has inevitably caught the attention of malware creators. The opportunity to target such a huge audience and get more bang for the buck is not easily dismissed nor will it be any time soon.
Emmanuel Carabott | 16 Dec | Read more
With the major financial card breaches at global retailers, as well as a number of SSL/TLS vulnerabilities, it’s possible you may have missed a few other under-reported security issues that provided valuable lessons to the general technology community in 2014.
Last year, news that US retailer Target’s point-of-sale systems were compromised resulting in the theft of more than 40 million payment card numbers hit Australian headlines. A steady stream of breach stories throughout the year further raised awareness of the issue in this part of the world. But given there are no mandatory breach disclosure laws in this country, you may be wondering ‘If my details were stolen, how would I even know?’ Practically speaking, you’re probably thinking ‘What can I do to protect myself this festive season?’
Chris Pogue | 10 Dec | Read more
Before we jump into the security automation discussion, let’s start with the two key characteristics of Cloud Computing which are closely related to automation and scalability
Magesh Dhanasekaran | 05 Dec | Read more
The rise and rise of the as-a-Service (XaaS) model continues. The various models based around the XaaS approach are all forecast to continue growing rapidly as organizations go on taking advantage of the increased flexibility, lower CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) and on-demand nature of the service. Gartner predicts that Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) will grow at a CAGR (Compound annual Growth Rate of 41.3 per cent through 2016, while Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) will hit 27.7 per cent CAGR in the same period. The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) market will grow at 19.5 per cent CAGR in that time too, demonstrating how significant the cloud delivery of IT services has become.
Gordon Makryllos | 01 Dec | Read more
The retail industry is a prime target for fraud and data breaches – it is the second most targeted sector aside from finance.
Rick Chavie | 18 Nov | Read more
Smart city projects are among the most exciting technological initiatives around today and will play a major role in the world’s future growth and security. Modern technology lets us track and monitor many elements in a major urban environment – noise, light, traffic, weather, accidents and incidents, and use this data to improve people’s living and working conditions.
Gordon Makryllos | 24 Oct | Read more
While the rise of mobile enterprise adoption and BYOD means more flexibility for employees and generally higher productivity for organisations and businesses, it also poses security challenges, in particular around identity and access management (IAM).
Travis Greene | 07 Oct | Read more
Unified Threat Management (UTM) has become popular among organisations since its emergence over five years ago. The security solution gained traction with its all-in-one approach, combining several security tools into a single device. Running UTM also saved companies, especially the smaller ones time, money and manpower. Most UTM today include a firewall, intrusion detection system (IDS), virtual private network (VPN), anti-malware, anti-spam, content and web filtering, while some vendors include other features such as advanced routing.
It goes without saying that government surveillance news dominates our media. From a global standpoint, the NSA leaks brought international attention to state organised spying. Locally, the Australian Government has been making headlines over its plans to develop legislation that will allow it to more easily access metadata from large organisations and telecoms providers to gain information on the consumers using their services in a bid to prevent acts of terrorism
David Balazsy | 03 Oct | Read more
The Industrial Revolution transformed four key aspects of society—innovation, transportation, communication and financial markets—changing the world forever. Although it began more than 200 years ago, there are surprising some parallels between this historically transformative period and IT security. The dynamics of the threat landscape and the increasing complexity of IT environments have given rise to a new era: The ‘Industrialisation of Hacking’.
Chris Wood | 26 Oct | Read more