Broadcasting Vulnerabilities Hinders Security
By Tom Groenfeldt, Technology Journalist - Contributor at CIOZone
The way most of the vendors do PC security makes it very easy for the bad guys to circumvent their software pretty quickly, said John Viega, vice president of engineering at McAfee and author of a new book, The Myths of Security: What the Computer Security Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know. The technologies generally have not gotten good enough fast enough, and there hasn’t been the best collaboration between vendors, even though they do collaborate, he added. They are getting better, but some vendors, who market by publicly announcing vulnerabilities in popular software packages, do more to hurt than help…
Report: China Probing Soft Cyber Underbelly
By Tom Groenfeldt, Technology Journalist - Contributor at CIOZone
In China today, there are thousands of people in a sustained effort to collect intelligence, many of them on an entrepreneurial basis within a competing bureaucratic structure. China understands that a strategic vulnerability of the United States is its soft cyber underbelly. I believe they seek to ‘own’ that space, says Mike McConnell, former director of National Intelligence and director of the NSA.
Should Cyber Defense Go On the Offensive?
By Richard Stiennon, Chief Research Analyst, IT-Harvest
Federal Agencies and the Defense Department have inadequate cyber defenses, but the course of action should be to beef those defenses up, not to resort to cyber attacks as some sort of deterrent. The best way to counter cyber attacks is with cyber defense.
Protecting Your Privacy During a Pandemic
By Rebecca Herold (The Privacy Professor) CIPP, CISSP, CISM, CISA, FLMI
Companies are requiring huge amounts of personal information for quarantine events, and not only about workers, but also family members and non-family individuals who share the same living quarters. What kind of information is your company requiring for quarantines?
Anti-Phishing with Two Factor Authentication
By John B. Frank, Strategist with HomeATM ePayment Solutions
According to research firm, Gartner, banks, online payment organizations and other financial institutions are bearing most of the financial cost of phishing attacks. (A survey of nearly 4,000 US consumers revealed a 40% increase in the number of phishing victims in 2008 over the year before to five million.) “The findings underline the fact that the war against phishing is far from over,” said Avivah Litan, analyst at Gartner. Yes, the very same Avivah Litan who says “never” enter your PIN on the Internet unless it’s hardware based.
Security Risks Accompany New Technologies
By John B. Frank, Marketing Strategist with HomeATM ePayment Solutions
RSA and IDG released two new research studies that examine the far-reaching security implications of promising technologies such as cloud computing, virtualization, social networking and mobile communications, and explore the pivotal business risks and rewards they represent to organizations worldwide.
Data Sniffing Trojans Hit European ATMs
By Dan Goodin in San Francisco for the Register UK
The malware logs the magnetic-stripe data and personal identification number of cards used at an infected machine and provides an intuitive interface for retrieving the information using the ATM’s receipt printer, according to analysts from Spider Labs, the research arm of security firm Trustwave. Since late 2007 or so, there have been at least 16 updates to the software, an indication that the authors are working hard to perfect their tool.
Online Banking’s Innate Security Flaws
By John B. Frank, Marketing Strategist with HomeATM ePayment Solutions
According to research firm, Gartner, banks, online payment organizations and other financial institutions are bearing most of the financial cost of phishing attacks. (A survey of nearly 4,000 US consumers revealed a 40% increase in the number of phishing victims in 2008 over the year before to five million.)
‘Both Sides of the Mouth’ Security Analysis
By John B. Frank, Marketing Strategist with HomeATM ePayment Solutions
Launched in April 2009, P2P Safe-T-PIN offers home-based “card present” credit card and PIN debit transactions online using a PCI-certified device attached to a personal computer through a USB port. Users also could make online purchases by swiping their credit card or debit card and PIN at checkout. The device allows for secure real-time money movement with an option for delayed transactions.
Comparing Apples To The “Real Deal”
By John B. Frank, Marketing Strategist with HomeATM ePayment Solutions
iCan’t help but cringe (the first time iLaughed) every time I see that iPhone commercial, you know the one that shows somebody entering their credit card iNformation iNto an iPhone. Are they freaking iNuts? iDon’t Get iT. Here’s why: When you do that you are entering your valuable credit card iNformation iNto a “BROWSER.” Any guesses as to why they call iT a browser? iF anyone said: “Because hackers can browse for iNformation on iT” congrats! So here’s my beef: “Where’s the Security?
