Deploying password quality checking on your Debian-base Linux servers can help to ensure that your users assign reasonable passwords on their accounts, but the settings themselves can be a bit misleading. For example, setting a minimum password length of 12 characters does not mean that your users’ passwords will all have twelve or more characters. […]
Gravityscan, keeping WordPress sites safe
If your website, in common with roughly 25% of all websites, is running WordPress then it’s pretty much certain that it’s being constantly attacked. WordPress is to hackers what raw meat is to jackals because unless sites are assiduously maintained, they quickly become vulnerable to a huge number of exploits. The root cause of this […]
8 ways to manage an internet or security crisis
Your business is hit with a ransomware attack. Or your ecommerce site crashes. Your legacy system stops working. Or maybe your latest software release has a major bug. These are just some of the problems that ecommerce, technology and other companies experience at one time or another. The issue is not if a problem – […]
Incident response is like tracking down a perpetrator
What is incident response? Image by Thinkstock Incident response is like investigating a real burglary. You look for evidence of the intruder at the crime scene, find his targets and his getaway car, and repair any holes. Discover any cuts in your chain link fence. Take a few steps back for more perspective. Find the […]
6 things you need to know about IoT security
Security, trust and data integrity Image by Thinkstock The emergence of IoT is altering our personal technology security paradigm and is a game-changer in customer/business interaction, in part due to the wide scope of available data and sheer number of devices collecting this data. McKinsey & Company estimates the IoT ecosystem will generate $6 trillion […]
Network monitoring tools: Features users love and hate
Managing the health of the corporate network will directly affect the productivity of every user of that network. So network administrators need a robust network monitoring tool that helps them manage the network, identify problems before they cause downtime, and quickly resolve issues when something goes wrong. Five of the top network monitoring products on […]
Book Review: Practical Packet Analysis: Using Wireshark to Solve Real-World Network Problems
The overall equation is pretty simple: If you want to understand network traffic, you really should install Wireshark. And, if you really want to use Wireshark effectively, you should consider this book. Already in its third edition, Practical Packet Analysis both explains how Wireshark works and provides expert guidance on how you can use the […]
Fight firewall sprawl with AlgoSec, Tufin, Skybox suites
New and innovative security tools seem to be emerging all the time, but the frontline defense for just about every network in operation today remains the trusty firewall. They aren’t perfect, but if configured correctly and working as intended, firewalls can do a solid job of blocking threats from entering a network, while restricting unauthorized […]
Review: Canary Flex security camera lives up to its name
Canary’s initial foray into the networked home security camera space was very impressive – my colleague David Newman touted its high security settings in the wake of revelations about the general insecurity of these types of devices. The Canary camera was also somewhat large – a cylindrical tower that took up some significant space on […]
Zix wins 5-vendor email encryption shootout
Email encryption products have made major strides since we last looked at them nearly two years ago. They have gotten easier to use and deploy, thanks to a combination of user interface and encryption key management improvements, and are at the point where encryption can almost be called effortless on the part of the end […]