Stories about: Rock

She had me at hello ... or just about. Our conversation had barely started when privacy activist Betty Ostergren interrupted me to say that she had found my full name, address, Social Security number and a digital image of my signature on the Web.

Microsoft's impending announcement at Black Hat on the 7th of this month, titled "Secure the Planet! New Strategic Initiatives from Microsoft to Rock Your World", being delivered by some of the best security names inside Microsoft, has already gained the attention of many in the wider community.

Remember the old M&M analogy - security is like an M&M candy, hard shell on the outside, soft on the inside. In other words, put up firewalls, built a strong perimeter and you're good to go. Of course, nobody believes that M&M-type security is sufficient in today's world of insider threats, data leakage, mobile workers, thumb drives and sophisticated malware. So, what's the new metaphor? We asked around and came up with a number of interesting and useful ways to think about enterprise security.

In the immortal words of the Young Ones "[A] social conscience is like a garden shed. If you try to eat it, it will stick in your throat!". At least that is the lesson that the EU seems to be learning [1] in its efforts to promote greater competition in the technology industry as it tries to implement the use of alternate (to Microsoft) office software and operating systems that adhere to open standards.

Denial of service attacks, viruses, spyware and phishing schemes may be the best-known corporate security threats, but vendors are pushing products designed to address "content security" holes.

Spoofers, spammers and phishers, beware. There's a new gun in town, and some of the Internet's most powerful companies -- including Yahoo, Google, PayPal and AOL -- are brandishing it in the ongoing battle against e-mail fraud.

A time-honored tradition among technical people is to use percussive maintenance: When a piece of equipment isn't working properly, give it a good whack.

A tabletop exercise is a great way to get business continuity off the written page without the interruption of a full-scale drill. Rather than actually simulating a disaster, the crisis management group gathers for three hours to talk through a simulated disaster.

A tabletop exercise is a great way to get business continuity off the written page without the interruption of a full-scale drill. Rather than actually simulating a disaster, the crisis management group gathers for three hours to talk through a simulated disaster.

Voice over IP offers great savings in long-distance calls. But without extensive safeguards, VoIP can expose your phone system to the havoc affecting the rest of the Web.