Things were simpler in the past. I know we hear that sometimes and to a certain degree this is true. It is also true that he who forgets the past is doomed to repeat it. In the world of information security (IS), both adages apply. Back in ancient history – in this case the 1980s…
DetailsI just saw an article stating that Chrysler is sending out USB drives to car owners to update the WiFi connect features in their Jeeps. For those of you that missed the story on the news, the article about it is in Wired magazine. My guess is that this is being done to save the cost…
DetailsI happened to watch the movie “The Duff” recently. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a 2015 teenage comedy film with a plot along the lines of “The Breakfast Club” meets “Mean Girls.” What struck me about this movie (and the reason I’m alluding to it now) was the fact that one of the main…
DetailsAs many of you know, starting a new job can be challenging in and of itself. It involves learning a new culture, understanding company values, as well as basic things such as remembering names and faces, and who to eat lunch with. With all of the stress and challenges experienced within that first 90 days, which is just…
DetailsThe recent Office of Personnel Management (OPM) breach may be the largest breach of Federal records ever. With the resignation of OPM Director Katherine Archuleta over the compromise of the newly disclosed number of 21.5 million records, the breach has gotten the attention of Congress and the nation as a whole since it was first revealed last month. One of…
DetailsIt was a bad day for the Internet. At some time that morning, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) shut down, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) web site broke and the United Airlines halted all U.S. departures for about two hours due to a router failure. All of these events are, most probably, not related, but it does…
DetailsThe original series was written in a frenzy. Aggregating is the inverse of broadcasting. Aggregation is biased towards anonymity. Being the subject of a data point is a matter of immediate experience. Cohorts choose people more than people choose cohorts. And so on. Frenzies have a welcome feature: the simultaneity of both focus and chaos. …
DetailsI don’t know how many of the readers out there have gotten to deal with the joy of document preservation, but let me tell you, it is not a lot of fun. The process at Columbia starts off with either the General Counsel’s (GC) office receiving a notice from a lawyer or the University deciding…
DetailsAs a CISO, I am often asked, “What is the key component to the success of an Information Security organization?” Too often, we dwell on the failures or gaps, and it is important to recognize where these faults lie in order to enhance the program’s capabilities. But when things are “working,” it is easy to become…
DetailsThe story about the Office of Personnel Management getting hacked this week was, unfortunately, not a big surprise to anyone in the security world. How it got hacked, by phishing, was something that anyone who has been in the security field for any length of time could have predicted. What comes as a surprise to…
DetailsDo you know how Merriam-Webster defines vacation? Believe it or not – this is what it says: – A period of time that a person spends away from home, school, or business usually in order to relax or travel – The number of days or hours per year for which an employer agrees to pay workers…
DetailsIn my last article, I talked about using the 20 Critical Controls as a practical security strategy. I showed how the controls map to a wide variety of international and national standards. I also mentioned a great www site, www.auditscripts.com, where you can download 3 excellent spreadsheets to help you measure your progress in the…
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