Security

I’m often asked how to deal with the security threat landscape within the context of running a business. The security threat landscape can seem like a highly complex challenge, yet as I’ve looked at it through my work with Cisco and the broader industry, it can actually be boiled down into three simple phases: before, […]

The fire alarm went off in my building again, but fortunately, it was only a drill. By now, we are all used to the periodic fire drills for emergency preparedness in our workplaces. But have you ever wondered if there is a similar exercise possible for a cyber attack? The same logic applies. Your team […]

This post was co-authored by Jaeson Schultz, Joel Esler, and Richard Harman.  Update 7-8-14: Part 2 can be found here This is part one in a two-part series due to the sheer amount of data we found on this threat and threat actor. This particular attack was a combined spearphishing and exploit attempt. As we’ve seen in the past, this […]

“It’s not secure enough… so we are not going to allow it to happen.” Does this phrase seem all too familiar? Today, IT and business leaders are faced with the challenge of securing any user from any location on any device with access to any information. At times, it can be a daunting road to […]

RATS in the Data Center, a recent blog post by Cisco’s Tom Hogue, highlighted the current threat landscape for data centers. Tom was referring to Remote Access Toolkits, not the disease-carrying vermin that likely started the plagues that ravaged Europe in the Middle Ages. However, the destructive effect of modern-day RATS can be devastating.. They […]

Spurred by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which outlined a set of standards and guidelines for the protection and transmission of individual health information, as well as the subsequent amendment to address standards for the security of electronic protected health information, customers often ask me the following questions: Is your product HIPAA […]

The fundamental security problem that many defenders face is securing their environment in a world of continuous change. IT environments change. Threats change. But today’s threat detection technology doesn’t change. It’s stuck in time, point-in-time to be exact. Sure, detection technologies have evolved. The latest improvements include: executing files in a sandbox for detection and […]

Steganography is the ancient art of invisible communication, where the goal is to hide the very fact that you are trying to hide something. It adds another layer of protection...

Many organizations have the same challenges when it comes to security: blurring boundaries, more and more organized cybercrimes, difficulty in finding and retaining technical talent, and keeping up-to-date with the latest security threats and tools. In my inaugural blog, I’d like to tell you about one useful offering: the Security Optimization Service (SOS) from Cisco […]