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Tuesday, 26 July 2011

10 years working for myself

Posted on 04:13 by Unknown
This month marks 10 years since I started my information security consulting business Principle Logic. I cannot express to you how grateful I am to be so blessed.

Like many businesses, things weren't all rosy from the get-go. My wife, Amy, and I worked very hard to build up the business through networking, fostering relationships and little bit of marketing sprinkled in here and there. We did that over and over again because we believed in the formula and in ourselves.

Don't get me wrong, the first 2 years were rough...I mean rough. Had it not been for some previous client relationships I had established in previous jobs we would've been hard-pressed to keep moving forward.

But through thick and thicker we pushed on. I wanted to...I had to. Seeing poor management and politics run yet another business into the ground at my final "real job" with an Internet dot-com pushed me over the edge. I knew if I used the fire I had in me in July 2001 to my advantage I could make it work. That fire is what encouraged me to make the leap and, combined with some sticktuitiveness, is what keeps me going to this day. I'm certainly not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to IT and information security. Never have been and never will be. But I've realized that I don't have to be and I'm okay with that.

I want to thank all of you - my clients, my readers, my blog followers - for believing in me, Kevin Beaver, the no-name brand consultant from Atlanta G-A. Had it not been for your willingness to step outside the box and trust that the value one brings to the table is deeper than a name brand I'm confident that I wouldn't have reached this milestone in my career. A sincere thank you to you all.

Finally, I'd like to thank my family for being here for me. Your deep support is immeasurable. I'm very lucky and blessed to have you.

Here's to another 10 years working in an awesome field in the most amazing country in the world...Cheers!
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Posted in careers, consulting, message from Kevin | No comments

Thursday, 21 July 2011

Solid IT and infosec content to check out

Posted on 05:37 by Unknown
I just got back in town from doing a video shoot on cloud security with my friends and colleagues at TechTarget in Boston (man, I love that city). Anyway, I feel compelled to share with you a few of TechTarget's websites that I write for and I know they have lots of others with all sorts of information security, compliance and IT content. Here you go:

SearchCompliance.com
SearchEnterpriseDesktop.com
SearchEnterpriseLinux.com
SearchWinIT.com
SearchSQLServer.com
SearchMobileComputing.com
SearchSoftwareQuality.com
SearchNetworking.com
SearchSecurityChannel.com

...all of their sites are listed here:
www.techtarget.com

My point is: there's no reason to not keep them on your radar....tons o' good stuff.
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Posted in cool sites, Kevin's security content, Kevin's videos | No comments

Thomas Paine knew his infosec

Posted on 05:33 by Unknown
Here's a great infosec quote from statesman Thomas Paine:

"Our greatest enemies, the ones we must fight most often, are within."

This applies to both malicious insiders and ourselves as each of us certainly tend to get in our own way when it comes to making things happen with security.
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Posted in great quotes, information security quotes, rogue insiders, security awareness, security leadership, thinking long term | No comments

Monday, 18 July 2011

If only "they" could understand us

Posted on 12:21 by Unknown
You know how most people don't really understand the professions of others with whom they mingle or interact with? You know, retail clerks typically don't understand IT, doctors don't understand accountants, used car salesmen don't get landscaping and so on. Information security is arguably one of the cloudiest and least understood for those who aren't exposed to it on a daily basis.

After reviewing the headlines of my emails today I had a deep thought about this. Imagine if our colleagues, friends and family members kept abreast of the information security happenings from sources like Dark Reading, Slashdot, FierceCIO, NewsFactor and so on and saw headlines such as:
  • "Pentagon Discloses Largest-Ever Cybertheft"
  • "Sydney has 10,000 Unsecured Wi-Fi Points"
  • "99 Percent Of Android Devices Are Vulnerable To Password Theft"
  • "Lady Gaga Website The Latest in String of Celebrity Hacks"
...and so on. Even if it were for just a week, I think they'd start to see what we're all up against. Maybe people - and society - would start to get information security.

I suppose this all goes back to awareness and buy-in. Two things information security just doesn't have enough of these days.
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Posted in personal responsibility, scary stuff, security awareness, thinking long term, user awareness | No comments

Thursday, 14 July 2011

eEye's Metasploit integration - we need more of this!

Posted on 07:57 by Unknown
Kudos to eEye Digital Security for integrating Metasploit within their Retina vulnerability scanner. According to this recent press release:

"Using the free Retina Community scanner or the Retina Network Security Scanner (version 5.13.0 or higher), users can see whether a vulnerability has an associated exploit from Core Impact, Metasploit, or Exploit-db.com, allowing IT Security professionals to better prioritize vulnerabilities and fix the biggest risks first. In addition, if a Metasploit exploit exists, users can right-click to launch Metasploit (3.6.0 or higher) directly from the scanner to perform a penetration test against the targeted host."

Thanks for thinking about the workflow of a typical security assessment eEye! I honestly don't know why it has taken vulnerability scanner vendors so long to get this. I'm convinced that some are completely unaware that such features would be of value.

So....a tip to other vulnerability scanning vendors out there: Think about how your scanners work through the eyes of security professionals. What are the pain points? What are the inefficiencies and hurdles to do basic tasks? All you have to do is ask people like myself. I'm often willing and able to share many such frustrations and advice. ;-)
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Posted in cool products, security testing tools, vendors, vulnerability assessments | No comments

Tuesday, 12 July 2011

How smartphones can make us look dumb

Posted on 15:28 by Unknown
Not long ago I heard a gentleman speaking with radio show host Clark Howard about a phone he purchased online. He said it had all sorts of personal information belonging to the previous owner including her healthcare records. Ouch.

If I understood the caller correctly it sounded like this personal information was sent to the previous owner by her doctor. A doctor who I'm sure is HIPAA compliant...after all, as most healthcare practitioners know, all you need for HIPAA compliance is a sticker-based sign-in sheet and notice of privacy practices handout. OK, maybe a firewall and anti-virus software if you want to go out on a limb and buy into the compliance comes in a box theory. But I digress...

Be careful out there folks. Compliance requirements or not, our smartphones are going to make us look dumber and dumber moving forward if we're not careful.
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Posted in compliance, hipaa, mobile security, stupid security | No comments

Monday, 4 July 2011

Cloud insecurities, when are they going to end?

Posted on 10:35 by Unknown
This week's post is about cloud security - technically, lack thereof...Check out these new pieces I've written for Security Technology Executive and Acunetix:

Dark Cloud Looming?

What’s your take on cloud security?

Enjoy!

As always, be sure to check out www.principlelogic.com/resources.html for links to my 500+ articles, whitepapers, podcasts, webcasts, books and more.
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Posted in application firewalls, cloud computing, Kevin's security content, scary stuff, security leadership, stupid security, thinking long term | No comments

Friday, 1 July 2011

Get over yourself

Posted on 06:50 by Unknown
The late, great Richard Carlson once said:

"Humility and inner peace go hand in hand. The less compelled you are to try to prove yourself to others, the easier it is to feel peaceful inside."

I believe this theory explains why so many people in IT and information security are so stressed out. I'm also convinced that this concept is the basis for all the bad choices and negative behavior we've seen in the world of IT and information security as of late.

Moral of the story: Don't be this guy...That is if you want to have inner peace and you want to go places in your career.
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Posted in careers, great quotes, information security quotes, personal responsibility, security leadership, thinking long term | No comments
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      • 10 years working for myself
      • Solid IT and infosec content to check out
      • Thomas Paine knew his infosec
      • If only "they" could understand us
      • eEye's Metasploit integration - we need more of this!
      • How smartphones can make us look dumb
      • Cloud insecurities, when are they going to end?
      • Get over yourself
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