Email security - using content filtering and incident response to round things out

Here are some recent bits I wrote for SearchWinIT.com and SearchExchange.com to help you flesh out the security of your email environment:

The state of email content filtering - and what you can do

Solidify your Exchange email server incident response plan

Read More

All the reasons you need to NOT buy security products

We've all been subjected to the marketing hype the IT and security product vendors put out daily...Well, if you've been looking for ways to save some money, here's why you should not buy information security products:

9 good reasons not to buy information security products

...the marketing madness will never cease. We just have to grow wise and understand what to buy into and what to ignore.

Read More

New tips on 4 facets of encryption

Been wondering about the latest on mobile/backup/database/email encryption? Well, here are some recent tips I wrote to TechTarget that'll help you get the ball rolling:

Securing SMB laptops

Securing removable media with BitLocker To Go

Secure your data backups with encryption key management best practices

Encryption – the great security control that nobody’s using

The true value of transparent data encryption

Is full email encryption the solution to Exchange security?

Read More

No need to fix the problem, just ban the tool

Here's a great post from my colleague Dave Paradi talking about how a conference is banning presenters from using PowerPoint. It's an embedded systems conference. So they're telling these highly-technical people they can't use PowerPoint to get their messages across!? I suspect the audience will instead be subjected to overhead transparencies and slide rule demonstrations. Sounds like a great show!

This is just like businesses banning thumb drives and instant messaging on their networks. The ignorant powers that be proclaim "This stuff is too risky so we're going to ban it." Instead of fixing the problem at a higher level and putting in the proper controls to minimize such risks they just ban the technologies altogether.

It'll be tough for presenters at this conference to "sneak" PowerPoint into their presentations. But what happens when computer users are told they can't use certain hardware or software? They find a workaround and do it anyway because the problem isn't addressed at the right level. And thus the cycle continues. Amazing stuff.

Read More

Unexpected vulnerabilities in the cloud?

When you look past all the ridiculous hype and craze over "cloud computing" the realities set in. Here's a new piece I wrote for SearchCompliance.com that can help set you straight:

Find unexpected vulnerabilities to ensure cloud compliance

Read More

Twitter stole my Twitter idea

I was recently talking to a client about how we need to start up a company with a Twitter acquisition as our exit strategy that scans for malicious URLs in the tinyurl, bit.ly, etc. links that are posted on Twitter. Twitter beat us to the punch. It's actually pretty difficult to comprehend that it's taken them this long to fix such a big problem. Nice to see some innovation where it's really needed.

Read More

Trouble getting policy buy-in? Make 'em self-executing.

If you're having trouble getting security policies on the radar of management and users - much less getting the real buy-in you need, don't fret - there is a possible solution.

It's an idea I got from Louise Slaughter (good name for a politician) and her attempt to force Obamacare on us. Simply make your policies "self-executing". In other words, you write the policies and include verbiage in each one that makes them take effect without any buy-in, votes, or opinions whatsoever.

Imagine if it were this simple for anyone but politicians to manipulate the system in their favor. Now that would be information security change we could believe in!

Read More