Good Question

free-wifiMy Facebook friend Jeff Wegge asked:  “Security question Bob. Is the hotspot on my mobile verizon phone any more secure than public Wi-Fi?”

This is a most excellent question! Generally speaking, the mobile hotspot will be more secure for two reasons The first is that only you are likely to be using it, unless you explicitly shared the SSID (network name) and passphrase with someone else. The second reason is ...

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There Is No Perimeter

castle2Classical computer and network security has relied on perimeter defense, in the form of firewalls, intrusion detection devices, and similar technologies for quite some time.  This is usually coupled with some form of endpoint security, typically in the form of a security software package.  We are finding that this no longer is working. The reasons are many, but the big one ...

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Sunday Funnies: Sharks vs. Selfies

Darwinism in Action

xtreme-selfieMashable reported to wide popularity in September that in 2015, more people have died taking selfies than in shark attacks.  The score is Fatal Selfies 12 vs. Sharks 8.  Either way not a huge risk, something tells me that lightning strikes score higher (according to NOAA – 26) than either of these.  The reason this statistic is so popular is the same reason we find ...

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Getting Employees Involved In Cybersecurity

teamworkThis week we have focused on the people part of the security puzzle.  As we know, people are the weakest link and the easiest point of access.  But beating this point into your employees will not help them be better at computer and network security, and just make them feel hopeless and badgered.

Getting employee buy-in requires a little bit of strategy mixed in with a lot of fun.

  • Sharing the actual ...
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The Human Factor

employee_trainingOn Monday we discussed the effect that living in a code yellow world has on creating security fatigue.  Peter Herzog, in his blog Dark Matters expanded on this theme recently, giving examples of how teaching your employees how to stay secure in an insecure world may be counter-intuitive to the way we usually accomplish this.

Here are his recommendations:

  • Teach your employees to say “I don’t ...
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Extended Vigilance and Security Fatigue

It seems like we are being barraged with a never ending string of news stories about cybersecurity events, breaches, and lapses.  Often these stories will provide helpful tips or advise us how to avoid or recover from these security incidents.  This author, in our own humble way, is contributing to the constant ringing alarms about cybersecurity.  Maybe it is getting to be too ...

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Facebook Hardens Authentication

facebookFacebook recently announced an improvement to it’s logon system.  Login security seems to be taking a position from and center lately.  Wednesday we wrote about Yahoo’s new authentication system, and today we will move on to Facebook’s Login Approvals.

Previously, Facebook users were able to get Login Notifications. When you entered your user name (usually your email address) and password from a new location, browser, or device, Facebook Notifications would send users ...

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New Yahoo Email Needs No Password

YahooYahoo is introducing some enhancements to its email service, including actively replacing the traditional password with something more secure that a password alone, and easier than two factor authentication a la Google Authenticator.  The new Yahoo feature is called Yahoo Account Key and use a push notification to an email customer’s cell phone or smart watch to verify a user’s identity.

This feature ...

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