WyzGuys Tech Talk

The problem with preventing or blocking malware exploits is two-fold.  The first issue, frankly, is that the opponents and the tools they are deploying are just so damn good.  This is distressing, and has changed the defensive game from blocking and tackling (prevention) to one of constant vigilance, early detection, and quick recovery.  Basically, we have conceded the network edge, and are fighting the battle from inside the network perimeter.

Short answer, probably.  In a guest blog on Virus Bulletin, Sorin Mustaca takes a look at this issue, and unfortunately does not develop a real conclusion to his opening question.  Nevertheless, his article is a great read if you are beginning to think about this issue, because it goes into detail about how cyber risks might be assessed by an insurer, and steps the insured business entity can take to mitigate risk, or that the insurer may require ...

Here is another contribution from Aaron Miller and the people at Miller Auto Repair in Somerset Wisconsin.

Fighting competition

The shopkeeper was dismayed when a brand new business much like his own opened up next door and erected a huge sign which read BEST DEALS.  He was horrified when another competitor opened up on his right, and announced its arrival with an even larger sign, reading LOWEST PRICES. The shopkeeper was panicked, until he got an idea. He put the biggest sign ...

An event at DEF CON 22, called “SOHOpelessly Broken” took a look at how easy it might be to crack eleven popular small office /home office wireless routers and access points.  The losers are listed below – these you might want to avoid.

• Asus AC66U – #7 in top selling computer routers on Amazon at the time of this post.
• Netgear WNDR-4700
• DLink 865L
• Belkin N900
• Linksys EA6500
• Trendnet TEW-812DRU
• Actiontec Q1000

So the bad news – seven of the ...

And now it is Staples.  And before that Kmart.  And before that Home Depot.  And Cub Foods, and Dairy Queen.  List is extremely long, and most of the time the cyber-crooks are using the same exploit package that took down Target.  If it seems to you that the security environment has never been worse, you a right.  To date in 2013 and 2014 91 retailers have been hacked for customer credit card information.  (up from 77 in since September 9!)  ...

A recent post on Silicon Beat detail how Google and Yahoo are working on a “spy-free” email service that will us PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) encryption to keep prying eyes such as your government, cyber-criminals, your employer, even Yahoo and Google themselves, from being able to capture and read your email.

We will be keeping an eye on this development, a report further news when it is available.  You can read more on Silicon Beat or this Continue Reading →

The was a short article that appeared in Silicon Beat that reiterates something I have been recommending for a long time.  The weakest point of entry into your computer network is your all too human employees.  The study found that 31% of cyber attacks start out from “unintended disclosures.”  Usually what has happened is that an employee has read and responded to some sort of clever phishing email, and provided user credentials to the network.  Another 24% were ...

If you are using any of these excuses in your business you are likely already in trouble.  Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

1. I’m too small to be a target.  Sorry, but false.  Small and medium size businesses are seen as prime targets by my cyber-crime organizations just because they are usually poorly defended, easy to hack, and have assets worth the effort.  If you have cash in a bank account, that can be enough to attract an attack.
2. Internet security ...