The term “hacker” has been used loosely by the news media and in popular culture to refer to people who break into computers and do nasty things on networks. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
So what is a “hacker” actually. Last year, I attained a high level security certification that qualifies me as a “Certified Ethical Hacker.” So I guess that means I might be a hacker. I can assure you that I am not engaged in any sort ...
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I was recently interviewed by Sarah Westall from Web Talk Radio on the state of cybersecurity, the nature of cybercrime, and governmental cyber-spying in light of the Snowden revelations. You can listen to the show by clicking on the link below. The show runs almost 60 minutes, which proves once ...
Microsoft Office VBA macro viruses were a pretty powerful exploit back in the 1990’s, but security changes by Microsoft and other security software vendors had pretty much made them moot by 2000. Surprisingly enough malware writes are giving them a new life by tricking users into disabling macro protection. Here is how it works:
VBA or Visual Basic for Applications is a software language created by Microsoft to allow advanced users to write bits of code called “macros.” Macros allow a ...
Continue Reading →If you have been following this blog for a while, you may find yourself thinking that the time has definitely come to do “something” about cybersecurity in your business. As a busy and successful entrepreneur, business owner or senior manager you may have no idea where to begin, or where you will find the time to create and implement a plan. The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) has created a 41 page roadmap for businesses to use in ...
Continue Reading →One of my favorite reads is Computerworld Daily Shark. These are stories from the field, provided by IT professionals for the amusement and education of other IT professionals. Most of these stories are real head-slappers, on the order of how-can-they-be-so-dumb. Basically this is a form of group therapy for those of us in the business; we get to read about situations that are worse than the ones that are driving us crazy in our own professional lives.
The story ...
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Ok, if you are not a Saturday Night Live fan, you won’t know what this stuff is, but just in time for SNL’s 40th Anniversary, SNL has teamed up with candy store chain ItSugar to provide a host of SNL products from made famous on the comedy show’s skits.
I can remember when I was in college, I basically quit going out on Saturday nights just so I ...
Continue Reading →More good news (NOT) from the hacker frontier. In a talk that is scheduled twin cybersecurity conferences BlackHat (August 2-7. Mandalay Bay Hotel) and DefCon in Las Vegas (Aug 7-10 Rio Hotel and Casino), cybersecurity researcher Logan Lamb will present a demonstration on how home and business security systems are vulnerable to hacking.
The problem lies with the newer wireless security systems. Wireless window, door, and motion sensors are largely unencrypted, and can be intercepted and spoofed ...
Continue Reading →Hey – short answer – yes very probably. But how can you find out if your personal data or credit card information has been compromised somewhere you shop, patronize, or frequent, either online or in person?
I originally intended to put together a list of the larger breaches, but seriously, there were too many of them. In 2013 and 2014, there have been 835 breaches that exposed 265.5 million records. Totally frightening statistics. So where did I find this information. I ...
Continue Reading →I know I am a day late, but what can I say. Another fun collection form my pal and car mechanic Aaron Miller, of Miller Bros Auto Repair in Somerset Wisconsin.
