Business leaders worldwide are becoming more aware of the importance of assuring the security of information assets. Information-security issues are among the hottest topics being addressed in trade media for organizational governance, executive, financial, audit, and IT leaders. Conferences covering the latest information-security issues, tools, and problems abound in both the public and private sectors.
Sense of Security Secures Sales
Sometimes, people ask me about security or liability issues online. I do teach some of the realities in my college courses, but I’m far from being an expert in this field and I always recommend checking with a competent, legal professional in every case. But here are some of my thoughts …
Security Trends
You set up firewalls, e-mail filtering, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), personal firewalls, Censor Software (both on network and personal level) and they still get in. What I’m referring to are those pesky VBSes, similar worms inhibiting the Windows platform right now and maybe a few real life crackers here and there. For the network administrator, this can be a real problem. Even when he has secured his network with the latest tools and patches, there is still a big chance of his kingdom getting infected, especially if it’s made up of MS Windows machines, and its trusting users.
Cisco Curriculum Meets Government Security Training Standards
SAN JOSE, Calif., July 1, 2003 – Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced the addition of a government-specific security curriculum for network professionals. The new Information Systems Security (INFOSEC) Professional validates the knowledge and skills specified by the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) for federal systems engineers. The INFOSEC Professional is the only vendor-specific curriculum that meets the rigorous standards of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the CNSS.
Cisco Introduces First Courses in Security Design for Enterprise Networks
SAN JOSE, Calif., June 17, 2003 – Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced the expansion of its security certification and training program to reflect the latest advances in Cisco security technology and industry expectations for IT professionals. Cisco has added two new comprehensive security design training courses, Designing Perimeter Security (DPS) and Designing VPN Security (DVS), and has also updated exams for the CCSP, Cisco Firewall Specialist, Cisco VPN Specialist and Cisco IDS Specialist certifications.
Security Administration with Debian GNU/Linux
Debian has a package manager (DPKG) that resolves dependency problems automatically. It help us to automatically keep up to date programs looking for new versions on the internet, resolving and completing the files and libraries dependencies which a package requires, making system administration easy and keeping us up to date with the new security changes. It also shows some important and substantial security features: it doesn’t have commercial goals, also doesn’t obey mercantile urgencies, It has a good pursuit of errors, problems are fixed in less than 48 hours and it’s priority is to develop a complete and reliable operating system.
An Introduction to Network Firewalls and Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server
Everyone needs a firewall. If you run a web site, have a dial-up connection or control a corporate backbone you have to install a firewall. This will allow the control of what internal information from your network or computer is allowed to go out, and what information is allowed to come in. Taking advantage of a simple firewall installation can help you preserve your data and report all attempts of unauthorized access.
DSL and Cable Modem Security
Although high speed internet access may not have reached you yet, it probably will soon. The advantages are obvious, but there’s a dark side: security. I’m not going to talk about the more general aspects of securing your system here (I’ve done that in General Security), but only specifically about the issue of clear text passwords with telnet, pop, and ftp.
Mask Your Web Server for Enhanced Security
Masking or anonymizing a Web server involves removing identifying details that intruders could use to detect your OS and Web server vendor and version. This information, while providing little or no utility to legitimate users, is often the starting place for crackers, blackhat hackers and “script kiddies”.
Inspiration Has Job Security
The deadline for your ezine was yesterday. You have nothing to say. The last week you have spent preparing for a vacation, working overtime at your day job, fighting with your girlfriend. Just fill in the blank. Oh wait, you don’t have to. Somehow there is always an excuse to fill that blank. So, what do you do now?