Cybersecurity

The DNSSEC Industry Coalition Meets to “Make It So”

The DNSSEC Industry Coalition conducted its first face to face meeting on Friday, March 13, 2009 at Google's Washington, DC office. Google's fun filled meeting room was packed with organizations that share a keen interest in DNS Security through the implementation of DNSSEC. more

StopBadware.org and Consumer Reports Launch BadwareBusters.org

StopBadware.org and Consumer Reports WebWatch have announced today the full launch of BadwareBusters.org, a new online community for people looking for help preventing and countering viruses, spyware, and other "badware" on their computers and websites. Maxim Weinstein, manager of StopBadware.org at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, says the site is not only a useful destination, but also a piece of a bigger puzzle. "BadwareBusters.org is part of StopBadware's strategy to bring together the people, the organizations, and the data that allow us to fight back against the spread of badware," Weinstein said. "The collective wisdom of the BadwareBusters community will inform not only individuals, but the entire technology industry." more

Searching for Truth in DKIM: Part 3 of 5

Last year, MAAWG published a white paper titled Trust in Email Begins with Authentication [PDF], which explains that authentication (DKIM) is “[a] safe means of identifying a participant-such as an author or an operator of an email service” while reputation is a “means of assessing their trustworthiness.”

U.S. Cyber Security: Blurred Vision

It has been beaten, butted, and batted around quite a bit in the past few weeks -- let's look at a rough timeline of political issues which bring me to this point. Let's look at the power struggle (I prefer to call it confusion) in the U.S. Government with regards to "Cyber Security" -- in a nutshell. In the latter part of 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee determined that DHS was not capable of providing proper critical infrastructure protection (and other Cyber protection capabilities) due to a number of issues. This may well be a political maneuver, or it may well actually have merit. more

Recursive DNS and You

In the world of DNS, there are two types of DNS servers, 'recursion disabled' and 'recursion enabled'. Recursion disabled servers, when asked to resolve a name, will only answer for names that they are authoritative for. It will absolutely refuse to look up a name it does not have authority over and is ideal for when you don't want it to serve just any query. It isn't, however, very useful for domains you don't know about or have authority over... more

The DNSSEC Groundswell

It's been 15 long years since the standard for DNSSEC was developed and sadly adoption has been painfully low until recently, thanks to Dan Kaminsky, the infamous Internet Researcher who indentified that gaping hole in the DNS. The discovery of the fundamental flaw in DNS sparked industry wide attention! Every day, we move a little closer to widespread DNSSEC adoption, so I thought I'd take a moment and highlight some of the most notable milestones... more

Survey: Cloud Computing ‘No Hype’, But Fear of Security and Control Slowing Adoption

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the vast majority of business and IT executives report that cloud computing is a viable technology option that can improve a company's bottom-line results according to a new global survey conducted by an independent market research firm. However, despite growing evidence that cloud-based systems have the potential to lower costs, the majority of companies report no plans to integrate cloud computing in the next 12 months... more

C-SPAN Interview: Internet and Cybersecurity

C-SPAN interviews professor Gene Spafford from Purdue University on the topic of cybersecurity and how the current Internet is a conduit for all types of "cybercrime". He also talks about the much discussed article "A New Internet?" by John Markoff in the February 14, 2009, New York Times in which he was quoted. The piece argued for a new type of Internet that is more secure with the trade-off of users giving up more of their anonymity. Professor Spafford talks about alternative solutions and he responded to questions via telephone calls and email. more

Designing Secure Networks with Cisco Technology, Part 3

In this multipart series I will be presenting some of the leading industry-standard best practices for enterprise network security using Cisco technologies. Each article in the series will cover a different aspect of security technologies and designs and how each can be deployed in the enterprise to provide the best security posture at the lowest possible budgetary and administrative cost. In Part 2 of this series I discussed security risks and vulnerability. In this article we begin to focus on the role Cisco network and security technologies play in ensuring the safety and security of network data. more

An Economic Outlook on Information Security

As enterprise information security spending is scrutinized in unprecedented fashion in 2009 Information Technology management will seek to get more for their security dollar. While budgets tighten and risks grow due to the global economic downturn IT departments will be looking for point solutions, not suites of security tools. more

Designing Secure Networks with Cisco Technology, Part 2

In this multipart series I will be presenting some of the leading industry-standard best practices for enterprise network security using Cisco technologies... In Part 1 of this series, I provided an overview of the critical role that properly designed data security architectures play within an Internet-connected organization. Before we begin to discuss the security designs, processes and recommendations related to Cisco technology, let's first discuss some of the ways a network becomes unsecure... more

Data Breach Costs Continue to Rise, 40% Increase Since 2005

According to a new study by PGP Corporation and Ponemon Institute, data breach incidents cost U.S. companies $202 per compromised customer record in 2008, compared to $197 in 2007. The study is based on 43 organizations across 17 different industry sectors with a range of 4,200 to 113,000 records that were affected. It is also noted that since 2005, the cost component has grown by more than $64 on a per victim basis since -- nearly a 40% increase. more

Malware Detection Declining, Anti-Phishing Filters Detect Less than 50% of Attacks, Says Report

A study comparing best-of-breed computer security vendors suggests more than half of active malware and phishing threats on the Internet go undetected, with an average detection rate of 37% for malware and 42% for phishing. "Given the dynamic nature of today's online threats and the traditionally reactive approach taken by today's malware and phishing detection technology, conventional signature-based solutions are inherently at a disadvantage to keep up," said Panos Anastassiadis, CEO and Chairman of Cyveillance. "Because the majority of damage occurs during the first 24 hours of an attack, early detection of attacks is crucial." more

X-Force Report: Corporations Becoming No. 1 Security Threat to Their Own Customers

With the alarming increase in cyberattacks, criminals are literally turning businesses against their own customers in order to steal consumer's personal data, warns the latest annual X-Force Trend and Risk report from IBM. "The security industry puts a lot of effort into the technical evaluation of security threats, examining, sometimes at great length, the potential threat that each issue might present to corporations and consumers. Criminal attackers out for profit, however, have considerations that the security industry does not always take into account, such as monetization cost and overall profitability." more

Designing Secure Networks with Cisco Technology, Part 1

In this multipart series I will be presenting some of the leading industry-standard best practices for enterprise network security using Cisco technologies.... "Wisdom consists in being able to distinguish among dangers and make a choice of the least harmful." That quote is quite possibly the most accurate depiction possible of the never-ending struggle between network security and corporate budget. Providing a mechanism to defend the enterprise network from every conceivable threat is impossible in terms of both technology and funding. more