WannaCry – Keep Calm and Remember the Basics

The globe was recently hit by a massive ransomware campaign that stretched across 150 countries and infected tens of thousands of systems. The Russian Interior Ministry was affected, certain NHS hospitals were turning patients away and a few manufactures had to cease operations. Needless to say, this was a really big deal. Companies were left scrambling on Friday afternoon in attempts to make sure they weren’t the latest victim of the WannaCryptor 2.0, also known as WannaCry, malware from wreaking havoc in their network. This is the second iteration of this malware and it uses exploits previously found within leaked NSA hacking tools (ETERNALBLUE) that takes advantage of a bug within Windows SMBv1 protocol.

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Brain Power: Using The Neuromorphic Data Microscope for Cybersecurity Analysis

Digital computers and human brains have different strengths and weaknesses. If you give me a long list of arthimetic problems to solve, at some point I’ll slip up. “How did I get the wrong answer on that division problem? Oh yeah, I thought there was a 3 in the tens place of the dividend when it’s actually a 6. I’ve just been staring at all of these numbers for so long that I’m starting to get tired!” But CAPTCHAs are easy for me to use, and they somehow impede malicious web bots that try to break through authentication barriers.

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Identity Management and Network Access Control

We hear about a new major security breach almost every week. Some of them rely on weak keys to do so. In the famous TJ Maxx breach, it is believed the hackers exploited a weak pre-shared key for Wifi. Had they been using WPA2-802.1x the key would have been infinitely stronger. This means the hackers would need to be in the same location for a longer period time and potentially dissuading them from continuing the hack. Even if they stuck around, it would have been obvious to staff that a car was lurking around for too long. Identity management would have helped to enable 802.1x and Radius, which generates unique keys and regenerates them in shorter intervals.

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Why Your Last-Generation Firewall Is No Match for IoT Threats

The Internet of Things (IoT) is sometimes called the Internet of Threats, and for good reason. IoT devices, employee- and customer-owned, are proliferating exponentially across the enterprise, with Gartner expecting to see 25 billion Internet-connected things in use by 2020. IoT devices are also notoriously difficult to secure, creating an attractive target for attackers looking…

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What You Must Know About Machine Learning Malware Analysis

We are in the post-signature era of antimalware software. Attackers are driven by the profit motive, and are also driven by a lust for power. About a decade ago, malware researchers determined that the amount of malicious files in the computing collective doubled every two years. Now, in a manner similar to Moore’s Law, the rate of malware growth is probably exponentially greater. Malware deployers aren’t only script kiddies who buy executables and crypters in the Dark Web. They’re also national militaries… Stuxnet anyone?

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Cloud Computing in Everyday Life

I recently received an email from my Auto Manufacturer containing a report about my car’s ‘health’. I initially thought it was just a typical service email, or maybe it was some covert email to try and sell me a new car, product, or other offering from a local dealer. As a matter of fact, it…

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Rethinking Defense-in-Depth: Where’s its Place in IoT World?

The idea of defense-in-depth has been around for nearly two decades. While it provided effective protection in the past, the recent spate of high-profile breaches and nation-state attacks proves defense-in-depth alone is no match for today’s threat environment. Defense-in-depth, the layering on of security controls to ensure that attacks breaching one layer will be caught…

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Can your Network Infrastructure handle the next 5 years?

I remember when I drove my new, fast, car off of the dealer’s lot and although it feels like yesterday, it’s no longer new or fast. It continues to break down and doesn’t support my growing family. Just like how cars have an optimal life span, so does your network infrastructure. It may have been ‘State of the Art Technology’ at the time of installation, but will it be able to handle everything you throw at it now? 

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Create a Safe and Secure Digital Learning Environment with E-Rate Eligible Solutions from Fortinet

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, protecting student’s personally identifiable information has never been more important. From K-12 institutions to higher education campuses — network security is paramount to providing engaging, interactive and meaningful instruction to cohorts of digital natives. Derek Manky, Fortinet’s global security strategist, shared with CNBC his insights on a cybersecurity…

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Wifi for Rookies

WiFi for Dummies sounded too cliche and I suspect is a registered trademark, so I am going with WIFI for Rookies. This topic reminds me of when my old friend and former governor of California called me asking for help understanding WiFi. He explained that although he had played superheroes, he was not actually a superhero nor was he extremely technical.

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The Importance of Business VPN in This Day and Age

Businesses, in this day and age, are in dire need of solutions to deal with the constant and ever-increasing cyber threats. 2016 proved to be disastrous in terms of cyber threats; several businesses fill victims to hacking attempts and data breaches and this is reason why the threat has reached an alarming stage. Keeping this in mind, businesses need to understand the importance of business VPNs and the benefits it offers.

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