Archive for July, 2011
Intent Versus Actions And Least Privilege
Insider threats are a global phenomenon. Every company in every part of the world is subject to some level of insider threat. And guess what? Insider villains are just as unidentifiable in the UK as they are in the US. They appear just as innocuous in Poughkeepsie as they do in Perth.
Game Theory, Audit Logs And Corporate Governance
Game theory and audit logs are two topics you don’t frequently see linked. But some recent research from the Center for Digital Strategies at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College linked the two topics and showed that technology can play a critical role in reinforcing the human elements of good security.
If You Can’t Change It, You Can’t Govern It
Corporate governance ensures accountability across the extended enterprise. It facilitates staying competitive and satisfying ever-changing government regulations while providing mechanisms and controls to reduce the inefficiencies that arise when individuals misuse privileges granted to them.
The Outside Insider Threat
Gone are the days when insider threats meant you either had a malicious employee or someone made a mistake; in today’s world the insider threat is far more complex, often starting from the outside and working its way in.
How To Truly Support Mac OS X Lion
Supporting Mac OS X 10.7 Lion means more than just checking a box on a list of supported platforms. It means that you’ve engineered your product to take full advantage of the features of Lion, and deliver a seamless end-to-end experience for users and administrators.
Insider Hero Introduced: Compliance Carl
In order to put a face on the depth and breadth of potential insiders that can be found throughout your enterprise, I will introduce you to three insider villains and three insider heroes. Each villain will represent one of the key misuse of privileges and each hero will represent key values delivered by least privilege. This sixth and final introduction will be of the most unlikely hero.
Can You Put a Yellow Sticky on Your Cloud?
Brian Anderson and I have written several blog posts on user ID’s. Brian concluded that the average user seems to either have a relaxed sense of security, a love for Abbott and Costello-like humor, or are just lazy when it comes to identity-related security. Our new colleague Luke Dieker, who focuses on Identity Services, has blogged about the importance of yellow sticky notes to password management. He observes that it’s a challenge to change the habits of the many users who adorn their screens with Post-it notes listing various passwords, or for the more security conscious among them, sticking passwords under their keyboards.
Insider Villain Introduced: Identity Thief Irene
In order to put a face on the depth and breadth of potential insiders that can be found throughout your enterprise, I will introduce you to three insider villains and three insider heroes. Each villain will represent one of the key misuse of privileges and each hero will represent key values delivered by least privilege. This fifth introduction will be of the craftiest villain.
Why Exploitability Matters
The most common vulnerability scoring system used by vendors and regulatory initiatives is CVSS (the Common Vulnerability Scoring System). It provides a vendor agnostic open scoring standard to model vulnerability severity and provide guidance on prioritization of remediation efforts. The basic metrics allows for rating a vulnerability based on the severity of its components like…
Security Is Not One-Size-Fits-All
When it comes to security, specifically when it comes to vulnerability management, one size doesn’t fit all. Organizations need to customize their tools based on a wide variety of business requirements. These include everything from scan windows, frequently changing credentials, report distribution and most importantly the architecture and volume of data that needs to be…
