Is it Tuesday already? I’ve lost track of the days…I’ve been here at the CSI NetSec conference since Friday, giving Chris Grillo’s and my “Handling Complex and Difficult Information Security and Privacy Issues” pre-conference seminar on Saturday and Sunday.
We had 16 outstanding participants from a wide range of industries, including government, technology, and retail, just to name a few. I love having this variety; it leads to very good discussions and increased understanding of what information assurance practitioners are dealing with. Thanks again to those of you who attended; your interaction was fantastic!
Archive for the ‘Training & awareness’ Category
Greetings from Arizona!
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007Avoid Some Common Email Pitfalls
Friday, June 8th, 2007There are increasing reports of email misuse, malicious use, mistaken use, and just plain bad implementations of email systems that allow the many outside threats and desperado insiders to exploit vulnerabilities.
It is most common for information assurance pros to be fairly diligent in trying to keep malware out of the enterprise network through scanning and filtering emails, and it is good to see that it is also becoming a growing trend to try and prevent sensitive data from leaving the enterprise, “leaking” is the current buzzword of choice, by using scanning and encryption. However, there are many other email mishaps and business damage that can occur through the use, or misuse, of email that can have negative business impact and legal implications.
Could I Have a Side of Fries With That Security Please?
Thursday, June 7th, 2007There’s a pretty good McDonald’s commercial that started running recently. It shows two guys looking down at the office area on the floor below saying something like, “Janet’s so lame. She only buys McDonald’s for everyone so they’ll do her work for her.” Then the other guy says something like, “Yeah, it’s disgusting.” Then they both take a bite of a McDonald’s sausage McBiscuit, and then one says something like, “Well, we’d better get busy doing Janet’s invoices.”
Another Information Security Awareness Method
Wednesday, June 6th, 2007Organizations need to provide ongoing information security and privacy awareness communications and activities. Messages need to be made in a variety of ways to accomodate the variety of learners and how people actually soak into their brains and memories the information you want them to understand and retain.
If People Aren’t Trained The Best Security Will Go For Naught
Saturday, June 2nd, 2007This week there has been much talk in the U.S. news about how Andrew Speaker, the now notorious TB patient (more specifically extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, or XDR-TB), apparently very easily circumvented security controls to come back into the U.S. via Canada.
My heading is a paraphrase of a longer quote I really like from Charles Schumer that he made about this incident, but that also applies very nicely to all information security practices.
Handling Complex and Difficult Privacy and Information Security Issues
Wednesday, May 30th, 2007Only 10 more days until my 2-day seminar, “Handling Complex and Difficult Privacy and Information Security Issues” in Scottsdale, Arizona on June 9th and 10th (Saturday and Sunday)!
Insider Threat Example: Leaked Clinton Memo Provides At Least 5 Good Security Lessons
Tuesday, May 29th, 2007Mid-last week it was widely reported, probably more so in the national news than here in Iowa, that one of Hillary Clinton’s top campaign folks had written a memo to her urging her to skip Iowa and focus on other states. This leaked memo was the grist of much discussion on the political talk shows over the weekend.
Information Security and Privacy Professionals Must Partner on Over 15…no wait…Over 20 Different Enterprise Issues
Wednesday, May 16th, 2007Not too long ago I blogged about the need for information security and privacy professionals to work together to address safeguarding sensitive and personally identifiable information (PII). Within it I talked about how a workshop Chris Grillo and I created and give, “Handling Complex and Difficult Privacy and Information Security Issues,” discusses over 15 common issues that these professionals need to partner on.
High School Cyber-Defense Competition: Mentoring Information Security Leaders of the Future
Tuesday, May 15th, 2007There is great opportunity to ensure future computer systems and applications are more securely engineered than they are now by teaching our children from a young age the importance of information security and privacy, and showing them what needs to be done. I often have fantastic conversations with my sons about information security and privacy issues; they always bring wonderful perspectives I never thought about.
