In the last post, we talked about outcomes important to the business, and what types of security metrics can help make decisions to achieve those outcomes. Most organizations do pretty well with the initial gathering of this data. You know, when the reports are new and the pie charts are shiny. Then the reality – of the amount of work and commitment required to implement a consistent measurement and metrics process – sets in. Which is when most organizations lose interest and the metrics…
A quick announcement for those of you interested in Mobile Application Security: Our very own Gunnar Peterson is putting on a 3 day class with Ken van Wyk this coming November. The Mobile App Sec Triathlon will provide a cross-platform look at mobile application security issues, and spotlight critical areas of concern. The last two legs of the Triathlon cover specific areas of Android and iOS security that are commonly targeted by attackers. You’ll be learning from some of the best – Ken is…
Last Thursday I thought I was dying.
Not a joke. Not an exaggeration. As in “approaching room temperature”.
I was just outside D.C. having breakfast with Mike before going to teach the CCSK instructors class. In the middle of a sentence I felt… something. Starting from my chest I felt a rush to my head. An incredibly intense feeling on the edge of losing consciousness. Literally out of nowhere, while sitting. I paused, told Mike I felt dizzy, and then the second wave hit. I said, “I think I’m…
Given the evolution of both the technology and the attacks, it’s time to revisit your specific requirements and use cases – both current and evolving. You also need to be brutally honest about what your existing product or service does and does not do, as well as your team’s ability to support and maintain it. This is essential – you need a fresh look at the environment to understand what you need today and tomorrow, and what kind of resources and expertise you can bring to bear, unconstrained…
In our first post on Fact-based Network Security, we talked about the need to make decisions based on data, as opposed to instinct. Then we went in search of the context to know what’s important, because in order to prioritize effectively you need to know what presents the most value to your organization. Now let’s dig a little deeper into the next step, which is determining the operational metrics on which to base decisions.
The Boss constantly reminds me I have no middle ground. On/Off. Black/White. No dimmer. No gray (besides on my head). Moderation is non-existent, which is why I never tried hard drugs. I knew myself well enough (even at a young age) to know it wouldn’t end well. Sure I’d be the best presenter in the crack den, but that would have impeded my plans for world domination.
I awoke at 2:30am to a 90-degree bedroom. Getting up to discover why the air conditioning was not working, I found a dog pooped on my couch. Neatly in the corner – perhaps hoping I would not notice. Depositing the aforementioned ‘present’ in the garbage can, I almost stepped on both a bark scorpion and a millipede – eyeing one another suspiciously – just outside the garage door. After a while, air conditioning on and couch thoroughly scrubbed, I returned to bed only to find my wife had laid…
It’s hard to believe, but over the past 24 hours I’ve had 3 separate briefings with companies innovating in the area of anti-malware. Just ask them. Each started the discussion with the self-evident point that the existing malware detection model is broken. Then they each proceeded to describe (at a high level) how what they are doing isn’t anti-virus per se, but something different. Something that detects the new malware we are seeing. They didn’t want to replace the anti-malware engine. They…
One of the great things about running around teaching classes is all the feedback and questions we get from people actively working on all sorts of different initiatives. With the CCSK (cloud security) class, we find that a ton of people are grappling with these issues in active projects and different things in various stages of deep planning.
Our motivation for launching the Security Management 2.0 research project lies in the general dissatisfaction with SIEM implementations – which in some cases have not delivered the expected value. The issues typically result from failure to scale, poor ease of use, excessive effort for care and feeding, or just customer execution failure. Granted some of the discontent is clearly navel-gazing – parsing and analyzing log files as part of your daily job is boring, mundane, and error-prone work…