Categories ArchivesEnterprise Security

So you all know (well the three of you that read this… Hi Mom!) that I am headed to Australia this week. I was doing my traditional pre-flight checklists to make sure that I had everything I needed before I started packing. Power converter? Check. Power supplies for devices? Check. Remove things that just add weight that you won’t need? Check. Log into my credit card account to make sure we’re good? DOH! My card has been compromised AGAIN! The DAY BEFORE I am headed to Oz. The new one is on its way (overnight now) but good gracious, talk about skidding across the finish line. Upside down. On fire. In eighteenth place. This is the only piece that annoys ...

OK, yeah, that was a reach. As long as it makes me giggle, things will be just fine. I assume most of you are away from your RSS readers this week because you are furiously patching your DNS servers. The attack is actually quite genius, and continues to demonstrate the inordinate amount of trust we place in servers and data that should not be trusted. The details of how the attack works can be read in the above linked article if you are interested. You probably don’t have the time right now because you are rushing to patch though. Bruce Schneier takes this opportunity to lash out at the patching process. While some security pundits don’t take Bruce seriously, he’s ...

Well, it has happened again. I received a rather menacing looking note in the mail today. You know, one of those heavy stock sealed letters that has the perforated edges? Yeah. That kind. Inside it looks like my information is on a lost tape from a bank. The funny thing is, I don’t remember banking with this institution… ever. I have a feeling that one of the brokerage firms I use (or used) was backed by this institution, but nevertheless, I thought of an interesting type of phishing attack that I bet would work. When I looked through this notice, it did appear to have a corresponding breach on PrivacyRights.org. I have already placed my fraud alerts, so I should ...

Wired reports that a Citibank hack may be responsible for a recent ATM crime spree. Edit: Looks like some arrests have been made! I’ve discussed issues around hacking ATMs and challenges with skimming in the past, but this one appeared to be pretty lucrative. While bank networks are not impenetrable, attacking endpoints is becoming much easier and more lucrative. Anyone remember the old days when you had to make sure the ATM you were going to use was real? Speaking of that… Ladies, you should beware of this. Something of interest to me… As a consumer, do you check your bank statement with all of your receipts? Would you know if money started disappearing from your account in $10-$30 increments? ...

The ISSA has posted the electronic version of the journal, so if you are itching to read what is coming to you via the post, go check it out! My column this month is titled “Don’t Get Cyberjacked!” It may be the first time that the phrase “This ain’t your daddy’s security incident” and the word “stripper” appear on the same page (or ever) in that fantastic publication. Go check it out!

Monday was presentation day at CSI-SX. I had a decent crowd, for the breakout session! One day, I’ll do a talk that is not the last session of the day 🙂 While I was in between sessions sitting in the speakers lounge, one of the other speakers (I did not catch his name) dropped his computer bag and jacket on the chair across from me. I looked up, nodded, and went back to my work. He proceeded to pull out one of those laptop locking devices that you see at public terminals. You know, the ones you can beat with a toilet paper tube. He then secured the whole apparatus (bag included) to the chair! A conference chair. The ones ...