September 2009

Good afternoon everybody! I hope your day is going well.

Here are today's Interesting Information Security Bits from around the web.

  1. Shhh. It's a secret, but here are some items that evil hacker types won't tell you.
    13 Things a Web Application Attacker Won't Tell You - denimgroup's posterous
    Tags: ( webappsec )
  2. Kees points us to some free training on Incident Command Systems offered by FEMA. Worth checking out.
    Incident Response and the Incident Command System - Kees Leune
    Tags: ( incident-response )
  3. David Meier's first Securosis post is live and its a good one.
    Securosis Blog | Realistic Security
    Tags: ( security-program )
  4. Those cute little snort pigs don't make very good rockets. The VRT team proves it.
    VRT: of Pigs and Rockets
    Tags: ( humor )
  5. This malware not only steals your money, it modifies your statement so you don't know you've been stolen from. Wow.
    New Malware Re-Writes Online Bank Statements to Cover Fraud | Threat Level | Wired.com
    Tags: ( malware )
  6. Looks like Microsoft's Security Essentials does a pretty good job.
    Security Fix - Stress Testing Microsoft's Free Anti-virus Offering
    Tags: ( anti-virus anti-malware microsoft )

That's it for today. Have fun!

Subscribe to my RSS Feed if you enjoy these daily Interesting Bits posts.

Kevin

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My Fudsec.com Post

by kriggins on September 30, 2009

in Announcement,General

A few weeks ago, I was asked to contribute to fudsec.com.

Fudsec's goal is stated as "Showcasing Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt from the Information Security Industry"

I was happy to contribute and feel honored that I was asked. There is a lot of really good content published and I look forward to what's to come.

You can see my contribution here: I'm Not Secure and You Can't Make Me

Thanks Craig for allowing me to participate.

-Kevin

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Good afternoon everybody! I hope your day is going well.

Here are today's Interesting Information Security Bits from around the web.

  1. Microsoft has released their free anti-virus/anti-malware tool.
    Microsoft's New Tool in the Fight Against Malware Free to Consumers - Technology News - redOrbit
    Tags: ( anti-virus anti-malware free microsoft )
  2. Eric has a couple of interesting tools that might be fun to play with. One is an HTTP based SSH client. It runs on the server with no client other than a browser. The other is called Sockets Over HTTP (SOHT)
    EricDaugherty.com - Eric Daugherty's Open Source Projects
    Tags: ( tools evasion )
  3. Mike Murray is a cool dude. He made a promise and followed through on it. Check out this post to see the full version of the talk he gave at Hacker Halted.
    Hacker Halted Redux
    Tags: ( social-engineering video )
  4. Need to get around Green Dam censorship for some reason. Check out Dam Burst.
    jon.oberheide.org - blog - disabling green dam with dam burst
    Tags: ( green-dam dam-burst )
  5. I have pointed out the other articles in Alec's investigations into using entropy to detect encrypted sessions in live network traffic. Here is a continuation of that study. This is extremely cool and has the geek in me all excited :)
    Detecting encrypted traffic with net-entropy, part two << wirewatcher
    Tags: ( encryption network-forensics )

That's it for today. Have fun!

Subscribe to my RSS Feed if you enjoy these daily Interesting Bits posts.

Kevin

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Good afternoon everybody! I hope your day is going well.

Here are today's Interesting Information Security Bits from around the web.

  1. Exception, variance, these words are the bane of the information security professional. We all have to deal with them. Jarrod offers some thoughts on the topic. You will benefit from reading them.
    /dev/null - ramblings of an infosec professional: Security Exemptions
    Tags: ( policy )
  2. Ben shares his method for writing along with some thoughts on writing in general. It's a good read and I bet you can find some things in there that can be applied to your own writing.
    The Writing Funnel (The Falcon's View)
    Tags: ( general writing )
  3. A bit ago, a forensic contest was opened with the winner getting a free SANS course. That contest is now over. Here is the cool part, they took the finalist's answers and made a website out of them for the rest of us to learn from. Check it out.
    Network Forensics Puzzle Contest
    Tags: ( forensics contest answer )
  4. This boggles the mind. A judge has ordered that Google deactivate an account because the account holder received an email not intended for them. I seriously hope this gets challenged. Otherwise, we are in for a very rocky time.
    Judge Orders Gmail Account Deactivated After Bank Screws Up | Threat Level | Wired.com
    Tags: ( cloud privacy )
  5. Hoff has penned a post that, along with the attending comments, is something that you should read. Seriously, go read it.
    Incomplete Thought: Virtual Machines Are the Problem, Not the Solution... | Rational Survivability
    Tags: ( virtualization )
  6. Shrdlu offers some guidance on how to implement new policies. I have used this same method in the past.
    The policy bootstrapping problem.
    Tags: ( policy )
  7. Next month is Cyber Security Awareness month. The Internet Storm Center handler's diary will again be making deep dives into various security issues during the month. If you aren't a subscriber now, I suggest you rectify that lapse.
    Cyber Security Awareness Month
    Tags: ( awareness )
  8. Wade talks about the difference between Management Science methods of making decisions and engineering methods. He then ask the question "..how does your company make 'Should we do X, Y, or Z?' decisions?" (slightly paraphrased) He offers a few he has seen. Stop by and offer your input.
    Verizon Business Security Blog >> Blog Archive >> Security Decisions - How do you make them?
    Tags: ( risk-management )

That's it for today. Have fun!

Subscribe to my RSS Feed if you enjoy these daily Interesting Bits posts.

Kevin

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Good afternoon everybody! I hope your day is going well.

Here are today's Interesting Information Security Bits from around the web.

  1. Adrian takes a look at a few database encryption myths.
    Securosis Blog | Database Encryption Misconceptions
    Tags: ( database encryption )
  2. The Infosec Cynic interviews Anton Chuvakin.
    Anton Chuvakin - Stuck In the Lift With The Cynic | The Infosec Cynic
    Tags: ( interview )
  3. A new free encryption tool is available. This one is provided by Sophos. That's pretty cool.
    Guest blog: Sophos Free Encryption | Graham Cluley's blog
    Tags: ( encryption tools sophos )
  4. Mark points out that Federal CIO Council's Information Security and Identity Management Committee released a document titled "Guidelines for Secure Use of Social Media by Federal Departments and Agencies." This is good stuff even if you aren't in the public sector.
    New Social Media "Guidelines" - Securing GovSpace
    Tags: ( social-networking guidelines )
  5. This is worth a read and a watch. It is the talk given by Matsano and Nate McFetters at last year's C4 conference. It is some guidance for independent Apple software developers. It also applies to non-apple developers too.
    Matasano Security LLC - Chargen - Indie Software Security: A ~12 Step Program
    Tags: ( sdl )
  6. Jack gives his perspective of the recent Massachusetts 201 CMR 17.00 public hearing. He was not impressed.
    Uncommon Sense Security: Making sausage, one hearing at a time
    Tags: ( law policy )
  7. The BruCon videos are up on the wiki and Xavier is also hosting a local copy.
    /dev/random >> BruCON Talks Video Mirror
    Tags: ( brucon videos )
  8. If you are having some issues with sqlninja and metasploit, take a look at this post.
    RaDaJo (RAul, DAvid and JOrge) Security Blog: Sqlninja & Metasploit
    Tags: ( sqlninja metasploit )
  9. Malware, like all software, tends to have common traits. This article talks about what some of them are.
    Categories of Common Malware Traits
    Tags: ( malware )

That's it for today. Have fun!

Subscribe to my RSS Feed if you enjoy these daily Interesting Bits posts.

Kevin

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Good afternoon everybody! I hope your day is going well. I am running a bit behind and I apologize for that. I hope to catch up over the next couple days.

Here are today's Interesting Information Security Bits from around the web.

  1. There is a new version of F-Secure's Health Check available. Always a good idea to check all your apps, not just your OS.
    Health Check 2.0 Beta is Available - F-Secure Weblog : News from the Lab
    Tags: ( patching )
  2. HD did a little testing of his own. Take a look.
    Metasploit: NSS Labs Endpoint Protection Test Results
    Tags: ( anti-malware )
  3. Russ takes a look at CRSF attacks and some impacts on forensic analysis.
    HolisticInfoSec.org: CSRF attacks and forensic analysis
    Tags: ( crsf forensics )
  4. An interesting tool that can be used for both good and evil.
    REVIEW: SocialPET Lures End Users into Exposing Security Ignorance
    Tags: ( social-engineering phishing )
  5. Security Monkey is starting another case. Always a lot of fun.
    Case of the Tenacious Timelord: Part I
    Tags: ( case-study )
  6. This document from Cisco is going to be your best friend if you are using Nexus 1000V switches.
    Best Practices in Deploying Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switches on Cisco UCS Systems [Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switches] - Cisco Systems
    Tags: ( vmware cisco switch )
  7. An interesting article about data collection efforts of the FBI.
    Newly Declassified Files Detail Massive FBI Data-Mining Project | Threat Level | Wired.com
    Tags: ( surveillance )

That's it for today. Have fun!

Subscribe to my RSS Feed if you enjoy these daily Interesting Bits posts.

Kevin

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Hard to believe that RSA Europe 2009 and  the Security Bloggers Meetup is just around the corner. We have officially passed the less than one month mark.

On the news front, we have secured a venue. We have the second floor of a pub reserved for us so we can talk about securing that and breaking this as loud as we want

Invitations have been sent  out to the Security Bloggers Network. If you did not get one and want to attend, send an email to bloggermeetup@infosecramlbings.com and we will get the details to you.

-Kevin, Dale and Benny

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Good afternoon everybody! I hope your day is going well. I completely missed it, but yesterday's posts contained the 1500th interesting bits link. That's amazing to me. Anyway, on with the show.

Here are today's Interesting Information Security Bits from around the web.

  1. Cloud <> virtualization. William talks about it in a little more detail.
    William Vambenepe's blog >> Blog Archive >> Look Ma, no hypervisor!
    Tags: ( cloud virtualization )
  2. The videos from BruCon are starting to become available. Here is Jason Street talking about Cyber-Warfare.
    Jayson E. Street - Dispelling the myths and discussing the facts of Global Cyber-Warfare - BruCon 2009 | Security Active Blog
    Tags: ( brucon video )
  3. Need to justify the hiring of a policy and awareness security proffesional? Check out Ron's position paper on the topic. He even gives us permission to steal and reuse it :)
    Justification for Security Policy / Awareness Position : The Security Catalyst
    Tags: ( general )
  4. Jack is endorsing a couple of reports produced by NSS Labs released this week about endpoint security for web threats. If he says they are worth looking at, they are.
    Uncommon Sense Security: An insightful pair of reports
    Tags: ( anti-malware )
  5. This is just awesome. Jeff Moser has created a stick figure guide to AES. It goes into increasing levels of detail and definitely worth a gander if you are interested in the nitty gritty of AES. (Hat Tip: @SecRunner)
    Moserware: A Stick Figure Guide to the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
    Tags: ( encryption aes )

That's it for today. Have fun!

Subscribe to my RSS Feed if you enjoy these daily Interesting Bits posts.

Kevin

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Good afternoon everybody! I hope your day is going well.

Here are today's Interesting Information Security Bits from around the web.

  1. Justin has posted the slides from a talk he gave at an OWASP meeting on JavaScript exploits. Good stuff.
    Developing Security: Crossing the Border - JavaScript Exploits
    Tags: ( javascript )
  2. A nice article by Dancho talking about scareware.
    The ultimate guide to scareware protection | Zero Day | ZDNet.com
    Tags: ( malware )
  3. This is a fun article from Rsnake comparing current security practices with those observed in Star Trek. :)
    What Star Trek Predicts About The Future of Information Security ha.ckers.org web application security lab
    Tags: ( general )
  4. Dave Mortman is taking on Identity Management for his first project with Securosis. This should result in some good stuff. I'm looking forward to seeing what he comes up with.
    Securosis Blog | Incomplete Thought: Why Is Identity and Access Management Hard?
    Tags: ( identity-management )

That's it for today. Have fun!

Subscribe to my RSS Feed if you enjoy these daily Interesting Bits posts.

Kevin

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Why NAC Isn’t Everywhere

by kriggins on September 21, 2009

in General,Tips

Network Access Control (NAC) was touted to be the end-all be-all technology that would answer all the our prayers for a way to ensure that only authorized devices can access our networks. Several years later, NAC is still around, but not as prevalent as you would think it would be.

Jennifer Jabbusch, the author of Security Uncorked, has released a white paper that explains why and then goes on to offer some suggestions to the vendors of these products that might help them moving forward.

I was lucky enough to get to read the paper when it was in draft form. I strongly recommend you give it a look. It is well written and contains a lot of really good information.

Catching the Unicorn: A technical exploration of why NAC is failing

-Kevin

Catching the Unicorn:
A technical exploration of why NAC is failing

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