News, analysis and context on enterprise technology for the CTO
Today's IT departments need to deal with incredible amounts of machine data. Splunk collects, indexes and harnesses all the fast moving machine data generated by enterprise applications and devices. This is a Big Data challenges that others find intimidating, with terabytes of information in many formats and from many sources. Many large enterprises now generate hundreds of gigabytes daily without an IT staff to match. This can lead to a swamped IT … [Read more...]
Cyberspace is our interconnected information technology. And since everything either is or is becoming connected, one of the defining characteristics of cyberspace is its complexity. This adds burden to cyber defenders. Defense teams require experience, education, training and a mindset that lets them continually learn. They also must forge broad teams across multiple subject and functional areas. An ability to rapidly collaborate and exchange data while … [Read more...]
The World Wide Web is often compared to the American Old West, such as in the recent exchange over NPR and Pastebin between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the hacker collective Anonymous. When the FBI stated that "The Internet has become so important to so many people that we have to ensure that the World Wide Web does not become the Wild Wild West," the Anons answered "when was the Internet not the Wild Wild West?" After all, it's a … [Read more...]
As the various intelligence agencies, computer security companies, and hackers prepare for the week of convention carnage that is Blackhat (Going on now), Defcon, and BSidesLV, it's important to remember how easy it is for security professionals to end up on the dreaded "wall of sheep" (a very public listing of usernames and partially-redacted passwords pilfered from the network and displayed to all). It's not considered a surprise to get hacked and … [Read more...]
The recent phone hacking scandal, where reporters from Rupert Murdoch's News of the World were accused of illegally accessing the voicemails of thousands of people including politicians, members of the royal family, the families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan, and terror victims, has grown into a sordid, drawn-out affair resulting in the closure of the newspaper, the arrest of editor Rebekah Brooks, and the resignation of the head of London's … [Read more...]
The cyber security e-mail lists, Twitter streams, Facebook messages and chat circuits were abuzz today over a new report released from the Brookings Institution. This piece, titled "Pirates of the ISPs: Tactics for Turning Online Crooks into International Pariahs," was authored by Noah Shachtman. Noah is a Fellow at the Brookings Institution 21st Century Initiative. Many of us in the tech community also know him well from his many contributions … [Read more...]
Editor's Note: We just updated this post to make better use of Scribd, a great capability for online sharing of documents. CTOlabs.com, a partner site of CTOvision.com, has just published a new guide meant to help further the awareness of the many new security features being fielded in today's computer hardware. This guide, titled "Leveraging Hardware Design to Enhance Security and Functionality," provides context, tips and strategies designed to … [Read more...]
It’s late Monday morning when your computer security department notices that a suspicious message has been emailed to most of the email addresses at your company. It contains a malicious PDF that exploits a new vulnerability that came out over the weekend. The patch hasn’t been applied to the company workstations yet, and it’s too little, too late by the time the email goes out telling everyone not to click on the links. By the time inboxes are … [Read more...]
Military cyber defenders face a tough challenge. Many of them have been trained in warfighting specialties like aviation, infantry, amphibious operations, submarine warfare etc, then one day they wake up with orders to a unit with operational cyber defense responsibilities. I've seen great champions from these disciplines, including F-14 pilots and RIOs, make fantastic contributions to operational network defense and have many life-long friends who … [Read more...]
Note: The following piece from the Pentagon's news service is being provided as a service to our readers, most of whom track this type of information very closely. Lynn: Cyber Strategy’s Thrust is Defensive By Karen Parrish American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, July 14, 2011 – In March, a cyber attack on a defense company’s network captured 24,000 files containing Defense Department information. Nations typically launch such … [Read more...]