PASS Security Virtual Chapter & Security Topics at PASS Summit

I just saw a post from Brian Kelley about the new PASS Security Virtual Chapter launching and the first presentation (by Brian on encryption) is tomorrow. That seems like a great step after the observations Brian made back in May about there only being one security topic at the Summit this year. It also makes […]

Assorted Links for April 27, 2013

Spend a few minutes reviewing 20 Critical Security Controls. Very interesting stuff. For example, #1 refers to having and maintaining an inventory of authorized devices/etc. Do you know all the servers running SQL and would you know if someone set up a new one? Add this blog about servant leaders to your reader if you’re […]

Looking Back

In July 2011 I took what felt like a big chance and a detour to lead a large and complex security upgrade for a large company. The project included replacing firewalls, re-ip’ing hundreds of servers, implementing updates to hardening standards, updating application logging, and a lot more. A ‘lot more’ doesn’t really begin to describe […]

Trust in Access

One of the minor features/quirks/annoyances of MS Access is that if you create a single macro or code module you get a prompt to ‘Enable Content’, designed to prevent malicious code from running without you knowing it. I tend to just leave it open for long periods and so it doesn’t bother me much, but […]

Trying the Nest Thermostat

I’ve had the Nest Thermostat on my wish list for a while. It has looked like an interesting bit of technology, just hard to justify the $249 price. This past week the little plastic nub that changes from AC to heat broke on my not-exactly-high-tech thermostat, so I decided to splurge and try the Nest. […]

Interesting Reading for September 18, 2012

More stuff you may find interesting. Prepare for your first security breach. Sobering. As data professionals we’re going to get pulled into these incidents at some point when they happen. Read now and hope it’s never on your watch or even during your tenure. Conways Law says that organizations design systems that match the communication […]

Misc Reading for September 12, 2012

Sharing some stuff I’ve read recently that I found interesting – and that you may find interesting! Help More, Judge Less. I’ll write more on this at some point, it’s an essential idea to learn. Graph Database. I need to find time to dig into stuff like this. As much as I love the general […]

Misc Links for Aug 29,2012

2012-08-25 13:31:51

2012 (2011) Data Breach Report

I had a chance over the weekend to finish reading the Verizon 2012 Data Breach Investigations Report. It’s a compilation of data about 2011 data breaches and they try to call out what they see as interesting in addition to showing a few different views of the data. It’s worth reading to get a sense […]

SSC Editorial – Limited Features or Limited Time

This editorial for the SSC newsletter ran last week and talks about the conundrum for software vendors – how do you let customers try the product out, is it partial functionality for a long time, full functionality for a short time, or some other combination? The comments on the editorial are – as always – […]