Submission + - 9 out of 10 security pros recommend PCI (451research.com)
danielkennedy74 writes: As it turns out, security professionals’ recommendations aren’t any better than those from the PCI Council.
Submission + - Two Jokers Social Engineer their way into the Superbowl (praetorianprefect.com)
danielkennedy74 writes: Sneaking in near press/employee access points without going thru them, zigzagging through corridors, and once carrying a box so someone opens a door for them, two jokers from Savannah State University social engineer their way into Super Bowl XLVII for the most part simply by looking like they belong.
Submission + - Information Security Spending To Increase in 2012 (the451group.com)
danielkennedy74 writes: Information security budgets continue to hold steady, with 39% spending more, 46% with flat spending, and 15% spending less. The 39% spending more is slightly off the 40% who spent more in 2010, and projects slightly lower in 2012 at 37%. Spending continues to be help up by a continuing need to protect custodial and intellectual property data within the enterprise, and is buoyed by a near constant drum beat of high profile breaches in the media.
Submission + - With Five Years of Budget Stagnation, Aging Hardwa (theinfopro.com)
danielkennedy74 writes: "In the most recent wave of TheInfoPro’s networking research, the category “aging hardware/keeping up with technology” jumped to the forefront of respondents’ reported pain points. In the previous wave of networking research, a majority of network managers reported that they believed there was a five-year lifecycle for the networking products they invest in, and the majority did not see that lifespan increasing. Between 2007 and 2011, the number of respondents reporting no change in networking budget increased from 17% to 43%, and the number who are seeing an increased budget dropped from 58% to 32%. This lack of new budget dollars since 2007 is starting to come to a head in enterprise environments, as network managers are running short on time maintaining “maintenance mode.”"
Submission + - BCSI Blues (theinfopro.com)
danielkennedy74 writes: What’s it’s certainly not the only one, Blue Coat Systems has had a rough time of it in the equity market following its earnings call last week, wherein announced revenue and forward revenue guidance didn’t meet Wall Street analysts’ predictions. Blue Coat announced revenue of $109.5 million for the first fiscal quarter, compared with $122.5 million in revenue for the same fiscal quarter last year, and at nearly the same time announced Gregory Clark as its new president and CEO.
Submission + - Did VMware Just Get Its License Revoked? (theinfopro.com)
danielkennedy74 writes: By all accounts, VMware’s market position is as impregnable as Fort Knox. In TheInfoPro’s Wave 10 of its servers study, an overwhelming 91% of respondents weren’t even thinking about switching to a competitor, and only 3% were actively doing so. Spending plans for 2011 were equally robust, with 33% of respondents planning to spend more, 58% the same and only 9% planning to spend less than in 2010.
Unfortunately, every silver lining has a cloud, and in the case of virtualization it’s licensing. As a concern/pain point, licensing has grown nearly five-fold since the first half of 2010. As expressed by one respondent from a large enterprise in the industrial/manufacturing sector: “We may save the hardware costs, but there’s no flexibility in the software licensing. We’re not able to realize the actual cost savings.”
Unfortunately, every silver lining has a cloud, and in the case of virtualization it’s licensing. As a concern/pain point, licensing has grown nearly five-fold since the first half of 2010. As expressed by one respondent from a large enterprise in the industrial/manufacturing sector: “We may save the hardware costs, but there’s no flexibility in the software licensing. We’re not able to realize the actual cost savings.”
Submission + - A Force10 Gale Behind Bundled Server, Storage, &am (theinfopro.com)
danielkennedy74 writes: "Dell, a leading x86 server provider that in April purchased storage systems provider Compellent, added to its enterprise stack with the July 20th announcement that they will acquire high speed Ethernet switch maker Force10. This reported $700 million acquisition represents a final strategic piece: the networking capability required to offer a converged stack of server, storage, and networking components."
Submission + - Through Breaches and Bad Times, Security Budgets A (theinfopro.com) 1
danielkennedy74 writes: "Competing forces continue to complicate the information security budget conversation, as high profile breaches (Sony, RSA) continue to eat up newsprint while at the same time difficult economic operating conditions continue to drive all technology managers to try to do more with less. For example, one recent interview told us that he is just “trying to keep the ship afloat with big budget cuts.”"
Submission + - App-aware Firewalls, Leap Forward or Pitstop (theinfopro.com)
danielkennedy74 writes: The stately and much maligned network firewall emerged on the scene some 25 years ago, and since has gone through three distinct generations of development: from being simple packet filters to the more advanced stateful inspection capabilities of today. In the world of security spending, the firewall is a staple, perhaps boring, commodity.
So why are we seeing tremendous growth opportunity, with 28% of the early Security Wave 14 interviewees planning to use “application-aware firewalls?”
So why are we seeing tremendous growth opportunity, with 28% of the early Security Wave 14 interviewees planning to use “application-aware firewalls?”
Submission + - Enterprises 2011 Storage Spend Continues at Pace (theinfopro.com)
danielkennedy74 writes: ""The storage market continues to be the best performing from a spending perspective of all the IT sectors we cover with our voice-of-the-customer research methodology, said Ken Male, Managing Director and Founder of TheInfoPro. We have been studying the storage market since 2002, and saw in our latest biannual study that storage expansion is being driven by new application growth this is an excellent proxy for the health of the companies we interview because it shows that business units are making bets on new projects.""
Submission + - DHS incorrectly tags 84,000 sites as kiddie porn (zdnet.com)
danielkennedy74 writes: On February 15th a joint project of the Department of Homeland Security Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Justice termed “Operation Protect Our Children” confidently announced the seizure of ten domain names involved in the advertisement and distribution of child pornography. What they failed to mention was that they also knocked out a popular shared domain by mistake, resulting in, according to TorrentFreak, some 84,000 web sites being taken down and redirected to a banner mentioning child pornography.
Submission + - Killer Text: A Russian suicide bomber blows up (zdnet.com)
danielkennedy74 writes: On the heels of the serious explosions January 24th at Domodedovo airport in Moscow that killed 39 people and injured 178 more, Russian security services have released strange details of a failed New Years Eve plot to detonate an explosive in Red Square on New Year’s Eve.
An unnamed woman, described as a ‘black widow’, was set to detonate a belt of explosives in Red Square when instead the explosive went off early inside the safe house she was in. The bomb, like a number of home made explosives used by militants or terrorists around the globe, was set to be triggered via a cell phone signal, specifically a text message.
A text message wishing her a “Happy New Year” was sent to this woman by her mobile phone provider, causing the connected explosive device to detonate.
An unnamed woman, described as a ‘black widow’, was set to detonate a belt of explosives in Red Square when instead the explosive went off early inside the safe house she was in. The bomb, like a number of home made explosives used by militants or terrorists around the globe, was set to be triggered via a cell phone signal, specifically a text message.
A text message wishing her a “Happy New Year” was sent to this woman by her mobile phone provider, causing the connected explosive device to detonate.
Submission + - Zuckerberg suggests Facebook be a social business (zdnet.com)
danielkennedy74 writes: The 2.8+ million followers of the Mark Zuckerberg page on Facebook saw an unusual update hit their walls yesterday from the firm’s founder and CEO.
Mark Zuckerberg’s fan page on Facebook briefly featured a post, complete with misspellings, indicating he would consider a whole new revenue model for the social media titan: If facebook needs money, instead of going to the banks, why doesn’t Facebook let its users invest in Facebook in a social way? Why not transform Facebook into a ‘social business’ the way Nobel Price winner Muhammad Yunus described it?
Mark Zuckerberg’s fan page on Facebook briefly featured a post, complete with misspellings, indicating he would consider a whole new revenue model for the social media titan: If facebook needs money, instead of going to the banks, why doesn’t Facebook let its users invest in Facebook in a social way? Why not transform Facebook into a ‘social business’ the way Nobel Price winner Muhammad Yunus described it?
Submission + - Congressman Steny Hoyer Twitter impersonation atta (zdnet.com)
danielkennedy74 writes: The twitter account LeaderHoyer, as recently as a few hours ago linked to by the official congressional web site of Maryland Congressman Steny Hoyer as his Twitter account, started expressing some unusually caustic views during the President’s State of the Union Address.
Submission + - Lush Cosmetics Data Breach (zdnet.com)
danielkennedy74 writes: Lush Cosmetics, a handmade cosmetics company headquartered in Poole, Dorset in the United Kingdom with some 600 locations around the world, has ostensibly been the “victim of hackers” according to a post on their UK version web site http://www.lush.co.uk/ yesterday. Details are in somewhat short supply, but according to the notice posted, there was a successful initial intrusion and repeated subsequent attempts at re-entry.
A number of consumers of Lush products are reporting on the Lush Facebook page seeing similar fraudulent transactions (similar dollar amounts) in their bank accounts for items like prepaid phones, hotel bookings, and Xbox Live charges. With a handful of users reporting problems going back a couple of weeks, an important question emerges that is not yet answered: when did Lush first become aware of this problem?
A number of consumers of Lush products are reporting on the Lush Facebook page seeing similar fraudulent transactions (similar dollar amounts) in their bank accounts for items like prepaid phones, hotel bookings, and Xbox Live charges. With a handful of users reporting problems going back a couple of weeks, an important question emerges that is not yet answered: when did Lush first become aware of this problem?
