Articles In Security

By Russell D. Vines, Posted in Security

One major obstacle to a company’s adoption of information systems security best practices is often the apparent lack of ROI, or visible return on investment resulting from developing secure processes or acquiring security-specific hardware and software. Unlike a tangible piece of hardware or a software upgrade, employees often see security processes as interfering with their ability to get their job done. But losses due to a lack of security due diligence are tangible and quantifiable, and a properly foc... read more.

• February 08, 2012

By Russell D. Vines, Posted in Security

It was a happy new years’ for the cyber gang that made off with 42 million South African Rand (about $6.7 million) during the first three days of the year from Postbank, which is part of the South African Post Office and a government agency. The alleged Nigerian syndicate that carried out the theft had previously attempted to pull off the same crime on other, bigger banks in SA, but were unable to penetrate the systems until they found Postbank: http://bit.ly/xIVygH The exploit took months to plan... read more.

• February 07, 2012

By Russell D. Vines, Posted in Security

Symantec researchers have published a whitepaper analyzing last year’s Nitro attacks on the U.S. chemical industry. It’s interesting because it’s a detailed example of how Chinese cyber attacks are often focused on a particular area of intellectual property, as opposed to, say Eastern European attacks on financial institutions designed for immediate economic gain: http://bit.ly/y1BF4p The purpose of this attack is similar to other attacks on the car industry and other manufacturing and research organizat... read more.

• February 03, 2012

By Russell D. Vines, Posted in Security

The City College of San Francisco knew it had a serious virus infection last November when it noticed missing log data from a server in one of its computer labs. What it didn’t realize at first was that the virus had been cranking through the college’s databases since 1999: http://bit.ly/zYW4xo It appears that the malware had been lifting bank and personal info stolen from students and faculty for years and disseminating the info overseas. The college is re-configuring firewalls and segmenting the networ... read more.

• February 02, 2012