A Few Good (and Not So Good) Security Moves
THUMBS DOWN: North Korea. To be fair, there's not much proof at this point that the rogue nation is behind the DDos Attacks against U.S. and South Korean sites -- only speculation sparked by the timing and targets. But cyberwarfare aside, one must wonder why we keep letting this regime get away with evil.
Fri, July 10, 2009
CSO — THUMBS DOWN: North Korea. To be fair, there's not much proof at this point that the rogue nation is behind the DDos Attacks against U.S. and South Korean sites -- only speculation sparked by the timing and targets. But cyberwarfare aside, one must wonder why we keep letting this regime get away with evil.
See also: North Korea: Culprit in DDoS Attacks?
THUMBS DOWN: Spammers. Unfortunately for all us social media users, the spamming community has quickly figured out how to exploit Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter to push their garbage.
See also: New Spam Trick: Shortened URLs
THUMBS BOTH WAYS: President Obama. Sure, that cybersecurity coordinator should be reporting directly to him and not the national security advisor. But the simple fact that Obama knows what a botnet is can only be seen as a step in the right direction. Now he needs to stop dragging his feet and appoint someone already.
See also: Obama Must Move on Cybersecurity Coordinator
THUMBS UP: Heartland Payment Systems CEO Robert Carr. He's getting high marks from some analysts for his response to a massive data breach discovered at the credit-and debit-card payment processor earlier this year. Instead of stonewalling and making excuses, Carr has moved decisively to close the security holes that contributed to the breach and has reached out to customers and industry groups for feedback on the company's response. CEOs usually hide when something like this happens, which has made Carr's outreach all the more refreshing.
See also: Heartland CEO Commended for Data Breach Response
THUMBS BOTH WAYS: DLP vendors. There's no doubt that security vendors are twisting the true definition of data loss prevention to market their products. But in their defense, few in the industry truly understand how to define it anyway.
See also: Solving the DLP Puzzle: 5 Technologies That Will Help
THUMBS DOWN: Twitter. True, the author can't get by without his Twitter feed nearby. But let's face it: The microblog is being overrun with digital miscreants who are finding plenty of ways to attack people in 140 characters or less. Where's that Fail Whale when you need it?
