July 17, 2007 - Volume 2, #105
Good Morning:
Get your motor runnin' -
Head out on the highway - Lookin' for adventure - And whatever comes
our way. Of course, the classic Born to Be Wild [1] from SteppenWolf.
Well this morning it's a pretty timely tune, since by the time you read
this I'll have embarked on a roadtrip with my Dad. Today we drive -
from NY to Atlanta. Since he doesn't fly and needs to be in FLA on
Sunday, it doesn't leave too many options for transportation. I'm just
glad and fortunate that I can peel off for a day or two and handle some
of the roadwork.
There is just something about a roadtrip that just makes me smile. My
first experience with the roadtrip was watching Animal House. The Delta
House is dire straits, it's on its way out, things look pretty bleak,
and what do you do? Of course, ROADTRIP. It just makes me want to
shout. I can only hope no one wants to dance with my date along the
way. And during my earlier years I did many a Winnebago trip from DC to
Ithaca with my boys for Cornell Homecoming. Those were good times.
My Dad and I won't have a keg in the back (at least I don't think so).
And since there are only two of us, there really aren't any straws to
draw about who drives when. But we will be quite a connected car. I
recently got EVDO (Parallels seemed to break my T-mobile hotspot
service and after an activation nightmare, EVDO has been pretty
liberating as well as more secure!) and he's got Cingular's 3G data
service also just in case. We've got a nav system to keep us on track
and my 80GB iPod to keep the tunes flowing. Maybe we'll even break out
the radar detector to makes sure we don't replay Smokey and the Bandit.
There are also a bunch of Starbucks along the way, so there will be
lattes a plenty.
We've also got no plan, except to make it to ATL as soon as feasible.
We'll probably drive South, but who knows? It'll be great. It's hard to
take the time to do trips like this nowadays for both of us, but I'm
glad we're going. The plan is to publish on Wednesday, but we'll see.
No sleep till ATL!
Have a great day.
Technorati: Information
Security [2], CSO [3]
 [4] |
The
Pragmatic CSO: Available Now! Read the Intro and Get "5 Tips to be a Better CSO" www.pragmaticcso.com [5] |
Top Security News
Cisco, EMC and Microsoft are aligning in a
new group pushing a SISA [6] (Secure Information Security
Architecture), that was my first thought. I guess I still have work to
do with my shrink, eh? Then my Barney-meter went into overdrive. The
reality is information sharing amongst government entities is a huge
problem, but it's not clear to me that a technology architecture will
solve the territorial boundaries and competition between agencies that
has prevented intelligence leverage. I can't be sure, but I don't think
this is a technology problem. And sharing is also a bit opposed (like
diametrically) to protecting the private information that exists in
government coffers (VA anyone?). So over the horizon comes riding the 3
technology horsemen (with a few donkeys like Liquid Machines and Swan
Island Networks to lug the food) with a white paper and some
off-the-shelf products to make everything better. Am I the only one
that is mildly skeptical about something like this?
Link to this [6]
8 "sure-fire ways" to pass an audit [7]
makes some good points. But the title really annoys me. I think the
acrimonious and combative stance that most security folks have towards
auditors has run its course. Yes, following some of these practices
like having consistent change management processes and giving users
access to only data they need is certainly not a bad thing. But I think
the best way to "beat" an audit is not to try to BEAT it at all. Some
folks view an audit as a criticism of what you are doing. I view it as
a milepost to figure out if I have 20 miles to go or just 5. Understand
they always seem to move the finish line on you, but if you don't have
someone else come in and tell you where you're at - how do you know
where you need to go? My approach to audit and compliance is probably a
bit unconventional, but it makes sense and it works.
Interested? Pick up a copy of the Pragmatic
CSO [8] today and check it out (it's Step 12).
Link to this [8]
an "RFP" on pen testing in eWeek [9],
I was intrigued. I like RFPs, since they give customers a way to learn
about a technology category and sort-of get an apples to apples
comparison between different options. But I was disappointed by this
effort. I don't think the information is really useful. It's more like
a matrix. Do you support this feature or that feature? Yeah, that is
sort of important, but I would have like to see some explanation around
each of the questions. Why would you ask that? Why is it important?
Basically to provide some context, not a laundry list of features.
Forgive me, but would have required some work. I should know better.
Link to this [9]
The Laundry List
- Is private equity coming to Big Yellow Land? It would be a big deal and these guys look for cash cows - but this isn't a pipeline or an office building and it's not in Kansas Dorothy. Your "assets" can disappear in a hot minute. But it would generate lots of fees for bankers. - Naraine blog [10]
- Big Yellow helps low-income folks by partnering with One Economy to provide "Internet Safety" content to their portal. Of course, I'm not sure if the content will hit the target, but hats off to SYMC for working to educate a class of consumers that are frequent victims of cyber-crime. - Symantec release [11]
- Nice knowing you Alluria. EarthLink cheats on their in-house anti-spyware concubine and beds Sana. Must be Listwin's cool kimono. - Sana release [12]
- More security coincidence? Watchfire and Cenzic both announce new releases today. The difference? Watchfire has gotten their payday. - Cenzic release [13] Watchfire release [14]
Top Blog Postings
http://mycsosolutions.net/2007/07/10/communications-during-a-crisis/ [15]
Link
to this [15]
http://1raindrop.typepad.com/1_raindrop/2007/07/building-securi.html [16]
Link
to this [16]
http://blog.tenablesecurity.com/2007/07/can-i-use-nessu.html [17]
Link
to this [17]