Lessons in Risk Management: What We Should Learn from the FAA Fire
Too often in information security we focus on the confidentiality of personal information, ignoring the damage that can result from failures in integrity and availability. In fact, this is the main driver of much of our information security spending in the U.S. But the proper function of information and communications can create huge impacts not only to business, but to the public if (more…)
Code Spaces Spaced Out On Data Security
The information security community is abuzz with the news of Code Spaces closing its doors after having all of its client’s data erased by an attacker who gained access to their environment. Code Spaces offered their clients a “code repository” service – think Subversion-as-a-Service – and convinced their clients that their code was safe from data loss when stored there. The failure is (more…)
Vendor Risk Management Hype Extends Beyond Target®
The Target® Breach in November 2013 lives infamously in our memories and has served as a pivot point for all businesses with regard to third party vendor management (TPRM). After all, who could have imagined that the giant retailer would have been breached through a seemingly insignificant (more…)
Universities Remain a Rich Target for Hackers
Schaumburg, IL, April 9, 2014: In 2013, HALOCK Security Labs noted information security vulnerabilities at colleges and universities along with numerous hacker challenges that plague these institutions across the United States. More breaches may come to light if higher education institutions do not (more…)
Darrell Issa Just Learned the Difference Between Compliance and Security. Let’s Hope for a Payoff.
Darrell Issa’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has been busy looking into the security of the healthcare.gov website and its connected systems. (more…)
A Word about the Target Data Security Breach
What happened to Target® last week is every business’ worst nightmare. We’ve received a number of inquiries regarding the security breach incident from concerned clients and friends and wanted to share a few insights. (more…)
California’s New “Do Not Track” Privacy Law is Weak … As Expected
If you operate a web site that accepts personal information from California residents, you may be aware that California’s amended CalOPPA law has added a “do not track” requirement this month. California’s legislators have added to the already-weak law a new, value-less clause that gives the appearance that the law does something that (more…)
Common Hazards in Risk Management: The Selfish Risk Assessment
Information security laws and regulations are telling us to conduct cyber security risk assessments before we develop our security and compliance programs. They insist on this so our security goals are meaningful to each of us, rather than aspiring to a generic list of controls that were written by experts who never met us (more…)
The NSA’s Threat to Information Security Culture
Over the past few weeks we’ve seen news coming out of the Edward Snowden leaks that we’ve been able to either shrug off or become perturbed by, depending on the details of each leak. But this past week, new information was revealed regarding a serious violation of trust. This time, reactions from security professionals are anything but middle of the road. ProPublica and The Guardian (more…)
Your Policies Can Hurt You, Part 2: Overzealous Policies Can Create Breach-Prone Environments
Early on in my information security career I was auditing a firm that conducted complex economic analyses for their clients. They processed a lot of personal information and they wanted to be sure they were applying appropriate controls to safeguard that information. Part of their business model was to charge their clients per hour for statistical analyses of large datasets. This meant that analysts were (more…)
