Security News

I had the opportunity to talk to Dr. Suguru Yamaguchi, Professor of the Graduate School of Information at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology, member of the JPCERT and advisor on Information Security for the National Information Security Center, Cabinet Office Japan.  Dr. Yamaguchi presented the opening keynote for the FIRST 2009 Conference here in Kyoto, Japan and talked about Information Security Management  and Economic Crisis.  And at least as interesting for me was having my questions translated into Japanese and asked to Dr. Yamaguchi again to answer in his native language. 

Two of the points I found intensely interesting about Dr. Yamaguchi’s talk were his assertion that businesses should be investing in technology during the down turn rather than cutting back, because the investment now may be what enables there survival and his observation that compromises have an affect on company sales in the Asia Pacific region.  I don’t believe we’re seeing the same sort of downturn in sales when a compromise happens to an American company and would like to know why there is such a difference.

FIRST 2009 Episode 7:  Interview with Dr. Suguru Yamaguchi – Japanese

FIRST 2009 Episode 7:  Interview with Dr. Suguru Yamaguchi – English

At the April 2009 RSA Conference, over 500 speakers discussed the most pressing information security issues organizations face today. I was very interested to hear the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute (SEI) talking about best practices for mitigating insider threat. (As discussed in my previous blog, this is the aspect of insider risk dealing with insiders who deliberately exploit security vulnerabilities to cause harm or for personal gain.)

A new Trojan has collected up to 80,000 unique FTP server logins and is injecting malicious code into thousands of FTP websites.

I’ve already written about the risks of pointy knives. This no-stabbing knife is the solution, and seems not to be a joke. EDITED TO ADD (7/1): Some people have taken this blog post to imply that I am endorsing these knives. These are obviously not regular readers of mine. (For my part, I’m going to buy a very sharp and…

I’ve already written about the risks of pointy knives. This no-stabbing knife is the solution, and seems not to be a joke. EDITED TO ADD (7/1): Some people have taken this blog post to imply that I am endorsing these knives. These are obviously not regular readers of mine. (For my part, I’m going to buy a very sharp and…

Most of the rise in cybercrime can be linked to data-stealing malware, and trojans are the fastest growing category.

Most of the rise in cybercrime can be linked to data-stealing malware, and trojans are the fastest growing category.

Reports of the death of Britney Spears have been greatly exaggerated — and caused by hackers.

Reports of the death of Britney Spears have been greatly exaggerated — and caused by hackers.