This Week's Gurus

By Larry Trowell, principal consultant at Synopsys This Halloween season, in celebration of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, I’d like to introduce you to a few unwelcome trick-or-treaters you may meet. But don’t look out the window for them; they may already be inside your home, hiding in the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT is the entire network of devices that have the technology and protocols to collect and share data: smartphones, cars, thermostats,...

By Ronald Sens, EMEA Director, A10 Networks  What makes a DDoS successful? I asked myself that question at the end of August when the central bank of Spain, Banco d’Espana, was hit by a DDoS attack that took its website temporarily offline. The bank issued a statement acknowledging the attack and stating that “no damage” had been done and its operations, as a central bank with no commercial arm, were not affected, implying that the...

By Ronald Sens, EMEA Director, A10 Networks There has been a lot of talk in the first half of 2018 around how cloud is being adopted for mission critical applications and becoming mainstream. Right now, the impact of cloud services, cloud technologies and practices for organisations is rapidly accelerating as we enter the next wave of cloud adoption.  To this point, analysts at Forrester predict that the public cloud market will grow by 22 percent...

In response to fake news becoming an increasingly pervasive issue affecting the global political climate, many countries have implemented, or are in the process of implementing, legislation to combat the online spread of false information. While it’s difficult to reach uniform conclusions about these different legislative acts, organisations with an online presence in countries with anti-fake news laws may be subjected to increased government scrutiny, as well as potential fines or sanctions. The following countries...

It used to be difficult to discuss security within an organisation, terms like Phishing needed explanation, Denial of Service was when the local garage couldn't change the oil in your car, and forget about Botnets. However over the years, and at an accelerated pace it has become easier for us security professionals to communicate types of risks and vulnerabilities - why? Because they are now part of our everyday lives, and when they become normal...

By: Paul Kraus, CEO, Eastwind Networks When it comes to IT security, the unknowns impose the greatest threat. Luckily, many types of threats are very much on the cybersecurity radar. Institutions and organizations who pay attention and take advantage of available threat information sharing are more likely to succeed in keeping their networks secure from hackers and attacks. Unfortunately, threat sharing isn’t a prevalent common practice and much available information isn’t the most complete or...

Written By Matthew Robertson, Co-CEO, NetDespatch In our non-stop lives, it often seems that everyone is competing to do things as quickly as possible. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the fast-paced world of online retail. There’s an abiding assumption that, if customers want something, they want it as fast as humanly – or technologically – possible. The result is that delivery continues to be the key battleground for online retailers. From same-day, four-hour...

By: Nicola Whiting, CSO of Titania and a finalist in the Security Leader/Mentor category in the Security Serious Unsung Heroes Awards 2018 "If you are sitting in a decision room and everyone looks like you and thinks like you, you will come up with a less-than-good answer. We need all voices at the table to make the best decisions." Michelle Obama I’d agree, the benefits of diversity are far reaching (especially in terms of bottom...

By Ronald Sens, EMEA Director for A10 Networks As the number of connected devices and systems grow, so does the number of threats we have to defend against. At the 2018 US Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit held in June, many security professionals visited our stand, and we heard their concerns around the current state of the cyber security world. There were certain issues that appeared more than others and below I have summarised...

"Everything is true… everything anybody has ever thought." Philip K. Dick – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep It is impossible to escape from the fact that technology, and increasingly artificial intelligence (AI), has transformed everyday life. It all started with how we play our music, but Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa (along with other similar "virtual assistants") now have a daily interface with many of us. We are also, increasingly, now daily users of...