Opinions & Analysis

Technology has afforded consumers terrific conveniences, and with that, consumer patience has gradually dwindled. We now expect frictionless, real-time access to information, applications and networks. In light of the emphasis on convenience and the consumer experience, the traditional password is losing its foothold as the standard in authentication. Consumers no longer have the patience to fill out lengthy registration forms, or the free brain space to remember dozens upon dozens of usernames and passwords.  In...

Could M-Files have prevented the destruction of the Death Star? With the DVD release of “Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens” and the production of the next two thirds of the new trilogy underway, how could the Star Wars universe take some ideas from the real world and apply them to a galaxy far far away? Take for instance Quality Management Systems (QMS) and the construction of the first Death Star from “Star Wars IV:...

The Guru sat down with Glasswall Solutions' VP of Alliances, Chris Dye, and asked him about a range of topics – from cyber attacks on CNI to current security trends, weaponised documents to the future of cyber security. Should we be fearful of a cyber attack targeting critical infrastructure?  In a word, yes. We have seen a number of high-profile attacks in recent months, including on Israel’s Electricity Authority, California’s Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Centre, the parliament of Western Australia...

Cyber security is often stated as a problem organisations need to deal with, but it’s an issue which is never going to be completely fixed. Instead of viewing cyber security as a problem, organisations need to start viewing their cyber security as a game and cyber adversaries as challengers in that game. The difference being that problems, like 1+1, have a singular answer. Too much network traffic load for your security perimeter? That’s a problem...

Dear Editor, The Panama Papers leak may have been the work of an insider or an external hacker; news reported today suggests it could have been an external hacker. But in either case, this massive leak represents three major IT security trends that every enterprise needs to be aware of. It shows the perils of digitisation of sensitive data without adequate controls over who can access it. This is a common vulnerability that has been...

Bernard Hogan-Howe’s comments are a recognition that things cannot continue as they are: banks are fighting an expensive, losing battle against cybercrime, and carrying the can for the overall slow response to the explosion in online fraud. Cybercrime has moved on, and while people do need to take more responsibility for their use of technology, his proposals aren’t the solution. In the last decade, cybercrime has industrialised. It’s no longer the preserve of a small...

Apple Should Not Comply with the FBI, say IT Security Pros Two-thirds IT security professionals believe that government surveillance is so pervasive that they do not expect to be able to have a private conversation on any device, according to new research from AlienVault. The research analysed the views of over 1,500 IT security professionals about privacy issues and the Apple vs. FBI debate, in which the FBI wants Apple to provide access into an...

I had a very interesting conversation recently about emails, and what the difference between Spam and Phishing actually is. One person openly stated that all messages received were treated with suspicion, which is of course the ideal approach, but that anything that was even remotely dodgy was immediately labelled as Phishing and deleted. Here’s the rub – is it one and the same? Previously I’d argue not, as actually I see them as two very...

Cyber security firm Imperva has released a new behind-the-scenes report into the infamous CryptoWall 3.0 ransomware, which show just how much cybercrime pays. CryptoWall is one of the most dangerous pieces of ransomware around today and it is estimated to have resulted in $325 million in damages. While many reports and research publications go into great detail explaining the anatomy of different ransomware malware. Imperva’s report clearly demonstrates that peeling the layers behind the financial...

More than 3,000 Organizations Rely on AlienVault to Detect Threats and Mitigate the Impact of a Breach  AlienVault™, the leading provider of Unified Security Management™ solutions and crowd-sourced threat intelligence, today announced that it ended 2015 with unprecedented momentum. The company closed out the year with more than 55 percent year-over-year sales growth and increased its install base to over 3,000 commercial customers. AlienVault’s new customer wins came from a broad range of industries around...