Securosis Blog

Today we pick up our Security Analytics with Big Data series where we left off. But first it’s worth reiterating that this series was originally intended to describe how big data made security analytics better. But when we started to interview customers it became clear that they are just as concerned with how big data can make their existing infrastructure better. They want to know how big data can augment SIEM and the impact of this transition on their organization. It has taken some time to…

Security Surrender

Mike Rothman · June 3, 2013

Last week there was a #secchat on security burnout. Again. Yeah, it’s a bit like groundhog day – we keep having the same conversation over and over again. Nothing changes. And not much will change. Security is not going to become the belle of the ball. That is not our job. It’s not our lot in life.

For years security folks have been frustrated when trying to show real revenue impact for security. We used the TJX branding issue for years, but it didn’t really impact their stock or business much at all. Heartland Payment Systems is probably stronger now because of their breach. You can check out all the breach databases, and it’s hard to see how security has really impacted businesses. Is it a pain in the butt? Absolutely. Does cleanup cost money? That’s clear.

Friday Summary: May 31, 2013

Adrian Lane · May 31, 2013

It is starting to feel like summer. Both because the weather is getting warmer and because most of the Securosis team has been taking family time this week. I will keep the summary short – we have not been doing much writing and research this week.

It is time to return to our Network-based Malware Detection (NBMD) 2.0 series. We have already covered how the attack space has changed over the past 18 months and how you can detect malware on the network. Let’s turn our attention to another challenge for this quickly evolving technology: scalability.

Joining the strong(er) authentication craze (which we enthusiastically support), along with recent entrants Twitter and Amazon Web Services, Evernote is now including two-factor authentication and access logging for its business edition. Two steps in the right direction for security.

For this series focused on Quick Wins with Website Protection Services, the key is getting your sites protected quickly without breaking too much application functionality. Your public website is highly visible to both customers and staff. Most such public sites capture private information, so site integrity is important. Lastly, your organization spends a ton of money geting the latest and greatest functionality on the site, so they don’t take kindly to being told their shiny objects aren’t…

Friday Summary: May 24, 2013

Adrian Lane · May 24, 2013

This month Google announced a new five year plan for identity management, and update from 2008’s five year plan. Their look backward is as interesting as the revised roadmap. Google recognized their 2-factor auth was more like one-time 2-factor, and that the model has been largely abused in practice. They also concluded that risk-based authentication has worked. A risk-based approach means more sensitive or unusual operations, such as credential changes and connections from unusual locations,…

Making Browsers Hard Targets

Mike Rothman · May 23, 2013

Check out this great secure browser guide from the folks at Stach and Liu. The blog post is OK, but the PDF guide is comprehensive and awesome. Here is the intro:

In the introductory post in the Quick Wins with Website Protection Services series, we described the key attack vectors that usually result in pwnage of your site and possibly data theft, or an availability issue with your site falling down and not being able to get back up. Since this series is all about Quick Wins, we aren’t going to belabor the build-up, rather let’s jump right in and talk about how to address these issues.