Securosis Blog

Incite 12/14/2011: Family Matters

Mike Rothman · December 14, 2011

There are a couple calls you just don’t want to get. Like from the FBI when you’ve had some kind of breach and your secret recipe is listed on eBay. Or from the local cops because your kids did something stupid and you can only hope your umbrella policy will cover it. But those are relatively trivial in the grand scheme of things. I got a call Friday morning that my Uncle Mac had passed away suddenly. I can’t say we were very close, but he met my aunt when I was a kid, and has been present at…

Pontification Alert: Upcoming webcast appearances

Mike Rothman · December 13, 2011

I figure our lack of blogging has created a vacuum of mostly-useless security snark and babble. Who else can put so little content in so many words? But all is not lost – we continue banging away building content for the Nexus. Thanks to a few of our excellent clients, you have the opportunity to hear me ramble on about two of my favorite topics this week. If you need some excuse to get out of your root canal appointment, need to postpone that audit findings meeting, or perhaps just choose not…

Tokenization Guidance White Paper Available

Adrian Lane · December 12, 2011

We are pleased to announce the availability of our latest white paper: Tokenization Guidance: How to Reduce PCI Compliance Costs. It discusses the dos and don’ts of replacing credit card data with tokens, to improve security while reducing PCI DSS auditing costs. Our primary goal was to help merchants understand how to employ tokenization to reduce PCI scope, as well as the costs of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard audits. When we read the PCI supplement on tokenization guidelines…

Friday Summary, December 9, 2011

Adrian Lane · December 8, 2011

As Rich announced, we are shaking up the Friday Summary a bit. We will still talk about what we are up to. And we’ll share some of our personal – possibly security related – stories in the Summary. But we will focus on fewer stories with more analysis of interesting news items. Honestly, we’ll likely sneak in security news as well – it just depends on whether we see interesting stuff.

Incite 12/6/11: Stinky

Mike Rothman · December 6, 2011

I have a younger brother. It was just the two of us (and Mom) growing up, so I find myself ill suited to dealing with girl stuff. Thankfully the Boss is wonderful at working with the girls on how to deal with bullies/mean girls, and this physical maturation process that seems to happen to girls. One day they are all cute, young and innocent; the next day you’re shopping for bras. Thankfully the Boss handles that duty as well. I’d favor the model that is bolted onto their respective rib cages,…

Back when we started the Friday Summary the world of blogs and social media was much different. RSS feeds were the primary means by which most of us sucked down our news, and we tended to communicate through cross-blog links and comments.

Incite 11/30/2011: An Introverted Thanks

Mike Rothman · November 30, 2011

As with most things, I have mixed feelings about the holidays. Who doesn’t enjoy a few days off to recharge for the end-of-year rush? But the holidays also mean family, and that’s a good thing in limited doses. I’m one of the lucky few who gets along with my in-laws. They have an inexplicably high opinion of me, and who am I to say they are wrong?

Changing Focus through the Holidays

Rich · November 29, 2011

Hey everyone,

As you may have noticed, we are pretty focused on this Securosis Nexus thing we have been working on for a while. The system is coming along great, but it’s time for us to start hammering on its content.

Fundamentals of Crowd Management

Rich · November 22, 2011

I have joked over the years that I’m more qualified to run security at a stadium concert than an IT shop, and it’s somewhat true. My security career started way back at the young age of 18 when I started working on the event staff at CU Boulder, and for Contemporary Services Corporation (CSC), who managed most of the Denver venues. By 21 I was running security at CU and supervising for CSC – managing or supervising sports, music, and other events ranging from under 100 people to over 100,000.…

Occupy Work

Mike Rothman · November 21, 2011

I don’t get this #occupy stuff. Maybe that’s an indication that I’m old. Maybe it means I’m selfish. It could be a sign that I have a lot of competing priorities and they don’t leave me a lot of time. But most of all, it’s because I don’t get it. Really.