How do you buy groceries? Do you buy based on brand, what you know? Do you consider the price? Or do you have someone else handle it for you? Making An Investment While routine, groceries aren’t expensive. When we consider larger investments, however, the calculus changes. Most hesitate a bit when buying a new computer or tablet. We’d want to make sure the system meets our requirements and we’re not paying too much. Since they are a commodity item, you can shop around without difficulty. Buying a car or a house requires more time to be spent in the due diligence process. At some point it becomes less about “buying” and more about “making an investment”. Smart entrepreneurs consider their exit.[…]
Category: vendors
Today’s reading brought me to another article by Brian Krebs about his continuing research into the breach at Target. The lengthy article points to some newly uncovered clues, and provides some conjecture as to how the breach may have been exercised. A part of it definitely caught my eye, because it is closely related to some of the work we get called on to do on a regular basis. That “Best1_user” account name seems an odd one for the attackers to have picked at random, but there is a better explanation: That username is the same one that gets installed with an IT management software suite called Performance Assurance for Microsoft Servers. This product, according to its maker — Houston, Texas base[…]
When I first read the article Authy Makes Using Two-Factor Authentication Easier I thought to myself, “why have I never heard of this Authy thing?” After all, we have been covering two-factor for a while. I went ahead and installed it, and started digging into the application and the company. I even fired off some questions about how they treat the information in the application and I’m impressed. This application is advancing the state of the art for two-factor authentication by making it not just simpler to use, but more secure as well. This article is covering how Authy is simplifying the use of two-factor authentication. Next week I’ll publish another article about how they are also advancing the state of[…]
This morning, I heard a commercial on the radio which left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t want to quote the exact commercial, but you’ve heard the type. I’ve created a semi-fictional ad based on the one I heard below: <alarm sound>How do you stop cyber threats <second, more urgent alarm sound in addition> when they’re constantly evolving? <third, even more urgent alarm> Our organization stops threats by <alarms cease, replaced by typing sounds> integrating solutions, building partnerships with business, academia, and government, as well as preparing the cyber professionals of the future. OK, so what have we learned from this 30-second radio clip? Not much. It seems that in order to stay ahead of evolving threats,[…]
A service provider shall not be liable for monetary relief, or, except as provided in subsection (j), for injunctive or other equitable relief, for infringement of copyright by reason of the provider’s transmitting, routing, or providing connections for, material through a system or network controlled or operated by or for the service provider, or by reason of the intermediate and transient storage of that material in the course of such transmitting, routing, or providing connections – 17 USC § 512, from the Cornell University Law School No business is an island. There’s no company that does not, to some extent, rely on other businesses. Business models assume that vendors will be able to assure a steady flow of goods, that[…]
As you’ve doubtless heard, Sony’s PlayStation Network has been down for several days now. The exact cause of this outage, being apparently affected by hackers of some stripe, is doubtless worth investigating. However, since those details haven’t been fully divulged yet, it’s best to wait on that front. But this brings to light an increasing problem: the erosion of standalone functionality. PSN customers have not been able to access online content since April 20th. This is, of course, to be expected – if you shut off the network, the network is not available. Unfortunately, this extends to content which isn’t actually hosted on Sony’s network, since PlayStations use the PSN to connect to outside servers. Still, though, not surprising. Vexingly,[…]