Support Wars

I’m almost running out of the ‘Duh’ tag.  A recent House Committee on Homeland Security report “found that the lack of a specific requirement to encrypt sensitive data has led to spotty information security.” “Encryption is not an option, it is a mandate,” Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-MS, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland [...]

Ok, so maybe I went a bit far with the title.  Let’s just call it artistic license. Anyways, Apple has announced a new security position dedicated to securing the iPhone in hopes of pursuing the enterprise marketplace.  Is it ready for primetime yet?  Not even close, but Apple’s new focus on security is a step [...]

While I was catching up on my daily blogs, I came across Bruce Schneier’s “Information Security and Liabilities.” I thought about it that day and bounced the idea around the office.  Working for a security software company, the idea wasn’t exactly popular.  Oddly enough, the support team was much more receptive.  Just think… a product [...]

The old cliche “The best defense is a good offense” has been played out in sports, but rarely is it used for customer service.  Why am I even talking about customer service?  Because it matters even more than you’d like to admit. Good companies spend a great deal of time and money analysing their customers [...]

It’s no longer just a movie, it’s the newest venture into the Open Source movement by Microsoft.  They join Google and Yahoo as Platinum sponsers of the Apache Software Foundation. There’s a few links about the deal.

I’m calling you out…  DBAs, Mail Administrators, Network Admins… whatever silly title you’re hiding behind.   The whole mess of you resting on some perceived laurels while incompetently wandering through your days. Now let’s not get too crazy.  I admire the countless professionals I work with everyday.  Their comprehensive knowledge of their environment makes supporting [...]

So you thought RAM lost all its data after powering off did you?  Well, sort of… One of the researchers involved in the project has released the source code for the utilities. The utilities are used to lift crypto keys from memory even after a reboot. The source code was revealed at the 2600 Hackers on Planet [...]

Everyone has their favorite tools they use almost everyday.  For me, the Sysinternals Suite is essential for daily troubleshooting.  It would take way too long to cover every tool, so I’ll highlight a few tools during each article. Today, let’s talk about SIDs.  When imaging computers, it is important to run Sysprep or another prep [...]

Prevx reports about a new trojan that’s “guaranteed to work.”  Sounds like job security to me. One of the players in the burgeoning malware industry has apparently crafted itself a new “super” Trojan, and is offering it up for sale as a guaranteed detection evader—or your money back. At least, one assumes there’s an “or [...]

Why San Francisco’s network admin went rogue After reading this, I realized I know a great deal of Terrys.  I work with them all the time: indispensable employees whose duties far overreach their official duties.  If they were unavailable for any reason, there is a terrible disturbance in the force. The story of Terry Childs [...]