And Another One…

The recent breach of cybersecurity company FireEye by nation-state hackers was part of a larger attack, believed to be affiliated with the Russian government gained access to systems belonging to several US government agencies. The attack continues to demonstrate that cybersecurity is a full-time job and organizations must continually evaluate and enhance the security posture of their networks. As organizations and networks evolve over time, regular on-going cybersecurity risk analysis…

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The Amazon Ring Surveillance State?

Internet privacy is already a fleeting concept with your ISP and numerous companies tracking your every online move, but now it’s getting even more personal with your security videos potentially being shared with law enforcement. Amazon Ring, creator of the popular Ring Video Doorbell, has entered into agreements with hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the country. These agreements allow police departments to promote Amazon Ring devices and grants those…

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Using Threat Intelligence to Protect the Enterprise

If you are involved in Information Security in almost any way, you have probably heard the term “threat intelligence”. There are many misconceptions about what it truly is, ranging from data feeds, high-priced research analysis subscriptions, or that you need a dedicated team of SOC analysts to effectively implement threat intelligence. All of these notions are false. Instead, threat intelligence includes information and analysis from a wide variety of sources,…

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Industry’s First SD-WAN Standard

MEF has published the industry’s first standard (MEF 70) defining SD-WAN service and its service attributes. SD-WAN service standardization is part of the initiative to define, deliver and certify a family of Carrier Ethernet, Optical Transport, IP, SD-WAN, and security services across automated networks using orchestration APIs. This SD-WAN standardization effort has included inputs and contributions from numerous companies, such as Silver Peak, Cisco, Nuage Networks, Nokia, TDS Telecom, Verizon…

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Is it Time to Replace the Traditional VPN?

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) were developed over 20 years ago to provide users with the ability to access corporate resources located within the company’s local data center. Since most employees worked on-site and usually only a handful worked remote, the traditional VPN approach worked fine. However, today with the proliferation of laptops and mobile devices, along with the increased use of cloud (SaaS) solutions, the traditional model is in the…

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Securing Your Network Through Segmentation

The concept of segmenting networks to enhance security is not new, but with the increase in cyberattacks and the scope of data breaches growing with every new disclosure, making it harder for the adversaries to succeed should be considered a priority by all organizations. While segmenting a network can be a major effort and often competing with other priorities, if properly planned and designed, it will not only help secure…

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R.I.P. – Is it time to kill the traditional Network Core Switch?

Publicized data breaches or network compromises are becoming almost a daily event, with probably hundreds or more event occurring that are not disclosed. In order for companies to protect their users, data and resources measures must be taken that isolate and protect critical systems and resources. The recent breach of the National Bank of Blacksburg in Virginia resulted in the theft of over $2.4 million over an eight-month period. This…

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Change is Hard

“If you want to make enemies, try to change something.” was once said by former US President Woodrow Wilson. Any engineer or architect who has ever been involved in network engineering or security would probably agree. Any change in an organization is hard, but when dealing with network administrators and “managers” that don’t acknowledge the existing problems or how the new solution will solve those problems – you have a…

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Do You Have a Crystal Ball?

How do you prepare for the next cyber attack? Do you know what’s coming and are you prepared or do you have to scramble when an attack hits? Even with the best technology and security platforms deployed in your enterprise you can be caught flat-footed if you are not prepared. Threat intelligence plays an important role in helping protect an organization. Along with helping you see what’s happening within your…

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Survived WannaCry? Now What?

So, you survived WannaCry ransomware attack, now what do you do to avoid the next attack? WannaCry targeted a vulnerability that existed in Windows from XP to the latest version of Windows 10 using an exploit developed by the NSA. Microsoft released a patch back in March, but many organizations failed to update. The widespread impact of this attack should be a wake-up call to businesses, governments and consumers alike.…

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