Saturday, August 11, 2012

Dear Bloggers,

As a Microsoft certified professional, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been included in discussions basically bashing Microsoft and their Internet Explorer web browser. I don’t seek to involve myself in these discussions, it seems like it just happens. Now I can’t give anyone specifics on how secure one web browser is over another, I can’t keep up with details like that but I have and supposedly always will support Microsoft and their core products revolving around their operating system and web browser. Now with that being said, I’ve just seen the following headlines:

Mozilla releases Firefox 14 to close several major holes

Twenty-six bugs patched in Google Chrome 21 release

At a time when people were leaving Microsoft’s IE for Mozilla’s Firefox and Google’s Chrome citing easier use and better security and blah blah blah, I feel like raising up my hands in victory and saying “whatchu got now, huh!?!?”. These web browsers that have been preached to me over and over again as the “better” browser are now the ones scrambling to fix bugs and security vulnerabilities. One article reports 14 vulnerabilities in Firefox, 5 of which are labeled as critical. Chrome has twenty-six vulnerabilities, with 6 classified at “high-priority”. Twenty-six?!?!?!  Hello insanity!

Microsoft’s  July 2012 Security Bulletin lists 2 IE9 vulnerabilities. Two. Who has the more secure web browser now, huh?  J

Until next time……
 

References

Colon, M. (2012, August). Mozilla releases Firefox 14 to close several major holes. Retrieved from http://www.scmagazine.com/mozilla-releases-firefox-14-to-close-several-major-holes/article/250797/

Colon, M. (2012, August). Twenty-six bugs patched in Google Chrome 21 release. Retrieved from  http://www.scmagazine.com/twenty-six-bugs-patched-in-google-chrome-21-release/article/253031/

Saturday, August 4, 2012


Dear Bloggers,

Buzz word alert!! BYOD = Bring Your Own Device.

What does it mean? Allowing employees to utilize their own smart phones, handheld devices, and laptops on the network for work related activities.

This continues to be a struggle for the network security department: to lock down or to not lock down enterprise network resources to personal devices. At first the increase of personal devices in the workplace was unwelcome but now organizations are finding they have no choice but to embrace this wave of a technology trend.

Surprisingly enough, attitudes have changed and organizations are embracing BYOD. Studies have even shown that employee productivity increases by 30 minutes per day through BYOD. Greater productivity stems from user familiarity with their personal device and the convenience of using it in the work environment.

Of course there are pros and cons to BYOD. The increased productivity in employees is a loud and clear pro. The cons include additional points of entry into the organization’s network by cyber criminals and the fact that mobile devices are fast becoming a large target for theft and criminal activity.

Organizations can protect themselves by creating a multi-layered security approach. First, the content on the device must be protected. Second, the applications running on the device must be trustworthy. Third, the device must have strong authentication services incorporated into it.

With this multi-layered approach, network administrators can allow those personal devices on the network and (hopefully) have more confidence in the security of those devices and the protection of their networks.

Until next time……


Reference
Colon, M. (August, 2012). Embracing BYOD: Mobile challenge. Retrieved from http://www.scmagazine.com/embracing-byod-mobile-challenge/printarticle/250425/