ncsam-2013

DNS is like the town gossip of the network infrastructure. Computers and apps ask DNS questions and you can ask DNS who has been asking to resolve malware domains. When internal trusted systems are using DNS to resolve the names of known malware sites, this can be an Indicator of Compromise and a wa…

Now when I’m talking about safekeeping a mobile device, I’m not saying don’t use your Kindle by the pool or let your toddler play on the iPad while eating ice cream. These are dangerous things to be doing with a gadget, but today I want to focus more on the data within that device,…

Now that we’re in the midst of October 2013’s Cyber Security Awareness Month, it’s a good time to think about the connections between security awareness and trust. This discussion centers on three questions: How do we trust our computers and devices? How do we trust our vendors? H…

Many Cisco customers with an interest in product security are aware of our security advisories and other publications issued by our Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT). That awareness is probably more acute than usual following the recent Cisco IOS Software Security Advisory Bundled Publ…

April first falls on a Tuesday next year. The following Tuesday is Microsoft’s monthly security update. It will be the last monthly security update for the Windows XP operating system. About one third of the computers with Windows operating systems on the Internet today are still running Windo…

Exordium In the previous installment of the onePK series, you received a crash course on Cisco’s onePK. In this article, you’ll take the next step with a fun little exposé on onePK’s C API. You will learn how to write a simple program to reach out and connect to a network element.…

With October designated as Cyber Security Awareness Month, it got me thinking about the connections between awareness and trust. Cisco has made significant investments in what we call “Trustworthy Systems.” These products and services integrate security features, functions, and design practices from…

In the last week alone, two investigations I have been involved with have come to a standstill due to the lack of attribution logging data. One investigation was halted due to the lack of user activity logging within an application, the other from a lack of network-based activity logs. Convincing th…

Ten years ago, I remember driving around my neighborhood with a laptop, wireless card, and an antenna looking at the Service Set Identifiers (SSID) of all the open wireless networks. Back then, a home user’s packets often flew through the air unencrypted with nary a thought to who might be listening…