Author's posts

May the Brute Force NOT Be With You

I recently met with a customer that is using username and password instead of keys to control SSH access.  For the past several months I’ve been so engrossed with solving SSH key management issues that I was somewhat taken aback by the approach.  Upon further discussions with some experts on the subject, I’ve come to …

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This could be heaven, or this could be hell.

  In late February, California’s attorney general Kamala Harris released a breach report that you can find here.  The report requires companies conducting business in the state of California to use “reasonable security procedures and practices…to protect personal information from unauthorized, access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure.” Essentially, the reasonable security protocol’s she’s referring to …

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Outside-In To Win

With very few exceptions, most established business operate from the inside out.  The business becomes focused on what’s core (manufacturing, processing, etc.) and they project that focus out to the world.  What I find fascinating, is that most businesses don’t start out that way, but complacency and the mindset of “we’ve always done it this way” drive …

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What does the Microwave, 3D Printing and Splunk all have in common?

Q. What does the Microwave, 3D Printing and Splunk all have in common?   A. They are all technologies that have introduced a fundamental paradigm shift from the conventional ways of doing things. Before the invention of the microwave oven, if I told you that I could place food in a box, turn it on, and …

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The inherent risk of a fixed focal point security posture

There are inherent limitations to relying upon traditional Security Information & Event Management Systems or SIEMS, which are often overlooked that every organization must be made aware of. These limitations are: 1) SIEM’s fixed focal point and 2) Dependencies upon structured data sources Maintaining a fixed focal point (or monitoring just a subset of data) …

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What is the difference between Business Intelligence and Operational Intelligence?

The differences between Operational Intelligence (OI) and Business Intelligence (BI) can be confusing. Just the name, Business Intelligence sounds like Nirvana. Show of hands, who doesn’t want their business to be intelligent? No, the names are fairly ambiguous so let’s turn to Google define to shed some light on their meaning; Business intelligence, or BI, …

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What is machine data and how can you harness it?

Let me begin this post by first describing what machine data is.  Machine data is essentially log file information.  When engineers build systems (hardware or software), they usually incorporate some element of log file capture into the design of those systems for several reasons: first for troubleshooting purposes and second as a backup, in case …

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End-to-End Operational Control & Application Management – Do you have it?

  So much has been written about the US Government’s Health Insurance Exchange that I’m almost afraid to mention it.  For this posting, I’m going to stay out of the political fray and avoid rendering any opinion about whether we should, or should not have the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.  Instead, I would like …

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An Early Warning System Saves: Anxiety, Jobs, & Your Business

  Imagine this scenario – you just discovered that your IT systems have been hacked into.  Even worse, after pouring over logs and conducting exhaustive analysis you discover that the data breach had been going on for weeks.  Since that time, the perpetrator or perpetrators  have been systematically siphoning sensitive data from your network.   …

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Plug-in to the power of Big Data through API’s

A customer of mine has been doing some stunning leading edge things including: (1) leveraging their back-end SOA services, (2) exposing API’s to their Partners, and (3) integrating seamlessly with various social media sites. These initiatives are delivering real-world value to their customers, and in the process, they are capturing Data – Lots of Data. …

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