Tag: Security
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“Don’t Be Evil” -or- Beware the Free Lunch
In 2018, Google dropped this famous mantra from its employee code of conduct, but it was worth considering alternatives before that. One of my favorite internet debates always boils down to “iPhone or Android”? While I respect some of the cool functions many Android-based devices have, I prefer Apple’s iPhone. I’ve got plenty of other…
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Uniforms Matter
A uniform is a symbol that represents your organization and affords legal authority and accountability. Anyone following the news recently has heard about ICE’s intervention against Black Lives Matters protestors in Portland, Oregon. While many have expressed concerns about the agents themselves being “unmarked,” in all reality, their uniforms were marked, though with subdued patches. Where the…
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We Are All Cyber Airmen
The “Whole Airman Concept” isn’t just about volunteering and education. Cyber Airmen from the 24th Air Force at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. (Courtesy 24 AF/PA, 2014) For as long as I can recall, the U.S. Air Force has pushed an idea called the “Whole Airman Concept.” According to our doctrine, the Whole Airman Concept…
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The Danger of Domestic Terrorism
While there are groups within the U.S. that fit most definitions of terrorism, the greatest danger may be from ourselves. President Trump made for some interesting news on Sunday, 31 May, when he tweeted that he would be designating antifa (short for anti-fascists) as a terrorist organization. As a response, many signed a petition calling for the same thing…
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Encryption is a Weapon
Defend it with all your might! On May 18th, Attorney General William Barr held a news conference confirming that a Saudi Air Force officer responsible for the December 6th shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola was linked to Al-Qaeda. The shooter, 2nd Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, managed to kill three sailors and wound ten other personnel before he was killed…
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Security and the Art of Motorcycle Safety
Sometimes we learn important lessons from unexpected places. In 2008, I rashly decided to purchase my first motorcycle. Okay, I’ll admit it; it wasn’t really a motorcycle. It was a 49cc motor scooter. As fuel rose over $3 per gallon and I was looking to add a second vehicle to our young family, a four-stroke Honda Ruckus…
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The Legend of Good Security
In addition to good passwords and multi-factor authentication, a robust legend should be a cornerstone of your security practices. In many previous articles, I’ve written about the importance of choosing good passwords and never reusing them. Additionally, adding some form of multi-factor authentication is essential; this adds a token, certificate, or even a temporary number generated by a mobile device to the…
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Hasan Elahi and Your Privacy
Can some of your security measures actually make you more vulnerable? Hasan Elahi is a Professor and Director and the George Mason University School of Art and a fascinating artist in his own right. I’ll forgive you for not knowing who he is; I only learned about him and his art (which “examines issues of…
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COVID-19 and Threat Modeling
Stop trying to eliminate or ignore risk; take necessary risks smartly. 2020 has been a wild ride so far! An entire continent caught on fire, every two weeks we dodge another world war, the market crashed, and of course… a global pandemic. It’s easy to choose between one of two options: Shut down completely and disinfect…
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The Starfish, the Spider, and Security
Internet security lessons we can learn from both spiders and starfish. I was recently gifted an interesting book, The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, by Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom by a fellow Airman who (I think) hoped to encourage and empower more independent action among others against the grain…
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Finding a Good Password is Just a Roll of the Dice
Even though your security isn’t a game doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. Never have secure account passwords been more important, yet never have they been harder for humans to remember. Think of all of the times you have had to make a password that had a certain number of special characters, numbers, upper case,…
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Ashley Madison Breach: Another Study in Security and Mitigation
Cheating never pays… and neither do bad security practices. So you’ve probably heard a little bit about Ashley Madison and the massive data breach, but may have been wondering a few things. Namely, who is Ashley, why do I care that her data is all over the internet, and why does this matter to me?…