Mike Foster's IT Security and Best Practices Blog » Preventing IT network theft

For traveling users, wireless 3G is better than hotels

Mike Foster — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 04:00:30 +0000

From the standpoints of speed, cost, and security, you may find that providing a Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile wireless connection will be much better than using hotel provided Internet services.

It is common for hotels to charge almost ten dollars a night for Internet access. If your traveler stays in at least six hotels a month, then it is about the same price to have a wireless card that uses the mobile phone towers.

There are easy to access tools that allow even unsophisticated criminals to monitor your traffic if you go through a hotel’s network. When you use one of the 3G services, this equipment doesn’t work anymore. Not to say that the 3G connection is totally secure, but all things being equal, it is almost always more secure than a WiFi or plug-in Ethernet port at a hotel.

Then there is speed. So many hotels have very limited bandwidth, and when the hotel is full of hotel guests using the Internet service, everything slows to a crawl. When your traveler whips out their 3G card, they may find that the access is much faster—especially if they are not in a fringe coverage area, and not in a very congested city.

Please share your experiences and post your comments on this blog.

Easily steal the information from a computer

Mike Foster — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:00:45 +0000

I am in the business of helping you keep your computers safe. You need to know how easy it is for someone to take your data from you. Here is a video.

There is a wonderful product on the market that will make backups of your computer quickly and easily. The problem is, a criminal can use this product to steal your information. This is supposed to be a short sales video, and I want you to consider how you would feel about the video if a criminal used this to steal your computer’s information: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-aHtWOYGvg

And, in their support, I see this as a very useful tool for home users who never back up their computers – and risk losing years of precious photos of their family. I bought one for myself to show to executives and recommend for people who do not make backups because they feel backups are too much trouble. This is a great tool in your hands for use on your own computer.

There are other ways cyber criminals can steal your data, but you can slow them down if you never leave your computer unattended and logged in if you store any private information such as credit card numbers, banking information, social security numbers, etc. In Windows, you can use the key combination “windows-L” to lock your screen. You need a secure password. That makes it more difficult, though not impossible, to steal your data.

Summary: Great tool in your hands; horrible tool for hackers to use against you.

Are You Prepared for an IT Security Breach?

Mike Foster — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 15:55:57 +0000

In 2006, the FBI partnered with 313 companies who agreed to be in a study about IT security. The companies came from various sectors, such as medical, education, transportation, manufacturing, and many more. Combined, these companies lost over $52 million due to various types of security breaches, including viruses, theft of proprietary information, network abuse, and data sabotage. That’s $167,000 plus per company! You certainly don’t want to be part of that loss.

The FBI asked these 313 companies why they believe more companies don’t report their security losses. Well, 48 percent of the companies in the study said that negative publicity would hurt their stock or image. Another 36 percent said their competitors could use the information to their advantage. I’m sure you could think of many more reasons.

So the costs of IT security breaches are real and devastating to many companies. But realize that there’s power in knowledge. That’s why you need to know what your potential losses are. Only then can you take the proper steps to protect your company.

To that end, I recommend that every company create a Security Incident Management Plan. In this plan you will write exactly how you will:

* Identify security incidents
* Contact law enforcement if appropriate
* Notify anyone whose personal information may have been exposed
* Protect and gather appropriate evidence
* Clean up the problems
* Put appropriate monitoring in place
* Identify lessons learned to better protect the system

Find out more information at:
www.csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-61/sp800-61.pdf.

What are your thoughts on this topic?