Monitoring Matters

This week in the security world things fall apart, the center cannot hold, and the reason for that is because we fail to learn our lessons. Being a little less vague this week I’m touching on the two largest pieces of security news, both of which culminated in congressional hearings for responsible parties, for all the good it will do. First up is the aftermath of an assassination attempt last week that led to multiple inquiries on the methods and actions of the United States Secret Service....

I feel pretty drained by the 4th of July, but in a good way all things considered. What better way to celebrate our nation's independence than that most American form of entertainment, explosions. Speaking of things that are inherently and exclusively American in nature that I could not escape in the news cycle this week: ammunition vending machines. I cannot speak to how long this has been “a thing,” but I can tell you the concept of just such a machine was played...

If you’re among the many thousands of Americans who bought a car in the past week, odds are you didn’t have the easiest time. Somewhere around June 18th CDK Global, a corporation that provides data and technology for a number of automotive and automotive adjacent industries was hit by a ransomware attack that affected nearly 15,000 car dealerships in North America. So, what exactly did the cybersecurity event effect? For one thing dealerships were unable to access the critical...

Summer is in full swing if you hadn’t guessed by the extreme temperatures surfacing everywhere (unless you happen to live in Antarctica), and somehow, we’re still in full swing of conference season. Actually, scratch that, I might be wrong. It occurs to me that we might not ever truly be OUT of conference season in the security industry. I mean, ISC West was only a scant few months ago in April, and then in May we had PSA TEC. We started out at the beginning of June with the Electronic...

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, only please don’t send me any more apps, because I think I’ve hit my limit. This week I yearn to breath the air of freedom from software applications because I can’t seem to escape writing about everyone’s new app. You might think I’m exaggerating, and you’d be right, I’m not spending my time talking about new apps soon to infest people’s smartphones, and that’s because I’m spending...

The security industry has a problem, and unlike the title suggests an AI doctor probably isn’t going to fix it. In the past week I’ve probably seen half a dozen references to the shortage of manpower in the security industry. Which sector of the industry? All of it probably, but the two that stood out to me have been CISO’s and security operations centers personnel. Two cogs that are definitely needed for the larger machine to function, and currently AI isn’t...

Dire continuity yields to the march of time as this week marks cleanup for the industry’s quarterly financial results. One more to go as of writing this and then the second quarter (Q2) 2024 begins for me in earnest, but most companies have probably been eager to get a jump on Q2 for some time now. It’s no secret that it’s been a rough financial quarter for everyone in one way or another, I don’t even think it’s confined to the security industry either! Go peek at...

Stop me if you’ve never heard of it, but "The Wizard" is a quintessential movie for the millennial who loved and grew up with video games. Just like Jimmy Woods in his quest to win a video game tournament, there’s another Wiz on its way to California, only they’re more interested in buying up Lacework. That’s the news that I’ve had my eye on for the past week anyway as the cloud security unicorn startup looks to buy up their rival to the tune of $150-200...

I’m writing this after completing the first leg of my journey towards ISC West 2024, and I can safely say that “She Sells Sanctuary” by The Cult is the best road song of all time. What are some good runners up you might ask? “Roundabout” by Yes, and “Last Train Home” by Pat Metheny for sure. Late night drive? “No Sleep till Brooklyn” by the Beastie Boys, easily answered questions. What might not be an easily answered question is what programming...

This week we’re talking about a subject near and dear to my heart, well, near at least if you count proximity. That’s right, we’re discussing the recent semiconductor investment in Arizona. I usually go to the well to find the most current security topics for my blogs, but things dry up the closer you get to a major industry show since everyone wants to play their cards close to their chests. I think the major semiconductor news isn’t too long in the tooth, however....