In a previous post we talked about what you need to know to keep in compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) when you’ve got a wireless network – or, as it turns out, even if you don’t, because you still have to prove you don’t. In the way of follow-up, we talked to Chris Williams, a pre-sales systems engineer for Carousel Industries and one of the company’s wireless experts about what goes into meeting those compliance requirements and how to make the job easier. Outlining the PCI-DSS Requirements First let’s take a quick look at what… Continue Reading ›
Streamline Wireless PCI Compliance with Centralized, Automated Tools
May 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Virtual Desktops: A Key Component of BYOD Success
May 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment
At Carousel we get a lot of questions from customers about the BYOD (bring your own device) trend. One topic that comes up over and over is how to securely enable employees to interact with the corporate network from any device while allowing them to be as productive as possible. In this regard, Virtual Desktop, or VDI, is a powerful solution – albeit one that is part of a comprehensive, holistic solution and does not exist in a vacuum. We had a chance to catch up with Phil Magnuszewski, the Director of Cloud and Virtualization Solutions at Carousel, to discuss… Continue Reading ›
Security Breach Roundup: From Human Error to Well-hidden Malware, There’s No Shortage of Threats
May 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
This month we’ve got four stories that neatly sum up the challenges IT security professionals face in their attempts to protect corporate data. They include a mix of breaches caused by human error, a lack of encryption, and some cleverly disguised malware. Two States Suffer Medicaid-related Security Breaches This headline from an InformationWeek story pretty much says it all: “2 Medicaid Data Breaches, 1 Weak Link: Employees.” Here’s the story of the latest Medicaid-related breach: The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS) discovered on April 10 that an employee of the state’s Medicaid program had transferred personal… Continue Reading ›
State of the Security Marketplace – Fortinet Podcast Interview
April 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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As we’ve previously reported, the IT security threat landscape has changed in the last couple of years, shifting from one dominated by “bored hackers” to one where monetary gain is the primary objective. “[Today] we’re seeing a large component of organized crime, corporate espionage and terrorism,” says Kevin Flynn, senior manager of product marketing for Fortinet, a Carousel Industries partner that is a leader in the unified threat management security space. To properly protect themselves in this environment, companies have to adjust their thinking when it comes to security. Listen to the whole discussion in this information packed podcast. Mind… Continue Reading ›
Unified Threat Management: Strong IT Security Tools for SMBs
April 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment
In a brief discussion the other day with our partner Fortinet, we learned that they had recently received the top marks in the Gartner report on the Unified Threat Management marketplace. Not that we were all that surprised, Fortinet has been a leading voice and vendor in IT Security since their inception. A key reason is that small and midsize businesses face the same security threats as large enterprises but are at a distinct disadvantage in terms of being able to defend themselves, since they don’t typically have the budget to spend on security experts. What they need is… Continue Reading ›
Security Breach Roundup: A Heavy Dose of Scary Security Facts and Suppositions
March 31, 2012 By 1 Comment
We’re taking a slightly different tack than usual with this month’s security breach report by focusing on a couple of security studies and an interview with a high-profile security expert, although we will report on one high-profile breach at a certain U.S. space agency. Clarke Asserts China Has Hacked Every Major U.S. Company After reading this first item it’s tempting to just stop doing these roundups and make a simple declaration: everyone’s been breached. We can stop counting. But the warning from Richard Clarke, a former terrorism, cybersecurity and cyberterrorism advisor for the White House, is quite serious, as reported… Continue Reading ›
Preparing K-12 Schools for the Wireless Onslaught
March 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Colleges and universities have long had to deal with students bringing all sorts of devices to campus, and wanting to connect to the campus network – usually wirelessly. “Colleges were the original bring your own device test bed,” says Chris Williams, a systems engineer with Carousel Industries. Well now the movement is headed downstream to K-12 schools. Consider what’s happening at Burlington High School in Burlington, Mass. As a story from the Burlington Union explains: Under the guidance of the schools’ Educational Technology Team (ETT), a five-year plan started this fall when every student at BHS received an Apple iPad… Continue Reading ›
Calls for Cooperation and Threats of Doom from RSA Conference
March 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The week-long RSA Conference 2012 security confab wraps up in San Francisco today and after hearing several of the more than a dozen keynote speeches, two themes emerged: companies have to help each other deal with threats and getting hacked is now inevitable. Dealing with Threats Requires Close Cooperation In his opening keynote Art Coviello, Jr., Executive Chairman of RSA, was the first to call for morecooperation in sharing data about threats. Of course, RSA itself was the victim of a well-publicized attack last year, the result of a well-executed phishing attack. The sting of that attack was evident, and… Continue Reading ›
Security Breach Roundup: Short Month, Many Breaches
March 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
For this month’s security breach roundup we once again have some big names in the news and perhaps the best headline you’ll ever read in this roundup. A Six-Pack of Security Breaches I love it when others make my job easier, as the fine folks at Ars Technica have with this piece under the headline, “Breaches galore as Cryptome hacked to infect visitors with malware.” (And no, that’s not the gem referenced above; that comes later.) A breach that caused Cryptome.org to infect visitors with virulent malware was one of at least six attacks reported to hit high-profile sites or… Continue Reading ›
4 Best Practices for Developing a Strategy for Mobile Security
February 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Today’s workers are more mobile than ever before, depending on a wide variety of network-enabled electronic devices to get their jobs done. As a result, wireless networks are no longer just a convenience, a nice-to-have feature that impresses visitors to your building. They are crucial to the everyday performance of most any organization. In this kind of environment, companies must have an effective strategy for providing not only mobile communications, but also ensuring the security of those communications. Coming up with such a plan requires a willingness to review how your organization works, and how the needs of your users… Continue Reading ›
