TheSecurityMachine Archive cybersecurity

Yesterday, Equifax admitted publicly that they were breached, and that personal information was exposed for 143,000,000 U.S. Consumers. While this is not the largest data breach in number of records exposed, it is arguably the worst data breach ever due to the type of data that criminals accessed. Whether or not […]

The Equifax Breach: Why it’s big, and how to stay ...

8 Sep, 2017 in cybersecurity / infosec / personal tagged databreach / experian by Vik Solem

Breach statistics continue to climb and that’s a group none of us want to be in. “The numbers are sobering and suggest that 2017 is well on its way to becoming the worst year on record for data breaches and software vulnerabilities.” Call MEI Security for all your cyber security […]

Data Breach, Vulnerability Data on Track to Set New Records ...

15 Jun, 2017 in cybersecurity / infosec by Phil Barrows

Running a small business can be hard enough, but cyber crime makes it even harder. According to multiple sources, once a business suffers a cyber attack there is a 60% chance that they will be closed, out of business within a year. [CS] [FC] [GM] This is a tough number […]

60% of Small Businesses Close After Cyber Attack

1 May, 2017 in cybersecurity / infosec by Vik Solem

Illustration of insecure scripts — In an article on www.cnbc.com Aneri Pattani appears to be saying that the cyber security industry has failed. Aneri refers to breach-after-breach and points to the fact that simple, old-school expoits & attack methods continue to work against newly deployed software. While the facts are true, I believe that Aneri has […]

Has the Cyber Security Industry Failed

12 Oct, 2016 in cybersecurity / infosec by Vik Solem

Source Boston 2016 Promotion

11 May, 2016 in cybersecurity / infosec by Vik Solem

Speaking as a cyber security professional, there are two “secrets” about the FBI v Apple case that seem obvious but don’t appear to have much visibility in the news. (1) If you want to break into an encrypted device you hire people who do that for a living not the […]

Two Cyber Security Secrets about the FBI v Apple Case

29 Mar, 2016 in cybersecurity / infosec by Vik Solem

As we continue to use services of different companies, we end up with more and more accounts. Getting control of all of those accounts can be a very difficult task. Here we mention one method and explain an second one in detail. Both will work, but each one has strengths […]

How to Get Control of Your Accounts

2 Mar, 2016 in cybersecurity / infosec / personal by Vik Solem

Let’s assume that Apple does help the government subvert the security of iPhones by getting them into this one device. This is not Apple’s specialty. I wouldn’t hire a safe builder to crack into a safe. I’d hire a safe cracker, but that’s just more about how the government is […]

Apple vs FBI – After They Break The Encryption

26 Feb, 2016 in cybersecurity / infosec by Vik Solem

Many accounts permit or require users to answer so-called “secret questions”. The idea is that you can provide answers to questions so that they can verify that it’s you answering the questions. Unfortunately for most of these questions the answers are easily obtained by an attacker. Here we discuss how […]

How to Answer Secret Questions

24 Feb, 2016 in cybersecurity / infosec / personal by Vik Solem

While much of the argument about the iPhone data centers on whether Apple should comply with an order to break their own protections, companies which own phones should note that the real failure is that of San Bernadino County’s information security policies and procedures. They permitted their property ( the […]

Apple vs FBI – Infosec Failure for San Bernadino

23 Feb, 2016 in cybersecurity / infosec / terrorism by Vik Solem

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