Mobile

Mobile Devices Taking Part In Enterprise DDoS Attacks?

Mobile phones have long been on the radar for enterprises concerned about data loss and the spread of malicious code. But a report from the firm Prolexic suggests that they may also be taking part in massive denial of service (DoS) attacks against enterprise networks. The firm Prolexic said that data it collected in the final quarter of 2013 suggests that mobile devices are playing a growing role in distributed DoS (or DDoS) attacks against the firm’s enterprise customers. “Malicious actors now carry a powerful attack tool in the palm of their hands, which requires minimal skill to use,” said Stuart Scholly, president of Prolexic, in a statement. [Read more Security Ledger coverage of Denial of Services Attacks.]   Infecting unwitting victims with a malicious program is a common method used by botnet operators whose platforms are behind many large-scaled DDoS attacks. But Scholly said that mobile devices and mobile DDoS […]

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Is 2014 The Year Uncle Sam Takes On Connected Device Security?

The Consumer Electronics Show – or CES- kicked off last week in Las Vegas. In the last decade, CES has become one of the premiere venues for consumer device makers to launch new products and to show off prototypes of technology they hope to introduce to the public. Home entertainment megafauna dominate the coverage of CES — there was Samsung’s 85-inch LED LCD model with 4K resolution that can transform from flat-screen to curved display. But this year’s show is also a showcase for the next wave of connected devices, including wearable technology, smart appliances and connected vehicles. All these new platforms raise important questions about security, privacy and reliability. I sat down to talk about some of those issues with Mark Stanislav, the lead security evangelist at the firm Duo Security. Mark is a frequent contributor to The Security Ledger who last joined us to provide an end of year […]

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Week In Security: More Target Woes and CES

It was another eventful week in security, with another big revelation in the story of a hack of box retailer Target Inc. That update – which accompanied Target’s fourth quarter earnings guidance – nearly doubled the number of known victims of that attack. It also revealed that credit card data was not the only information stolen by hackers, who also made off with customer names, mailing addresses and emails. In this latest installment of Security Ledger’s Security Week in Review, we spoke with Jody Brazil, the President of the security firm FireMon about the week’s events. Jody is a seasoned security professional who works day-in-day-out with companies that are trying to manage their risk. He said that even large companies like Target can fall victim to sophisticated attacks, but the IT security may be too quick to give up on traditional defensive technologies. Jody and I had an interesting chat about […]

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Cars Become Gadget-ized, Govt. Warns On Privacy Risk

Your car is a lot more than just a car these days. Forget about the in-car entertainment system with the USB port and the iPhone jack. If you drive a late-model vehicle, it has been tricked out with hundreds of wireless sensors to monitor everything from tire pressure to braking and acceleration. These sensors communicate over a VAN – or Vehicle Area Network – that’s not all that different from the LAN that connects the computers, servers, printers and other peripheral devices in your office. Beyond that, automakers are taking their cue from mobile device makers- and for good reason. Apple booked $10 billion in sales through its AppStore in 2013 alone. That’s not too shabby, when you consider that much of that revenue came in $.99 increments! But, as Jessica Naziri (@jessicanaziri) noted in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times, cars are the new gadgets. After all, the Detroit Auto Show is still […]

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Are We Even Trying To Defend The Internet of Things?

Josh Corman has been a frequent mention on this blog. Josh, who is the Director of Security Intelligence at Akamai Technologies, joined me on the first episodes of Talking Code, speaking about application security and The Internet of Things. He talked candidly about the role that platform security played in his thinking about buying a new car. Well, a few months have passed and now Josh has the new car. But now that he has it, he’s thinking more than ever about the security problem as it pertains to the Internet of Things. In this video, from a TEDx event in Naperville, Illinois (right outside Chicago), Josh talks about his evolving theory of security on the Internet of Things. The IoT, he says, is a “tidal wave” of change that will transform our lives – connecting every aspect of life via software. But this growing amalgam of Internet connected stuff […]

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