Solution Practice Lead
[sayit]In the early days of the coronavirus crisis, as nonprofits shuttered their offices and canceled large events, many began to roll out videoconferencing at scale for the first time. At first, things generally went smoothly, with employees and other stakeholders able to connect with one another from the safety of their homes. Then the videobombers…
— Written by Jeff Falcon, Paul Shelton and Ziyad Roumaya When it comes to working from home, for many organizations, user devices and network connectivity are top-of-mind concerns. And while that makes sense, there are certainly other considerations. Like everything else IT-related, there are aspects of security that need to be minded when rolling out…
[sayit]Everyone who works in IT is familiar with the phone call that I received from a friend last year: “Hey, Paul, you work with computers, right?” I braced myself, knowing that I was once again about to don the “friends and family” technical support hat that all of us are asked to wear from time…
What’s the current state of multifactor authentication in your organization? If you’re like many of my customers, you might think that MFA is old hat — a problem solved years ago that now just requires a little routine maintenance. If that sounds familiar, it’s probably time for you to re-evaluate the role that MFA plays…
Cybersecurity professionals have a mixed record of success in dealing with a security landscape that is becoming increasingly complex and dangerous. We've done a solid job of protecting the network perimeter — keeping out people who we don’t want to gain access to our networks. But we haven't done a particularly good job of taking…
The intense interest in cybersecurity among IT professionals reflects its growing importance to just about every organization in every industry. I talked with many people who attended the CDW SummIT on Managing Risk in Las Vegas last month, and I was really impressed with the number of attendees and their level of engagement. One of…
The past five years have seen a dramatic change in the cybersecurity threat landscape. Our defenses must evolve to meet these new threats. Enterprise security teams have dedicated the last two decades to perimeter protection, and they have gotten quite good at building a secure box in which we may place our sensitive data. However,…
Remember the old days of phishing, where poorly written and designed e-mails linked to obviously fake websites, where you were asked to divulge your Social Security number, your mother’s maiden name, even your passwords. Those were simpler times — so much easier to spot a phishing scam. The warnings were clear and the perpetrators clumsy…
When was the last time a salesman presented a product with the caveat that it wouldn’t solve the client’s problems? Never, of course. Every security vendor has the answer to every organization’s prayers. To sift through the noise from the steady stream of sales pitches, many organizations gravitate toward whatever is shiny and new. They…
Few email users fork over their bank account numbers to Nigerian princes or click links to claim lottery prizes anymore. In fact, as digital natives enter the workforce, the collective sophistication of email users grows. Yet email scams are still big business. That’s because while users are increasingly savvy, so are the bad actors. Today’s…
A CFO gets an email from his CEO: She is traveling, but needs $10 million transferred to an account to finalize an acquisition. The CFO knows a deal is in the works, so he approves the transfer. Poof! The money is gone forever. It turns out a fraudster sent the email. Farfetched? Hardly. This trick…
A business hires two security guards to protect the premises. The first guard patrols the perimeter while the second protects the lobby. Late one night, the guard patrolling the perimeter discovers a freshly broken window. You’d expect that he would immediately alert the inside security guard about the possibility of an intruder, right? Unfortunately, IT…
In my 15 years of experience in consulting with customers on their security strategy, one thing is abundantly clear, security is tricky. No matter whom we work with, they have questions and concerns revolving around their security. “Am I secure enough?” is the nagging question that will keep security managers up at night. That’s not…
