Is Microsoft a security company? The idea has been on my mind for a while. I think back to the days of my early Microsoft experiences. For me, that would be Windows 3.1 and DOS 5.0 up to DOS 6.22. It was the base of my conquest for co-sysop on a few dial-up BBSs (bulletin boards), getting really good download ratios, and finding all the sweet “warez”. I was also digging through every inch of my computer. Today, in my role as a Microsoft 365 pre-sales architect, I give even more thought to the security aspects of Microsoft’s environment.

The election infrastructure in the U.S. depends on the coordinated, secure interaction of thousands of state and local election officials using very different technologies. These range from large cities with fully electronic voting systems to small municipalities that still rely on paper ballots. As I work with officials from these diverse election authorities, I’ve developed a set of best practices that will enhance security in any election environment. Let’s take a look at five key measures that every Board of Elections should put in place.

In December 2015, more than 200,000 Ukrainians found themselves without power during a blackout cause by a cyberattack launched from within the Russian Federation. The attack was carried out by a spear-phishing campaign that was used to install malware on energy company computers. The malware, dubbed BlackEnergy, was specifically designed for use against industrial control…

On average, it takes 170 days to detect an advanced attack, 39 days to contain it and 43 days to remediate it, according to a Ponemon study. Security threats are pervasive and constantly evolving. Today’s cybercriminals are smarter, bolder and more ambitious than in years past. The IT landscape is changing to accommodate mobility, cloud…

The standard defenses of IT security are fairly well-known: Firewalls, anti-virus, passwords and more. But what was sufficient yesterday is no longer enough in a security landscape where social engineering and advanced persistent threats run rampant. Next-gen firewall technologies offers significant enhancements and improvements on their predecessors. Application visibility is much better with Palo Alto…

With all of the recent excitement about the “Shellshock” code execution vulnerability in the UNIX bash shell, and the somewhat older news about SSL vulnerabilities, I am reminded once again about the need for organizations to formally manage information security as part of an ongoing process.