Random Links and Rants……
November 9, 2009

- We got a chance to do some Endpoint Security testing for ZDNet here: How effective is endpoint security? Thanks for the feedback on this one. We only had a very small window to get this done and given more time, the results in terms of scope of testing would have been much larger. It is what it is and we hope you liked it. Hopefully a part II, with some really cool stuff.

- Fionnbharr Davies from Securus Global (Thoth) will be presenting at Kiwicon 2009. Fionn’s talk synoposis: “Linux kernel rootkits are everywhere, but no modern (public) detection system exists. Linux rootkit checkers are currently woefully inadequate, often focusing upon mundane and outdated techniques that are only used by the lowest of the kiddies. I will briefly highlight common modern rootkit techniques as seen in real in-the-netz linux rootkits, and walk through my Antilulz tool, which is an LKM designed to be loaded at times of peak paranoia to give your kernel the once over. I’ll continue the conversation discussing what a rootkit would need to do to defeat these checks, and expand upon antilulz to continue the cold war. If I’ve time, I’ll talk a bit about the state of rootkit detection, and will discuss real-time kernel IDS techniques, and why they are extremely hard to do”.

- Thanks to Craig B and fudsec.com for having me on; Testing the Vendor Guarantees. Guaranteed Security….Just Show Us the Money.

- Some articles at Tek-Tips. Here’s a couple of the latest ones:

Clouding the Solution Landscape: Mediocrity vs Strategy – Going the Easy Path

Data Classification Policies – Forgotten Purpose

As always, keen on your thoughts.

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Securus Global: IT Security, Penetration Testing, Security Assessments, PCI Compliance, Product Assurance, QualysGuard, Security Strategy, Vulnerability Assessment.

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Posted in: cyber crime, news


Australian Bloggers Roundup
November 6, 2009

I enjoy following what the local guys have been up to. Well worth bookmarking the following Australian blogs:

- Donal at Ockham’s Razor latest post Troubleshooting-101 is a typical Donal brain dump of ideas. Smart guy and also doing some great things with Nodecity. Check them out.
- Big 4 man Matthew at Infamous Agenda has really started to get stuck into it. Is there another Big 4 Infosec dude blogging away? Great to see. A heap of new posts here covering; web application security, cloud security, security requirements, security governance.
- The biggest blogger from the west, @xntrik doesn’t post that often but always posts interesting things at un-excogitate.org. Checkout the Internet Censorship video in his latest post.
- Jarrod at /dev/null has posted a book review of; Security Metrics: Replacing Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. Check out his other recent posts also. Jarrod’s recently moved to the dark side (consulting). :)
- Eldar (@wireghoul) has a new advisory and more information and updates to “Graudit” in his blog, Just Another Hacker. He’ll also be presenting at the next AISA National Annual Seminar Day on Graudit.
- Phillip Hall at CyberSecurity Junkie has been writing about WordPress, Windows 7 and Password security. You can get Phillip on twitter also @PhilHall.
- Bradley Schatz blogs about Forensics at Inside out. I enjoy reading Bradley’s work. He knows his stuff and posts on some interesting topics. Check it out if you haven’t already.
- Paul Ducklin (CEO of Sophos) doesn’t only spend time talking about Malware at his blog, Duck or grouse. Recent topics aside form malware facts and figures include; ACMA, Social Networking, Computer Security in Schools. One of Australia’s best infosec speakers.

I haven’t covered everyone, but if you are blogging in Australia or know of someone who is, let us know and we’ll add them to the Australian IT Security Blog Directory.

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Securus Global: IT Security, Penetration Testing, Security Assessments, PCI Compliance, Product Assurance, QualysGuard, Security Strategy, Vulnerability Assessment.

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Posted in: news


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STANDING COMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS – Subject: CyberCrime (Latest)
October 23, 2009

Transcripts from latest hearings:
http://www.aph.gov.au/House/committee/coms/cybercrime/hearings.htm

Previous post on this subject here.

Thanks again to @cmlh for the link.

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Securus Global: IT Security, Penetration Testing, Security Assessments, PCI Compliance, Product Assurance, QualysGuard, Security Strategy, Vulnerability Assessment.

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Posted in: news


Australian Bloggers Roundup
September 25, 2009

While the Information Security blogging scene is relatively small here in Australia, the guys in it are always bringing out interesting things. Here’s a brief roundup of what’s been happening lately:

- Donal at Ockham’s Razor looks at Electronic Voting in his latest post and raises, (what to us), are valid points. He links to an article from Ireland which is interesting reading. Do yourself a favour and read some of D’s other posts. Worth scanning through for some thinking “outside the square”.
- Wade doesn’t focus that much on Information Security anymore but every so often, he’ll have a few gems there. Interesting reading at wadem anyway.
- The west’s biggest and best blogger, Christian at un-excogitate.org covers the latest OWASP meeting in Perth and also talks about Cloud Security in his latest posts.
- Jordan at Security Technology Science has started posting again. I like Jordan’s posts as he looks at the psychology of our industry and the people within it. He’s got extensive experience so for new guys coming up through the ranks (and those already there), it’s interesting to get that take from a “veteran”. (He’ll hate me saying that as he’s heaps younger than me!)
- Another BJJ/MMA exponent (gees, there’s a few in our industry), Jarrod at /DEV/NULL has posts on Cloud Security and Exemptions which are worth a read. Post your thoughts to Jarrod.
- The Big 4 man Matthew at Infamous Agenda has recently been getting hot over a few topics. Go see what’s been getting Matt worked up.
- Pat’s Risky.Biz continues to be one of the best Information Security podcasts out there. He’s got a heap of new stuff; forums, vids and the usual weekly Risky Business podcast.
- Eldar’s stuff at Just Another Hacker makes my old technical – now non-technical head spin, but for you techo dudes, go suss it out.
- James at Karter.Net while not a totally security focused blog, but Open Source and other things, plus his experience, is publishing a lot of good stuff. To narrow it down to one sentence would not do it justice. Click away.
- Philip at PhilipHall.com has been talking about Apple vulns in recent times. “CyberSecurity Junkie” and worth reading his archive of posts.
- Bradley at Inside Out continues his focus on forensics, digital evidence and legal issues. One of few in Australia blogging about this topic. Worth bookmarking!

I haven’t covered everyone, but if you are blogging in Australia or know of someone who is, let us know and we’ll add them to the Australian IT Security Blog Directory.

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Posted in: Research, news


Random Links and Rants…….
September 8, 2009

- Have been following this thread at Risky.Biz about “VulnDisco bug list made public“. I think through flagg’s comments, our position on it has been made. Yes, we are their local representatives as we are with Immunity and D2. Not that any of this is news as Securus Global has been for a while (see link). Personally, I don’t think this is story is news here as Flagg mentioned for some in the industry but it does make for good awareness for a majority of the industry who may be oblivious to markets outside of “mainstream” security products. Interesting reading some of the comments though in terms of thoughts on effectiveness, impact and moreso about people’s thoughts on difficulty (or lack of thereof) in reproducing exploits based upon a knowledge now of the vulnerabilities.

- With Cloud Security being such a popular topic of discussion now, good unbiased sources of news and information about Cloud Security can be hard to find. (Vendor waffle vs. reality for example). My favourite site is Craig Balding’s cloudsecurity.org. If you want information that is honest, informative and asks serious questions about the topic, bookmark this one! Craig has also recently kicked off the Cloud Security podcast here with Chris Hoff of Rational Survivability. Highly recommended.

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Randon Links and Rants…….
August 22, 2009

- Didn’t the 4 Corners Episode; “Fear in the Fast Lane” generate some discussion and debate this week? I didn’t post anything about it myself here for a couple of reasons; (1) I didn’t think anything new and worthwhile was worth highlighting, and, (2) People were “twittering up a storm” over it – some of it very over the top. (Refer to #4corners on Twitter search for more on that). Interestingly, from within our own industry, the discussion was more personal – questioning people’s credentials as “experts” as opposed to the actual content itself in many cases. Some fair questions raised and some not so in my opinion. I welcome your thoughts here.

-Which leads me to discussions and analysis on who are the “experts”. Anton Chuvakin, our Qualys and PCI friend ponders the question here; “A Myth of an Expert Generalist“. The same question was also raised in the Beast or Buddha forums a little while ago in the post titled; “Internet Security ‘Expert‘”. I had some thoughts on this topic (and the 4 Corners episode) on my twitter; here and here. Chris Gatford, an industry colleague in Australia and one of the people heavily featured during the 4 Corners episode responded to this here.

- Hackers vs Federal Police was a big story this week here as reported in the SMH; “Hackers break into police computer as sting backfires“. Some things get reported and some don’t: http://r00tsecurity.org/files/zf05.txt. No more to add. Everyone’s a target and everyone’s ownable (well at least you’d bet on it it being the case). Kind of makes a mockery of some of the talk on the conference circuit. Waffle vs substance…what do people want to listen to? Can most even judge?

- I’ve recently been invited to write for Tek-Tips Forums. Yep, that’s my mug. I’ll link the posts from here also when I remember to do so. After coming back from a holiday, the inspirational juices aren’t really flowing but I expect things will start to annoy me and then I’ll be back to normal. :)

- Had to repost this one: “How not to setup a Hotel Safe”; I took this photo recently in a hotel in Croatia. At first I thought I must be missing something here (like being able to program the code) but no, this is it. Needless to say, I didn’t use the “safe”. :)

- And finally, off the Information Security topics. The latest issue of Top Gear magazine (which I thought was not the Australian one – yuk….but seems now like some sort of a combination of Aus and UK) has a home fridge magnet Cool Wall – most cool! Here’s my “Cool Wall“.

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Posted in: Bad Stuff, Dumb Security, Risk Management, Vulnerability Management, Web Application Security, cyber crime, news


CERTs in Australia….and the saga continues….
August 18, 2009

From Australian IT; “AusCERT sidelined in CERT revamp“. Sadly the big question that most will raise from this is; “What will happen to the yearly junket, (I mean conference), on the Gold Coast?” Be shocked if anyone even responds to this post.

Positive to see the Government doing things. Hopefully it’s being well planned and thought out.

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Posted in: Risk Management, cyber crime, news


Securus Global News and Information
August 13, 2009

I don’t normally use this forum to talk about the business side of things for Securus Global but thought I would take an opportunity to talk a bit about what’s been happening.

2009 surprisingly has seen good growth for us. Still hoping we’re not going to see some delayed effect of the Global Economic Crisis.

While we’ve always had a large client base in Melbourne, we’ve recently setup a permanent presence there and we’re looking at doing the same for other Australian cities. Asia and other international clients we support from Sydney at present (and travel as required like we always have), but we’re looking at our position here. (Also based upon international partnerships).

With this expansion, we are looking for good people, so we’re keen to hear from experienced and passionate Information Security Specialists. Generally, the level of expertise we look for is as described here. Working with many of Australia’s largest organisations across most industry sectors (in particular across critical infrastructure), we’re seen as leaders in our field and we’ve built our reputation and differentiation on the quality of our work and people. There’s few others that can now match our client-base and we’re proud of our achievements to have gotten to where we are.

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Random Links and Rants…….
August 10, 2009

- How not to setup a Hotel Safe: I took this photo recently in a hotel in Croatia. At first I thought I must be missing something here (like being able to program the code) but no, this is it. Needless to say, I didn’t use the “safe”. :)

- Ockham’s Razor post on Security Shapes. D’s stuff is always interesting and worth a read.

- Our old friend Big Galoot has certainly shown the power of the Internet Blogger. His “Protect Jerrys Plains” blog has exposed many questionable business and government practices. In recent times, his work has received attention from mainstream media. He may well have brought down a minister.

- Saw this one on my return – reported by Pat at Risky.Biz: “McAfee Leaks 1400 Security Pro Details“. I haven’t had a chance to listen to the podcast yet where Pat interviews McAfee over the incident. I question how big a deal this is. How much of the information is confidential really? AusCert and many other conferences send out similar lists (albeit the attendees have opted-in for their information to be available to sponsors). Mistake or marketing – Hey, look how many important people were interested in McAfee. Might drive others to follow these important people. DLP discussion/debate? Seriously?

- Christian has a new post where he poses some good questions around putting solutions together and approaches to Information Security; “Keep It Simple“.

- Jarrod looks at the “Full-Disclosure” debate here at his /Dev/Null blog.

- We’ve added a few more to the list of Australian IT Security Bloggers. Let me know if you want to be added to this list.

- I see Kiwicon 3 has been anounced for November 28-29, 2009. Details here. Follow on Twitter also.

Back now after almost 4 weeks abroad. While I was away, the guys at Tek-Tips kicked off publication of some of my articles. I’ll be writing more for the publication so will post links sometimes from here to the site. Anyway, I better get back to work now.

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Posted in: Dumb Security, WTF, news


A CIO and CEO Guide to improving corporate security today – it is possible.

Just got back and saw this was confirmed:
http://www.iirme.com/securecon/workshops/c.html

CEOs, CIOs and Middle East Gov and Gov Security seems to be the audience.

Should be fun…..there is no slides…….just talk…..they accepted that….(somewhat I think). :) I prefer to just talk……

This will be an all-out session and I hope Bruce S (Keynote) will be there….Pass this link to 20 of your friends and you will receive…magically a new notebook.

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Posted in: Applications, Bad Developers, Bad Stuff, Disclosure Laws, Dumb Security, Firewalls, Forensics, PCI, PCI DSS, Research, Risk Management, Securus Global, Too cool, Vulnerability Management, Web Application Security, cyber crime, governance, news


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