November 2003 – Page 11 – CyberSecurity Institute

‘CEOs know nothing about security’

Posted on November 4, 2003December 30, 2021 by admini

While cyberterrorism and other fad-threats haven’t turned out to be pose the risks which many experts had predicted, the number one source of tech threat remains inside a business itself – its staff and its internal processes, according to Arjen van Zanten of KPMG’s risk management business.

He claimed there still exists a cultural barrier between IT departments and the board. “The board of directors don’t understand anything about security,” he said.

Tom Scholtz, VP of research firm Meta Group, replied “but the heads of IT, and above all those in charge of security, aren’t up to the job of reassuring them”, in the course of a roundtable on the value of security.

Just a few years ago, IT security was considered a restriction on businesses. Like putting the brakes on a vehicle only has one result: it slows down how fast you can go. Today, luckily, it’s considered as a sign of confidence and people realise that using the brakes actually helps you go to faster.

More info: [url=http://www.silicon.com/software/security/0,39024655,39116753,00.htm]http://www.silicon.com/software/security/0,39024655,39116753,00.htm[/url]

CA to Reshuffle Security Lineup

Posted on November 4, 2003December 30, 2021 by admini

This release will be followed in the coming months by new versions of a handful of other products, including eTrust Access Control, Audit, Directory, Single Sign-On and Web Access Control.

The new integrated suite structure holds appeal for large enterprises because of the improved level of granularity it delivers, customers say.

The entire suite will include support for a number of security industry standards, including Security Assertion Markup Language and Security Provisioning Markup Language.
More info:
[url=http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1369458,00.asp]http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1369458,00.asp[/url]

Symantec on alert after Net activity surge

Posted on November 3, 2003December 30, 2021 by admini

It appears that some of Symantec’s concern has been driven by the recent re-appearance of a variety of Trojan that exploits a security flaw in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer that allows miscreants to insert malicious code into Windows PCs through Web and HTML content.

The payload delivered by the latest variety of Trojan to appear, Qhosts-1, manipulates the way PCs find Web sites on the Internet.

According to Weafer there was evidence of links between servers implicated in spamming activities and the Trojan, which he said may point to the possibility that Qhosts-1 has propagated more widely than previously thought possible through email-borne HTML content.
More info: [url=http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5086013.html]http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5086013.html[/url]

Mimail Worm Variations Launch Multi-Pronged Attack

Posted on November 3, 2003December 30, 2021 by admini

All share enough characteristics, ranging from packaging their payloads in compressed .zip files to targeting specific Web sites for denial-of-service attacks, that convince analysts that one individual, or a group of attacks working together, are conducting the assault.

To compound the problem, the variants’ .zip files have been purposefully corrupted, said Dunham, so that they’re not correctly scanned by some anti-virus software.

“The Zip files are designed to choke up some anti-virus software, making the programs give up on the scanning and move on, letting the worm through,” he noted.

Organizations should aggressive update their anti-virus definitions, filter against the worms’ known file attachments, scan compressed files,

Host-based intrusion detection key to security

Posted on November 3, 2003December 30, 2021 by admini

“In future, networks will need automatic systems that will be able to respond to virus attacks within seconds to prevent serious damage”, he told customers and partners of Cisco Systems and Internet Solutions in Bryanston yesterday.

Van Gend says there is a very high level of security awareness in South Africa, but like the rest of the world, many decision makers do not realise the scale of the risk.

He emphasises the importance of protecting networks against the unknown and says Cisco has found that the most effective way of doing that is by using host based intrusion detection, “which is proactive rather than being merely reactive like most other security systems.”

“Although the virus is present on the network, host-based intrusion detection as implemented by Cisco means that viruses can be prevented from executing until the necessary patches can be applied in a controlled and more cost effective way.”

More info: [url=http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/computing/2003/0310311051.asp?A=SEC&S=Security&O=FPT]http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/computing/2003/0310311051.asp?A=SEC&S=Security&O=FPT[/url]

Process, not technology, tightens security

Posted on November 3, 2003December 30, 2021 by admini

Corporate security is more of a strategic issue than a technological battle, and chief security officers should be treated as trusted experts by boards, delegates at the Compsec 2003 were told last week.

Outsourcing, email management and financial or regulatory pressures such as Basel II in Europe and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the US have driven this approach, the security conference heard.

“The chief security officer should now be positioned as a trusted advisor to the business, moving away from operational delivery towards understanding and managing risk,” said Phillip Gregory, head of UK security at financal services firm Norwich Union.

Security is less about technology and more about establishing consistency in the processes and procedures that the technology supports, he added.

Identify issues early, raise awareness of your requirement and become part of the process,” he said.

Ian Angell, information systems professor at the London School of Economics, repeated warnings to spend more time on due process and less on technology as a panacea.

However, success and failure will be determined by unique social, political, organisational, and particularly personal factors, not just the functional.”

More info: [url=http://www.vnunet.com/News/1147007]http://www.vnunet.com/News/1147007[/url]