Michael Santarcangelo delivers Awareness that Works™
by Michael Starks Bloggers and writers often lament the challenge of finding new material. When we do write about a topic, it is often a second-hand story, perhaps commenting on the big news of the day. This month is different, thanks to Gexa Energy, an electricity provider based in Houston, Texas. Last month, my wife [...]
by Michael Starks Fellow Catalyst Blogger Adam Dodge recently wrote about failure. In his blog entry, he muses about how failure can lead to increasingly better results. Fail better, he offers, rather than try for perfection. What is information security if not the study of how systems fail? While consumers of information systems expect them [...]
by Michael Starks Dear Chief Executive Officer, I want to help. When you hired me as a security professional, I had certain expectations. I expected that you would come to me for guidance when evaluating new technologies. I expected that you would solicit my feedback when engaging in risky ventures. I expected that, as a [...]
By Michael Starks Why do companies keep losing our personal information? That, of course, is the billion dollar question. Theories abound, and while we all theorize about the causes, data is still being compromised at an alarming rate. Allow me to add to the theorizing, fully aware that this is going to sound a bit [...]
By Michael Starks 2008 was a year like no other. Then again, it was a year where not much had changed. We learned about the Kaminsky DNS vulnerability through an unprecedented, coordinated advisory. Systems not patched with MS08-067 became compromised with the Conficker worm. PCI-compliant companies fell prey to attack. We even accused governments [...]
by Michael Starks Imagine if a building on every street started on fire every day. They are small fires, which cause relatively little damage, and are usually quickly extinguished by the sprinkler system. Every once in awhile, the entire house burns down because the sprinkler system hasn’t been updated in over a year. Now imagine [...]
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