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 As if dumb and blind seizing of computers for nefarious purposes weren’t bad enough, we now have people intentionally choosing to be part of attacks. In our ITER discussions, we struggle with the amount of focus that IT has on human behavior (much more problematic than computer behavior); and that is within the corporate walls. Do we expect IT folks to modify and human behavior outside the corporate walls as well? Of course not. But how else can this be slowed or stopped?

http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=6268

Consider the possibilities of what these accounts may be used for? I have had “friend requests” from people that I do not know who are already linked with other mutual friends – sometimes dozens of them. After suspecting a couple of them – I couldn’t find any commonality in our supposed mutual friends and the new contact’s activities – I unfriended them. Now I wonder if they could be these sorts of accounts. I’m an “open networker” on LinkedIn (meaning I’ll link with anyone); but not in Facebook. For open networkers in Facebook, this could spell serious trouble when combined with a good FB attack of some sort.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=6304

McAfee anti-virus debacle: poor QA allowed an anti-virus update to functionally wipe-out Windows XP-SP3 systems. They admitted the problem. And are paying for some of the computer repair. Hard to know who to trust when the ones you trust cause this damage. Also brings to question “patch early and often”; if we are to wait to roll out anti-virus updates, we risk zero-day attacks even further. Turns out security IS in your own hands and there is no panacea.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=2003

From “don’t be evil” (Google’s original mantra) to “Google even knows what you’re thinking” (the title of this article). Can an organization be omniscient and still not be evil?  

http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=6291&tag=nl.e550

This has been a topic of our ITER Dinners recently. All the new “smart-phones” are great devices – and big security and management risks.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/190818/employeeliable_smartphones_on_corporate_networks_five_tips_to_boost_admin_control.html

Decision making based on who supports the latest, fastest processor? I hope not.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/datacenter/?p=199&tag=content;col2

Have you heard about the PWN2OWN contest? Sponsored by Tipping Point, it’s about geeks hacking software – and it’s got cash money prizes.

This year’s big news (so far) from PWN2OWN:

This Apple / PC (and even Linux) thing has come up in our round-table discussions; but this angle has not been seriously discussed – let alone seriously considered by many of the execs I’ve met with. Is it just BS? Apple marketing hoo-ha? Or is there validity? If there’s any validity, why aren’t we ROI-driven IT Exec geniuses pushing this way? “It’s my one or two proprietary apps…” Is that it?

Love ‘em or hate ‘em (see related article on CEO popularity), the top dogs have a heavy influence on what happens in their organizations and thus on everyone else’s they affect – by employing, buying, selling, etc. Here’s an article with a few boil-up points on what CEOs say they’ll be doing in the next three years and what they’re still concerned about.

In our ITER dinner in San Diego last week, we bounced this “Cloud Computing” thing around this way: “It’s three years from now, and like so many other past trends that we geniuses pooh-poohed, it is real. Everything is going that way and our beloved “servers” and so many other things are going away. What’s our job about then? What’s the top priority? How is that different than now? What do we need to do to be prepared?” It could happen…