Kenneth van Wyk

It’s the age-old battle of security: to disclose or not to disclose software defects. The proverbial pendulum of opinion has been swinging back and forth on this issue for decades, and it’s not likely to stop any time soon. The issue reappeared just recently when an ISS employee was prohibited from speaking at a conference […]

During the past few months, I’ve reverted back to being a ”road warrior” of sorts. Apart from spending far too much time with my 1K buddies over at United, all the travel has made me think about the security of the data on my laptop, PDA, and (Linux-based) phone. Think about it a bit… How […]

We’ve all heard it — perhaps even from our friends, family or colleagues. ‘You’re being too paranoid,’ they tell us when we explain to them how we’ve configured our wireless LAN, PDA, firewall or some other new entry in our gaggle of gadgets. The thing is, though, paranoia is an unfounded fear of the unknown. […]

Batten down the hatches! Raise the drawbridge! Kind of sounds funny in today’s Information Technology context, doesn’t it? However, it should at least sound familiar to many of us in the IT security realm. We’ve been following these practices for years, after all. The problem is that it’s too late. We have no perimeter to […]

Looking for a great rate on a mortg(ag)e? Neither am I. But, judging from the number of such emails that find their way into my spambox — (Thank You, Spamassassin!) — a lot of people must be. These are no doubt the same people that believe ”eBay” et al when they get an email from […]

As you read this, users are winding up their holidays and heading back to the office. The trouble is that they’re bringing security risks with them — you can count on it. That is, all those users are bringing all the cool new electronic gadgets they received as holiday gifts. The cool gadgets this year […]

A common rallying cry heard around IT Security departments is the need for more security awareness training for corporate users. This cry seems to resurface every time a new email-borne virus comes out that dupes our users into clicking on an attachment and infecting their PCs. The IT security team invariably finds itself shocked that […]