It’s actually way more than just a firewall. Blue Lane, which we’ve covered in the past here and here, calls it a virtualized IPS (Intrusion Prevention System). They are about to release extensive additions to their VM protection suite VirtualShield including integration with VMware’s VirtualCenter. By now most data centers have extensive host and network based protection, there’s certainly no shortage of available solutions. But what about those virtual servers and virtual machines that are popping up all over the network? Track down and secure each one of them by hand? - I think not.
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If you want to find out more about the recent Ingrian acquisition by SafeNet and have an interest in Data Privacy you probably want to register for this event. The good people at Ingrian were kind enough to let us know about this in advance. Here is the official invite:

Featured Customer Speakers:
Matt Haynes - Senior Manager, Infrastructure Performance Assurance, U.S. Cellular
Sreenivas Kancharla - Senior Manager and Lead Security Architect, Symantec

Featured Analyst:
Jon Oltsik - Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group
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After a brief hiatus, we are back. What better reason to open with what is THE event for security folks. So they say. Yes it is that time of the year again. RSA is about open the gates in San Francisco. For those of you who have never been there, you can still register - see link below.

I’ll be there for at least one or two days. If you are going to be there as well, drop me a line maybe we can meet up at the show. Would be nice to have a chat with some of our readers.

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Wireless networking is still a somewhat new, and emerging technology. Its popularity continues to grow and more and more organizations are deploying wireless networks, or exploring what the benefits might be if they choose to implement a wireless network. They can make users more productive, and more efficient, but they can also create a huge security risk if not properly configured.

The original wireless security mechanism, WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), was quickly shown to have fatal flaws which render it barely better than having no security at all. In fact, perhaps no security at all is better because at least then you know you are insecure and you don’t have the illusion that you may be secure.

Aside from a fundamental flaw in the implementation of the encryption algorithm, one issue with WEP is its reliance on a pre-shared key Full article…

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I am sure you are familiar with CD’s or DVD’s that execute automatically. Just insert a disc into your system and watch it “automagically” start running. Windows is set up to immediately scan removable media such as discs or USB flash drives, determine the type of content they contain, and respond accordingly.

Initially, all types of content default to “Ask Me Every Time”. In other words, every time you insert a music CD, AutoPlay will take a look at it and prompt you for what action to take. Do you want to play the music with Windows Media Player? Do you want to open the folder to view the files using Windows Explorer? Do you want to take no action whatsoever and just get rid of the pop-up box? You can choose any of those options, and you can also click Full article…

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As more users have migrated to mobile computing, using laptops instead of desktops to enable them to carry their work home or on the road, corporations and security administrators have had to struggle with the resulting security implications. Most enterprises have some form of VPN (Virtual Private Networking) to allow remote users to connect securely with network resources on the internal network, but that is only part of the battle.

In the past few years, story after story after story has hit the news regarding information security breaches resulting from laptops that are lost or stolen. The Home Depot, Boeing, and The Gap stories are just a handful of examples of lost or stolen laptops containing sensitive and personal information on hundreds of thousands of individuals. With the rise in the use of mobile computing, organizations need to implement security that protects the data on the device in case it is lost or stolen.

In some versions of Windows Vista, and in the upcoming Windows Server 2008, Microsoft has incorporated a new technology that can help protect data on laptops and provide some assurance that the data will not be compromised even if the laptop falls into the wrong hands. Bitlocker encrypts all user files and system files Full article…

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