Continuing concerns over industrial networks

It's not a new topic, but SCADA and other industrial control networks continue to be integrated into IP networks and utilize old computing platforms (Windows XP) for management of the programmable logic controllers (PLCs) that actually control industrial equipment. There are a number of well-known espionage examples of PLCs being exploited with malware, like the [...]

Open vs. closed appliances in your network

When it comes to putting an appliance in your network for out-of-band management, you want to think carefully about whether that appliance is based on an open or closed platform. It might just be the difference between locking up network security and being open for business for hackers. A Linux platform lends itself to building [...]

Short security memory dooming IoT?

HP released a report expressing fears that the IT industry has a nasty habit of forgetting what they've learned security-wise each time it tackles the next big tech challenge. With the increasing excitement about the potential of the Internet of Things (IoT), hidden dangers are lurking. Daniel Miessler, the head of the research team at [...]

Despite security fears, IT execs forecast more cloud

Despite more than three-quarters of businesses in the US adopting cloud storage and web applications, and 70 percent globally, confidence around cloud security is at an all-time low according to a recent survey by BT. The survey revealed that security is the main concern about using cloud-based services. About half of respondents stated that they [...]

Assume that you are a Target

There has been a buzz in the Uplogix office about the much-publicized Target credit card information breach. No, not just because many of us are now carrying shiny new credit cards proactively replaced by our banks due to our vulnerability as frequent Targét (say it Tar-zhay) shoppers, but because initial reports indicated that the breach relied [...]

When an “air gap” isn’t enough

The remote nature of offshore drilling platforms used to ensure the safety of their networks from the world wide web with three W's of another sort: a physical barrier of waves, wind and water. On-board, the "air gap" between vessel control systems, process control systems and data networks is shrinking as these become increasingly linked [...]

NIST cybersecurity framework development continues

NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, held its fifth public workshop last week in Raleigh, North Carolina on a comprehensive cybersecurity framework mandated in a February 2012 executive order. The framework is designed to improve cybersecurity across sixteen critical infrastructure industries and build up from a basic core of functions based around the [...]

DARPA Grand Challenge targets automated cyber security

A view of some of the sensing hardware on an autonomously piloted vehicle in the DARPA Grand Challenge. DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) announced the next focus area in their series of Grand Challenges that have included autonomously driven vehicles, humanoid robotics and now automated network defenses. The Cyber Grand Challenge seeks to [...]

Uplogix supports National Cyber Security Awareness Month

Uplogix compliance reporting records who  has accessed devices and what was done. Both Uplogix and the National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) are celebrating 10-year anniversaries in 2013, and share a relevance in today’s technology landscape that more important than ever. The month-long NCSAM event aims to raise awareness of cyber security issues to create [...]

Experts predict federal IT staff reductions next year

Belts are going to tighten in Federal IT, making Cloud,data center consolidation and network automationeven more important. A recent article in the Federal Times says that federal IT staff sizes will likely go down next year due to continued pressure from sequestration cuts, ongoing migration of federal IT infrastructure to the cloud, and program consolidation [...]