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Issue
November 2006
In this month's issue of our Security Watch Newsletter we update you on some
of the latest happenings at BH Consulting, highlight the release of the latest
SANS Top 20 list, present two interesting videos developed by the Dutch CERT
team, discuss how to develop your own portable security kit, discuss virtualisation
technology, highlight how Microsoft and Cisco team up on Network Access Control
and how to Radically Simplify IT.
About BH Consulting
BH Consulting was founded in answer to demands for an independent consulting
firm to assist clients gain a competitive edge by achieving IT Operational
excellence in deploying, managing and securing their IT infrastructure. With
over 20 year’s experience, we provide you with access to in-depth expertise,
experience and technical know-how. Backed with our quality processes and
commitment to deliver, BH Consulting provides clients with quality solutions at
cost effective rates.
 Support
Focus Ireland
If you have found any items in our
Security Watch Newsletter to be of use to you we ask that you
make a donation to
Focus Ireland who
work tirelessly supporting the homeless throughout Ireland. Focus Ireland
aims to advance the right of people-out-of-home to live in a place they call
home through quality services, research, and advocacy. The objectives of
Focus Ireland are to respond to the needs of people out-of-home and those at
risk of becoming homeless, through a range of appropriate high quality services,
to provide emergency transitional and long-term accommodation for people
out-of-home, to campaign and lobby for the rights of people out-of-home
and the prevention of homelessness. No sum is too small and all is
put to excellent use.
BH CONSULTING NEWS
BH Consulting Addressed NITEs
Seminar
Earlier this month Brian Honan addressed the 5th annual National IT & eSecurity Summit
on the topic of "Improving Security - Incident Response". The presentation
was well received by those attending and a copy of the presentation is available
here.
BH Consulting Spoke at SANS Amsterdam
Over 250 people from around the world attended the SANS Amsterdam training event
in November. Brian Honan was Master of Ceremonies for the Community Night
event and also presented
to the attendees on the value of the community in tackling cyber crime.
BH Consulting
Participates in ENISA Workshop on Information Security Certification
ENISA (the
European Network and Information Security Agency) hosted a workshop in Athens on the
topic of "Information Security Certification". The purpose of the workshop
is to start the process of identifying the key certification schemes pertinent
to information security in the areas of People, Process and Technology within
the European Union.
Our Senior Consultant Brian Honan represented BH Consulting at this workshop and
gave a presentation on the "Value of Certifications" and also produced
a position paper on the subject.
The SANS Top 20 Internet Security
Attacks
As part of his role as European Editor for the SANS Institutes
NewsBites newsletter, Brian Honan was invited to attend the latest
release of the new SANS Top 20 Internet
Security Attacks. This list if available for free to anyone concerned about
information security at The SANS Institute's
website. We recommend everyone reviews this list to ensure they can
best prepare their network and system defences against the most common threats
facing organisations today. Brian provides more details on the list
through our recently launched
Security
Watch Blog.
Security Watch Blog Launched in
November.
As mentioned in our October Security Watch
newsletter
we have launched our
Security Watch
Blog. We intend to make this
Blog a valuable and informative resource for those concerned with
information security. We hope to update the
Blog regularly with interesting
stories concerning information security, updates on BH Consulting's engagements
and activities and where appropriate provide our insight and opinions on various
items. Please visit our
Security
Watch Blog and let us have your feedback.
The US Cyber Consequences Unit
Cyber-Security Checklist Released.
The U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit is an independent research group that supplies
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with information on the consequences of
cyber-attacks and evaluate the cost-effectiveness of countermeasures in place to
prevent such attacks. As part of this research, the U.S. Cyber
Consequences Unit recently published its "Cyber-Security
Check List". This list is a comprehensive guide to help those
responsible for managing the security of their information and is broken down
into the following categories, hardware, software, networks, automation, humans
and suppliers. Brian Honan reviewed earlier drafts of this document and
provided valuable feedback and insight which has been incorporated into the
final version. The US Cyber Consequences Unit have made the list available
for posting on our website and is available for download
here.
Brian Honan Discusses the Setting Up
of a CERT in Ireland
Brian Honan was recently interviewed by the
SiliconRepublic.Com, Irelands Technology News Service, on the
research Brian is doing on whether or not their is a need for a Computer
Emergency Response Team in Ireland. The article is available online at
SiliconRepublic.Com's
website.
BH CONSULTING WEBSITE UPDATE
We strive at BH Consulting to provide information that is
relevant and useful in securing and running your business. To this end we
provide a range of whitepapers available for download
free from our
white papers page.
The latest addition to our whitepapers is are;
LATEST THREAT LEVELS
Get more information on the latest updates on current threats at
our online resources page;
FEATURES
GOVCERT.NL Release
Security Awareness Videos
GOVCERT.NL, the Computer Emergency Response
Team for the Dutch Government, released two very good and informative videos
aimed at raising security awareness amongst computer users. The first
video "Digital Threats at Home"
demonstrates how end users can be fooled into putting their computers and
ultimately their personal data at risk. The second movie "Botnet"
shows the dangers of viruses, worms and botnets. Both videos are very good
and can be used for your own use for educational purposes provided they are not
altered in any way and that the work is attributed to
GOVCERT.NL.
Developing Your Own Portable Security Toolkit
Finding the right utility or tool can shave a significant amount
of time and effort from a given task or even let you complete tasks that would
otherwise be impossible. Many of us have discovered our favourite tools by word
of mouth or while looking for the solution to a particular problem. But as you
know, finding a great tool is only half the battle: You must then download and
install it, learn to use it in your environment, and figure out how...
Click
Here for more.
Cisco and Microsoft Team Up On Network Access Control
Cisco and Microsoft announced that their respective technologies, Cisco Network
Admission Control (NAC) and Microsoft Network Access Protection (NAP), will be
interoperable. Both technologies are designed to prevent computers from
accessing a network unless they meet specific "health" checks. Both companies
demonstrated the new interoperability at The Security Standard conference in
Boston during the first week of September... Click
Here for more.
Virtualisation Technologies
Virtualisation is one of the hottest technologies in IT today, and the
excitement is fuelled in part by free server virtualisation products from
Microsoft and VMware. Virtualisation started as software that let you run
different operating systems on the same computer simultaneously. Today's
technologies extend virtualisation to the application level and even to the
hardware level, and mature products are available in each category. Even if
you're not using... Click
Here for more
FREE SECURITY SCAN
In partnership with
Qualys, BH Consulting
are offering a for a free Network Security Scan so you can check how healthy
your network is. To find out more about what this service can do for you, visit
our free
Network Security Scan.
Alternatively contact
us or visit our website to get more details on our
risk assessment service.
This issue of Security Watch is being brought to you by BH Consulting.
If you have found this issue to be of use please support our drive to raise funds
for
Focus Ireland.
Each
Security Watch eNewsletter, and the special Security Alert issues, are produced
independently by the Windows IT Pro Custom Media Group and is distributed by
various Microsoft security partners. Each eNewsletter contains up-to-date
information about security strategies, technologies, and alerts. Each Security
Alert contains the latest information about security threats.
Additional news courtesy of
Silicon Republic,
Cnet,
Silicon and
Zdnet
To update your subscription to our newsletter
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