The Washington Post website has been hit with a double security breach. Malicious hackers have made off with around 1.3 million user IDs and email address from the “Jobs” section of the site. The attackers were able to gain access on two separate occasions:…
How Much Web Security is Enough?
A good web application security environment is one that balances security with convenience. Nothing more and nothing less; just the security that’s needed to keep things reasonably in check. But just how much is enough? All too often I see websites and applications with too…
The Cure for Many Web Application Security Ills
One of the things I’ve learned throughout my career is that many solutions to the problems we face in IT, security and software development can be solved if we simply turn to business leaders to see how it’s done. In particular, I’m talking about a…
The Rise of Backdoored WordPress Plugins
It all started a few months ago when I was visiting Lester Chan’s website looking for some information about one of his plugins. Lester Chan has written a good number of very popular WordPress plugins that are used by millions of people. Some of the…
What’s Your Take on Cloud Security?
One of the most common questions I get is “What’s your take on cloud security?” Well, my answer is relatively straightforward: never assume that all’s well just because someone says it is. In other words trust but verify.
Going Beyond Confirmed Web Security Flaws
As I wrote in my previous post about low-hanging fruit and the 2011 Verizon Data Breach Report, I’m a strong believer in finding out where your Web systems are bleeding and focusing on those issues first. It’s the basic principle of triage – finding, and…
Having a Secure Website Through all of your Website Properties
Having a secure website isn’t just about preventing website hackers from gaining access to your site, but preventing specific damage from the result of your site being compromised. Web hacking might be a little more serious than many people think, as it has been found…
Barracuda Networks Breached
Introduction On April 11th 2011, at nine in the evening, Barracuda Networks posted a grim entry on their blog. Their network had been hacked. Thousands of their confidential customer and employee records were stolen. In an ironic twist of fate, the company that advocates security…
Low-Hanging Fruit Becomes Big News with the 2011 Verizon Data Breach Report
The 2011 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report is out. Yeah, yeah, yeah – yet another report telling us what a bad state of security we’re in and that we need to fix all sorts of things in IT. Okay, I’m not going to complain too…