Dennis Fisher

The federal government on Tuesday released for comment a new set of guidelines for securing computer systems and networks. Although the guidelines are intended for use by government agencies, officials at the National Institute of Standards and Technology are hoping that enterprises will adopt them as well. The guidelines spell out in detail the method […]

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Security is becoming one of the main drivers behind the adoption of open-source software in the enterprise and government, say security experts and CIOs gathered here for Red Hat Inc.s Open Source Security Summit. Much of the early enthusiasm for Linux and other open-source operating systems was sparked by the softwares low cost and […]

Certicom Corp. on Monday announced that it has extended its partnership with handheld maker Palm Inc. and will provide two security solutions for the companys new Tungsten W handheld. Palm unveiled the new PDA Monday in New York. Certicom, which specializes in creating security solutions for wireless devices, has developed new versions of its movianVPN […]

In the wake of last weeks unprecedented DDoS attack against all 13 of the Internets root-name servers, the government and ICANN, one of the Internets main governing bodies, are considering changes to help protect the DNS system against future attacks. The most immediate and significant changes will likely come from the Internet Corporation for Assigned […]

There is a serious flaw in the widely used Kerberos authentication protocol that enables intruders to gain root privileges on vulnerable machines. This, in turn, allows attackers to execute any code they choose on the machine. This vulnerability is especially serious in that the attacker does not need to be authenticated to the Kerberos daemon […]

Fortinet Inc. next week will unveil its new Network Protection Gateway 3000, the first in a forthcoming line of multi-gigabit security appliances. Like appliances sold by companies such as Symantec Corp. and other vendors, the 3000 combines anti-virus, firewall, content filtering, intrusion detection and VPN functionality in one box. However, unlike many similar products, all […]

A massive DDoS attack against most of the root DNS servers on the Internet Monday afternoon failed to cripple the global network, or even noticeably disturb traffic. The attack, which began around 4 p.m. Monday and lasted for approximately two hours, reportedly took offline as many as seven of the 13 root servers that contain […]

VeriSign Inc. on Tuesday announced a new partnership with Microsoft Corp. under which the registrar and security company will provide security services for Microsofts Windows Powered Smartphone software. The centerpiece of the agreement is a code-signing service that will be available to any developer who writes code for the Smartphone platform. Using the VeriSign service, […]

Looking for something to do this weekend? Well, if you have a laptop and a wireless card, you can join dozens of other technophiles with time on their hands in searching out insecure WLANs. A group of security professionals and enthusiasts later this week will kick off the second WorldWide WarDrive, a week-long coordinated effort […]

As they look to shore up the security of networks, many enterprise CIOs and security specialists are coming to the same inevitable conclusion: Security is expensive. Firewalls, intrusion detection systems, anti-virus scanners and content filtering long ago ceased being optional equipment and moved onto the must-have list. And there are new technologies such as intrusion […]