It is Tuesday at 12:29 a.m., at the end of Labor Day weekend. I am driving back from Westchester County Airport, having just flown in from Charlotte, NC. A message comes through. It is our friends at the Blackpoint Cyber SOC. One of our client’s legitimate users detected initiated a first-time VPN connection to M365 […]

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” -Albert Einstein “You live in a world of illusion Where everything’s peaches and cream. We all face a scarlet conclusion, But we spend our time in a dream.” -Jungle Love, Steve Miller Band Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to network security.

I remember those days when the Apple folks would scoff at having to have antivirus. Macs were superior, and Windows devices had all those problems. The technical folks knew that was marketing blather vs. sound security advice. The reality has always been that “everything can be hacked.

Today’s cyber landscape feels a lot like this picture. Anyone who uses a device connected to the internet is under threat. You never know when that arrow with your name will find you. Do you have the armor you need to give you the best chance of survival when the arrow finds you? Medieval warriors […]

Welcome back! This summer flew by, and my summer vacation seems like a distant memory. In my 44 years of helping schools open for the new school year, this one was different. Several districts suspended all major work the last week of August. This was a summer of busy projects.

You have probably heard of the AT&T breach by now. Reports describe it as the largest breach in history with serious national security consequences. AT&T has reported that threat actors stole all client call and text records for six months. I have not read anything indicating that the threat actors know the contents of any […]

“Trust but verify.” -President Ronald Reagan, December 8th, 1987, at the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty Signing I watched a presentation the other day by the head of Threat Operations for a major Security Operations Center (SOC) that provides 24/7 security oversight over networks like yours.

It has been a rough two weeks for many of us who support technology for our school districts. We have experienced the worldwide meltdown of CrowdStrike due to a faulty update.

During the Pandemic, Threat Actors had a field day using phishing and SEO poisoning to attack users. We are in the same climate again with the horrible events of the last few days. Threat actors who practice phishing attacks are already using this event to send bombastic emails with salacious titles mentioning the event, knowing […]

Gabe, Lisa, and I attended the annual CyberSecurity Summit at my Alma Mater, Marist College. Back in the day, at the beginning of the IBM/Marist Joint Study, I was asked to be on the board of that program. My 20-year-old self had a lot of fun hanging out with the CEO of IBM and discussing […]