(ISC)² Blog

Sifting Through the Chaff to Find the Wheat

Department of Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report

There are many sources of news and information regarding information security, in fact far too many. Thus, we are forced to be selective as to what we read faithfully, those which we scan the headlines, and the many that we simply ignore lest we cannot complete our primary duties. One source that has proven reliable and informative to me has been the “DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report”. However, even it is too much for most of us because of its comprehensive coverage which goes far beyond our scope of responsibility... Read more →

You're overqualified

Good evening, my fellow security professionals. Since I find myself "in between jobs" (you have to love the euphemism), I wondered how many others of you are facing similar problems and decided to share a bit of my experience trying to land a new job. One of the most frequent assessments one can have thrown back at them during the application / interview process is that they are "overqualified". Now, there could be several things at play here, as I'm sure you can agree: either the company looks at your resume and decides (based on previous jobs you've had) that... Read more →

ISO 27000

ISO 27000:2009, the overview document for the 27000 family of standards, is now published and available as a free download. It outlines the 27000 standards (to date) and provides a very brief glossary. For some reason the standard comes as a zip archive file of a PDF. When you go to the link, you will be briefly redirected to a licence page, and have to agree in order to get the document. Read more →

Paying it Forward

:35 – Paying it forward :52 – RSA recap – 20th anniversary founder’s celebration 1:42 – Volunteer to help kids stay safe online 2:42 – Earn CPEs for your participation 4:05 – Next Vlog: Managing your career in economic downturn Read more →

Is U.S. ICE the New FISMA?

The United States Information and Communications Enhancement Act of 2009 (U.S. ICE Act of 2009) was introduced to the Senate on April 28, 2009. This bill, if successfully passed, would overhaul the provisions currently in FISMA and seek to strengthen information security in the federal government. Link to full text: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-921 As quoted by Sen. Tom Carper (D.-Del): “Instead of agencies wasting precious resources producing security plans that are outdated as soon they are printed, my bill requires agencies to continuously monitor their networks for cyber intrusions and malicious activities, take steps to address their vulnerabilities, and then regularly test... Read more →

The Missing Vials

Last month, it was reported that "three small vials of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus were determined to have been unaccounted for last year." While it has been concluded that this was not the result of misconduct, it does raise questions about the risk of mishandling sensitive materials. An act of theft was not detected; the absence of things inferred theft. So this demonstrates an administrative type of risk, where alarms are sounded and must be responded to due to proper inventory controls not being used, or used improperly. An article in Wired magazine sums it up nicely: "Biological material can... Read more →