IT SECURITY
RISK ASSESSMENT: Billion Dollar Bangladesh Hack: SWIFT Software Hacked, No Firewalls, $10 Switches. The Bangladesh central bank had no firewall and was using a second-hand $10 network when it was hacked earlier this year. Investigation by British defense contractor BAE Systems has also shown that the SWIFT software used to make payments was compromised, enabling the hackers to send money around the world without leaving any trace in Bangladesh. Read more
[ARSTECHNICA.COM]
SECURITY SPENDING: Why Most IT Security Suffers From Unbalanced Spending. Security costs money. Risks are proliferating. More security will be needed, which means more money will be spent. For these reasons, odds are that security, and security spending, are on your mind whether you are in the IT trenches or part of the C-suite. Gartner predicts security spending will reach $101 billion by 2018 and MarketsandMarkets forsees spending approaching $170 billion by 2020. Read the rest
[FORBES.COM]
NETWORK SECURITY: Government Agencies Not Doing Enough To Protect IT Systems. NASA and the U.S. Department of State were among the federal agencies that received low marks on IT security, according to a recent report card issued by the New York-based firm Security Scorecard. Also receiving low grades were the states of Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Washington. Find out more
[CIO-TODAY.COM]
REPORT: Ransomware Feeds Off Poor Endpoint Security. Poor endpoint security practices are only helping to propel the great ransomware epidemic of 2016 – and if allowed to fester, this threat will spread to new vulnerable endpoints including IoT devices, cars and ICS and SCADA systems, according to a new report from the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT). Read more
[SCMAGAZINE.COM]
==========
NOW ON SLIDESHARE: Tech Update Summary from Blue Mountain Data Systems March 2016 http://www.slideshare.net/BMDS3416/tech-update-summary-from-blue-mountain-data-systems-march-2016.
IT SECURITY SUPPORT: Blue Mountain Data Systems is actively involved in implementing FISMA and NIST standards with Federal Civilian Agencies. Due to our extensive experience in this area, Blue Mountain has developed processes and organizational techniques to help ensure security deliverables are completed on time, and performed in the most efficient manner possible. We ensure that NIST-800-53 control requirements are treated consistently during definition, analysis, implementation, auditing, and reporting phases of a system. Find out more about Blue Mountain Data Systems IT Security Support Services. Call us at 703-502-3416.
BLUE MOUNTAIN DATA SYSTEMS HAS THE EXPERIENCE: 1994 to Present – U.S. Dept. of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration. Responsible to the Office of Technology and Information Systems for information systems architecture, planning, applications development, networking, administration and IT security, supporting the enforcement of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act — ERISA. Within the EBSA, Blue Mountain is responsible for design, development and support for its various enforcement database management systems, as well as all case tracking and customer service inquiry systems. Blue Mountain also provides IT security services to the EBSA, in the form of FISMA Assessment and Authorization, System Security Plans, Risk and vulnerability assessments, monitoring and investigation support. Read more.
==========