Welcome to Practical Issues in Information Security. In these pages you will find ideas and tips for your consideration as you work to improve the information security and privacy of your organization. Even though most of the information is focused on the home or personal user and small business, the principles are applicable to larger organizations in most industries..

Common Sense and Physical Security

January 8, 2010

I received a call this week from a friend who works in a small office. She had been out for a few days, and when she returned it became obvious that someone had been rummaging through the stuff on her desk.
Then, she started telling me that when she turned her computer on there was evidence [...]

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5 Reasons InfoSec Is Like Basketball

November 5, 2009

Basketball season is just ramping up at the collegiate level. After watching a game last night, I realized that there are at least 5 reasons why information security is like basketball.
Focusing on the small business, here goes…

Success requires more than just one person.

We’ve all seen teams that tried to rely solely on one star player. [...]

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First Impressions – Security Essentials from Microsoft

September 29, 2009

For most folks, FREE is a word that they makes their ears perk up.
Microsoft Security Essentials is a FREE anti-virus and anti-spyware offering from Microsoft. They bill it as a light-weight product that has a smaller footprint than commercial products. It is intended for the home user. It can be found at www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
Obviously, it runs [...]

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7 Reasons Websites Are No Longer Safe – Network World

September 10, 2009

Take a look at this article from Network World. It provides high-level descriptions of how you can get infected with malware even though you avoid shady or inappropriate websites.
7 Reasons Websites Are No Longer Safe – Network World
And so that you don’t have to read the long version, here is the short version…

Polluted ads

SQL [...]

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Pets, Vets and InfoSec

September 4, 2009

We currently have two dogs and usually have multiple cats. We’ve had snakes, lizards, fish, birds, hedgehogs and other critters as pets in the past.
So it was with great interest that I listened to the advertisement on the radio encouraging pet owners to take their pet to the veterinarian and have a semi-yearly risk and [...]

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