Security Awareness on James Jardine

Fake Breach Reports: Serious or Silly?

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 13:59:59 +0000

There was an interesting report that recently came out regarding fake data breach reports being submitted to the Main Data Breach Reporting Portal. The fake reports were focused on VRChat and Discord. According to the reports (article linked below), a user was able to submit a breach notification to the portal of a company they are not a part of. It might not seem like a big deal, but the more I think about it, the more I consider different risks and costs for the companies at hand. In addition, there is a potential risk for a sophisticated social engineering attack from this. Let’s talk about it.

Does “Research” Terminology Reduce Adoption Rates?

Fri, 12 Feb 2016 13:16:37 +0000

What is your reaction to this tweet?

Why the @US_FDA & @iamthecavalry are pushing medical device makers to OK security research: https://t.co/s7wv8MuU82 pic.twitter.com/BTMFjSlzTU

— CSMPasscode (@CSMPasscode) February 10, 2016

Security Budget: How Much vs. How it is Used

Tue, 15 Dec 2015 08:12:22 +0000

I recently saw an article on Forbes that identified some of the major banks and how much money they will be spending on cybersecurity . We are talking about companies like Wells Fargo, Citibank, J.P. Morgan Chase. We are talking about budgets starting around $250 Million a year for cybersecurity. That is a big budget.

Versioning the SDLC to Indicate Security Level

Wed, 09 Sep 2015 20:09:58 +0000

I recently saw a tweet that mentioned how trending SecDevOps is becoming. For those that don’t know, that is the “secure” devops, or shall I say devops with security injected. It really got me thinking about not only devops, but also the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). We keep saying security can’t be bolted on and that it needs to be built in, yet we keep bolting it on.

Hacking Cars: Taken Seriously?

Tue, 21 Jul 2015 19:06:32 +0000

Turn on an ad for new vehicles and you are bound to see how connected they are to our lives. Gone are the days when your vehicle is just a stand alone product. Now we are seeing cars that have internet connectivity. We are moving past the simple satellite radio or GPS systems and becoming connected to a lot of data. Security folks have been talking about vehicle security for a while now and a few researchers have been focusing on showing how serious the security of these vehicles is.

Ashley Madison site breached

Mon, 20 Jul 2015 22:28:32 +0000

If you are keeping up with the news you have probably already heard about the breach of the adult site known as Ashley Madison. Here is a link to one of the articles about it: http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/20/technology/ashley-madison-hack/index.html . Like the breach at Adult Friend Finder (http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/22/technology/adult-friendfinder-hacked/ ) a few months ago, this type of incident is a little different than the usual breach. This breach is less about identity information (although at the root has a lot to do with it), financial information, or even health information. The focus of this type of site/service is on secrecy and discreetness. It is about sharing sensitive information about an individual’s private life.

Hacking Airplanes…Lets Think About This

Mon, 18 May 2015 07:15:03 +0000

Recent news of airplane security and the did or didn’t someone take control of an airplane during a flight is scattered across the web. There are lots of opinions on whether or not the inflight entertainment systems and the airplane control systems are connected or not. I haven’t tested an airline system, so I can’t say for sure, and it may be different depending on the type of plane. One glaring issue here is we don’t know and there are a lot of people that don’t know either, while acting as if they do know. Is airplane security a concern? Of course it is, what security isn’t a concern? What is the right approach to having it tested?

What Happens When All SSNs are Breached

Thu, 19 Mar 2015 18:28:32 +0000

Visit any news site or social media outlet and you are bound to see news of some new company getting breached. It is a lot of what we talk about these days. Whether it is passwords, credit card information, health information or social security numbers, if it is breached it is headline news. With the exception of those trying to scam the system and get a quick payday, it is getting to the point where most people outside of the information security industry just write it off and don’t give it much thought.

When Breaches Get Personal

Thu, 04 Sep 2014 22:03:06 +0000

Unless you have been living under a rock, you have probably heard about the breach of privacy against some celebrities who had some indecent images stolen. It is easy to get caught up in the hoopla that surrounds this latest intrusion due to the racy images that were stolen, but there is a bigger question around all of this. Lets pull away those top layers and see what the deal is.

1.2 Billion Passwords… Password Best Practices Again

Wed, 06 Aug 2014 13:28:01 +0000

There is a lot of talk about the recent discovery of what appears to be about 1.2 billion username and passwords stolen. I haven’t seen the list, so I can’t confirm that, but let’s assume it is accurate. Is this something we should be panicking about?

Danger of USB Devices

Fri, 01 Aug 2014 16:45:14 +0000

There has been lots of news recently regarding a flaw in USB devices that could lead to an unwanted attack. USB stands for Universal Serial Bus and is often associated with thumb drives used to store data. There are many other uses for USB devices, such as your mouse and keyboard. There are even monitors that connect via USB.

Ebay Password Breach

Wed, 21 May 2014 22:35:30 +0000

Ebay announced today that the had usernames, encrypted passwords, phone numbers, email address, physical address and date of birth stolen during a recent breach. The key here is encrypted passwords, which hopefully means strong security. That is just an assumption though. It is not uncommon by any stretch to see a large company suffering from a breach that includes user credentials. We often overlook the idea that credentials are actually very valuable. We spend so much time focusing on social security numbers, credit card numbers, and HIPAA data that we forget about the basics. Those keys that protect the rest of all of that data.