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Recently by Bill Brenner
"Let's Encrypt" = Secure HTTPS Over TLS
The industry-wide transition from cleartext HTTP to secured HTTPS over TLS moves another step forward this week, with the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG) announcing the launch of a new Certificate Authority (CA) service called "Let's Encrypt." Akamai, Mozilla, Cisco, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, IdenTrust and researchers at the University of Michigan are working through ISRG to deliver the infrastructure in mid-2015.
Voting Season for (ISC)2 Members
Many readers of this blog are CISSPs and members of (ISC)2 -- the organization that administers and maintains the certification. This is the time of year when they have a chance to vote for the Board of Directors and have a say in how (ISC)2 conducts itself.Akamai Security Advocate Dave Lewis is finishing his second year as a member of the current board. He's not up for re-election until next
Trends in Security for the Commerce and Travel Indus ...
Late last year, Akamai CSIRT Director Michael Smith gave a presentation about security trends affecting eCommerce and the travel industry. Around the same time, I conducted a two-part podcast interview with him on those and other security challenges. I finally got around to watching the video of his presentation, and think the big picture he presented is as true today as it was then. Have a look, and then a
Microsoft Security Update for November 2014
Microsoft released its November 2014 Security Update Tuesday. Windows, Office, Server Software and the .NET Framework are among the items affected.More Akamai perspective on patching and vulnerability management: Akamai University: Vulnerability Management vs. Pen TestingTen Years After the Blaster WormBug Bounty Programs: A Turning Point for Microsoft
Attackers Use DNS Flooder Tool to Amplify DDoS Impac ...
Akamai's Prolexic Security Engineering and Research Team (PLXsert) issued an advisory this morning warning of a new technique bad actors are using to launch DNS amplification attacks. Amplification attacks generate large response packets with relatively small requests. Attackers create large DNS TXT (text) records to increase amplification, magnifying the impact of a DDoS attack. Several campaigns observed since Oct. 4, 2014 contain fragments of text taken from press releases issued by
5 Security Tips For Online Holiday Shopping
In the run-up to Cyber Monday, we're looking at different online shopping trends and how Akamai plays a critical role in keeping things running. As part of that, we'll be focusing on typical security threats to be aware of this time of year and beyond.Let's begin with some wise advice from my colleague, Akamai Security Advocate Dave Lewis. He originally came up with these last year, but it bears repeating
Edge 2014 Video: Million Browser Botnet Live Demonst ...
Akamai CSIRT Director Michael Smith and WhiteHat Security Threat Research Center Senior Manager Matt Johansen gave a demonstration of how the Million Browser Botnet operates, during last month's Edge conference. Below is the full presentation. Talk description: Online advertising networks can be a web hacker's best friend. For mere pennies per thousand browser impressions, service providers allow you to broadly distribute arbitrary JavaScript. Most advertisers use this feature to show
Akamai Edge 2014: Responding to Heartbleed and Shell ...
In April, Akamai determined its network was vulnerable to the Heartbleed bug. In late September, the company determined it was vulnerable to the Shellshock bug. In this case study, Akamai Chief Security Architect Brian Sniffen walks through Akamai's response to both and provides insights into the lessons learned for improved security and incident response.
Akamai Edge 2014: Evolution of TLS/SSL
Akamai Chief Security Architect Brian Sniffen reviews the evolution of TLS/SSL during a presentation at Akamai Edge 2014. Following the Heartbleed vulnerability, attention turned to TLS, the fundamental building block of Internet encryption and authentication. Sniffen reviewed the evolving TLS standard, including new ciphers, authentication mechanisms and asymmetric key changes.