The Big Data security conundrum
By Martin Quinn (Principal Consultant) 20 November 2013 Big data seems to be the buzz word that’s on the lips of CIO’s to system admins over the past few years (TIME declared “Big Data” the #2 buzzword of the year 2012). Despite so much buzz, we’re truly only at the dawn of Big Data and for […]
Convenience – the true security threat?
By Martin Quinn (Principal Consultant) 18 October 2013 More and more businesses are opting for BYOD(bring your own device) devices , leaning towards a more open ,convenient and work/life integrated environment, however, this greatly increases the security threat to the business, which often have no control over what is installed and/or operated on these devices. BYOD […]
WebRoot a commodity worth having
By Martin Quinn (Principal Consultant) 21 August 2013 We all need some type of antivirus or end-point protection, to save us from dreaded, viruses, worms and malware, and to save us from ourselves, through browsing to less than reputable websites or sites which themselves have been compromised. But with hackers, crackers, blackhats, and cyber criminals […]
Massive Bruteforce attack on WordPress websites
By Martin Quinn (Principal Consultant) 29 July 2013 In the past few months there have been massive bruteforce attacks on wordpress sites, utilising huge bot-nets, bot-nets upwards of 90,000 zombie hosts. Over 30 million wordpress websites and blogs have been compromised. So what is a bruteforce attack? A bruteforce attack is simply an attacker throwing […]
Hoopla about PRISM and Edward Snowden
By Martin Quinn (Principal Consultant) 16 July 2013 So what is all the hoopla about PRISM and who is Edward Snowden? PRISM and the name Edward Snowden have been whipping the media into frenzy of late (maybe not as much as the imminent arrival of a royal baby). PRISM is a clandestine program apparently being […]
Android Applications Open to Attack
by Martin Quinn (Principal Consultant) 10 July 2013 If you own an Android device, and statistics dictate that 30% of us do, then you should be looking at upgrading or patching the operating system of your device. There has been a whirlwind of security talk about Android applications being easily exploitable over the past few […]
QANTAS Big-Brothers Frequent Flyers
by Martin Quinn (Principal Consultant) 25 June 2013 Who is a member of QANTAS Frequent Flyers? With the introduction of QANTAS’s new internet explorer toolbar, aimed at frequent flyers, you may be getting more than you bargained for. The toolbar is tied with an US company FreeCause, which collects data, performs statistical analysis and targets […]
New twist on USB attacks – What I like to call the USB snare attack.
by Martin Quinn (Principal Consultant) 15 May 2013 When performing social engineering tests as part of a penetration test (ethical hack), there are several avenues available which rarely miss the target. The number one attack is sending an email impersonating the targets friend or colleague with an attached document loaded with a backdoor. But the […]
Could your business be low hanging fruit?
by Martin Quinn (Principal Consultant) 18 April 2013 Within security circles, vulnerabilities which are easily exploited or compromised are referred to as “low hanging fruit” and the easier the target to exploit or compromise the lower hanging the fruit. One such “low hanging fruit” has been identified this week in at least thirteen (13) small […]
Shylock Trojan … no merchant of Venice
by Martin Quinn (Principal Consultant) 3 April 2013 This week’s blog is a real doozie. Out in the wild west that is the internet, a nasty piece of software(malware) is being circulated by organised crime, what makes this software unique is that it doesn’t hijack your browser or break in using email or a nefarious […]
