It’s always good to have some reminders to stay vigilant and be smart. If you are interested in learning more about Information Security, you should check out InfoSec 2011. Register here.

The Nashville Tech Story (9/14/2009)

With the advancements that are taking place online and the constant growth of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, it is becoming more and more difficult to keep personal information secure.  Even if you do not own a Twitter or Facebook account, or if you have never used the Internet, your classified information is still at risk.

Ever wonder how much your sensitive personal information costs?

Symantec is planning to launch an Online Risk Calculator to help users determine how much their online information is worth on the black market.  A risk rating scale is included, which calculates the value based on demographics, online activity, and estimated value of online information.

The program begins by surveying the user about his/her gender, age and online assets and then asks for an estimated value of that information.  It will then question whether security software is used and how cautious you are when you work online.  This program is about gaining awareness to help users stop the loss of data before it takes place.

On the black market today, a criminal could gain access to your sensitive data for as little as $11.  Once the data has been compromised, it can cost large amounts of money and time to not only report the crime, but to fix your credit rating.

Helpful hint:

Use a security program with antivirus, firewall, and intrusion detection/prevention software and make sure to keep your OS and browsers up-to-date.

Want to learn more about Symantec and Data Loss Prevention practices?  Be sure to visit our InfoSec Conference on September 17th to hear Jennifer Ellard, Senior Product Marketing Manager of Symantec’s DLP Division speak.  More information can be found on the conference by clicking here.

The Nashville Tech Story (9/11/2009)

For the first time in InfoSec history, we will close registration early due to the large amount of attendees already registered.  Registration will be closed at 5:00 p.m. on Monday.  We are expecting an attendance close to 350 and are sold out on our sponsorships.

The Nashville Technology Council and the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the Information Systems Security Association will be hosting the 8th annual InfoSec Nashville conference, next Thursday.  Speakers will be discussing Data Loss Prevention, Web Application Firewall, Web Hacking and much more.  Don Ainslie, Global Security Officer, Deloitte and Dan Geer, CISO, In-Q-Tel will headline the event as our keynote speakers.

Don’t miss out on vital information that could save your company large amounts of revenue and many headaches.  Visit InfoSec Nashville 2009 and learn how to avoid trouble before it finds you.  Click here for more information.

The Nashville Tech Story (9/3/2009)

This is just another reason why people, in Nashville, should be flocking to the InfoSec Security conference, on September 17th, at the Nashville Convention Center.  Symantec recently released a news statement issuing a warning about a new malicious software pack that can hack into our VoIP conversations.

The new Trojan horse virus, Trojan.Peskyspy, has mainly targeted to the online VoIP tool, Skype.  Symantec, who will be speaking at our InfoSec conference on Data Loss Prevention, reported that Skype may have been targeted due to its large customer base.

The virus with the ability to travel through Windows APIs, intercepts audio streams and turns them into MP3 files, which is then sent over a remote channel to a remote electronic eavesdropper.  This is one in a list of many attacks hackers have executed on the social media world.

Most recently, Facebook experienced an attack that targeted the contact information of certain users.  If you were one of the many foolish Facebook users that posted your phone number online, your information was made public to all those in your “friends” account.  Currently, the experts at Symantec are not anticipating the malicious code will be used to launch a more significant attack.

Just a couple of helpful hints to avoid being attacked by a virus:

1.  Make sure you have the most up-to-date virus software for your computer.

2.  Don’t open any attachments from email addresses with which you are unfamiliar.

3.  Try to avoid downloading spyware to your computer such as Weatherbug.

To hear from the experts of Symantec, click here for more information on attending our upcoming InfoSec Security conference, on September 17th.