IT security moves quickly. One day it’s all about Stuxnet, the next day it’s Duqu. There’s also the endless flood of new solutions offered; each one to fight a different vulnerability in a different layer of your IT infrastructure.
What happened to the good old days when anti-virus solved everything?!
How do you keep up? Most likely you rely on the never ending information online. Unfortunately most IT security sites speak in a lingo injected with FUD that most of us can’t even understand.
Also, if you are an IT decision maker, you most likely depend on on your Systems Administrator to figure it out. The only problem is, when he comes back to you to discuss what new threat solution XYZ will stop, you haven’t the slightest clue what he is saying.
If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. So to help you out I have compiled a list of questions that some of us may have but are afraid to ask.
Now not only will you be well educated in the IT security space, but you will also have fresh topics for holiday party conversations.
- What is Application Whitelisting? This is where you can select which programs will run on your computer. The simplest way we like to describe this is to think of a whitelisting solution as a bouncer at a night club. He has the list. And he gets to decide who comes in and who doesn’t.
- What are Zero-Day Threats? Zero-day threats are threats that are released before security vendors can create protection or a patch against them. So in other words, if you are relying only on anti-virus and then become exposed to a zero-day threat, you are greatly at risk.
- What does APT stand for and what does it mean? APT, or Advanced Persistent Threats, is a network attack in which an unauthorized person gains entry and access to a network and stays there undetected for a long period of time.
- What is Spear Phishing? How does it differ from regular phishing? Have you received an email appearing to be from Apple and claiming that you have won an iPad? Yes, that was phishing. Spear Phishing is the same, only more targeted and more individualized. These crooks know who and what they are going after.
- Is “Reboot to Restore” really as easy as it sounds? Pretty much! Reboot to restore technology enables users to wipe their computer clean every time with a simple reboot. It sounds a little scary if you are worried about deleting data, BUT, you can still redirect data to ensure required files and documents are retained.
