PowerShell is the dominant method of automating tasks and scripting changes for Windows sysadmins. This article covers getting started with some basic PowerShell usage and how to pass optional customization...

1. Here’s an interesting perspective from a CTO on why metadata matters. 2. By September 30th, California Governor Jerry Brown will either veto or sign two very important bills that will protect...

The CMU CERT team I referred to in my last post also has some interesting analysis on the actual mechanics of these phishing attacks. Based on reviewing their incident database, the...

In a Kerberos environment, all users get tickets, or more specifically TGTs (Ticketing Granting Tickets). It’s the starting point for gaining access to services—network files, email, apps, etc. In Windows,...

August is always a good time to check up on the dark side. Black Hat had its annual conference earlier this month, and there are always presentations worth looking at....

Over the years, Mitre, the MIT research group, has been analyzing software bugs and missteps that hackers have been able to exploit. Their Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) classifications are...

The most important takeaway about PtH is that the password hashes that are stored in memory (and grabbed by hackers) are a feature of Single Sign On.

Scarily, in most organizations people have access to much more information than they need in order to do their jobs. With file permissions, it’s easy to mess things up and...

Last week, I attended a webinar that was intended to give IT attendees a snapshot of recent threats—a kind of hacker heads-up. For their representative case, the two sec gurus...

We’ve done a lot of blogging at the Metadata Era warning you about basic attacks against passwords. These can be mitigated by enforcing strong passwords, eliminating vendor defaults, and enabling...

Because I’ve boldly assigned myself the task to explain hacking and phishing, I feel compelled to define both terms concisely because, as Einstein’s been quoted countless times, “If you can’t...

Customers of EMC’s popular Isilon storage platform have been clamoring for sophisticated controls around their sensitive, regulated content—e.g., SOX, PCI, intellectual property, etc. Varonis is the perfect fit. With our...