The bMighty Blog -- Keith Ferrell

Keith Ferrell covers security issues for bMighty.com. He is also the author of more than a dozen books, including novels and biographies. He has written widely on technology and science, as well as business and medicine, has spoken to business, government and educational audiences in the United States, Europe and Asia, and has appeared frequently on television and radio.

From 1990 to 1996, Ferrell was editor-in-chief of OMNI Magazine, the world’s largest circulation science magazine; additionally he was editorial director of the Compute family of books and magazines, as well as senior vice president of parent company General Media International. In 1994, Ferrell oversaw the launch of OMNI On-Line, the first major magazine to make the transition to Internet publication.

Ferrell lives on a small farm in the hills of southern Virginia where, in addition writing for bMighty, he is completing a long new novel and a history of science from the dawn of language to the dawn of the Internet.

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Faster Laptop Check-Throughs May Be In The Bag

Posted by Keith Ferrell 09:50 AM ET | Jul 3, 2008

Just in time for higher airline ticket prices, reduced numbers of flights and capacities, cutbacks in travel budgets and the rest of the annoyances and irritations of what are quickly becoming the unfriendly skies, a new approach to laptop/notebook cases promises to speed road warriors' transit through airport security checks.

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Player Beware: PS3 Site Hacks Can Game Your Systems

Posted by Keith Ferrell 05:15 PM ET | Jul 2, 2008

Whether or not you're a gamer, the detection of malware infestation on the Sony USA PlayStation Web site should give you pause. Compromises of popular commercial sites -- the sorts that employees and family members might visit, even if you don't -- are precisely the sort of thing that can have anything but a playful effect on your business.

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Mishandling Information Overload A Security and Legal Risk

Posted by Keith Ferrell 11:32 AM ET | Jul 1, 2008

Small and midsize businesses generate digital information a furious rate -- same as bigger business (and individuals, for that matter.) What to save and what to toss -- and the consequences of either -- looms large among security, business, compliance and fiduciary concerns. A new slideshow offers some interesting and provocative takes on taking out (and keeping in) the digital trash.

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Security Spending: Dollars Up, Safety Down?

Posted by Keith Ferrell 10:02 AM ET | Jun 30, 2008

IT security is spending more to deliver less or, at best, hold the line against a growing threat universe, according to major new Informationweek survey.

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Central Office IT Neglects Mobile Security: CDW Survey

Posted by Keith Ferrell 01:28 PM ET | Jun 25, 2008

Mobile security is very much a moving target -- one that too many businesses are either missing or not aiming at altogether, according to a newly released study.

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Watch Those Wikis: Small Public Posts Can Cause Big Business Problems

Posted by Keith Ferrell 01:02 PM ET | Jun 24, 2008

Inside knowledge, much less insider knowledge can be a dangerous business thing. Just ask the wiki-poster who got fired for leaking early news of Tim Russert's death.

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Security Staff Snoops: Who's Watching Your Watchers (And What Are Your Watchers Watching?)

Posted by Keith Ferrell 10:42 AM ET | Jun 20, 2008

Fully a third of IT staffers recently surveyed admitted to taking unauthorized, inappropriate, and often illegal looks at confidential files and e-mails. Maybe that lets them get their peeping Tom jollies off -- but it may also leave your business on very shaky and un-jolly legal ground.

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Business & E-Business | Hardware & Software | IT | Management | Security

New Trojan Targets Wireless Routers

Posted by Keith Ferrell 11:09 AM ET | Jun 18, 2008

A new variation of the bad old Zlob Trojan is going after wireless routers, particularly the near-ubiquitous home wireless routers, which more than a few small and midsize businesses just happen to be running.

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Business & E-Business | Hardware & Software | IT | Operations | Security

Blogging Your Business? Be Careful Who You Quote

Posted by Keith Ferrell 02:43 PM ET | Jun 17, 2008

Blogs are common if not universal tools for small and midsize businesses. They communicate new products and offers, open dialogues, and keep your business name out there. But if your blog, like many, includes outside content, you need to start being careful, particularly if the source is the AP.

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Business & E-Business | IT | Internet/Web | Operations | Security

Telecoms: Should Content Carriers Become Content Cops?

Posted by Keith Ferrell 11:08 AM ET | Jun 16, 2008

The thing about the so-called Information Superhighway, as it used to be so-called, was that once the telecom companies deployed the wire and fiber and wireless roads, they pretty much left businesses and consumers alone in their travels along them. That may be changing.

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New McAfee Product Aims To Keep Data Safe Even When Notebooks Aren't

Posted by Keith Ferrell 12:35 PM ET | Jun 12, 2008

A day that passes without news of a stolen notebook or laptop filled with confidential data is becoming the exception, rather than the rule. McAfee's just-announced file protection program is touted as keeping files private when a business computer unexpectedly goes "public."

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Data Breaches: It's The Stupid Mistakes, Stupid!

Posted by Keith Ferrell 11:58 AM ET | Jun 11, 2008

It's rarely comforting when hard numbers confirm bonehead truths we all know, but that's exactly what a new study does, showing that the vast majority of data breaches are not only avoidable, they're pretty easily and almost effortlessly avoidably. It's in not making that relatively minor effort that breaches breed, and the bad guys know it.

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PKWare's Latest SecureZIP Simplifies Encryption

Posted by Keith Ferrell 11:02 AM ET | Jun 9, 2008

PKWare's latest evolution of its SecureZIP encryption and compression product adds digital certificates, simplifies key use, and provides easier integration with Microsoft Office, and does so at a price that should earn it a serious look from small and midsize businesses.

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Password Tips From Google Worth Passing Along

Posted by Keith Ferrell 09:56 AM ET | Jun 6, 2008

Odds are that you -- and almost definitely some of your colleagues, friends and family -- have seen a list of good strong password-creation tips more recently than you've changed your passwords. And here's another list, this one from Google.

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McAfee: Hong Kong Now Dominates Dangerous Domains List

Posted by Keith Ferrell 10:50 AM ET | Jun 4, 2008

The malware map, like malware itself, keeps changing. McAfee's latest look at where the bad things grow shows a surge in .hk-based threats, moving the Hong Kong extension to the top of the list.

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Business & E-Business | International | Piracy | Security

Gartner Looks At Security's Long-Range Future And Finds It Coming At Us Fast

Posted by Keith Ferrell 04:43 PM ET | Jun 2, 2008

We spend so much time responding to -- or reacting to -- daily security threats and challenges that it's all too easy to overlook (or just plain avoid) taking a long-range look at the security future. Gartner points out that such denial is a mistake, a big one, with long-range consequences.

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Are Your Employee's Phones Secure? All Of Them? Really?

Posted by Keith Ferrell 10:41 AM ET | May 30, 2008

Can a single unsecured smartphone compromise your business's security? Looks that way -- and that should make you look hard at who's got phones in your company, and how they're using them.

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Secure Computing Tells Where Your Biggest Insecurity Is: Inside Your Company, That's Where!

Posted by Keith Ferrell 10:01 AM ET | May 29, 2008

What are IT security professionals most scared of? Their companies' own employees, that's what.

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Mob Making Cyber Moves: Organized Crime Versus Disorganized Defenses

Posted by Keith Ferrell 12:58 PM ET | May 27, 2008

The news that organized crime is now a bigger cyber-havoc player than independent hackers isn't surprising: as Willie Sutton said of banks in the last century, the Net is now "where the money is."

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TVA 's Scary Security Lapses Have Big Lessons For Small And Midsize Businesses

Posted by Keith Ferrell 11:09 AM ET | May 23, 2008

The news that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) -- the largest U.S. public electric utility -- is riddled with security lapses should give pause to cybersecurity watchers and worriers everywhere. And the nature of those lapses should be a reminder to every business in the country.

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CompTIA Survey: What Causes Most Breaches Is The Same Thing The Road To Hell Is Paved With

Posted by Keith Ferrell 10:43 AM ET | May 22, 2008

Findings from a new survey indicate that most security breaches aren't the result of malicious intent. Problem is, more than a few are the result of good intentions.

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Think Before You Toss: Symantec Security Tips On Computer Disposal

Posted by Keith Ferrell 12:06 PM ET | May 20, 2008

Getting rid of old computers gets trickier every day. A Symantec podcast offers three minutes' worth of good advice on how to do so safely.

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Check Point Pushes Virtualized Browser Protection

Posted by Keith Ferrell 09:58 AM ET | May 19, 2008

Browser vulnerabilities and threats -- malware, drive-by downloads, etc. -- is fast becoming the new security battleground. A new Check Point Technologies release promises that this will be a new security products battleground too.

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Symantec Spam Report: April Was The Cruelest Month

Posted by Keith Ferrell 11:42 AM ET | May 15, 2008

Symantec's monthly Spam Report is out, just in time to remind us of what our queues and filters and networks all know -- spam is up and so, most likely is the blood pressure of everyone who has an e-mail account.

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McAfee Spam Experiment Results: Spam Is Bad And There's Lots Of It

Posted by Keith Ferrell 11:47 AM ET | May 14, 2008

All spam all the time -- that's what volunteers for McAfee's Global S.P.A.M (Spammed. Persistently. All. Month.) experiment looked for, and that's what they got when they turned in their brand-new, completely unprotected machines and opened themselves to the deluge.

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You Think You've Really Destroyed That Data? Take A Look At What Got Recovered From Shuttle Columbia

Posted by Keith Ferrell 11:31 AM ET | May 13, 2008

The loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia and its crew in 2003 continues to haunt many of us -- and, unexpectedly, has offered a lesson in the persistence of hard disk data.

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Hardware & Software | IT | Security | Storage

Backscatter Spam Spreading, Bouncemail Battle Heats Up

Posted by Keith Ferrell 10:56 AM ET | May 9, 2008

Have you been backscatter or bounceback spammed yet? No? Be patient -- if your e-mail address has ever been published on the Web, the odds may be against you.

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Business & E-Business | Internet/Web | Messaging | Security

More On Disaster Recovery: Mind The Gaps In Your Plans

Posted by Keith Ferrell 01:49 PM ET | May 7, 2008

We've talked a lot here about disaster recovery, and almost as much about planning for disaster recovery. In considering these, it's well-worth considering -- and looking for -- any hidden gaps or vulnerabilities that might bring even the best-laid plans to grief.

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Most Workplace Toilet Seats Are Cleaner Than Most Workers' Keyboards

Posted by Keith Ferrell 02:54 PM ET | May 5, 2008

The viruses in your computer can harm your computer's data; the viruses (and germs and bacteria and toxins) on your computer can harm you.

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How Prepared Are You For Disaster Recovery?

Posted by Keith Ferrell 01:21 PM ET | May 2, 2008

If your business got hit by a natural disaster that resulted in your "losing everything" -- would that "everything" include your company's digital records and history? It shouldn't.

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XP Service Pack Delay: What Else Is New?

Posted by Keith Ferrell 01:26 PM ET | Apr 30, 2008

Microsoft's on-again/off-again extension of support for XP may or may not be on-again, but the latest delay of the latest long-awaited XP Service Pack delay may strike some of us as the last straw.

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Business & E-Business | Retail | Security | Windows

New Scam: Hackers Use Phony Certificate To Seal Victims' ID-Fates

Posted by Keith Ferrell 04:51 PM ET | Apr 28, 2008

A new approach to password/account info-theft appeals to users' desire for enhanced protection, rather than directly asking for info. The scam asks users to install an important digital security certificate -- which is, of course, anything but secure.

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Finance/Banking/Insurance | Internet/Web | Security

Astaro Survey Sez Your Security Spending Seems Recession-Proof. Really?

Posted by Keith Ferrell 10:58 AM ET | Apr 25, 2008

The results of a recent survey of small and midsize business IT security spending plans are being interpreted/marekted as signs that your security spending is "recession proof." A closer look suggests something quite different.

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McAfee And PlumChoice DoubleTeam For Remote Business Tech Services

Posted by Keith Ferrell 10:44 AM ET | Apr 24, 2008

The latest alliance targeting small and midsize business tech-needs is McAfee's just-announced linkup with PlumChoice to provide on-demand tech services to, well, to you.

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Hard Drive Encryption Becomes Loaded-Laptop Hard Drive Feature

Posted by Keith Ferrell 03:07 PM ET | Apr 23, 2008

With nearly three-quarters of a million laptop and notebook computers lost or stolen each year, there's a better than good argument for equipping yourself and your remote staff with encrypted disks on their portable gear.

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Hardware & Software | Mobile | Security | bMighty

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