Defrag This

On this special episode of Defrag This, we're sharing the ribbon cutting ceremony for our new office. Hurray!

Can we ever be completely safe when it comes to wifi security?

No. Cue the panic.

Just kidding. We really can't be 100% safe using wifi, but that doesn't mean we should just throw caution to the wind and neglect any attempts at security whatsoever. There are security protocols available to help keep things more secure.

But what are the differences and why do those differences matter?

In this episode, Brad Call, wi-fi expert and consultant for Internal IT, gives us a breakdown of the three security protocols and how they can help or hurt your wi-fi security.

Fake news had been all over the news for months.

Some people don't believe it's a real thing, and others believe that it is lurking behind every meme and Facebook ad. As usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle.The recent senate hearings related to the possibility of Russian interference in the American election have shined an even brighter spotlight on this issue. Outside interference from other nations is very real.

It's not exactly a new issue, but as our technology continues to leap forward faster than legislation can pin it down, this issue may be more dangerous than previous incarnations.

In this episode, Mary Manjikian, professor and author of Cybersecurity Ethics: An Introduction, discusses how ethics in technology and cybersecurity is more important than ever as the law struggles to catch up.

Internet comment sections are often either amusing or horrifying places. There's generally little in-between. This is particularly true in the computer programming world where some programmers can be almost slavishly devoted to their chosen deity… er… scripting language.

Debates between users of different languages can be heated as everyone tries to defend their personal favorite as "the best." It's not necessarily clear what could objectively make one scripting language "better" than another overall, though.

One language that gets more flak than it likely deserves is PowerShell. Proponents of Python can be especially brutal in their ridicule, but they aren't the only naysayers regarding the scripting language created specifically for Windows systems.

In this episode, Adam Bertram, PowerShell guru and author of The Pester Book, explains what he believes is the main reason behind the PowerShell vs. Python vs. "insert scripting language here" debate.

Find a breakdown of this episode here.

A weekly rollup of everything in the news relating to cyber security. Check in every week for breaking news in the cyber security spectrum.

Have you ever had a doctor give you a pill to cure whatever ails you without first finding out what your symptoms are?

Of course not. That would be unprofessional and reckless.

Yet, that's the equivalent of what many IT professionals are doing when they send their users training videos about how to avoid things like phishing scams. These videos or other one-size-fits-all anti-phishing training materials work to a point, but they aren't nearly as effective as they could be with a little more understanding of the patient, erm, I mean, user.

In this episode, Arun Vishwanath, cybersecurity expert and Associate Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, explains how the disease of phishing can only be cured by correctly diagnosing the symptoms in each user.

Have you ever had a doctor give you a pill to cure whatever ails you without first finding out what your symptoms are?

Of course not. That would be unprofessional and reckless.

Yet, that's the equivalent of what many IT professionals are doing when they send their users training videos about how to avoid things like phishing scams. These videos or other one-size-fits-all anti-phishing training materials work to a point, but they aren't nearly as effective as they could be with a little more understanding of the patient, erm, I mean, user.

In this episode, Arun Vishwanath, cybersecurity expert and Associate Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, explains how the disease of phishing can only be cured by correctly diagnosing the symptoms in each user.

The healthcare industry is at a crossroads when it comes to technology. Mobile devices and the IoT has given new and innovative ways to stay on top of our health from Fitbits to smartphone pedometers, but the vast amount of data these apps collect on our health is a blessing and a curse.

Stephen Wu, a technology lawyer at Silicon Valley Law Group and the author of A Guide to HIPAA Security and the Law, knows that if healthcare data is not handled properly, patients risk having their information lost or stolen, which means healthcare providers risk compliance mishaps and hefty fines.

It's the bane of our existence—after printers, that is. Today at Cisco Live with Ryan Lewis, we will be talking about video conferencing.

As we all know, the IT guy is always working his butt off behind the scenes to make sure that video conferencing is working right for his clients and that they don't have any hiccups when they're giving an important presentation or running an important meeting.

Lewis is going to tell us what he's using for video conferencing, why he's using it, and the challenges he's overcome to make sure his users can do video conferencing quickly, efficiently, and without all the hassle.

As if doing taxes weren't bad enough, now cybercriminals have used an update to a Ukrainian tax software to spread malware to computers in multiple companies both in Ukraine and around the world.

The infectious code looks like the ransomware Petya at first glance, but after a double-take, it looks more like a malware that is decidedly more sophisticated and is definitely NotPetya. Many are comparing it more accurately to the WannaCry attacks in May.

In this episode of Defrag This, Scott Foote, cybersecurity expert and CEO of Protinuum, dives deep on the recent NotPetya malware attacks and gives us a peek at what future cyberattacks could look like.