Pwnie Awards Entertain, Warn Posted by Joe Franscella, 7-27-2012 Being the director of an IT security PR and marketing practice comes with privileges, among them — getting to attend Black Hat each year. For the past four, I’ve had an opportunity to learn about what the latest trends are, how they are going to impact [...]
And other security stories that caught my eye …. Posted by Joe Franscella, Wednesday, April 11, 2012: Researcher Brian Royer of SophosLabs had an interesting take on the Utah Department of Health breach that has compromised as many as 500,000 patient healthcare records that included social security numbers. He pushed the value of encryption but [...]
Posted by Joe Franscella, 10-21-2010: I always enjoy reading Jenn Leggio’s Social Business column at ZDNet and am thoroughly enjoying 100 Brains. Today she interviews Microsoft Security Guru Katie Moussouris, focusing on some social media security specifics that I found particularly interesting. Before writing about what I found specifically intriguing, I want to digress slightly [...]
Posted by Joe Franscella — 1-27-2010: RSA Conference 2010 is here, that’s especially true if you’re in PR and you have an information security client that’s contracted with you to raise awareness for them at the show among media and bloggers. If you’re representing McAfee, Symantec, Cisco, RSA (EMC’s security division) or another mega IT [...]
Posted by Joe Franscella – 12-28-09 – The appointment of Howard Schmidt to the position of White House Cybersecurity Coordinator is further indication that President Obama’s administration acknowledges that effective cybersecurity can mean the difference between life and death. The administration should look at cybersecurity in this way, after all, cyberspace provides criminals and terrorists [...]
Posted by Joe Franscella – 11-3-09 – Nobody loves to get angry at Microsoft Windows more than I. At least a few time a day, I am annoyed over bells and whistles that pop up unannounced and uninvited, ticked over apps that just decide to stop responding or swearing while trying to find emails I [...]
Posted by Joe Franscella I’m not big on press releases or announcements that start off by stating “… is pleased to announce …” But, I gotta say that in this particular case I really am pleased to announce (on Security Heavy) Trainer TV, my firm’s video contribution to the IT, marketing and public relations spaces. [...]
I have 45 minutes left before he press room at RSA Conference 2009 closes. Just want to take a few minutes to point out a few highlights I’ve experienced over the past four days. Found threatpost.com to be quite intriguing – I think its good news for the news industry that corporations are stepping in [...]
It’s almost time. Next week I will be heavily immersed on behalf of clients and my firm, Trainer Communications, in all things RSA Conference 2009. I am especially excited about the social media activities we are executing for my client Secure Passage. Over the course of event, they are meeting with several key journalists, bloggers [...]
In 2008, according to Royal Group Services, a data breach damages indemnification provider, 35.7 million identities were compromised and 18 million records were stollen from financial services companies. The company, which specializes in PCI DSS insurance services, further reports that in ’08 companies paid an average of $202 per breached file and that the total [...]
Network World’s Ellen Messmer took the electric grid hacking investigation a few steps further with a great piece today – How serious is threat to power grid? Depends who you ask. In it, she asks a number of experts from different facets of the technology spectrum what their chief concerns are regarding the news of [...]
In 1997 I was working as a communications manager for a major West Coast power company. The first two weeks on the job were spent getting oriented with the company, position, how power flowed from generator to end user, and, finally, on how California’s energy deregulation legislation was opening up countless opportunities for independent power [...]