Let me run with the pack and put up my own "off to Black Hat" post.  I leave Tuesday actually and won't get there until Tuesday evening.  I will be on a red eye home Thursday night/Friday morning.  In this way I don't break my own three day rule on Vegas.  What is my three day rule?  Suffice to say that it prevents me from spiraling down into the bowels of degeneracy.

So what am I looking forward to at Black Hat?  The Dan K / DNS stuff should be fun.  I will be cheering on my boy Hoff and I always sit in on Jeremiah.  But lets face it, I am there for the party and catching up.  I am looking forward to throwing a few back with Rothman.  Seeing Martin, Mogul and the rest of the bunch.  There are always good parties of course and free drinks and food never hurts.

Of course I will also spend some time at the StillSecure booth shaking hands and kissing babies.  If you would like to say hello feel free to stop on by.

Also, a quick thanks to all of the members of the SBN for their support on our Black Hat affiliation.  The last few weeks have seen a bunch of blogs raising the buzz on the conference.

Let me run with the pack and put up my own "off to Black Hat" post.  I leave Tuesday actually and won't get there until Tuesday evening.  I will be on a red eye home Thursday night/Friday morning.  In this way I don't break my own three day rule on Vegas.  What is my three day rule?  Suffice to say that it prevents me from spiraling down into the bowels of degeneracy.

So what am I looking forward to at Black Hat?  The Dan K / DNS stuff should be fun.  I will be cheering on my boy Hoff and I always sit in on Jeremiah.  But lets face it, I am there for the party and catching up.  I am looking forward to throwing a few back with Rothman.  Seeing Martin, Mogul and the rest of the bunch.  There are always good parties of course and free drinks and food never hurts.

Of course I will also spend some time at the StillSecure booth shaking hands and kissing babies.  If you would like to say hello feel free to stop on by.

Also, a quick thanks to all of the members of the SBN for their support on our Black Hat affiliation.  The last few weeks have seen a bunch of blogs raising the buzz on the conference.

Continuing the rapid consolidation or maybe the swallowing of the DLP market McAfee while announcing flat earnings today also announced that they were acquiring Reconnex for 46 million in cash. That just about does it in the DLP market with most of the pots having found a cover.  Congrats to all of the folks at Reconnex!

Continuing the rapid consolidation or maybe the swallowing of the DLP market McAfee while announcing flat earnings today also announced that they were acquiring Reconnex for 46 million in cash. That just about does it in the DLP market with most of the pots having found a cover.  Congrats to all of the folks at Reconnex!

Who doesn't remember the cone of silence from the original Get Smart TV series.  Whenever Max and the Chief had something important to discuss they would lower the cone of silence so that no one else could hear them or eavesdrop. So it is only fitting with the recent release of the Get Smart movie, Meru Networks has released a wireless cone of silence.

Meru is one of few stand alone wireless companies still hanging on out there.  So they need to be innovative to survive.  Their latest product, RF Barrier puts antennas around a physical plant to dampen and make it impossible to to listen in on wireless data exchanges.  They claim this is a first of its kind.  Thinking about it though, I don't see a big barrier to other companies having similar technology. I don't think you have to be a genius to broadcast traffic that puts out "noise" to hide legit traffic. I think the real special sauce is that this works in conjunction with Meru's other security products like wireless firewalls and secure access points.

With Motorola's recent purchase of AirDefense is having wireless IPS soon going to be table stakes in the wireless provider game?  I think it is and while Meru's RF barrier is a nice story, they are going to need to have some sort of IDS/IPS in their product line to keep up.

Who doesn't remember the cone of silence from the original Get Smart TV series.  Whenever Max and the Chief had something important to discuss they would lower the cone of silence so that no one else could hear them or eavesdrop. So it is only fitting with the recent release of the Get Smart movie, Meru Networks has released a wireless cone of silence.

Meru is one of few stand alone wireless companies still hanging on out there.  So they need to be innovative to survive.  Their latest product, RF Barrier puts antennas around a physical plant to dampen and make it impossible to to listen in on wireless data exchanges.  They claim this is a first of its kind.  Thinking about it though, I don't see a big barrier to other companies having similar technology. I don't think you have to be a genius to broadcast traffic that puts out "noise" to hide legit traffic. I think the real special sauce is that this works in conjunction with Meru's other security products like wireless firewalls and secure access points.

With Motorola's recent purchase of AirDefense is having wireless IPS soon going to be table stakes in the wireless provider game?  I think it is and while Meru's RF barrier is a nice story, they are going to need to have some sort of IDS/IPS in their product line to keep up.

Image by goddam via Flickr

Ah, its almost August.  Football training camps are open and the Yankees and Red Sox are battling. Does it get any better?  For most of this year I thought the Yankees were going to be out of it this year and content to have a rebuilding year.  We have several veteran players who past their prime and whose contracts are up after this year.  We have a some great young talent that need to grow into their potential.  It looked like the Bosox and Tampa Rays were going to run away with the division and wild card this year.

But like inevitable turning of the seasons, sometime after July 4th and then the All Star break, the Yankees beginninng their drive. Those old bones warm up in the heat of the summer and the bats come alive. This year the pitching is carrying them too.  Old pros Andy Pettite and Mike Mussina are joined by Jobba Chamberlin.  Mariano Rivera is still the best closer in baseball.  Just like old times the Yanks went out and fleeced some 2nd division team for a bunch of minor leaguers and added a quality hitter and pitcher right before the trade deadline.  Look around and we are one game behind the Red Sox for the wild card slot and only three games behind the Rays for first place!

I still think Tampa is going to stumble and it will come down to the Sox and the Yanks. Just the way it is supposed to be. I am heading up to NY next Friday, taking my sons to the shrine that is Yankee Stadium to see it in person in its last year.  The rest of the baseball season is going to be very exciting.  Again, just the way it is supposed to be!

Image by goddam via Flickr

Ah, its almost August.  Football training camps are open and the Yankees and Red Sox are battling. Does it get any better?  For most of this year I thought the Yankees were going to be out of it this year and content to have a rebuilding year.  We have several veteran players who past their prime and whose contracts are up after this year.  We have a some great young talent that need to grow into their potential.  It looked like the Bosox and Tampa Rays were going to run away with the division and wild card this year.

But like inevitable turning of the seasons, sometime after July 4th and then the All Star break, the Yankees beginninng their drive. Those old bones warm up in the heat of the summer and the bats come alive. This year the pitching is carrying them too.  Old pros Andy Pettite and Mike Mussina are joined by Jobba Chamberlin.  Mariano Rivera is still the best closer in baseball.  Just like old times the Yanks went out and fleeced some 2nd division team for a bunch of minor leaguers and added a quality hitter and pitcher right before the trade deadline.  Look around and we are one game behind the Red Sox for the wild card slot and only three games behind the Rays for first place!

I still think Tampa is going to stumble and it will come down to the Sox and the Yanks. Just the way it is supposed to be. I am heading up to NY next Friday, taking my sons to the shrine that is Yankee Stadium to see it in person in its last year.  The rest of the baseball season is going to be very exciting.  Again, just the way it is supposed to be!

One of the things that I have always not understood about HIPAA is what teeth do these regulations have and who is going to enforce them.  There are plenty of firms willing to take your money and rubber stamp you HIPAA compliant, but who is going to say your not HIPAA compliant and why should you care. Finally reading this article in Security Bytes it looks like the federal government has stepped up to enforce HIPAA and have put some bite behind the bark. Providence Health in Seattle was fined 100k by US Department of Heath and Human Services for losing data containing patients information. 

I say good for the HHS!  A few well publicized fines where people had to pay real money will go further in getting people to take HIPAA seriously than all of the other dog barking and warnings that have taken place to date.  The same goes for other regulations and statues on compliance as well.  Lets hear about some financial sanctions or penalties around PCI and you will see a drastic rise in compliance there as well.  Rules and regulations without enforcement serve no purpose at all and hurt more than they help.