Stories by Anthony Caruana

Is crypto the enemy?

They say that if you live long enough you'll see history repeating itself. Certainly, that's true when it comes to fashion, music and even computer gaming with the trend towards retro games. And we're starting to see a a battle being fought again over encryption with British and US political leaders making overtures about banning or limiting the use of an important element of information security.

Anthony Caruana | 03 Feb | Read more

Thunderstrike Rootkit - Macs under threat

Despite a few security hiccups, Apple's OS X and iOS platforms have been generally very secure. While all users are potentially vulnerable to phishing attacks and identity theft, Apple's platforms have been solid. But that seems to be changing with the identification of a flaw in Apple's Thunderbolt ports that can used to write custom code into the Mac's boot ROM.

Anthony Caruana | 08 Jan | Read more

The Sony leak Scandal - What we know so far

In what has been one of the most momentous years in infosec ever - the Sony hack has topped everything. Although the Sony hack did not impact as many people directly as Apple's "goto: fail" bug or the Heartbleed exploit, the commercial and political ramifications of the attack on Sony have garnered more attention than any other attack - surpassing even the target attack in November 2013.

Anthony Caruana | 25 Dec | Read more

Privacy is a Business Disrupter

Although there's obviously a significant interest in privacy from a legal and compliance perspective, Vodafone's head of privacy, Stephen Deadman, told the audience at the recent IAPP Summit that there's an increasing focus on economics.

Anthony Caruana | 20 Nov | Read more

Thought Leadership in Privacy

Privacy laws around the world are playing a game of catch up as emerging technologies change the nature of information gathering, storage and processing in ways that were unimaginable just a few short years ago.

Anthony Caruana | 19 Nov | Read more

Privacy and the Internet of Things

It is almost impossible to attend any event that has an IT edge without hearing about the Internet of Things. Until recently, we only really used the Internet as a way of connecting people via computers and servicer. But we are hurtling forward into a world where all sorts of devices have sensors and controls that can be connected, controlled and read over the Internet. That's the Internet of Things.

Anthony Caruana | 19 Nov | Read more

The Right to be Forgotten

Very few people wouldn’t have an embarrassing photo hiding away. Or have made a silly comment that they wish would be forgotten. Or perhaps a minor criminal matter that is long past but keeps bobbing up, hindering you even though it is long since past.

Anthony Caruana | 19 Nov | Read more

Larry Irving: We're Flying Without a Net When it Comes to Privacy

Imagine trying to write policy around privacy and the Internet back in the 1990s. It was a world with fewer than 20 million internet users, most of them based in the United States. The task was given to Larry Irving in 1994 after he co-authored a paper on internet privacy. He became the first internet advisor to the then Clinton-Gore government.

Anthony Caruana | 18 Nov | Read more

Is this Unix's Code Red Moment?

Back in July 2001 two security researchers, Marc Maiffret and Ryan Permeh from eEye Digital Security, discovered the Code Red worm - a piece of malware that targeted Microsoft's IIS software and propagated wildly until it was stopped. It was followed by more vulnerabilities and threats until Microsoft was forced to launch its Trustworthy Computing initiative in 2002.

Anthony Caruana | 24 Oct | Read more

Identity is the Key to Security

Security is big business these days. With our old approach of blocking everyone at the border failing - mainly because no-one knows where the border is anymore - a risk-based approach is driving the way businesses think about their information and systems security.

Anthony Caruana | 22 Oct | Read more

Being FIRST in Information Security

Peter Allor is the Lead Security Strategist in IBM's Critical Infrastructure Group. He works at the forefront of information security, working with researchers to look at events, as they happen, to learn about new techniques that are being adopted by attackers from a protection perspective and how to deal with those in across distributed computing in the cloud. But he is on the board of directors of FIRST - the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams and ICASI - the Industry Consortium for Advancement of Security on the Internet.

Anthony Caruana | 16 Oct | Read more