TrainACE - IT and Cybersecurity Training Blog

Both Silent Circle and Lavabit recently shut down their encrypted email services. Lavabit was the first to take action following word that the United States government wanted data handed over that would violate customers' privacy. Ladar Levison, owner of Lavabit, said he faced the decision of complying with the government and betraying the American people or ending the email service he worked hard to build. He also said that he was legally unable to explain the events leading up to his decision due to recent laws passed by congress blocking his freedom of speech.

Across the country and around the world, cyber attackers continue to discover new and improved ways of wreaking havoc with company's business operations. Their nefarious activities are responsible for billions of dollars' worth of damages in intellectual property theft. While cyber security teams attempt to circumvent these onslaughts, increased technological advancements continue to speed up the time between perceived threat and actual intrusion. How can a business entity keep up?

Social networks are social by design. They mean to foster interaction, to put you in touch in one way or another. Some put you in touch with friends and family. Others put you out there for the whole wide world to see. Some uses are personal. Others are all business. In the end, though, social media platforms are all designed to be easy to access and easy to use. They’re intentionally informal. They’re the last place you’d expect to find classified intelligence or the kind of business secrets that companies diligently guard.

As cyber attacks increase in frequency and scandals involving governments hacking into private computers become more commonplace, it's no wonder that one of the most promising fields in the current IT sector would be cyber security. In fact, recent research has indicated that cyber security has grown by more than one hundred percent in the last year. Clearly, anyone seeking a job in the information technology area would do well to start at the first line of defense against hackers.

Criminals have been breaking into websites and electronic databases for many years. Although this can result in huge monetary losses, it rarely injures anyone or causes physical damage. However, hackers are gaining more destructive power as manufacturers add network interfaces and microprocessors to mechanical devices. This is a security threat that we cannot afford to ignore.

Through no fault of its own, the Java programming language, when it was first developed, failed to reach its intended goal. Sun Microsystems, then a leading maker of workstations, had in mind a language that would be adopted by cable companies for interactive TV. In 1991, however, the cable companies were not quite ready for what Sun had in mind.

The economy might still be limping along, but the IT industry remains as healthy as ever. IT outsourcing companies have become popular in recent years, but larger companies from hospitals to manufacturers are also hiring for a continually growing workforce of in-house IT professionals. If anything, the high job demand present in the early '00s has increased since the 2008 recession. Networking, a distinct career path in IT, remains one of the main stays.

Professionals who are certified through the Cisco CCNA program are qualified for a number of jobs in the technology field. The exams required for this certification demand that each candidate demonstrate an ability to install, configure, and operate a variety of networks, making these qualified individuals flexible workers. Successful CCNA graduates are able to troubleshoot systems, operate under a number of different protocols, and demolish threats to a network’s security. This is a broad range of skills, and the Cisco CCNA certification provides each professional with a comprehensive understanding of networks. These skills allow CCNA certificate-holders to tackle a number of technology-related occupations.

The term "hacker" is often associated with illegal online activity. However, there are hackers who perform 100 percent legal services, which are based on evaluating the information infrastructures of companies. For those who hold the Certified Ethical Hacker certification from the EC-Council, there are several jobs to consider that come with attractive compensation. Some of the most common jobs for hackers holding the CEH certification include computer forensics, incidence response, penetration testing and security analysis. Penetration testing is the most common job for new hackers, but some later advance to become engineers or take on a wider variety of tasks.

Researchers at security company FireEye have revealed an advanced persistent threat targeting the U.S. defense and aerospace industries and likely originating in China. Named Beebus after an early sample, the campaign's attacks come in continuous waves over time against strategically chosen individuals. According to an unnamed inside source, the Beebus campaign began in early 2012 when FireEye noticed suspicious activity on the systems of some its defense and aerospace clients. Of 261 discovered attacks, 123 targeted unmanned aerial vehicle or systems vendors. The most recent exploit used a Deloitte industry analysis report sent in a weaponized email. Researchers believe that the campaign has so far touched 214 servers with 60 unique IP addresses.

IT professionals preparing for the new MCSA certification will find a stronger emphasis on Active Directory. Microsoft Active Directory, or AD, is a database management system that can be replicated across logical network partitions called domains. The AD stores configuration information such as user login credentials and contains objects representing users, groups and computers. Administrators can group these objects into units according to business requirements and centrally manage them through group policy objects. They can also use AD to push software and desktop configuration updates to user systems. While AD has long been a central component of Windows Server, significant updates have expanded its role in the MCSA exams.