Several of the engineers I worked with all week are from this power plant. I drove by it on the highway every day going to and from the Training Center. I'm doing my part to make the nation's power grid more secure and reliable by teaching new skills to the engineers who keep it operational.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

#NetworkEngineering #cybersecurity

Heading to Atlanta from Seattle this morning. Then I'll drive a bit north and check in to my hotel. Sunday is R&R, then I'll spend all next week working for a public utility.
#cybersecurity #networkengineering

At a public utility in New England there are ten newly certified Wireshark Analysts. Now, I'm flying home to Seattle.

#CallMeIfYouNeedMe #FIFONetworks

#cybersecurity #training

Dinner, anyone? I’m going to be working for a client in Berlin, Connecticut next week. If you’re in the area and would like to meet in person, let’s get together for dinner at a local restaurant. I can meet on October 16-18. No sales pitches, please, just socializing. Most restaurants can handle a group of six without reservations. I’ve got a dinner like this (four people so far) planned in Kennesaw, Georgia, in November, but nothing for Berlin.

#Cybersecurity #InformationTechnology

Data centralization should never be done in online systems.

#callmeifyouneedme #fifonetworks

#cybersecurity

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/12/business/att-customers-massive-breach/index.html

When a company is breached, they offer you 12 months of free credit monitoring, but you have to register for it with your sensitive information. What’s to stop the credit monitoring company from being breached, and your information being compromised again? I’ll monitor my own credit. I have text alerts set up with my bank, and I get notified immediately. Checking, savings, credit card. It costs nothing, and it doesn’t expire after 12 months.
#ticketmaster
#cybersecurity
#credit

FWIW, I'm doing month-end maintenance for my clients tonight, and there's been unusually high activity from China blocked and logged by their firewalls. These include non-government, low profile businesses. If anything is getting through, well, the logs don't show it because they don't know...
#cybersecurity

I just downloaded and reviewed the Essential 8 from the Australian Signals Directorate. I'm in the USA, so I can't use it in any regulated organization, but this is a high quality #cybersecurity plan. Well done, Australia.

https://www.cyber.gov.au/resources-business-and-government/essential-cyber-security/essential-eight

Weekend entertainment: tell us about a time you used social engineering to gain access to a building, server room, or area where you won’t supposed to be. I’ll go first…
(LinkedIn post)

#cybersecurity #socialengineering #physicalaccess

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fifonetworks_cybersecurity-socialengineering-physicalaccess-activity-7197785820781580289-iOt6

About your Clean Desk Policy/Clean Office Policy: don’t forget the whiteboards. Here’s the wording I use in my clients’ cybersecurity policies. You can have it free of charge to include in yours.

“Whiteboards containing Restricted or Sensitive Information should be erased or cleaned to the point where residual markings are unreadable from any angle in any light.”

#callmeifyouneedme #fifonetworks

#cybersecurity #policy

So-called "VPN services" aren't like legitimate business VPNs at all. Are they worth your money?
[LinkedIn article]
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/vpns-dont-hide-your-location-bob-young-ureoc

#callmeifyouneedme #fifonetworks
#cybersecurity #vpn #marketing #ethics #privacy

Client: “Hey – how did you know we have [a certain piece of equipment] in our network? We haven’t talked about that yet.”
Me: “Uh, you’re paying me to map your network and document it. It’s my job to find everything.”

#callmeifyouneedme #fifonetworks

#cybersecurity #informationtechnology #infrastructure

Common small business email problems, and how to avoid them… A couple of small business clients have recently had issues with receiving emails that affected their ability to bid on quotes, etc.

Here are some problems and solutions. (LinkedIn post)

#callmeifyouneedme #fifonetworks
#cybersecurity #email #entrepreneurship

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fifonetworks_callmeifyouneedme-fifonetworks-cybersecurity-activity-7178766886027866112-VO4v

Data sync and data backup: they’re not the same, and one may not be of any use after a ransomware attack. Here’s what you need to know, and how to avoid data loss.

https://fifonetworks.com/resources/backup_and_sync_explained.pdf

#callmeifyouneedme #fifonetworks

#cybersecurity #ransomware #informationsecurity #networkarchitecture

Global outages are caused by global centralization. This is the wrong architecture. It's dangerous.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/15/mcdonalds-suffers-global-tech-outage-forcing-some-restaurants-to-halt-operations.html

#callmeifyouneedme #fifonetworks

#networkarchitecture #cybersecurity

Android OS needs a built-in software firewall, user configurable, so you can selectively block URLs.
#cybersecurity

I probably shouldn't admit this, but a big part of my job is knowing what to Google.

#callmeifyouneedme #fifonetworks

#cybersecurity #informationtechnology

Scenario: an authoritarian government seizes control of all the Microsoft passwordless authentication servers in their country and turns them off. Authentication servers outside the country are blocked. The entire citizenry, including businesses, loses access to online banking and financial processing.
Discuss.

#cybersecurity #passwordless #authentication #centralization

Be especially alert for gift card scams in the post-holiday season.

#cybersecurity #fifonetworks

Cleared security at Seattle International Airport (SEA). Headed to Atlanta, getting a rental car, and driving to Augusta. I'll be spending the week at a nuclear power plant (Plant Vogtle), working with the network engineers to give them new skills. I love what I do. People pay me money to have fun!

#callmeifyouneedme #fifonetworks
#cybersecurity #networkengineering