Security managers are starting to provide employees basic protection for their home PCs, as well as evaluating what other types of security products are necessary to keep all clients safe.

Cisco Systems this week introduced education programs for designing network security architectures and updated certification tests for specific Cisco security gear.

Firewall technology has evolved significantly since the days of basic packet filters and network address translation. We now have not just firewalls but “intrusion detection devices”, which do far more complex things to the traffic they see in an attempt to prevent the network from being attacked. So where are firewalls going?

Australia's IT industry is talking tough about security but it's certainly not translating into dollars with medium to large companies averaging a measly spend of $33,000 per annum.

Australia's Information Security Interest Group (ISIG) has rejected a Gartner report that calls intrusion-detection systems (IDS) a failed technology, blaming instead CIOs who do not know how to manage the technology.

Although attendees and exhibitors spoke of a subdued Infosecurity 2002 show, attendance was up across the board at the annual trade show, according to show organisers.

As IT executives strengthen their companies’ defensive postures with multiple devices and point solutions, they encounter the catch-22 of today’s predominant layered-security approach: More devices mean more logs and alert data.

The rapid spread of the “SQL Slammer” worm showed that highly vulnerable desktop servers are everywhere. Gartner explains how enterprises can shut them down for good.

When the CIO title started cropping up more than a decade ago, it was generally ridiculed as a useless, powerless position. Nobody’s laughing these days, of course. Now there’s a new kid on the block — the CSO — whose job is to move IT organisations from fragmented delivery of security technology to a coordinated, aggressive, well-conceived security program.

Security professionals need to know where security breaches threaten the bottom line

Company policies range from laissez faire to completely banning outside devices, for fear of opening the network to the risk of attack. With virus companies offering firewalls and virus scanners for PDAs, do companies need to worry or is it all hype to sell more security software?

A preoccupation with firewalls for information security is dangerous because it can divert attention and resources away from locking systems down, according to a visiting security researcher.

With so many types of malware stalking the Internet, companies pile on the e-mail defences. By Sue Hildreth and Michael Crawford

To office workers trudging to their cubicles, the promotion looked like a chance at sweet relief from the five-day-a-week grind.

There are lots of ways business networks can be compromised, and more are developing all the time. They range from technology exploits to social engineering attacks, and all can compromise corporate data, reputation and the ability to conduct business effectively.