Hard Drive failures can be a pain as more often than not, data is always lost in the process. I have had some hard drives carelessly fail without notice thus losing data in the range of 1Tb (1 Terabyte). As frustrating as it was then it could actually have been avoided if I was smart enough to leverage on S.M.A.R.T Before going to this S.M.A.R.T. stuff lets understand why Hard Disk Drive fail.Why Hard Disk Drive failHard drive can fail due to the following reasons: Magnetic coating failure: Data is stored on the Disk drive through magnetic patterns created by the Disk

Information Technology General Controls, popularly called ITGCs refers to the set of control such as policies,procedures, and technologies that an organization puts in place to ensure confidentiality, integrity, andavailability of its information and IT systems.ITGC review is an assessment of these controls to determine their effectiveness in protecting the organization’sinformation and IT systems. A comprehensive ITGC review typically covers the following areas: Access Management Change Management Computer Operations Program Development Networks Access Management/Control: These are the controls in place to ensure that users do not have accessprivileges beyond those that are required by them to perform their assigned duties as

Introduction to Automotive Cybersecurity Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting digital assets from malicious attacks. It is also referred to as “information technology security” or “electronic information security.” The term is used in a variety of contexts, but in this article, we will be considering cybersecurity in the context of automobiles.  The automobile industry has grown over the years, from the era of steam engines to internal combustion engines and now battery-powered vehicles. As automobiles passed through these stages, the desire to see them connected also increased, which led to connected vehicles. Connected vehicles are vehicles built with the capability

Service Organization Control 1 (SOC 1) and Control 2 (SOC 2) are two standards for assessing a service organization’s internal controls. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) established these standards to assist service organizations in demonstrating their dedication to security, availability, confidentiality, and privacy. SOC 1 is especially concerned with the financial reporting controls. It is designed for service businesses that offer services that have an effect on the financial statements of their customers. This covers products and services like cloud computing, hosting, and data processing. Clients of the service organization are assured by a SOC 1 report,

In our last article, we talked about the different cloud deployment models: Public, Private, Hybrid, andCommunity. In this article, we will be discussing the cloud computing services which are mainly three types IaaS(Infrastructure-as-a-Service), PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service), and SaaS (Software-as-a-Service). Cloud computing is the distribution of IT resources on-demand through the Internet with pay-as-you-gopricing. Instead of purchasing, operating, and maintaining physical data centers and servers, you may usea cloud provider like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Compute Engine, toobtain technological services such as processing power, storage, and databases on an as-needed basis.These services are intended to enable simple, low-cost

The deployment model is an important aspect of cloud computing. A cloud deployment model is a specificconfiguration of the environment’s variables, including storage capacity, ownership of the deploymentinfrastructure, and accessibility. This implies that deployment models employed by businesses are basedon the ownership (i.e who controls the infrastructure) as well as the location of the infrastructure. Forbusinesses to opt for the right one that suits them best, they will need to consider their computing,networking, and storage requirements, available resources, and business goals, as well as the pros andcons of cloud deployment models.The four basic forms of cloud computing are private, public,

The term IoT, or Internet of Things IoT has become one of the most important technologies of the 21stcentury, and it simply refers to the collective network of connected devices (smart devices) each with itsunique identifier automatically collecting and sharing data over a network. These devices range fromordinary household objects to sophisticated industrial tools.The fast development and acceptance of IoT technology have fueled a shift in business operations, withIoT devices already account for one-third of all devices on enterprise networks. The data gathered bythese devices gives useful insights that drive real-time choices and enable precise predictive modeling.Furthermore, IoT is a

Technology keeps evolving, and accompanying these emerging technologies are the associated risks which if adequate security and control is not in place, can erode the overall benefits.There is a lot of buzz around Artificial intelligence as they currently form the basis for all computer learningand are considered the future of all complex decision-making. They have various use cases such as thedetection of fraud, Virtual customer assistance, Natural Language processing, automation of businessprocesses, etc., hence the need to ensure they are audited to confirm that the controls employed byorganizations are well-implemented and operating effectively at all times.Similar to auditing other technologies,

A cybersecurity framework provides a set of baseline best practice criteria with a goal to further strengthen the cybersecurity posture of any organization where it is implemented. Having these frameworks in place, it becomes easy to define standard processes and procedures which sustains confidentiality, integrity and availability. In this article, we will talk about five cybersecurity standards, what they are, in what environment are they best suited and their level of acceptability. NIST Cybersecurity Framework The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is part of the United States Department of Commerce. The NIST Cybersecurity Framework assists businesses of all

Facebook is one of the top 10 social media platforms and the largest social media platform globally at 2.85 billion monthly active users worldwide, which accounts for more than 30% of the world’s population having access to the platform. Compiled in this piece in no particular order are the names of top 5 cyber security groups you must follow if you are interested in cybersecurity in 2022 either to get more information or share information about Cybersecurity. Cybersecurity: This is an active cybersecurity group on Facebook with an average of 10 posts per day on questions and answers relating to cybersecurity. It

Reddit is a social news website and forum where information is socially vetted and promoted by site members voting. The name of the website is a pun on the phrase “I read it.” Reddit is fragmented into over a million communities known as “subreddits,” each of which tackles a certain topic. A subreddit’s name begins with “r/,” which is part of the URL that Reddit uses. In today’s article, we will be exploring the top ten subreddits that every security professional must be a part of. r/cyber: This subreddit with 14.7k members was created in April 2010 and it is

Data privacy in our world today is a very serious global issue, especially as the use of digital devices has become prevalent. A lot of companies in recent times have sold people’s personal data to third parties (other companies and private individuals) for many reasons for which advertising is paramount. This is why learning about tools that protect your privacy online is very important. Disclaimer: There is no one size fits all solution tool for data privacy. The best bet is to use a combination of tools. Here are 5 resources that will help you learn more about data privacy:

The world digital trail has become common. Ip addresses, cookies etc and every activity we take part in online leaves a trail. Information privacy is there to ensure the details that we drop online are protected, and that our personal information online is not accessed by illegal entities. What is Data privacy? Data privacy can be generally defined as the degree to which an individual is willing to give out personal information. The ability of a person to determine what information they are willing to share? the extent of information they are willing to share, and who they are sharing

Logging and monitoring is a term that is largely spoken about in security circles, as it plays an essential role in investigating, fine-tuning the security posture of a single digital asset or group of assets. An error log is a list of every issue affecting a server, network, operating system, or device. These log files may contain information on the error’s time and place of occurrence, the user(s) present at the scene, the affected system components, and the impact’s duration. The reason for logging is to ensure an accurate and up to date availability of data on the application that

Identity theft is a very serious security challenge, as experts believe that these cases occur so often that there is a new victim every 22 seconds. According to identitytheft.org, over 48 million identity theft cases recorded in 2020. This was an increase of 3.3% compared to the cases in 2019. Experts suggest that this problem could collectively cost around $2 billion to owners and providers. With these stated, what really is identity theft? Identity theft happens when a persons personally Identifiable Information (PII) such as name, credit card number, phone number etc are used without their knowledge to commit crime.

When done the right way, DevOps implementation is sure to bring about better collaboration among teams, faster time to market, improved productivity, enhanced customer satisfaction, and increased efficiency. Unfortunately, all these efficiencies and enhancements that come with DevOps are almost useless without security. That is why DevSecOPs is the introduction of security practices into DevOps. DevSecOPs stands for development, security, and operations. It is a fluid integration of security and protection throughout the production and development lifecycle of software. Similar to the goal of DevOps, the goal of DevSecOps is to release better software that responds quickly to flaw detection.

Over the past articles, we have been exploring the world of the middleman (Api). We have been sufficiently able to break the concept down describing what it is, the advantages it presents, how to make it secure and the tools used for assessing its security posture. In this article, we are going to explore two important frameworks put to use in ensuring authentication and authorization to the middleman, but before we dive in, I will describe both authentication and authorization means, as it causes a lot of confusion in technology circles. Authentication verifies the identity of a user or service

There are several tools that have been used to access API security. Depending on each organization’s needs, a certain tool can be the ideal option for one but not the other. Although the majority of these API security testing tools have free trials or versions, enterprise users will probably need to purchase licences or explore paid options. Nevertheless, it is advisable to test any tool out beforehand to evaluate how it performs for local development and security teams. The Api security testing tools listed in this article are not ranked but otherwise listed in alphabetical order. 1. Apache JMeter Apache

API security refers to the process and/or measures of preventing or mitigating attacks on application programming interfaces (APIs). As discussed in the previous article, Application Programming Interface, or API, is a software bridge that enables communication between two applications therefore it is very important that measures are in place to ensure that the communication remains secure at all times as crucial and sensitive data is transferred between users, APIs, and the applications and systems they interact with.  Below are 8 tips on how to avoid security risks and secure your APIs: Encryption: Encryption secures digital data by encoding it mathematically