Ira Winkler
Contributing Columnist
Ira Winkler, CISSP, is president of Secure Mentem, and author of the forthcoming book, Advanced Persistent Security. He can be contacted at securementem.com.
How safe are your passwords? Real life rules for businesses to live by
While people applaud easier password guidance from NIST, easier is not better. Here’s what you need to consider when creating a company password policy.
What is gamification? Lessons for awareness programs from Pokemon Go
Gamification is a way to reward people for exhibiting a desired behavior. It is not merely creating a game for people to play, nor making training a game. As Pokemon Go turns a year old, here are some of the things awareness programs...
4 tips to make use of Wannacry in awareness programs
When security events make news, you can take advantage of the wake-up call — if you know what to do.
8 ways millennials impact your security awareness program
The millennial generation has arrived. Is your awareness program up to the challenge?
7 elements of a successful security awareness program
Action items for CSOs looking to bolster their security awareness programs.
Hack Back law would create cyber vigilantes
The Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act revision demonstrates what happens when you rely upon limited information and a cowboy mentality.
What security practitioners can learn from the United’s failures
The United airlines debacle was a complete failure of process, and many security programs suffer the same fate.
What prevents breaches: process, technology or people? One answer is PC, and one is right.
Many experts say that people are more important than process in the IT security world. That is politically correct, as opposed to actually correct.
If you think ransomware is a user failure, you’re a failure
It is easy to blame users for causing ransomware infections of their own systems. However, the reality is that for the user to infect their system, there are many technical failures, which are due to the IT staff’s actions or lack...
Parting advice from Howard Schmidt
Security expert Ira Winkler reflects on the late-Howard Schmidt.
Why awareness needs to teach scam detection and reaction
Most awareness programs teach users how to behave. Ira Winkler argues training needs to go further so people know what to do if they do fall victim to fraud.