Written by:
11/16/2010 10:45 AM 

I am a list person. I like things laid out neatly with bullet points, or in multi-colored ink, or in an outline. I especially like a list when it comes with a big, fat black marker that I can use to cross through tasks at will and then feel good about myself as an accomplished...well, accomplisher.

I don't think I am alone in this at all. I think most people (whether they want to admit it or not) find it easier to remember things if they are neatly displayed and at the ready.

And here is my favorite list of the week: Top Ten Network Vulnerabilities, in an article at CIO.

Wait, wait! Don't go! Before you think, "Oh, she's one of THOSE techie nerds," hear me out. For some reason, this article spoke to me in a very non-techie way. It was more like a I-need-to-get-my-butt-in-gear-and-pay-attention kind of way. It just wasn't clear to me just how many ways I could personally enable a social engineering attack from my desk, just by not being careful.

There were the obvious ones, of course: don't click on suspicious links in an email, don't let people watch you while you log in to your computer. And then there were some standouts:

#1: USB Drives. Ever find a lonely thumb drive in your desk drawer, just dying to be plugged in and explored? Yeah? Well, plug that sucker in and you may as well hand your computer right over, if a social engineer planted it there.

#5: Inside Connections: I can't count the number of times I've handed my computer over, while still logged in, to a coworker...and walked away. Yeah, I trust my colleagues, but is it always wise?

#6: The Trojan Human: At my last job, our printer jammed approximately 1 billion times a month. And, each time maintenance came to fix it, we 1) made no note of his name and 2) left him in the room, alone...with an awful lot of sensitive data.

So, note to self: don't be dumb and pay more attention at work.

Sweet. Now I can cross that off my list.

Read the article—and the full list of network vulnerabilities—here: http://tinyurl.com/324apzv

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