Stonesoft News
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Bob Walder from Gartner was visiting at annual Stonesoft Customer Advisory Board at Cannes France, delivering an excellent speech.
(9 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...My last post about Multilink, called MultiLink VPN works, it just does. is over a year back. I wrote that piece, because I knew it was one of the last possibilities to get a screenshot with that many firewalls in one picture. Reason is, that we found a way to use the advantages of a MPLS-Network without the normal drawbacks.
Our major security concern with MPLS is the ability for users within the MPLS-Network to communicate with each other. That’s why up to that date, every office had its own Firewall, ISDN Backup, and a standardized ruleset allowing the very basics only: communication with headquarters and regional branch headoffices. This ability to control traffic is lost with MPLS, unless your provider offers the ability to split the uplink and the downlink of the MPLS Lines. Cisco calls this “MPLS half-duplex VRF”, and it lets you centralize the firewalls of smaller offices. Continue reading »
(3 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...If you’re headed to Black Hat 2010 this year as we are, be sure to follow our security tips to avoid placement on the Wall of Sheep. Our third security tip post is actually a collection of some miscellaneous things. Join us at Booth 33 to learn more about these tips, try your hand at Hack The Lab, and see what other things are going on at Stonesoft and the new StoneGate 5.2 release.
As many YouTube videos demonstrate, you never know when someone may be watching. A good thing to keep in mind at Black Hat as well, particularly when you are using a laptop or other mobile device. Be mindful of the fact that hackers may be watching your screen and your fingers as you type. From this they can capture information off your screen and capture your logins and passwords for use later on. Often this hack is accomplished by using a video camera on a cell phone or by pretending to take a picture of a nearby attraction. So keep your fingers covered as much as possible, and be prepared to change your passwords often. If you can avoid using your laptop or smartphone in open areas, do so and reserve the work for after you return to your hotel room or other private location.
Black Hat has also been famous in the use of social engineering and ATM hacks. There’s a presentation on ATMs at this year’s conference. Be sure to avoid any stand-alone or third party ATMs within the casinos, or any ATM that is not at a bank branch office. These stand alone ATMs can be cheap copies, or purchased off eBay or other sites, and reconfigured to capture your account data, while providing no money.
Just one more quick review: turn off wireless and Bluetooth on all devices whenever possible. Avoid wireless if at all possible, and use a 3G cellular modem instead. Be careful typing in passwords, and also what you work on while in open areas. Don’t trust ATMs or storage devices of any kind. Keep your mobile devices up to date with the latest software updates and patches, and use encryption and firewalls whenever and wherever possible.
Remember to enjoy the conference and have a great time knowing you won’t be joining others on the Wall of Sheep!
(4 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5) Loading ...If you’re headed to Black Hat like we are, there’s more to security than being cautious about the networks you connect to. Data at rest can also be a concern, both for the data on your devices as well as the data you may receive while there. Here’s our second security tip, to deal with the protection of that data.
The X-Files principle of Trust No One holds true in this case as well. We all love schwag, whether it’s simple things like stress balls, to more advanced things like iPad giveaways. In between everyone loves to pick up those USB sticks, which can be plain and simple or disguised as cute animals. But be careful, those animals can turn on you. In general, for a safer computing experience at Black Hat, do not trust any storage device handed to you by others. Whether it’s a USB drive or CD, or anything else (even that iPod you just won), they can contain viruses, Trojans or malware of any form. Even the ones that look professional can be dangerous. At best it’s good to discard them; if not at least scan them on a separate, up-to-date, sacrificial system first.
Second, if you are bringing a laptop, install and verify the operation of full-disk encryption software. Use AES-256 bit encryption or better. If the hard drive has a hardware encryption option as some external ones do, use that instead. And while you’re at the conference, be sure to power off or hibernate your laptop whenever it isn’t in use to maximize the effect of the encryption software. Free disk encryption programs exist, and modern Windows and OS X systems include encryption technologies built-in.
To learn more about computing safely, to try your hand at Hack The Lab, and to learn about Stonesoft’s award-winning network security solutions, be sure to stop by Booth 33!
(5 votes, average: 4.40 out of 5) Loading ...Black Hat 2010 is coming up soon, and Stonesoft will be there. Join us at Booth 33 to learn more about our solutions, see demos in action, and try your hand in Hack The Lab.
Our first security tip for a safer Black Hat computing experience is about network security. We’re starting with this one since it’s the heart of our StoneGate network security solutions as well. While at Black Hat, try to avoid connecting to any networks, including wired and wireless ones. For wireless networks especially, don’t connect if you can help it, even if the SSID of the network looks trustworthy (for example, it looks like a network operated by the casino…it may not be). If it’s possible to use a cellular modem instead, it is recommended to do so. If you do need a network, remember that any communications can potentially be intercepted, and passwords and logins should not be sent in clear text.
If you do connect, be sure you are using a VPN with strong encryption and that your laptop or mobile device is up-to-date with the latest patches and updates, and that a firewall and virus scanner are installed, updated and operational. If you don’t need it, be sure to turn off wireless and Bluetooth. If the devices you have use a hardware switch to disable these functions, use it instead of the software option. Whenever you are not using the networks, be sure to disconnect and disable the functionality on your device to reduce your risk exposure.
More tips for a safer experience at Black Hat will follow, so stay tuned!
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...It’s just a few weeks away! Stonesoft will be at the Black Hat 2010 conference and expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you’re going, join us there at booth 33, and learn about our solutions. We’re also featuring the popular StoneGate Hack The Lab event. Trade in your white hat for a black hat for a period and try your hand at hacking into systems in a lab environment.
In addition to Hack The Lab, we’ll also be featuring the StoneGate IPS component of the powerful, award-winning StoneGate network security solution. You can also register to win the VMware-certified StoneGate virtual firewall or IPS for a year for free!
Stay tuned here as well, as we post our security tips for a safe Black Hat computing event, or follow us on Twitter at @Hack_the_Lab and @Stonesoft_US. Or friend us on Facebook.
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…from now on, you can count on Stonesoft for your security!
Saturday, 22nd of may, Ascensio made it!
Mika and Timo, Ascensio’s climbers, reached the Roof of the World at 8848 mt on 22nd of may at about 3.30 AM GMT… and our mighty flag with them!
Even on their blog there is little or no more information… but I guess the mere fact of being there worths a post!
Thanks Ascensio, for having brought a bit of Stonesoft with you on Top of the World!
More info to follow, stay tuned!
Editing the post, since the first picture arrived.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the FLAG (and the legendary climbers):
(3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5) Loading ...Interrupting the news about the great new upcoming version of StoneGate 5.2 since the mighty trip is getting to the most exciting (and dangerous) part.
This appeared about an hour ago on Ascensio page on Facebook, from where you can follow closer the status of the expedition:
The magic Finnish duo (with our legendary Flag) is heading to Camp 4, also known as Dead Zone, since no human body can acclimatize to this altitude and permanence is not recommended for more than few days.
Once here, next planned step will be the roof of the world at 8848 mt!!!
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The trip of our flag continues with Ascensio guys and their blog is constantly updated as the right “window of opportunity approaches”. Apparently next weekend could be a potential good moment to try getting to the top, since the weather is expected to be bit less windy than currently, and the situation could last until 30th may.
I’m writing this post to ensure you good StoneBlog Readers are updated about what’s happening up there, and because I simply loved the post they made yesterday evening… as it contains a wise sentence about how making business could be seen close to climbing. Here’s the excerpt:
A reporter from the National Geographic asked us a question:” What things do mountain climbing and business have in common?”. I said: “In the business world the targets are depicted as the company vision, which is then broken into strategic steps that the company shall take. These steps are then broken into targets and measures that can be achieved. This gives the business its direction as well as all the relevant milestones for its actions. You then track the milestones systematically and see whether you’re headed to the right direction. In mountain climbing – as well as business – the summit cannot be achieved with one step, rather than the target is broken into smaller pieces. We then build our success on top of making all of the smaller steps happen.”
If everything goes fine, they’ll start the final trip to the top tomorrow… expecting to reach it by next saturday.
(4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5) Loading ...Those of you who follow Ascensio guys on their blog are of course well updated, but from time to time I committed to keep track of the expedition on our StoneBlog as well, so that you aficionados 
don’t miss a beat of this important event.
As you may imagine, climbing to top of the world’s highest mountain might very well be the experience of a lifetime… sure it is not a bed of roses in a classic limousine
And this is perceived very well reading the blogs articles, made of incredible moments, breathtaking views, feeling of comradeship but also homesickness, difficulties, fear and physical issues due to high altitude.
As I told few posts ago, reading Ascensio blog in the morning before starting to work makes my day, it gives me the right mix of feelings from that group of people to find the energy through the working day and more.
They have climbed to over 7000 mt (and our mighty flag with them), then found a weather twist which forced them to go down a bit in Periche to rest a bit, refill the energy tank to prepare for the right moment when they’ll… carpe diem. And while resting, they are telling about how life flows there, while eating fried yak meat with onions and singing Finlandia altogether at supper and even remembering Mom’s day… several thousands meters above their Mom’s head
It’s funny to meet quite unusual type of visitors during an expedition like this, such as people from Brunei intended to break a record of playing a chess game at the highest altitude ever 
So, here’s the small update… go Ascensio, go!
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