Being a QSAC (Qualified Security Assessor Company), our clients frequently ask if they can achieve their continuing PCI penetration testing requirements in-house. This depends on a few variables.

An organisation's requirement for administering a yearly external and internal penetration test that also includes application testing is covered by PCI DSS requirement 11.3. This is different than the PCI DSS 11.2 requirement that deals with an organisation's requirement for running internal and external vulnerability scans quarterly, which must be run internally or by an ASV (Approved Scanning Vendor) respectively. Each of these activities must also be performed either when changes take place in the applications, which includes upgrades, network, and infrastructure of the organisation, or at the mandated intervals. (more...)

Storage networks are predominantly used by organisations to centrally manage their data, reduce hardware costs (cost of server hardware, software, installation and maintenance) and downtime (when adding extra storage), effectively manage storage resources, and overcome computing power and storage scalability issues that the ‘independent storage for each system’ approach is affected with. These networks are regularly used to store critical information the compromise of which could affect the organisation’s competitive edge, cash-flow, profitability, legal and regulatory compliance, and corporate image.

Storage Area Networks (SANs) and Network Attached Storage (NAS) are the two types of storage networks used primarily. The two storage networks differ in various aspects; however, both these technologies were built with functionality in mind and not security, and are riddled with vulnerabilities that adversely affect the confidentiality, availability and integrity of the information stored within these networks. Serious vulnerabilities exist within these technologies that could allow unauthorised, (and in various cases) unauthenticated access to stored information. The support for IP based connections, iSCSI in SANs, and IP connections in NAS increase the accessibility but also enlarges the attack surface. (more...)

How to Improve the Performance of your Windows Computer.

by Shane Zentz

If you follow the steps contained in this article, your Windows computer should run much quicker and offer much better performance. First you should remove any unused software from your computer. Unused software only takes up hard disk space and can contribute to slow performance. The correct way to remove unused programs from your computer is to use the control panel. From the start menu, open the control panel. (more...)

All technology improves over time and that axiom certainly applies when it comes to the development of voice communications via the internet.

Starting from an idealistic but technologically underdeveloped standpoint of providing free telephone calls over the internet, it has now developed to a point where users can conduct straightforward voice calls, HD video calls, and even make and receive calls to landlines and mobile phones here in the UK or internationally direct from a computer or smartphone. More importantly, all of those services can be delivered reliably and to a quality standard, unlike when the technology was in its infancy. (more...)

USB flash drive consists of a small printed circuit board carrying the circuit elements and a USB connector insulated electrically and protected inside a plastic, metal, or rubberized case which can be carried in a pocket. The USB connector may be protected by a removable cap or by retracting into the body of the drive, although it is not likely to be damaged if unprotected through a case. Almost many flash drives use a standard type-A USB connection allowing plugging into a port on a personal computer. Some drives for other interfaces are also available. These USB flash drives derive their power from the USB connection and do not require a battery while some devices which combine the functionality of a digital audio player with flash-drive-type storage require battery.

USB flash drive consists of flash memory data storage device integrated with a USB 1.1 or 2.0 interfaces and are typically removable and rewritable. USB drives are much smaller than a floppy disk. It is light weight almost 30 g which is lesser than a floppy disk. It can store up to 256 GB. There are different capacities Flash drives like 4 GB USB drive, 8GB USB drive, and 128 USB drive GB etc. 8GB USB drive is double of 4 GB USB drive. (more...)