Analyzing the Collection 01 Passwords

By Eric SmithFebruary 15, 2019February 15, 2019 Information Management, Information Security, Information Technology, Knowledge Management Collection 01, Cybersecurity, Data Breaches, Password Hygiene, Password Management

Collection #1 Password Analysis by Eric Smith, FireOak Strategies Chief Technologist & Information Security Officer February 15, 2019 In January 2019, a massive database of email addresses and passwords was released on the internet. The collection included over 773 million unique email addresses and 21 million unique passwords, credentials that were assembled from many data…

Exporting and Importing AWS EC2 Server Disk Images

By Eric SmithFebruary 6, 2019February 6, 2019 Information Technology Amazon AWS EC2, Technical How-To

We are heavy users of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic Cloud Computing (EC2) and regularly work with clients to help them transition their on-premises systems to the cloud, build a brand-new infrastructure, or evaluate the security of their virtual data centers. Migrating servers to an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) like AWS makes sense for…

Part 1: Create and Export an AWS EC2 Volume Image

By Eric SmithFebruary 6, 2019February 6, 2019 Information Technology Amazon AWS EC2, Technical How-To

This blog post is part one of a 3-part series describing a technique for how to export and import Amazon Web Services (AWS) instance volume images. Read the full introduction for more details. In this post, I’ll demonstrate a technique using standard Linux tools to export an AWS volume to another cloud provider or on-prem…

Part 2: Restore and Boot from an AWS EC2 Volume Image

By Eric SmithFebruary 6, 2019February 6, 2019 Information Technology Amazon AWS EC2, Technical How-To

This blog post is part two of a 3-part series describing a technique for how to export and import Amazon Web Services (AWS) instance volume images. Read the full introduction for more details. Part 1 is available here. About the Demonstration In this post, I’ll demonstrate a technique using standard Linux tools to create a bootable AWS EC2 instance from…

Part 3: Automate the Creation and Export of EC2 Volume Images

By Eric SmithFebruary 6, 2019February 6, 2019 Information Technology Amazon AWS EC2, Technical How-To

This blog post is part three of a 3-part series describing a technique for how to export and import Amazon Web Services (AWS) instance volume images. Read the full introduction for more details. In Part One, I reviewed the steps required to create and export an image of an AWS EC2 volume. This process works…

LastPass Multifactor Authenticator Review on Daily Tech News Show (DTNS)

By Eric SmithApril 6, 2016June 23, 2017 Information Security LastPass, Multi-Factor Authentication, Password Managementm Proactive Information Security

We’re thrilled that Eric’s technical review of the new LastPass Multifactor Authenticator got a shout-out as pick-of-the-day on the Daily Tech News Show (DTNS)! Read the full review — Part 1 and Part 2. Read related Information Security News and Resources: Data Loss Prevention Printers: your organization’s Achilles heel? Are printers ruining your organization’s security?

Are Printers Ruining Your Security?

By Eric SmithMarch 29, 2016June 25, 2017 Information Security Internet of Things (IoT), Proactive Information Security

On March 24, 2016 printers at several colleges and universities around the world were used to print racist and anti-Semitic messages. The FireOak team suggests several ways to prevent such incidents from happening at your organization.

LastPass Authenticator Security Evaluation

By Eric SmithMarch 21, 2016June 23, 2017 Information Security LastPass, Multi-Factor Authentication, Password Management, Proactive Information Security

In March of 2016, LastPass announced the availability of LastPass Authenticator, a smartphone app that provides push-based multi-factor authentication (MFA) for users of their cloud-based password management service.

LastPass Authenticator Security Review: Part 2

By Eric SmithMarch 21, 2016June 25, 2017 Information Security LastPass, Multi-Factor Authentication, Password Management, Proactive Information Security

Part 2 of our in-depth review of the LastPass Authenticator.

LastPass Authenticator Security Review: Part 1

By Eric SmithMarch 21, 2016June 25, 2017 Information Security LastPass, Multi-Factor Authentication, Password Management, Proactive Information Security

We took an in-depth look at the architecture, communications, and security of the LastPass Authenticator app in our lab in order to better understand the technology being used and whether or not the security is adequate for protecting a high-value asset such as LastPass.