Ellen Messmer

Senior Editor

 

emessmer@nww.com (941) 792-1061

Network World 9303 Ninth Ave. NW Bradenton, FL 34209

Recent articles by Messmer

Users note virtualization foot-dragging among app vendors
07/01/09
Although they have moved to virtualize servers, some IT managers have found there are applications, particularly specialized ones for healthcare, retailing and other industries, where vendors are wary of software support in virtualized environments.

Save Mart grocery chain sees savings in open source
06/29/09
Open-source software is not only as good as proprietary vendor software in many cases, it’s better — and certainly a lot cheaper, according to James Sims, vice president of information technology and chief information officer at the grocery retailer, Save Mart.

Heightened data-loss prevention needs fuel arms race between vendors
06/26/09
Data-loss prevention is rapidly becoming the next big battlefield in IT security.

Sourcefire readies virtual intrusion prevention appliances
06/25/09
Sourcefire is readying its first series of intrusion-prevention systems and management tools designed to run as virtual appliances on VMware's ESX, ESXi and vSphere 4.0 platforms.

Cisco gives IronPort gear a boost with RSA’s data-leak prevention tech
06/24/09
News of the IronPort C-Series upgrade marks the first fruit of the DLP partnership between Cisco and RSA, announced with much fanfare last year.

PCI Security Standards Council: Tell us how we're doing
06/24/09
The PCI Security Standards Council, which establishes technical standards for the payment-card industry, Tuesday invited broad feedback from both its membership and the public in order to understand the best course to take for creating a new security standard next year.

Symantec unveils endpoint protection services
06/23/09
Symantec now offers managed endpoint protection services for round-the-clock monitoring and management of computers that use Symantec security products.

PCI compliance strategy calls for hiding card data in plain sight
06/18/09
Direct-marketing retailer Fingerhut is undertaking a new strategy to protect sensitive payment-card information: Hiding it in plain sight through a data-scrambling method called “tokenization.”

Worm-bearing Twitter spam on the loose
06/18/09
Twitter spam bearing a worm virus is on the loose today trying to lure Twitter users into opening a malicious file attachment containing malware that could take over Windows-based machines, Symantec is warning.

ScanSafe downplays Nine Ball’s threat
06/18/09
Is the Nine Ball attack really a huge threat? Websense says yes, ScanSafe says no.

Ex-Googlers behind new security service that flags malware on Web sites
06/16/09
Security start-up Dasient, with co-founders from Google, debuts today with its Web Anti-Malware service to detect malware infections on Web sites and quarantine the malware found to protect Web visitors prior to Web site clean-up.

High-def video surveillance standard viewed as boon to users
06/16/09
A new industry group officially launched Tuesday with a proposed standard for closed-circuit high-definition TV for video surveillance, and end-users applauded the effort to promote interoperability in a new generation of monitoring gear.

Nine Ball attack strikes 40,000 Web sites
06/16/09
Attack dubbed Nine Ball injects malware into pages and redirects victims to a malicious site that will then try to download Trojans and keylogger code.

Gartner to outline security trends in upcoming Information Security Summit
06/15/09
The upcoming Gartner Information Security Summit will put the focus on trends in the security market today.

Microsoft’s threat-modeling guide: Think like an attacker
06/15/09
In Microsoft’s “IT Infrastructure Threat Modeling Guide,” the advice is: Think like an attack to protect your organization.

Symantec vows huge push into SaaS market
06/11/09
At its Financial Analyst Day event in San Francisco Thursday, Symantec's top executives vowed a major push into software-as-a service and also offered a glimpse at upcoming back-up products. Enrique Salem, president and CEO, kicked off the event with the investment industry's analysts by saying Symantec intends to expand into software-as-a-service, an area in which it already has experience (the company now backs up 32 petabytes of customer data in the cloud with continuing growth at 5 petabytes each quarter). Salem predicted SaaS, in which Symantec will have new offerings, could comprise "15% of total revenues in the next five years."

Security on a stick guards British diplomatic business
06/10/09
When it comes to security, the British government's Consulate-General in New York, part of the United Kingdom's diplomatic mission for business and visa-related activities, is taking no chances on spies or other intruders sneaking onto its network.

Alliance advocates standard for HDTV-based video surveillance
06/09/09
A recently formed group has proposed a standard for high-definition video surveillance systems that allows HDTV signals to be transmitted digitally over conventional closed-circuit TV media without packetization.

Trend Micro upgrades data-loss prevention software
06/08/09
Trend Micro today announced an updated version of its Windows desktop-based data-loss prevention software in two editions; one “Standard” for monitoring users and data, the other “Advanced” to add protections for intellectual property and source code.

Ex-Google security whiz's start-up exiting stealth mode
06/04/09
Security start-up Dasient is expected to come out of stealth mode in two weeks and reveal its plans to help companies fight cybercrime.

Web-hosting firm Pricewert objects to FTC shutdown
06/04/09
Although a Federal Trade Commission order shut down Internet access for San Jose Web-hosting firm Pricewert based on several complaints, the company says the action was unfair and plans to fight the FTC in court.

Sophos suite combines encryption, antimalware for Windows desktops
06/02/09
The Endpoint Security and Data Protection suite from Sophos includes full-disk encryption plus anti-malware, application control and intrusion protection.

40,000-plus Web sites infected in 'Beladen' Web attacks
06/02/09
More than 40,000 Web sites were compromised over the weekend via SQL-injection attacks with malware that attempts to push visitors to a site dishing out malicious software, according to a security firm.

Racism, hate, militancy sites proliferating via social networking
05/29/09
Racism, hate, and militancy sites have tripled in number over the past year on the Web and within corners of social-networking sites like Facebook, YouTube, Google and Yahoo, according to one vendor tracking them.

Obama's cybersecurity chief to be a 'coordinator' not 'czar'
05/29/09
In a speech at the White House today, President Obama put forward his vision for protecting the nation’s critical IT infrastructure from attack, and announced the new office of Cyber Security Coordinator.