CISOs are from Mars, CIOs are from Venus

   I recently had the opportunity to speak at the Argyle CIO Leadership Forum in Chicago.  I sat on a couple of panels and had some fun delivering a talk called "CISOs are from Mars, CIOs are from Venus" (slideshare).
   There was a clear theme of cloud, mobile and BYOD.  There were both CIOs and CISOs in attendance so there were different perspectives on these challenges.  That certainly tied into my closing keynote.

   After the conference I was interviewed by the conference organizer.  The interview will be posted on the conference website, but here is a copy:

So What's the Authentication Answer? - 3 Factors of Fail (part 7 - last!)

   We've been discussing the authentication problem for the better part of two months, and now it's time to wrap things up.  If you've gotten to this post through a link but haven't read the rest of the series, it starts with part 1 here.

   Each of the 3 factors of authentication have serious issues when used individually.  The challenge is that we need to log a person into a system or application in a way that reasonably assures the person is who they say they are and has rights to the system.  And, perhaps most importantly, any method we use has to work well for people!

   So, how do we find a solution?

   The key is to think about the user and the use.

Multi-Factor Fail - 3 Factors of Fail (part 6)

from: brainyquote.com

   In December I was at the NG Security Conference in Austin, TX.  We had a fantastic discussion with a group of key security leaders focusing on this "quote" and how it applies to information security.  I say "quote" because there is some question as to who said this or if anyone actually did!

   As I've been saying throughout this series of posts, it seems that this statement is exactly what we are doing in the world of authentication!  None of the typical factors of authentication have really solved our authentication and access problems, yet we continue to use the same mechanisms over again.

The 4th Factor? - 3 Factors of Fail (part 5)

   Welcome to the next installment of my ramblings on authentication, 3 Factors of Fail.  So far we have discussed the classic 3 factors of authentication in parts 1, 2, 3 and 4.

   In recent years some additional authentication assurance methods have been grouped to form what some call the 4th factor of authentication.  This is also called risk-based, location-based or adaptive authentication.  It could also be called "somewhere you are" or "something you are doing".

   The basis of this method is in establishing a rich profile of the user.  This can include:

• the machine used for access;
• software used;
• time or day of accesses;
• IP address(es) used;
• what country the connection comes from, or;
• what actions the user attempts.