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Author
Randy George

Profile of Randy George

Blog Posts: 89
Randy George has covered a wide range of network infrastructure and information security topics in his 4 years as a regular InformationWeek and Network Computing contributor. He has 13 years of experience in enterprise IT, and has spent the last 8 years working as a senior-level systems analyst and network engineer in the professional sports industry. Randy holds various professional certifications from Microsoft, Cisco and Check Point, a BS in computer engineering from Wentworth Institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of Massachusetts Isenberg School of Management.
Articles by Randy George

Saving 70% Per Month In The Cloud

11/30/2009
I need to add an FTP server to my environment, and as I sit here and struggle with how I'm going to do that and stay under my annual budget, it occurs to me that the cloud isn't a bad option anymore. The savings are pretty compelling, in fact; read on for a quick and dirty cost analysis.
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Enterprise IT Is Not Ready For Private Cloud Storage

10/21/2009
Our esteemed Director of InformationWeek Analytics, Art Wittmann, has a theory that I'm secretly working as a cheerleader for underdog technologies. And our esteemed Executive Editor of InformationWeek Analytics, Lorna Garey, often asks if my favorite drink is Koolade. To my dismay, they have proven themselves right once again. 18 months ago, I predicted that private cloud storage would take off for the Tier-2 storage needs of enterprises. You won't hear me say this often, I WAS WRONG.
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Web Security In The Cloud

9/28/2009
Are tight budgets crimping your ability to provide adequate web security to your organization? Can you afford $30/month per user instead? Don't lament if you can't afford a shiny new Bluecoat ProxyAV, you may be able to get the same level of service in a subscription based model.
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Massachusetts Data Privacy Law Delayed, Again

8/27/2009
We predicted this eventuality here, in this blog, 6 months ago. The MA Data Privacy law, touted by some as the most far reaching in the nation, is too unwieldy for small businesses to follow. However, the law is getting watered down a bit, making it more palatable for small businesses.
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ConSentry Goes Belly Up

8/21/2009
After $80M invested by its VC partners, over $9M of which was received earlier this year in order to fund future growth, an innovator in the Network Access Control space, ConSentry Networks, closed its doors for good today. What does this say about the viability of the NAC space?
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Are You A Phisherman? Take My $10 Paypal Challenge!

8/5/2009
Shortly after posting something for sale on my local Craigslist site, I was bombarded with 5 responses within minutes. Cool I thought, one of these nice folks was sure to get rid of this nagging item from my garage, but I was wrong. I was the victim of a piranha like PHISHING ATTACK. Are you a phisherman? I will paypal you 10 dollars if I select your series of answers to my questions, read on.
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The Potential of Virtual Desktops

7/30/2009
I've been covering desktop virtualization quite a bit lately; it's a pretty hot topic. After debugging the Matrix for the last 6 months in the InformationWeek Desktop Virtualization labs, I'm trying to free my mind and consider the potential uses of desktop virtualization beyond running MS Office, here's some pretty cool ideas. Gaming companies, listen up.
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More Tales From The Crypt

6/11/2009
Sometimes you just have to accept defeat. Such was the case for a friend of mine who recently spent a great deal of time pondering how a corporate rival always seemed to be a step ahead, knowing things he shouldn't have known and one-upping him at almost every turn. This friend asked me to drop by and scan his PC, and guess what I found........
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Ramming The iPhone Into The Enterprise

5/27/2009
Whatever side of the fence you're on about supporting the iPhone in the Enterprise, you're probably going to have to do it eventually. The question is, can you appease your users and keep your data safe simultaneously? There might be a middle ground to be found.
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I Just Won Another Game Of Hacker Chess

5/12/2009
True security geeks love to one-up each other. In much the same way that Chloe O'Brian one-upped Janeane Garofalo's character, Janis Gold, on 24 last night, I just out-dueled a fellow security pro. Have you ever played a game of hacker chess? If you can find someone you trust to play with, you could be saving your job by engaging in this high-stakes exercise, because it's not a game at all, it's a simple penetration-testing exercise that should be a routine part of your monthly to-do list
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A Data Loss Lesson Learned The Hard Way

5/5/2009
I experienced what felt like a death in the family recently when my own laptop was stolen right from my office, along with all of my work, personal financial data, and most importantly to me, family photos. Being a security analyst, I felt a sense of complicity for not being better prepared for this eventuality. Don't let what happened to me happen to you. You can fight back, and on the cheap...read on.
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Citrix Giving Away XenServer Enterprise For Free, Why?

3/18/2009
Citrix just upped the ante on VMWare and Microsoft with its recent announcement that XenServer Enterprise, along with many of its high-availability features, will be given away for free. We caught up with Citrix CTO Simon Crosby to get his take on the new Citrix server virtualization strategy. Read on to hear what he had to say.
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The Massachusetts Data Privacy Law Debacle

2/12/2009
As an InformationWeek blogger, I often feel like I'm preaching from the pulpit about the technology events of the day. But today, I'm reaching out to you, our loyal readers, for help with how you're approaching the new Massachusetts Data Privacy Law. For you attorneys out there, that's 201 CMR 17.00. Don't do business in Massachusetts? Read on anyway, you might still be affected.
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5 Ways To Stretch Your 2009 Security Budget

1/17/2009
The economy stinks, and as usual, IT is under more pressure than ever to do more with less. While budgets shrink, the complexity of keeping your data safe grows. With some creativity, you can do more with what you have, or in some cases, add necessary new capabilities on the cheap. Here are some of my ideas on where to start.
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Crimeware-As-A-Service Will Emerge In 2009

12/9/2008
Many ISP's are selling your Web surfing habits to the highest bidder. That's a fact, but it's not a crime. Now take that concept to the next level. Envision vast databases full of credit card information, valid FTP site account data, and valid network credentials available for purchase by cybercriminals. A new and nefarious industry is born.
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A Roadmap To Destroy Open Source?

9/24/2008
Deishin Lee of Harvard Business School, and Professor Haim Mendelson of Stanford's Graduate School of Business, eloquently lay out a strategy in a recent paper for squashing open source competition. Ironically, it's also a road map for open source companies to use to defeat their entrenched and expensive rivals.
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Firewall Vendors Need To Bring More To The Table

9/6/2008
Traditional firewalls are becoming more and more useless as we extend our networks and build VPN tunnels to remote staff and business partners. But there's a business opportunity for firewall vendors to expand their footprint by expanding their feature set.
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Cisco Releases Security Advisory On WebEx Client ActiveX Control

8/15/2008
According to Cisco, the WebEx Meeting Manager client software includes atucfobj.dll, a DLL that allows meeting participants to view Unicode fonts. This library contains a buffer overflow vulnerability that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on your system. Your WebEx provider must patch its servers in order for you to be protected. Read on to find out how to check.
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The CCIE Is No Longer The Holy Grail

8/6/2008
In the 2008 IT Skills and Salary report released by TechRepublic and Global Knowledge, the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert now ranks 5th on the list of most valuable certifications to hold. So if you have the experience, and money is your motivator, consider PMI's Project Management Professional certification (PMP).
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R.I.P. Cisco PIX, I Hardly Knew Ye

7/22/2008
I know how this sounds, but I love my Cisco PIX firewalls. Like my 2000 Toyota Camry with 150,000 miles, my PIX firewalls just work day after day, always blinking green, passing packets and making people happy. And now, on July 28, I'm reminded that Cisco is mercilessly assassinating the PIX line of firewalls.
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Buying Cisco? Beware Of Counterfeit Gear

7/8/2008
Call me a little slow on the uptake, but I had no idea about how bad the counterfeit network hardware issue was until I became a victim myself. According to KPMG, almost 10% of gear out there is suspected to be counterfeit. That amounts to billions of dollars per year in bogus equipment floating around out there. Fake gear could be running in your data center now -- it was in mine.
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How's This For A Concept?: E-Mail Less, Talk More

6/29/2008
It occurred to me, after reading Luis Suarez's piece in the New York Times today, that I need to free myself from e-mail in much the same way that Neo was freed from the Matrix by Morpheus. E-mail is not only destroying my productivity, it's hampering my career development.
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Verizon Releases Data Breach Investigation Report

6/18/2008
The Verizon Business Investigative Response team recently released a report detailing the facts and figures associated with system breaches from more than 500 cases over the past 4 years. The report mostly contains obvious information regarding the who, what, where, and how of most data breaches, but it's worth reading. There were some pretty interesting statistics and factoids contained in the piece.
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