Cara Garretson

Senior Editor

 

cara_garretson@nww.com

Recent articles by Garretson

Do you have a 'security first' mindset?
Mar. 17, 2008
Turning a company into a security-first enterprise takes business savvy.

How to fashion a 'security first' enterprise
Mar. 17, 2008
When security professionals think business, the business thinks security.

Data loss start-ups sell out
Jan. 07, 2008
The rapid consolidation in the anti-data leakage market in the past year is enough to make an IT manager's head spin: This segment of the security sector ballooned to include dozens of startups, then even more quickly ...

Q&A: Data leak prevention pros and cons
Jan. 07, 2008
Anti-data leakage vendors make bold claims about how far their products can go to protect enterprises from unauthorized information sharing. This irks Nick Selby, head of enterprise security research at The 451 Group, ...

Virtualization still hot, death of antivirus software imminent, VC says
Dec. 17, 2007
In 2008, investments in start-ups that target consumers are expected to remain significantly hotter than those in companies building enterprise wares, as has been the case for the last few years. However, there are a ...

12 spam research projects that might make a difference
Nov. 20, 2007
Those who commit cybercrime know they need to stay on the cutting edge of technology to come up with new and different ways to swindle people. Luckily, the good guys are also spending time in research labs developing ...

Whaling: Latest e-mail scam targets executives
Nov. 14, 2007
With targeted phishing attacks on the rise, it's no surprise that cybercriminals are doing their research and aiming at those with the most to lose – executives.

Spammers latch on to political subjects
Nov. 07, 2007
According to Symantec's Spam Monthly Report issued Monday, presidential hopefuls for the 2008 election are already hot subject-line topics, with Congressman Ron Paul emerging as spammers' favorite. Image spam is ...

Spammers beg for money in pre-holiday blast
Nov. 07, 2007
According to security vendor Marshal, this new spam blast – timed conveniently to coincide with the beginning of the holiday season of giving – uses few technical tricks, relying instead on social engineering. In these ...

Inside a green data center
Nov. 05, 2007
The San Diego Supercomputing Center is building a data-center expansion designed to beat state mandates for energy efficiency by more than 50 %. The center is already practicing the philosophy behind the new building by ...

8 ways to green your existing data center
Nov. 05, 2007
Companies don't need to build a whole new data center to begin saving on energy. Below are some steps recommended by Burton Group analyst Andrew Kutz that enterprises can take in their existing data centers to save on ...

How to break out of the CISO role in five easy steps
Nov. 05, 2007
A former CIO and consultant offers advice for how security professionals can break out of their technology tracks to enter the executive ranks.

Creature comforts: supercomputing temperature concerns
Nov. 05, 2007
In 2005, the San Diego Supercomputing Center won a best-practices award for the design that will help to make its data-center expansion a model of energy efficiency. As rewarding as that distinction is, the project ...

One in six PCs could be infected with malware
Nov. 02, 2007
As many as one in six PCs may have active spyware or malware infections.

PDF spam back with a vengeance
Oct. 31, 2007
PDF spam, the summertime nuisance that flooded inboxes in early August and then quickly disappeared, is back and worse than ever.

Storm worm pulls Halloween hoax
Oct. 31, 2007
The latest Storm-backed spam campaign invites e-mail recipients to visit a Halloween-themed Web site where they can download a dancing skeleton. What gets downloaded instead is a version of the Storm malware that turns ...

Computer-generated horror stories
Oct. 26, 2007
As Halloween approaches, we review some classic technology-related horror stories.

Data encryption's adoption grows
Oct. 25, 2007
Data breaches and regulations are pushing enterprises to look at encryption more seriously, as vendors attempt to make the technology less expensive and easier to use.

Seven enterprise IT start-ups grab new funding
Oct. 25, 2007
A look at seven enterprise technology innovators that received significant venture capital during the third quarter of 2007.

Raytheon closes acquisition of Oakley Systems
Oct. 23, 2007
Government technology supplier Raytheon announced on Tuesday the completion of its acquisition of data-leak prevention company Oakley Systems.

Hybrid Web filtering combines appliance with hosted service
Oct. 23, 2007
St. Bernard Software this week is announcing a hybrid solution for Web filtering that the company says combines the control of an appliance with the ease of use of a managed service.

Antispam start-up studies receiver's reputation
Oct. 22, 2007
new e-mail security company called Abaca Technology is announcing its Email Protection Gateway appliance, which determines an inbound e-mail message's potential to be spam based on how much unwanted e-mail the receiver ...

Top 10 venture capital deals of Q3
Oct. 22, 2007
Of the nearly $750 million that investors poured into the top 10 venture capital deals of the third quarter, only $124 million went into start-ups building enterprise IT products, according to MoneyTree Report from ...

Pump-and-dump spam goes Top 40
Oct. 18, 2007
In the latest pump-and-dump stock-spam scam, spammers are attaching MP3 files to otherwise empty e-mail messages. The MP3 files are named after a well-known recording artist, such as Fergie, Carrie Underwood, even Elvis ...

New Senate bill focuses on identity theft
Oct. 17, 2007
Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, and Ranking Member Arlen Specter, a Republican from Pennsylvania, introduced the Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act of 2007, ...