Rodney Thayer

 

Rodney Thayer is a private network security consultant in Mountain View, California. His practice includes exploit analysis, architecting secure networks, and cryptography. His background is in the development and deployment of network security devices, having participated in the development of various implementations of IPsec, SSL (TLS), and digital certificate systems. He has also worked in the area of security network management. He can be reached at rodney@canola-jones.com.

Recent articles by Thayer

Exchange upgrade earns mixed grades
Jan. 08, 2007
Exchange 2007 hits on management, system security and availability.

Exchange Server 2007 from a client point of view
Jan. 08, 2007
In our testing from the client side, we found that while it's easy to connect to the Exchange 2007 backend in most cases, it's not completely without its problems.

Is Skype enterprise-ready? No.
Dec. 12, 2005
Skype provides many powerful features for voice and text communications at a near-zero cost. Unfortunately, Skype also is wrought with implementation flaws and shows signs that it is likely to be a source of significant ...

In search of safe network access
May. 02, 2005
The iLabs Full Spectrum Security Initiative investigated two basic questions: How do you allow users to legitimately gain access to the network? And how do you make sure they continue to practice safe networking once ...

Hack .. hack back .. repeat
Aug. 09, 2004
Capture the flag might be only a game, but it was serious business at DefCon, the world's largest annual computer hacker convention. For 36 straight hours, eight teams of experienced hackers and serious security ...

Vendors hit the 802.1X mark for access, but security holes remain
May. 10, 2004
802.1X is maturing, but it will take a skilled network technician to configure it in products across any large deployment.

Is it time to got shopping for 802.1X?
May. 10, 2004
There are some 802.1X products that might be ready for your enterprise deployment.

Tester's Challenge update
Mar. 29, 2004
Network World's most recent Tester's Challenge published two weeks ago called on the major operating system vendors to streamline the process of supplying security update information to customers.

Tester's Challenge update
Mar. 29, 2004
Network World's most recent Tester's Challenge published two weeks ago called on the major operating system vendors to streamline the process of supplying security update information to customers.

Fix the patch update system
Mar. 15, 2004
As the major operating system vendors, we throw our Tester's Challenge gauntlet at the feet of Apple, Microsoft, Novell and Red Hat. We challenge you to create an effective, simplified means by which we can get our ...

Review of Windows Vista final code shows security needs admin attention
Nov. 08, 2006
Our Clear Choice Test shows Vista Ultimate has much to like, and issues to fear, because of security holes.

How we tested Vista
Nov. 08, 2006
We tested Vista Ultimate Editions (32- and 64-bit) and examined security settings, applications and connectivity compatibility, as well as its operating-system features.

A closer look at OpenSUSE 10.1
Sep. 04, 2006
OpenSUSE 10.1, Novell's attempt to keep a general-purpose version of its Linux freely available to the open source community, is both aided by and suffers from the lack of attention from Novell.

SLES 10 server provides virtualization, availability
Jul. 31, 2006
With SLES 10 Novell offers virtualization, armor and availability.

Setting technical criteria for outbound content monitoring
Jun. 26, 2006
A Q & A on etting technical criteria for monitoring outbound content.

Mix-and-match open source for corporate networks
May. 01, 2006
Some say open source software is not worth using. Some say it will save the world. Setting aside the religious hype, open source software raises a serious technical question: Is it appropriate for enterprise use?

No Zero Day this July
Aug. 09, 2004
For no apparently technical reason, July has traditionally been a bad month for the security world. But July 2004 was relatively quiet, security-speaking.

Rodney Thayer Contact Info
Jan. 01, 2001

Technology Insider: Network-based intrusion-detection systems
Jun. 24, 2002
An inside look at network-based intrusion-detections systems, including a review of eight products, an IDS glossary and deployment tips.

Crying wolf: False alarms hide attacks
Jun. 24, 2002
One thing that can be said with certainty about network-based intrusion-detection systems is that they're guaranteed to detect and consume all your available bandwidth. Whether they also detect network intrusions is ...