Stories by Mathias Thurman

Stopping the mobile madness

I love my iPad, but I hate what it represents.

Want to know what keeps me, my company's go-to security guy, awake at night? Many things, I can assure you, but lately the No. 1 threat to a good night's sleep has been the proliferation of Software as a Service (SaaS)at my company.

Opinion: Webmail gets hacked, corporate passwords exposed

This week, one of our C-level executives suffered a personal security incident that spilled over to the workplace. Here's what happened.

Security manager's journal: Keeping in-house code safe

We have a major problem, which explains why I'm sitting in an airport right now. I'm heading off to visit some third parties that develop portions of our software for us.

New firewalls should increase protection

This week, my company began deploying new firewalls. The old ones have been in place for more than six years; the new ones will allow us to take advantage of the next generation of features.

Security Manager's Journal: Getting a handle on the data

Three months into my new job, I've had a chance to assess the landscape and establish some priorities. No. 1 will be the way we handle data.

Lifting rocks and seeing what dangers lurk beneath

I'm still getting acquainted with my new company. As a security manager, that means I'm seeking out all the risks that are lurking in various functional areas.

Security Manager: First task is to tighten up SaaS security

After just a couple of weeks at my new post, I'm already finding plenty of things to do.

Security manager's journal: Heading for the clouds

What makes a good information security professional? I think it's starting at the bottom and working your way up, occupying various positions along the way and obtaining skills in every one of them. It's understanding the business and having the abil...

Security Manager's Journal: Without patch management, you are nothing.

Does it all come down to patch management? As a security manager, I pursue many initiatives, striving to protect the company on many fronts. But patch management is a key metric of our risk exposure, since there is a direct correlation between securi...

Better security for not quite everyone

It's scary to think how much sensitive or even valuable information can be gleaned from an untended PC, even one whose user just walked away for a few minutes. That's the sort of thing that security managers fret about but the rest of the world hardl...

Security Manager Journal: Woes hang up mobile policy

Over the past seven months, I have led a team of IT representatives in making sure that all mobile devices are aligned with our new security policy. I thought this was going to be straightforward -- a few mouse clicks to check off some boxes, and our...