BSIT380

Internet of Thing devices have become almost ubiquitous in the last few years since they began taking off. Things like smart speakers with microphones built in that can listen for vocal commands to update you on the weather, set timers and alarms, or even integrate with other smart home IoT devices to perform actions like turning lights on and off, closing window blinds and even controlling HVAC systems. These devices function to make life easier for the occupants of homes with them installed, but one of the seldom discussed challenges that come along with these devices are the vulnerabilities they introduce. Of course, one of the higher vulnerabilities we talked about in the class comes from these devices not implementing security patches for known/discovered vulnerabilities, but one additional security concern they introduce is being constantly connected to the internet, rather than just a LAN. Since many of these devices advertise being able to control them from anywhere u...

This week, we learned about some of the basics of scanning computer systems for vulnerabilities. It was interesting to learn about the concept of vulnerability feeds which are essentially information streams that go over the latest disc overed vulnerabilities in the IT world. Some of them are more helpful than others for the lay security person since some of them includ e additional analysis of vulnerabilities which can assist the security team in knowing how this vulnerability can affect them, but unfortunately come out later than o ther feeds. The vulnerability feeds that report early detected vulnerabilities are useful to know that they exist, but require expertise from dedicated security staff to understand how they can affect the organization, and what needs to happen to mitigate/remediate those vulnerabilities.  

Hello everyone, my name is Ryan Bryngelson. I am enrolled in the BSIT380 course at Bellevue University and throughout the course, I will be posting to this blog weekly to share some of my findings of the IT world as it relates to System Hardening and Network Risk Management. As I mentioned in a few other places, I love the idea of having an impenetrable/safe computer system and network but I have never taken the time or initiative to learn how to do that myself. Hopefully upon the completion of this course, I will have enough information to secure my personal homelab environment. Although I don’t think I will ever go into security as a profession, I do think having enough information to know if you’re getting swindled, or if the professionals actually know what they’re doing is very nice to have. Having someone else to blame if something horrible like a breach were to occur is another excellent benefit to not doing security yourself.