Articles by Scott Hebert

  1. Building Security Awareness

    Posted on in Information Systems

    Company X has decided to implement a new security plan. This plan includes changes to the information systems architecture and will impact the day-to-day work activities of many employees. Additionally, many operational procedures will be changed to reflect a more defensive security stance. It is not uncommon for organizations undergoing …

  2. The Benefits of Contingency Planning

    Posted on in Information Systems

    Organizations use contingency planning to ensure the quickest return of information services in the event of a service disruption. A service disruption can be any event that affects the continuity of information services and may range from a human orchestrated denial of service attack to a major earthquake. From a …

  3. Routers and Switches

    Posted on in Networking

    Although routers and switches are often located near each other in a network environment, the two devices offer very different functionality. Routers are network devices that send data packets to distinct network segments. A router examines incoming packets and makes routing decisions based on the destination address in the packet …

  4. Lotus Domino 6.5 - Start Agent Manager

    Posted on in System Administration

    Lotus Notes Logo You stopped Agent Manager on your Lotus Domino 6.5 server when you meant to tell it to restart? I've done that. If you don't know how to start it up again, finding that information can be pretty frustrating. Not to mention potentially embarrassing.

    To get the Agent Manager running …

  5. Security Breakdowns

    Posted on in Information Systems

    Even a network maintained by the most diligent security professionals will occasionally suffer from a security breakdown. A security breakdown is an incident that results in the opportunity for an information system to be compromised. The breakdown does not have to result in an actual compromise; the opportunity for compromise …

  6. Network Monitor

    Posted on in System Administration

    One of the more underrated tools included with Microsoft Windows Server is Network Monitor. Network Monitor is a packet capture tool that allows network administrators to gain insight into what network traffic is being sent and received by the server. This data can be useful in diagnosing various network problems …

  7. Data Center Power Outage

    Posted on in uncategorized

    Slaptijack was offline for 2.5 hours today when the data center with our server in it experienced a power outage. Apparently, the roof started leaking during a heavy rain storm and water dropped directly on a panel controlling the UPS. This caused the UPS to shutdown, and it took …

  8. Token Ring to Ethernet Conversion

    Posted on in Networking

    In the 1970s, Bob Metcalfe and David Boggs invented Ethernet while working at Xerox PARC. At that time, Ethernet's top speed was 3 Megabits per second (Mbps). This version was installed in a few sites including Boeing, the White House, and various academic institutions. In the early 1980s, the original …

  9. Proxies and IDS

    Posted on in Information Systems

    Proxy servers have become increasingly popular security devices in corporate networks. It is becoming a standard practice to use a dedicated proxy server to relay Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests to web servers protected by a firewall. In addition to relaying HTTP requests, proxy servers can also be used to …

  10. OSI Model Layer Summaries

    Posted on in Networking

    The first layer of the OSI Reference Model is the physical layer. This layer describes the physical characters of the network. This layer defines the tangible aspects of the network medium, such as types of cables and pin arrangements, but it also defines how much voltage is used in copper …

  11. Additional Complexities in Networked Systems

    Posted on in Information Systems

    Managing isolated systems is already a complicated task. Network connectivity from outside the Local Area Network (LAN) introduces new complexities that must be taken into account when designing an information security plan. The most significant concern when connecting a LAN to the Internet is protecting internal information from external attackers …

  12. The Session Layer: OSI Layer 5

    Posted on in Networking

    The fifth layer of the OSI Reference Model is the session layer. Since applications running on different hosts may need to establish a connection in order to operate, the session layer is responsible for setting up the connection. It is important to note that the session layer is responsible for …

  13. Concepts in Cryptography

    Posted on in Information Systems

    Initially, information security was tightly bound to physical security. The introduction of networked systems created a need for a new kind of security system. Not only must information be protected from improper physical access, it must also be protected from outside attackers using the very tools that make distributed computing …

  14. Evolution of the OSI Reference Model

    Posted on in Networking

    The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model first came into being in 1978. The OSI group was intent on getting a model into the field quickly, so they elected to adopt a seven-layer model created by Charles Bachman of Honeywell. By this time, the lower four levels of the model …

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