7 Minute Security

I've been super pumped about Troy Hunt 's Pwned Passwords project ever since it came out - especially when I saw a tweet about using it in Active Directory so that enterprises could essentially stop people from picking previously pwned passwords! That led me to explore the following two solutions: Pwned Passwords DLL This blog entry has everything you need to get started with this GitHub project ....

I'm working on a fun project right now where I'm evaluating endpoint protection solutions for a client. They're faced with a choice of either refreshing endpoints to the latest gen of their current product, or doing a rip and replace with something else. I've spun up a standalone AD environment with ~5 Win 10 VMs and nothing on 'em except a current set of patches. The idea is I can assign each wor...

I've had a fun week with a mixed bag of security related stuff happening, so I thought I'd throw it all in a big stew and cook it up for today's episode. Here are the highlights: Bash bunny preso I had a fun opportunity this week to speak to some property managers about the threats the Bash Bunny poses to an environment. Specifically I showed the one-two punch of: How BB can steal your wireless ne...

Intro CredDefense is a freakin' sweet tool from the fine folks at Black Hills Information Security that does some really nifty things: Password filter Lets say you use the out-of-the-box password policy that comes with Active Directory, and you want to change your password to Winter2017! - AD is gonna say "Yeah dude/dudette, go for it...it fits the bill!" But from an attacker's perspective we know...

In today's continuation of last week's episode I'm continuing a discussion on using free tools to triage Windows systems - be they infected or just acting suspicious. Specifically, those tools include: FTK Imager - does a dandy job of creating memory dumps and/or full disk backups of a live system. You can also make a portable version by installing FTK Imager on a machine, then copying the C:\Prog...

I had the privilege of creating a Windows System Forensics 101 course/presentation for a customer. The good/bad news is there is so much good information out there, it's hard to boil things down to just an hour. For the first part of the presentation, I focused on Mark Russinovich's technique of using Sysinternals as the primary surgical tool. This approach includes things like: Use Process Explor...

Last week I talked about how business has been going with the LLC. Today I answer some additional questions that I didn't have time to address: How I'm finding leads/projects to work on (TLDR: I'm NOT sending 1TB of PDFs to people, spamming them, calling them endlessly or LinkedIn'ing everybody and their mom) The interesting conversations I'm having with customers who seem a little tired of the tr...

Intro Here's some of the "juice" that has helped 7MS have a successful start: Support system Ok so I think if you're going to have a successful business, you need an awesome support system. Mine consists of some of these things: Faith - I'm a Christian and pray about this business constantly. In fact I learned really quickly how easy it is to brag about your rock-solid faith when everything is goi...

WEFFLES are delicious! WEFFLES stands for Windows Event Logging Forensic Logging Enhancement Services and is Microsoft's cool (and free!) console for responding to incidents and hunting threats. I had a chance to play with it in the lab this week and for the most part, the install of WEFFLES went well, but I had one minor issue that was cleared up easily. As I went through the MS TechNet article,...

Today I'm excited to be joined by my friend and advisor Kevin Keane ( Twitter / LinkedIn ) who is a lawyer, blogger, keynote speaker, business advisor, and just all around great guy. Kevin and I sit down to talk about: How SMBs can take some productive security baby steps How to get the most value out of your next security consultant engagement Can breaches ever be funny? What is the Trust Calculu...

GDPR in a nutshell GDPR, in a nutshell, is a set of legal regulations focused on the privacy of personal information for EU citizens - no matter where they are. Entities that store and/or process personal information about EU citizens must clearly explain to the citizens what data is being stored and processed, and any parties the data is being shared with. The citizens must opt-in and agree to ea...

Back in episode 280 I talked about how I started working with PacktPub to start authoring a video course on vulnerability scanning using Kali. Since that episode I've found that recording and editing high quality video clips is taking waaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy longer than I'd like, but it's worth it to create good stuff! PacktPub authored a tool called Panopto to make videos, but I found it a little frus...

Hey folks, I had originally planned to cover the CredDefense toolkit but I couldn't get it working. I'm basically having the same issue that someone reported here . Sooooo....will have to save that for next week. In the meantime, this episode features a story about how I nearly knocked a retina out of my sister's face with an ice ball when I was about 8 years old. Yep, she's still mad about it, bu...

Did I mention I love the Critical Security Controls? I do. And here's an absolute diamond I found this week: This site ( http://www.auditscripts.com/free-resources/critical-security-controls/ ) offers awesome CSC-mapping tools (and they're free!), specifically: A spreadsheet with how the CSCs map to other popular frameworks like ISO and NIST A manual assessment tool for measuring your org - or som...

My pal and former coworker Joe Klein joins me in the virtual studio to discuss: His career as a diesel mechanic and insurance guru How to leave a stable job, take a huge pay cut and start a risky infosec internship (sounds like the name of a broadway musical!) The start of his new career as a SOC analyst The importance of having a career cheerleader/mentor Being hungry for knowledge and certificat...

Two weird things happening in this episode: I'm not in the car, and thus not endangering myself and others while podcasting and driving! My once beloved lav mic made a trip through the Johnson family's washer and dryer. I don't know that she'll ever record anything again. We'll see once it fully dries out (fingers crossed). I spent some time this last week getting back into Windows systems forensi...

Sorry the podcast is late this week - but it's all for good reasons! I'm busy as a bee doing a ton of pentesting so I have a smattering of random security stuff to share with you: Mac High Sierra root bug Did you hear about this? Basically anybody could log in as user root on your system without a password because...there isn't a password! Read the Twitter thread where I originally read the news h...

Well, after over-teasing this last week, I'm excited to announce that I've started my own company! 7 Minute Security, LLC gives me an outlet to do all my favorite infosec stuff, such as: Network assessments Vulnerability scanning Penetration testing Training Public speaking I welcome you to check out 7MinSec.com for more information. Or 7MinuteSecurity.com or SevenMinuteSecurity.com . Collect 'em...

We're continuing to hammer on the CSCs again this week. Here's some rad resources that can get your CSC efforts in the right direction: CIS Implementation Guide for SMEs CIS Cybersecurity quarterly newsletters Netdisco lets you locate machines by MAC or IP, show the corresponding switch port, and disable it if necessary. Defensive Security Handbook isn't specifically mapped to CSCs but offers grea...

Nothing to do with security, but I've heard this song way too much this week. I love the CIS Controls but it seems like there isn't a real good hands-on implementation guide out there. Hrmm...maybe it's time to create one? Speaking of that, check out the MacMon project and chat with us about it via Slack . After hearing rave reviews about Fingbox ( not a sponsor ), I picked one up (~$120) and wow,...

For a long time I've been electronically in love with the Critical Security Controls . Not familiar with 'em? The CIS site describes them as: The CIS Controls are a prioritized set of actions that protect your critical systems and data from the most pervasive cyber attacks. They embody the critical first steps in securing the integrity, mission, and reputation of your organization. Cool, right? Ye...

My plans for this week's podcast went hush-hush, kablooie, bye-bye, see ya, adios. So, I'm pinch-hitting and going off-topic and talking about...of all things...cops. Now wait! Wait wait! Don't run away. I'm not going all political on you or anything like that. Just wanna share some anecdotes and perspectives on the following: What it was like growing up with a dad who was a cop Losing a cousin in...

I'm gonna level with you: it's been a heck of a week. So I thought I'd try something a little different (and desperate?) and use this episode to answer some FAQs that come in via email and Twitter DM. Today's burning questions include: Q: Do I think it's dangerous to podcast and drive? A: Not really, especially now that I got one of these babies . Q: What is the eJPT cert all about? A: It looks li...

I went to my first ever banking-focused infosec conference a few weeks ago ( WBA's Secure-IT ) and learned a ton. I met some really great people and had many productive conversations around security. The main takeaways from the conference that I talk about in today's episode: Standing all day and talking about security is exhausting! You can thwart "swag whores" (sorry mom, but I learned that that...

I'm excited to announce I'm going to be a PacktPub author! I'm going to work with them to create a course on network/vulnerability scanning. I'm pumped, but kinda nervous, so when I had the initial conversations with PacktPub staff, I made sure I hit them with my burning questions: Q : Are you going to ask me to create a sweet course and then pay me pennies for every digital copy sold? A : No. Aut...