fred avolio's musings

Driving into the lab this morning, I listened to an installment of Radio Free Security, from WatchGuard Technologies. I’m an episode behind. This one, Radio Free Security unveils the Tip-O-Matic 650, is well-produced and full of solid technical security information, as are all of the podcasts I have heard. It reminded me that I Hate Network- and Computer-Security

Let me be clear. This is no fault of the Radio Free Security podcast, which is superb. Some of the topics they touched on—while important—have been said over and over, year after year. A few of the tips from the Tip-O-Matic 650 (hey, guys, is that trademarked?):

• Sometimes you should use reduced user rights
• Egress filtering is a good thing
• You should have a log strategy

In particular, these topics are examples of my reason #2, we talk about The same old stuff.

Now I am not saying that these things are not worth repeating. They are. I’m just tired of saying them. I said them here, and (in a column for WatchGuard) here, and in a paper I wrote for WatchGuard here. Also, I—and many, many others— have talked about these things, and continue to talk about them, in courses, talks, etc. Having said that, I must remind you that I said just a few paragraphs ago, this podcast is “well produced and full of solid technical security information.” And even though I’ve heard this particular stuff before, I enjoyed the podcast and will stay subscribed. Even if just for the installments of “IT Fantasy Help Desk: Calls that you will never get.”

You can listen to it via an RSS news reader by going to www.watchguard.com/rss/watchguardrfs.xml. You can also subscribe to it via the iTunes store. Type “radio free security” in the search field. And enjoy.