Latest posts
CISSP exam and new home for blog
12/17/2006 11:08:00 PM
Sorry for lack of posts last month. I was really busy at work with different projects (PKI, SC, security reviews) and tried to learn new CBK domains at home, so I basically didn't have a time to blog at all. Again, sorry.
Today I had an CISSP exam (you know - 6 hours is hard ;-) after week of CBK review seminars (by Dennis Griffin) with some of Microsoft EMEA guys and other attendees at Rotenburg a.d. Fulda (and you know - it was a good choice after all, because this hotel is so far away from town and there're even no any people at reception or on my floor right now, so I could concentrate on learning). I hope that I passed it - because sometimes it looked like a very complicated exam in English language ;-)
Well, it seems that Vista is ready now and will be available to customers in near feature, so it's time to check Windows Vista Security Guide and other Vista's security features. I'm living with it for 5 months now and it's really good (especially from security point of view - ASLR, BitLocker, etc)
Some news on blog changes - in near feature (begining next year) I'm going to post at http://blogs.technet.com/ssimakov - mostly in Russian and for russian ITSec community. But I'll keep this blog as personal and continue to cross-post here in English.
And now it's time to prepare for flight back to Moscow and following vacations in Phan Thiet,Vietnam.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Great blog on smartcards deployment
11/20/2006 8:13:00 PM
I just found that I've missed a great blog by Steve Patrick (from Critical Problem Resolution team) with invaluable information on SmartCard deployment, so begin with this post - So, you want to use smart cards?. Thanks for sharing this information, Steve! [subscribed]
Consolidation of Managed Security Services market
10/25/2006 8:09:00 PM
Well, it didn't take long time after SecureWorks/LURHQ and IBM/ISS deals: British Telecom acquires Counterpane.
Active Directory Certificate Server Enhancements in Windows Server Longhorn RTW
10/24/2006 9:24:00 PM
Active Directory Certificate Server Enhancements (aka Windows PKI) in Windows Server "Longhorn" guide by Carsten Kinder with help of PKI PMs was finally released to web. This comprehensive document contains information about new PKI features in Windows Server "Longhorn" such as:
- Cryptography API: Next Generation (aka CNG) support in CAs to provide crypto agility
- Unattended and integrated interactive setup options (without need to disable AIA in root CA cert)
- Certificate templates v3
- Restricted Enrollment Agent and Restricted Certificate Managers support (very needed in enterprise scenarios)
- many other new features and OCSP standard support
So it's very recommended to study.
BitLocker cryptographic algorithm
9/18/2006 5:59:00 AM
FYI - Niels Ferguson posted a link to a document with details about cryptographic algorithm that is used in BitLocker (AES-CBC with a specialized diffuser that improves the security against manipulation attacks) at System Integrity team blog.
