Data Lakes

What is a Data Lake? Data Scientists can do amazing things with mathematical models.  Yes, they can actually predict the future. They can tell you things you did not even think to ask about, but to do this, they need something. They need data. Lots of it. Preferably all in one place – a Data Lake.  A Data Lake is a consolidated…

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Data Strategy Roadmap

Importance of Data Strategy Companies are learning their data is a strategic asset. It can be used to make smarter decisions but there is a problem – data is complicated. Data is often in scattered source systems, and the source systems do not communicate with one another. Data quality can…

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Common security threats – Scareware

What is Scareware: You’ve probably seen the pop-ups — “Warning! A virus has been detected on your computer. Download VirusBlaster to clean and remove it.” The malware that infects your computer is the program that pop-up is trying to trick you into downloading. Scareware can come in a variety of…

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Common security threats – SQL Injection

What is SQL Injection: If a website has an input box or entry form (like when you’re entering your username and password or your credit card number if you’re buying something), then an attacker can try inserting structured query language code to gain access to or make changes to the…

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Common security threats – DDoS

What is Distributed Denial of Service Attack: There is only so much traffic a computer system can process before it starts to slow down and becomes overwhelmed. By gaining control over a large number of hijacked systems and devices (referred to as a botnet), attackers can direct massive amounts of…

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Common security threats – Password Cracking

What is Password Cracking: A login and password aren’t what most people think it is. It’s a complicated set of processes that can involve multiple systems, secure transport to and from the servers, a trusted network of server identity assurance and revocation, code to evaluate the complexity of the user-generated…

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Common security threats – Malvertising

What is Malvertising: Marketers aren’t the only ones who like to utilize advertising to get in front of the crowds of website visitors. Criminals do the same thing, creating fake ads or inserting malicious code into legitimate ads so they can quite literally capture their audience. What makes protection a…

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Common security threats – Download Hijacking

What is Download Hijacking: In nature, the big predators hang out at standard water holes and wait for their prey to come by. On the Internet, the big predators find ways to turn popular website visits into covert attacks. In some cases, they inject code through comments that force unsuspecting…

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Common security threats – Downloaders

What are Downloaders: Normal-looking programs designed to fetch and install malware without raising any security alarms. In effect, what downloaders allow attackers to do is to get a “man on the inside” before committing to a full attack (it’s no coincidence they’re typically called “trojan programs”). Once a downloader creeps…

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