July 2019 – New Microsoft security update for Spectre variant

• by Brian Kelley

• Databases – Infrastructure – Security

If you remember the flurry of news from the beginning of 2018 about side channel attacks called Spectre and Meltdown, Microsoft has included in its July update a patch...

2019-08-20 (first published: 2019-08-07)

328 reads

New Security Update for SQL Server in July 2019 Patches

• by Brian Kelley

• Databases – Infrastructure – Security

It doesn’t look like this would affect SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 R2 since the earliest reported platform is SQL Server 2014, but in Microsoft’s release of...

2019-07-17 (first published: 2019-07-09)

766 reads

Basic SQL Server Configuration Help for Involuntary DBAs

• by Brian Kelley

• Databases – Infrastructure – Security

After my presentation at the Techno Security and Digital Forensics conference, I had a information security professional stop by to ask a few questions. He’s in the position where...

2019-06-24 (first published: 2019-06-10)

1,047 reads

Guidance on Moving Off of SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2

• by Brian Kelley

• Databases – Infrastructure – Security

July 9, 2019 will be here soon. With it comes the end of support, including security updates for SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2 unless you either...

2019-06-21

36 reads

Why Security Through Obscurity Is Bad (Alone)

• by Brian Kelley

• Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Security through (by) obscurity is where we try to protect an asset by hiding it. Anyone who has ever played the game Capture the Flag knows that a motivated...

2019-06-21 (first published: 2019-06-05)

341 reads

Amazon’s Concept of Ownership and Technical Debt

• by Brian Kelley

• Databases – Infrastructure – Security

I’m reading Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader. In talking about Amazon’s pursuit of a second headquarters, John Rossman wrote the following regarding ownership: Amazon’s second leadership...

2019-06-12

210 reads

#tsql2sday – A Letter to My 20 Year-Old Self

• by Brian Kelley

• Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Self, I am writing this to you in my mid 40s. I know when I was 20, I wasn’t thinking about 30, much less 40. Here’s some advice I’d...

2019-06-11

15 reads

Building Your Brand Right

• by Brian Kelley

• Databases – Infrastructure – Security

I was interviewed yesterday by Stephen Wynkoop (twitter) for the upcoming SSWUG Virtual Conference on May 23rd. One of the questions was about how to keep management engaged on...

2019-06-07 (first published: 2019-05-21)

429 reads

Mitre’s ATT&CK Security Framework

• by Brian Kelley

• Databases – Infrastructure – Security

Mitre’s ATT&CK security framework was mentioned often at the Techno Security and Digital Forensics Conference. I admit that I’m not well-versed on it, yet. However, its purpose makes sense....

2019-06-07

16 reads

Sysinternals – A Swiss Army Knife for IT Pros

• by Brian Kelley

• Databases – Infrastructure – Security

I’m at the Techno Security and Digital Forensics conference in Myrtle Beach again this year. I sat in on a presentation about performing malware analysis. The analyst began with...

2019-06-06

420 reads