Slide Show: 10 Tips And Best Practices For Becoming A Data Security Detective

Until recently, IT security technicians spent much of their time managing passwords, access lists, and firewall configuration tables. Today, however, the role of the security pro has shifted radically toward threat analysis, forensic investigation, and incident response. The modern data security professional is increasingly asked to be skilled in roles such as first responder, malware researcher, log file analyst, and threat evaluator.

On October 20, 2011, InformationWeek and Dark Reading hosted an all-day virtual event, where experts offered detailed insight in how to collect security intelligence in the enterprise, and how to analyze and study it in order to efficiently identify new threats as well as low-and-slow attacks such as advanced persistent threats. Several best practices emerged from the event, including the following tips from security insiders.

Keynote speaker FBI Special Supervisory Agent (SSA) Melissa Horvath, from the Bureau’s Cyber Division, Cyber Criminal Unit 1, emphasized the importance of understanding how and why criminals perpetrate financial crimes, and explained the inner workings of financial fraud cases involving electronic money transfers.