Differences between RTO, RPO, MTBF, and MTFF

Posted on June 26, 2024 by admin

Here is a quick overview of the differences between, RTO, RPO, MTBF, and MTFF.

Name	Meaning
RTO (Recovery Time Objective)	Time it takes to recover from a disruption, system failure, data loss etc.
RPO (Recovery Point Objective)	How much data can you afford to loose? If RPO is 24 hours, then backups need to be performed daily.
MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)	Time between failures. Use for repairable systems
MTTF (Mean Time to Failure)	Time before system fails. Use for nor repairable systems.

http://techtarget.com/whatis/definition/recovery-point-objective-RPO

http://rubrik.com/insights/rto-rpo-whats-the-difference

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_time_between_failures

A Quick Overview of SAML

Posted on June 19, 2024 by admin

SAML stands for Security Assertion Markup Language. It allows for Single Sign On or SSO to a service.

There are three entities or roles involved when using SAML to sign into a service.

Principal or Subject: a.k.a. you, or the person or service logging in.
Service Provider (SP): This is the service you are accessing. It could be email, a website, etc.
Identity Provider (IdP): This is the entity response for authenticating the Principal.

As an example, let’s say you want to log into a new website utilizing your email SSO credentials. You click the SSO login button, you are redirected to the IdP to login. Once authenticated, your device will receive a token which is then passed back to the Service Provider and allows you access to the new website.

This is a very simplified version of what happens when you login using SAML. It may be helpful to know that the Service Provider and the Identify Provider will have needed to be configured to work together before the user attempts to log in.

https://auth0.com/blog/how-saml-authentication-works

https://infosec.mozilla.org/guidelines/iam/saml.html

Common Power Issue Terminology

Posted on December 23, 2023 by admin

Here is a list of terms associated with power issues.

Name	Definition
Fault	Momentary loss of power
Blackout	Prolonged power outage
Sag	Momentary low voltage
Brownout	Prolonged Low voltage
Spike	Momentary spike in voltage
Surge	Extended spike in voltage
Inrush	Initial voltage “surge” when a device is plugged in

Here is a visual image.

Table of Types of Law for Cyber Security

Posted on December 12, 2023 by admin

There are three types of law. Criminal, civil, and administrative.

Type of Law	Examples	Standard of Proof	Burden of Proof	Penalty
Criminal Law	Murder, assault, robbery, arson	Beyond a reasonable doubt	Innocent until proven guilty	Fines, Jail, Prison, Death penalty
Civil Law	Property Disputes, Personal injury	Preponderance of evidence	Claimant must give proof (most cases)	Compensation for injuries/damage
Administrative Law	Define standards of performance and conduct for major industries, organizations and government agencies

Table of Law

https://www.diffen.com/difference/Civil_Law_vs_Criminal_Law

List of Laws and Acts

The following is a list of “good to know” legislative acts.

Acronym	Name	Notes
CFAA	Computer Fraud and Abuse Act	First major cyber crime legislation
	Federal Sentencing Guidelines (1991)	Responsibility on senior management
ECPA	Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986	Made it a crime to invade the electronic privacy of an individual
CALEA	Comm Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994	Amended ECPA. Made wiretaps possible for law enforcement with a court order.
	Economic Espionage Act of 1996	Made theft no longer tied to something physical
FISMA	Federal Information Security Management Act	Cyber security requirements for government agencies
DMCA	Digital Millennium Copyright Act	Copyright protection is 70 years + 1st major revision added CD/DVD protections
USA PATRIOT	USA PATRIOT Act of 2001	Gave law enforcement and intelligence agencies broader wiretapping authorizations
	Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act (1998)	Made identity theft a crime. Up to 15 years in prison and $250,000 fine.
HIPPA	Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (1996)	Regulations for security measures for hospitals, physicians, and insurance companies
HITEC	Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009	Amended HIPPA. Updated privacy/security requirements for Business Associates (BAs), requires a written contract known as a business associate agreement (BAA). BAs are directly subject to HIPPA and enforcement actions like a covered entity. HITECH also introduced new data breach notifications.
GLBA	Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act	Limits services that banks, lenders, and insurance agencies can provide and information they can share with each other
COPPA	Child Online Privacy Protection Act	Seeks to protects children (<13 years old) online
FERPA	Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act	Gives students certain privacy rights. Deals with adults >18, and Children in school <18
ITAR	International Traffic in Arms Regulation	Regulates the export of military and defense related technologies
EAR	Export Administration Regulations	For commercial use, but may have military applications.

Table of Laws and Acts

Trademark, Patents, Copyright etc.

Name		Protection Length
Trademarks		10 Years
Patents		20 Years
Copyright		70 Years after the death of the author
Trade Secrets		Until they are leaked.

Table of Trademarks, Patents, Copyright, and Trade Secrets

List of Symmetric Encryption Algorithms. Block and Key Size.

Posted on November 24, 2023 by admin

List of common symmetric encryption algorithms with their block and key size.

Name	Block Size	Key Size	Notes
AES Advanced Encryption Standard	128	128, 192, 256	Is Rijndael
Rijndael	Variable	128, 192, 256	Is AES
Blowfish	64	32-448	Often used in SSH
DES Data Encryption Standard	64	56
Triple DES	64	112-168	DES 3 times
IDEA	64	128	Used in PGP
RC4 Rivest Cipher 4	Stream Cipher	40-2048	Insecure/Not used, used in WEP, WPA, and SSL
RC5 Rivest Cipher 5	32, 64, 128	0-2040
RC6 Rivest Cipher 6	128	128, 192, 256
Skipjack	64	80	Developed by the NSA and supported key escrow
CAST-128	64	40-128
CAST-256	128	128, 160, 192, 224, 256
Twofish	128	1-256
ChaCha20	Stream Cipher	256

List of Common Symmetric Encryption Algorithms With Block and Key Size

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