Last year I read a blog, Star Wars: I Find Your Lack of Segmentation Disturbing and I found it to be utterly entertaining, but also spot on. As we approach the release of a new Star Wars movie in December, I figured this is the perfect time to publish this blog. The analogies between the Death Star and managing network security are absolutely genius. The addition of the video clips makes the blog even more clever and fun. I wrote the author, Fran Brown, and got permission to republish part of the text and then link to the rest of the story. Here it is….
After re-watching the original film in preparation for seeing the upcoming Star Wars: Rogue One, I identified the real Phantom Menace. I realized that a simple lack of network segmentation was actually the ultimate cause behind the downfall of the evil Empire.
Think about it, how many times did R2-D2 plug into any port and basically save the entire rebellion? I can easily think of at least 3 examples:
- Accessing ‘Entire’ Imperial Network – Obi-Wan KenOwnMe
Plugging into any port gives you access to the “entire Imperial network,” according to “Jedi-hacker” Obi-Wan Kenobi. This is pretty convenient for R2-D2, allowing him to find the schematics and show them how to disable the tractor beam so that they can escape with the Princess on the Millennium Falcon, (which brings me to item #2) …
- Finding Princess Leia – Lookin’ for Love in Alderaan Places
By plugging in anywhere, apparently they also have full access to the prisoner records in the detention center, which is how they realize 1) that Princess Leia is even there, 2) that she is about to be executed, and 3) exactly where they can find her to rescue her:
Click here for the rest of the blog, Star Wars: I Find Your Lack of Segmentation Disturbing.
If you are an executive with responsibility over IT and security, and you are not sure how to best engage in a conversation with your staff, then here is an article you should read – I Am a Non-Technical Executive… What Seven Things Should I Be Asking My IT Guys About IT Security?
Smoke testing is a term used to describe the testing process for servers after patches are applied. 
Estimating an average time for patching servers and PCs can be a bit tricky. It can vary from one month to the next, depending upon the number and complexity of the patches released by your software vendors. You must consider all versions of operating systems and have a complete inventory of all your application software to do this job correctly. Our experience has shown that manual patching of systems takes on average of about 1.5 hours each.
This is a basic cost calculator for you to compute your typical monthly cost for patching your servers, PCs, laptops, tablets and associated application software. It also forms the basis for you to begin calculating your Return on Investment for software patching, or for comparison with alternatives to the manual process of patching operating systems and application software—such as Patch Management as a Service, also known as Vulnerability Management as a Service.