Claire Meyer

What do a small, private college in New England and a multi-airport department in Florida have in common? Remote Access Control.

Picture this – in 20 minutes, one enterprising hacker at the 2012 Defcon conference in Las Vegas learned one Wal-Mart store’s physical logistics – from the janitorial contractor to where employees go to lunch – key details about the make and version numbers of the Wal-Mart manager’s PC, browser and anti-virus software, and got the manager to upload the address of an external website into his browser – no questions asked.

Conducting investigations within a security organization is very different than an episode of Miami Vice– from the timeframe to the interviews to, probably, the color of the investigator’s blazer. The process isn’t as thrilling as TV makes it out to be, but, as ACFE President and CEO James Ratley knows, that perception can work in your favor