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AV companies have been at war with the bad guys for much of the last two decades. And guess what? The bad guys won. Now that the days of antivirus software being in the front line of defense against malware are over, what companies are ready to step in and take up arms against sophisticated attacks and malware? Here are five to keep your eye on.

Don't let an ISO 27001 audit ruin your week. Chin up and follow some simple rules to chase away the pain and the worry.

A treasure trove of cheat sheets is yours for the clicking. Visit OverAPI.com for help with nearly any language or tool imaginable.

A number of people have asked recently what it takes to be a Unix systems administrator, what “core competencies” are required, and what are the best and worst aspects of the job. Here are some answers that might work once we get beyond “it depends”.

Are you someone who never met a Unix command you didn't like? OK, maybe not. But are there commands you just can't imagine living without? Let's look at some that have made a big difference on my busiest days and those that people I've worked with over the years have said are their most important essentials.

While pipes are one of the things that make Unix such a powerful and versatile operating system, they don't always make sense. Many people still fall into the "useless use of a pipe" habit while still others use pipes in situations in which pipes simply don't function at all. Knowing when to pipe and when not to pipe remains a sign of Unix mastery. If you want to look Unix savvy, use pipes only when they provide a critical service and never when they're superfluous or downright wrong.

Finding a computer infection that is, above all else, designed to remain hidden is not easy work, but neither is it impossible. With some good insights and tools, you might just get a leg up on how the multi-billion dollar spyware industry is attacking your systems.

You could have a rootkit infection right now and be totally unaware. One of the key goals of a rootkit is, after all, to go undetected. If the rootkit is hiding files, processes, logins, etc., how would you know? If you can't see it, how would you remove it?

If you haven't worried about rootkits in a while, what are you waiting for? Rootkits remain one of the stealthiest and most worrisome forms of malware compromising systems today.

As if you didn't know it already: antivirus software isn't doing its job, even though it sucks up around 30% of IT security budgets. But where can companies turn next? Two firms think they have an answer.

Malware represents one of the greatest threats that organizations face today and IT departments are coming to understand that their AV tools can only do so much to protect them. When malware is discovered on their systems, they want to know what it might have done, if the threat is still ongoing, and what they might have lost to the infection. Answers can be very tough to find, but reverse engineering the malware might just be the way to provide them.

Don't throw up your hands if your boss won't buy you Tripwire and a modern debugger. There are a lot of things that your Unix system -- right out of the box -- can tell you about files and processes.