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IT Infrastructure - News
November 10th, 2007
Wireless opens new vulnerabilities
 Wireless networking lets employees roam around the office with
their mobile devices, moving seamlessly from conference room to office to common
area without ever losing access to network data, e‑mail
and the Internet.
The problem with this is wireless signals can be picked up by outside
parties. Internal devices that exchange data with the wireless hardware are
already behind the gateway firewall, so intrusions that exploit a wireless
signal can have devastating results in terms of data
theft.
Wireless
encryption standards include Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and Wi‑Fi
Protected Access (WPA), the former is an old protocol that is fairly easy to
crack with readily available tools; the latter is a more flexible and powerful
technology.
The latest wireless networking products support both and include firewall
and other security features, too. -
more info
November 10th, 2007
IE 7 Offers News Security Enhancements
 IE
7 has a focus on security
Windows
Vista built-in web browser, Internet Explorer 7 (IE7), includes security
enhancements designed to protect users from phishing and spoofing attacks. In
protected mode it helps prevent data and configuration settings from being
deleted or changed by malicious websites or malware.
Integrity
level Description
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Integrity
Level |
Description |
|
Low |
Not
trusted |
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Medium |
Default
for most standard user processes |
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System |
Unrestricted
access to the system |
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High |
Administrative
process can install files |
Internet
Explorer 7s Four levels of Mandatory Integrity Control
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more info
October 23rd, 2007
Metrics Drive Productivity
Metrics are Key to
Performance
Performance management is the strategy and
methodologies that an organization uses to direct its employees, partners,
suppliers, and customers to achieve a common set of goals and objectives.
Companies manage performance through various mechanisms, including planning,
budgeting, scorecarding, querying and reporting results and variances. Each of
these activities involves making data collected by transaction systems available
in a context and format that transforms the data into actionable business
information.
Janco believes all performance management initiatives
must address an interrelated set of people, process, information and technology
issues. This HandiGuide focuses on both.
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more info
October 13th, 2007
Centralized Password Reset is a Must for Smart Phones
 The
Janco Security Manual address issues like centralized password control for smart
phones. The central establishment
and enforcement of password policies provides the greatest authentication
security to the enterprise. When controlling password policies from a
centralized function or location with wireless capability, administrators can
quickly and easily control policies for a broad array of users, without ever
having to handle the end users device.
Ideally,
policies could establish and enforce a variety of password parameters, including
minimum length and alphabetical/numeric characters. Additionally, policies
should:
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Require
a new password after a designated length of time.
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Require
a password distinct from passwords recently chosen by the
user.
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Require
password entry after a designated amount of idle time or device
shut-off.
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Establish
a maximum limit of failed password attempts before the handheld clears all
application data or requires unlock only by an IT
administrator.
On
the administrative side, an administrator should easily and wirelessly be
able to reset the device for users who have lost their passwords or whose smart
phones are lost. -
more info
October 3rd, 2007
How Do You Audit the Mobile Work Force
How do you audit your Security Standards given the
notebook computers which are available todayu are enabling businesses to further
blur the distinction between an in‑office worker and a mobile worker. For
instance, the latest model notebooks incorporate dual‑core processors that
deliver the computational power to run business productivity applications as
well as complex financial analysis and computer‑aided design
applications.
The processing power in these notebooks gives users the
flexibility to work from a client site, on the road, in a hotel room or at home.
At the same time, the availability of residential broadband services and
wireless hotspots lets these users share their work with colleagues and allows
them to connect to company networks. But thereÂ’s the catch. The combination of
increased connectivity and mobility could expose computers to todayÂ’s growing
security threats.
Mobile systems, like their desktop counterparts, need
protection from viruses, worms, Trojans and spyware. And the users of these
systems must also be protected from system vulnerabilities and other hacker
exploits. However, protection is getting more complicated as hackers are turning
to special wireless snooping tools and blended threats that use a combination of
different attacks to steal information or corrupt mobile
systems. -
more info
September 25th, 2007
Internet Growth Rate Slowing Down
(University of Minnesota) Despite
more demand for video and other bandwidth saturating content, Internet traffic
growth rates are slowing down, according to a new Web site at the University of
Minnesota. The Minnesota Internet Traffic Studies site shows that Internet
traffic growth rates have settled in at about 50% to 60% in the United States
and worldwide as the Internet matures. That's a far cry from the doubling rates
every year or even every 100 days that some claimed in the mid-to-late
1990s. -
more info
September 19th, 2007
IT Service Management is key to Success
IT Service Management is
not for the faint of heart. Support professionals, help desk staff, and
even network administrators, already consumed with a barrage of break-fix
requests, must also manage a constant stream of challenging user administration
tasks. Add to the mix the responsibility for deploying or upgrading new user
accounts, software, and equipment, and you have the conditions for every harried
IT professionals perfect storm.
 Standardizing your organizations
approach to creating, maintaining, and removing end user accounts and managing
assets is an excellent method of streamlining such responsibilities. Best of
all, the time you save administering accounts and tracking equipment can be
dedicated to addressing migrations, upgrades, outages, failures, and other
crises. But where should you start?
Fortunately, much of the work has
already been completed. Janco Associates IT Service Management Template for a
Service Oriented Architecture defines what small and medium businesses and
even large enterprises require to efficiently manage day-to-day IT Service
Management tasks.
The template includes:
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Service Requests Policy
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Service Request Standard
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Help Desk Policy
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Help Desk Standards
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Help Desk Procedures
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Help Desk Service Level Agreement
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Change Control Standard
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Change Control Quality Assurance Standard
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Change Control Management Workbook
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Documentation Standard
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Application Version Control Standard
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Version Control Standard
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Internet Policy
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e-Mail Policy
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Electronic Communication Policy
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Blog & Personal Web Site Policy
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Travel and Off-Site Meeting
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Sensitive Information Policy -
more info
September 13th, 2007
Vista Not Selling as Well as XP When It Was Released
 Sales of boxed copies of Windows Vista continue to significantly
trail those of Windows XP during its early days, according to a
soon-to-be-released report.
(c/net news.com) Standalone unit sales of Vista at
U.S. retail stores were down 59.7 percent compared with Windows XP, during each
product's first six months on store shelves, according to NPD Group. In terms of
revenue, sales are also down, but the drop has been less steep, at 41.5 percent.
The findings largely mirror the sales pattern NPD saw for Vista during its first
week on the market in January. -
more info
August 28th, 2007
Security Took a Major Hit with a Microsoft System Meltdown
 (Computerworld) Security took a major hit with a 19-hour
blackout of the Microsoft Corp. servers that identify copies of Windows XP and
Vista as legitimate or counterfeit shows that serious flaws exist in the process
and raises questions about the reliability of Microsoft's services.
The system that validates Windows XP and Vista
erroneously fingered users as pirates, preventing them from downloading most
software from the Microsoft Web site, and in the case of Vista, disabling
several features, including the operating system's Aero graphical user
interface. Windows users lit up Microsoft support forums with more than 450
messages, some of which were collected in threads have been viewed by as many as
45,000 people.
Microsoft had not explained the problem with the
Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) servers, although on Saturday the program
manager promised that after the team had generated a fix, he would get
you all what you are looking for, an explanation and cause.
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more info
August 17th, 2007
ISO 17799 is not fully compliant with SOX
ISO 17799
is not 100% fully compliant to the list of all SOX requirements, as SOX was
conceived in the USA and targeted especially if not only for USA-based companies
and not mandatory for European ones, while ISO standards are thought as
international standards to be applied by all corporations from all
countries.
Question arises which standards
should you comply with and will it be
enough? -
more info
August 1st, 2007
Simpson Movie Drives New Spam Blast
(Network
World) -- Spammers are jumping on the success of
The Simpsons Movie to trick e-mail users into validating their addresses,
so they can then send them more spam.
Since the launch of the movie
spammers have been sending messages with an embedded picture of Homer Simpson in
his underwear. The text asks if the recipient plans to see the new movie and to
fill out a related survey by following an embedded link. If the recipient clicks
on the link, the Web site records the e-mail address -- now knowing that there
is a valid user -- and sends the address more spam.
The spam message also
promises to award a prize to those who fill out the survey, according to
antispam vendor SpamFighter, which caught a The Simpsons Movie spam in
its filters.
While this new spam blast uses a hot pop culture topic to
entice recipients, the purpose of the spam is a throwback to the early days of
e-mail abuse. Unlike phishing scams of late that try to extract personal or
financial information from users or e-mails with hidden malware that installs
bot nets on unsuspecting PCs, the Simpsons scam does nothing more than validate
the legitimacy of the address, and then spam some more.
Another
recent abuse that
used the release of a Harry Potter novel and film to entice recipients was also comparatively
benign; the W32/Hairy-A worm infected PCs and displayed a file that said Harry
Potter is dead, among other messages, but did not download malware or attempt to
extract information from the user. -
more info
July 27th, 2007
Disaster Plan - Business Continuity Template Meets Sarbanes-Oxley Mandated Requirements
 The
Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity Template version 4.3 has just been
released. Janco contiues to update its templates to meet the ever
changing requirements of the business environment.
With
this new version a fully indexed PDF copy of the template is now provided in
addition to the two versions of WORD (2003 and 2007).
The
updates to the template included:
1.
Defined generic
metrics for DR/BC success
2.
Business & IT
Impact Analysis Questionnaire Updated
3.
Updated references to
DRP card
4.
Updated formatting to
meet WORD 2007 requirements
The
version history for updates to template can be seen at http://www.e-janco.com/drpversion.htm
and the full Table of Contents with sample pages can be downloaded at http://www.e-janco.com/Register_drp.asp
. -
more info
July 18th, 2007
Senators renew quest for Net neutrality rules
 (CNet) - The Net neutrality skirmish that swallowed
up so much of Congress' technopolitical agenda last year may be gearing up for a
comeback. A pair of senators who led the divisive push for the new regulations
want everyone to know they haven't forgotten the cause.
Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Olympia Snowe
(R-Maine) aired their views in a joint letter (PDF) filed with the Federal Communications Commission just before the Monday
deadline for remarks on an open inquiry into "broadband industry practices."
The senators said they were pleased that the FCC was
showing interest in the issue but "would have preferred the commission take the
more concrete step of proposing rules to guarantee Internet freedom."
Internet freedom, in the senators' view, is
the idea that a broadband operator like Comcast or AT&T should be legally
prohibited from charging, say, YouTube extra fees to have its services
prioritized over other online video sites. In recent years, cable and telephone
companies have said it may be necessary to pursue such a business model to
recover investments in new infrastructure, and they don't want regulators dictating how they manage their
pipes.
Back in January, Dorgan and Snowe reintroduced their Internet Freedom Preservation Act, which would bar such arrangements. (A Republican-controlled
Congress repeatedly defeated similar efforts
last year.) The senators said they would still push for passage of that bill but
called on the FCC to take "affirmative action" to reinstate "nondiscrimination
rules that applied to Internet providers for years."
The FCC, for its part, has already adopted four
"broadband connectivity principles" in summer 2005, which dictate consumers
should generally be allowed to access the Web applications of their choosing and
hook up the devices they please. But Chairman Kevin Martin agreed in March to open an official
inquiry into whether stronger language should be added--drawing complaints from
the FCC's two Democratic commissioners, who wanted a bolder commitment on the
spot.
Martin has made it clear he believes no new
regulations are needed and that his agency already has ample authority to police
any complaints about discrimination that arise. The Federal Trade Commission
recently reached similar conclusions after finishing its own inquiry. That
report, however, doesn't appear to be derailing plans by Rep. Edward Markey
(D-Mass.) to reintroduce his own Net neutrality bill sometime after Labor Day.
The senators' letter was one of more than 27,000
comments that have poured into the FCC since it opened its inquiry into the
issue this spring. According to a statement Tuesday from the advocacy group Free
Press, which also supports strict nondiscrimination regulations, more than 95
percent of those filings came from individuals on its
side. -
more info
July 3rd, 2007
The Big Advantages and Big Challenges of VoIP
VoIP,
because of its complexity and relative immaturity, is unpredictable and a bit
less stable than traditional voice networks. And nobody wants to take chances
with their corporate voice service. In limiting the disadvantages, perhaps the
most important single step is to perform a baseline network study before
designing and implementing systems. Even the best VoIP network will be
undermined if the infrastructure on which it rests is flawed or inadequate.
Other suggestions are to make sure switches and routers are configured correctly
and to use Ethernet switches that offer quality of service features. In cases in
which the telecommunications network will be part of the mix — for instance, the
use of VoIP in scenarios in which branch offices and headquarters are linked —
make sure VPNs based on service level agreements are in
place. -
more info
June 20th, 2007
HIPAA audit at hospital riles health care IT
 (Computerworld) -- An audit
of Atlanta Piedmont Hospital that was initiated by the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services in March is raising concerns in the health care industry
about the prospect of more enforcement actions related to the data security
requirements of the federal HIPAA legislation.
The audit was the first of its kind since the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Acts security rules went into effect in
April 2005, joining data privacy mandates that were already in place. The
security rules require organizations that handle electronic health data to
implement measures for controlling access to confidential medical information
and protecting it against compromise and misuse.
Neither Piedmont nor the HHS has confirmed that the
audit was launched, and few details about it have been disclosed publicly. But
an HHS document obtained by Computerworld shows that Piedmont officials
were presented with a list of 42 items that the agency wanted information
on.
Among them were the hospitals policies and procedures
on 24 security-related issues, including physical and logical access to systems
and data, Internet usage, violations of security rules by employees, and logging
and recording of system activities. The document also requested items such as IT
and data security organizational charts and lists of the hospital's systems,
software and employees, including new hires and terminated
workers. -
more info
June 4th, 2007
Keeping compliant in a Web 2.0 world
 (Computerworld) -- As instant messaging, blogging and wikis move into the corporate
mainstream, vendors are responding with a slew of new technologies to arm
companies intent on tracking and controlling these new forms of communication.
These include software that can warn employees if
they are about commit an infraction, such as using profanity or sending out
confidential company documents in e-mail. Such software can be set to warn or
block some employees but not others, depending, on for example, their
rank.
Other software can decide in real time whether to
allow or block employees -- again based on their position, title, or similar
parameter -- from sending files via e-mail, or printing them or saving them to a
portable device such as an USB thumbdrive.
Still other companies plan to offer services that can
monitor and censor offensive pictures or videos sent as e-mail or IM attachments
by using pools of overseas workers who would open and view all
attachments. -
more info
May 31st, 2007
Getting Rid of Old Computers
(Computerworld) -- Residents in Wylie,
Texas, had no problems getting rid of their old computers: They just threw them
in the trash.
But that approach was costing the city more and more
in landfill and hauling fees, particularly during the citys semiannual
Cleanup-Greenup campaigns, when residents would toss their junk into Dumpsters
bound for landfills.
As the city tried to cut costs, they
discovered that companies that recycle computers and other electronic waste
charge less than those hauling junk away to landfills. The city recycled 15,000
pounds of computers, printers and other such e-waste the first time it offered
the service, at its April 2006 Cleanup-Greenup day. It collected another 7,000
pounds of e-waste last fall and 10,500 pounds this past
April. -
more info
May 29th, 2007
Preliminary Salary Survey Results Show IT Is A Good Place to be
 Janco in its preliminary analysis is finding that IT
professionals are doing better now than any time since the dot com bust. Victor
Janulaitis, the CEO of Janco said, For the first time since the dot com bust
there has been a significant increase in demand for IT Professionals. Hiring is
up across the nation as companies begin to focus on business expansion and
addressing the needs caused by the expansion of technology into every facet of
the business environment.
The full 2007 Mid Year IT Salary Survey will be
released on June 18th. The preliminary findings of Janco are:
- Salary increases in the range of 2.5 to 4.5% are
now the norm for high performers.
- Enterprises of all sizes are now increasing their
training budgets.
- Hiring for all levels of IT professionals in all
sizes of enterprises has increased significantly.
- A little over 76% of top (executive level) IT
professionals have received bonuses in excess of $5,000 in the last 12
months.
- Enterprises are starting to open the hiring gates
as application and project backlogs build up and enterprises see continued
growth.
- Demand is high in the internet and network areas
of e-commerce, voice/wireless communication, object programming, data security
and data warehousing as enterprises try to prepare for Web 2.0 and of the new
wireless technology.
- In Janco's prior reports, they found a number of
baby boomers who had planned on retiring in 2003 and 2004 but did not are now
starting to retire.
Janco has been conducting salary surveys since 1997
and continues to use the same methodology in order to provide consistent
information to its clients. The survey is produced twice each year - once in
January and once in July. Janco also has full job descriptions that are
available for purchase. More information can be obtained on Janco's web site http://www.janco.com/salary.htm.
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more info
March 6th, 2007
SIM Targets Shrinking IT Workforce in U.S.
 (Computerworld) -- With
a national IT labor shortage likely to emerge over the next decade, the Society
for Information Management is extending its IT career programs to high school
students.
Several demographic studies indicate that labor shortages are
possible. For example, AMR Research Inc. found that 76 million Americans will
reach retirement age during the next 10 years. And SIM predicts that enrollment
in college IT courses is dropping by 40% annually.
Meanwhile, the U.S.
Department of Commerce Office of Technology estimates that about 2.5
million IT jobs will have been created in the U.S. between 2000 and 2010. The
AEA estimates that the number of IT workers stood at 5.6 million at the end of
2005.
To help address the anticipated IT labor shortfall, SIM plans this
year to expand its college IT career programs to high school students.
The organization intends to reach out to high school students and
guidance counselors by drawing upon a program created by its Dallas chapter,
said Leo Collins, SIMs vice president of advocacy and communities of
interest.
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more info
January 27th, 2007
ISO 17799 Compliant DRP / Business Continuity Template Released
The ISO 17799 compliant Disaster Recovery Planning
(Business Continuity) Template is Version 4.2. The template has increased
in size from 140 pages in version 3.1 to 189 pages in the current
version.
New with this version of the
Disaster Recovery Planning Template are:
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Added
Section defining the ISO 17799 compliance requirements
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Reviewed
and modified entire DRP/BCP template to ensure compliance with ISO
17799
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Business
& IT Impact Questionnaire updated to meet ISO 17799 compliance
requirements
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Added Best
Data Retention and Destruction Practices
section -
more info
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