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Archive for July 27th, 2010

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Keep Kids Safe Online with OpenDNS FamilyShield

By admin on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 | No Comments

PC World - You wouldn’t let your kids walk the streets of Amsterdam’s Red Light District, but giving them unrestricted access to the Web is practically the same thing. The problem is, how do you block out all that inappropriate Web content?

The best solution I’ve found: OpenDNS FamilyShield. This impressive service protects your kids from not only online pornography, but also phishing, malware, and other threats.

What I like best about FamilyShield is that it’s a server-side solution, meaning it requires no software at your end. Instead, it merely routes your Web traffic through OpenDNS’s servers and blocks anything inappropriate or dangerous. Shades of Big Brother, maybe, but this company’s been around for years, and I trust it.

You configure FamilyShield one of two ways: by tweaking a couple settings in your router (which effectively protects every PC, iPod, Xbox, Wii, and

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How large is a piece of Malware?

By admin on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 | No Comments

Q. What is the average size of a typical malware file?

Of course there is no definitive answer to this question, and different kinds of malware can have vastly different sizes, but for those wanting an answer I ran a quick calculation over some of SophosLabs’ monthly collections of malware samples.

In January 2005 the average size of a malware sample was 126 kB. In June 2010 it is 338 kB.

This growth in size is pretty much what one would expect, and can be for several reasons. Long gone are the days of hand crafted assembler code designed to be as small as possible. As computer memory, disk space and internet bandwidth grow, so does the output of a typical compiler. Software libraries become larger, and software (both legitimate and malicious) tends to contain increasing amounts of complexity and functionality.

Q. Can you give some examples… Read the rest

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The quiet threat: Cyber spies are already in your systems

By admin on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 | No Comments

InfoWorld - Is your company’s data under surveillance by foreign spybots looking for any competitive advantages or weaknesses they can exploit? This might sound farfetched, but such electronic espionage is real. It’s an insidious security threat that’s a lot more common than you probably realize.

As an IT or security executive, determining whether your organization is under attack via this seemingly undetectable threat — and putting in place adequate technology and procedural safeguards — should be a high priority. The stakes are too high to ignore the problem.

[ Not all corporate espionage is high-tech; find out how to stop low-tech spies. | InfoWorld's Roger Grimes says you should lure spies with honeypots. | Master your security with InfoWorld's interactive Security iGuide. ]

Security experts believe that a growing number of companies are being spied upon electronically by sources from other

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In L.A., Google Blowing Big Cloud Marketing Chance

By admin on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 | No Comments

CIO - Google just can’t seem to get it right in the City of Angels.

The Los Angeles Times reported this week that Google missed the June 30 deadline for its closely-watched contract to move the City of Los Angeles’ e-mail system over to Gmail from its current Novell Groupwise e-mail platform.

The main point of contention for Google is the Los Angeles police department, which has strict guidelines for how its data is secured.

In a meeting with city council members, according to the L.A. Times, LAPD CIO Maggie Goodrich said that the department’s security requirements have not been met.

When asked by a city council member which party is to blame, Goodrich replied: “In my opinion, it was Google that didn’t deliver the security requirements.”

Google’s missed deadline comes on the heels of a leaked inter-departmental letter in mid-April showing that performance

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The mystical world of data center fire suppression

By admin on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 | No Comments

I can hear you now… “Not another article on the boring topic of fire suppression!” Well, I promise if you ignore your growing angst and an urge to shift to another page, any other page, I will make it worth your time.

Like data centers (once called computer rooms or electronic data processing centers), the approach to containing a fire in what is now the nerve center of your organization has significantly changed. It isn’t enough to simply install a smoke alarm and a few sprinkler heads. This only works if you don’t mind having your business down for days or weeks after a fire.

In this article we’ll look at the business outcomes you should consider when writing a check for fire suppression services and how to achieve them.

Business outcomes

Before purchasing a fire suppression system, it’s important to understand what it is your trying to… Read the rest

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