Saturday | 10 January, 2009
5 IT Projects That Need Your Attention Right Now
You have only so much funding and time, so don’t waste either of them. These projects can make you a hero or at least can save you from one of those terrible “learning experiences”
3. Manage patches.
It was difficult enough five years ago to maintain patches for Windows. Today, patch management has to consider several versions of Windows, Linux, Unix and various mission-critical applications. This makes patch management one of the most time-consuming activities for IT, especially considering that many organizations liberally use the term "management".
The Solution: Implement a patch management process, even if manually driven at first, to identify critical vulnerabilities and patches. Later on, implement a system for automating the process of patching systems, with the ability to roll back changes if necessary.
Where to Start: Despite the complexity of patch management, you can make great strides quickly if you focus on key elements of the patch management lifecycle, which is shown below:
- Reach. Discover, identify, and categorize the servers, workstations and network equipment.
- Resolve. Access vulnerabilities and missing patches.
- Research. Maintain up-to-date knowledge of available vulnerabilities and patches.
- Repair. Prioritize, schedule and patch vulnerable systems.
- Report. Monitor the patching process.
Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all patch management solution, especially for heterogeneous environments with several platforms and applications. The real need for most enterprises is to focus on the Reach, Resolve and Research phases so that your organization can maintain awareness of patching needs. Once this part of the process is being managed effectively, you can move on to finding ways to automate the patching process itself, which is, by far, the most complex task in patch management.
Several vendors are in the patch management space, including ANSA, BindView, GFI Software and Quest. Notably, some products, such as ANSA's Autonomic Software, can be used to patch non-Windows platforms.
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CIO Live Podcast #79: Brent D Taylor, author of The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires Part II 05 October, 2007 06:00:00
For his new book, The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires, social researcher Brent D Taylor spent four years of intensive research investigating the psychological make-up and backgrounds of some of the world's richest men and women, including IT luminaries Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs. Taylor discovered that, despite working in different industries and coming from different upbringings, they all have one thing in common -- they are all outsiders. - +
CIO Live Podcast #78: Brent D Taylor, author of The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires 28 September, 2007 17:34:25
For his new book, The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires, social researcher Brent D Taylor spent four years of intensive research investigating the psychological make-up and backgrounds of some of the world's richest men and women, including IT luminaries Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs. Taylor discovered that, despite working in different industries and coming from different upbringings, they all have one thing in common -- they are all outsiders. - +
CIO Live Podcast #77: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part III 21 September, 2007 07:00:00
Part three in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance. - +
CIO Live Podcast #76: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part II 14 September, 2007 07:00:00
Part two in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance. - +
CIO Live Podcast #75: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part I 07 September, 2007 07:00:05
Part one in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance.
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TJX Maxx hacker banged up for 30 years 09 January, 2009 11:26:00
Key figure in the infamous TJX Maxx Wi-Fi hack of 2005 has been sentenced to 30-years in prison by a Turkish court.Maksym Yastremskiy, the Ukrainian accused of being a key figure in the infamous TJX Maxx Wi-Fi hack of 2005, has been sentenced to 30-years in prison by a Turkish court. - +
Data breaches rose sharply in 2008, says study 08 January, 2009 08:27:00
More than 35 million data records were breached in 2008, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center.More than 35 million data records were breached in 2008 in the U.S., a figure that underscores continuing difficulties in securing information, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). - +
Rogue SSL certificate exploit puts VeriSign on the spot 07 January, 2009 11:04:00
Wishes "white hat" researchers had notified VeriSign before public demo.Following the success of researchers last week in creating a false SSL certificate based on VeriSign's RapidSSL brand, the company is scrambling to explain how it happened, how it's preventing it from reoccurring, and whether its other SSL certificate-generation services are at risk. - +
With Gaza conflict, cyberattacks come too 05 January, 2009 08:03:00
Pro-Palestinian hackers have defaced thousands of sites following attacks in Gaza.The conflict raging in Gaza between Israel and Palestine has spilled over to the Internet. - +
5 ways to secure your Blackberry 18 December, 2008 12:58:00
What do Tom Cruise and the McCain campaign have in common? They have both been bitten by the loss of a Blackberry. Mobile expert Dan Hoffman gives advice on how to keep your cherished mobile device safe, even if it's out of your handsWhat do Tom Cruise and the McCain campaign have in common? They have both been bitten by the loss of a Blackberry. Mobile expert Dan Hoffman gives advice on how to keep your cherished mobile device safe, even if it's out of your hands.
IT industry veteran advises caution on outsourcing selection in light of Satyam problems 09 January, 2009 21:45:00
Research software developer appoints Susan Dart to new Business Development Director role 08 January, 2009 09:08:00
Research software developer appoints Susan Dart to new Business Development Director role 08 January, 2009 09:08:00
Anyware Introduce Two Powerful PCI TV Tuner Cards with S5 Power Up and Windows Media Center Remote 07 January, 2009 17:30:00
Fortinet Cures Mobile Phone “Curse of Silence/CurseSMS” Attack 07 January, 2009 16:30:00
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