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  • Mergers & acquisitions: The first 100 days

    It is day one of the acquisition and executive reputations are on the line. Are you prepared? Have you revised your current organisation commitments and reviewed organisational priorities with colleagues?

    Written by Evan Thomas • 06 Feb. 12 13:15

  • Opinion: Is Google evil? The jury is out

    Much outrage has been expressed about Google's new privacy policy. People are acting as if they are shocked that Google would consolidate the personal information it gathers from its customers through all of its varied services. What is shocking to me is that none of these people, including members of Congress, seemed to see it coming.

    Written by Ira Winkler • 02 Feb. 12 01:30

  • Used IPv4 addresses need a ‘vehicle history check’

    Before buying a used car, prospective buyers can review vehicle histories in most states of Australia through a service such as the NSW Roads & Traffic Authority’s Vehicle History Check. The histories include information about how many owners the vehicle has had, whether it has been written off or stolen and other information that helps consumers understand the risks of purchasing the car. Now that new IPv4 addresses are history, there is a developing market for acquiring ‘used’ IPv4 addresses. And like used cars, there are risks involved in acquiring these used addresses. So, where is the Vehicle History Check for IPv4 addresses?

    Written by Qing Li • 10 June 11 10:08

  • Smartphones, security and the enterprise

    Smartphones are among the most important technological developments of our time. Since the advent of the first smartphones in the 1990s, these once cumbersome devices have become immensely powerful and sophisticated tools – not just individual communications devices, but whole computing platforms, capable of running a vast array of personal and business applications.

    Written by Richard Ting • 20 May 11 09:40

  • Social media - part 1

    At three major IT service management conferences that I attended in 2010, social media played a big role in communicating the content, the mood and the social aspects of the conference. At two of these conferences, I witnessed and participated in lively discussions on whether companies should block social media in the workplace. Whether the presentation topic was on social media or not, there was obviously a desire to get this on the table for discussion. And it was heated – every time! Many people have strong views on this topic, so this paper will look at the current industry commentary, and discuss the benefits and the risks of allowing staff to use social media in the workplace.

    Written by Breed Lewis • 10 March 11 14:20

  • IT trends and their legal disruptors

    If nothing else will cause CIOs insomnia in 2011 it will be the potential disruptive effects of legal issues that walk hand in hand with this year's IT trends. Most of the lists of trends look the same and there are those that will be proved to be over hyped. One thing that is certain after Wikileaks, Facebook privacy issues and an ever growing cloud on the horizon, it will be a busy year in the courts.

    Written by Robert Todd • 16 Feb. 11 16:53

  • Prevent credit card fraud with PCI DSS

    Organised e-crime is on the rise and has grown increasingly sophisticated. The thriving business of buying and selling zero day vulnerabilities has been well documented, as well as the investment in paying developers to develop the malicious code. Although this level of sophistication in compromising systems has increased dramatically, it’s the same fundamental personal data that the perpetrators of these crimes are after; online banking details, personally identifiable information and credit card details.

    Written by Tim Smith • 01 Feb. 11 16:20

  • Lifting rocks and seeing what dangers lurk beneath

    I'm still getting acquainted with my new company. As a security manager, that means I'm seeking out all the risks that are lurking in various functional areas.

    Written by Mathias Thurman • 25 Jan. 11 03:43
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    Top seven firewall capabilities for effective application control

    IT administrators try to deliver critical corporate solutions efficiently, but also have to deal with employees using wasteful and often dangerous applications. In order to increase network and user productivity, IT needs to prioritise critical application bandwidth and throttle—or completely block—social media and gaming applications.

    Written by Dean Redman • 21 Oct. 10 14:51

  • Smart grid security: Critical success factors

    Threats to the smart grid can be classified into three broad groups: system level threats that attempt to take down the grid; attempts to steal electrical service; and attempts to compromise the confidentiality of data on the system.

    Written by Shoaib Yousuf • 01 Oct. 10 14:40

  • Vendor View: Where's the risk in a recession?

    A financial crisis is not the time for organisations to become lax about the value of their information security assets.

    Written by Anthony Turco • 05 Aug. 09 11:20

  • A Lesson in Compliance from the Chemical Industry

    In many ways, the role of the CSO is directly tied to business profitability. By creating and enforcing policies that protect human, physical and intellectual assets, the CSO ensures the very integrity of the organization. This link to the bottom line, though, is about to become much stronger--and quite possibly much sooner than anticipated.

    Written by Jon Harmon • 20 April 09 03:56

  • Laid-off Workers as Data Thieves?

    A Symantec/Ponemon report points to an ominous byproduct of the economic crisis: laid-off employees stealing data in acts of vengeance. Bill Brenner is skeptical of this report's news value.

    Written by Bill Brenner • 25 Feb. 09 08:28

  • How to Maximise Your IT Security Budget

    In these days of economic recession, with cyber crime on the rise, it's more important than ever for IT leaders to make the most of their security budget.

    Written by CIO Staff • 12 Dec. 08 12:32

  • Who Pushed Vendors Toward Better Security?

    Hint: It had something to do with pressure from customers and government agencies, writes Oracle CSO Mary Ann Davidson.

    Written by Mary Ann Davidson • 04 Dec. 08 09:38
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    Sarah Palin demonstrates the peril of webmail

    If you needed any more reminders about why it isn't a good idea to use external mail services to conduct critical business, the recent break-in to US Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's gov.palin@yahoo.com Yahoo inbox should be it. Of note is that following the disclosure of the inboxes the compromised address and another address, gov.sarah@yahoo.com, have been suspended.

    Written by Carl Jongsma • 18 Sept. 08 12:35

  • 'Whaling' threats target the big fish of the corporate world

    The proliferation and popularity of collaborative Web 2.0 sites – there are around 250,000 new registrations to Facebook everyday – has changed the threat landscape and the way businesses need to think about security. Each year, newer technologies and weapons are being unleashed to leave Web users surprised, annoyed and at greater risk.‘Whaling’ or ‘spear phishing’, is one such threat and refers to phishing scams which specifically target high-worth individuals.

    Written by Pete Simpson • 10 Sept. 08 14:50

  • The Top 10 Celebrity Spammers

    No one will deny the global celebrity of Angelina Jolie. She's on the cover of magazines, stars in blockbuster movies and is a ratings bonanza each time she appears on TV. Now that she's had twins, she's got triple the appeal for some fans.

    Written by Thomas Wailgum • 07 Aug. 08 10:05

  • Five lessons learned about computer security

    Reformed hacker-turned-security-consultant Kevin Mitnick served five years in federal prison for breaking into phone and software company networks. He talks about his past hacking exploits, computer security, and how he turned an illegal hobby into a useful career.

    Written by Jarina D'Auria • 16 July 08 11:15

  • Security researchers begin on active defences

    Many people fear them, but most hackers are no more than simple point and click operators (the basic script kiddie) that are incapable of anything but using tools created by others.

    Written by Carl Jongsma • 15 April 08 20:51
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