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With economic slump, concerns rise over data theft 29.01.2009
Laid-off employees are the biggest security threat created by the economic downturn, according to respondents to a McAfee survey Is the worsening economic situation going to turn some employees into data thieves?
That's a top concern amongst IT decision makers, many of whom say that laid-off employees are the biggest security threat created by the economic downturn. In a McAfee-sponsored worldwide survey (registration required) of 1,000 IT decision makers, the company found that 42 percent of respondents felt that the laid-off employees represented the biggest IT security threat caused by the recession. That's more than were worried about outside intruders. And 36 percent said that they were worried about security problems caused by employees in financial stress.
Crime rates spike during hard times, and with thousands of workers being laid off each week now, there may be an added incentive for employees shown the door to take intellectual property with them to bolster their chances of getting hired with a competitor, to use with a start-up company of their own, or maybe even to sell.

"The economic downturn across the board is going to provide additional motivation for people who would want to do harm," said Seth Bromberger, an information security manager with PG&E in San Francisco. "It's on a lot of people's radar right now."

According to Bromberger, companies that have their employee exit processes in order have less to fear from laid-off workers. It's just that with the current economic squeeze, people's motivation may be changing Layoffs can fray employee loyalty, and there certainly is money to be made selling all kinds of corporate data.

Last August, a financial analyst with subprime mortgage broker Countrywide named Rene Rebollo was arrested by the U.S. Federal Bureau of investigation for allegedly selling Excel spreadsheets containing customer information for about two-and-a-half cents per record. Over a two-year period he may have made $70,000 from the scam, the FBI said.His annual salary was $65,000.

According to court filings, Countrywide had security software that disabled the use of USB drives on its PCs. But Rebollo found one PC that didn't have the software and was able to download about 20,000 records each week onto his personal thumb drive, which he'd later email to a buyer, the FBI said.

USB drives are one of the most underestimated sources of data leaks, says McAfee CEO Dave DeWalt. "For $100 you can buy a 100GB drive," he said. "100GB can be the entire customer base for an entire large company."

An economic slowdown can create other computer security problems too. As businesses fail and are bought, that churn can lead to management chaos within IT groups. Workers aren't sure how to report security concerns, or to whom, and existing controls may not be monitored as roles are switched and jobs are lost. In addition, workers may not want to report security issues for fear of jeopardizing a co-worker's job or drawing unwanted attention to themselves.

Ignoring security problems can be costly. The average security breach results in a loss of $4.6 million in intellectual property and costs about $600,000 to clean up, DeWalt said "We don't have the good risk models and as a result people are taking risks," said Eugene Spafford, a professor of computer science with Purdue University who contributed to McAfee's report on its survey data Security breaches will go up as a result of the downturn, especially as companies try to trim information security costs, although "it's not clear that we will see a lot of them attributed back directly to security issues," he said.

Still, not everyone sees the downturn as a game-changer.

"I'm not sure I recognize a greater threat to this company because of the downturn in terms of cyber threats," said Jim Klotz, CIO with the PMA Insurance Group in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. Increasing cyber crime is just a fact of life, and it would be growing with or without the slump, he said. "More people are capable and more people are finding profit in it."
Windows 7 Beta Availability Extended (PC World) 29.01.2009
Microsoft has extended the general availability of the Windows 7 beta until February 10 due to the software's popularity, the company said.

Microsoft was scheduled to remove the beta from the Windows 7 download site this past Saturday, but is allowing people to download it for another few weeks, the company said in a blog post.

People have until February 10 to start the download of the software, but downloads have until February 12 to be completed, according to the post, attributed to Brandon LeBlanc, a Microsoft Windows communication manager. No one will be able to begin downloading the Windows 7 beta after February 10, Microsoft said.

Microsoft made the first beta of Windows 7 available to the general public on January 10, a day later than planned because interest in the beta crashed its Web site when the company first posted it the day before. So far, Windows 7, the follow-up to the disappointing Windows Vista OS that fixes many of problems users reported with Vista, has gotten positive reviews from early users.

Microsoft wants to give people plenty of time to prepare for the end of the beta's public evaluation period, according to LeBlanc's post. On Tuesday, the Windows 7 page will warn users that time is running out to download the software so they can prepare for the Feb. 10 deadline.

However, the new deadline does not apply to MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) and TechNet subscribers, who will have access to the Windows 7 beta through its entire testing phase, according to LeBlanc.

Additionally, if a user has downloaded Windows 7 but does not have a product key for the software, Microsoft will continue to provide those to beta users indefinitely. A product key validates that a user's copy of the software is legitimate.
DISKKeeper launched !!! 18.12.2008
We are proud to inform you that today we have launched a new software program called: DISKKeeper. DISKKeeper is a software program that allows the users to manage more effective their hard drive space on a Windows platform. With a simple, intuitive interface and plenty of usefully features makes the drives management a lot easier. Also the users have access to some advanced options witch allows the users to customize some applications parameters in order for the application to adapt their needs. The program is under a shareware license type which can be fully evaluated for 30 days. More about DISKKeeper can be found at the Products section of our website.
'09 IT predictions -- the economy dominates 18.12.2008
Well, we blew it a year ago on the prediction that last month's U.S. presidential election would lead to historic turnout -- it didn't quite hit that mark -- and unprecedented problems with e-voting systems. The problems, it turns out, were for the most part precedented. On the positive side, we nailed the result, forecasting the election of Barack Obama. Not inclined to rest on that laurel (and a few others we also accurately foretold), we've set forth again to find out what industry analysts are forecasting for 2009, and we've talked to sources as well as to our geekiest friends and colleagues to come up with our own set of predictions for 2009. Absent from this year's list of 10 prognostications is an entry about Microsoft finally buying at least the ad-search business of Yahoo, if not the whole company. We left that one off the list for next year because we still expect it could happen in 2008. With that in mind and in no particular order: The economy will limp along
OK, no surprise that the economy is going to dominate the news for at least most of 2009, if not the whole year. There's something to this comment from Gordon Brooks: "I'm convinced nobody has any idea" how long the downturn will last, says the president and CEO of Symphony Services, a product engineering services firm steeped in the outsourcing market. He's been talking to bankers, listening to economists and digesting all he can stomach as he navigates his company through the recession. But we'll edge out on the limb and predict that we'll see signs of improvement by midyear, and go with Brooks' assessment that while the whole of 2009 will be rugged, by year's end an upswing will be under way. That said, along the way we'll find "a purging of our inefficiencies and of things that had gotten out of whack," as Brooks expects. That can only mean more layoffs, and while IT departments overall are more likely to stumble through the recession in reasonable shape, we expect that some market segments, notably hardware and consumer electronics, are going to be hosed for much of the year. We'll leave particular percentage predictions for growth rates, or the lack therefore, to the analysts such as Fitch, which is forecasting no growth to a 3 percent drop in worldwide PC units as companies hold off on upgrading. But there's good news
Economic downturns tend to drive innovation and also spur rollouts of new technologies and products to lure users to spend money. This has been particularly true over the years in the DRAM market, where companies are focused on trying to get DDR3 out as quickly as they can. They have to get motherboard, chip set, and microprocessor companies on board to support new memory chips, so that's what is slowing them down. But we see DDR3 becoming the new mainstream DRAM chip in 2009. And more good news
Netbooks have generated a lot of buzz (and no little bit of hype) of late as more of the small, low-cost, lightweight, energy-efficient laptops hit the market. That will continue apace, but we also expect that the average price of $400 to $500 will drop to the $200 to $300 range. Part of the price plunge will owe to volume production because the price of parts will drop as more netbooks are made. (source: InfoWorld.com)
Internet Explorer is unsafe ... still 17.12.2008
A malignant security flaw found in all versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser has yet to be fixed, and the problem is spreading. Microsoft detailed the flaw in a security update blog post six days ago. Since then, the problem has spread across the globe, hitting at least 2 million computers . Unlike other computer exploits, this one does not require users to click on fishy links or download mysterious software: it plagues computers that simply open an infected Web page. Internet Explorer is currently used by 69 percent of Web surfers. The flaw hides inside the data binding function of the browser and causes IE to quit unexpectedly and reopen vulnerable to prying eyes.

So far most of the attacks have been geographically centered on China and have been used for the purposes of stealing computer game passwords. But with a flaw as gap-toothed as this, the possibilities of nefarious action could include the massive theft of personal information such as administrative computer passwords and financial data.

Even though there is currently no patch for this problem, Microsoft has offered a variety of workarounds . Most involve disabling or crippling the "oledb32.dll" file. Other methods include setting Internet and local intranet security zones to "high" and configuring Internet Explorer to prompt before running Active Scripting or to disabling Active Scripting. Though it's always wise to keep your antivirus software updated, it may not protect you in this case, as most antivirus software does not monitor Internet traffic. The easiest way to keep your computer safe is to stop using Internet Explorer. Even Microsoft offered that advice . And while other browsers aren't entirely devoid of bugs , they are a better alternative in this case. (source: InfoWorld.com)
The tricky math of server virtualization ROI 17.12.2008
Server virtualization is supposed to save buckets of cash, largely from server reduction. After all, consolidating some 20 physical servers to three host servers means less hardware, power and cooling, and management overhead. But wait! The math is much trickier than that -- and unless you\'re a large business, there\'s a good chance it\'ll cost you more than you save, at least from the outset. \"Probably 50 percent of the small- and medium- business virtualization implementations I see are not cheaper than simply replacing the physical servers already there,\" says Matt Prigge, a virtualization consultant and InfoWorld Test Center contributor. Let\'s do the math. If you buy 20 spanking-new servers at $5,000 to grow your datacenter or replace your current boxes the traditional way, that\'s a $100,000 outlay. Server virtualization\'s cost equivalent: three powerful host servers with hardware memory chips from the likes of AMD or Intel at $16,000 each; a SAN at $40,000; and assorted costs in staff training, management software, virtualization licenses, and consultants. That\'ll all run about $100,000 as well. (Operating systems and apps aren’t included, but their costs are the same for either approach.)

Shared storage investments and new Intel or AMD servers, along with redundant network connectivity upgrades, constitute the lion\'s share of the cost of virtualization. Software licenses from vendors such as EMC VMware, Microsoft, and Citrix -- though several thousand dollars per host server -- pale in comparison with these infrastructure costs, though you do have to factor in ongoing maintenance costs.

What all this means is that if you're building a 20-server datacenter from scratch, or adding to or replacing one, then the cost of going with physical servers or virtual ones is largely a wash. But given the many benefits of server virtualization -- notably business continuity gains -- the virtualization route is a wise choice. If you're setting up more than 20 servers, the case for virtualization gets easier. "Server virtualization is an absolute no-brainer for organizations with 50 or more servers," says Chris Wolf, an analyst at the Burton Group. "In such environments, an 8- to 18-month ROI is easily achievable." Conversely, virtualizing most environments with fewer than 20 servers will cost you more than it's worth. A SAN is overkill for most small shops, in terms of sticker price and capability, says Prigge, who wrote a "virtual" virtualization case study detailing everything from pricing and products to technical and skills requirements. You'll need another reason than strict cost to justify going the virtual route if you have fewer than 20 servers. Server virtualization costs in the real world
Of course, these figures assume that you are starting from scratch. But hardly anyone is starting from scratch nowadays. So what's the cost and ROI to virtualize an existing datacenter?

If you have a 20-server datacenter with a 2- to 3-year server refresh cycle and upgrade the existing physical servers with new physical servers, you're buying 8 physical servers every year at a total cost of $40,000. Virtualizing all your servers instead costs $100,000, taking 2.5 years to recoup the initial virtualization investment -- the same as your refresh cycle. "Of course, organizations don't want to see an ROI that equals their hardware refresh cycle," Wolf says. If you don't have to invest in a new SAN, then the recoup time is just more than a year. Indeed, the single largest outlay for virtualization is shared storage -- a virtualization requirement. If you don't have shared storage, you have to build an iSCSI SAN, a Fibre Channel SAN, or a network file system. You'll need to refresh your host servers every two or three years, but you can keep the other SAN hardware longer, so over time, your refresh costs per year will be lower in a virtualized environment than in a physical one; how much depends on a bunch of factors specific to your environment, but it's a safe bet that you won't refresh your SAN any sooner than every 5 years, and likely less often. Virtualization's costs aren't so predictable
Even if the basic numbers tell you that virtualization's ROI is neutral or positive, note that the actual cost of virtualization varies greatly on the path you choose. Costs that get short shrift in the financial forecasting process include software and hardware management. Because virtualization changes the management scenario, you might need different lifecycle management tools. Many companies also upgrade to Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 Data Center edition when they virtualize, says Burton's Wolf. "That has to creep into the equation."

Also, you'll likely need to bring in a consultant to review the virtualization architecture, no matter what size the deployment. And then there's the cost of actually migrating physical servers. Consulting and migration fees vary widely.

The good news is that a 20-server virtual environment probably won't need a special virtualization staffer who commands at least $80,000 or even an additional sys admin, after everything is up and running. Virtualization vendors understand that small and midsize businesses often employ a single admin who wears many hats, so they've made their tools as easy as possible to learn. "One admin could get up to speed on virtualization," Wolf says. "Often, small organizations will develop their own talent there."

But the larger your virtualized environment, the more you will need such experts. You might recoup their costs by needing fewer server admins, but you might not. After all, you also have a SAN to manage. Another cost that can be hard to estimate is virtualization training, warns Prigge. The admin, for instance, will need to know how to reboot a virtual machine without restarting the whole host. "In some situations, the customer's inability to dedicate time to learn how to use a system suggests that sticking with physical servers with all of their limitations is actually a better course of action," he says.

Many but not all these costs can be inputted into good ROI calculators for server virtualization from VMware and Microsoft. These calculators can bring some clarity to a potential investment. Moreover, their predictions are often on the money with the actual ROI, says Wolf. Virtualization's elusive ROI
If your reason to invest in virtualization is just about the numbers, you may be disappointed -- especially if you're a smaller business. Consultant Prigge figures that many smaller businesses that adopt virtualization pay 10 to 15 percent more when all is said and done.

But this extra cost, he says, "is justified by the increased capability to recover from a hardware failure. If you're not paying attention to business continuity gains, of which server redundancy is just one, you're sort of missing the boat," says Prigge. After all, virtualization's greatest benefit is flexibility and simplicity of business continuity for the entire datacenter -- not merely reduction in server boxes.