MMC Wins 'Regional Partner of the Year Award Cape 2010' Award

At a prestigious gala dinner held at the ‘One and Only’ hotel in Cape Town, MMC was awarded the ‘Regional Partner of the Year Cape 2010’ award from MWEB.

“We partner with MWEB because they offer us a reliable service which we in turn, are able to supply with confidence, to our customers” says Rita Whittington, MD at MMC.
MMC would like to express a big thank you to Herman, Rory, Wesley and Reubens from MWEB who have been truly fantastic to work with. We would also like to congratulate our staff members who were instrumental in making this award possible. 

Have you joined us on Facebook or Twitter

MMC recently launched our Facebook page and we would like to invite you to join us! Please click on the following link to view our new page.

 

We also update our Twitter page on a regular basis, so please follow our ‘tweets’ by clicking on the following link.

 

Why join us on our Social Media Pages?

Whether it’s an amusing anecdote to brighten your day, a useful tip or important announcement – you will be kept in the loop and won’t miss out on any fantastic opportunities we have on offer for our customers.

Your 3rd FREE Keyboard Shortcut Chart - Download it Now!

By now you should already have two MMC keyboard shortcut charts under your belt. If you missed them for any reason, fear not, we have inserted our September and October charts below for you to download.

We all use Microsoft Outlook every single day – so wouldn’t it be great if we had a few tricks up our sleeve that could make our experience a little easier? With our November Keyboard Shortcut Chart that is exactly what we intend to do. This is one chart you will really want to download, print and keep on-hand as the shortcuts we feature will make your day easier and more productive.

Please click on the link below to download your MMC Keyboard Shortcut Chart.

This Months Chart

 

3rd Keyboard Shortcut Chart - Office Outlook

 

Previous Charts

 

2nd Keyboard Shortcut Chart - Office Excel

 

1st Keyboard Shortcut Chart - Windows 7

 

10 PC Disaster Recovery Tips

Here's the scenario: one minute you're working and surfing quite happily, the next the Blue Screen Of Death rears its ugly head and your machine won't boot. 

Whatever's happened to Windows is serious and the problem is confounded by the absence of backups. 

You've been promising to make some but never quite got around to it. Don't panic! Just follow these steps. 

1. The easy win

Before you bring out the big guns – which we'll discuss later – it pays to explore the easy options. Try using Windows' own repair and recovery tools, accessible from your installation disc. 

Depending on the version of Windows that you're running, the choices will differ. For Windows 7, the key is Startup Repair. This will hopefully "automatically fix problems that are preventing Windows from starting". 

2. Leave your hard drive alone

If you're dealing with sensitive data on a crashed PC, it pays to be careful. It's safest to leave the operating system alone and try to access data, files and folders indirectly. 

This is particularly true if you suspect you're battling a virus attack. By running the host OS, you give the contagion the opportunity to call home, update and send out more of your data. With all this in mind, we say don't boot a damaged OS – use a Live CD rescue kit instead. 

3. AVG Rescue CD

If your PC has been brought to its knees by a virus, getting back into Windows with enough control over the system to remove the contagion can be tricky. Thankfully, there's an easy answer – the AVG Rescue CD. Download the ISO image from here and burn the image to a CD or create a bootable USB key. 

Whatever you choose, the Linux-based rescue CD makes it easy to scan and remove viruses. The Inside Security Rescue Toolkit isn't strictly a rescue system – it's more a tool for forensic security analysis. 

It can, for example, examine a huge variety of different filesystems, from common NTFS to more obscure systems. The toolkit will scan for viruses and let you get online from a defunct PC. It can also sniff out rootkits. 

4. The Ultimate Boot CD

If nothing we've discussed so far has worked, go for the big guns. It's time for The Ultimate Boot CD, a collection of 100 applications that should help even the most knackered PC get back on its feet. 

The interface breaks apps down into categories, such as BIOS, CPU, Memory and so on. Follow the menu structure. Given the number of apps on offer, you should be able to find one that will salve your PC's ills. 

5. GParted

GParted is a classic among opensource applications. It's essentially a program that lets you move, resize, check, copy, create and delete hard disk partitions. 

It's not uncommon for these to be damaged during a serious crash, so having GParted to hand as a Live CD is essential. Despite the program's obvious power, it's extremely simple to use. You can download it from here. 

6. Free ISO burner 

To turn an ISO disc image into a functional Live CD, you need an ISO burner. Newer versions of Windows feature such tools as standard, but if you're after something more feature-rich, try Free ISO Burner from www.freeisoburner.com. It can burn to a wide range of media. 

7. Undelete a file

Pandora Recovery can resurrect deleted files. Use the portable version – installing it natively risks overwriting the data you're trying to rescue. Get it from www.pandorarecovery.com and build a bootable USB version of the program on another PC.

8. Ghost for Linux

Norton Ghost is a classic application – we've used it and loved it since version one. It's a partition-cloning tool and can be vital in a disaster. To experiment with the concept of partition cloning, try Ghost for Linux. It's an open-source project and you can download it from here.
 
9. A beeping PC

If your PC does little more than beep after its crash, it's sending you an encoded diagnosis of its ailments.
All you need to do – albeit from a different machine – is visit www.computerhope.com/beep.htm, where you'll find a complete guide to beep codes. 

10. What went wrong?

When you're back up and running, you need to work out what caused your PC to fall over. Here, the Windows Crash Dump is your friend. Microsoft does offer some help, but for the ultimate insight, visit Crash Dump Analysis.

TechRadar

Top 10 IT Security Trends for 2011

Software security firm Imperva will release details of its 10 key security trends for 2011 in November. Here is a preview.

1. Man in the browser (MITB) attacks are a new threat which consumers will face and the hacking industry is widely adopting, especially as many security products are not mature enough yet to deal with this problem.

2. File security. With Sharepoint being the fastest growing product in Microsoft history and data growing at a 60% annual rate, file security will become the top security issue. With PCI DSS being expanded to refer not only to databases and web apps but also to files, organisations will need to carefully consider how they protect their files.

3. Smartphones will be the new target in 2011. Hackers are using mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) as a new attack platform. With a number of applications on mobile devices (CRM, Salesforce, Access to work e-mails), these will become more susceptible to attack.

4. Hackers and security side-by-side in the cloud. As organisations' IT infrastructure moves to the cloud, so will their security controls. However these services will also become hot targets for hackers, with the popular ones being the most data-rich, the security on these services will need to be tightened immensely.

5. Insider threat. With more job losses set for 2011, there will be more disgruntled employees than ever. Employees are more likely to want to take information to help them with new jobs or as an act of revenge to pass on to competitors.

6. Social networks have started to blur the notions of privacy and security. 2011 will bring even more confusion when it comes to security and the trust people put in social networks.
7. Convergence of regulations over countries. Convergence of regulations amongst the OECD countries will lead to standardising laws on data security and privacy.

8. Security is becoming part of the business process. With the recent acquisitions of McAfee by Intel and Fortify by HP, suppliers are gaining an understanding of the need to apply security throughout the complete process of building a system. Today, cybersecurity can't be separated from business operations. Security teams need to become business process experts to keep the bad guys disarmed while keeping the good guys productive.

9. Hackers are feeling the heat. Proactive security seems to be the new approach for most security practitioners and due to this more hackers will get caught. However, due to the industrialisation of hacking, hackers will raise their professional bar by "buying" other smaller groups or merging, leaving the more sophisticated hackers in business.

10. Hacktivism meets industrialisation. Hacktivism as we know it has been very targeted. However, hacktivists are learning from the success of industrialised hackers and will soon follow in their footsteps. The attacks will transition from restricted targets to a wide range of targets.

Computer Weekly

What You Need to Know About New IE Zero-Day

Microsoft has issued a warning and guidance to guard against a new exploit that impacts Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8.

Internet Explorer is under attack again. Microsoft has issued a security advisory explaining a newly-discovered exploit impacting most versions of the Internet Explorer Web browser. The security advisory contains details about the threat, as well as some guidance to protect vulnerable browsers pending a patch from Microsoft to fix the hole.

 

Andrew Storms, Director of Security Operations for nCircle, commented on the new threat, "It's always a serious concern when an IE zero-day surfaces, especially when it affects all versions of the browser. It's a little late for Halloween, but two zero days in one week is almost enough to make IT security teams run away screaming."

Storms added, "There is some good news however; Microsoft says the attacks are limited at the moment and data execution prevention (DEP), a security safeguard in newer versions of Windows, may be able to prevent attack execution."

A spokesperson from Symantec e-mailed me with these details. "A new zero-day vulnerability affecting Internet Explorer 6 and 7 is being used in targeted attacks. In these attacks people receive emails with a link pointing to a page which determines if a visitor is using Internet Explorer 6 and 7. If so, the script transfers the visitor unknowingly to the page hosting the exploit where malware is downloaded and runs on their computer without any user interaction. The vulnerability allows for any remote program to be executed without the end user's notice."

According to a post on the Microsoft Security Response Center blog, the issue also affects Internet Explorer 8, but not the beta of Internet Explorer 9. Microsoft also stresses, though, that while IE8 might be technically vulnerable, its superior security controls make it unlikely that it could be exploited. "Impacted versions include Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8, although our ongoing investigation confirms that default installations of Internet Explorer 8 are unlikely to be exploited by this issue. This is due to the defense in depth protections offered from Data Execution Prevention (DEP), which is enabled by default in Internet Explorer 8 on all supported Windows platforms."

A Symantec blog post describes the threat, and the e-mails used to initiate the exploit. The discovery of this attack was related to targeted e-mails sent to a limited number of potential victims--indicating that perhaps the attackers were seeking to compromise specific targets rather than any random vulnerable system connected to the Internet.

The Symantec post explains, "Visitors who were served the exploit page didn't realize it, but went on to download and run a piece of malware on their computer without any interaction at all. The vulnerability allowed for any remote program to be executed without the end user's notice. Once infected, the malware set itself to start up with the computer, along with a service named 'NetWare Workstation'. The piece of malware opens a backdoor on the computer and then contacts remote servers. It tries to contact a specific server hosted in Poland for small files named with a .gif extension. These small files are actually encrypted files with commands telling the Trojan what to do next."

The Microsoft security advisory lists mitigating factors and workarounds to help users and IT admins guard against this threat. Microsoft recommends that users read e-mail messages in plain text, rather than HTML. Users of Internet Explorer 7 can turn on DEP--which is present, but not enabled by default--to offer additional protection.
Those unfortunate souls that still rely on Internet Explorer 6 are directed to set the Internet and Local Intranet security zones in the browser to High in order to block execution of Active X controls and scripts. In addition, a custom CSS style can be forced to override the Web CSS style sheets to prevent exploit, and organizations can also use the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit to take advantage of newer security controls on older, less secure software.

Arguably, the simplest solution, though, is to simply install the beta version of Internet Explorer 9. Then you can protect your PC against this attack, and experience the new features and benefits of IE9 at the same time.

PC World

25 Internet Security Tips

Only The Paranoid Survive is a tract on corporate fundamentals penned by Intel's ex-Chairman Andy Grove.
The words should, however, be tattooed on the back of every PC owner's mouse hand. 

The internet is full of thieves and vagabonds united by one common goal – to separate you from your hard-earned cash. Here's our guide to staying one step ahead of the bad guys. Follow our internet security tips to stay safe online and you can shop, surf and socialise online, and sleep soundly afterwards too. 

1. Guerrilla psychology

Don't be fooled into thinking cyber crime is a technical problem with a purely technical solution. A firewall and antivirus software can protect your computer, but they won't keep you and your identity safe. 

Social engineering is the black art of influencing people, and it's the hacker's best friend. In essence, hackers can control us thanks to a refined understanding of human characteristics such as trust, ignorance, greed, the need to be liked, the desire to help and plain old gullibility. Not even the most sophisticated software can hope to protect us from ourselves. 

In order to stay safe, educate yourself about social engineering. Take a trip to the Symantec website for a brilliant briefing on the subject. If you get keen, check out The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security by Kevin Mitnick. 

2. Avoid being a mule 

Working from home, earn £500 a week commission. It sounds to good to be true, and it is. Scammers pass stolen cash to unsuspecting people, who transfer it back to the thieves via electronic payment. Your job with the work taken out is money laundering. Beware. 

3. Set a serious password 

If you're struggling to create passwords that will stump a hacker, check out Microsoft's guide to adding complexity to access codes in such a way that you can still remember the logon. 

When you've made a password, you should rate its relative security. Microsoft offers an excellent password checking tool, which can be found here. 

4. Split your emails 

Rather than linking Facebook, Twitter, newsgroups, forums, shopping and banking sites to one email address, use multiple addresses. As a minimum, use one for social activities and one for financial business. 

Your social address will rightly draw more attention than your business one – that's the way you want it to be. If the former is hacked, it won't be as nightmarish as losing control of your financial address. 

5. Take care on public networks 

Never, under any circumstances, use a public network for financial transactions. Only send your personal and financial details over a network you've set up yourself, or one you know to be secure. Who knows what horrors are lurking on the hard disk of that internet cafe machine, or somewhere between it and its internet access point?
Hackers have also been known to set up laptops to broadcast networks with names such as 'Free Internet Access' in hotels. They'll let you pass internet traffic through them and harvest any juicy details as you type. 

6. Virtualise 

The truly paranoid should virtualise. The idea is simple: create a virtual PC, use it to surf the internet and, when you've done, destroy it, along with any viruses that may have infected it while you were online. 

Running a virtual version of Ubuntu from within Ubuntu is likely to be the easiest way of achieving this style of computing, and it's likely to be very safe too. 

7. Anatomy of an iffy shop 

By making online shops look slick, official and safe, online criminals hope to dupe us into disclosing credit card details. Fake shopping sites, like much online criminality, rely on social engineering. 

There are, however, some tell-tale signs that should help you spot an iffy shop. First, avoid sites that ask for cash, cheque or virtual cash payments only – only do business with sites that accept credit cards. 

Next, ensure that the shop has a physical address, ideally in the UK – shopping abroad throws up more potential problems. 

8. Be wary of Facebook 

There are two key areas of social networking security – the technical sphere and the human one. Technical security is about setting up your profile correctly – your favourite site will explain how, so follow its guides. Next is the human aspect of security and our old friend, social engineering. 

No quantity of settings and checkboxes can prevent a user from willingly complying with the bad guys, and this is what they depend on. There's one simple rule to follow here: don't do or say anything online that you wouldn't do or say in real life. 

9. A price on your identity 

If you're in doubt about the value of your credentials, visit www.everyclickmatters.com/victim/assessment.html. Complete the questionnaire and discover what you're worth to a scammer… 

10. Beware geeks bearing gifts 

Social engineering can be our worst enemy when it comes to making us run malware installers. 


On the day StarCraft II was released, security firms reported a huge number of warez downloads for the game that were really wrappers for viruses. On the day Michael Jackson died, sites sprang up claiming video exclusives of the singer's last moments. Again, these were links to malware. 

Employing the lure of a hot topic as a means of walking us towards malware is a common hacker tactic. When you're tempted to click a link, follow the old mantra: if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. 

11. Choose your flexible friend 

Never be tempted to use or enter details from your debit card – always use a credit card. Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act (1974) make credit card companies liable to pay if you're the innocent victim of fraud. 

Card companies may, however, avoid paying out if you're proved not to have taken 'reasonable' care with your card – doing something like writing down your PIN, for example. 

Credit cards themselves also offer different levels of fraud insurance, so shop around before choosing a card and make sure you read the terms and conditions closely. 

12. Pump and dump 

Don't be tempted to follow unsolicited dead-cert share tips. The senders will probably hold a lot of them. When you and other victims buy, the price will go up. They'll then sell, leaving you holding the baby. 

13. Just like that 

A common online action site scam is to sell goods that are 'like' top brand goods. Your new watch may be like a Rolex insofar as it ticks, but that could be your lot. 

14. Act on your doubts 

If you think an online shop or service is dodgy, do some checking. A WHOIS search may let you see the registration details of a site. Visit the website www.whois.net and check out your suspect site. 

Companies House also enables you to check out details about company addresses, owners and the like. Look for big discrepancies between onscreen addresses and physical offices. 

15. We've found a virus 

Bogus security experts call unsuspecting PC owners claiming they've found a virus on their hard drive. All you need do is pay a fee and they'll remotely remove the nasty. 

In reality, the scammers are just working through phone lists, planting the seeds of fear and then collecting bucketloads of cash.

16. Ditch IE6 

If you're still using Internet Explorer 6, shame on you. Not only are you likely to be getting less from the internet – Google and YouTube have now stopped supporting the ageing browser – but it's also riddled with security flaws. Do yourself a favour and download a newer browser. 

17. Check out Virus Total 

If you've received a file and are worried about its provenance, upload it to www.virustotal.com. The site will run the file through a number of virus-scanning engines to find any hidden malware. It'll also send you a handy report document. 

18. Listen to Bruce Schneier 

Renowned security expert, blogger and self-styled security guru Bruce Schneier has a thing or two to say about every aspect of the topic, ranging from the virus right up to national security policy. Visit his blog at www.schneier.com and add it to your bookmarks. 

19. Check firewall logs 

Firewalls keep logs of traffic they've rebuffed. Check these and look for patterns – maybe a particular IP address is pinging your network or a certain port on your setup is spewing out too much traffic. These sorts of things can suggest a viral infection. 

20. Stop redundant services 

The more software and services you're running, the greater the risk you could be compromised. Be ruthless – delete or deactivate applications and services you don't use. This will reduce the number of ways into your machine that are available to hackers. 

21. Be cautious 

If you must use file sharing, do so with the utmost paranoia about security. When you've downloaded a file, isolate it and, if possible, execute it from a virtual environment to ensure it's safe before letting it into your true computing environment. 

22. Update software 

Windows 7 and most major apps are happy to update themselves automatically, but you should still run their update systems manually to ensure they're working. Smaller apps may need updating manually, so check their makers' sites for updates. 

23. Enter your own URLs 

Never follow links to URLs emailed to you and don't Google your bank's address. Google can be tricked into moving spoof sites up its rankings table by criminals looking to entice people to sites designed to harvest logon details. Enter important URLs yourself. 

24. Check site safety 

Download McAfee's excellent SiteAdvisor from www.siteadvisor.com. The browser plug-in has a traffic light system that shows dangerous sites in search results. Following its green, yellow and red site rating icons will help you to avoid compromised web locations. 

25. Test your system

Test your antivirus system using the Eicar string. It's a text file that all antivirus engines should pick up, no matter how it's wrapped or compressed. Get it from www.eicar.org. It's completely safe and won't land you in legal hot water.

TechRadar / PC Plus

Tips for Keeping Internet Snoops at Bay

If you have ever worried about specifically aimed ads that seem aware of your private moments on the Web, such as looking at sites for kitten-heel pumps, eczema medications or how to get out of debt, here is something else to fret about.

 

Keeping your computer free of tracking programs is not easy because of the ad industry's aggressive and sophisticated efforts, says Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy.

 

"It's like trying to get the room of your teenager clean," he said. "You have to do it all again the next day."

 

A number of tools can minimize tracking, but using them requires considerable effort and tech know-how.

 

Online publishers, retailers and other websites you visit often let advertising companies place cookies, a small bit of software, on your computer to track your online activity.

 

You can remove standard cookies using the features of any major browser, but consider deleting these ad-related cookies manually to avoid trashing those set by your favorite websites, intended to save passwords and personal preferences.

 

However, advertisers are increasingly using powerful software known as supercookies, such as so-called Flash and document object management (or DOM) cookies, which can hold more information, and Web bugs or beacons, which let sites record statistics like what ads attracted you to the site and whether you bought something.

 

They are not removed when you clear out your cookies.

 

To remove Flash cookies, visit Adobe's online Flash Player settings page at bit.ly/cw2roU, click on "Website Storage Settings" panel and remove all or some of the files.

 

Block or restrict future third-party Flash cookies by going to the "Global Storage Settings" panel.

 

 

To remove tracking programs and keep them out, it is better to enlist the help of specialized software, said Pam Dixon, executive director of World Privacy Forum.

 

She and other privacy advocates recommend a free plug-in known as Taco, available for both Firefox and Internet Explorer, from the privacy-software startup Abine.

 

Taco helps Web users manage and delete standard cookies, Flash and DOM supercookies and Web bugs. It also lets you see who is trying to follow your online movements and helps you decline targeted ads from more than 100 ad networks.

 

Other free browser plug-ins include:

 

• Better Privacy for Firefox, which removes supercookies every time you close your browser.

 

• Ghostery for Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer, which controls Web bugs.

 

• CCleaner, for all major browsers, which removes cookies and surfing history.

 

• NoScript for Firefox and the similarly named NoScripts for Chrome can block supercookies, Web bugs and ads (and some security threats).

 

One way to stop ad networks from gathering data is to use a new feature introduced in the Internet Explorer 8 browser called InPrivate Filtering, which stops data from traveling between you and third parties who ask for it frequently.

 

Note: InPrivate Filtering has to be turned on each time you fire up your browser; select InPrivate Filtering from the Safety menu.

 

Firefox's Private Browsing mode and Chrome's Incognito will both block cookies and stop the browser from remembering the sites you visit.

 

And be careful what information you give out about yourself, whether on-site registration forms, online surveys or on social networks.

 

Interests you volunteer will undoubtedly be used to tailor ads you see around the Web.

 

Web searches can also be used to inform advertisers about your likely interests.

 

Google says it does not use search history in directing specific ads, but both Microsoft and Yahoo do.

 

Slow down the marketers by spreading your searches among several engines, Dixon says.

 

Also consider using different companies for search and Web-based e-mail.

 

For instance, use Google for search if you use Yahoo Mail.

 

Or sign out of e-mail and clear your cookies and history before you search, so your search data and e-mail data are not connected.

 

Alternately, use a search engine that does not track users' activity.

 

Scroogle.org lets you search with Google without being tracked or seeing ads.

 

Startpage runs simultaneous searches on multiple engines anonymously.

 

Your online activity is also tracked based on the string of characters associated with your computer, known as an IP address.

 

If your IP address never changes, advertisers can amass a large history.

 

If you do not get a dynamic, or regularly changing, IP address from your Internet service provider, reset it periodically by unplugging and then plugging in your modem.

 

Or mask your IP address using Tor, a nonprofit service that makes online activity anonymous, or a virtual-private-network service, such as OpenVPN, which adds privacy and security by encrypting your Internet traffic, suggests Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy at Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

 

The New York Times

Burning Question: How Can Security Risks be Mitigated in Virtualised Systems

"Virtualization is not inherently insecure. However, most virtualized workloads are being deployed insecurely."
That's what Gartner analyst Neil MacDonald wrote earlier this year in a report titled "Addressing the Most Common Security Risks in Data Center Virtualization Projects."

Planning for virtualization projects should always include the information security team, but according to Gartner survey data about 40% of virtualization projects were undertaken without the security team's involvement in initial architecture and planning stages.

Because the hypervisor has oversight over all the workloads running on a physical server, a threat "could result in the compromise of all hosted workloads" MacDonald notes. Under legacy architectures, a threat to one server would only put one workload at risk, but that is not true in a virtualized data center.

The hypervisor itself also adds to the attack surface. VMware, for example, is revamping its own virtualization architecture to get rid of a Linux-based service console in order to reduce the attack surface from about 2GB to 100MB.

While this is an improvement, customers still have plenty to think about on the security front. Gartner recommends treating the virtualization platform "as the most important IT platform in your data center from a security and management perspective."

IT shops need to establish policies regarding the consolidation of workloads of different trust levels, and when evaluating new security and management tools "favor those that span physical and virtual environments with the same management, policy and reporting framework," Gartner says.

IT must be concerned about vulnerabilities in any code installed in the hypervisor layer, including drivers, plug-ins and third-party tools, and keep everything up to date and patched, the report continues.

Even if the virtualization layer is just as secure as previous physical architectures, the tendency to provision more VMs means your footprint is larger and "whenever your footprint grows your security risk expands," Turner notes.
Turner is looking at a few systems management tools, such as Cfengine, Puppet Labs and Chef, to automate the processes of verifying patching, removing old user accounts, and ensuring that configuration files haven't been tampered with.

Even relatively simple tasks like running antivirus software can be more complicated after servers have been virtualized.

Harper notes that his staff had to manually change the times of all the weekly scans on Windows Server instances, because otherwise they would all occur at once and cause a too-high I/O load.

Harper says customers need a combination of new products and procedures to prevent virtualization troubles, because managing VMs as if they were identical to bare-metal machines simply doesn't work.

However, Harper and Jim Brewster, a senior IT pro at Sabre, are optimistic about security in the virtual world. Physical separation of security zones is giving way to software-based security zones, and virtualization management tools could make it difficult for rogue IT admins to alter systems without their actions being logged, Brewster says.

Microsoft and VMware have argued over how many processes should remain in the operating system and how many should be pushed to the hypervisor layer. But Brewster, for one, looks forward to security functionality moving to the hypervisor.

"I think you have more visibility and more control over what's happening, and what's talking to what in the VM space," Brewster says.

Network World

CIOs, CTOs Should be the Voices of IT Professionals in the Boardrooms

Chief information officers, chief technology officers and general IT management have the responsibility to convince business about the fact that IT is no longer just about providing communication infrastructure and tools to support business.

IT has evolved dramatically in the past decade. Technologies such as services-oriented architecture and business process management tools help businesses to automate their manual processes and transform IT services from just mere support tools to business services in their own rights.

Many business executives still see IT as a supporting function, and for this perception we have to blame the IT management. It seems to me that most of our IT managers have low self-esteem and self-confidence, resulting in failure to justify the value that IT is adding to their organisations.

Perhaps the reason why IT professionals remain the underdogs compared to business professionals is due to the fact that IT professionals are the ones that approach business on how they can improve things within their organisations in many occasions.

However, in the process of providing these IT services usually seen as operational services aimed at reducing operations cost, those regarded as business professionals turn to ignore the fact that some of these services go beyond just being operational services and become standalone business services generating income directly to business; yet we only see those regarded as business professionals getting huge bonuses compared to IT professionals.

Many companies do not regard IT professionals as business professionals, but rather as operational professionals, claiming that they do not deal with customers directly. Today customers are accessing IT services directly to some extent without any human intervention. For example, services such as cellphone banking and Internet banking allow customers to make transactions wherever they are without having to visit banks. Another example would be the Online Share Trading service offered by some of the investment banks. Again this is a pure standalone IT service serving customers directly.

Furthermore, when banks advertise these services they don't regard them as IT services but rather as business services. There are so many other services that are currently being offered through IT, such as online reservations for accommodation/tickets for entertainment/flights, paying of fines and many more. I have no doubt that soon we will be paying almost all our bills online.

Besides the online services, one can argue that even applications such as enterprise resource planning cannot be seen as mere supporting tools, but rather part of business. For example, today accountants can pull out reports like the balance sheets or income statements from accounting systems such as Oracle Financials or SAP Financials. Another example would be investment banking systems, such as Calypso or Murex, that keep records of all the trades captured, with cash flows and settlement dates. In addition, most IT enterprise applications have the intelligence to provide users with various notifications that guide and help business to make informed decisions, for example, when there is a payment due, running out of stock, demand and supply and when something is missing.

It is clear that some IT services are serving customers directly and credit should be given to IT professionals who are responsible for these services on a daily basis. From my observation, I have learnt that many IT professionals don't show interest in the business itself to a point wherein they don't know their self-worth. IT professionals need to see themselves as part of business, and in order for them to earn the respect, they also need to make sure that their hard work gets to be recognised by business when they go to the boardroom. I think it is time for IT professionals to earn the respect and recognition for their enormous contribution towards company profits.

Of course this can only start from the top. Our chief information officers, chief technology officers and general IT management need to walk into the boardrooms with pride and negotiate better salaries and bonuses for their staff. Some of the reasons for business to slash bonuses of IT professionals compared to business professionals is based on the fact that IT professionals do not deal with customers directly, which is not true in some instances. 

Some business executives justify their acts, pointing to the hefty licence fees they pay out to various IT vendors. I must say that not all companies have the patronising tendency towards IT professionals and those who are embracing technology, and who see IT as part of their business but rather not as a cost centre, are reaping the rewards and will remain competitive.

Nonetheless, business professionals still remain critical to any business and must also be respected. IT professionals need to be obsessed about business processes the same way they are obsessed about the technology to overcome these barriers. The future lies in our own hands.

IT Web

Gartner Urges Agile Business

As business leaders look for IT to drive business results, the time is now for CIOs and IT leaders to recognise new realities, apply new rules and drive their organisation forward to embrace these.

This is according to Gartner analysts speaking at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2010. Analysts told an audience of more than 7 000 IT leaders that businesses have different expectations for their CIO.

“This new type of CIO won't ask first what the implementation cost is, or whether something complies with the architecture, but whether it's good for the organisation,” said Hung LeHong, research vice-president at Gartner.

“They will train their teams to think like a business executive, asking first 'is this valuable?', and only then asking 'how can we make this work?' There will be people experimenting with new ideas, working with product development, marketing, public relations and the C-suite to come up with ways of delivering more value directly to the external customer.”

Gartner says the IT industry is at the start of a new era. For IT, the time to act is now, and how IT leaders' act will be shaped by realities of the new era; the power of choice, the Wide Open World and outcomes rather than outputs must be focused on.

New realities

“Business leaders now have the power of choice, and they will use it,” said Mark McDonald, group vice-president for executive programs at Gartner. “Choice is not just about cutting cost. Choice is about time to market. Choice is about capability, capacity, quality of service, and agility.”

In the Wild Open World, people leave a trail of what they've done online, leaving a rich body of information about their interests, intentions and activities. The data, much of it unstructured, contains nuggets of wisdom buried in various formats such as videos, podcasts, and blogs, the analysts said at the symposium.

In terms of outputs and outcomes, analysts pointed out that outputs are proxies for cost and risk. Gartner analysts say cost is important, but it is only one direction of a CIO's compass. In contrast, by focusing on outcomes, CIOs will also address value and innovation.

The symposium also brought social networking to the discussion. “Social network analysis – whether done manually by individual case workers, or on a more formalised basis using advanced analysis tools or services, can make a big difference,” said Andrea Di Maio, vice-president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

Smart governance

Also noted were three new rules that will be constants into the new era. CIOs are urged to apply these rules to lead their business (not just the IT organisation) forward. These new rules include smart control, intelligent business and IT dynamism.

“CIOs and IT leaders must transform themselves from controllers to influencers; from implementers to advisers; from employees to partners,” said Eric Knipp, principal research analyst at Gartner. “You own this metamorphosis – as an IT leader, you must implement smart control. Open the IT environment to a Wild Open World of unprecedented choice, and better balance cost, risk, innovation, and value.”

Users can achieve incredible things without the IT department, but they can only maximise their IT capabilities with the IT department. Smart control is about managing technology in tighter alignment with business goals by loosening the grip on IT, according to Gartner.

The symposium pointed out that to support an intelligent business, people in the organisation will need to have access to the full spectrum of information that supports questions such as: What happened? Why did it happen? What is happening? And what is likely to happen?

“If IT leaders do not help, they will be locked out because employees will find the information from whatever source they can: transactions, video, mobile activity, tweets, search activity, blogs, text messaging, and social sites,” said analysts.

Regarding intelligent business, Gartner focused on information sharing. “In an intelligent business, people contribute and share, and there is zero tolerance for people who hoard information,” said Yvonne Genovese, vice-president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

“To play by this new rule, you need employees to find and share intelligence by combining information and collaboration. To support this culture change, it will require you to create a collaboration platform that includes technologies such as presence, instant messaging, Web conferencing, social network analysis, and collaborative decision making to enable people to discover the right colleagues and experts to share insights and drive desired outcomes.”

Concluding the event, Nick Jones, vice-president and analyst said: “New CIOs and their teams will be entrepreneurial.”

“This team will make decisions to increase innovation and value, taking risks and placing bets. They will be comfortable with ambiguity and risk, having incomplete requirements and still making the decision to act because they would rely on their knowledge and judgment.”

IT Web

Windows 7 Wanted at Work: Consumer IT Strikes Again

If you are happy with Windows 7 on your personal laptop, but grumble every time Windows XP boots up on your work computer, it may be time to tap your company's IT pro on the shoulder and ask for Windows 7. You might be surprised at the response you get.

As Windows 7 migrations begin at many enterprises, satisfied Windows 7 consumers are pushing the "consumerization of IT" envelope by asking enterprise IT to adapt. This trend has been prevalent with smartphone users and now Windows 7 users are doing the same. Research firm Forrester highlights this trend in a recent Windows 7 adoption report - and recommends that IT give users what they want, for several reasons.

Some enterprises are already getting the message. Part of the Forrester report, entitled "Updated 2010: Windows 7 Commercial Adoption Outlook", is a survey of 687 PC decision-makers at North American and European enterprises and SMBs. Forty-seven percent of survey respondents said they will allow users to be early adopters of Windows 7, even outside of specific upgrade campaigns.

There is more than just self-interest at stake for users. Yes, you will have a more modern OS and probably be more productive, but at notoriously slow-moving enterprises, user demand for Windows 7 could "go a long way toward speeding up your companywide deployments and will minimize the time needed to support dual operating systems," writes report authors and Forrester analysts Benjamin Gray and Christian Kane.

On top of the 47 percent who said they would upgrade users to Windows 7 upon request, 10 percent said they "don't know" if they would. So you have roughly a coin-flip chance of getting a Windows 7 upgrade if you ask - probably a better chance if you nag.

Naturally, Microsoft encourages users to demand Windows 7 at work. When giving Windows 7 guidance to customers, Microsoft lists the "blurring lines between work and home computing" as a top industry trend, just as important to Windows 7 migrations as the cloud computing movement and desktop virtualization tools.

Windows 7 consumer satisfaction, according to Microsoft, is a top reason why the OS has had a strong push in the enterprise. IT departments, in return, are giving less lip service and acting on user needs, says Gavriella Schuster, general manager of Windows Product Management Group.

"Workers are pushing IT to adopt," Schuster says. "When IT says, 'Hey, we're going to start piloting Windows 7,' you have that line out the door of users who want in."

The Forrester report says the reasons for migrating to Windows 7 are evolving beyond just the diminishing support for Windows XP and the need for new computers - although those are certainly important factors.

But IT departments are seeing more value in networking and security features built into Windows 7 such as DirectAccess, BranchCache and BitLocker to Go. Also, desktop and application virtualization tools (from Microsoft or other vendors like VMware) have matured to the point where they can round up incompatible applications and migrate them using virtualization technologies, thus simplifying and speeding up migrations.

The report acknowledges that Windows XP is still the dominant enterprise OS (75 percent of all companies surveyed are running it), but also finds that Windows 7 migrations are on the verge of busting out. Forty-six percent of firms report that they have already begun or will begin deploying Windows 7 within the next 12 months. Forty-two percent say they will deploy Windows 7 in more than 12 months.

Eager workers are in a position stoke this Windows 7 momentum, according to Forrester, and the firm cautions IT departments not to underestimate the influence of users.

"Firms should embrace empowered workers who request early access to Windows 7," the Forrester report states. "We encourage IT to prepare for - and embrace - the pull effect that Windows 7 is having on users."

CIO.com

Chinese Supercomputer Named Worlds Fastest

China overtook the United States at the head of the world of supercomputing on Sunday when a survey ranked one of its machines the fastest on the planet.

Tianhe-1, meaning Milky Way, achieved a computing speed of 2,570 trillion calculations per second, earning it the number one spot in the Top 500 (www.top500.org) survey of supercomputers.

The Jaguar computer at a US government facility in Tennessee, which had held the top spot, was ranked second with a speed of 1,750 trillion calculations per second.

Tianhe-1 does its warp-speed "thinking" at the National Centre for Supercomputing in the northern port city of Tianjin -- using mostly chips designed by US companies.

Another Chinese system, the Nebulae machine at the National Supercomputing Centre in the southern city of Shenzhen, came in third.

The United States still dominates, with more than half of the entries in the Top 500 list, but China now boasts 42 systems in the rankings, putting it ahead of Japan, France, Germany and Britain.

It is not the first time that the United States has had its digital crown stolen by an Asian upstart. In 2002, Japan made a machine with more power than the top 20 American computers put together.

The supercomputers on the Top 500 list, which is produced twice a year, are rated based on speed of performance in a benchmark test by experts from Germany and the United States.

Allied Free Press

IT Governance Website Launched

ISACA, the international association representing IT governance professionals and the leading authority in IT governance, has recently released results focused on understanding the governance of information technology.

The new 'Taking Governance Forward' Web site has been launched to help put all of the pieces of a governance system - objectives, enablers, views, roles, activities and relationships - together.ISACA believes delivering the results as an interactive Web site will foster more deliberation and discussion and provide a dynamic way for everyone to contribute to the current debate on what governance is and how it works.Winston Hayden, vice-president of ISACA South Africa, explains: "There are just so many misconceptions and misinterpretations of IT governance.

 

This is creating a lot of confusion, and in some instances, conflict, between governance stakeholders and the various participants. Unfortunately, this confusion is also being fuelled by ill-informed and unqualified advisories, consultants and service providers.

 

”The new Web site is the outcome of an initiative led by the IT Governance Institute (ITGI) to provide a high-level overview of governance: its definition, components, participants and views. It is designed to be brief, simple, straightforward and practical, with minimum theory. It is intended to depict “governance on a page” - holistically and completely.

 

The objective of the Taking Governance Forward initiative is to reach an agreement on a universally acceptable definition of governance; to clarify the debate on governance by providing a comprehensive, yet simple-to-use overview of the components and relationships of governance; and to provide the reader and user with practical tools to understand the governance views model and learn high-level ways to initiate its implementation.

 

The Web site's material will appeal to different audiences depending on their position and priorities. Those in senior executive ranks or on boards will find the strategic nature of the definition of governance and the one-page modelling of governance of interest.

 

Those who are charged with building governance frameworks or performing practical implementation of governance in the enterprise will find the mappings and implementation guidance useful.Hayden adds: “Governance is something that all IT practitioners and professionals should start to understand, it's not only for management and GRC practitioners, but also for those involved with business management, information security, service management, operations and assurance.

 

”The Web site's material has been through several rounds of review by groups of individuals representing differing job titles, years of experience, type of expertise and levels of engagement with governance issues. Now it is time for others to provide input. Visit the new Taking Governance Forward Web site to engage in the progress of the governance of IT.

 

IT Web

Enterprises May Resist Upgrading to Windows 8, Analyst Says

Enterprises in the midst of migrating to Windows 7 are unlikely to repeat that same work in just two years with Windows 8, an analyst said last month. 

"[Businesses] would certainly like to upgrade only to every other edition," said Gartner Inc. analyst Michael Silver. "If Windows 8 comes out in two years, many [enterprises] will be very suspect about migrating to the next release."

Silver said companies tire of migrating to new versions of operating systems, largely because businesses have critical applications that may or may not run on a new edition. 

"It will depend on whether Windows 8 includes major architectural changes, or if it's more of a polishing release," Silver said. "If it's the latter, it will be kind of hard to skip. But if it's a major release, Microsoft will have a hard time selling [Windows 8] to the enterprise. They saw that when [companies] skipped Vista and stayed with XP." 

Silver offered those comments after the Dutch arm of Microsoft Corp. suggested that the follow-on to Windows 7 -- dubbed "Windows 8" by most, if not by Microsoft -- will ship in 2012. 

Michael Cherry, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, said Microsoft faces a challenge with Windows 8 because "Windows 7 is a good operating system. It is reliable and works well."

ComputerWorld

Green IT's Next Step

It's been several years since 'green IT' became a tech buzzword, and now the concept could advance to the next level with a combination of technology improvements and changes in corporate behavior.

The notion of a more energy-efficient IT operation isn't new, of course. But so far, many green IT initiatives have focused on low-hanging fruit, and some experts say companies have more work to do. According to the Climate Savers Computer Initiative, energy costs typically represent about 10% of an IT budget. "More companies are realizing when they get visibility into the electricity bill that they have to do more," says Patrick Tiernan, executive director of the nonprofit.

One of the green innovations on the horizon is technology that cuts down on the amount electricity wasted by IT equipment, says Paul Winstanley, director of energy initiatives at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J. A staff member in the office of the provost, Winstanley seeks ways to increase energy efficiency in campus facilities through improvements to infrastructure, including IT equipment.

"IT is very, very inefficient in how it utilizes energy," he says. Computers, servers and other equipment are powered nearly constantly, even when not needed, generating huge amounts of wasted electricity.

Moreover, much of the electricity that devices such as PCs take from the wall is wasted, converted to heat, Tiernan says. "We want to focus on the energy efficiency of the box," he adds.

Power-management software that puts unused PCs into low-power sleep mode can save $50 to $80 in energy costs annually per computer, and buying Energy Star-rated computers can ensure you're getting an efficient machine. Energy Star 5.0 computers have an efficiency of at least 85%, compared to 80% with Energy Star 4.0, Tiernan says. Some PCs are more than 90% efficient.

But vendors are making equipment that is even more efficient, and smarter, too.

Up next, Winstanley says, are computers that can boot up very rapidly after being turned on. That capability could save energy because a computer that's off, most experts agree, is more efficient than one that's in sleep mode, and users wouldn't be as reluctant to turn their machines off if they didn't have to wait so long for them to come back on. However, there's no consensus on how much power would really be saved if more people turned their computers off more often.

Another promising new technology is what's known as cognition detection. Still a year or more away, cognition detection systems will recognize and react to demand, cutting energy consumption by automatically powering up to meet demand and scaling back once the demand has abated, Winstanley explains. "The whole area of cognition detection is going to be one of the big areas within IT, whereby there will be some substantial power savings gained," he says.

Consider, for instance, the way Wi-Fi sends out omnidirectional signals, even if there's no demand required from every direction. "I'm radiating power needlessly, and I can never recoup that power," Winstanley says. In the future, technology will be able to direct Wi-Fi signals only where and when there's a demand.

Inside the data center

Equipment in the data center is also ripe for improvements. Increasing the efficiency of servers is one way to do that, says Mark Monroe, the former director of sustainable computing at Sun Microsystems Inc. and a founding director of The Green Grid and now a sustainable-computing and energy consultant in the Denver area.

Already manufacturers are making systems that accept power at higher voltage, which cuts down on energy consumption, says Rich Lechner, vice president of energy and environment at IBM. Power enters a data center at a high voltage, typically 480 volts, and needs to be stepped down, usually to 208 volts or lower, before it goes into the computing devices. During that process, energy is lost and heat is generated. That, in turn, drives up cooling needs and thereby increases demand for power.

"There will [still] have to be some step-down, but we're working on systems that will allow you to accept up to 480 volts of power, so there's less step-down required," he explains.

Emerson Network Power in Columbus, Ohio, makes power distribution units designed for new high-density power servers that can handle 480 volts of power. Using industry averages and internal research and modeling, Emerson found that by eliminating step-downs, a data center with 1,000 servers could save $40,000 annually through reduced energy costs.

Emerson officials point out that the company itself is saving energy this way. It built a new corporate data center last year and expects to reduce its energy bill by 1% by using 240-volt power distribution instead of the traditional 208-volt.

Solar power and other innovations

Even more green-IT innovation is coming. Tiernan says solar-powered computers, already used in limited circumstances by some, could become more mainstream, and computers that scavenge the environment for ambient energy could possibly hit the market some day. Also on the horizon, according to Lechner, Tiernan and others, are devices with computer chips that use light rather than wired electric connections to transmit data, a change that could dramatically cut the amount of energy used in IT.

As promising as all of that might sound, these technologies aren't exactly right around the corner, cautions Paul Prince, chief technology officer in the Enterprise Product Group at Dell Inc. in Round Rock, Texas.

"We've seen some of that out there, but the reality is you're not going to be able grab ambient power anytime soon. It will take you weeks to charge your notebook. That sounds good, it's just not anywhere close to having a measurable impact," he says. "But at some point we're going to stop running on electrons and switch to light."

However, IT leaders don't need to rely on innovations in the machines themselves to take the next steps toward slashing energy consumption. Changes in IT strategies could deliver on that goal, too. Cloud computing could help cut energy costs by locating power-hungry gear outside the data center. IBM's Lechner notes that as much as 25% of a company's energy supply goes to networking devices like switchers and routers.

Data life-cycle management can help

But new corporate strategies and mechanical improvements to the devices themselves will do only so much to keep demand in check. Even with all of those kinds of innovations, Monroe says energy consumption (and the corresponding costs) will continue to go up.

"You'll never see power demand decrease, because there's always an increase in computing demands," he says.

Some IT leaders are considering ways to make a difference, though. In addition to designing applications so that they consume less memory and other resources, some IT executives are starting initiatives focusing on data compression and more intelligent data life-cycle management.

Consider, for example, that a midsize business might have 20 to 30 copies of the same Word or PowerPoint document. "If you can eliminate redundant copies, then you can impact the amount of storage you need -- and the energy required for that storage -- without impacting business," IBM's Lechner says.

Most companies aren't at that point yet, he says. Most are still in the early stages, tackling the easiest targets that require smaller investments of time and money. But for those who are ready to move on, there's a growing list of initiatives that are ripening into the next generation of green IT.

Computerworld