climate and comms

I found this article at www.smallbusinesscomputing.com and I am repeating it here verbatim because I believe that it captures the essence of the challenges that lie ahead and the need for education and the provision of simple but effective authentication solutions.  What SMBs Don't Know About Security Can Hurt You April 23, 2010 Small and midsized businesses might be the lifeblood of the U.S. economy, but according to the latest Internet security survey from Panda Security, their generally lackadaisical efforts to protect consumer data is also making them a prime target for cyber thieves. More disturbing, particularly for customers swiping their credit cards or purchasing products and services online, the survey reveals that the vast majority of SMBs claim they don't know how to effectively prevent identity theft, lack the resources to install the technology that could thwart the majority of cyber attacks and, worse, seem to believe that it's really not their probl...

With over two billon Internet users and five billon mobile phone users these global networks bring people ever closer together. These technologies which include broadband (terrestrial) and 3G (wireless) allow for more and more data to be carried. We have entered the next Tech Cycle which is called the Mobile Internet. It was preceded by four tech cycles starting in the 1960’s with the Mainframe cycle. Approximately every decade thereafter we have had a new cycle; Mini-computers - 70’s; PC’s - 80’s and desktop Internet - 90’s. The Mobile Internet cycle triggered by the launch of the iPhone will see mobile internet access overtake fixed access by 2014. This will be driven by smart phone take up and 3G/4G rollout. We are already at the critical point of over 1bn 3G users. Other drivers are video ( YouTube); Social networking (Facebook) and VOIP. Much of this take up is occurring in emerging markets; there are 5 babies born every second - but there are 30 new mobile ph...

If you found my previous post somewhat disconcerting then have a look at this link which is the UK Information Commissioners Guide to the new legislation. " The code explains how the Data Protection Act applies to the collection and use of personal data online. It also provides good practice advice for organisations that do business online and are therefore subject to the DPA. " http://www.ico.gov.uk/ebook/ebook.htm and if you want more in depth information about the legislation itself then have a look at this video from Stewart Room. It makes it somewhat more accessible.

So how do you value your privacy in the Facebook age ? Does it matter to you that the calls you make, the emails you send, your credit card transactions, the Internet sites you visit, the images of you travelling to work, your social networking posts are now stored at data centres in the Cloud and retrievable by myriad marketers, Government agencies and companies ? None of whom you ever entrusted with your information in the first place. Your digital footprint is a permanent record of your every move. Data is the pollution of the Information age. Everything we do generates data, and a secondary spin-off of Moores law is that every year it gets cheaper to store and process this data. So rather than sort through our e-mails and delete the ones we don’t need – we just keep them all – it is easier and cheaper to do so. The same thing happens with all of our data now. Most of ‘your’ data actually belongs to someone else. All of your G-mails, everything you ...

I suppose what I am really excited about - ( notwithstanding the doom-mongers of Global Warming, un-payable National debt, Euro-zone contagion, GM food and England’s prospects in the World Cup amongst other paranoia permeating and eating away at the soul of our society !! ) - is the fact that we have entered the next Tech Cycle. Amidst the threat of a double dip recession, oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico and Greek unrest who cares about the next Tech Cycle – the next Dot Bomb ? You may well ask ! The fact is that there have been four Tech cycles in the last 50 years and each one has been bigger and better than the preceding one. Let's remind ourselves of what they were : 1. The mainframe computing cycle started in the 60’s with the main players being IBM, NCR, Sperry ; then followed 2. The mini-computing cycle in the 70’s with the major companies being Digital Equipment, HP and Wang and then; 3. The PC era of the 80’s/90’s where we saw the rise ...

It is now time to think BIG. About the MACRO picture. How the massive growth in INFRASTRUCTURE continues unabated and how it will impact on you and me. Our lives are slowly adapting/evolving because of the availability of more and more BANDWIDTH, faster PROCESSING speeds and the increasing ubiquity of WIRELESS networks – both GSM and WIFI. How are we changing the way we behave? You just need to look at two markers – 1.) MOBILE phone growth especially in emerging markets ( there will be almost 5bn mobile phone users by the end of 2010) and 2.) growth in SOCIAL media especially the likes of FACEBOOK (400m users and growing ) which takes up an inordinate amount of our spare and working time. People are increasingly connected in an ALWAYS ON ALWAYS CONNECTED WORLD. The curse of the CRACKBERRY has now been extended to all SMART phone users. We have become slaves to technology. Almost every human interaction whether work or play is increasingly reliant upon ...

I am back and this is a hot off the press news piece that I believe is so important I have to share 'verbatim' - I got this off the PC Advisor website today. This whole issue of authentication and related security is put into context in light of this alarm bell from Michael Dell. He is singing my mantra.   It is self-explanatory and should highlight how seriously we should be taking cybercrime and coming up with solutions that are effective and scalable. ' Cybersecurity needs a global rethink, and fast, Dell's CEO Michael Dell and Services CIO, Jim Stikeleather, have warned experts at the EastWest Institute Worldwide Cybersecurity Summit in the US. In separate presentations and briefings, the men developed the theme of piecemeal reactions to the rapid rise of cyber-criminality, which included economic crime and direct threats to critical infrastructure. The message was unusually blunt. Governments haven't done enough and have fallen into the trap of se...