Socially unacceptable security joke

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

What do you get if you cross 4,650 IT professionals with social media in the workplace? A lack of Infosec policy that leaves the enterprise at risk. Boom boom! OK, so it’s not the funniest punchline I’ve ever heard, but the level of social media risk that the average enterprise is leaving itself exposed to is, frankly, something of a joke.

The 4,650 IT professionals mentioned above were questioned as part of the Websense/Ponemon Global Survey on Social Media Risks which covered people with an average of 10 years hands-on IT experience, with the majority being of supervisor level or above and some 42 percent representing organisations that employ more than 5,000 people. Yet of this number, 68 percent are still saying that social media is posing a threat in the workplace courtesy of how the staff use it, with 76 percent of them admitting their enterprises don’t have the necessary controls in place to mitigate that risk. Here’s another ‘yet’ to add to the growing list: 56 percent of those asked reckoned that malware infections are increasing as a direct result of that uncontrolled social media use.

Well stuff me sideways on a child’s tricycle, when are people going to actually get the message? Scrap that, stupid question, obviously. 45 percent of those asked said their companies don’t even have a policy regarding acceptable use in the social media sphere. Worse still, of those that do have such a policy, it remains un-enforced in 79 percent of organisations. Double duh with knobs on.

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It’s not just technotards who dislike mobile commerce

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

I recently exclaimed “Leave my laptop alone. I MEAN IT!” here at IT Pro, and was surprised at the venom of smartphone and tablet users who not only disagreed with me that the laptop was far from dead, but suggested I should join it. Proving that I am either thick-skinned or just thick, I thought I’d repeat the claim that laptops are just, well, better at so many things. This time the thing in question being shopping, and this time I am far from alone in making the claim.

A new survey on mobile commerce habits, published by a strategic information management company called Stibo Systems, suggests that most consumers remain unsatisfied with m-commerce with only 27 percent apparently bucking that trend and a meagre 8.6 percent rating the experience as excellent. Falling into the 73 percent majority myself, a very active user of mobile devices but not a very satisfied mobile shopper, I have been taking a closer look at the findings revealed within the ridiculously long-winded titled Stibo Systems’ ‘UK Online Shopping Trends 2001: Product Information: the key to successful multi-channel retail strategy’ whitepaper.

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NHS or ICO: which is crappiest?

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

The news that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has determined that yet another NHS trust is in breach of the Data Protection Act comes as no real surprise to anyone who has been following the myriad security breaches suffered by the NHS during recent years. But what does surprise me is the apparent lack of concern that the ICO has failed, yet again, to really do anything about it.

The University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust is quite a big name, yet ironically the data that it lost was contained on a very small thing: an unencrypted USB stick. Oh sweet Jesus H Christ, you heard that right, the NHS is still allowing staff to use unencrypted USB sticks to shift data around on. I’m sure that there will be some who disagree with me and point out that the NHS trust in question was following the NHS Connecting for Health guidelines on data security and forbidding any such thing. Unfortunately folks, my definition of ‘allowing’ stands: if you have a policy which says one thing but comes with no real world method to enforce that thing, then when someone breaches your policy you have for all intent and purposes allowed it to happen. See what I mean? And so it was, that this particular NHS trust allowed a medical student working in the burns and plastics department to put data relating to the treatment of more than 80 patients around on his own USB stick for ‘research purposes’ which was, as I’ve said, not encrypted at all. Said student then lost the USB stick, and all the patient data upon it.

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Leave my laptop alone. I MEAN IT!!!

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

I did a bit of quick and dirty research with absolutely no statistical value and it revealed that headline writers love saying that the PC is dead, the laptop is dead, in fact anything other than the tablet and smartphone is dead. But is it true? I’m in the No Way Jose camp myself, and here’s why.

While the Office for National Statistics may have just issued a news release informing anyone who’s listening that 45 percent of all Internet users (well, all of those who they actually bothered to ask) have accessed the Internet by way of a mobile phone so far this year, and amongst 16-24 year olds that figure jumps to 71 percent, it doesn’t mean that they only go online that way. Nor does it imply that the laptop is dead, although I have already heard some media commentators extrapolating exactly that conclusion from this seemingly innocuous data. Some, who really should know better, have even seen the word ‘mobile phone’ and morphed it past a smartphone and into a tablet in order to support the laptop R.I.P argument.

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Research reveals senior security decision makers are dorks

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

Sometimes I am not sure if I should be banging my head against the desk because of surveys that ‘reveal’ the obvious, or because there are businesses out there providing the ammunition for such research by refusing to remove their heads from their collective arses. Today I am leaning towards the latter as I read the new KPMG e-Crime report.

The survey itself was of 200 senior security decision makers, although I have to say that description seems almost laughable given the results, from global businesses including a bunch of FTSE 100 listed outfits. Here’s why my head is so sore, in a nutshell:

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TomTom loses the tweeting plot

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

Is it just me, or does anyone else just want their satnav to tell them how to get between points A and B (possibly via C) as quickly as possible? I ask as I have a press release here that assures me TomTom is introducing a new feature that will satisfy that greatest of needs of the average motorist: the ability to automatically tell everyone on Twitter not only where you are going but when you are likely to arrive there.

Don’t worry, the press release reassuringly informs me, broadcasting my destination and ETA isn’t going to cause me to crash as the Twitter message is “pre-set by the user before they set off, so they can concentrate safely on the road without worrying about informing people when they’re going to arrive”. Well thank goodness for that, one less worry before I set off down the M62 again. Not!

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Children predict future of tech. My arse!

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

It may well be stating the obvious but children are, it seems, the future of tech. What’s more, according to a new study called ‘Children’s Future Requests for Computers and the Internet‘ they also have an ability to predict the future shape of that tech.

The Latitude consultancy designed research, asked children from all over the planet to draw their answer to the question “what would you like your computer of the Internet to do in the future that it can’t do now” and the results were, frankly, not as amazing as some commentators are suggesting. It doesn’t take some spooky kid with glowing eyes and a brain the size of my arse to ‘predict’ that Internet tech should be more interactive, more human, more integrated with their lives and more empowering. In fact, I imagine it takes someone quite grown up to interpret kids drawings as predicting that.

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How much stuff can I fit into my bulging man bag?

Monday, June 13th, 2011

The average travelling office worker carries around a lot of technology nowadays – more ardent IT enthusiasts will carry around even more. Comfort and space are therefore important things to consider when buying laptop bags – if it looks inconspicuous and as unlike a black attaché case as possible that would be even better.

I’ve been using an old Kensington AstroPack backpack which is lightweight and looks completely unlike a black attaché bag. Unfortunately it only has room for a laptop, the battery charger, a small notepad and a pen, a handful of cables, a phone and, at a stretch, a compact camera and a small camcorder. It’s comfortable though, with the weight evenly distributed.

My desire for more space has led me to the new Samsonite Pro-DLX3 backpack. It has a rather staid, plain black appearance but it feels very well made with substantially more padding in the laptop compartment than the AstroPack, but is also a bit heavier.

It’s also far roomier as I was able to squeeze in a laptop, the battery charger, a notepad and several pens, some cables, a phone, a DSLR-sized camera, a full-sized camcorder, their corresponding chargers and a magazine. Despite all that stuff, the weight is well-distributed and the bag is still just about comfortable enough to carry. The straps are quite taut though so the bag sits quite close to your back. This is apparently ergonomically advantageous, but it can also bunch up a close-up fitting jacket or coat.

I haven’t abandoned the trusty AstroPack, keeping it for shorter trips where I don’t need as much kit, but the Pro-DLX3 is now my preferred laptop bag for longer trips. It’s a bit pricy at £135, but it’s well worth it for serious travellers. I only wish it looked a little more inconspicuous.

Just embrace the goddamn cloud why don’t you?

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

So the European Commission is consulting with the great unwashed about the benefits of cloud computing. Better late than never I guess, perhaps I should be happy that that EC has actually heard of the cloud at all. Apparently it will be ‘seeking views’ from the general public, business and other interested parties (by which I assume it means service providers and government) in order to determine how Europe can extract the greatest value from cloud computing.

The rather grand sounding European Commission Vice President for the Digital Agenda (phew!) has launched the consultation process, and in a statement Neelie Kroes (which sounds a little less grand) says he, or she for that matter, is “excited about the potential benefits of cloud computing to cut costs, improve services and open up new business opportunities”. Hmmm, aren’t we all?

So what, exactly, will this consultation actually achieve?

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How to blog sulking

Friday, May 13th, 2011

Blogging is a weird business. I have no idea how many people read this. One approach is to make up a target person and write just to them; but assuming I’m writing to the great British public I have to say that I’m not speaking to you. Not “not addressing all of you” or “failing to reach”, actually sulking. My lack of blog wasn’t laziness, it was me deliberately snubbing you. The trouble is I don’t think any one noticed.

I did rather pin my colours to the mast over the referendum and as far as I’m concerned a no vote to AV put the “dumb” in “referendum”. The only people I’ve spoken to who were against it didn’t understand it – of course it could be plenty of people were against it but didn’t want to have a boring argument with me so pretended they were. Considering the majority of people didn’t vote for the ruling party (parties if you assume the lib dem’s have any rule) why wouldn’t people vote for a system that lets them have a say in their second choice…

Anyway, there are two ways we can play this. Either I get 68% of a 42% turnout* – say 17 million – comments apologising or we just forget the whole thing and pretend it never happened.

What never happened? Rather than crash the site I forgotten it already. Friends again?

(* results from
http://ukreferendumresults.aboutmyvote.co.uk/en/default.aspx turnout was amazingly hard to find for a site dedicated to informing us of the results!)