Chinese “hackers” are able to purchase WPA and WEP cracking devices for about $25, according to reports in Techworld. They will crack WEP key encryption in a few minutes. One of the applications is called spoonwep. Here are some details. They are USB based devices.It will only be a matter of time before hackers start sniffing your WEP/ WPA networks.Guru
I’ve been working in the computer industry for over forty years. It is not often that I see an implementation of technology where I think “Wow!” At a recent exhibition I came across GID-Quantor’s Silent Cube technology. These devices use WORM (Write Once Read Many) optical disks to store vast amounts of data. You can store Peta byte (1000 Gigabytes) of data, on-line, in a three rack configuration.
The devices have been carefully engineered with a high level of redundant resilience and active error monitoring. They will also support remote site mirroring as part of the package. They are also engineered to be very low power usage, so the running cost is low; just two Watts for 8 Tera bytes. They are also highly modular.
If you have high volumes are static archival data that needs to be retained long term, but with rapid accessibility requirements, this may be the technology for you. GID-Quantor have a history of providing archival microfiche solutions, their experience shows in the design of these Silent Cube’s. I can see many uses for this technology in the financial markets; for example, voice recording, archive of price feeds/trades for compliance purposes.
Alaric
The attack on Google Mail for some Chinese dissidents was based on a security weakness in Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6. It demonstrates the need for keeping your software up to date. One (free) tool that is highly useful in achieving this can be found at Secunia. It examines your software version level, of most common software, and advises you if the current version is out of date. Usually it offers a location where updates can be found. As a consequence you are likely to maintain the essential security patches.
Anti Virus and anti-malware software can only go so far in protecting your machine. If your PC accesses the Internet or receives email you need to make sure that all of your software is kept up to date with the secuirty patches.
Ofgem, the Energy Regulator, reports that the UK needs a £200 Billion investment in its energy infrastructure if we are to avoid power shortages. What steps has your business taken to protect the security of its energy? Does it have a UPS and load shedding policy that is routinely exercised? Has it considered local generation of power, possibly under a CHEAP scheme? If you do not preplan it is inevitable that at some time in the future your organisation will lose productivity due to regional power outages or brownouts.
Guru
My 25 year old daughter has flown the nest of the family home. She has her own career and her own home some 15 miles away from Lewisham in South East London. When vandals struck at the local power supply sub-station they took out the power to 60,000 people. My daughter was without power in her home for 4 solid days. She was able to come and stay back in her old bedroom, so the power outage did not affect her too much. She had a standby arrangement.
I wondered how well the local businesses fared with the power outage? Network connectivity dubious, no power for servers for 4 days, even charging mobile phones was a problem if you were stuck in the the location of the outage.
I wonder did any of the businesses what they would do in the event of a regional power outage. Rehearsal and problem analysis is an essential part of the BCP process for those businesses. It is bad for customer relations if you don’t have effective BCP, but conversely your company will stand out if it continues its operations in the face of a regional outage.