Daily News Archive

Please note that The Daily News is publishing (hopefully) twice a week for the foreseeable future due to time constraints.

Tuesday, February 28th

“He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils, for time is the greatest innovator." – Francis Bacon

 

The Picks of the Day

Common Insecurity

“What do people who renew their driver's licenses, buy hard liquor or donate to a home for elderly and disabled veterans have in common? In New Hampshire, people who did any of those things within the past six months may have had their credit card numbers stolen because of computer security issues”

http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,108999,00.html?source=x73

 

Nanobiz To Congress: This Isn't Asbestos

“Internet businesses haven't been the only high-tech concerns drawing attention on Capitol Hill. It was standing room only for a recent Senate Commerce Committee hearing on nanotechnology.”

http://www.forbes.com/technology/sciences/2006/02/23/altair-nanotech-nanophase-cx_atg_0223nanotech.html?partner=rss

 

IT Process Improvement

IIA Technology

The IIA’s Technology Guidance web pages are great.  You can read about their Generally Accepted IT Principles (GAIT) project, Global Technology Audit Guides (GTAGs) and much more.

http://www.theiia.org/index.cfm?doc_id=2458

 

Dan Swanson’s CCC and SEC Emails

For years Dan Swanson has sent out emails with links to many IT operations and security best practice resources.

A) CCC emails provide online resources in support of your Governance, Risk Management, and Internal Audit efforts. Content related to IT Audit and IT Security is provided on occasion. Resources related to leadership, quality, strategy, and management is frequently included.

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Dans_CCCemails/

 

B) SEC emails provide online resources in support of your IT Audit and IT Security efforts. Content related to Governance, Risk Management, and Internal Audit is provided on occasion. Resources related to leadership, quality, strategy, and project management is frequently included.

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Dans_SECemails/

 

Legal and Regulatory Compliance

Resellers See Big Opportunity In Regulatory Compliance

“Solution providers are trying to capitalize on opportunities to satisfy compliance regulations for laws such as Sarbanes-Oxley, Graham-Leach-Bliley and HIPAA, as well as recommendations from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council and a growing number of individual state laws for data security breeches.”

http://www.compliancepipeline.com/180206909?cid=rssfeed_pl_cop

 

Wall Street complains compliance costs too high

“A survey released on Monday by the Securities Industry Association, which looks after industry interests, found the cost of compliance has nearly doubled in the past three years, to more than $25 billion in 2005, up from $13 billion in 2002.  But the SIA said many of these costs were potentially avoidable with regulators duplicating each other and rules inconsistent or plainly ambiguous -- and warned investors may end paying for the extra watchdogs if the costs kept rising.

http://asia.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=ousiv&storyID=2006-02-27T215904Z_01_N27366213_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESSPRO-FINANCIAL-COMPLIANCE-WALLSTREET-DC.XML

 

New calls on SEC to relax rules

“A coalition of European business associations is preparing to tell the US market regulator that it has not gone far enough with proposals to make it easier to ‘deregister’ from the SEC and thus avoid US reporting requirements.”

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?Feed=FT&Date=20060227&ID=5536184

 

It shouldn't take a securities lawyer to decipher exec pay

“Move over Sarbanes-Oxley. The next wave of government oversight is about to hit the desks of publicly traded companies, and it's bound to be one of the main discussion items at upcoming board meetings.”

http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2006/02/27/editorial4.html

 

Security and Risk Management

Breaches Push Companies to Improve Internal Safeguards

“After spending years implementing controls designed to protect their network perimeters from external threats, companies are under growing pressure to do the same thing to guard against internal data lapses, according to attendees at RSA Conference 2006 here this month.”

http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,109007,00.html?source=x73

 

Study shows how photonic decoys can foil hackers

“University of Toronto professor and researcher has demonstrated for the first time a new technique for safeguarding data transmitted over fiber-optic networks using quantum cryptography.”

http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,108924,00.html?source=x73

 

IT exec sentenced to eight years for data theft

“Scott Levine, formerly principal owner of e-mail marketing company Snipermail Inc., was sentenced yesterday to eight years in prison on charges related to the theft of more than 1 billion data records, the U.S. Department of Justice said.”

http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,108921,00.html?source=x73

 

FBI makes arrest in connection with BCBS worker info

“A 35-year-old San Antonio man was arrested on suspicion of cyber theft in connection with the unauthorized release of personal information on 27,000 former and current Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Inc. employees, FBI officials said.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2006/02/27/daily6.html?from_rss=1

 

Human Error / Safety

Text messaging boom leads to digit damage

“Mobile telephone text messaging has become so popular in Britain that millions of users now suffer injuries to their thumbs and fingers because of their love of keeping in touch, according to a survey on Tuesday.”

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/ptech/02/22/britain.texting.reut/index.html?section=cnn_offbeat

 

Flu Wiki alternative to official sources

“You can learn a lot about bird flu and the specter of a global human flu epidemic by checking official information from the government or medical groups. But thousands of times a day, people turn to a much different source.”

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/conditions/02/27/flu.wiki.ap/index.html?section=cnn_tech

 

Outsourcing / Globalization

Offshoring: Spreading The Gospel

“Outsourcing's inner circle has deep roots in GE and McKinsey. Here's how they caught the fever”

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_10/b3974074.htm?campaign_id=rss_magzn

 

State of emergency to remain in the Philippines

“Philippine President Gloria Arroyo will delay the removal of a state of emergency after a weekend standoff between the Marines and riot police.”

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/analysis/view/195320/1/.html

 

Economics / Business / Misc.

The Drill at Home Depot

“Nardelli, Home Depot's own general, according to some of his staff, sat down with BusinessWeek correspondent Brian Grow to discuss the influx of military at his outfit and how the changes he has wrought at Home Depot are affecting its corporate culture. Here are edited excerpts of the conversation:”

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_10/b3974011.htm?campaign_id=rss_magzn

 

The Information Makers

“… BI services firm the Atre Group estimates that 80-85 percent of data within organizations resides in semi-structured forms (text block fields, documents, attached notes, e-mails, reports, etc) or unstructured forms (paper and micrographic archives, raw files and backup disks or tapes, books, manuals and so forth). BI is starting to move into this unstructured data territory, through application of its analytic, statistical, and classifying technologies.”

http://www.compliancepipeline.com/180207840?cid=rssfeed_pl_cop

 

Thursday, March 2nd

"How well we communicate is determined not by how well we say things but by how well we are understood.” -- Andrew S. Grove

 

The Picks of the Day

New scoping principles for IT controls proposed by IIA

“The Institute of Internal Auditors has taken a big first step toward generally accepted IT principles, or GAIT, with a proposed set of guidance principles on scoping the IT controls area of financial reporting.”

http://www.webcpa.com/article.cfm?articleid=18909&pg=acctoday

GAIT is on the IIA website at:  http://www.theiia.org/index.cfm?doc_id=2458

[Thank you Gene!]

 

Software Squeeze: Patently Wrong?

“Major software publishers are leveraging the patent process to put legal pressure on competitors, say critics.”

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/5570346?f=FinancialSoftware022806

 

BlackBerry Switch Would Be Costly

“Companies that want to switch wireless-email service from BlackBerrys to other devices would incur costs of as much as $844 a user, according to a report to be released today by the telecommunications consulting firm Telwares.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114118298419886189.html?mod=djemEMU

 

IT Process Improvement

The Microsoft Operations Framework – Change Management

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/cits/mo/smf/smfchgmg.mspx

 

The Microsoft Operations Framework – Configuration Management

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/cits/mo/smf/smfcfgmg.mspx

 

OGC’s Common Causes of Project Failure

This is a great 8 page PDF file that offers up good cautionary food for thought.

http://www.ogc.gov.uk/sdtoolkit/reference/ogc_library/bestpracticebriefings/causesprojfailure.pdf

 

Ten top IT service management experts successfully bid to rewrite OGC's ITIL guidance books

“Ten world-class experts in IT service management have successfully bid to write five books which will provide the core of the new version of hugely popular ITIL guidance set for from OGC's publishing partner, The Stationery Office.”

http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/4842

 

Legal and Regulatory Compliance

Reporting for Separation of Duties, Sir!

“Proper segregation of duties, of course, is designed to ensure that employees don't have conflicting responsibilities. If conflicts emerge, that could indicate that a company isn't in compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404, which governs internal controls over financial reporting.”

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/5540282?f=AlsoOn022406

 

Can I See Your Receipt?

“The Business Software Alliance will pay up to $50,000 to anyone who blows the whistle on a company that is found to have unauthorized software somewhere within the organization.”

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/5435516?f=FinancialSoftware022806

 

Can Sarbanes-Oxley influence investors' trust?

“What is a 'fair' price for fairness? New research from Washington University's Olin School of Business reveals that a just system of governance may not enhance trust when returns do not meet investors' expectations. This is sobering news for businesses that have spent countless hours and large amounts of money complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in the hopes of building stronger corporate governance.”

http://news-info.wustl.edu/tips/page/normal/6708.html

 

Opinions Split On New SOX Proposal

“A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) advisory panel has proposed changes in the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) corporate reform law that aim to ease the high cost of compliance for smaller public companies.”

http://searchcio.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid19_gci1169447,00.html?track=NL-48&ad=543068

 

Security and Risk Management

Auditor loses thousands of McAfee employees' data

“McAfee auditor Deloitte & Touche USA LLP may be thinking of buying some security software itself after a Deloitte employee left an unencrypted CD containing sensitive information on thousands of McAfee employees in the back of an airline seat last December.”

http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/02/24/75877_HNmcafeedata_1.html?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/02/24/75877_HNmcafeedata_1.html

 

Ernst & Young loses four more laptops

“Ernst and Young appears set on establishing a laptop loss record in February. The accounting giant has lost four more systems, according to a report in the Miami Herald.”

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/26/ey_laptops/

[When you stop and think about it, these are very damaging articles in terms of the perceptions clients and prospects will have about these firms safeguarding sensitive data.]

 

Toyota embraces open standards for security

“Toyota gave its backing to open standards on Thursday in the United Kingdom, saying they were a key part of its security strategy.”

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/Toyota_embraces_open_standards_for_security/0,2000061744,39240307,00.htm

 

Japanese Navy Has Internet Security Breach

“Maritime Self-Defense Force officials speaking on condition of anonymity said that data appeared on the Internet via peer-to-peer file-sharing software from the personal computer of a chief petty officer in charge of communications on the destroyer Asayuki.”

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/security/article_2128045.shtml

 

Human Error / Safety

Cat in Germany infected with H5N1 bird flu

“A dead cat in Germany has tested positive for the H5N1 type of bird flu in the first case in the country of the virus spreading from birds to mammals, the national veterinary laboratory warned.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060228/hl_afp/healthflugermanycat_060228154405

 

Encourage sick leave in flu pandemic, firms told

“Businesses need to plan on having 40 percent of their workforces out if a flu pandemic strikes and need to start rewarding employees for staying home when they are sick, government advisers told a conference Tuesday.”

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11610270/

 

US Flu Plan

The US Government’s pandemic flu plan is online at:

http://www.pandemicflu.gov

 

The Most Dangerous Bacteria

“The problem is that many common bacteria and fungi have evolved into being resistant to the drugs that have kept them at bay for a half-century.”

http://www.forbes.com/technology/sciences/2006/03/01/antibiotics-pfizer-cubist-cx_mh_0301badbugs.html?partner=rss

 

Outsourcing / Globalization

A reversal of the tide in India

“’If you want to be in the latest trends, you have to be in India,’ said Dutt Kalluri, who heads data warehousing and business intelligence at the information-technology division of Larsen & Toubro Ltd., India's largest construction and engineering company. ‘Technology development happens in India. Technology consumption happens in the U.S.’”

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11597357/

 

Shanghai tops in sustainable development capacity

“Shanghai tops the country in sustainable development capacity, while west China's Qinghai Province the lowest, according to the latest ranking of 2006 China Sustainable Development Strategy Report published by Chinese Academy of Sciences on February 28.”

http://english.people.com.cn/200603/01/eng20060301_247044.html

 

Economics / Business / Misc.

Real-Time Data: Who Needs To Know?

“Taking to heart the adage that time is money, many enterprises are looking more closely at software applications designed to analyze reams of raw data in real time.”

http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=001000000W71