The News - June 2, 2008
Hello Everyone,
The Visible Ops Security book is for sale at Amazon.com. If you are looking to purchase copies or would like to post a review (which would be much appreciated), please visit:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0975568620?ie=UTF8&tag=georgespaffor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0975568620
The original Visible Ops Handbook is at Amazon.com as well:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0975568612?ie=UTF8&tag=georgespaffor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0975568612
Thank you!
"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think” – Socarates
Top Picks
New Book: Software Security Engineering: A Guide for Project Managers
“Software that is developed from the beginning with security in mind will resist, tolerate, and recover from attacks more effectively than would otherwise be possible. While there may be no silver bullet for security, there are practices that project managers will find beneficial. With this management guide, you can select from a number of sound practices likely to increase the security and dependability of your software, both during its development and subsequently in its operation.”
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/books/cert/software-security-engineering.html
http://www.softwaresecurityengineering.com/
http://www.cert.org/podcast/show/20080527allen.html
[ Congratulations Julia!! ]
IT Governance International Standard – ISO/IEC 38500 Under Development
George’s note, ISO/IEC 38500 will hopefully be published in the next couple of months finally giving some standards guidance around what “IT Governance” is. The ISO website doesn’t really have much info yet other than to say it is under development. When it is published, I will send out links. As many purists will point out “IT Governance” is really about management – not necessarily governance per se. True “governance” is the venue of the Board and senior management. It will be interesting to see what comes out in the new standard as we look at the dual mission of IT – to assist with the creation and protection of value.
Current ISO Page:
http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=51639
Good commentary on it: http://itgov.wordpress.com/2008/05/07/new-iso-standard-for-it-governance-isoiec-38500/
IT Audit / Internal Audit / Compliance
Compliance Programs' New Mantra: Value Preservation And Value Creation
This is an interesting interview of Richard H. Girgenti, the National Practice Leader of KPMG LLP's U.S. Forensic Practice, the Partner in Charge of the Forensic Practice for the Americas region, and a member of the Board of Directors of KPMG LLP.
http://www.metrocorpcounsel.com/current.php?artType=view&artMonth=June&artYear=2008&EntryNo=8400
Getting International Compliance Policies Right
“How can a global company ensure that it generates a meaningful, international, compliance policy? Such polices need to be applicable across the corporate universe but encompass local differences adequately. This might seem to be a simple question but it often presents a raft of difficulties for compliance officers.”http://www.metrocorpcounsel.com/current.php?artType=view&artMonth=June&artYear=2008&EntryNo=8341
IT Process Improvement / Quality Management
Tool Selector has a link to The Forrester Wave: Service Desk Management Tools Q2 2008
“In this research brief, Forrester evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of 13 service desk management tool vendors. The 96-criteria evaluation found that BMC Software's Remedy IT Service Management, CA, HP, and IBM lead the pack for large enterprises because of the depth and breadth of their offerings that integrate the service desk into a complete IT service management framework.”
http://www.toolselector.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3054
The Underperformer Paradox
It is paradoxical that frequently, those most in need of assistance are the last to see it.
http://blog.itsmwatch.com/
[May 29, 2008, ITSMWatch blog post]
CD Set at Amazon: Beyond the Goal: Eliyahu Goldratt Speaks on the Theory of Constraints (Your Coach in a Box)
I often am asked about Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt and his work on the Theory of Constraints. For those who like to listen to lectures, he released a fascinating audio CD set in the fall of 2005. As Dr. Goldratt is such a prolific author, what I like about Beyond the Goal is that it synthesizes many of his ToC ideas as he is presenting them to a conference of software industry executives.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1596590238?ie=UTF8&tag=georgespaffor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1596590238
6 reasons government IT projects fail
“Failed government IT projects occur with alarming frequency. In some respects, these failures share much in common with botched private sector initiatives. For example, failures in both environments are primarily a function of poor management rather than bad technology.”
http://blogs.zdnet.com/projectfailures/?p=792&tag=nl.e539
Security and Risk Management
Unifying Governance, Risk and Compliance
“GRC is not so much a tool or methodology as it is a management philosophy for bringing these different disciplines together and dealing with them as a unified whole, both inside and outside of IT functions.”
http://www.ciostrategycenter.com/cio/Reg/law/unifying_governance_risk_compliance/
Sci-Fi Writers: New Tech Will Bring More Security Challenges
“If IT security professionals think they have challenges now, they should wait until new technologies such as quantum computing and devices embedded in skin arrive in the not-so-distant future, three science-fiction writers said Monday.”
http://www.cio.com/article/377716/Sci_Fi_Writers_New_Tech_Will_Bring_More_Security_Challenges
Bruce Schneier Q&A: The Endless Broadening of Security
“With this endless broadening of security has come an endless broadening of ambition. Schneier is launching launch the Workshop on Security and Human Behavior—an effort to bring together the brightest thinkers from any number of disciplines: Economists, technologists, psychologists, even poets will be there. The goal is no less than to launch a new academic discipline.”
http://www.csoonline.com/article/373414/Bruce_Schneier_Q_A_The_Endless_Broadening_of_Security
Healthcare / Bio-Informatics / Care Delivery Organizations (CDOs)
Health Care Leaders Gather to Gain New Safety, Risk Management Insights From Aviation Industry Experts
“As health care organizations continue to wrestle with better ways to improve patient safety and communications, they are finding inspiration from the skies - the aviation industry.”
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080602/clm097.html?.v=62
Medical ID theft can injure finances, endanger lives
“Of the 8.3 million Americans who were victims of identity theft in 2005, 3 percent, or 249,000, said someone had obtained medical treatment and services using their personal information, according to the Federal Trade Commission's 2006 Identity Theft Survey Report, the most recent.”
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-perfi_02bus.ART0.State.Edition1.3a6ab43.html?npc
Human Error / Safety / Environment
A chilling global warming forecast
“There's always a new report about global warming, but the one released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with its charts on optimal temperatures for soybeans and peanuts, is downright creepy in its detail. This isn't your usual futuristic fodder, with vague but dire predictions. The USDA report is more frightening because it states matter-of-factly the practical changes in farming, forestry and water that are transforming the landscape now and will do so again over the next few decades.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-warming2-2008jun02,0,5120050.story
The report is at: http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap4-3/default.php
Mars on the brain? Red Planet pioneers to face cosmic mind trip
“The simulated expeditions were made, in part, to research ways to live and work on the Red Planet. But they also revealed something else: what personality types might best be suited to make the 35 million-mile journey and who would be better off watching from Mission Control.”
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/06/02/space.psych/index.html
NASCIO behind green IT with strong statement, action plan
“The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) came out strongly yesterday on the importance of environmentally sound IT, telling its CIO members they must play a critical role in reducing their states' carbon footprints and issuing a 17-page brief on ways to do that”
http://searchcio.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid182_gci1315301,00.html?track=NL-981&ad=643255&asrc=EM_USC_3761885&uid=3121061#
Global News
Four Play
“Like other major accounting firms, E&Y is a loose partnership of national firms. Although they share the same logo and stationery, legal liability and control remain a country-level affair. E&Y executives say the move to consolidate its 87 practices is a response to the needs of its increasingly global client base.”
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/11465466?f=alerts
Major Economies Slowing
“Conditions are getting tougher in some of the world's major economies. Figures out yesterday suggest that China's huge manufacturing sector might be slowing because of sluggish sales to the US and Europe. Data released on Friday reveal static demand from US consumers, who account for 70% of economic activity in the world's biggest economy.“
http://au.biz.yahoo.com/080601/27/1rnr4.html
From the ruins, Chinese begin to rebuild lives
“Fan Jianping, chief economist for the State Information Center, told the official Xinhua News Agency that the quake will cost the Chinese economy more than $86 billion. Only 5% of property losses are covered by any kind of insurance, says the Shanghai Daily newspaper.”
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-06-01-china_N.htm
Economics / Business / Misc.
Americans take 41 million fewer flights, survey shows
“Nearly half of American air travelers would fly more if it were easier, and more than one-fourth said they skipped at least one air trip in the past 12 months because of the hassles involved, according to an industry survey.”
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/05/30/airtravel.decline.ap/index.html
Adobe’s Acrobat.com could be an Office killer; Will interface matter?
“Adobe has tied together its online office suite with the beta of Acrobat.com and the user interface is the big differentiator. What remains to be seen is whether online office users care about aesthetics.”
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=8969&tag=nl.e539
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