August 18, 2008
Imagine finding thousands of dollars worth of charges on your credit card. Or worse - imagine not getting the bill and having the charges affect your credit rating. We could keep going with progressively worse scenarios, but the point is that data and identity theft is a serious problem.
We interviewed two data security experts on this important topic.
Part One - Dave Bull, Secure Computing
Part Two - Wasim Ahmad, Voltage Security
Second is an interview with Wasim Ahmad, VP Voltage Security
Is there really a problem with identity theft? We hear about the high profile cases in the news, but maybe there's not much theft happening.
Wouldn't that be great! Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the US for the seventh year in a row. Criminals are very innovative about how they steal identities, and have shifted from trying to amass lots of credit card numbers and identities to focusing on high net worth individuals - where just one successful hit can provide a windfall.
Read the rest of the story
tags: email, identity theft |
0 comments
August 18, 2008
Imagine finding thousands of dollars worth of charges on your credit card. Or worse - imagine not getting the bill and having the charges affect your credit rating. We could keep going with progressively worse scenarios, but the point is that data and identity theft is a serious problem.
We interviewed two data security experts on this important topic.
Part One - Dave Bull, Secure Computing
Part Two - Wasim Ahmad, Voltage Security
First is an interview with Dave Bull, Manager, Product Marketing of Secure Computing Corp.
Is there really a problem with identity theft? We hear about the high profile cases in the news, but maybe there's not much theft happening.
Absolutely. Obviously the term 'identity theft' is quite broad as there are so many different ways to accomplish such a thing -- I run into new techniques all the time. Of course, I have colleagues that are federal agents who are involved in identity theft investigations, so I may be in a unique position to learn about the latest and greatest techniques the bad guys are using. But just because it isn't a 'hot' news topic, doesn't mean it isn't going on around you. Just ask the next few people you see if they have had an issue, and you will run into someone with a story to tell quite quickly.
Read the rest of the story
tags: email, identity theft |
0 comments
August 18, 2008
Over the past several days, I've been testing out Samsung's Solid State Drive (SSD). Instead of moving, magnetic platters of information, solid state drives are silent and store information in flash memory. Flash memory, according to
Wikipedia,
is non-volatile, which means that no power is needed to maintain the information stored in the chip.
I tested a Lenovo ThinkPad (with Samsung's SSD inside) against my current Lenovo 300 N1, with a traditional hard disk.
The ThinkPad definitely has longer batter life. In fact, I inadvertently left it in sleep mode and it's been that way for 2 or 3 days. Sure sleep mode is virtually a state of "sub-conscientiousness" for a note book but I know most notebooks can't be sleep for longer than a day.
For my next test, I turned both the ThinkPad and 3000 on at the same time. The ThinkPad, with the solid state drive was at the Windows logon prompt much faster.than the notebook with the traditional hard disk.
Finally, the silence was defining. I put my ear real close to the ThinkPad and didn't hear anything. Not even a fan - although I'm sure one is in there. On the other hand, I could hear the gentle hum of the hard disk moving and the Lenovo 3000 fan from a about 2 - 3 feet away.
If you want to know more about solid state drives, Samsung's web site is quite informative and check out the very good video.
Since there are no moving parts a SSD is also more durable and resistant to drops than a traditional hard disk. Should get get one? I wouldn't go out and change all your existing hard disks. But as you buy your next computer and you have the option to buy a SSD definitely give it serious thought.
tags: hard disk, samsung, solid state, sshd |
0 comments
August 18, 2008
Entrepreneur.com, who I write for, has launched its own social network, you can join here.
I joined a few minutes ago and one thing that's nice is that new members are profiled on the web site immediately. That's nice. To make these networks work for you, you have to work to make it work.
Assuming there's a enough members to create some momentum, you need to regularly post, ask questions, give answers. You need to be a part of the community.
Intuit's JumpUP, Constant Contact's User Community, Dell's 360 and so many others (Fast Company, Microsoft, ACT!) are some to consider.
There's the mega social networks from LinkedIn, Plaxo, FaceBook, Hi5, MeetUp and others. But then there are the networks from publishers and vendors. All are good, but can waste your time if you don't pick and choose which ones work best for you.
If you want to find businesses, help businesses or market your own - these networks are great options to have an employee manage and cultivate online relationships.
What are your favorite social networks?
tags: entrepreneur, social networks |
0 comments
August 18, 2008
Whether or not you believe that using a cellphone wireless headset will give you a brain tumor, there are times when you just might not want to wear one. You may need to hear background noise really well, or if you're like me, sometimes you just don't feel like having something hanging from your ear. They never seem to fit me well (maybe since my big ears stick out) but when I use the built-in speaker I feel like I have to hold the phone to be heard. This defeats the purpose when you're in one of the many states with bans on driving with handheld cell phones, including here in NY, NJ and CT.
So I think this new GrooveTooth Talk hands-free speaker phone from Cygnett looks pretty neat. It works with iPhone, iPhone 3G, Blackberry & other Bluetooth enabled phones and you can clip it right onto your visor or air vent.
GrooveTooth Talk has an MSRP of $79.95 and will be available starting in September on www.cygnett.com
Laura Leites, Assistant Editor, Smallbiztechnology.com
tags: bluetooth, cell phone, Groovetooth, speakerphone |
0 comments
August 18, 2008
Microsoft Outlook is a decent email program. I use it and millions of others use it on a daily basis. In fact we keep it open all the time and practically live in it. I've used Mozilla's Thunderbird, Netscape Communicator, Pegasus and Eduora. For my needs of time, task and contact management, Outlook is the best.
Outlook however, is quite large (and has a number of technical difficulties - crashes, slowness, etc). Another problem is that while it's great for managing email, it's not so good at helping you manage your business. If you need to manage opportunities, sales, leads and more - it's not robust enough to do this.
Into the mix comes a number of add-on programs that help you better manage your contacts and some in fact have CRM solutions. These solutions, such as ACT!, Gold Mine, Maximizer, and Microsoft's own Business Contact Manager compliment Outlook.
Last week Sage released version 2009 of ACT! For new users, who are not using a contact management program, check out ACT! it's the leading program on the market for good reasons. For those already using ACT!, upgrading to this new version will most likely be a productivity enhancer for you.
So what's inside?
Read the rest of the story
tags: act!, contact management, sage |
0 comments
August 18, 2008
Business Know-How is an award-winning small business website for home offices and small businesses. Owned by Attard Communications, Inc., and run by Janet Attard, Business Know-How and is known for providing practical information tools and resources for starting, growing and managing small and home-based businesses. The Business Know-How web site reaches close to 2.5 million individuals each year.
This year marks the 20th anniversary that Janet has been supplying information and resources for small businesses. Check out this post from Janet, recapping her 20th year.
tags: business know how, janet attard |
0 comments
August 17, 2008
You know that I am a HUGE proponent of having a local technology adviser help guide your business through the pros and cons and ups and downs of using technology as a tool to grow your business. Technology requires expertise, just like accounting, finance and real estate - you do have advisers for these areas - right?
Your local consultant is a pretty important person to you but also to technology vendors such as HP and Dell. These two computing giants are in a fierce fight to have you buy as much of your existing technology from one source. Them. They know one of the key influencers in your decision is you local consultant.
For years Dell has been known for going "direct". They wanted to directly sell technology to you, for the most part by-passing or paying little attention to local consultants. Over the last several months Dell has been quickly changing this strategy. In fact, Computer Reseller News reports that Dell has more than 11,500 registered solution providers.
CDW, one of my favorite online retailers (sells technology products, installation and support services) is focused on the small business market. CRN also reports that HP has partnered with CDW to reach 500,000 small businesses in a renewed marketing push.
HP has been a long time channel partner and like Dell is looking for ways to best market to, sell to and meet the needs of smaller businesses.
What does this mean to your business?
Read the rest of the story
tags: consultant, dell, hp |
0 comments
August 14, 2008
David Strom
Having tested a number of endpoint security products and lectured to several audiences is still no substitute for actually seeing what works and what doesn't in the field. And while the products are getting better, there are still no magic, one-size-fits-all solutions. I wanted to share with you some of the things that I have learned from my visits.
First off, most of the vendors are very XP-centric, and some are only now just getting to supporting that other Windows OS that is finding its way on to desktops, you know, Vista? And when it comes to non-Windows, such as Mac OS, Linux, and PDAs, most of the folks are still behind the times. There are products such as StillSecure's SateAccess that supports both agent and agentless operations, but still many of the agentless products only provide a small subset of protection that their Windows XP agents do. Of course, one solution is to just standardize on XP SP2 for all your desktops, too.
Read the rest of the story
tags: david strom, endpoints, security |
0 comments
August 13, 2008
Pretty much all of us have to use email for business to some extent. Some companies host their own email on their own servers, while some use an ISP to outsource their email hosting. However, regardless of where it's hosted, the security of your email message is important. If you do business in a regulated industry, security is even more critical since it is often tied into compliance.
If your email must stay very secure, you might want to check out the MailMarshal Secure Email Server from Marshal. It provides encryption and digital signing of messages, and authenticates email sender and recipient credentials to create secure communication channels between organizations. Since it's a server-based solution, there is a single point of control to manage the email security of the entire organization, without additional workstations or software.
Read the rest of the story
tags: email, marshal, security, server |
0 comments
0 comments
Subscribe to the 
