►Security: It's the Small Things That Matter
by Blake Britton, Axxys Technologies, Inc.

When (If) we think about data security for our businesses we tend to believe if we have a firewall and antivirus in place we are protected . . . if this were only the case. There are so many other aspects of data security that we have to consider on a day-to-day basis. Here are a few of the most commonly overlooked areas of business data security.

Mobile Devices
Do you have a formal policy for cell phones? Is there a lock feature or PIN they must enter in order to access the phone? What is your action plan if they lose the phone or if it gets stolen? Can you remotely "wipe" the phone through your Exchange server? These are things that need to be considered if your employees are receiving company email or if they keep company and client contacts on their phone. There are many features in exchange 2007 and 2010 to assist with securing or protecting the mobile device. Also, if you have iPhones in your organization we would recommend using the password lock feature.

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Deep summer is when laziness
finds respectability.

Sam Keen
 

►Just for Laughs

A lot of the focus is on security and ways of protecting the network and threats from inside and outside. Every day, hackers work on finding exploits and unpatched systems to break into. In the 1990’s, virus’s were written by kids, and college students more for an annoyance then what they are doing today. Today, groups of hackers usually hired by organized crime purposely write programs to steal data, including credit cards, banking information, or other sensitive data. The landscape has changed, and will keep changing as technology does. As a systems engineer, part of my job is protecting computers and networks from these threats.

If you are a hacker you love when you can dig into a system and start to learn it from the inside out. You take the time and learn every intricacy that is in the system. You know that there are millions of lines of code that you will have to comb through, so you know that an exploit will be found eventually.

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To save money on equipment and time on system maintenance, more and more businesses are deploying virtual servers. Reduced overhead and simplified management can free up resources that can be applied toward innovation and other valuable projects that sharpen the business' competitive edge.

But virtualization does have its pitfalls. Creating new virtual servers haphazardly can easily lead to out-of-control server sprawl. Stacking too many applications on one host can leave them competing for resources. And managing your virtual resources among your physical machines can get complicated, especially for IT staff accustomed to managing only one application per physical server.

Realizing the benefits of virtualization hinges on good planning, properly balancing your resources and employing the right skills and experience. Here are a few tips to help you avoid some of the more common challenges of virtualization.

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Since most computer problems are resolved either by random or ritualistic action on the part of the user, or by following mysterious instructions from an allegedly knowledgeable support person, it's hardly surprising that there are lots of pseudo-religious myths about PCs. Between them, these stories can waste a lot of your time and money. Worse yet, you could become one of the myths' promulgators, and exacerbate the problem!

This article is partly about the worst of these myths, but it's also about how to spot misconceived ideas yourself.

1: Everything's a virus!
By far the most common PC myths concern viruses. Novice computer users are renowned for assuming that anything that goes wrong with their PC must be caused by a virus, and misguided virus warnings are one of the most popular kinds of non-commercial junk e-mail. Many of these warnings clearly originated as a joke (e-mails titled "Pen Pal Greetings!" that warn you never to open an e-mail titled "Pen Pal Greetings!", for instance), but many computer users don't know what their computer can and can't do and so forward the "warnings" promiscuously.

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