Paul Wallbank – Brilliant Communications

Tag: security

  • Blocking the bad guys – listeners’ questions from ABC Nightlife

    Blocking the bad guys – listeners’ questions from ABC Nightlife

    Last night’s ABC Nightlife looked at how email is evolving but most of our callers were concerned with configuring their email, anti-virus programs and blocking adverts on the web.

    The audio of the program is available through the ABC website.

    As usual, it’s tough to answer all the questions on live radio so here’s the ones from listeners Tony and I said we’d get back to.

    Ad blockers

    Website owners are desperately trying to find ways to make money from their sites, unfortunately its proving difficult so we’re seeing increasingly intrusive ads trying to distract us while we surf the web.

    A number of Tony’s callers asked about adblocking programs to get rid of these irritating ads and there’s a few paid and free solutions available for computer users.

    The most popular solution is Adblock, a plug in available for Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Android. The developers have a handy video guide to installing and configuring their product.

    For Internet Explorer users, Simple Adblock is a plug in that should work with their browser.

    Be aware with ad blocking programs that they may change the layout of the sites you visit so be prepared for some strange looking pages.

    Also keep in mind that website owners are desperately trying to find ways to pay the bills, so you won’t stop the more cunning ads or sponsored content that pretends to be real news. You might also put a few online media sites out of business.

    Anti-Virus programs

    One common question from Nightlife listeners are what anti virus programs should they use.

    Probably the simplest for Windows users is Microsoft Security Essentials or the free AVG Anti-Virus. For OSX Users, Clam AV and Sophos’ Free Anti Virus for Mac will do the job.

    If you have Norton or McAfee anti virus programs on your Windows PC, then getting rid of the software is not straightforward. After uninstalling the software, you’ll have to run their removal tools which are available from the Symantec (Norton) or McAfee websites. Read the instructions carefully.

    Switching to Hotmail

    A curious thing about Microsoft is how they like to irritate loyal customers with interface changes that leave everyone confused. Hotmail users are among the latest victims after the company migrated them to the Outlook.com platform.

    Deborah called in to ask how she could switch back to Hotmail from Outlook.com – sadly the official line from Microsoft is “you can’t”. It appears that all of the work arounds to get Hotmail back have also been closed down and the old service is no more.

    For Deborah, the choice is to either get used to Outlook.com or investigate other online mail services like Gmail or Yahoo!.

    The next ABC Nightlife will be on in around five weeks. Hope you can join us then.

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  • Trust and the cloud

    Trust and the cloud

    The revelations of how the US tech industry has entwined itself with US spy agencies continue with The Guardian reporting that Microsoft gave the NSA access to their encryption services.

    For Microsoft this is very embarrassing as the company has always strongly emphasized their security, that US government agencies turn out to have the keys to those systems will worry many foreign governments and businesses.

    Like everything in business, cloud computing services require trust and this continual stream of revelations will shake the trust of many customers.

    It may well be that the NSA revelations will boost the fortunes of non-US companies, Swiss companies are already reporting soaring sales since the leaks began and it may be that other nations may profit from the suspicions.

    While cloud computing isn’t going away, many people will be thinking seriously about the services they use and whether they can trust them.

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  • Securing the security system

    Securing the security system

    How vulnerable building management systems can be hit me ten years ago when working at an expensive Sydney harbourfront home a decade ago.

    The householder – a rich banker – had spent millions on physical security to insulate his family from the outside world. Yet anybody could dial in and monitor what was happening in the house through the building’s CCTV and management systems.

    Not only were the building’s CCTV and management systems were open to the net, but that the system’s serve ran on an antiquated and unsecured version of Windows 2000 that shared the home network with a couple of enthusiastically downloading teenagers.

    It was a matter of time, perhaps hours, before the system was compromised with worm or virus. The security implications were enormous.

    Even the banker’s business was vulnerable as a targeted hack into the home would allow people to monitor traffic on the network and intercept work related messages.

    What was really shocking however was how the system vendor and integrator who’d installed it simply didn’t care about the client’s security problems.

    So the news that one of Google’s Sydney offices BMS is exposed to the net shouldn’t be a surprise. Building Management Systems, as we saw with the rich banker’s house, are notorious for their poor security.

    For Google this security breach is embarrassing although the responsibility for this flaw lies firmly with the building owner who should have made sure their systems are locked down and properly secured. You can’t throw this problem over the fence.

    One wonders just how widespread these problems are with other industrial systems like SCADA devices and other remotely operated equipment.

    Internet connected systems have been around now for twenty years, there are no longer any excuses for not taking these issues seriously.

    Image courtesy of Tacluda through RGBStock

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  • Penny wise and pound foolish

    Penny wise and pound foolish

    “We were penny wise and pound foolish” says Peter Trimble, Finance and Systems director of the V8 Supercars, about the IT setup he found when he started with the motor sport organisation 18 months ago.

    The V8 Supercars were like many businesses who had outgrown their basic IT setup and were struggling as a result.

    A touring organisation – “a travelling circus” as described by CEO David Malone – with 15 races in Australia, New Zealand the US has some fairly unique challenges as contractors, teams and a dispersed workforce put demands on the businesses which a basic small business system struggles to cope with.

    What Trimble found at the business were employees struggling with cheap internet connections and antiquated, inadequate servers.

    Focusing on the pennies and missing the bigger picture is a common problem when managements skimp on technology which leaves their staff spending more time on IT problems than getting their jobs done.

    Basically the $80 a month home internet connection doesn’t cut it when you have more than two or three workers and the server that worked fine when those people were in the same office becomes a security risk when a dozen a people are trying to login over the Internet.

    It wasn’t surprising the V8 Supercars management decided to go with a cloud computing service – in this case Microsoft Office 365 – and invest in proper, reliable internet connections.

    What the Supercars found that being penny proud and pound foolish with IT doesn’t work for a business, office tech is an essential investment.

    Paul travelled to the V8 Supercars in Launceston courtesy of Microsoft Australia. 

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  • Microsoft’s China crisis

    Microsoft’s China crisis

    That the Chinese Public Security Bureau is blocking your messages – and may even be reading them – would make anyone pause before they used a service.

    Bloomberg Businessweek reports Microsoft Skype is doing exactly this with its Chinese customers. Anything deemed inappropriate is censored and referred to servers belonging to TOM Online, the company that runs the Skype service on behalf on Microsoft in China.

    The Bloomberg story goes onto detail how one Canadian researcher is reverse engineering the Chinese blacklists, giving us a wonderful insight into the petty and touchy minds of China’s censors and political leaders.

    What raises eyebrows about this story is how nonchalant Microsoft is about this issue, in a wonderful piece of corporate speak the software giant answered Bloomberg’s question with the following bland statement;

    “Skype’s mission is to break down barriers to communications and enable conversations worldwide,” the statement said. “Skype is committed to continued improvement of end user transparency wherever our software is used.”

    Microsoft’s statement also said that “in China, the Skype software is made available through a joint venture with TOM Online. As majority partner in the joint venture, TOM has established procedures to meet its obligations under local laws.”

    Microsoft have to fix this problem quickly, glibly saying the Chinese government eavesdropping on conversations is a matter for partners is not going to be accepted by most customers.

    It would be a shame should Microsoft’s Skype investment fail – Skype is a very good fit for Microsoft, particularly when the technology is coupled with the Linc corporate messaging platform, so squandering goodwill over protecting users’ conversation seems counterproductive.

    One of the great business issues of this decade is the battle to protect users’ privacy. Those who don’t do this, or don’t understand the imperatives of doing so, are going to lose the trust of the marketplace.

    Twenty years ago, Microsoft could have risked this. Today they can’t as they struggle with a poor response to their Windows 8 operating system and their mobile phone product.

    Losing the trust of their customers may be the final straw.

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