Today is Blog Day 2006.
To celebrate all bloggers are invited to link to 5 blogs they haven’t mentioned before so here goes…
Guy Kawasaki
I Will Teach You To Be Rich
Presentation Zen
Security Awareness for Ma, Pa and the Corporate Clueless
Life Hack
Technorati Tags: steve watson, blog day
Article: Business 2.0 - 12 tips to stay safe while abroad on business
Twelve tips for those who travel abroad. Applicable whether it’s for business or pleasure.
Tips are categorized under the headings of:
Useful tips that expand on some I’ve thought of before.
Technorati Tags: steve watson, travel, safety
Potential employers lurk on MySpace, Facebook - Employers are googling prospective employees as part of the background checks to determine if they are employable. Good reminder…everything you’re writing can be found and tracked back to you…
1GB of free online storage from Box.net - Need some space online to store data? (make sure you encrypt anything you store online)
How to use Box.net just like Apple’s iDisk - Access the box.net account above like a iDisk drive from your OSX systems.
IT Conversations - Audio podcasts on Information Technology and Business
Technorati Tags: steve watson, tech links
Another theft of computing equipment where data critical to a business or it’s customers has been stolen. Wonder how long it will be before companies start requiring encrypted laptop volumes.
Hotels.com is warning nearly a quarter of a million customers that they may have had their credit card numbers stolen, following the theft of an unencrypted laptop belonging to the travel Web site’s auditor, Ernst & Young Global.
“[Hotels.com and Ernst & Young]…the two companies began sending out letters last week notifying approximately 243,000 customers of the theft.”
One thing I know for sure…I don’t want it to be MY laptop that’s stolen and divulges a quarter of a million customers to the world. Where I work that’s called a ‘career limiting move’.
Lessons to be learned:
1. Encrypt data on your systems that you are not willing to see left on a park bench or published on the internet.
2. “Locked in your vehicle” is not a safe place for your work or personal laptop anymore.
3. Portable hard drives/USB keys need to be encrypted too.
4. Companies: define security policy, enforce security policy
My work and personal laptops have encrypted hard drives, BIOS power-on passwords, and logon passwords. If I am away from my office, a cable lock secures my laptop when my eyes aren’t on it. You can’t be too careful.
Article: Yahoo News, Hotels.com Customer Data Stolen
Technorati Tags: steve watson, privacy, pii
So I’m working an incident, a ‘crisis’. It’s 2:55AM local time and I’m trying to stay awake until the next update.
A key server is down in California. The primary person working on the server is in Ireland. Another person working another part of the issue is in Malaysia, working with a guy in India. And I’m in Colorado managing the ‘incident’ online.
Nobody touches the server. Nobody sees each other. We may never meet. But we know each others voices and somehow work from all the disparate locations to perform what many consider impossible.
It’s amazing…and really tiring at 3 in the morning…
