Opinion

Opinion

IT security

• DPM's diary: CP bound

  The first hot weather of the year sees the return of a few old challenges to the department.  Continue Reading

• A CIOstands up for openness

  Steve Lamey, chief information officer at the newly merged HM Revenue and Customs, has set himself the task of removing major inefficiencies. He has discovered, for example, that staff in each of the UK's 72 tax offices do things differently.  Continue Reading

• Reliability and performance testing is the only way to guarantee quality of service

  If you want a successful IP network, test it before, during and after implementation  Continue Reading

• Cybercrime fight under-funded as millions 'wasted' on software piracy convictions

  National Hi-Tech Crime Unit should give piracy a lower priority  Continue Reading

• Your shout: Skills, security and communications

  Have your say at computerweekly.com  Continue Reading

• Developers should be encouraged to write security into the code for new applications

  Securing applications is as important as securing systems but is often overlooked  Continue Reading

• Don't become a sitting duck

  IT departments are fighting an increasingly fraught battle to keep their systems free of security vulnerabilities  Continue Reading

• Information security: Seeing the big picture

  Information security is about securely bringing together the organisation's two most important assets - information and people.  Continue Reading

• Your shout: Security and skills

  Have your say at computerweekly.com  Continue Reading

• Combine to beat crime

  The IT industry must work together to do more to protect itself and help the police bring cybercriminals to justice  Continue Reading

• Identify security gaps

  A three-step process will let you bridge the divide between your current security regime and a more robust system  Continue Reading

• Babies and bathwater

  Throwing away your spam filter so it cannot prevent crucial messages reaching your inbox rather misses the point  Continue Reading

• Join the programme

  InfoSecurity Forum standard will help firms draft a comprehensive best-practice plan of action for security  Continue Reading

• Defining the real spyware

  Some anti-spyware products may leave you no better off  Continue Reading

• Plug-and-play perils

  Portable data storage may be convenient, but pen-sized high-capacity devices are becoming the latest threat  Continue Reading

• Lock up data or lose it

  Confidential data leakage can be devastating, but the cause is often ignorance rather than malicious intent  Continue Reading

• Guide spells out key risks of Basel 2

  A guide about the forthcoming Basel 2 code on risk management has been published by consultancy BearingPoint.  Continue Reading

• Make suppliers take responsibility

  In a further extract from his book, computer security expert Bruce Schneier looks at where to apply pressure to improve products  Continue Reading

• There will always be 'must have' security - but can you identify the 'don't need'?

  The first step to managing risk is to identify the dangers to your organisation  Continue Reading

• Take the initiative on security certification to meet the demands of corporate partners

  Signing up to security standards such as BS7799 could ease pressure on SMEs, says Arthur Barnes  Continue Reading

• Your shout: Patents, careers and project management

  Have your say at computerweekly.com  Continue Reading

• Don't let test data open a security loophole

  Using real business data to test new applications is vital, but take precautions, says David Chalmers  Continue Reading

• Speak up to beat cybercriminals

  Hats off to the police National Hi-Tech Crime Unit for foiling the £220m attempted e-raid on Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui in the...  Continue Reading

• Your shout: ID cards, spam and security

  Have your say at computerweekly.com  Continue Reading

• Independent assessment is needed to stop NPfIT becoming yet another IT disaster

  Shadow health minister states Conservative position on national IT programme  Continue Reading

• Dear diary… this entry may be libellous

  IT managers need to be aware of the dangers of employees keeping web logs, says Nick Chronias  Continue Reading

• IT should take the lead on Sarbanes-Oxley

  US financial reporting law can be used as a catayst for better management, says Ashley Braganza  Continue Reading

• SMBs' real risk of being online

  Stuart King CISSP, is responsible for online security and risk assessment for the Reed Elsevier Group.  Continue Reading

• The skills of IT architects provide the foundation for business success

  A sound architecture involves both strong technology and a professional approach, says Allen Brown  Continue Reading

• Top four pitfalls of BPO

  Relationships are key to business process outsourcing, says Michael Hyltoft  Continue Reading

• Building a win-win deal

  Trust is key to successful outsourcing partnerships, says John Creber  Continue Reading

• Is variable reponse the key to secure systems?

  Variable detection and prevention is only way to let users in and keep intruders out, says Phil Cracknell  Continue Reading

• Ending the age of the password

  IT directors face the constant challenge of giving the business enough flexibility to access IT however, wherever and whenever...  Continue Reading

• Regulators to lessen pain of exporting data

  Data protection law is a continuing headache for international businesses. The 1997 EU Data Protection Directive even applies to...  Continue Reading

• Get the doctors on board - or fail

  One simple maxim should be pinned on the wall of the project management office of any major IT development: No matter how elegant...  Continue Reading

• Capacity for change

  Over the years storage has very much been the poor relation, something purchased as a server add-on. However, now it is important...  Continue Reading

• Firms can be brought to book for illegal images on their systems

  Companies are liable for all illegal images stored by staff, says Dave McLoughlin  Continue Reading

• Crime is no private affair

  The police must not leave firms to fend for themselves, says Richard Starnes  Continue Reading

• Rise of the digital mafia

  Collaboration key to beating professional e-criminals, says Pete Simpson  Continue Reading

• Politics and IT: a difficult mix

  The dangers of mixing politics and IT projects are clearly illustrated by the reaction of ministers and senior civil servants to...  Continue Reading

• FOI: a licence to snoop?

  IT firms must beware of rivals seeking to exploit law, says Renzo Marchini  Continue Reading

• Prepare to free your information

  The past few years have seen a raft of corporate governance regulations aimed at making company dealings more transparent. And...  Continue Reading

• Define IT risks to the company to comply with new business continuity legislation

  The board will be legally required to protect the business from known risks, says Marcus Hill  Continue Reading

• IT challenges for 2005

  Wise CIOs are preparing for economic uncertainty, says Ben Booth  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: The fight against fraud

  2005 is set to be a critical year for criminal activity, says Peter Dorrington  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Human factor is key to wireless security

  As increasing numbers of firms allow at least some of their staff to use wireless devices, it is important to educate the...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the Day Asking for trouble

  Thousands of ordinary users will plug into Broadband Britain this Christmas, says Simon Moores, and they haven't a hope of...  Continue Reading

• Your shout! On the problem of youth discrimination

  In response to Nick Huber's article, entitled Beware youngsters' ageism claims (Computer Weekly, 26 October)  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Virus writers enjoy public holiday releases

  Christmas comes but once a year but that will not stop the hackers, so users must ensure that all their anti-virus defences are...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Big brother is watching

  Is the introduction of the raft of well-intentioned technological measures aimed at protecting national security going to...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day Virus protection is easier than you think

  Simple rules can deal with most threats without the need for AV products, says Nick Scales  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Web of deceit

  The truth is out there, but disentangling it from the scams is more than Simon Moores can do.  Continue Reading

• Plan for data protection rules when moving IT work offshore

  Outsourcing deals could fall foul of EU data privacy directive.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: We know where you live

  Resist the web browser witch hunt - online crime doesn't represent anything like the same kind of threat as global terrorism,...  Continue Reading

• Multi-layered security is vital to stop new wave of day zero attacks and mobile threat

  Traditional reactionary anti-virus measures are no longer adequate for business.  Continue Reading

• Spending rise has a downside

  The Computer Weekly/Kew Associates quarterly spending survey should put a smile on everyone's face. IT spending by corporate...  Continue Reading

• Use regulations to get boardroom backing for IT security policies

  Buy-in from top is essential to build security culture, says Jon Fell  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day Create a security culture

  Staff education is vital to effective information security, writes Richard Starnes.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Thieves' charters

  Sometimes the internet goes out of its way to let other people get their hands on your intellectual property, says Simon Moores.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day The bogeyman cometh

  Don't let reasonable security concerns turn into panic-filled hysteria, says Simon Moores.  Continue Reading

• Your shout! On finding a way to report phishing scams

  In response to Malcolm Frary, who wanted to know how to report banking phishing scams (Letters, 26 October)  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: A descent into hell

  The dreams and visions that made IT and the internet a force for freedom have been transformed into a nightmare of political...  Continue Reading

• Secure state of mind

  Not surprisingly, security is one of the biggest issues facing businesses today. The threat posed by viruses, hackers and...  Continue Reading

• How to avoid the pitfalls in the small print

  Ensure you are not trapped by contracts' limited liability clauses.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: You've been Googled

  Do you really want Google to get to know you better? Simon Moores certainly doesn't  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: How to beat the sinister side of spamming

  Failure to tackle zombies can lead to company blacklisting, says Pete Simpson  Continue Reading

• Involve IT from the start to ease pain of mergers and acquisitions

  "The integration programme is on track. It is only IT that is behind." A comment along these lines usually occurs within a month...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Safe as houses

  It has become increasingly difficult to prevent the bad guys getting hold of your credit card and bank account details.Will it...  Continue Reading

• Downtimes

  Same old chaos reigns a century from now  Continue Reading

• IT industry must have the freedom to grow

  Shadow minister for industry and technology for the Conservatives, Michael Fabricant, explains why a light touch from government...  Continue Reading

• Stop the party games with IT

  Over the past three weeks, the Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Conservatives have spelt out their IT policies.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Cybersex and the kiss of death

  By hiding trojans within the pornographic images so enthusiastically pinged around the internet, hackers have finally made...  Continue Reading

• £28bn: the cost of the 'worst case worm'

  Study assess the dameage that the worst possible electronic attack could inflict  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: At your Service (Pack2)

  The security benefits of XP SP2 are probably worth the risk of disrupting your system when you install it, says Simon Moores  Continue Reading

• Defences must be multi-layered

  Spam blights many networks, but it can be managed and blocked  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Organised crime sews up internet scams

  Where do we start in defending ourselves against the ever growing internet scams, asks Simon Moores  Continue Reading

• Beware of spies in the machine

  While spyware is widely used to track the patterns of individual users' internet usage, there is an unexplored and more sinister...  Continue Reading

• Your Shout! On the likely rise in cost of the ID card project

  In response to the news that the Home Affairs Select Committee expects the national ID card project to cost more than £3bn (Computer Weekly, 3 August)  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Unite to beat the bad guys

  Work with your users to protect corporate systems, says Stuart Okin  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Too many questions asked

  Crime prevention is being used as the excuse to obtain personal information before providing basic services. Simon Moores asks...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: The thin red line

  As the saying goes, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you - and technology is increasingly making...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Take a deep breath

  ... And then step back from the ID card precipice before you do something we will all regret, Simon Moores urges the government  Continue Reading

• Microsoft tightens up

  On the matter of security, Microsoft comes in for more flak than most, but the imminent roll-out of Windows XP Service Pack 2 is...  Continue Reading

• The risk is real, so be prepared

  We live in a society that seems to increasingly abhor the idea that there should be any risk. As health and safety officers...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day IT downtime is a crisis

  Educate the board in the importance of IT continuity to reduce the business' exposure to risk, says Russell Flower  Continue Reading

• Bad data eats IT budgets

  Effective data integration is vital for business success  Continue Reading

• Thought for day: Spot e-marketing pitfalls

  IT directors should take heed of EU anti-spam ruling, says Gillian Cameron  Continue Reading

• Calculate true outsourcing gains

  Initial hype may hide the long-term costs and risks  Continue Reading

• Your shout! On how no employee can be indispensable

  With regard to the Strategy Clinic "No one has the skills to be my replacement" (Computer Weekly, 29 June), where an IT manager was having trouble finding a competent replacement for when he retired  Continue Reading

• Secrecy culture must be stopped

  Machiavelli once wrote that misjudgements and wrong turns are like tuberculosis: hard to detect and easy to cure in the...  Continue Reading

• Integrate data for business gain

  Staff spend too long tracking relevant data, says Chris Harding  Continue Reading

• Your shout! On whether spammers own the internet

  In response to Simon Moores' Thought for the Day (computerweekly.com), who suggested that the internet is becoming overrun by spam and is inherently insecure  Continue Reading

• Revenue cannot afford a failure

  This week will see the largest ever transfer of IT staff, systems and intellectual property in the public sector.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Daylight robbery

  The internet is already dominated by spammers and organised crime - how long before it becomes unviable for business use, asks...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day : Is that a USB in your pocket?

  A single USB stick can hold a wealth of data, but have companies realised the security risk these pose, asks Colin Beveridge.  Continue Reading

• Your Shout! On new rules to force disclosure of IT failures

  In response to news that governance regulations could force companies to reveal the details of failed IT projects (computerweekly.com, 28 May)  Continue Reading

• Public bodies must act now on FOI rules

  IT directors in the public sector need to tackle the huge legacy of paper and electronic records in their organisations now if...  Continue Reading

• It is time for software suppliers to take charge of patch management

  Users should not have to bear the security burden  Continue Reading

• Your shout: How to turn round a demotivated IT team

  More responses to Robin Laidlaw, who advocated sacking the worst-performing 25% of your staff to revitalise the IT department (Computer Weekly, 11 May)  Continue Reading

• Your shout: How flexible working can bring women to IT

  In response to a review of how flexible working has been accepted and promoted in IT over the past year to attract women to the industry (Computer Weekly, 4 May)  Continue Reading