Opinion

Opinion

• 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

• Application lifecycle management tools improve the life expectancy of IT projects

  Don't underestimate the benefits of managing applications throughout their use  Continue Reading

• Don't fear e-terror hype

  The evidence fails to support the doom-mongers  Continue Reading

• Your shout: Security and skills

  Have your say at computerweekly.com  Continue Reading

• Blogs: footprints in cyberspace

  Employees and employers need to be wary of blogging  Continue Reading

• It's a long road to genuine cost cuts

  Some Conservative and Labour politicians talk about cutting waste as if central government's excesses were stacked up like tins...  Continue Reading

• Cut bureaucracy and build for the future

  In the first of three articles by the major political parties, the Conservatives explain their stance on IT issues and how they...  Continue Reading

• Seeing the big picture

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

• Adobe/Macromedia to offer alternative to MS

  Adobe’s £1.8bn acquisition of Macromedia is major news for the software industry, although not altogether surprising. Macromedia...  Continue Reading

• Your shout: Careers, skills and security

  Have your say at computerweekly.com  Continue Reading

• Voice over IP: finding a balance between flexible access and risk of external attack

  The maturity of internet telephony technology opens up network safety concerns  Continue Reading

• IT employers need to grow their own skills to stave off shortages

  Vacancies for skilled and experienced IT staff have more than doubled over the past 12 months and for most skills they are back...  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

• Know your partners

  Whether compliance is seen as a distraction or a useful tool, someone has to marshal and present the facts  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

• More than lip service

  The test of regulatory compliance is business process change and ensuring employees are not your biggest 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

• The race for power

  Forty years ago Gordon Moore predicted with uncanny accuracy how the computer industry would evolve, revolutionising businesses...  Continue Reading

• Building bridges is just the start

  Tomorrow's launch of the Strategic Supplier Relationship Group is an important landmark in the development of our industry.  Continue Reading

• Neither thin nor fat, the smart client model could offer users the best of both worlds

  Microsoft is 'betting big' on hybrid approach to application management  Continue Reading

• Next move: Project management

  The question  Continue Reading

• Your shout: Skills, agile programming and RFID

  Have your say at computerweekly.com  Continue Reading

• Software industry told it must learn from the past and stop acting like 'hairdressers'

  Software development is generally more like a fashion industry than professional engineering because IT specialists fail to learn...  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

• Review IT department's structure to improve efficiency

  To operate more effectively, large IT departments should review their complex structure and prioritise projects, Forrester...  Continue Reading

• UK can't see its own skills

  "Skills shortage" is largely due to sidelining SMEs  Continue Reading

• Compliance can help

  Increasing regulatory requirements should not be seen simply as a business burden. Organised and implemented policies can deliver...  Continue Reading

• Good IT wears a human face

  It is unfortunate that the public is often most aware of IT when it goes wrong, or when organisations use it to provide...  Continue Reading

• Your shout: cybercrime, ageism and business continuity

  Have your say at computerweekly.com  Continue Reading

• RFID: a threat to privacy?

  Surveillance is becoming much easier thanks to radio frequency identification (RFID) technology - a fact not lost on...  Continue Reading

• Strategy Clinic: What makes a good IT manager for SMEs?

  Our panel of experts answer your IT problems  Continue Reading

• E-law needs a champion

  Appoint an e-crime minister to co-ordinate the fight  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

• You can lead a horse...

  There is a valuable lesson to be learnt from the International Petroleum Exchange's drawn-out shift to online trading  Continue Reading

• Mean business to beat IT blues

  If there is such a thing as a free lunch, it looks as if we in the IT industry ate ours last year. 2004 saw a burst of IT...  Continue Reading

• Control mobile workers' access to devices to protect the firm from security breaches

  Different levels of security policy must be set to protect access to information  Continue Reading

• Your shout: Have your say on ageism contributing to the skills shortage

  In response to Next Move (Computer Weekly, 15 March) where the question was whether 37 is too old to be a network engineer  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

• Pay-as-you-go politics

  IT must call procurement shots in move to on-demand  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

• Your shout! On alternatives to 'users' and 'the business'

  In response to Naked Leader David Taylor's first monthly column (Computer Weekly 22 February)  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

• Four challenges to get the most out of ERP

  Research identifies the areas where problems occur with enterprise software roll-outs, says Chris Westrup  Continue Reading

• Productive relationships

  Contract standards could mean a better deal for users, says Ben Booth  Continue Reading

• What do we want in our IT heaven?

  "Can you really see the future?" runs one of the advertising slogans for the world's biggest IT show, CeBIT.  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

• Mobile gets hotter

  In the two years since the launch of the Intel Centrino, considerable progress has been made in developing new mobile technology...  Continue Reading

• Open source's open sore

  Intellectual property rights can catch out the unwary, says Alison Bryce  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

• Motivate staff to be the best

  The awards ceremony for Computer Weekly's Best Places to Work in IT 2005 provided a fitting climax to this year's search for the...  Continue Reading

• Could Firefox have assisted birth of IE7?

  Microsoft plans to release a new beta test version of Internet Explorer this summer, but it will only run on Windows XP with...  Continue Reading

• Audit could be key to success

  A forward-looking independent review of the national programme for IT in the NHS would be the most important step in the life of...  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

• Beware upgrading enterprise software: total cost can be many times the licence fee

  As Oracle and SAP vie for unsettled PeopleSoft users, what does the future hold? asks Bruce Richardson  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

• IT asset management can aid compliance and cut costs

  Why are less than 10% of businesses using IT assest management programmes, asks Jon Mein  Continue Reading

• Building a win-win deal

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

• Ensure that benefits and savings outweigh investment and upheaval of convergence

  The virtues of network convergence are widely extolled, says Steve Kennedy, but does it make business sense, or is it just the...  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

• Your shout! on how ageism affects younger staff as well

  Have your say at computerweekly.com  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

• Evolving technology barbarians will need new tools to prove their value to the board

  There is an adage that as a young company matures, its leadership evolves from being barbarians to bureaucrats, and a similar...  Continue Reading

• What GPs want from IT

  Honest consultation about the practical changes needed is key to NHS e-booking success, says Paul Cundy  Continue Reading

• Size, unlike intelligence, is not everything

  Users often think enterprise application software needs multimillion-pound budgets and months to roll out, but the hottest...  Continue Reading

• Your shout! On why it will take more than a law to beat ageism

  In response to the news that an EU law could put an end to milkround campus recruitment (Computer Weekly, 1 February)  Continue Reading

• Clean data is good business

  Managed data can offer benefits beyond compliance  Continue Reading

• Need for better communication is vital as doctors voice deep concerns about NPfIT

  Doctors' comments reveal fears of wastage and a failure to appreciate their needs  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

• Your shout! On why Linux code does not have to be rewritten

  In response to the news that the Linux community could be forced to rewrite code after IBM hands over its operating systems to SCO (Computer Weekly, 1 February)  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

• RFID should not be a closed shop

  Electronic tagging using RFID - radio frequency identification - will create a sea-change in the way items are tracked as they...  Continue Reading

• Proactivity breeds predictability and the chance for better business opportunities

  Firms should blend service- and event-driven architectures, says Chris Phillips  Continue Reading

• Crime is no private affair

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

• Virtual office block tests show scalability of wireless local area network technology

  Simulation tests feasibility of replacing wired networks with wireless Lans  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

• Put safeguards in place now to avoid problems with future converged networks

  Any weaknesses in an IP data network today will become more of a threat, says Chris Risley  Continue Reading

• FOI: a licence to snoop?

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

• Fresh approach promises much

  There is a danger that with the appointment of Ian Watmore as government chief information officer he will have a grand title and...  Continue Reading

• A year of change on the desktop

  This should be an interesting year in the PC market, because many of the people who are least able to cope with change will...  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

• Common sense standard boosts effeciency

  The IT Infrastructure Library methodology can help IT departments calculate how effective their service is compared with...  Continue Reading

• Time to mobilise your business

  Mobile phones have gone forth and multiplied to the point that in some places they have become a nuisance which requires a...  Continue Reading

• IBM sale may bring us next generation of PCs

  It is the end of an era. I obtained my first IBM PC in 1982, before it officially was on sale in the UK.  Continue Reading

• Neglect of e-mail etiquette can ruin business relationships

  The volume of e-mail is growing exponentially and it is predicted that by next year 36 billion e-mail messages will be sent...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Keep intrusion detection systems simple

  The right strategy will address potential drawbacks such as false positives, says Richard Starnes  Continue Reading