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"It
is not hard to learn more. What is hard is to unlearn when you discover
yourself wrong. ” – Martin H. Fischer
Top Picks
Before the Gunfire, Cyberattacks
“Weeks
before bombs started falling on
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/technology/13cyber.html?hp
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-cyberwar17-2008aug17,0,5922456.story
[ They
make the keen observation that this might be the first multi-layered attach
wherein a digital offensive preceded an armed invasion. The author also
points out that
Amazon Green
In a
sign of the times, Amazon is creating a green portal for people to find
environmentally friendly products for their everyday lives including lighting,
computers, etc. It’s very interesting to see their approach.
One that caught my eye is that they have a section called “Your Green
3” wherein the user gets to “pick 3 green products you wish
everyone had. Then on the right side of the screen they list the nominees
– reusable grocery totes, fluorescent lights, push lawn mower, bikes, the
Kindle, solar power, etc. They even have Green Buying Guides on the left
side navigation bar. Even if you don’t plan on buying anything, and
they do make it oh-so-easy to do so, stop by and see what they are doing from a
marketing perspective.
Another Inconvenient Truth
“The
message is simple enough:
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/11950514?f=alerts
Book Recommendation
The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the
Learning Organization by Peter M. Senge
This
book is a classic on the need for organizations that learn. He covers the
need for a shared vision, how to foster creativity, team learning, personal
mastery and offers a primer on systems thinking. He’s a great
writer and the book is a very worthwhile read.
This
book is such a seminal work that there are many resources providing insights,
reviews, etc. regarding it.
·
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Discipline
·
http://www.rtis.com/nat/user/jfullerton/review/learning.htm
·
http://www.strategy-business.com/press/16635507/11794
IT Audit / Internal Audit / Compliance
Phantom Menace
“Not
all short lists are worth being on. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
announced rules on July 15th to restrict short-selling of 19 financial
stocks.”
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/11948659?f=alerts
E-discovery still confounds companies and their lawyers
“E-discovery
is incredibly expensive, time-consuming and fraught with error. If you botch
it, your company may lose its case in court and be sanctioned with heavy fines
for failing to produce all the required information. And your lawyers can get
hauled before the bar association for ethical breaches if their client (that's
you) fails to meet its legal obligations.”
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid14_gci1324329,00.html?track=sy160
Energy told to tighten cybersecurity policies
“The
Energy Department's inspector general on Thursday released an audit of the
department's certification and accreditation procedures for national security
information systems that revealed a number of potentially serious weaknesses.
Auditors concluded that the problems were similar to those that led to the
theft of classified information at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2006. ‘In
our judgment, the findings in the report suggest the department could be at
risk for similar diversions,’ they wrote.”
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=40755&dcn=todaysnews
The
audit report is at: http://www.ig.energy.gov/documents/IG-0800.pdf
IT Process Improvement / Quality Management
Pepperweed Process Model
IT
organizations under pressure to conduct process improvement efforts, whether
for compliance, security, or operational requirements, are often challenged to
find proven cost effective guidance. Pepperweed Consulting has created an
integrated process model that has been developed via real world experience at
fortune 1000 organizations over countless engagements and made that hard won
knowledge freely accessible.
Pepperweed
Consulting has released its core process intellectual property for free
download that covers the following processes:
·
IT Governance Processes - IT Asset Management (ITAM), Financial, Program and Project, and
Portfolio
·
IT Management Processes - Availability, Capacity, IT Service Continuity, Continuity
Operations, Service Catalog, and Service Level
·
Control Processes - Change, Configuration, and Release
·
Operations Processes - Event, Incident, Request, Problem, and Knowledge
·
Security Processes - Access, Information Security Management System (ISMS), and
Security Operations
Pepperweed
believes that by setting forth this collection of integrated baseline
information technology processes will enable process improvement on a scale not
previously possible. By providing this documentation, the foundations of proper
management and control are laid enabling IT to focus on its mission of creating
and protecting value.
By
registering at http://www.pepperweedprocessmodel.com,
a compressed zip file can be downloaded that contains the documentation for all
of the processes listed above.
Note –
A revised version of the process model was released the week of July 28th.
If you downloaded the model previously, this release reflects an edit pass that
was conducted on some of the content to improve clarity, correct mistakes, etc.
Build or retrofit Green Data Center – Get Cash Back
“Sec.
179D of the IRS Code provides a significant deduction for the cost of
energy-efficient improvements to commercial property. With an estimated
4.5 million existing commercial properties in the U.S. and with 14% of U.S.
cities with populations of at least 50,000 having mandated green standards for
new commercial buildings and dozens more poised to follow, the 179D tax
deduction could help mitigate the average 3-7% cost difference in building
green.”
http://datacenterjournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1822
Security and Risk Management
Premier 100: Confessions of a corporate spy
“A
former National Security Agency analyst who is now an expert on corporate
espionage offered chilling accounts yesterday of his easy penetration into a
variety of
[
Definitely read this one.]
Global Trail of an Online Crime Ring
“As
an international ring of thieves plundered the credit card numbers of millions
of Americans, investigators struggled to figure out who was orchestrating the
crimes in the
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/technology/12theft.html?_r=1&src=linkedin&oref=slogin
Goodbye, Passwords. You Aren’t a Good Defense.
“Computer
security experts say that choosing hard-to-guess passwords ultimately brings
little security protection. Passwords won’t keep us safe from identity
theft, no matter how clever we are in choosing them.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/technology/10digi.html?em
Eyeballing the Security of Application Service Providers
“ASPs
must be treated like a trusted business partner as they become the guardians of
your website and sensitive customer information. Their security MUST be a
priority requirement. If they are insecure, your business is insecure. It's
just that simple. “
NIST SP800-60 Revision 1
Released
August 14, 2008
Guide for
Mapping Types of Information and Information Systems to Security Categories: (2
Volumes) - Volume 1: Guide Volume 2: Appendices
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsSPs.html#800-60_Rev1
Brain will be battlefield of future, warns
“In
a report commissioned by the Defense Intelligence Agency, leading scientists
were asked to examine how a greater understanding of the brain over the next 20
years is likely to drive the development of new medicines and technologies.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/aug/13/military.neuroscience
Researchers use browser to elude
“Two
security researchers have developed new techniques that bypass the memory
protection safeguards in the Windows Vista operating system through the use of
browser exploits.”
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid14_gci1324395,00.html?track=sy160#
Torvalds: Fed up with 'security circus'
“Linus
Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel, says he's fed up with what he sees as a ‘security
circus’ surrounding software vulnerabilities and how they're hyped by
security people.”
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9112718
NYC's Plan To Track Everything That Moves
“
http://www.crn.com/security/210100235
Healthcare / Bio-Informatics / Care Delivery Organizations
(CDOs)
Techies find niche in health care field
“If
the nation's health care system continues to move toward wider adoption of
health information technology, it could need 40,000 more health IT
professionals to do it, according to research by Dr. William Hersh, a professor
of health informatics at Oregon Health & Science University.”
The Hospital of the Future
“Sure,
your organization offers sophisticated, compassionate care. But the patients of
tomorrow will want much more than that. Here’s how some hospitals are
creating facilities for a new vision of healthcare.”
http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/214959/topic/WS_HLM2_MAG/The-Hospital-of-the-Future.html
Human Error / Safety / Environment
American Airlines fined $7.1 million for safety violations
“Federal
regulators announced $7.1 million in fines against American Airlines on
Thursday over maintenance issues and problems with its drug- and
alcohol-testing programs”
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/08/14/american.airlines.faa/index.html
Ocean 'dead zones' becoming global problem
“Diaz
and co-author Rutger Rosenberg report in Friday's edition of the journal
Science that there are now more than 400 dead zones around the world, double
what the United Nations reported just two years ago.”
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/08/14/dead.zones.ap/index.html
Environmentalists Prompt Nuclear Power Wake-Up Call
“What
did the nuclear power industry get for playing footsie with the ‘greens’
on global warming? A knife in the back, it looks like. The greens now are saying
that emission-free nuclear power may actually contribute to climate change.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,404185,00.html
Scientists split on ice melt impact
“Will
global warming cause the
http://www.disasternews.net/news/article.php?articleid=3729
Flu vaccine makers ship more doses earlier
“Flu
vaccine makers have begun shipping their products already, earlier than usual,
and for the first time every strain included in the vaccine is new”
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2008-08-16-flu-vaccines_N.htm?csp=34
Global News / Business / Economics
How Fuel Subsidies Drag Down a Nation
“When
countries adopted bad economic policies in decades past, only their own
citizens paid a price. In today’s globalized economy, however, the burden
falls more broadly.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/business/economy/17view.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Europe's energy source lies in the shadow of
“While
a spokesman for the EU commission says the situation in Georgia meant that the
EU 'had no time to waste' in dealing with energy security, the instability of
the region covering the SCP threatens to scupper Europe's policy of
diversifying its energy supply, giving Russia a much stronger hand. This is
chiefly due to the undesirable nature, as Europe sees it, of the most viable
alternatives - Iran, whose nuclear programme is a bone of contention, and Iraq,
whose current instability is cause for great concern.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/17/oil.gas
Posh Parties Show a
“Wealthy
Chinese have been throwing glamorous receptions and trendy, celebrity-filled
parties for years. But with the Olympics,
US News / Business / Economics
Consumer prices
shot up in July
“Consumer prices shot up in
July at twice the expected rate, pushed higher by surging energy and food
costs. The latest surge left inflation running at the fastest pace in 17
years.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26195964/
Two Large Solar
Plants Planned in
“Companies will build two
solar power plants in
Airlines Add Fees, Trim
Frequent-Flier Benefits
“On the back of a year of
skyrocketing oil prices most airlines have made announcements that they will
add a fuel surcharge or fee when booking award tickets.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121885344202646613.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Technology & Science
'Slow' light to
speed up the net
“The net's speed limit comes
about not in transporting information, but in routing it to its various
destinations. Metamaterials could replace the bulky and slow electronics
that do the routing, paving the way for lightning fast speeds.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7557280.stm
Rat-brain robot
aids memory study
“A robot controlled by a blob
of rat brain cells could provide insights into diseases such as Alzheimer's,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7559150.stm
[ The striking thing for me is that
they are teaching/training the cells and they are working in tandem with the
robot. ]
Intel: Energy costs
for running PCs could drop
Intel is going to release a chipset
with a remote wakeup capability to allow the triggering of sleep and wake
remotely to save power.
http://www.cclonline.com/news2/newsArticle.asp?articleid=18734423&tid=cclnews
End Notes
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