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Stories by Linda Musthaler

  • Improving network access security for unmanaged devices

    "Lions, and tigers and bears! Oh, my!" Anyone who has ever seen The Wizard of Oz knows that's the sum of the fears of Dorothy, Scarecrow and Tin Woodsman as they head into the woods on their way to Oz. For the network security administrator dealing with unmanaged devices, that refrain might be something like "handhelds, and laptops and guests! Oh, my!"

  • Lost: A $49,000 laptop computer

    About fifteen years ago, my husband and his colleague had their laptop computers stolen out of a car. They were fearful of reporting the incident to their boss, largely because the laptops had cost the company about US$7,000 each. A $14,000 hit to the departmental budget was a serious blow. And back in those days, no one gave much thought to exposure of the data on the stolen devices.

  • Engineers fix the shortcomings of the traditional firewall

    Sometimes, the problems we experience with computers are a result of a legacy design. Hardware or software might have been architected 10 or 20 years ago when the world of computing was vastly different from the way it is today. As a result, the product in use today isn't as effective as it could be because of aging or obsolete design.

  • Top data-breach causes

    In recent years, organizations that have experienced breaches have been forced by law (in many cases) to report the occurrence. Therefore, we've seen a spike in incident reports. Collectively we can all learn from those reports to attempt to prevent similar occurrences in our own organizations.

  • How to prepare for certification legitimately

    With the crackdown on certification cheaters, the ITCC strongly urges candidates to know and follow the certifying agencies' security policies. They are posted online and must be acknowledged when a candidate wants to take a test.

  • Why we need a strong IT certification system

    The integrity of IT certification is vitally important to everyone. IT, as an industry and a profession, is largely unregulated. There are no government standards that define the qualifications of any level of IT professional. There is no licensing process or required educational background. In essence, anyone can declare himself a "network engineer" or a "systems analyst." It's the Wild West of professions.

  • Confessions of a cert cheat

    A member of the Exam Security Team from a major IT solutions vendor recently received an e-mail from an IT professional who owned up to the fact that he had inadvertently cheated to prepare for his certification exam.

  • Symantec is definitely a company to watch

    Symantec seems to be one of those companies that toiled for 25 years to become an overnight success. The company has grown rapidly through mergers and acquisitions, not the least of which was systems management company Altiris in April 2007. Now in 2008, Symantec is a powerhouse player in security, systems management, application virtualization, storage management and compliance.

  • NETWORK WORLD: Ink fuels the printer wars

    You might think that all laser or inkjet printers are pretty much the same, and basically, they are. Manufacturers such as Canon, HP and Lexmark don’t make a lot of money on each printer they sell. The big bucks come from selling you supplies such as ink cartridges over the life of a printer.