hundreds of thousands

Cybercrime on the rise

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 07:00:00 -0500

The FBI recently announced the arrest and prosecution of several cybercrime cases against individuals accused of defrauding banks, companies and consumers. It is part of an FBI probe called "Operation Bot Roast." And it is just the beginning of a crackdown into the compromise of two million PCs attacked by at least 10 individuals.

It's pretty scary when you look at the kind of cases being prosecuted. A 21-year-old student at the University of Pennsylvania was recently indicted for orchestrating attacks from a botnet of 50,000 PCs against various online chat networks. The scheme had a very far reach--the student was charged with working with an individual from New Zealand. Meanwhile, a 27-year-old Tacoma, Wash., resident pleaded guilty in September to maintaining a botnet of hundreds of thousands of compromised PCs. He rented them out to spammers and people who wanted to use the bot network to take websites offline.

There are plenty of others, too. This may sound a bit like Bonnie and Clyde or the Wild West, but the reality is these are now new types of crimes that did not exist a decade ago. It's important for every CIO to remember that your network is not just your own. You probably keep your door locked at night and park your car in a safe location. With these new kind of cybercrimes, it's important to remember that law enforcement may not know what is coming next until a successful attack has been launched. Will you be the next victim?

ALSO: For a look at what's coming down the road for CIOs, check out this week's special report on eDiscovery, a legal issue that involves preserving and keeping track of electronic documents, including email, in the event of a court order to turn the material over in a lawsuit.-Judi

Boosting customer relationships through software

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 19:01:38 -0500

Many companies have reaped the benefits of customer relationship management (CRM) systems over the years, but more and more are turning to hosted CRM to save money, eliminate in-house maintenance, reduce deployment headaches and hasten deployment. In some cases, deployment can happen within 90 days instead of 12 months or more with a hosted solution. Costs can also be a factor. A hosted version can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars less than buying a CRM product outright. Maintenance and record-keeping is also easier; hosted systems aggregate sales figures automatically, eliminating hours of manual reporting. What's more, an on-demand system allows you to dip your toes into the water and see whether the solution is right for your company. Hosted CRM vendors include Salesforce.com, SAP, Oracle, and RightNow Technologies.

Learn more about hosted CRM:
- read the article at Baseline

ALSO:
- read this on wringing more value out of CRM
- and this for more about CRM

A prosperous year ahead for IT professionals

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 19:01:38 -0500

Judging from the last six months, next year is clearly set to be a good year for IT professionals, whether looking for a new job, a raise or even a new career path. All the indicators are positive--even recruiters are eagerly looking forward to 2007. The workforce outlook hasn't been this positive since 2001 and experts point to the hundreds of thousands of new jobs, the expanding demand on IT to push business forward and the demand for more project leaders. Even the growth of outsourcing and expansion of the hotly-contested H1B-visa issue isn't likely to slow down tech prosperity.

For more on the workforce outlook in 2007:
- read this feature at eWeek

Lenovo joins battery recall list

Thu, 28 Sep 2006 20:01:38 -0400

First it was Sony recalling hundreds of thousands of laptop batteries, and now Lenovo has issued its own recall of over 500,000 laptop batteries as they feature Sony's lithium ion cell. While the recall only impacts between 5 and 10 percent of the company's laptops, customers are advised to go to the site and check whether their PC houses one of the flawed batteries. Lenovo is actually the fourth company to take such action following Dell, Apple and Toshiba.

For more on the latest battery issue news:
- read the article at CNET News.com

PLUS: Sony launching global battery replacement program. Article

VA reports another laptop theft

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 20:01:39 -0400

While this week's news brought the arrest of those allegedly responsible for stealing a laptop housing confidential data of hundreds of thousands of veterans, it also brings news that a second laptop has gone missing also holding data related to the Department of Veterans Affairs. This time it's the personal information of 36,000 veterans, and very likely also contains personal medical data as well. According to the report, the device was taken from the office of a subcontracting firm.

For more on the latest VA security breach:
-read this blog posting at CSO.com