software vendors

Are industrial computers systems vulnerable to attack?

Judi Hasson — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:22:36 -0400

It's well known that ordinary personal and business computer systems are vulnerable to hacking, but computers used to managing industrial machinery could also be at risk. Software was published just this month by security researcher Kevin Finisterre that could potentially give hackers a back door into utility companies, water plants and even oil and gas refineries, according to CIO.com.

Finisterre said he published the software to raise awareness of the flaws in these systems and because he believes these issues are often downplayed by software vendors. "These vendors are not being held responsible for the software that they're producing," said Finisterre, who is head of research with security testing firm Netragard. "They're telling their customers that there is no problem, meanwhile this software is running critical infrastructure."

Finisterre released his attack code as a software module for Metasploit, a widely-used hacking tool. The code exploits a flaw in Citect's CitectSCADA software that was originally discovered by Core Security Technologies and made public in June. Citect quickly released a patch, and the software vendor has said that the issue poses a risk only to companies that connect their systems directly to the Internet without firewall protection.

For more on vulnerable computer systems:
- check out this CIO.com article

Tech firms weathering economic turmoil

Judi Hasson — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:05:39 -0400

The U.S. unemployment rate reached 6.1 percent last month, a five-year high as companies slashed 84,000 jobs. The Labor Department reported on a number of hard-hit sectors, including housing, the auto industry and retail, but technology more than held its own. "Overall technology employment is up in America and the wages associated with it are up," said John McCarthy, a vice president with Forrester Research.

The Labor Department said payrolls of computer and electronics manufacturers grew 5.1 percent from July to August. There also was a 6.3 percent increase in the work force of computer-systems designers and related services providers. Software vendors, whose products can help other companies automate processes and save money in downturns, also held up well.

Yet some companies are being cautious in hiring, and others have been feeling the economic squeeze and cutting back this year. They include chip manufacturing equipment maker Applied Materials Inc., phone maker Motorola Inc., and Yahoo.

For more on the economy:
- see this CIO Today article

Feds encrypt 800,000 government laptops, 1.2 million more to go

Paul Mah — Fri, 23 May 2008 05:50:06 -0400

Government agencies in the United States are scrambling to plug a glaring security hole in the form of sensitive information stored on laptops and portable media such as thumb drives. More than 800,000 licenses for encryption software were purchased by agencies last year alone. Still, the brisk upswing came only after repeated headliners of gross security breaches and against a backdrop of increased risk of identity theft.

Various software from up to 10 leading vendors are available under steep discounts under the DAR (Data at Rest) Encryption program--run jointly by the General Services Administration and the Department of Defense--though the most popular products are hybrid packages that offer both full disk and file folder encryption.

For more on the DAR Encryption program:
- check out this Network World article

Check out storage resource management

Mon, 19 May 2008 06:59:58 -0400

When economic times were good and IT departments found themselves short on storage capacity, the solution was simple--throw more money and capacity at the problem.

Today there is an expensive storage hangover in the works, especially with power cost growing and a need to find new storage resource management solutions. InformationWeek asked for advice from SRM software vendors on how best monitor storage system and interconnect status; automate routine configuration tasks; and facilitate movement of data across the storage infrastructure.

They received responses from BridgeHead Software in California, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Network Appliance, Northern, Symantec, and Tek-Tools Software, along with newcomer Olocity.

To read what they had to say:
- check out this informationweek.com article

For more stories from the FierceCIO network:
> Dell pledges to be more energy efficient. Article
> HP works to fix Windows XP SP3. Article
> Opera Mini 4.1 released. Article

Microsoft Vista stalls in the enterprise

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 06:59:58 -0500

Businesses are bucking any and every trend to move to Microsoft Vista. Almost a year after its release, sales are still sluggish. And analysts say that won't change anytime soon. "From what we've seen so far, enterprises in the US and Europe have been slow to take it up," said Mike Silver, research vice president at Gartner. Silver said that software vendors have yet to come out with enough software that will work with the OS. And companies don't seem to see much point in using Vista over XP, the operating system it replaces. "Organizations really are not sold on the benefits [of Vista]," Silver said." Nonetheless, Silver still thinks Vista sales will increase in 2008 with the arrival of the first service pack. Microsoft must be keeping its fingers crossed on this one.

For more on Vista's uphill fight for market share:
- See this Silicon article

Google faces security hurdles in the enterprise

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 20:01:39 -0400

Google seems to be everywhere these days, but as the search giant moves into the enterprise, they're facing much of the same security scrutiny as those who have gone before them. Researchers at Ponemon Institute are expected to release a report today that outlines the concerns among IT professionals regarding the overall security of Google Desktop, the company's PC search utility, specifically within the confines of business operations. Their research revolves around a cross-site scripting vulnerability reported and subsequently patched by Google in February; the authors of the report say that their work underscores a growing level of concern over the company's rapidly expanding footprint in the enterprise. In a survey of more than 600 IT security specialists who indicated that they were familiar with the Google Desktop vulnerability, an overwhelming 71 percent said that they believe that the product likely harbors other security flaws. The company is trying to address security through its acquisitions of software vendors and has sponsored malware research projects such as Stopbadware.org.

For more on Google's security challenge in the enterprise:
- read all the details in this Infoworld. Article

IT hiring on the rise

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:01:40 -0400

While just about every news site seems completely preoccupied by the imminent release of Steve Jobs's iPhone this week, it has been a busy news week for CIOs as well. Baseline released the results from is latest survey, which looks at the fastest growing software companies. Not surprisingly, CIOs are interested in working with fewer software vendors and they're expecting a lot more from those few that they work with. After fattening up with point solutions from several vendors, CIOs are now looking for vendors that act more like partners, by helping to pull everything together in the enterprise. In terms of the fastest growing software vendor, Nuance Communications nabbed the number one spot, with 67.2 percent growth over the course of last year. Much of this growth is happening through acquisitions--take Oracle who spent $20 billion on acquisitions alone in the last few years. Also this week, Robert Half Technology released findings from its 3Q hiring survey, which finds that seventeen percent of the 1,400 CIOs surveyed said that they plan to add IT staff in the next three months while only two percent expect to cut staff. It's a great sign that things are looking up for IT. -Patty

Online role-playing comes to the boardroom

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:01:38 -0400

You may soon find yourself attending a virtual meeting, staring at an avatar representing you on screen. Using state-of-the-art technology from companies such as Second Life, Qwaq, Tixeo and Multiverse, companies now can conduct online meetings and collaborate online using three-dimensional graphic characters, or avatars, standing in for actual employees. And it's not just cutting-edge Silicon Valley companies taking the plunge; even large companies like Raytheon, BP and Hewlett-Packard are experimenting with the technology. It's viewed as an effective and efficient way to interact in ways that aren't possible over the phone or via video conference. But meetings and conferences are just the beginning. Although it's too early to gauge the effectiveness of virtual technology on business, software vendors say businesses are showing a lot of interest.

Learn more about virtual meetings:
- read the article at BusinessWeek

Software partnerships offer great rewards and challenges

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 19:01:39 -0500

Partnering with software vendors can provide great benefits to companies in terms of price, continuity and integration. After all, who knows the intricacies of the software and how to make it sing better than the vendor itself? By partnering with a vendor, business users can access the innovation of smaller companies while maintaining a single set of technical standards through work with a large vendor. In addition, risk decreases, as do implementation times and costs. But let the buyer beware: in some ways, you might be making a deal with the devil. Once you've forged a partnership, it's much harder to break free if you decide to go in a different direction. Partnerships with large vendors in particular can distract best-of-breed solution providers away from focusing on your company. That can reduce rapid innovation, flexibility, responsiveness and customer satisfaction.

Read more about the pros and cons of software partnerships:
- read the article in Optimize