(ISC)² offers University of Warwick students compact three day course

University of Warwick students have been given the opportunity to join (ISC)² via an Academic Affiliate Agreement with the WMG department.

The agreement will offer a three-day, specially devised CISSP Compact course to attract and develop the next generation of professionals and improve security standards through education. Renowned for its education programmes and courses in the UK and abroad, WMG is an academic department of the University of Warwick and one of the largest MSc departments in the country.

Harjinder Singh Lallie, senior teaching fellow of cyber security at WMG, said: “WMG is proud to have become an (ISC)2 Academic Affiliate. This allows our students to gain a certification that provides a breadth of requisite underpinnings in the cyber security domain.

“WMG's goal is to be recognised nationally and internationally for offering one of the top cyber security courses available and one that expressly meets the needs of industry. We consi der the CISSP certification to be the most highly sought-after in cyber security. It carries international recognition and significance and provides our students with an excellent advantage when seeking employment in this domain.”

John Colley, managing director, EMEA for (ISC)2, said: “It is heartening to see that WMG is committed to supporting its graduates as they move into the working world, and in particular to helping young people discover a career in the growing field of information security.  Young people - even young IT students - are largely unaware of the potential for a career in the field, which is restricting the entry of new talent and contributing to a rising skills gap as the existing workforce ages.

“As a professional organisation, we are committed to working with academic institutions to increase interest in and support the entry of more people into information security, while also ensuring they get the support they need to become product ive despite a lack of practical experience.”

Former botnet controller sentenced to 30 months in the US

An Arizona man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for selling command-and-control access to botnets.

Joshua Schichtel pleaded guilty in August 2011 to one count of attempting to cause damage to multiple computers without authorisation by the transmission of programs, codes or commands, which is a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and on top of his sentence he is also ordered to serve three years of supervised release.

Schichtel specifically pleaded guilty to causing software to be installed on approximately 72,000 computers on behalf of a customer who paid him $1,500 for use of the botnet.

In April, then White House cyber security co-ordinator Howard Schmidt announced that action on botnets would be a priority and that there had been 'a lot of discussion about botnets' in trying to identify how many are out there, what they are doing, what they could do and what the impact could be.

“We're teaming [with] US internet service providers, search engines, internet vendors, privacy rights advocates and groups and trade associations to tackle this on all fronts. We're working on developing best practices and an industry code of conduct within the next 90 days,” he said.

A working group was established in March and was led by Schmidt that will try to: develop principles for addressing the botnets; establish high-level strategies to increase public awareness about the botnets; leverage available consumer-focused information tools and resources to prevent the botnets from the beginning; and identify ways of measuring progress.

Schmidt however announced in May that he was retiring from his position, he later joined the board of directors at Qualys.

Google acquires file scanner VirusTotal

VirusTotal, a firm that provides free file checking for viruses, has been acquired by Google, according to a statement on the VirusTotal website.

We're delighted to be able to provide them with the infrastructure they need to ensure that their service continues to improve.

Google spokesperson

The free scanning tool uses more than three dozen antivirus engines to detect viruses, worms, trojans, and other malware hidden in files. In a blog post, VirusTotal said it would continue to operate independently, maintaining partnerships with various antivirus companies.

"This is an exciting step forward," the firms said. "Google has a long track record working to keep people safe online and we look forward to fighting the good fight together with them."

The firm said its size and resources were constrained making continued growth challenging. The company said Google's resources, including its infrastructure, will speed improvements and "ensure that our tools are always ready, right when you need them."

A Google spokesperson said the company didn't have any integration plans to announce. 

"Security is incredibly important to our users and we've invested many millions of dollars to help keep them safe online," the spokesperson said. "VirusTotal also has a strong track record in Web security, and we're delighted to be able to provide them with the infrastructure they need to ensure that their service continues to improve.” 

The company has made strategic security acquisitions to support its Gmail, Google Docs and other services. It acquired Postini in 2007 for $625 million. The San Carlos, Calif.-based company sold cloud-based security software for email and messaging encryption and security. In 2011, the company acquired Zynamics, a security analytics firm based in Germany.

VirusTotal scans individual files on-demand. If one of the antivirus engines detects a problem, the name of the virus will be displayed. Experts say the service is not a replacement for antivirus or other scanning tools. If a scanner thinks it has definitely found something, it will tell you the name of the virus it has detected.

Simple Mobile Banking App: Only for the Smallest Sole Proprietors

Small businesses are undergoing a revolution in how we handle and manage money.  Traditional banks are not going away anytime soon.  But we are in the midst of some long-term changes, and it's a highly fragmented landscape today.

New solutions keep popping up that are not banks or even products sold to us by banks - yet they get us paid faster and manage our finances.  PayPal; Square and other mobile credit card readers; online and mobile invoicing and accounting apps - these are all solutions that didn't exist or (as in the case of PayPal) were just getting off the ground 10 years ago.

With all the new solutions, we wondered if an unusual hybrid, called Simple, is a solution for small businesses.

Simple Wants to Replace Your Bank

Simple, which used to be known as BankSimple, touts itself as a replacement for a bank.  Simple is really a mobile app connected to some other pieces. In the FAQs it says:

“Simple is not a bank. Simple replaces your bank. Your funds live in FDIC-insured accounts with our partner bank, The Bancorp Bank, and we provide everything else.”

Simple is designed to pull together all your spending and income under one app, offering convenience.  For spending you get a Visa credit card.  You can arrange for direct deposit, and you get access to a national ATM network for cash transactions.

HelloWallet. Here's an example of a Simple chart:

 

The reports give customers a glimpse at their banking trends over time, like how often they make deposits and how their money is spent. Users can also break down their banking actions into categories like business expenses, personal items, restaurants and food, etc.

Simple â€" Mainly for Consumers and Not Small Businesses

Simple looks interesting for consumers.

But Simple is not a realistic solution for small businesses - unless you run a very small, one-person sole-proprietorship.   For instance, if you run a small crafting business with simple financial transactions - say, you accept money at craft shows for your products, and occasionally buy supplies with a credit card - it's possible Simple could solve your banking and financial management needs.

Simple also may be an easy way to track business income and expenses separately from personal in your bank account.   Best practice, though, is to avoid commingling business and personal in the first place (you definitely need separate accounts if your business is a partnership, LLC or a corporation).

For most small businesses, Simple currently is not designed to meet your needs.   If you have employees or use a lot of outside contractors, or if you issue invoices, or if you make payments to a variety of sources, you need functions Simple doesn't handle today.  Small businesses would still be faced with stitching together a hodgepodge of financial and accounting solutions.  That would defeat the purpose of using an all-in-one solution like Simple.

Simple went live to the public earlier this year.   Simple is invite-only at the moment, but prospective users can add their name to the waitlist on Simple's website. Users must be U.S. residents aged 18 or over.  Simple is available only for iPhone.

5 Reasons You Should Consider A Document Management Systems Over Simple File Sharing

Collaboration is one of the key things you need to have in mind with your small businesses; whether you're sharing information internally with your coworkers or with your business partners all over the world â€" sharing files can get messy.

To stop losing files, being sure the other side got it and everything else that goes with this kind of collaboration, many of you will see that simple email sharing isn't good enough. Should you use some specialized tools like Dropbox or SugarSync? Or should you think about implementing a document management system (DMS)? Here are some things that Square 9 Softworks thinks you should consider when choosing between file sharing and document management systems.

• Security. Security is one of the key things with handling documents. With a simple file sharing you can secure a shared directory (along with its subdirectories) to restrict access to them. Document management systems,  however, provide many more security features than that. Yyou can decide who can edit documents, add them, delete them,  etc. and, of course, you can get notifications on who and when accessed the document.
• Taxonomy.Naming the files is another problem huge problem with simple file sharing programs because it's at the discretion of the creator. Can you imagine how hard it would be to find a document just by its name in countless folders and subfolders? Very hard, right? DMS systems make this task a lot easier because they use standardized naming convention and enforce the use of required fields.
•  Revision control. Revision control should also be important to you, as it's always nice to have older versions of the files on hand just to be safe and in case the newer version somehow is worse than the original one (or just some previous version). That's another area where document management system are better than file sharing.
• Scanning Capabilities. Of course, there are some other great things which should speak in favor of document management systems; one of them is how they handle scanned documents. Sure, it would be great if businesses could be 100% paperless, however, that still isn't possible. So you're going to have to scan a lot of documents to create a digital archive of them and that's where DMS shows up as a great helper. Scan the document and if you're using a good enough DMS system, it will OCR the document so you'll have a searchable digital copy of your documents, opposed to basic .jpg files in a shared folder system.
• Control. The real benefit of having access to your documents and being able to share them is not in how many you can store and share, but in what you can do with those documents once you have them. Document management provides tools like workflow automation which allow content to flow throughout your organization based on pre-set rules or events. It also allows for the automated capture of email, web forms and even print output in many cases.

This is just a tip of the iceberg of collaboration and file organization; once you start using a document management system, you'll get used to it and find out all the advantages over file sharing. It will transform your business from an unorganized pile of files and papers into a finely structured, easily searchable digital storage system.

Raju Vegesna of Zoho: Integration Is The Future

Small business owners tend to wear many hats. One day it's IT, the next day it's sales, the next it's accounting. Wouldn't it be a breath of fresh air to have all of your information and data in one place, at your fingertips, and on the go? Tune in as Raju Vegesna, Chief Evangelist at Zoho, joins Brent Leary to share an integration solution that will keep you and your small business nimble, mobile and efficiently standing on it's feet.

* * * * *

Small Business Trends: Can you tell  us a little bit about Zoho and what you do?

Raju Vegesna: We offer a broad set of applications for small businesses so that small businesses can focus on running their business and not on IT.  We take away the pain of managing and maintaining the fast track. We offer online tools that businesses need to run their business.

Small Business Trends: Can you talk about your approach to CRM for small business?

Raju Vegesna: We believe the small business market has been ignored for a long time.  We have been focusing on it for a while. In fact, when we got started, we just wanted to create a system that met our own needs.  We ended up creating that and after, we started sending it to customers.  Our customers started loving it because it was perfect for their size.

ZoHo was named after the target market, ZoHo the small office, home office market, and our products are also created for small businesses. Of course, customer needs are at the center of the business, so we started creating applications like CRM.  And then added complimentary applications for customer support.  We have more apps coming as well.

Small Business Trends: What are the differences regarding CRM from a small business perspective versus an enterprise perspective?

Raju Vegesna: Keeping things simple is extremely important.  You won't find lots of deep features. If you need more details it is always there and we try to provide all of the key modules that the business needs.

Small businesses don't want to deal with lots of pieces of software.  They don't want to worry about integrating these pieces. We try to bring all of these pieces together.

For example, when you go to customer information in the CRM system, we automatically show all of the emails you have exchanged with the customer.  We automatically show all of the events and documents you have with the customer.

So we try to pull the information from other modules and display it, so that small business will not need to worry about integrating with systems when they can just use the CRM applications.  Then, all of the information is displayed contextually for the users.

Small Business Trends: How have small businesses needs for CRM changed from when you guys first got started?

Raju Vegesna: Customers first.  When we got started, many people were using the spreadsheet to manage all of the information.  We had occasionally seen that to.

I think there has been a lot of education where people realize the importance of having a system like CRM.  We have seen interest coming from the businesses. They now come to us and say, “We want to send out mass mails to our customers, wishing them well for the Holiday season.” Or they want to see about adding an offer for the Holiday season.  That is one of the common questions we get.

For such cases, they need an automated system, so they come to the CRM.  We also do things like import the customer data they have in their spreadsheet.  We can import them into the CRM system. But they can manage all of the information on the iPhone or tablet.

Small Business Trends: How has mobility impacted small business CRM?

Raju Vegesna: Mobility is extremely important.  We see some people maintain all of these invoices and customer information in Word documents or spreadsheets.

With the iPhone and iPad, now people are just using applications to manage customer information. In fact, we have several customers who live on our CRM iPad application.  They don't even know a Web version exists behind the scenes.  They just sign up and just start using the iPad.

Imagine if you're traveling and open up your CRM app on the iPad and it tells you where all of the prospects around you are. Things like that are powerful and mobility is going to be big when it comes to CRM.

Small Business Trends: How has integration with certain pieces like email and other apps driven CRM usage at the small business level?

Raju Vegesna: Integration actually is key. As you look at the current spend today, for every dollar small business will spend on obtaining software, they spend $7.80 on integration.  Which means they are spending more on integration than what they spend on software.

We believe in integrating software, it should just work. Especially with something like CRM where you have customer information.  Wouldn't it be nice if you had additional details contextually visible?  Like if the customer made a payment recently or not?  Or maybe the support request from that particular customer?

All of these are extremely important when integration is done the right way.  The application can be really powerful.  We are seeing that from the small business customers by allowing these integrations.

Small Business Trends: What are some of the major changes you see for small businesses using CRM a year or two from now?

Raju Vegesna: I expect something like tablets to be the primary device.  Those are going to be used more than computers or laptops.

These mobile devices are going to be powered by cloud applications like ZoHo.  You will end up spending more time using applications like CRM on the mobile devices, on your phones, or your tablets, that are synchronized to the Cloud on the backend.

Small Business Trends: Where can people learn more?

Raju Vegesna: They can go to Zoho and sign up, it's free.

This interview is part of our One on One series of conversations with some of the most thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This interview has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click the right arrow on the gray player below. You can also see more interviews in our interview series.

Whether you're growing your business or starting a new venture, BlackBerry solutions provide you with the freedom you want and the control you need. [Series sponsor]

 

Two important bulletins in September 2012 Patch Tuesday Advance

Microsoft will release two important bulletins addressing four issues in its September 2012 Patch Tuesday.

September is usually a light month for Microsoft security updates wrote Angela Gunn, senior marketing communications manager for Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, in a Microsoft Security Response Center blog post. There will be no critical bulletins in the release, Gunn said.

According to the Microsoft September 2012 Patch Tuesday Advance Notification, both bulletins address elevation of privilege vulnerabilities and will not require a restart. In order for an attacker to cause any damage, they would need to already have infiltrated the system.

"The reason these are important, though, is that through a client-side attack or drive-by download, an attacker could gain a foothold on a user's machine," said Alex Horan, senior product manager at CORE Security Technologies in Boston. "Let that attacker then escalate privileges and get system access to the machine and there is big trouble."

The first bulletin concerns vulnerabilities in Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010 Service Pack 1, one of the software giant's developer tools and software programs. The second bulletin deals with issues in Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Service Pack 3 and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2.

The bulletin release is scheduled for Sept. 11 at approximately 1 p.m. ET.

In addition to announcing the patch, Gunn reminded users of Security Advisory 2661254, which was made available in the download center in August. On Oct. 9, RSA key lengths will be required to be at least 1024 bits. Microsoft customers are encouraged to update now so they can identify any issues that may come with the update before it is required in October. Known issues include error messages when browsing to websites that have SSL certificates with keys that are less than 1024 bits, problems enrolling for certificates when a certificate request attempts to utilize a key that is less than 1024 bits and other actions involving key lengths less than 1024 bits.

September's patch will be smaller than its predecessor. In the August 2012 Patch Tuesday, Microsoft addressed a flaw in Windows Common Controls that was being exploited in the wild, among other issues. In total, Microsoft addressed 26 vulnerabilities over nine bulletins. All but one of the bulletins released presented a possibility of remote code execution.

Aurora attackers target defense firms, use flurry of zero-days

Security researchers monitoring cybercriminals tied to the 2009 Aurora attacks said the group is demonstrating strong skills and sophistication, using a flurry of zero-day vulnerabilities in 2011 and at least four zero-day flaws over the last few months.

These guys are persistent, they're constant and any of these organizations are potentially vulnerable.

Eric Chien, senior technical director, Symantec Security Response.

The group's primary target appears to be U.S. defense contractors and their partners in the supply chain, including manufacturers of electronic or mechanical components.  

Symantec issued a research paper Friday analyzing the group's apparent increased use of zero-day flaws and a new targeted attack technique. The group, which relied on spear phishing attacks to infect employee computers, has also introduced a "watering hole" style attack, targeting website vulnerabilities in sites often visited by the targeted organization's employees.  Similar to a drive-by attack, the cybercriminals wait for a victim to visit the compromised website and scan the victim's computer for vulnerabilities.

"The group seemingly has an unlimited supply of zero-day vulnerabilities," said Symantec, which calls the attacks the Elderwood Project, based on the exploit source code used in the attacks. "The vulnerabilities are used as needed, often within close succession of each other if exposure of the currently used vulnerability is imminent."  

Symantec said the group used approximately eight zero-day flaws in 2011. In 2012 the group appears to be continuing its targeted attacks. Since April, two flash player zero-day flaws were used in attacks as well as an Internet Explorer zero-day and a zero-day in the Microsoft XML Core Services. The flaws have since been patched.

Watering hole attack. Image via Symantec.

The Operation Aurora attacks were uncovered in December 2009. Google and dozens of other companies were victims of a cyberattack believed to have originated in China. The attackers appear to be interested in a wide range of targets, including human rights groups. Victims were infected with the Hydraq Trojan, which was delivered using an Internet Explorer vulnerability. It opened a backdoor on victim's machines, ultimately letting attackers leapfrog onto the corporate network.

Despite a number of security firms closely monitoring the group's activities, detecting an attack may be difficult, said Eric Chien, senior technical director for Symantec Security Response. Chien said the group is constantly changing its malicious binaries and command and control infrastructure and adding new exploits.  The group works in waves, actively attacking their targets over a three month period, then going dark for several months.

"U.S. organizations are definitely predominant in the statistics, but we definitely are seeing them all over the world," Chien said. "These guys are persistent, they're constant and any of these organizations are potentially vulnerable."

Chien said Symantec researchers detected some Hydraq code used in binaries recovered in 2011 and 2012 attacks. The packer or outer obfuscation later of the malicious code is being reused, enabling antivirus and other security technologies to be effective in detecting the Trojan, he said.

The use of zero-day flaws displays a high level of skill and funding, Chien said.  

"They definitely have an infrastructure where there are people making the tools and operators essentially using those tools to help conduct their attacks," he said. "We don't see any evidence that this is a classic cybercrime gang. Clearly they are after intellectual property like design documents, source code if you are a software company, business intelligence like contracts and merger and acquisition documents."

Symantec is warning defense sector manufacturers to expect a new round of attacks in 2013. The group will also target any business partner connected to the manufacturer, including subsidiaries, business partners and associated companies, Symantec said.

Spear phishing continues to be a common way for the group to carry out attacks, but the watering hole technique frequency is increasing, Symantec said in its paper, The Elderwood Project (pdf).  The technique was first detected by RSA researchers in July. Website weaknesses are common and not difficult to detect and exploit, enabling attackers to inject attack code into an iFrame and wait for victims to visit the legitimate site.

"The attackers may compromise a website months before they actually use it in an attack," the Symantec researchers said. "Once compromised, the attackers periodically connect to the website to ensure that they still have access."

Why and How to Register Your Small Business

Keeping an eye on the legal and regulatory requirements of simply being in business is a constant struggle for small business owners. One of the areas that creates the most confusion, particularly to new business owners, is the process of “business registration.” What's required?

There are many aspects to “business registration” â€" including incorporation, registering with tax authorities, registering a trade name and so on. However, not all businesses need to complete all these steps.

Here's what you need to know:

Registering a “Doing Business As” Name

If you are starting out in business, or even if you are already established and incorporated and you want to name your business something other than your given name, you'll need to register for a “Doing Business As” name, also known as a DBA, trade name, or assumed name.

When you form a business, its legal name always defaults to the name of the person or entity that owns the business, unless you choose to rename it and register it as a DBA name.

For example, if Peter Smith sets up a landscaping business and rather than operate under his own name, he wants to call it “Smith's Landscaping Solutions,” the name is considered an assumed name and will need to be registered with the appropriate local authorities.

If you're not sure whether you need to register a DBA, check with your city or county government office. This will also be the place where you'll apply for registration. Not all states require you to register a DBA, but as a general rule, a DBA is needed in the following scenarios:

• Sole Proprietors or Partnerships: If you start a business under anything other than your real name, you'll need to register a DBA.
• Existing Corporations or LLCs: If your business is already set up and you are incorporated or an LLC but want to change your business name, you'll need to register it as a DBA.

The other thing to note is that a DBA registration does not provide the benefits of trademark protection. For that you'll need to apply for a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Incorporation

Incorporation is another aspect of business registration that business owners need to consider.  Incorporation is a broad term that encompasses the variety of options you have when it comes to legally structuring your business â€" whether it's as a limited liability corporation, an “S” or “C” corporation, a partnership or a cooperative.

Incorporation is not a legal requirement. In fact, over 70 percent of U.S. businesses are owned by sole proprietors and operate successfully without incorporating.

You should consult a lawyer or legal expert to help you determine the pros and cons of incorporation for your business and how to register.

Obtaining Licenses and Permits

Registering for the right licenses and permits is a must for all businesses; even home-based business owners need a permit to operate legally. Contact your local government to understand the requirements in your town.

Register with the IRS and Tax Authorities

Property tax, sales tax, employment tax, state and federal income tax are just a few areas of taxation that require business owners to apply for the right permits and IDs and register with the right tax authorities.

The main considerations are as follows:

• Get a Federal Tax ID â€" If you have employees or are structured as a partnership, corporation or other types of organization, you'll need to get an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. Consider it the business equivalent of a social security number. You can apply for an EIN from the IRS online.
• Get State Tax IDs and Permits â€" You should also contact your state and local government to find out whether you need a sales tax permit (if you sell retail)and to understand your obligations for property, income and employment taxes.

 What About Certifying Your Business as “Small?”

If you own a small business, perhaps you've heard about small business certification. But do you actually need to certify your business as small?

Most businesses don't need to do this. However, if you are interested in selling to the U.S. government then yes, you will need to. Why? The government sets aside contracts for small businesses. To qualify for these contracts, you must obtain certification that you are indeed a small business according to SBA sizing standards.

Register Photo via Shutterstock

Florida is Not Just Retirees and Tourists, But Innovative Startups

It's exciting to watch the entrepreneurial landscape grow not only in Silicon Valley but also elsewhere throughout the United States. Florida is just one of many states with a healthy entrepreneur eco-system.  Florida's startup landscape is vibrant, diverse and worth taking a look at.

Let's review just some of the new concepts presented at a roundtable I co-hosted with the Jacksonville Startup Weekend in January 2012:

• For example, Armex Industries, Inc. makes the Armex Zero Suit.  Eric Keeler explained that the suit is a new kind of durable, special-purpose suit with significantly high heat and cold resistance. The suit is targeted at race car drivers, firefighters and military personnel.
• And then there's Pay2Pitch.com, a network where entrepreneurs can pitch to investors and mentors and pay about $1,000 for a 20-minute interaction. Perry Kaye explained that the money being paid is given to the investor's or mentor's favorite charity. Not my favorite idea, but it represents a pain point:  entrepreneurs are desperately trying to reach investors.
• Tim LeMaster of Ziffor introduced us to a service for table restaurants that would like to offer promotions for non-peak times. I found Tim's idea compelling because several restaurants that have experimented with Groupon-like services have been inundated with unprofitable customers who arrive during peak hours.
• Rushabh Shah came forward with SustainAbin, an idea that assumes that at least 83 million people want to know how to practice a green lifestyle. Rushabh wants to create a portal that would harness this traffic and give those 83 million people meaningful content. As a result, he would be able to generate high value leads for local businesses, such as solar or organic farming, in the sustainability sector. The idea needs much fine tuning to actually turn into business.
• Finally, Vincent Langanella introduced us to Bthere, an idea for analyzing 911 data feeds to extract leads for glass repair, door and window repair and other crime related repairs for which consumers have an immediate need. I really liked this idea.

Of course, Florida serves as a haven for more than just budding entrepreneurs. A few examples include Ginio.com, which is based in Miami. Ginio is a company that builds social applications that facilitate both ecommerce and online to offline commerce with the help of a vertical search system that allows users to find and compare products with friends and indulge in self-expression by creating shared wish lists.

DisputeSuite, which is based in Tampa Bay, is a company that develops niche technology and education services to assist credit repair companies with the management and growth of their businesses.

Then there's AppRiver, a Gulf Breeze based company that provides businesses of all sizes with a simple Web security solution that incorporates the latest available spam and virus protection, email encryption and Web security.

That's just a sampling of the many different companies that Florida's entrepreneur eco-system has produced. Two very successful companies that are a part of that rich eco system are Tampa Bay based Cableorganizer.com, one of the world's leading purveyors of cable and wire management-related products, and Middleburg based Pragmatic Works, a company that seeks to make technology easy to use and learn.

According to Irina Patterson, a One Million by One Million ambassador (a program run by my organization) who is based in Florida herself, tech focused entrepreneurs in the Miami area can always find some kind of event to attend at least once every week:

Mobile Monday.”

Miami based Riyaad Seecharan, Founder of Ayumma:

“While Beige Book data from July 2012 points to a subdued outlook for Florida, the Miami entrepreneurship scene is nascent but vibrant.  In particular, the region is focused on creating organizations and resources to support a culture of innovation.

Academic institutions like Florida International University (FIU), Florida Atlantic University (FAU), and the University of Miami (UM) are either setting up incubators or developing co-working spaces and business plan contests, which are all aligned with creating value for the region.  FIU's alliance with the Americas Venture Capital conference is providing access for local companies to investment dollars.

The recent investment of Miami's Downtown Development Agency into UM's Launchpad and the Miami Innovation Fund both bode well for companies in the region. They offer access to smaller investments, but they also provide talent and networking support to help entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground.”

Dan Stewart, founder of Safety Harbor, Florida based Happy Grasshopper, had spent years building a customer relationship management (CRM) product with less success than he desired.

After investing hundreds of thousands of dollars and three years of his life, Dan found himself at an impasse and decided to put his project on the back burner. After he started working with our program, business improved and Happy Grasshopper is now a thriving business that's well on its way to earning $1 million in annual revenue.

Momares, LLC is a Coral Gables, Florida based company that specializes in providing small and medium advertising businesses with a reliable SMS platform. Founder Marcos Menendez says:

“Our mobile marketing company has taken part in various entrepreneurship competitions and been in touch with startups throughout South Florida. As members of the local community, we're happy to report that entrepreneurship is alive and very well in this region. Although small, the startup community has grown radically in the last few years and is fueled by various startup groups, as well as the creativity of local and international entrepreneurs.”

According to Marcos, most startups in South Florida are on a quest for investor funding. So, they pitch local angel investors and successful entrepreneurs who, if they're not able to invest, are still generous with advice through local startup groups.  Something else that Marcos thinks that may be fueling growth in South Florida involves collaboration with international talent:

“There are many talented programmers, developers, engineers and others in Latin America who have ties to local businesses. It's not uncommon for these businesses to work closely with partners or colleagues who may have previously lived in Miami, but now contribute from other countries. This has allowed local startups to draw from a broader pool of talent. It has also kept them in touch with potential consumer markets and consumer behavior in other countries.”

Florida has good universities and a critical mass of success stories. The state needs to take these assets, and turn the region into a more comprehensive startup hub.

Florida Photo via Shutterstock

Take That Conference Call Anywhere With Mobile Multi-Party Video Chat

So you decide to go to Peru on vacation.  Your accountant's in Spain, your employees are in California, and they are all waiting for you to get back to have a conference. What do you do? Do you delay the call and productivity because your away and just move the conference to another day?

The answer is: No. We're living in the 21st century. It's time we start acting like it!

Our own chief editor and evangelist, Ramon Ray, has had a similar situation. He went to a community fair with his kids, when he realized that he had to make an international call. Cell phone rates for international calls are outrageous. What was he going to do? He quickly snatched Skype's mobile app and installed it on his smartphone and off he went, making the call as required. It went just like clockwork.

We're no longer living in an era where we have to rely on antiquated methods to reach the people we want to. We have applications like these:

• Skype's Mobile App â€" If you want to use the same solution mentioned earlier, Skype has apps for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. The apps might not include multi-party conferencing options for video calls, but they do have many useful features like face-to-face calling. The app's free for Skype-to-Skype calls and, of course, are charged only when you call a cell phone or land line directly.
• iVisit â€" This one's pretty interesting, as it allows you to attend meetings via your mobile phone for free, much like how Skype allows calls within the software for free as long as both parties use it. You obviously cannot start a conference from the mobile application, and you do have to pay $4.95 a month to have the collaboration software, which supports up to eight users. It's not a bad deal, considering the vast opportunities this gives you for your meetings.
• ooVoo - This highly promising service allows you to chat with up to 12 people for free within one video conference. Its Android and iOS software allows you to set up 4-way video conferences also â€" a major plus that knocks it right out of the ballpark. Its premium service costs just under 3 dollars a month and allows for an ad-free environment with screencasting abilities added.

While you're at the airport, on a bus, on a train, or on one of those new fancy planes that support Wi-Fi, you're not necessarily stuck having to pay exorbitant prices for calls. You can make a call right here, right now using the right software. Don't ever forget that!

Former botnet controller sentenced to 30 months in the US

An Arizona man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for selling command-and-control access to botnets.

Joshua Schichtel pleaded guilty in August 2011 to one count of attempting to cause damage to multiple computers without authorisation by the transmission of programs, codes or commands, which is a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and on top of his sentence he is also ordered to serve three years of supervised release.

Schichtel specifically pleaded guilty to causing software to be installed on approximately 72,000 computers on behalf of a customer who paid him $1,500 for use of the botnet.

In April, then White House cyber security co-ordinator Howard Schmidt announced that action on botnets would be a priority and that there had been 'a lot of discussion about botnets' in trying to identify how many are out there, what they are doing, what they could do and what the impact could be.

“We're teaming [with] US internet service providers, search engines, internet vendors, privacy rights advocates and groups and trade associations to tackle this on all fronts. We're working on developing best practices and an industry code of conduct within the next 90 days,” he said.

A working group was established in March and was led by Schmidt that will try to: develop principles for addressing the botnets; establish high-level strategies to increase public awareness about the botnets; leverage available consumer-focused information tools and resources to prevent the botnets from the beginning; and identify ways of measuring progress.

Schmidt however announced in May that he was retiring from his position, he later joined the board of directors at Qualys.

Heart Monitor Sales: Makes Sense

You never know when inspiration is going to strike, but you'd better be ready to wrestle it to the ground when it does.

My wife and I were watching some TV and there was that classic close-up on the heart monitor. The beeping, the jagged line, we've all seen it a hundred times.

But this time, I saw it and it looked like a sales graph to me. I made a joke to my wife about how this character's heartbeat sales were all over the place and she laughed, so I knew I had something.

A few days later this cartoon came out and, although I had to draw that graph five or six times to get it just right, it reminded me that, if you're looking, there are jokes just about everywhere.

3 Ways to Use Press Releases to Boost Sales

When Matt Landau needed a way to promote a group of vacation rentals he owned in Panama, he learned about the power of the press release. Once used to attract the attention of media outlets, today's press release is a tool that, when used properly, can shoot to the top of search engine results. As Landau blogged recently, he was able to turn a $199 package with PRWeb.com into $3,850 in bookings.

“To give you an idea of the exposure you can expect from press releases as marketing investments: My release was featured in the The Miami Herald, CBS MoneyWatch, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Boston Globe (just to name a few of the 123 publications that picked it up),” Landau wrote on his blog.

But Landau stresses that it isn't an overnight process. Press release marketing relies on search engine results providing clicks. It's a process that requires time and a great deal of persistence and patience to bring success. Frank Strong of Vocus spoke with SmallBizTechnology's Ramon Ray about press release marketing and provided the following three tips for success in press releases:

• Be focused. Matt Landau provided compelling content that gave media outlets useful information they could work with. Newspaper and magazine editors are always looking for ways to engage their readers and a press release like Landau's gives news outlets everything they need. Quotes from reliable sources, statistical details, and more. It's also helpful for a press release to incorporate the basics of journalism, starting with an attention-getting opening sentence. Start with the “five W's and one H of journalism”â€"who, what, when, where, why, and how. The closer you can make your press release to an actual news article, the more your chances of getting that press release picked up by a mainstream publication.
• Be consistent. For the best success, it's important to regularly deploy PR campaigns for your services or products. By regularly publishing content, you'll begin to notice information about your small business is dominating search results. As Strong puts it, Matt Landau's efforts aren't one-off campaigns. Each campaign is habitual and disciplined.
• Integrate your campaigns. Don't post a one-size-fits-all release and expect every medium to pick it up as is. Landau re-purposes the same content for a variety of media, giving outlets the ability to use the information in the way that works best for them. Strong observes that Landau's success, “isn't a model of luck, but rather the results of preparation meeting opportunity.”

Strong stresses the importance of not relying on one tactic to obtain success in your small business's marketing efforts. It's important to mix paid advertising, social media, and e-mail newsletters for optimum success.

“As marketers, an online press release generally builds awareness and is a way to reach prospects that do not know us,” Strong says. “Social media is most closely aligned with engagement and ought to be geared to people that are getting to know us, while an email newsletter generally speaks to people that already know us, are customers and focuses on loyalty and renewal.”

A small business should experiment with this combination to find the best mix for their own personal success.

Detection tool added by NetWrix for invasion of email inboxes

Netwrix has introduced a feature that alerts users if another person accesses their inbox.

Named the NetWrix Mailbox Owner Alerting, it allows users to track and identify who has accessed any mailbox, when they did it and what items were targeted. It also allows the user to see what was viewed, edited, deleted, copied or forwarded. The software automatically sends an email alert to the user whose mailbox was accessed.

Aidan Simister, country manager (UK & Ireland) for NetWrix, said: “Far too often we find that organisations have IT administrators, support engineers or managers with access privileges to the mailboxes of the CEO and other senior executives. But without some form of monitoring and reporting, it is impossible to know if email data is being compromised, spoof messages are being sent or if mailbox permissions are being changed.

“Ask a lot of IT managers to tell you who changed, what, where and when within their IT Infrastructures and it will often involve a time-consuming manual process of trawling through native audit logs from servers and network equipment. What is needed is a more automated and proactive approach to ensure organisations have instant access to critical audit data at all times.”

McKinnon decision due in October

Home secretary Theresa May is to make a decision on the extradition of Gary McKinnon around the 16th October.

According to BBC News, Mrs May has rejected an appeal by McKinnon's mother Janis Sharp to bring forward a decision over extraditing Gary to the US but according to his lawyer Karen Todner, the home secretary will decide by 16th October.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Sharp said that despite the wait, she remained 'confident' that her son would be spared extradition and pointed out that both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats pledged to intervene in the case prior to the general election.

“They wouldn't use a vulnerable man for an election campaign and leave him for another two-and-a-half years... to then extradite him. They wouldn't do that and they couldn't. It would be inhumane,” she said.

If Mrs May allows the extradition to go ahead, his lawyers are expected to apply for a judicial review to challenge that decision. Todner told BBC News: “Should the decision from the home secretary not be in Mr McKinnon's favour, the High Court has fixed the case for hearing on November 28th and 29th."

McKinnon has been fighting extradition since 2006 after he hacked into the Pentagon ten years ago looking or evidence of aliens.

Microsoft to release two \'important\' patches next week

Microsoft will release two bulletins on next week's Patch Tuesday, both of which will be rated as 'important'.

These patches will address four issues in Visual Studio Team Foundation Server and System Center Configuration Manager and address elevation of privilege flaws.

Ziv Mador, director of security research at Trustwave SpiderLabs, said: “The first patch, rated important, will apply to Visual FoxPro, which is a set of tools used to create and manage high-performance, 32-bit database applications and components.

“The second patch, also rated important, will apply to System Center Configuration Manager, which helps manage physical, virtual and mobile clients with things like application delivery, desktop virtualisation and security.”

Andrew Storms, director of security operations for nCircle, said: “The good news is that September is going to be a very light month for Microsoft patches. IT security teams shouldn't be lulled into a false sense of security though, they should use this time to get caught up applying existing patches and to change or replace cryptographic key lengths on the certificates used for older Microsoft systems.”

Amazon Introduces Kindle Paperwhite

Amazon's announcement Thursday is the latest in the escalating development of tech tools with intriguing business applications. Check out our coverage of the announcement, plus a rundown of some of the other tools out there and a look at how you can keep up in the ever-changing realm of technology.

New Tech Toys

Best ever. Amazon is calling the Kindle Paperwhite the most advanced e-reader ever constructed. The new top of the line model lets you do far more than just read an e-book. Features include WiFi 3G Wireless for only $179. Lighter versions are also available for $69 and $119. Amazon.com

Aiming at Apple. Though Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos didn't mention one of his company's arch rivals in the mobile device industry, it is clear that the Kindle Fire WiFi + 3G is aimed directly at Apple's iPad. Though the two are not interchangeable, it's clear the Kindle offers some features of interest to business users at a lower price. All Things Digital

Hold the phone. However competitive the new Kindle Fire might be as a lower cost tablet, it is likely Apple will stay ahead in the smartphone market, helping businesses stay in touch with team members, customers, and suppliers with its iPhone 5 likely to ship before the end of the month. An analyst estimates Apple could sell as many as 10 million of this newest of iPhones in the first week. Forbes

Better Business Tools

Showing hospitality. When it comes to using technology to drive better customer experience and sales, almost any industry could benefit. Take visitorM, a service that helps businesses in the hospitality industry manage customer information and content, customizing the look and feel of their apps while taking care of ongoing mobile development and support. Tweak Your Biz

Gaining user adoption. What can be said for customer relationship management software is true for almost any other technology you might use for your business. Gaining user adoption is the first and most important step. Without it, the best technology on the planet won't do you any good. Resolv

The best in tech. With all the tech out there to help your business, it can be tough at times to keep up with the latest trends. Fortunately, many business technology blogs exist to keep you in the know about the most helpful tools for your business. Here is a list of some of the cutting edge business blogs you might want to check out. BuyerZone

Bring your own risk. The proliferation of devices has led many employees to prefer using their own tech instead of what is provided by employers. The trouble is, that doing company business on personal devices can lead to potential risks, especially when it comes to security issues and keeping your business data safe. Here are some tips to increase security with some simple BYOD policies. Noobpreneur