Jobs to go as Orcon merges with Kordia Networks

Internet company Orcon is merging its operations with owner Kordia's other New Zealand telecommunications business, putting up to 59 jobs in jeopardy.

Orcon and Kordia Networks are integrating operations to form a new business called Kordia New Zealand.

Nine staff members made will be made redundant as a result of the restructure, which may also see 50 call centre staff outsourced to Manila.

The new combined business will have an annual turnover of $161 million and 320 staff and be headed by existing Orcon chief executive Scott Bartlett.

Despite the merger, Orcon will remain a brand of the new business and serve residential and small business customers.

According to Kordia Group chief executive Geoff Hunt the integration will eliminate duplication and put the businesses in a better position to grow in a competitive market.

"Today's announcement positions us to be solutions-led, combining the fast, innovative style of Orcon with the network quality of Kordia. It will create New Zealand's most innovative and reliable provider of business-critical information services.

"The move will also enable us to eliminate the increasing duplication of network infrastructure and associated support staff. And as both businesses have developed services for business customers in parallel, the time is also right to rationalise the product set and present a simple, unified offering to this market," Hunt said

Kordia Group recorded a net profit $12.1 million net profit in the 12 months ended June 30, turning around a loss of $12.1 million a year earlier.

Kordia paid $23.4 million to buy Orcon in 2007 from founder Seeby Woodhouse

Labour's Communications and IT spokesperson Clare Curran said the merger was part of a "worrying trend" for businesses to make cost cutting decisions at the expense of Kiwi jobs.

"The fact that it's a state owned enterprise making the decision reinforces the lack of commitment by the National Government to investing in Kiwi jobs.

"National has removed the social responsibility clause which ensures SOEs have to take into account community interests and this is the result.

By Hamish Fletcher Email Hamish

Report details insider threats, but enterprises can respond, says expert

The Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report "Snapshot" on intellectual property theft, released today, made one thing clear: There is no one-size-fits-all approach to securing valuable data from threats.

To know if a trusted user is a threat, you need to be able to separate suspicious or malicious behavior from normal behavior.

Scott Crawford,
research director, Enterprise Management Associates

Many attacks and breaches are incidents of opportunity (an insecure Web server is spotted, and therefore infiltrated), according to the Verizon RISK Team. However, the Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report (DBIR) Snapshot on Intellectual Property theft (.pdf) found that when it comes to IP theft, the attacks are often much more targeted. "The fact that it is usually a different kind of threat agent -- those looking for highly sensitive information to be used for a specific purpose, as opposed to those only looking for a quick cash out -- also changes the game," the report said.

One could assume such attackers would be much more motivated, and perhaps a little sneakier than the opportunistic attacker. While 87% of threat agents by percent of breaches involving intellectual property theft involve external attackers, 46% are from internal agents, according to the report. The reason these numbers tally higher than 100%? In many cases insiders are working with external attackers in some way.

What the data did show is that while insiders may be involved in fewer IP theft incidents, they can't be ignored by security and risk management teams. According to the Verizon report, end users counted for about two-thirds of IP theft, followed then by financial staff, executives and finally system administrators.

These insiders pose a unique threat because they often are permitted to access the very data they're stealing, said Scott Crawford, a research director at market research firm Enterprise Management Associates. In this interview, Crawford shares some insight into what enterprises are doing to mitigate the insider risk. Previously, Crawford worked as the first information security officer for the International Data Centre of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), an organization that represented more than 150 nations.

What are ways enterprises should consider monitoring for insider threats?

Scott Crawford: To know if a trusted user is a threat, you need to be able to separate suspicious or malicious behavior from normal behavior. To do that, you need to understand what 'normal' activity is. The ability to determine norms and identify suspicious anomalies already exists in technologies such as fraud detection and prevention in retail banking, for example.

Other technologies that attempt to monitor suspicious activities include SIEM [security information and event monitoring] and investigative platforms such as EMC/RSA NetWitness, Solera Networks and AccessData SilentRunner, as well as technologies from data leak prevention to identity management, particularly those IAM [identity and access management] technologies focused on role and privilege definition and management. When access privileges are reviewed, those that fall outside norms for certain roles may be flagged as exceptions and should be reviewed for consistency with organizational policy.

What are traits that should be looked for, potential keys of insider wrong doing or intent?

Crawford: The red flags, in terms of access privileges, include: conflicts of interests, violations of separations of duties, or unexplained exceptions to access privileges. In the cases of Jerome Kerviel (Societe Generale 'rogue trader') and Nick Leeson (Barings Bank rogue trader), for example, inadequate oversight was a factor. Kerviel also apparently retained back office privileges while working in a front office trading role, which enabled him to bypass controls on trade oversight. Those two cases, however, beg an even larger question: Why weren't these traders better overseen? Could it be that if their employers thought they were making money, they didn't want to trifle with success?

Thus, corporate governance also plays a role.

Another aspect of insider risk is when the privileges of a trusted insider are abused by a malicious outsider. This is one area where the ability to detect activity outside the norm for a given role could be particularly useful -- when an insider's privileges are exploited by an external attacker to gain access to sensitive internal data, for example.

There are other areas where a lack of insight or control is also a factor that should also be raised as a red flag. Roger Duronio was a UBS IT admin who took advantage of his administrative privileges to attack his employer. Shared or poorly managed administrative accounts may expose IT to far too much additional risk without the ability to constrain privileged access more granularly. When privileges are shared, it may be difficult to correlate suspicious administrative activity to a specific user. Lack of adequate control over administrative privilege generally may be a factor. In the case of San Francisco's FiberWAN administrator Terry Childs, the city had no way to recover administrative access when Childs decided to withhold the administrative password in protest of the city's attempts to manage that system contrary to his wishes.

Are there ways to filter a percentage of people who could turn bad during the hiring process?

Crawford: Background checks can reveal data that could be meaningful, but it may not always. The increased availability of personal and social data may reveal even more, but its use is controversial. Organizations would be better served to consider where the actions of employees with access to sensitive resources are trusted more than verified.

With data becoming more distributed, does this make it harder to identify employees/partners doing things they shouldn't?

Crawford: Perhaps, but at the same time, organizations are becoming increasingly aware of today's capabilities of data analytics, and the innovative ways in which they are being applied. Organizations already don't make enough (or good enough) use of the data they already collect. As the interest in data analytics continues to advance, organizations may well begin to discover how they can do a better job-- and not just against insider threats -- with an even wider range of data than they make use of today.

About the author: 
George V. Hulme writes about security and technology from his home in Minneapolis. You can also find him tweeting about those topics on Twitter @georgevhulme.

Passwords: Your Dog\'s Name Or Your Home Address Are Not Good Passwords

Passwords are the first thing you enter when you use your computer or mobile device. It's also one of the first lines of defense against hackers or unauthorized access to your data.

However, it's also one of those things we don't pay enough attention to. Here's a few tips from Siber Systems, many you probably already know, to help remind you to have GOOD and SECURE passwords:

1. Create passwords that are difficult for anyone to guess, including friends, family and hackers. Avoid passwords that relate on a personal level, instead use upper and lower case letters, random symbols, and do not use any word found in the dictionary. One trick is to choose the first letters of each word from a random phrase such as “I like to eat pineapple daily”,  to get “iLtEPd”, with the addition of a symbol and number for added measure. Also change passwords every 30 days.

 

2. Do not utilize default passwords such as “1234” that were provided automatically or by system administrators. Using such a password means someone else or a system has a record of the current password, making it unsecure. Change defaults immediately to a memorable and random password.

 

3. Writing down passwords is an especially troublesome habit. Pieces of paper provide others with a simple way to capture and exploit passwords. Use a secure tool to manage various passwords, or take parts of a unique and memorable phrase to create a password.

 

4. Avoid duplication at all costs. Using the same or very similar passwords (Charles10 and Charles17 for example) across multiple logins exposes individuals and entire enterprises to significant risk. Be sure to use different passwords for every login.

 

5. Utilize technology tools to make password management and selection easier. RoboForm (www.roboform.com) securely stores passwords on computers, mobile devices such as iPhones and Android phones, as well as USB drives.

PayPal Improves Credit Offerings for Small Retailers

With the holiday season approaching, many consumers will be searching online stores for great deals, but small merchants can't always offer the same deals and payment options that large retailers can. But that's why PayPal has been working to create an easy solution for these small businesses.

PayPal unveiled some new payment options this week that will allow online merchants to offer enhanced buy now, pay later options for purchases of $99 or more.

Through PayPal's existing Bill Me Later service, businesses can now automatically accept payments on credit from customers, including no interest for six months. Businesses don't pay any additional costs for this feature, and they still receive payment right away.

Consumers who choose this option will be subject to credit approval through PayPal. But they can use the option with no interest if the purchase is paid off within six months.

This offering will allow businesses to give their customers even more payment options, making it easier, and thus more likely, for them to make purchases. This type of financing has been an option for larger retailers for years, so this new offering may help to level the playing field for smaller retailers that don't have the resources to sort through the legal and regulatory restrictions necessary to market credit to customers on their own.

And the change comes just in time for holiday shopping season, so PayPal has also offered businesses banner ads to promote the credit feature directly on their sites, so that customers know they have that option when shopping.

Previously, Bill Me Later didn't offer the same type of credit without interest options to customers across all retailers. And there was not one simple, centralized way of advertising the option to consumers.

Of course, many online retailers can accept credit card payments as well, but this addition to Bill Me Later is just one more option businesses can offer consumers, which can only lead to more customers and sales for online retailers.

Is Windows 8 Right For Your Business?

In the past it used to be vital to upgrade your work machines with each new edition of Windows to take full advantage of improved security and features. In recent years however Windows has become reliable to the point that upgrades are not as needed as frequently. This trend is fairly recent and started with the release of Windows XP in 2001. The system was so solid and reliable compared to its successor Windows Vista (released in 2007) that Microsoft was forced by businesses and users to extend general support until 2009, however select larger companies are being given support until 2014.

Today a new debate is brewing with the upcoming advent of Windows 8 because it literally is like no other version of Windows released before. By getting rid of the familiar Start button, implementing a significant overhaul of core Windows components, a focus on touch screens rather than traditional displays, along with many other technical changes, the decision to upgrade hardware from Windows 7 to Windows 8 should not be taken lightly. While it normally pays to update as soon as possible, Microsoft has not announced plans to discontinue support for Windows 7 in the near future, meaning there is not  a need to rush to upgrade. That being said, there are a few instances where upgrading to Windows 8 is worthwhile.

The biggest reason to make the switch to Windows 8 is if your  company depends heavily on tablets and other touch screen devices.  The latest version of Windows will come equipped with Metro, which is a fresh new interface exclusively for touch screens. Additionally, as Windows 8 supports logging into Windows using your Windows Live ID (Microsoft's online suite of services) plus integrating Windows SkyDrive cloud storage into the platform, Windows 8 is well suited for users who use multiple devices or are constantly on the go.

Additionally, Windows 8 Enterprise has a feature called “Windows To Go” which allows corporate users to copy a clone of their Windows desktops to a flash drive and then have access to that image on most modern computers. This feature however is not supported by any other features of Windows.

Aside from the previously mentioned features, Windows 8 packs numerous other improvements at  the technical level, but is there enough to justify making the leap to an unproven and untested system? If you're like most business owners the answer to that is no. Whenever a product comes out, it is always best to wait until the major bugs and technical difficulties are sorted out. On the other hand, when operating tablets or touch screen devices, the Metro interface in Windows 8 is a must have feature since it was built from scratch to accommodate today's new generation of devices.

App a snap for students

A group of University of Waikato students has developed a phone-based photo printing app that will be used by Walgreens, one of the biggest pharmacy chains in the United States.

The four students - Mark Feaver, Jeremy Roundill, Yoni Villamor and Simon Campbell - took on the job of developing the app for a software engineering project, part of a third-year paper.

The Android app, called Printicular, allows users to send their phone, tablet or Facebook photos to be printed at a Walgreens store.

New Zealand's MEA Mobile, which has developed a range of apps for the mobile photography market, provided technical guidance and market support to the students.

MEA Mobile director Rod Macfarlane said the app was free but the company would collect a small commission on each transaction made through the app.

"We are really keen to encourage more young people to learn the skills and gain the knowledge we need in this business," Macfarlane said.

Course lecturer David Streader said the project gave students an opportunity to learn how to work as a team and plan and deliver a project within budget, on time.

"It's a win-win for clients and students alike," Streader said.

Roundill, one of the students, said it had been a great way to get some real-world experience while still at university.

By Christopher Adams Email Christopher

Microsoft and Apple face off in battle of the tablets

Microsoft and Apple are going head-to-head in the battle for shoppers' dollars, releasing competing tablet computers one week apart.

The iPad mini, launched yesterday, has been touted as being a brand new design "as thin as a pencil and as light as a pad of paper".

Apple has historically dominated the tablet market, but other brands' smaller devices, such as Google's Nexus 7, have threatened its hold.

Apple hopes the new mini tablet, on sale here from tomorrow, will give it an edge in the competition.

At the iPad mini launch in California, marketing chief Phil Schiller said: "It's not just a shrunken down iPad, it's an entirely new design."

But Microsoft is also out for a slice of the market - tomorrow in the United States it is launching its own tablet device, the Surface, sporting the new Windows 8 operating system.

It features a magnetic snap-on cover which both protects the screen and seconds as a full function keyboard once opened.

But overseas commentators have said the iPad mini launch will likely overshadow the Surface's, especially as Apple has said where the new tablet will be sold and how much for.

Mark Webster, New Zealand technology commentator and founder of mac.nz, said it was unlikely the iPad mini and Surface would be in direct competition because the iPad mini seemed to be marketed towards education.

"They're finding that a lot of students, particularly younger students, are using iPads but they're a little bit big and clunky for them."

He said although there might be better and "certainly cheaper" tablets around, it would be hard to get an Apple fan to buy another brand.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has defended the mini tablet's price (from $479 up) after US technology experts slammed it as "steeper than expected" - especially compared with devices such as the Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire HD tablets.

By Amelia Wade Email Amelia

Bill Rancic – The Apprentice: Three Lessons of Business Success (Be A Conductor)

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of attending an AT&T event, where Bill Rancic, winner of the Apprentice‘s first season, gave a presentation on his journey of challenges and ultimately success in business â€" including working for Donald Trump.

Here are the highlights of his presentation to us:

1. Understand and embrace practical execution
   Actions are more important than words. Be agile and adaptable and be able to take risk. When you can take risks, be able to turn risk into success. We are only born with two fears â€" fear of falling and fear of loud noised. All other fears you should over come.
2. To be successful learn how to be a conductor.
   Bill can control his restaurant(s?) from his iPad. His business is the train, he's the conductor, his iPad is the control (my words â€" not his). Those who are able to conduct have LIMITLESS potential. Realize your potential.
3. Tough times don't last, tough people do.
4. Doing business at the “Trump level” is different but the principles are not much different than at the small business level. To succeed at any level surround yourself with experts.

Bill's a smart guy and full of business insight. Thanks At&T for enabling a group of us to hear him speak.

What Fears Are Holding Your Small Business Back?

Halloween is almost here and creepy things are everywhere. It's the time of year when we enjoy a good fright. But are there other (not-so-fun) fears holding your small business back from getting where you want it to go?

One of the joys of running your own business is that you get to decide what happens next. You don't have to do what a boss is telling you. But sometimes, that can backfire if you avoid doing things that make you scared or uncomfortable. Yes, you may be able to get your business to a certain level of success without ever facing your demons. But if you want to achieve breakthrough growth, you need to push past the fears that are holding you back.

What kinds of fears are you facing (or failing to face)?

Below are some common ones:

Fear Of Technology

Technology moves so fast today that sometimes it's tempting to just throw up your hands and say, “I'll never get up to speed.” Well, your business can't afford that attitude. Even if you're a dyed-in-the-wool technophobe, you need to get over it, because today technology is essential to give your small business an edge.

Start by hiring someone (inside or outsourced) who knows the stuff you don't and can get your company up to speed. If you must, take a class (online or off) to learn the basics. Enlist a patient friend to tutor you. Anything that gets you comfortable with what you need to know.

Fear Of Sales

This is a huge one for lots of entrepreneurs, myself included. When we first started our business, I struggled with fears of seeming pushy, aggressive or money-grubbing when I went out to ask for the sale. I wish I could tell you there's some easy formula for getting over this fear, but there isn't.

I just had to do it over and over, until it got easier (I didn't say easy). Practice makes (almost) perfect.

Fear Of Being A Boss

When your company is young and small, it's easy to feel like you and your tiny team are pretty much equals, and that's more comfortable for many entrepreneurs who don't want to be perceived as the distant “boss-man.” However, as your business grows, you'll have to distance yourself a bit so you can take on sometimes scary tasks like making unpopular decisions, or disciplining employees who aren't working out.

I'm not saying you can't be a nice, friendly boss, but acknowledging that you are the boss is a crucial step in getting your business to the next level.

Fear Of Networking

It's easier than ever to network through social media today, and many of us are great at that. But you also need to go offline sometimes and get up close and personal. Networking has earned an unfortunate reputation as phony “schmoozing,” but in reality, it's how relationships are built and business is done.

Make sure you invite your online connections out for coffee or lunch on a regular basis, attend networking events and industry conferences, and generally put yourself out there. If you're shy (like I am), start with things in your comfort zone (like coffee with one person) and move up to the big leagues gradually-but do move up, or your business won't.

Fear Of Success

When you get stuck in the day-to-day running your business and making payroll, sometimes your sights get set too low. Do that long enough, and you may decide it's not worth dreaming big because you'll never get there anyway.

That's the surest route to business stagnation and a ho-hum life. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, take your eyes off the ground and make time to look at the stars.

Fear Photo via Shutterstock

Stop Remembering Passwords And Switch To Identity Management!

Chances are you've got a Facebook account, a Twitter account, a Google account (maybe even two), and several other accounts to cloud services you use all over the Web. Not only do you have to remember the URLs to these places, but you also have to remember every username, email, and password ever assigned to these accounts. Can you still do that when 2013 rolls in and you have to get into an account you last accessed back in 2010?

Do you even use different passwords? About a quarter of all Americans are estimated to use the same password for literally everything. A much larger amount use the same password for more than one account, perhaps limiting themselves to three “main” passwords. A few months ago, Yahoo fell victim to an attack in which almost half a million passwords were leaked. For those who use the same password for every service, that's a really tough one to bite. Many accounts were accessed, and several people's PayPal accounts froze because of illicit account access.

So, how do you manage to have more than 20 different passwords without going nuts? The answer: identity management, sometimes also referred to as password management.

With identity management, you create one single “identity” on the Web where all your passwords and usernames are stored. In other words, all of your passwords go into a secure database on a remote cloud server, allowing you to log in automatically to websites with a single click. The process is much simpler than you think.

Currently, there are two services offering automatic logins to websites through password management: SmartSignin and LastPass. I've had the pleasure of trying both services, so I'm going to compare the two.

All in all, both services do a decent job of encrypting your information, meaning that all of the passwords you put into their servers will remain encrypted and safe. The only problem is that you don't have control over the encryption process when you use LastPass. SmartSignin does a really good job of letting you create your own encryption key to lock any data you put into it, even locking it from SmartSignin itself. They literally cannot see or make sense of anything you put in there because you're the only person with the key that unlocks it.

In the user-friendliness department, SmartSignin wins again. LastPass has some really cool features, but they're very confusing and lead to a load of trouble for someone who's just looking for something with a smaller learning curve. If you want all the bells and whistles, though, LastPass is your best bet. If you want something you can just use right out of the box, go for SmartSignin.

LastPass and SmartSignin both have enterprise offerings, although it's a little harder to find the one for LastPass. If you want it, you can find it here. The pricing on both services is definitely attractive, but I highly suggest using SmartSignin for a full enterprise environment, as it has a more secure platform that's easier for your employees to learn.

Whatever service you choose, make sure it's right for you, your employees, and anyone else who's going to use it. Perhaps one of the best things about using identity management is that you get to save time while providing your business with a complete security blanket over your online “you.”

Verizon DBIR: Identify insider threat warning signs, safeguard IP

Nearly half of all reported instances of intellectual property (IP) theft involved trusted insiders, according analysis conducted by the Verizon RISK Team, who issued a report with new findings gleaned from the company's 2012 Data Breach Investigations Report (.pdf) published earlier this year.

ISSE 2012: Business enthusiasm for the cloud causing IT headaches

There is a continuous struggle between IT departments and boards of directors who want to use the cloud, as well as personal devices for business purposes.

Speaking at the Information Security Solutions Europe (ISSE) Conference in Brussels, Tim Van Honste, security sales specialist for Symantec, said that with 80 per cent of new applications deployed in the cloud and more and more often built by third parties, better solutions are needed for connection.

He said that with 52 per cent of users using more than three devices, there is a "continuous struggle between users and IT departments". He said: “More and more people are buying devices themselves. If a company needs to buy a tablet for each employee it is a huge cost and they have to manage it. This trend is more and more present with personally owned devices and this is an evolution that will not stop. Companies buy space in the cloud but this means that the source code of company, the crown jewels, is in the cloud.

“More and more organisations are taking decisions without IT knowing it and all of sudden IT are informed that they have to set up a link as the business has signed a contract with a customer relationship manager software platform.”

He later said that many questions are asked on cloud and mobile, and they can be managed and controlled with policies and access.

“Extend and enforce your polices as many are just thought of, and you need to extend them as new technology will allow you to do this, he said.

“Also manage devices and content, they can be secure as anti-malware exists, so use it. Also secure your data as your infrastructure is important; if your server blows up will you be up and running in a couple of minutes, hours or days depending on infrastructure? We are talking about protecting your data, in use, at rest or data in motion.”

He concluded by recommending securing access by assigning devices to users and providing single sign-on authentication technology, so users do not have to use a post-it note or an Excel spreadsheet to remember each login that each cloud provider requires.

Van Honste said: “Embrace with confidence the cloud and mobile explosion â€" everything out there. The cyber risks are infinite but I am sure your budgets are not.”

ISSE 2012: BYOD can be \'a nightmare\' for IT managers

The challenge of personally owned or corporate-owned personally-enabled devices is a nightmare of security and privacy.

Speaking at the Information Security Solutions Europe (ISSE) Conference in Brussels, Patrick Michaelis, senior security product manager at Research in Motion (RIM), said that while we are in the middle of a paradigm shift in the consumer world, there is an idea of [that is] 'good enough security', as users do not understand the concept of security systems, and this is something that needs to be improved.

Regarding solutions, Michaelis said that virtualisation for mobile is not ready yet, while applications can be run in a secure container. “My favourite, is to re-ship it with a micro kernel technology and sandbox for every application,” he said.

“With corporate-owned personally-enabled (COPE), the company is the owner of a device and they can enforce what they want, they care about the data and not the device as they have to pay at the end.”

How To Identify Your Social Influencers

Whether you're a small business, a one-man brand, or you're the social media manager for a large agency, your first goal in social media is the same â€" influencer identification. You need to identify the people in social media who are important to your business. This includes the folks who have already been talking about your brand on social channels, as well as the users and outlets you want to be talking about the brand.

But how do you find these illusive influencers? Below are some tools to help you get started.

Search

It's not always flashy, but I like to use an old fashioned Google search when I'm in the early stages of influencer identification. It's an effective way to find those initial “linkerati” aka the people in your industry who have the ability to link to you or send you traffic. This will include industry-related blogs, writers, reporters, media outlets, and even those who are frequently quoted in news about your industry. These are important people to be connected to as they're your link to future press mentions and visibility. You can also do searches for competitors to see who is talking about them and where they're getting mentions. Start keeping a list to help you keep track of all the names you're collecting. Once you find the person or site via search, you can work backwards to find their social information.

Staying along the lines of search, setting up Google Alerts related to your brand will also help you to find people who are already talking about your brand and whom you may want to reach out to again.

People Tools

Thanks to the rise of social media (and the need to market to social users), a number of powerful tools have emerged to help businesses connect with people who are relevant to their business. Tools like Twitter Search, FollowerWonk, SocialBro, WeFollow, Twellow and FindPeopleOnPlus can all be invaluable in helping to track down influencers on Twitter, Google+ and the social Web.

As marketers you want to find people with established networks who have shown a propensity to be interested in what you have to offer. It may be they list a specific interest or they've recently had conversations about a similar topic. Once you use these sites to identify who they are, again, add them to appropriate lists and start looking for avenues to build relationships with them.

Influence Measuring Tools

Aside from tools designed to help you identify people are tools designed to help identify social influence. While I don't think any of these tools do a perfect job of determining if someone is truly influential on the Web, they can be used to get a baseline view of a particular user's network and who they are connected. Tools like PeerIndex, Klout, and Kred are all tools to help you identify users who are deemed influential in certain subject areas. If you're a local bakery, maybe you want to find people influential in cooking or cupcakes or a certain method of cooking. These sites are designed to help you do that.

Again, none of them are perfect so you'll want to use your own common sense when looking for topics to pinpoint and whether or not you think a specific user fits into your demographics. However, if you're looking for a starting point, these sites can often give you that.

Lists & Circles

Before you go too far creating your own lists, don't forget to take advantage of the lists others have created for you. Twitter offers users the ability to create Twitter Lists to help them group and segment their Twitter followers. Once you have a short list of Twitter influencers, check to see what lists they've created and who they are getting information from. If you're a local artist, you may be very interested in the City-specific lists they've created or they lists on Top Artist Blogs. You can also use a tool like Listorious to help you find relevant Twitter lists, as well.

While these aren't always as nicely segmented, you can also find new influencers by searching through the Google Circles others have created.

Those are a few ways that I go about finding influencers and people I want to connect with on social media. What's worked for you? What tools are you using to keep track of the influencers you find?

Three Must Have Solutions For A Virtual Team: Communication, Collaboration and File Share

Working in an office is great, but thanks to technology some jobs find offices obsolete and they see it only as an expense which they don't need. Most of them have decided to ditch the classic office scenario and replace it with working from home or some other place more conducive to where each individual coworker feels the best.

Regardless of your working environment, the team still needs to be able to work, collaborate, communicate and function together as a team. Technology has made that a pretty easy task today as most of the tools you'll need to accomplish this type of work are multi-platform and low-cost (or free). So basically, all you need to telecommute is a laptop, or mobile device, with an internet connection and some great applications and you're ready to go!

First off, you need to communicate. Instant messengers are a great tool for quick sharing of information, so you should try out Skype for text messaging and voice and/or video calls. The only downside of Skype is that it's a peer-to-peer messenger; meaning both parties will have to be online in order to get messages delivered. There's practically no offline messaging involved until both sender and the receiver get online. A good alternative is Google Talk, a simple yet effective desktop client for Google's Chat inside the Gmail service.

CMIT Solutions‘ Evan Stein notes, “If your team isn't all using the same one (messaging program), programs like Pidgin, Spark IM, or Digsby work across multiple platforms. Digsby also lets you manage your social media, as well as chat. For secure chat, Microsoft Lync Server provides IM services that never leave your corporate intranet. It's not free, but has a 180-day trial period”, 

If you have a large team, you may want to consider using project management tools to track projects and communicate between team members.  Some great project management apps to try include Basecamp, Producteev, Trello or Asana.  Basecamp and Producteev offer free trials and then have packages starting at $20/month (Producteev remains free if you only have 2 people in your team). Asana is free for up to 30 members, after which it jumps to $100/month for a team of 30 plus. Trello is a free application.

You'll also need some way of sharing and storing files. Dropbox is one of the most popular, but there's a variety of file sharing services. Google Drive is one of the latest and it can be nicely integrated with your workflow if you're already using Google's services. If you're more of a Microsoft user, SkyDrive allows you 7gb of free storage, more than either Dropbox or Google Drive.

Communication, collaboration and file sharing are basic fundamentals for your team to be virtual and to work effectively in a virtual environment. Since each business is different, you'll need to test out which applications will suit you and your team.

Are you part of a virtual team?  What applications are working for you?

Data protection for applications launched by Microsemi

Microsemi, a provider of semiconductors, has announced the launch of the Securre-Stor SATA solid state drive (SSD) that is designed to provide data protection for enterprise applications.

According to the company, Securre-Stor is a 2.5-inch SSD and includes FIPS AES-256 encryption and a 100 millisecond fast-erase capability, which is followed by a full hardware erase in less than ten seconds.

It claimed that the Securre-Stor SSD leverages a variety of features to protect data and ensure reliable performance, including key management (session, permanent and custom keys), 256-bit pass phrase protection and hardware authentication.

BJ Heggli, vice president of strategic development and assistant general manager for Microsemi, said: “Securre-Stor is addressing needs for secure SSDs beyond strong encryption in applications where protecting data is considered critical.”

ISSE 2012: The ideal solution for containerised smartphone environments detailed

The ideal mobile operating system should have separated personal and consumer environments to prevent applications from talking to each other.

Speaking at the Information Security Solutions Europe (ISSE) Conference in Brussels, Stephan Heuser, research assistant, Fraunhofer Institute SIT, said that companies want their employees to have one device that will allow access to secure email, applications and calendar, as well as have a private compartment for social networking and games that the employee wants to use.

He said: “A secure smartphone environment should deny the right to users to upload applications on corporate devices but they will find a way so it poses a security risk. We talk to a large number of companies and they ideally want an architecture that is hardware independent, supports a bring your own device (BYOD) strategy to bring a smartphone to a company, and has hardware installed and architecture that is as far as possible removed from hardware vendors.

“You also want to select software with an enterprise application market, low battery usage and high performance and that protects you against malware. You also need an architecture which is flexible to be extensible to the needs of the company or consumer who uses it. You don't want 'security by obscurity', you want context awareness of a device.”

Heuser said that after deliberating over the ideal solution, its concept was around 'goals of isolation', with private and business domains that should not be able to access data from the other domain.

“You don't want illegal communication between the domains of the operating system, but defined channels that allow you to exchange information and have an operating system that protects against runtime attacks,” he said. “Finally make sure the device is not infected by malware so it does not compromise the company network it is connected to.”

He also said that some approaches use virtualisation, type two hypervisors or a kernel level isolation solution, but with the latter it was 'hard to build environments'.

For its own solution, Heuser said that it has worked with mandatory access control, and said not to rely on standard access control, but apply your own policies and label apps as belonging to one solution or another. “You can tag anything and deny/allow access when data moves from one domain and filter out what is moving from domain to domain. Rely on security extensions of Linux kernel underneath,” he said.

“The nice thing about this architecture is it is easy for us to determine information flows and privacy, but not the other way around.”

Cloud Industry Forum and Federation Against Software Theft doubt The Pirate Bay\'s cloud capability

A move to the cloud by The Pirate Bay is not a game changer, according to the Cloud Industry Forum and the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST).

Last week, The Pirate Bay issued a statement via its Facebook page saying that it had moved away from servers to be hosted in the cloud. It said: “Slowly and steadily we are getting rid of our earthly form and ascending into the next stage, the cloud. Our data flows around in thousands of clouds, in deeply encrypted forms, ready to be used when necessary. Earth bound nodes that transform the data are as deeply encrypted and reboot into a deadlock if not used for eight hours.

“All attempts to attack The Pirate Bay from now on is an attack on everything and nothing. The site that you're at will still be here, for as long as we want it to, only in a higher form of being. A reality to us. A ghost to those who wish to harm us.”

Speaking to Torrentfreak, it said that moving to the cloud allows it to "move from country to country, crossing borders seamlessly without downtime".

“All the servers don't even have to be hosted with the same provider, or even on the same continent,” The Pirate Bay said.

FAST said that while the move by The Pirate Bay was worrying, but not unexpected, it was also not a game-changer, as measures already exist for governments to access cloud data in criminal investigations, even in cross-border situations.

Julian Heathcote Hobbins, general counsel for the FAST, said: “It is logical that The Pirate Bay is following the trend to move to the cloud to reap certain technological rewards. However, internet piracy in its general sense has been borderless for years and there is good cross-border cooperation between countries. I can only see this as improving as more nation states seek to rely on intellectual property as a source of economic prosperity for their citizens.

“The push against piracy is also a hearts and minds battle. It's about choice. There is a growing trend now that consumers are happy to pay a fair price for copies of a digital product and that it is a good thing to support innovative software providers amongst others. Recognising this willingness, the creative industries are developing business models to deliver best product services and value for money to the customer.”

Frank Jennings, specialist cloud lawyer and chair of the Cloud Industry Forum's governance board, admitted that by moving entirely into the cloud, enforcement action against The Pirate Bay will become tougher, yet governments and rights holders have the law on their side and cooperation across borders will make it difficult for The Pirate Bay. “The key is to go after the people controlling the site and not just the data,” he said.

Andy Burton, chairman of the Cloud Industry Forum, which aims to promote trust in the provision of reputable cloud computing services, said: “Many countries have signed mutual legal assistance treaties removing the argument that data stored in one legal jurisdiction is immune from access by other governmental authorities in another jurisdiction.

“A further issue for the would-be pirate is that many countries require cloud providers to disclose customer data in criminal situations â€" this requirement usually extends to data physically stored outside the country's borders, provided there is some jurisdictional hook, such as the presence of the same business being investigated within the country's borders.”

ISSE 2012: BYOD described as \'a nightmare\'

The challenge of personally owned or corporate-owned personally-enabled devices is a nightmare of security and privacy.

Speaking at the Information Security Solutions Europe (ISSE) Conference in Brussels, Patrick Michaelis, senior security product manager at Research in Motion (RIM), said that while we are in the middle of a paradigm shift in the consumer world, there is an idea of [that is] 'good enough security', as users do not understand the concept of security systems, and this is something that needs to be improved.

Regarding solutions, Michaelis said that virtualisation for mobile is not ready yet, while applications can be run in a secure container. “My favourite, is to re-ship it with a micro kernel technology and sandbox for every application,” he said.

“With corporate-owned personally-enabled (COPE), the company is the owner of a device and they can enforce what they want, they care about the data and not the device as they have to pay at the end.”

Applications cause connectivity and security headaches for IT administrators

Enterprise application connectivity-related issues now drive the vast majority of firewall changes.

According to recent research by Tufin, 90 per cent of 140 network security professionals said that this is the main cause for changes, yet few have effective processes in place to account for this shift, while around a fifth do not have any processes in place for managing enterprise application connectivity-related firewall data at all.

Sixty-four per cent experience application service disruptions due to network configuration changes as often as ten times per year, and one third (31 per cent) believe their organisation may have had a security breach due to an application-related rule change.

Ruvi Kitov, CEO and co-founder of Tufin, said: “This survey supports our belief that application connectivity management is the next frontier of firewall management. Just as next-generation firewalls caused a paradigm shift in the firewall market by enabling policies to be based on users and applications, SecureApp heralds a paradigm shift in the security policy management market by delivering a top-down approach based on business requirements, instead of a bottom-up approach based on configurations.”

Apple Unveils iPad Mini, Asus Pushes VivoBook

New Apple and Asus products introduced Tuesday offer great possibilities for entrepreneurs and business users alike. The long anticipated Apple iPad mini is joined by a fleet of new Asus Windows 8 machines including notebooks, ultrabooks, and all-in-one desktops, all offering greater mobility and flexibility. This roundup looks at how these tools and other developments are offering ever increasing productivity for your business.

Better Tools

Apple introduces its new device. Check out the incredible capabilities packed into a device so thin and light. As Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Philip Schiller explains, “iPad mini is as thin as a pencil and as light as a pad of paper, yet packs a fast A5 chip, FaceTime HD and 5 megapixel iSight cameras and ultrafast wireless-all while delivering up to 10 hours of battery life.” Apple Press Info

iPad mini offers mobility. This review by tech and business blogger Wayne Liew looks at how the new iPad mini specifically will improve the lives of business owners and entrepreneurs. “For business owners and entrepreneurs, as the device is highly portable, you can basically get tasks like emails, web browsing, news reading and even minor document editing done wherever you are,” Liew writes. Sprout Geek

Asus offers many flavors. In a separate announcement Tuesday, Asus introduced a gaggle of new machines ranging from the VivoBook, with multiple possible configurations and two screen sizes to the VivoTab Series tablets, featuring optional keyboard docks, making them a hybrid between a mobile device and a notebook or laptop. PC Mag.com

Better Techniques

Build a mobile business tool kit. Whether you're a work-at-home dad like Timo Kiander or the head of a small to medium sized company who's always on the go, this list of simple tech tools (hardly revolutionary these days, as Timo himself observes) will keep you productive not only during times specifically set aside for work, but during the “time pockets” in your daily life when you loose valuable time while away from the office. Productive Superdad

Master every minute you have. Improving productivity means just one thing: master your time! Here Mark Long, lecturer and clinical professor at Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, gives us a look at five tips intended to strengthen your time management, making you able to accomplish more in your business. Buzz Small Business Magazine

Write a shorter e-mail today. Yep, your e-mails are probably too long. Business consultant Matthew Needham got this idea straight from 17th century mathematician Blaise Pascal who, in a letter roughly translated once wrote, “I made this letter so long only because I didn't have the time to make it shorter.” The Big Red Tomato Company

Don't forget to take a nap. We aren't joking here. Some companies are beginning to realize nap time is as important to productive adult workers as it is to pre-schoolers, maybe more so because pre-schoolers aren't trying to run a business or launch a new product or service. Take a lesson from companies like Google and “The Huffington Post”. Everybody needs a nap! Spark Hire