Archive for 'Articles'
Why Most People In The PIPA/SOPA debate Are Wrong
On January 18, 2012, we saw some of the Internet’s most popular web properties act out in protest of the new proposed SOPA and PIPA legislations in the USA. A number of sites – including Google, Wikiepedia, Mozilla, Twitpic and thousands of others had either blocked out or crippled their web site for anywhere from [...]
Full StoryEvaluating The Need For A Dedicated Connection to Your Cloud Provider
Companies take their business to the cloud for many reasons. Some want to save on the ever-increasing costs of hardware and licensing. Others wish to simplify and streamline email access. Still others are looking to take some of the day-to-day burden off their busy IT departments. No matter the reason, using cloud services to fill [...]
Full StoryHow Do Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) Prevent Messages From Being Modified In Transit?
Hackers don’t need to steal usernames and passwords in order to cause damage. If they can intercept a message in transit, they can hijack the connection by modifying the packet so that it contains unauthorized information. So when you receive a message, how can you ensure that the packet you receive is the same one [...]
Full StoryWhat Kind Of Information Is Google Collecting About You?
Given that Google will be updating their privacy policies on March 1 2012, I thought it would be a good idea to revise some of the terms and see what sort of information Google is collecting about you and me. It’s important to know these things, since Google explicitly states that they share user data [...]
Full StoryLessons From the Government’s Planned Cloud Computing Program
Cloud computing is all the rage these days, a fact that should come as little surprise to those of us who manage business software solutions. After all, for its ability to maximize efficiencies, create internal systems of communication, secure limitless amounts of storage, and even reduce an office’s paper consumption, cloud computing offers considerable advantages [...]
Full StoryWill Tomorrow’s IT Jobs Require A Physics Degree?
One of the great things about working in IT is that the industry is constantly in a state of change. In recent years, we’ve seen the software market evolve through a series of incarnations. First, software was a product. Then, software was a service. And now, we’re entering a whole new era which promises some [...]
Full StoryWhy Remote Scanning Saves Data, Money and Time
Remote scanning is no longer just a theory, but a reality, especially with new technology emerging that can benefit companies on a number of levels. Environmentally, remotely scanning documents allows any business to go green easily by moving to a virtually paper-free office, thereby reducing its carbon footprint. Furthermore, a paper free office benefits companies [...]
Full StoryMastering Four Critical PC Issues to Reduce Costs and Enhance Productivity in the Workplace
It’s no secret that keeping expenses in check is a priority for businesses of all sizes. However, there could be one asset that’s draining large amounts of revenue unnecessarily – your fleet of computers. Running these without regular maintenance could result in sky-high costs when it comes to Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) as their [...]
Full StoryCommon Illegal Uses Of Corporate Email
Because emails are such an essential business tool, and because of the fact that emails are the single greatest repository of official business documents, it’s very common for employees to commit illegal acts using corporate emails. And when this happens, the organization can often land in trouble. Below, I’ve outlined some of the most common [...]
Full StorymindSHIFT’s Latest Video: IT Outsourcing and IT Services
Does IT have you running in circles? It can be a drain on resources, money, and, most of all, time. Whether IT is your day job or simply one of your responsibilities, mindSHIFT has the expertise and resources to take either all or a portion of the burden of IT management off your shoulders, so [...]
Full Story9 Ways Hackers Are Using Google
Like it or not, hacking is getting easier. Now that computers are more accessible, there are now more inexperienced users with poor computing habits to exploit. And since it’s now much easier for any untrained business owner to set up and run their own servers, we’re seeing many more vulnerable servers being exposed for exploitation [...]
Full StoryBest Features In Outlook Web App for Exchange 2010
One of the great things about MS Exchange is that it offers a feature-rich and consistent experience across every client interface. And the fact that that Outlook contains everything you need – including email, voicemail, text messaging, instant messaging, calendars and more – makes this a truly portable workplace. Anywhere you have a browser, you’re [...]
Full StoryCoreVault Launches V11
CoreVault, an industry leader in providing cloud based data protection services and powered by Asigra, today announced the release of CoreVault v11. The backbone of CoreVault’s secure cloud backup and recovery solution, CoreVault v11 now delivers up to 400 percent faster backup and recovery speeds while supporting data production operations for tablets and smart phones, [...]
Full StoryHow Does Google Share Your Information With External Third-Parties?
Google is a massive repository of information that seems to know our deepest thoughts and understand our most intimate secrets. Because of this, the idea of Google exposing some of these secrets can be absolutely terrifying to many people. On March 1, 2012, Google will be officially updating their privacy policy. So I thought this [...]
Full StoryDisk Formatting vs. Disk Wiping
Everyone loves to do a good deed whenever they can. And for many companies, that means giving away their electronic waste to charities or schools. Not only is this good for the community, but it also helps divert a lot of electronic trash from the landfills. But before these computers can be given away, their [...]
Full StoryQuantum Computing Shown to Strengthen Cloud Security
No matter how secure and encrypted traditional computer data processing may be, at the end of the day everything comes down to ones and zeros. Thus, just about any form of data converted into a digital format is vulnerable to unauthorized access. Once the correct sequence of ones and zeros are found, any computer can [...]
Full StoryHow Will Internet Censorship Affect Your Business?
Now that there’s a heated battle over the future of free expression on the Internet, we decided to get in touch with the business community in order to get their input on how SOPA, PIPA, and Internet censorship will affect businesses. My name’s Michelle Panzironi, I’m the COO and Co-Founder of hypetree.com. hypetree (no capitalh) [...]
Full Story9 Ways Your Movements Are Being Followed Using Location Tracking
One of the scariest aspects of online privacy has to do with automated location tracking. It’s one thing to have companies tracking information which you are freely giving out, but it’s quite another to be tracked based on data which is being automatically generated by your movements… without your knowledge. IP Address Tracking When most [...]
Full StoryEasy Technology Approaches to Talent Management
With economic hard times, businesses large and small have had to re-invent business procedures down to the most basic levels, looking for savings and leaner operations. Those that have been able to contract and retrench their functions have survived and outlasted their competition through what has been a dry season since 2008. Even though companies [...]
Full StoryThe Difference Between Vulnerability Assessments and Penetration Testing
On this blog, we’ve spent a lot of energy discussing the importance of testing data backup plans and disaster recovery processes using various scenarios. Likewise, it’s important to also test your network security in order to ensure that your company will remain safe from hackers and other malicious individuals that may want to destroy or [...]
Full Story10 Emerging Future Trends in Cloud Computing
It is no secret that 2011 was a big year for cloud computing. While it is still thrown around as a buzz word and there is much hype still swirling around, the cloud is here to stay. So, now that we know that it’s the real deal, what can we expect from the future of [...]
Full StoryIs Your Web Site a Security Risk?
Your web site is one of the first places that potential fraudsters and hackers look for information on how to harm your company. You may not realize it, but your online presence can be one of the greatest tools for exploiting the information security of your organization. Here are just a few of the ways [...]
Full StoryHow Big Data Spawned The Birth Of Next-Generation Non-Relational Databases
10 years ago, Google had a problem. They were constantly spidering, indexing and caching every page on an Internet which was growing at an exponential rate. In addition to this, they were expected to perform sophisticated calculations, sorts and searches on this massive and ever-growing body of data. Traditional relational data bases are designed to [...]
Full Story2012 Predictions: Streamlining of IT Ops with Social Interaction Platforms
So just where is IT going? This is something many of us are asking ourselves. It seems these days that technological advances are popping up all the time with a faster pace of change. What road does this put IT practices down? While the social technologies of today are used by most IT professionals in [...]
Full StoryGoogle Goggles Gives Us A Glimpse Into The Future Of Data Analysis
Until now, most of the privacy debates regarding data aggregators have concerned text-base data which is being collected about you. This would include things such as addresses, phone numbers, work history, search histories, etc… But at least other analog data was safe. Nobody would ever have a chance of finding that embarrassing picture you took [...]
Full StoryFactors That Complicate IT Management
Few people realize how hard IT admins actually work. Part of this has to do with the fact that their job is to be invisible. When the IT team is doing their job properly, you shouldn’t ever notice that they’re around. But when they mess up or get overloaded, all hell breaks loose. Below, I’ve [...]
Full StoryShould You Buy A Tablet or A Laptop?
So it’s pretty clear that Tablets are here to stay. Since the highly-mocked introduction of the iPad just a few years ago, their popularity has simply exploded. And now, many people are considering moving to tablets as their primary machines get older. So, as someone who’s had a fair amount of exposure with both, I [...]
Full StoryBig Data, And The Threat Of Automated Slander
Like it or not, Dig Bata is coming. As storage and processing power continue to become exponentially cheaper, a whole new industry is growing out of the opportunity to track, monitor, analyze and share every detail about your life. These are certainly scary times which rightfully bring out the inner-Luddite in all of us. But [...]
Full StoryWhy Do Power Companies Offer Energy-Saving Incentives For Green Computing?
It’s amazing to think of how accurate the Moore’s Law predictions actually were, and to see how long these predictions have kept firm. Even today, chips are getting exponentially more dense, exponentially cheaper and exponentially more powerful. 20 years ago, supercomputers were giant machines that took up huge rooms. But today’s datacenters can pack the [...]
Full Story5 Essential Cloud Based Tools for Better Document Management
The days of shuffling paper in office environments is coming to a close. Many companies are opting for a more efficient, all digital document management system. There are numerous reasons why a computerized document management process is highly preferred for many office environments. Some companies are looking to reduce the amount of paper utilized while [...]
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