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The 2008 Global Information Security Workforce Study was recently released.  A total of 7,548 professionals in the field were surveyed.  The complete study can be downloaded at https://www.isc2.org/cgi-bin/content.cgi?category=510 

The most interesting headline from the study was the fact that 70 percent of all respondents reported that their own employees are the biggest threat to their organization’s security.  This is contrary to the common belief that organizations must throw most of their resources at the outside perimeter of the organization’s network to prevent outsiders from accessing their network.   

This premise is supported by a recent finding that email is now no longer the number one manner in which viruses access an organization’s network.  With the ease at which employers now bring in thumb drives, personal laptops and PDA’s.  Network security plans must focus on an umbrella approach that guards the entire network. 

Brad Rudisail
Computer Network Technician-Network Security Instructor
Ashworth University

              Thanks to Jamie Hladky for permission to use this Photo. 

You have to learn how to crawl before you learn how to walk, but once you learn a foundation of IT skills in Ashworth University’s information technology programs and anchor yourself in the IT labor force, here are the ten hottest tech skill sets you should aim to learn in the next five years according to Tech Republic.

1. Voice over IP - sales of pure IP PBX systems for the first quarter of 2007 increased 76% over the first quarter of the previous year 
2. Unified Communications - the convergence of different communications technologies, such as e-mail, voicemail, text messaging, and fax 
3. Hybrid Networks – Networks are no longer all Windows or all Linux, they are a hodgepodge of different systems and IT pros need to learn more than one of them.   
4. Wireless Technologies – everything’s going wireless it seems.    
5. Remote User Support – with more employees working off-site today, help support personnel must provide remote support to anywhere. 
6. Mobile User Support – more and more organizations are providing blackberries and other smart portable devices for their employees that must be supported. 
7. Software-as-a-Service – or SaaS as it is referred to in technical articles.  With the popularity of Web 2.0, the trend is to now provide software applications over the Internet rather than installing them on each and every computer. 
8. Virtualization – With the dominance of VMWare and the soon to be released 2008 Virtual Application from Microsoft, virtualization is THE buzzword today along with its countless benefits. 
9. IPv6 – Although this standard has not grown in popularity as of yet, mostly because the wide usage of NAT has allowed us to not run out of IP addresses on the Internet as fast as predicted, this standard is going to come about within the next five years.
10. Security - A skill set that will probably always be in the top 10. 

Brad Rudisail
Computer Network Technician/Network Security Instructor
Ashworth University

                 Thanks to Kit Cowan for permission to use this Photo. 

I had to go about shopping for a new KVM switch at my work to replace one that had gone bad.  This gave me the idea to write a short blog piece about KVM switches.  A KVM switch allows a user to control multiple servers or workstations with a single monitor and mouse/keyboard.  In a typical datacenter, each rack of servers will be connected to a KVM switch which has an assigned monitor/mouse/keyboard.  Because of KVM switches, organizations don’t have to purchase a monitor and keyboard/mouse set for every single machine.  This makes sense since users do not dedicate themselves to a server desktop as they do a workstation. 

Each computer is connected to the KVM switch with a special VGA or USB cable.  Higher end KVMs allow standard Ethernet cables to connect computers.  KVMs usually come in 4, 8 and 16 port versions, meaning that it can accommodate that many machines.  When a user wants to access a particular machine, he simply hits an assigned key on the keyboard to view a menu of the computers that are managed by that KVM.  He then selects the machine he wishes to view and the monitor then brings it up.  Imagine if you were downloading and installing Windows Updates on 8 servers.  You could pull up each server at a single monitor and complete the tasks without leaving your chair.

KVM switches are not utilized as much as they have been in the past due to the ease of tools such as Microsoft Remote Desktop which allows one to remote into any windows server at will and pull up the server desktop wherever they are in the world.  These remote applications due have one big limitation in that they do not allow a user to view the booting process of the server or access the BIOS as one normally is able to.  Unlike a KVM, if you reboot a machine while remoting into it, you lose your connection.  Because of this, KVM switches continue to be a valuable tool for networks today.

One of the biggest players in the KVM market is Avocent.  Visit their website at www.avocent.com to learn more about their product line and KVMs in general.

Brad Rudisail
Computer Network Technician/Network Security Instructor
Ashworth University

          
                 Image courtesy of Stanley Donwood/Radiohead.

If you open a window in your car, house, or computer today; there’s an outside chance that you may see an event horizon out there where the sun used to be.  You don’t have to do anything more than stare, so please don’t worry about recording the moment with a camera.  We often discuss the development of a metaverse on this blog, a 3-D environment or simulated world that’s completely integrated with the “real world” that we physically live in.  The concept once seemed like science-fiction, but then we realized, collectively, that we didn’t have to imagine ourselves walking down the street while information was being transmitted to and from our minds, i.e. telecommunications, music, photographs, etc.  Consider Emotiv’s newest addition to their virtual toy box, a neuro-headset that translates the electrical signals in the user’s brain into emotional/conscious responses of this user’s virtual self or avatar.  This neuro-headset is scheduled to hit the market later this year as a gaming device, which is cool enough in itself, yet the other potential applications of this technology for those with various cognitive and physical disabilities could literally be life-altering.  Check out this video demonstrating just a few of this headset’s capabilities.  We’ve all seen this before, but where were we? 

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

 
               Thanks to Jesse Draper for permission to use this Photo.

Until I watched the following video parody last night, I had practically forgotten about the “long distance switching wars” that occurred prior to the mobile revolution.  Do you remember the dark days and nights when phone companies were calling us at all hours to one-up their competitors with lame incentive plans?  The entire pitch was designed to get you to switch.  How quickly we forget.  And now—are those days here yet again? Take a moment to check out this admittedly corny, slightly obnoxious, but “point taken” video.

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

             Thanks to Jen Montgomery for permission to use this Photo.

Have you ever been in the car, not driving of course, just a passenger on a boring trip somewhere and really wanted to get on the Internet, but couldn’t because you didn’t have a Wi-Fi connection?  As an Internet junkie, I experience this dilemma quite often.  I recently had to rent a car while my primary car was in the shop, not an interesting story in itself; however it became quite an experience because I had an opportunity to test out Autonet’s new and improved wireless router.  This device really does turn your car into a wireless hotspot.  Ok, so I nearly drove off the interstate a couple times watching the insane, yet compelling leaked Tom Cruise video on YouTube, but the fact that I’m here talking to you today proves something.  On the Autonet Mobile website, they list a couple possible uses: ‘you can provide the driver with directions to a restaurant’ or ‘check the weather forecast.’  Those are nice capabilities if you’re new school, but let’s take it to the next level. 

A friend of mine recently got married and his wife has literally banned him from playing video games on the computer.  I was initially horrified by this action until he handed me World of Warcraft with one request: “play it for me man.”  Out of respect for this friend, I will, I will play it for him.  Now that I know Autonet mobile is the real deal, I’m suddenly interested in carpooling.  Instead of driving to work listening to myself yell at other drivers, I will now be a passenger with a laptop and World of Warcraft.  I may even watch Regis and Kelly just because I can.  Everything has changed.       

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University School of Information Technology

 
           Thanks to Monica Semergiu  for permission to use this Photo.

After my previous post, Doug Johnson asked me to explain the economic model of a DRM-free world. This has been done by others on numerous occasions, so what follows should only be thought of as a summary.

Today, the demand that someone (not necessarily the artist) be compensated for the creative act is driving the demand for digital rights management. Because it is today so easy to make copies of content, the idea is that any access to content must be compensated. Otherwise, we are told, the creator (or, more accurately, the rights holder) will not be rewarded.

But we have had free content since time immemorial. Not always in the form of television, obviously, but from the days the first stories were told around the campfire and the days the first paintings were drawn on the walls of caves, listeners and viewers could access that content for free.

It is important to recognize this. It is important to see that free access to content has, though history, been the rule, not the exception. That the commodification of content, that the charging of access fees, subscriptions, or some other form of tariff, is a recent invention for almost all forms of content.

Yet, somehow, through history, artists and authors and musicians managed to ply their trade. How was this possible? It was rarely through sale of recordings or reproductions. Here are some ways authors, artists and musicians can support themselves in a post-DRM world. (more…)

Apple released their newly redesigned iPod Nano back in September, and sales for this MP3 were a bit slow at first but have begun to turn around during the holiday season. The Apple iPod Nano is now one of the top selling tech gadgets this holiday season. Back in September, some Apple stores reported initial sales of only 200-500 of the new iPod Nanos of their initial stock of 1800-2500 units (source: AppleInsider). Apple executives were puzzled about the slow sales of the Nano which has gotten favorable reviews from just all of the technology reviewers.

Sales have greatly increased for the Nano during the holiday season, which Apple executives attribute to a recent strong interest in Apple products by consumers, such as the iMac and Mac OS X Leopard, and also because of Apple’s strong partnerships with retailers like Best Buy (source: AppleInsider).  Supply for the Apple iPod Nano are now running low, as this third generation MP3 player becomes more and more popular amongst consumers.

New Design of iPod Nano

The look of the third generation iPod Nano has gotten an extreme makeover. The new Nano still has the same click-wheel that has been so popular with iPods, but it’s a quarter of an inch smaller than the previous Nano’s click-wheel. This is probably because of the smaller body of the third generation Nano compared with its predecessor’s which was much taller and skinnier.

     Apple iPod Nano comparison (3rd generation model on the left)

(more…)