Networking for the Lazy
The question I want to put in front of you today is “Is it ethical for employers to use information technologies to extend work into employees’ home lives? What are the most ethically responsible employee responses to these pressures?” How persuasive is the move of technology in to our home lives? In addition, how do we deal with it and what should our response be to our employers?
Is your company’s data safe from disaster ether man made or by nature? It is not a question of if disaster will strike, but when will it strike. Most businesses cannot afford nowadays to go without their data with their heavy reliance on customer databases and financial transaction systems. So how can a company’s data, information and knowledge be protected in the event of a disaster?
Everyone has their opinion as to what are the best security practices. At work, we have at least 20 booklets on network security specifying in detail how to secure our network from attack. I am not going to lie the books are very good and the information in them is sound for our network implementation, but what we consider our best security practices may not work for someone else. Here are some of my best practices. Continue reading Post ID 98
What is a trusted third party and how does it enhance electronic commerce? In cryptography, a trusted third party (TTP) is an entity that facilitates interactions between two parties who both trust the third party (Wikipedia, 2013). This is similar to a notary public who acts as a trusted third party when it comes to duplicating legal documents. Both Verisign and TRUSTe act as trusted third parties by building trust relationships between customers and venders like Amazon and Newegg. So how do Verisign and TRUSTe build the trust environment? Continue reading Post ID 98
The primary face of the internet is the World Wide Web (WWW), which since its invention has been transforming the world around us. Websites deliver us all sorts of information from healthcare advice, to websites dedicated to cat photos. We even trust websites to our most personal communications and our financial lives. However, everything is not all rainbows and unicorns on the internet’s World Wide Web. There is a darker side to the internet, people who trade in your personal information and steal your identity for profit and fun. Large criminal hacker organizations exist on the internet today, pillaging the World Wide Web like modern day pirates. Sadly though, many websites today do not take the most basic precautions to protect themselves properly form the darker side of the internet. Continue reading Post ID 98
What is Asterisk? It is a free open source framework for building communications applications. Asterisk turns any ordinary X 86 compatible computers into a communications server. Asterisk powers IP-PBX (Internet Protocol-Private Branch Exchange) systems, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) gateways, conference servers and other custom solutions. Asterisk is used by small and large businesses, call centers, carriers, and government agencies worldwide. (Asterisk, 2013) Continue reading Post ID 98
So, by now I think everyone in the USA and the rest of the world has heard about the epic failure of a website healthcare.gov was at launch. To be fair I do admit that I understand the complexity of it as it has to tie into several government databases, all of which use different software and formatting. From what I heard, they had to have the website reach into more than 100 of these government databases all over the United States. Furthermore, in true government fashion none of these databases are located in the same data center. Continue reading Post ID 98
Here we are in 2013 a world away from the days that one could trust that communications would not be intercepted and read by third parties. However, with recent disclosures about government spy programs, elite hacker groups, and just normal people sneaking a look see at your computer, what can one do to protect their private communications and data? Never fear there are ways of protecting your data in the guise of personal encryption systems; so let us look at one. Continue reading Post ID 98
The year is 2013 and only now, we are starting to see businesses start to take cyber security seriously. Why did it take so long for the business world to wake up to the threat? Well they have always been aware of the threat but the bottom line and the cost benefit analysis of securing ones data did not come out on the side of security. To quote the Department of Homeland Security, “For business owners, protecting cyberspace is part of their bottom line. Cyber-crime can mean financial loss for businesses both large and small. To address emerging cyber threats, we must acknowledge our shared responsibility to Achieve Cyber security Together.” (Department of Homeland Security, 2012)
So after much searching on the interwebs I have come up with a working config for configuring Skype connect in the FreePbx GUI of asterisk PBX. There are four things you need to have from skype to set up your trunk. They are your SIP User ID, Password, Skype Connect Address, and the UDP port. You can find them at the Skype manager page by clicking on “View profile” on the skype connect page and then clicking on Authentication details. Below is an example of the Authentication details page.
