Superb Internet » Security

Even More SEO Tips, and Free 5-In-1 Managed Bundle!

Monika Pin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:32:31 +0000

Hey everyone, just a quick note to let you know the August/September issue of The Spearhead is now available! As summer draws to a close and we gear up for fall, we bring you the latest info and exclusive discounts to keep you Ahead of the Rest.® We’re now on our 3^rd installment of our series SEO & You: Advanced SEO Tips, and this month we unravel Google’s PageRank algorithm.

Also in this issue:

If want to make sure your data AND your network are always secure, you need Cisco’s unmatched FWSM managed firewall.
For a limited time, get our exclusive 5-in-1 managed services bundle FREE with the purchase of the highly flexible yet economical XenServer managed server virtualization platform
We welcome the aptly-named Superb Bird of Paradise to our family, adopted from the Honolulu Zoo
We sit down with DCA2 Facilities Manager and welcome two new team members in our Employee Spotlight column

Catch up with us in next month’s issue…and in the meantime, find us on Twitter, our Facebook page and of course…superb.net!

Staying Safe Online

ahogarth — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:56:39 +0000

Remember when the Internet first became readily accessible and ‘caution’ was the word of the day? People thought that even if you looked at your computer funny your identity could be swiped from you faster than you could say dial-up. My mother was certain that even having the Internet could make you susceptible to a fate similar to that of Sandra Bullock’s in The Net; running around the city, sans identity, with only Dennis Miller for help as an oddly casted side character, offering witty comments and sarcastic quips. Luckily, we have all learned that the Internet really isn’t that dastardly and online activities like shopping and booking are fairly painless processes, as long as you do it safely and correctly. There was an article on Yahoo! Finance that offers seven commonly committed blunders that you should avoid in order to protect your online identity.

These common mistakes can ruin your computer or invite identity theft

1. Assuming Your Security Software Is Protecting You

Security software is fully effective only when activated and frequently updated. (Most products can update automatically.) To update most commercial software products, you must pay an annual fee. Last fall, the National Cyber Security Alliance and the software maker McAfee found that nearly half the users polled who thought their software was protecting them hadn’t updated it regularly. Software bundled with a new computer requires special attention because its subscription may expire within weeks.

Click here for the full article.

This article offers helpful tips and solutions to avoid these blunders so you can continue to reap all of the benefits of the Internet, safely, soundly and Dennis Miller free.

Say Goodbye to Your Deep, Dark YouTube Secrets…

ahogarth — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:56:41 +0000

Have you ever had one of those nights where you are sitting in front of your computer planning to look up one little video? Say, a particular Radiohead performance (you can thank me later for this one), or something funny that your friend suggested you look up; and three hours later find yourself musing over an America’s Funniest Home Videos montage set to a Huey Lewis and the News song of playful kitty cats doing those hilarious kitty cat things.

Of course you have.

And somewhere in between Radiohead and wily kitty cats you have squirmed before a series of brutal face plants, giggled over a pile of hamsters stuffing their faces with broccoli and laughed hysterically at the unbelievably lame Cobra Commander music video circa 1986 GI Joe (YouTube ‘Cold Slither’ and once again, thank me later). It is the nature of YouTube to keep you clicking to new videos so that in the span of an evening, you might have viewed hundreds of random videos, even if it’s only for a second (for example, when you stumble upon some struggling musician offering his own personal acoustic cover of Knocking on Heaven’s Door – you won’t be there for long).

Now, can you imagine if the (shameful) amount of time you spend on Youtube.com and the exact things that you have clicked on were made public? It would be mortifying. Not necessarily due to the actual videos you have looked up, as I’m sure that there are far more embarrassing things that one could have been looking up than America’s Funniest Home Video montages, but just the idea that these statistics have been made public – it would make you feel downright scandalized.

Unfortunately, it seems as though this will become the fate of YouTube.com users. This week the courts declared that Google was obligated to disclose the records of every video viewed by YouTube users, including users’ names and IP addresses to Viacom. This billion dollar lawsuit against Google, starting in March 2007, is for their allowing clips of Viacom’s copyright videos to appear on YouTube.

Many people believe that this is an incredibly intrusive violation of rights, although the ruling judge deemed the issues of privacy to be ‘speculative’ and as a result, Google has had to hand over the YouTube.com user viewing habits that reside on the logs of four tera-byte hard drives. Google has also had to turn over millions of videos however, the judge denied Viacom’s request for titles, keywords, comments, and flags for inappropriate content, ruling that the request was too broad. He also stated that private videos uploaded by a user sharing with one other user are protected under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a great analysis of what went down during the court proceedings as well as links to some interesting article about privacy violations. Also, a lot of the articles that have covered this recent issue carry some really interesting feedback in the comments sections from people just like you and I who feel concerned that their love of people falling down, smashing their faces or anything that America’s Funniest Home Videos could assemble a montage of will be exposed to the world.

What does Google know about you?

Jason Barnes — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:08:07 +0000

The search giant has clearly established itself as the predominant search engine, and with its ever-increasing list of web properties, the amount of data that Google is able to collect about individuals is increasing exponentially; not only are more users using more Google properties, Google is getting better at collecting more information from a wider range of sources. To me, this could potentially be a scary situation.

I frequently hound my colleagues about being logged in to their Gmail account while using the search engine, and yesterday I was preaching to the office about how much Google knows about everyone and that I purposely make an effort to use a variety of different providers for different online services like search. And no, I wasn’t simply acting as an evangelist for the turbulent Sunnyvale-based company I enjoy so much.

So, what does Google know about you? Well, it turns out they know a heck of a lot! Consider some of the properties: Google search/personalized (custom?) search, the Google toolbar, YouTube, Orkut, Blogger, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Desktop, Google Earth – and that’s not all of them! That doesn’t include Analytics, AdWords, AdSense, or search verticals like image, maps, books, and news. I’m quite certain that the average individual is using at least a handful of the services regularly, and the information that is collected from each of these properties is extensive!

Microsoft, the software giant that it is, may be referred to as the Dark Side, but knowing how that tale ends and seeing Microsoft as it is today makes the soon-to-be-Gates-less company seem somewhat less menacing. And while I don’t find myself strapped to a chair next to a cage full of rats betraying my beloved Julia, I can’t help but feel as though Google is slowly trying to brainwash me into believing that two and two makes five – or at least make me believe that they are a squeaky clean alternative to the Dark Side that I should trust.

For an in-depth look at what information Google collects from its various properties, check out Danny Dover‘s article on SEOmoz that looks at Google’s user data collection.

Tools for the travelling techie

Jason Barnes — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:37:58 +0000

While I don’t find myself hopping from city to city, with commuting, contract work on weekends, and a pseudo-nomadic lifestyle, I find myself constantly on the go. Between fighting to find an Internet connection (a free, wireless one, preferrably), worrying about who’s going to try and grab my laptop from my car, and trying to keep files synched and up-to-date on different systems, I have more than enough concerns – and that doesn’t even involve crossing borders and contending with changing copyright laws. To help make things easier for those always on the go, Computerworld has come up with a list of 8 tools for road warriors:

…dropped cell phone calls in hotel rooms, faint Wi-Fi signals in airports, data files that vanish without a trace and power-sucking gadgets that invariably go dead just when you need them most.

Overwhelmed? Take heart — adding a few key gadgets to your arsenal could help. The eight handy devices and services detailed below can help you charge, connect, boost and protect your array of mobile devices and the data they contain. With some of these you might find yourself carrying fewer cables, chargers and other travel detritus.

Click here for the full article.

Windows Server 2008

Jason Barnes — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 17:26:09 +0000

It’s been 5 years since Microsoft has made a release in the Windows Server family. Like many of the other software offerings from Microsoft, the development cycle has been inflated as the company looks to make significant changes to usability and security. Windows products are often bogged down with unnecessary features and are a favourite target of those looking to exploit security holes; with more important data tending to be stored on corporate servers than individual desktops, more security is expected and needed, but the server still needs to run effificiently.

The core code base of Windows Server 2008 is derived directly from the secure development model (SDM) that was used to develop Windows Vista. Initially that was a point of concern, having been less than impressed with the stability of Vista in my personal experience, but it does make sense. The thinking at Microsoft is that these new releases are being built on a more secure backbone of code, which makes future upgrades and enhancements less likely to create security headaches. With the two OSes sharing the base code, it should make it easier to identify major flaws and address them before they are exploited, too.

The most notable feature of Windows Server 2008 is probably the Server Core installation feature. This minimal installation option allows for a faster running, more secure server that is perfect for many basic roles: Domain controller/Active Directory Domain Services, ADLDS (ADAM), DNS Server, DHCP Server, file server, print server, Windows Media Server, Terminal Services Easy Print, TS Remote Programs, and TS Gateway, IIS 7 web server and Windows Server Virtualization virtual server (to be available in approximately 6 months). The server core installation is a great way to make use of older hardware at branch offices, for example.

From all the reviews I’ve browsed, this is a strong release by Microsoft; probably too long a wait, but it seems to have been done much better than Vista. It’s obviously not perfect, but the improvements that have made are improvements and they don’t overcomplicate or alienate longtime users. For more on the release, see the following articles and reviews:

Official Site for Windows Server 2008

Wikipedia: Windows Server 2008

Tom’s Hardware: Windows Server 2008 Reviewed

Computerworld Review: Much to like in Windows Server 2008

Computerworld Image Gallery: Much to like in Windows Server 2008