Twelve cyber security veterans, with significant knowledge about emerging attack patterns, worked together to compile a list of the attacks most likely to cause substantial damage during 2008.

If you're a network manager, you may have heard some interest from upper management in implementing ITIL. Here's why you shouldn't be afraid...

In its third iteration, IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is an IT service management framework surrounded by industry best practices. Developed in the late 1980s by the British government in conjunction with a number of industry experts, ITIL is now considered the industry standard for IT best practices.

The dwindling revenues and loss of market share by the traditional telephone companies, along with the growing use of IP networks to carry data and voice, are spurring a business model that is transitioning from distance calling, to a model based on calling a person. For a business this means the ability to communicate via a WiFi network that does not depend on traditional land lines.

In this environment, users have the advantage of utilizing the cellular networks outside, never having to sacrifice connectivity for mobility. As the caller enters an indoor environment, a place where many cell calls get dropped, the converged handset would detect the presence of a wireless network and automatically switch to the lower frequency, preserving call quality throughout the transition.

The result of this would be the emergence of one caller, one phone, and one phone number for the transmission of data and voice. In a business environment, the transition could be made wirelessly through the corporate LANs PBX, whereas in a residential situation, the phone would detect wireless access points that connect directly to a broadband Internet connection, or the PSTN.

The key to the success of this technology is the hand set. While there are many models available today that are capable of switching from cellular to WiFi networks, widespread acceptance is presumed to be contingent on the dropping prices of the handsets, and the types of plans offered by the carriers.

With the release of the Apple iPhone, it was announced that  AT&T wireless is the carrier responsible for cellular communication, and presumably, the implementer of cell to WiFi calling plans.

One current example of fixed to mobile convergence is the new AT&T unity plan. With the acquisition of the Cingular, by AT&T, wireless network and all its subscribers, AT&T is offering a community calling plan that allows users to call nationwide to any of AT&T’s wireless or wireline numbers free of charge.

The Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity Template version 4.5 has just been released.  Janco contiues to update its templates to meet the ever changing requirements of the business environment.

With this new version a fully indexed PDF copy of the template is now provided in addition to the two versions of WORD (2003 and 2007). 

The updates to the template included:

1.      Defined generic metrics for DR/BC success

2.      Business & IT Impact Analysis Questionnaire Updated

3.      Updated references to DRP card

4.      Updated formatting to meet WORD 2007 requirements

The version history for updates to template can be seen at http://www.e-janco.com/drpversion.htm and the full Table of Contents with sample pages can be downloaded at http://www.e-janco.com/Register_drp.asp .

The problem with this is wireless signals can be picked up by outside parties. Internal devices that exchange data with the wireless hardware are already behind the gateway firewall, so intrusions that exploit a wireless signal can have devastating results in terms of data theft.

Wireless encryption standards include Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and Wi‑Fi Protected Access (WPA), the former is an old protocol that is fairly easy to crack with readily available tools; the latter is a more flexible and powerful technology.

The latest wireless networking products support both and include firewall and other security features, too.