Dangers of open Wireless Access

Most people with wireless laptops, when out on the road or in a City, use open Access Points for wireless access. These are wireless networks that don't ask for a key or password to access the Internet. When compared to the sometimes extortionate hourly fees from paid for Access Points this sometimes seems a reasonable choice.

There are two dangers of using these Access Points. The first, and most important, is the security threat. Some Access Points are setup solely to entice business users onto them so a Hacker can scan for passwords and confidential information. An article on ZDNet describes the danger in more detail and provides some quick security tips. A good remote access strategy will help your users work securely from anywhere in the world.

A more recent danger is that on Criminal charges. A BBC story describes how Worcestershire Police recently cautioned two people for unauthorised use of wireless Internet access. Luckily for their organisations their names were not released.

The new Software licence "Police"

From the 6th April Trading Standards have been given an increased budget to combat Copyright theft. This covers software licence theft and theoretically gives Trading Standards the power to audit a company for unlicensed software. The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) have been making companies aware of this, but articles last month, including one from ITWeek, pour some doubt onto the claim that Trading Standards will be kicking down the doors of businesses.

The increased budget of £5M means they do have to carefully target who they prosecute under their new powers. It seems more likely that they will be looking for companies trading in software licence theft more than the end user.

Vista Upgrade

If you're thinking of upgrading to Microsoft Windows Vista, either by upgrading existing machines or purchasing new machines, we can firmly recommend checking compatibility first.

At TMC we've recently upgraded three machines to Vista and discovered a number of hardware and software items that are not supported on Vista.

It would seem that a number of hardware manufacturers are not releasing Vista drivers for older hardware, forcing users to upgrade to new devices. If your hardware isn't supported out of the box by Microsoft (check on their Hardware Compatibility List HCL) then check on the manufacturers website for a Vista driver. The same applies when buying new hardware, resellers are still selling hardware that does not come with Vista drivers.

There is a similar problem with software but because Software Companies need to keep their user base they are developing Vista compatible versions of their packages, but not all of them are available at the moment. Even if an update is available you will probably find that most companies are charging for the upgrade. Microsoft try and maintain a list of compatible software (KB Article 933305) and offer a download for some software to help make it compatible (KB Article 932246).

A combination of new hardware and software upgrades can easily double the cost of a Vista upgrade.

Business Continuity Communication

During a crisis one of the things that becomes difficult for an organisation is communication. Knowing who to communicate to and what to say is hard enough without the panic of crisis management involved.

If you're not sure how this will work for your organisation try a little test. Turn off your mobile phone and move outside your building, now try and phone your three most critical employees from a payphone. If the only way you can get their numbers is by going back in your building or turning on your mobile phone you need a communication plan.

A communication plan goes beyond just names and phone numbers though, it also covers planning what to say. In a crisis your message has to be clear and consistent. As another test, give a number of your employees a printed message about your phone system being unavailable. Ask them to throw the paper away and then phone you from their mobiles and tell you the contents of the message. See how many different messages you get and how the message is delivered.

Second Life

Companies across the world are clammering to join in the online selling through Virtual Worlds craze. Second Life is the most popular but others include World of Warcraft (WOW) and AlphaWorld.

A number of multinationals have made a success of this style of marketing, as reported by Investors.com but before breaking into this arena yourself you have two big decisions to make.

1. Is this where your target market is. If none of your customers inhabit these Virtual Worlds then neither should you.

2. Do you have the time and resources for it. Online Worlds are true 24*7*365 and people expect companies to have a presence there when they want it. If you can only afford an hour or so a day then Virtual Worlds may not be for you.