The Evolutionary IT Blog

Do you worry about privacy in the digital age?  Identity theft, email scams, credit card fraud, cyberstalking all pose significant threats to our privacy and have serious personal and financial consequences. Learn what you can do in very practical terms to protect your privacy online and off. By the end of this course you will be able to identify potential risks to privacy and the appropriate tools to protect your identity, finances, and personal information.  Join me for my course, “Protecting Your Privacy Online and Elsewhere” on January 26th at the Brookline Center for Adult Education.

Do you want to help solve diseases, aid in scientific discovery of the universe or help elucidate the next major breakthrough in physics? Well, you can! Download BOINC and your computer joins a world-wide grid of computers working on small units of a larger scientific problem. While your computer sits idle you can be helping by using its resources to solve these problems AND its even a cool screen saver. Its as easy as installing this application on your Windows, Linux or OSX machine, registering for a project and attaching to it.  So go do something productive with your computer’s free cycles that makes a difference!

Learn more…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boinc

http://boinc.berkeley.edu/

Consistently I encounter new clients who have had their IT systems set up in less than optimal security configurations.  One troubling issues is the prevalence (in the small/medium business space) of general office users having local (or even Domain) Administrator account.  The administrator account in Windows allows you to generally manage the machine in terms of its configuration and installed software.  At first glance this would sound like a great idea.  Shouldn’t every user in a company be able to add programs or change settings as they see fit?  The problem is that the risks of such a configuration FAR outweigh any benefits.  Here is just a few of the supernumerary reasons why NOT to give administrator to anyone other than trained IT professionals.

Potential for Operator Error
The average computer user isn’t as good at assessing the safety of their computing experience.  At no fault of their own they often fall prey to malware delivered via casual surfing, spam, emails, or even simple instant messages.  Configuring a system to allow for any average user to have Administrative rights in Windows (or root in Unix/Linux) makes it so much easier for your business and its infrastructure to fall prey to criminally minded hackers.  It allows all of the machines involved to execute any code they are give with those very same privileges.  This effectively makes it much easier for you machines to be infected by malware and potentially experience data loss/downtime.

Potential for Criminal Behavior – Insider Threat
When everything is allowed by default – expect the worst.  As odd as it sounds the risks to your company are very often greatest from your own employees.  Startlingly, according to a 2005 computer crime survey by the FBI, 44 percent of organizations reported insider attacks.  These came from often trusted employees who few expected would be a risk to their organizations.  This is why it is important to give users the LEAST privilege (to information/computing resources) they need in order to perform their job function.

Potential for Violations of Industry Regulations
If you do not explicitly forbid changes to your systems/networks configuration you will most certainly eventually fall out of compliance with associated regulation.  It can be assumed that is only a matter of time…

Least Privilege Makes Sense
In the most simplistic sense giving your employee Administrative privileges is like giving everyone in the office the keys to the safe and endless blank checks.  It just isn’t prudent and in the end will come back to haunt you in the form of real quantifiable costs.  Users should be regular domain users or local limited/restricted regular user account NOT administrators.  Utilizing the notion of least privilege will be a good step forward (among many) in mitigating many potential security problems.  This among a unified approach to computer security will save your organization time, money and head-aches.

Kiva.org is a website and peer to peer lending platform that allows you to make a positive impact in the third world. Traditional banking institutions have largely ignored the poorer members of society in the developing world, giving no access to the very capital so critical to their chances of economic mobility, progress and even survival. Kiva is micro-finance/micro-loan lending direct from you to the nascent third world entrepreneurs. Your small loan can help a family thrive and make a discernible change in the world around you. I have committed to help Kiva.org and hope you join me…

I often get questioned from many of my friends with kids about what can be done to keep them safe on the Internet.  The online threat to kids comes in many forms, so its important that parents take steps to address it.  Cyber bullying, cyber stalking, mature content and even predators are all among the many threats.  Thankfully there are a few things you can do as a parent and technologically to keep them safe.  My practical advice is simple layered security solution with some honest open communication.

1. Set users up as regular/limited/standard users and NOT administrators (Windows) or root (OSX/Linux).  Your children don’t need to be able to install things or otherwise change the system.
2. Get a good up-to-date Anti-Malware protection solution.  The day of the Anti-virus solution is long gone and you need protection that will defend you against the myriad of threats (Spyware, Worms, Viruses, etc.) you face in todays Internet.  Turn on automatic updating so that patching comes automatically and in a systematic fashion.  Statistically this will reduce many of the malware exploits you might encounter.
3. Turn on parental controls.  Whether you are on Windows XP/Vista or OSX you have the ability to turn on parental controls to block them from doing certain things or going to certain sites.  If the parental controls embedded in the operating system of your choice are not enough then check out my presentation below for some great 3rd party options.
4. Block some websites/content on your SOHO (Small Home Office Router/Firewall).  Modern SOHO networking devices often have parental controls in them as well to block users on your network from accessing content that you don’t approve of.  For example, take a look at the Linksys WRT54G.
5. Back regularly.  All modern OS’s allow you to do this quite simply so don’t feel intimidated.  Backup to external hard drive, USB or even online backup.  Trust me, you will be happy you did if your child does end up doing something that compromises your machine.
6. Educate your children to the basics on understanding security, phishing, privacy, etc.  If they are armed with knowledge they will be less likely to fall prey to the social engineering/technical tactics in the future.
7. Maintain your home computer in the family room or other location where you can physically monitor them.
8. Ask to review their online profiles on social networking sites.
9. Remind them to think before posting or otherwise communicating anything that their parents, principal or nearly anyone of the billions of Internet users can see it.
10. Make your kids aware of what to do if they have a problem with cyber bullying, cyber stalking, predators or otherwise.
11. Talk to your kids about the online risks and your household allowed Internet uses.  Maintain an open dialog so that they understand their responsibilities and your expectations.

Earlier this year I did a whole presentation on this very subject.  Please so feel free to check it out here.

My recent SCALE conference talk on “FOSS Games FREE FUN” is finally up in mp3 form. The outgrowth of 4 presentations and much personal inspiration and passion – www.opengamingnow.com is now live.  Please let me know what you think of the talk and the evolving podcast project.  Podcast #1 highlights an interview with Lee Vermeulen of the Open Source game Nexuiz.

Open Gaming Now is a monthly podcast/vidcast highlighting the many projects, issues and technologies surrounding open source games and gaming.  Our effort is to bring more limelight to the truly amazing work coming from our FOSS video gaming community. So what are you waiting for?  Join us!  We are looking forward to your feedback and insights!

I am happy to report that the second Florida Linux Show was an outstanding success!  The show was quite a gathering of dedicated and enthusiastic Open Source professionals.  Despite being ill, I attended as many great presentations and even gave one myself.  My presentation on FOSS Games and the state of Linux gaming went well save for the faulty ever flickering projector.  Lets call it a “feature.”=P  Once again I announced my community efforts to raise awareness on the many wonderful things happening in Open Source gaming with my new site opengamingnow.com.  The general consensus among all the presenters and attendees was resoundingly positive.

Thanks to the whole Florida Linux Team, Ubuntu Florida LoCo, Ubuntu Podcast, and the Qimo project for their great company.  Look for up-and-coming coverage of the Qimo project at opengamingnow.com I look forward to seeing you all next year at the Florida Linux Show!

SCALE was as always a amazing event! My presentation on “FOSS Games – Free FUN” seemed well received.  I spoke with several members of the SCALE team about the idea of having a FOSS Gaming “try it” lab or LAN party which I hope to help bring to fruition next year.  What could be more compelling than actually trying these great FOSS games!?  As I said in my presentation I am beginning my work on a new podcast that will highlight FOSS gaming projects.  We are looking for ideas, interviews, contributors, bloggers, etc. so drop us a line.  Opengamingnow.com will launch 04/09.

I would like to thank the whole SCALE team for their tireless work on producing such an outstanding FOSS community event.  The presentations were all stellar and much was garnered from the ensuing reflection.  At SCALE, I am impressed with the depth and breath of insight, intelligence and diverse brilliance of our community.  Bravo SCALE! I can’t wait for next year!

The FOSS Video Game survey is now closed. The prize winner has been notified and allotted the project prize to the Nexuiz team. Congrats Eron/Nexuiz and thank you to all who participated!

The results summary are in my presentation on FOSS Gaming Free FUN! as well in the forthcoming edition of Full Circle Magazine.