Disaster Recovery Plan

02/03/2012 - H-1B discriminates against US IT workers

H-1B workers are better educated than U.S. born workers and earn more. The report by two economists at the non-partisan Public Policy Institute of California, found that, on average, H-1B workers are about 10 years younger than U.S. born workers.

The report's findings concerning pay indirectly challenge beliefs about the H-1B program held by its backers. In a recent column in the Financial Times, it was argued that restrictions on the H-1B program protect "many high earners from skilled migrant competitors." He called the H-1B program "a subsidy for the wealthy," meaning well-paid IT workers.

But according to this study, the conclusion U.S. IT workers are a "privileged elite is wrong." The study found that the average annual earnings of H-1B workers are about 10% higher than the average annual earnings of U.S. workers, after adjustments for age, occupation and education.

The study is drawing reaction from those who see current H-1B policies as a detriment to U.S. workers.

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01/28/2012 - Anonymous implements social media hacks

Anonymous distributed links to specially crafted Web pages via its Twitter feed which was re-tweeted widely, and links also popped up on Internet Relay Chat rooms, Facebook, Tumblr and other social networking sites. Some of the links led to PasteHTML.com, a site that looks a little like the popular text-sharing site Pastebin frequently used by Anonymous to issue statements. A variation of this method allowed users to type in the IP address of target Web servers before the JavaScript code began executing.

Most of the links were obscured using URL shortening services such as bit.ly. Several Anonymous Twitter accounts have thousands of followers, and some gained "hundreds of thousands of new fans overnight" during the course of the campaign, according to Cluley.

The new method appears to have helped knock Universal Music and other sites offline during last week's Megaupload-revenge attacks

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01/14/2012 - FedRAMP to drive cloud solution providers

The Federal CIO Council released the security control requirements for the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) - the new, innovative IT risk management program created to foster the adoption of cloud computing by the Federal government. FedRAMP provides a standardized approach to the security authorization process for cloud products and services, adopting requirements agreed upon by all Federal agencies and approved by the FedRAMP Joint Authorization Board (JAB). The security controls baseline is the basis for FedRAMPÂ’sstandardized approach to the security authorization process for cloud products and services. The release of the FedRAMP controls is the critical first step that to successfully launching FedRAMP.

FedRAMPÂ’s unified risk management process will evaluate IT services offered by vendors on behalf of Federal agencies, saving agencies from conducting their own risk management programs. By reducing duplicative risk management efforts, FedRAMP will enable Federal agencies to focus their evaluations of IT services on their agencyÂ’s specific needs, as well as their privacy and security requirements. In the coming month, GSA will release the FedRAMP Concept of Operations, further detailing the processes for Federal agencies and CSPs to meet FedRAMP requirements.

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01/07/2012 - IT job descriptions updated to meet all compliance requirements

Internet and Information Technology Position Descriptions HandiGuideÂ®

243 Job Descriptions and Organization Charts Sensitive Information Policy Compliance Agreement

The IT job descriptions contained within the Internet and Information Technology Position Descriptions HandiGuide^Â® were completed in 2012 and contains over 700 pages; in a new easy to read format; and, includes sample organization charts, a job progression matrix, and 243 Internet and Information Technology (IT) job descriptions. The book also addresses Fair Labor Standards and the ADA, and sexual harassment. Each job description meets ADA standards and the position description is delivered in electronic format - word which is editable and PDF which is printed.

More...

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12/20/2011 - Security ignored by younger employees

Employees aged 18-30 tend to have lax attitudes about computer security and are more likely than their older ounterparts to ignore IT policies, according to a recent Cisco report.

About 61 percent of young employees surveyed by Cisco researchers feel corporate IT security isn't their responsibility and should be handled by their employer or the device manufacturer, the researchers wrote in the third installation of Cisco's "Connected World Technology" report. "Young employees" in this report included 1,400 college students polled between the ages of 18 and 23 and 1,400 professionals polled under the age of 30.

Seven out of 10 young employees polled also frequently ignore IT policies and 67 percent feel the IT policies on social media and device usage are outdated and need to be modified to "address real-life demands for more work flexibility," according to Cisco. The younger workforce has "different" expectations of what should be allowed at work, and over time these policies and restrictions may become a deciding factor in where they choose to work.

The Security Manual for the Internet and Information Technology is over 240 pages in length. The template is compliant with ISO 27000 (formerly ISO 17799), Sarbanes-Oxley, Patriot Act and HIPAA and includes a PCI DSS Audit program. All versions of the Security Manual template include both the Business & IT Impact Questionnaire and the Threat & Vulnerability Assessment Tool (both were redesigned to address Sarbanes Oxley compliance). In addition, the Security Manual Template PREMIUM Edition contains 16 detail job descriptions that apply specifically to security and Sarbanes Oxley.

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11/22/2011 - Meeting productivity improvement

Ideas to improve meeting productivity

Have agendas with goals objectives. It's considered bad business manners to send a meeting request without providing an agenda. When calling a meeting focus agenda on expressly stating the goal(s) of the meeting.
Replace the default 60-minute meeting time slot with a 20-minute meeting unit. For some inexplicable reason, people seem to naturally default to 60 minutes as the amount of time needed for a meeting. And while that may be the case in certain circumstances, it should not be the default position. In place of a 60-minute default time slot, adopt the 20-minute meeting unit. If a particular topic needs more time than that, it is up to the meeting organizer to convince the participants that two (or three, or four) meeting units of 20 minutes are necessary.
Have people stand during meeting. It is too easy to "waste time" when everyone is sitting.
Orient the meeting toward follow-ups and actions. Meetings produce lots of ideas and discussion. That's wonderful. But the real purpose of most meetings is to agree on next steps and actions. Keep a focus on targeted actions and your meetings will be productive. Allow them to become discussion forums for "important issues," and they will feel long and painful.

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11/11/2011 - Security risk from easy access to user logon information

Users have dozens of logins and passwords spread out across an equal number of sites and applications and it's no wonder the average user tends to forget their secret info. Even with a tried and true system for generating memorable but complex passwords, the formula could easily fall apart if you just can't remember it.

So rather than continually clicking the "Forget Your Password?" help link, folks are readily hiding login information around their computer station.

And given that there's little variety in those secret locations, "hiding" might be a stretch. Typically user passwords was somewhere on their desk in one of these easy-to-find locations.

The most common locations where folks hide their login information are:

Under the keyboard
Under the phone
Under the mouse pad
On the monitor
In the top drawer
Under the desk

In other words, you're not doing yourself any favors if your entire system is compromised by a casual, passing glance from someone outside your office window.

Instead of the highly visible Post-It note on the monitor, Janco Associats recommends secure password aggregators to keep your login information secure.

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11/09/2011 - Is the death knell for Adobe Flash sounding

Adobe Systems is ending development of its Flash plug-ins for mobile browsers, the company confirmed today. Instead, Adobe will focus on HTML5 and, to a lesser extent, its AIR runtime environment. Adobe says it will work on tools that convert Flash content and apps to HTML5 and AIR versions for use on mobile, rather than continue to develop its mobile Flash Player.

At the same time there continue to be reported problems with Adobe Flash with IE in the 64 bit environment along with the frustration of users with the Adobe Update process.

Adobe has been working on mobile Flash for years, but shipped an Android version only a year ago and on both HP WebOS and the RIM BlackBerry PlayBook tablet this summer. Apple has adamantly refused to allow Flash on iOS over performance concerns (though it does allow AIR), and Flash has also not appeared in the BlackBerry smartphone OS or in Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 despite Adobe's promises to do so.

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11/07/2011 - How to terminate an employee

When you are going to terminate an employee and have prepared property then you should follow these best practices. Terminations are one of the most difficult personnel issues managers have to deal with; it's easy to bungle them. Avoiding the following pitfalls will reduce your risk of a wrongful termination lawsuit.

Plan for the termination meeting - Winging a meeting with an employee you are firing is a bad idea. If you don't prepare what you're going to say to the employee, you could speak out of turn, and your comments could be the basis for a lawsuit.

What they're going to say during the meeting
What's going to happen after the meeting
Whether the employee will be allowed to collect his belongings from his desk, or whether the company will pack them up and send them to him
If the employee has company files at home, the manger needs to figure out how to get those files
Have in hand the employee's final paycheck and include pay for any unused vacation
Provide the employee with a COBRA notice so he knows how much it will cost to continue his health insurance.

Planning the details of the termination helps demonstrate respect for the employee. It shows you care enough about the employee to think about the questions and issues the employee will face.

Have two people present in the meeting other than the individual being fired. That way if you end up in litigation, it's not one person's word against the other. It's better to have a second person from the company who can indicate exactly what was said.

Be serious and do not joke about what is going to happen and do not treat it like a cattle call. Some employers who have to do large layoffs round up employees like cattle in a conference room and tell them all at once that they're getting pink slips. This disrespectful tactic breeds ill will among the affected employees toward their former employer.

Get to the point quickly - Managers should never start a meeting with an employee in which they're going to be terminated with pleasantries. It's cruel to mislead the person about the conversation," she says. Instead, managers should cut to the chase. "We're meeting today because your position has been eliminated' or 'because we need to let you go.'"

If the termination is due to the employee's poor performance, managers should have a line and stick to it, such as, 'We've discussed your performance several times. This job is no longer a good fit.'
If the employee is part of a layoff motivated by economic or financial circumstances, it's best to say something simple such as, 'Your employment is being terminated due to a necessary reduction in force. The reason we have to do a reduction in force is because of the tough economic climate,' and leave it at that.

Be truthful about the reason for the termination Managers who feel badly about having to lay off staff will sometimes try to soften the blow to the employee during the termination meeting. The manager might say, "We have to cut you, but it has nothing to do with your performance. You were a great employee, but I need to let you go, and it's completely and solely related to cost reasons".
Such non-truths become problematic when the decision to lay off the employee was in fact performance related. If that individual decides to file a lawsuit alleging he was fired because of his age, the company will respond to the claim by saying, 'You weren't fired for your age. You were fired because your performance was the lowest among the people we chose.Â’ The plaintiff will in turn respond, 'During my termination meeting, you told me my performance was great and that it had nothing to do with the reason for my termination.' That alone can make an employer liable.

Do not broadcast the termination news over social media. Today there are lawsuits and legal claims related to updates managers have posted to Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, in which they disclose details of employee terminations.

Offer employees a severance agreement in return for a release of all legal claims It helps the employee because it aids in their transition and doesn't preclude them from seeking unemployment insurance. From the employer's perspective, the severance agreements are important because the employee will release the employer of all claims related to or arising out of the employment -- if they accept the severance package. That will take care of tort claims, contract claims, discrimination claims and wrongful termination claims.

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10/28/2011 - Core network security protection best practices

Network security basic protection rules:

Don't grant your users local administrator rights. This is cumbersome, but it ensures that the local hash database resists compromise, keeping other users' hashes away from prying eyes.
Use domain administrator credentials only on machines with domain controller roles installed. Use delegated administrator accounts with fewer rights to perform privileged actions on other machines like client computers and member servers.
Don't grant junior administrators local administrator rights on servers. Avoid granting anyone local administrator access on servers.
Consider setting up a whitelist of known-good applications. For some organizations, this is a trivial task, but it will prevent the operation of the utilities used in attacks and any other utilities that may come out to make this attack easier to execute.
Never use the domain administrator account to grant privileges to service accounts.

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