Great news! G.1440 partnered up with The Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA) to deliver web security solutions that current standards such as firewalls and anti-viruses cannot deliver.

Chris Howe, Director of Systems & Technology, states “Too many companies believe that their firewall, hosting company or even anti-virus software will protect them, but these vulnerabilities exist in the site code that is displayed on the web, and are not protected by network security measures.”

Over 90% of websites have Security Threats. Only 1% have a threat prevention plan. A clear solution that won’t interfere with your site, network, or operations, and security starts at around $1 a day.

Check out this article to learn more about the partnership.

In my opinion, music players are expensive enough. However, some of our friends to the North disagree with me. Canada is considering whether to enact a tax on music players to compensate artists for illegal downloading activity, and understandably, some folks are concerned that the US may consider a similar strategy. So…even if your music is completely legit, you could wind up paying as much as $75 as a penalty or tax on top of the current price tag.

Has this idea been discussed before? Yes…under the legal term…”collective licensing”…meaning that everyone pays a flat fee or tax instead of anyone trying to figure how to tax based on usage, or song library size. Basically, it is going to be impossible to figure out who has downloaded which song and whether it was legal or not. This “flat tax” strategy tries to make things simple. Just pay a fee, and download as much as you want. The artist is compensated and we don’t have to worry about how many copies have been made and what library is syncing with which iPod. Although, I hear that Apple has fixed this issue. Another concept that is floating around on the web is for people to pay a monthly fee of $5 to $10 for the right to download and play music…sort of a monthly access charge. While similar in concept, this strategy seems to be full of issues regarding enforcement.  For more information regarding collective licensing, check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation. They currently support a US based, voluntary collection licensing agreement. The EFF is a member funded consumer watchdog organization.

In 2005, Wisconsin considered a similar tax; however it was not passed in to law. Could it happen again? Well, the current economic situation isn’t helping matters. Legislators across the country are facing unprecedented budget shortfalls and this type of tax is an easy target, so it does seem likely that it would come under consideration.

The Canadians have already been taxing blank cassettes and CDs to compensate Canadian artists…so has this paid off for them? Not really…while it has generated approximately 160 million dollars, the payments to the 100,000 rights holders are made over a 10 year period. Doing the math shows that this is approximately $160 per year -to each artist…not exactly enough to allow anyone to retire.

So, let’s pray for the best and hope that this tax stays north of the border…eh?

Suppose a few guests drop in unexpectedly to your house… you, being a wonderful host/hostess need to whip up something to serve, but don’t have time to get to the store. Well, there is no need to panic…a new website will give you tons of recipe ideas all based on the ingredients you already have in your kitchen. The site is called www.supercook.com and it just might make you a “super cook” in less than 5 minutes and all for free.

Supercook works by providing you instant access to over 300,000 recipes.  These recipes are stored so that as you start typing what you have in the kitchen, supercook.com simultaneously provides you with recipes that contain those ingredients. Supercook will also tell you what is needed that you don’t have to prepare the recipe of your choice…pretty amazing. You get a quick idea of what recipes work best for you. Suggestions from Supercook come sorted by starters/appetizers, entrees and desserts or you can simply view them all at once if that strikes your fancy.

To me, Supercook seems just as helpful in helping with grocery shopping and meal planning. Let’s say that you really like chicken and oranges…simply type these ingredients in  to supercook and get back a bunch of recipes…pick one, print it out and take it to the store.

Supercook can also make you a better cook, by suggesting ingredients that will go well with your selections…ingredients that have complementary tastes…I know folks (hope my wife doesn’t see this) that have very plain tastes and this feature will definitely help them expand their culinary horizons.

Supercook is free and also offers you the ability to create your own cookbook.  Simply sign up for an account (takes 2 minutes) and you can then start saving favorite recipes in your own cookbook.

Supercook also allows for excluding items such as nuts or shellfish for those folks with allergies.

The old days of flipping through recipe books to do meal planning are over…supercook takes the work and stress out of the event and lets you focus on having fun!

Have fun with this site…..it is worth visiting.

What if there was a big On/Off switch and one day…someone shut down the internet.  Well, it just might happen. A US Senate Cyber-Security bill being considered would give the President emergency control of the internet. It would allow him to declare a cyber security emergency and effectively shut down networks that are causing issues.

I guess the Feds have had enough. As we have been discussing for months now, most .com websites (approximately 9 out of 10) are very vulnerable to hacking…in other words… Swiss-cheese.  Hackers can and are having a field day. Here is some data from G.1440’s experience scanning and repairing websites…

1>   86% of the sites we scanned contained critical issues,

2>   53% of the sites contained a critical issue that is related to server setup – these can be easy to fix

3>   73% have been vulnerable to the two most popular hacking strategies…SQL Injection and Cross Site Scripting. Be sure to throw those two terms out for discussion at dinner tonight!

Unfortunately, businesses are not taking action to scan their websites and find/fix the holes and some of these same websites are being used to attack Federal government websites and/or infect the computers of people visiting these sites.

The Feds are spending over 100 million to protect just their .mil websites, but private businesses must do their part and they aren’t. So, the government is now being forced to take action and is considering a Giant On/Off switch that they will use to control traffic on the internet if an emergency arises.

The Senate Cyber security bill of 2009 will offer President Obama emergency control of the Internet and may give him a ‘kill switch’ to shut down online traffic by seizing private networks. A new version of the bill was introduced in mid August and will allow the president to “declare a cyber security emergency” relating to “non-governmental” computer networks and do what’s necessary to respond to the threat by working with critical infrastructure providers.

Giving control of the internet to the Federal government is giving some folks cause for concern. For example, the bill doesn’t define exactly what a cyber-emergency is…just that it is an “immediate threat”.

In May, President Obama acknowledged that the government is “not as prepared” as it should be to respond to disruptions and announced the creation of a yet to be filled ”cyber security coordinator” position.
What else does the bill provide for? Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for “cyber security professionals,” and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.

In case you are interested, here is a link to part of the bill -  <http://www.politechbot.com/docs/rockefeller.revised.cybersecurity.draft.082709.pdf>*

While it may be cause for concern, you have to admit that if we just kept our .coms up to snuff, the Feds wouldn’t have to step in.

If you like following the gossip on your favorite celebrities, and part of your routine is looking them up on the web, then you better pay attention…you might get more that you bargained for. In fact, it could be downright dangerous! One quick search could land you and your computer in hot water!

The internet bad guys are creating websites or infecting other sites with viruses and malware and then luring unsuspecting internet surfers to these sites using the most popular stars as bait. Click on a link for a Jessica Biel wallpaper and you could be infected on the spot. The good news is that the McAfee Company has researched Hollywood’s stars and found out which are the riskiest for you to click on.

Unfortunately for her fans, Jessica Biel heads the list…so if you search for her on the internet, you have a 20% chance of being infected with malware or a virus. According to the report, over 50% of the sites advertising “Jessica Biel screensavers” were infected.  Brad Pitt was the most dangerous last year, but Jessica has surpassed him…I wonder how happy she is about that! Beyonce was number 2 both last year and this year making her the most searched and dangerous over that period.

The stars on this list read like a who’s who…from Jessica and Beyonce…to Jennifer Aniston, Tom Brady, Jessica Simpson and Megan Fox. Interestingly enough, the Obama’s are ranked in the 30’s and are considered a relatively safe search.

So, how do you get infected? Simply search on one of these names, or their name with videos, screensavers, wallpaper and you have a good chance on getting more than you bargained for.

What does this mean to you? The bottom line is that searching for the latest celebrity news and downloads can cause serious damage to one’s personal computer.

How do you stay safe? Be sure to have virus protection, malware and spyware filters running on your computer and stay away from sites you don’t trust.   Downloading from some site you have never heard of is probably not a good idea.  Use the common sense rule. People often forget how complex and important their computer is to them…so be careful when downloading anything.

A good friend asked me if the companies that have had their websites infected are doing anything about it. The answer is probably not!   However, most of them don’t know that they are vulnerable…according to the Verizon Data Breach report, a whopping 63% of websites that are compromised; find out MONTHS later about the attack.

Businesses must start scanning and protecting their websites. I believe that this will become a federal mandate in the near future. Talk to you soon and happy surfing!