#software and programs

by officePROhub.com on 01/10/2012 - 04:56 pm

Tags: Printers, software and programs

January 10, 2012 By Charles Costa

    With the rise in the numbers of identity theft and hack attacks on numerous corporate websites, website security has become one of the hottest internet-related topics for consumers and businesses alike. Despite the validity of the topic, however, as with anything with a huge demand, a new breed of scams geared towards business owners have sprung up and grown through marketing tactics analogous to a mafia shakedown for “protection.”

While many online merchants are familiar with Payment Card Industry (PCI) Scanning – the industry standard of security for e-commerce –  “trust seals” have recently sprouted as a more attractive security measure. By promising to increase conversions, and also providing a false sense of security, many business owners have fallen victim to the services.

Although PCI scans are required quarterly for virtually any merchant accepting credit cards online, trust seals have gained appeal because they give the illusion of ongoing security audits at a fraction of the cost of a security firm retainer. Additionally, many services also include an icon boasting the site as being “hacker proof,” which in theory increases shopper confidence. While PCI scan packages start around a couple hundred and go up to over a thousand, the trust seal vendors push their plans from as little as $4/month to $50/month.

Although such alternatives might sound attractive, in reality it is a case of “buyer beware” since most of them are snake oil as they do not conform to industry standards. Rather, many of them are poorly coded programs, which aside from providing a false sense of security, also can get your website blacklisted by your webhost, or even lead to security breaches.

For insights into reputable scanner products offered by professional “white hat” hackers – industry jargon for good guy hackers – I interviewed Bill Pennington, chief strategy officer at WhiteHat Security, to gain information on how legitimate scanners check for vulnerabilities.

Before continuing, a quick note is in order:  There is no such thing as a fully secure website, and while having an expert promise invincibility against hackers, such promises should always be red flags, which cause you to turn the other way. Additionally, depending on where you host your website, your host might already handle PCI scanning on your part, meaning that you don’t have to pay an additional fee for scanning unless you have a significant reason to justify the investment.

Before picking a security vendor, especially as a small business, it is best to contact your web host and ask if their servers are PCI compliant. For the most part, unless you are running your own hardware, the host will say they do handle the PCI compliance on your behalf. Additionally, if you happen to be running a dedicated server, or you collocate (meaning you fully control the hardware), you might be able to get scanning at a discounted rate.

As PCI vendors such as Comodo, McAfee, and others charge sums from $250 to over $1,000 per package, contacting your host can save you from paying for services already provided to your company.

Going back to Whitehat Security, sometimes it pays to have additional audits done to ensure the integrity of your website. Although PCI covers a significant part of website security for the average merchant, audits typically occur quarterly instead of in real time, and they are limited to a fairly generic overview of the “average” way businesses sell items online. If you have a heavily customized system, a high volume site, or your company is the target of opposing groups, retaining a security provider might be worth the investment.

In my interview with Pennington, I asked how an automated scanner stacks up to their services. As a very simple analogy, automated scanners are similar to how Google and other search engines scan sites. If they hit a password protected page or form requiring human intervention (such as a checkout process, registration, etc) the scanners are immediately thrown off. Additionally many automated scanners are “dumb,” meaning that some tests can flood your company email accounts and databases with thousands of dummy records, plus in some cases your web host might shut your site down due to a false hacker alert from the tests.

In contrast to the automated scanners, Pennington discussed how most white hat security firms have expert teams who handle the majority of auditing, and when it comes to automated portions, they monitor the numbers of errors so if a section is breached, rather than constantly hammering it, they choke off that specific test.

Additionally, while automated scanners can bring down websites due to hogging resources, Whitehat and most other reputable firms employ intelligent automation, which ensures it is friendly for up and running websites, so that business can continue while testing occurs. Additionally, for online stores, experts check the forms by hand since it currently is not practical for computers to fully process an entire checkout process.

For readers who are wondering the price of WhiteHats’ services – for their small business plan, they start at $1,200 a year or $100 a month. While this fee is much higher than the average trust seal, if your company has a significant need for security, the price is a small one to pay for peace of mind.

Additionally, the majority of reputable web hosts out there will already handle the majority of security for you, however the key piece of information to keep in mind is that when shopping for a security firm – if a deal is too good to be true, it probably is, and also if something is fully automated chances are the service is ineffective. Also, when it comes to PCI scanners, make sure your vendor of choice is on the official list of approved PCI scanners.

About Charles Costa

by officePROhub.com on 11/21/2011 - 01:00 am

Tags: Cloud Computing, Office Computers, software and programs

Norwegian developers have created one of the world's smallest computers on a USB stick.

The device, dubbed "Cotton Candy", allows users to turn any screen on a computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone into a terminal that accesses the USB's operating system, cloud services and apps.

The USB - weighing 21 grams, about the weight of a bag of fairy floss - would also work with television sets, set-top boxes and games consoles, the company, FXI Technologies, said.

  One of the world's tiniest personal computers. Photo: FXI Tech

"We've turned things upside down, eliminating the screen and delivering the power of a PC and the web to any screen," FXI Technologies's founder and chief executive Borgar Ljosland said.

The tiny device, which uses Google's Android operating system and is expected to retail for about $US200 in the middle of next year, has been touted as a way for the search engine giant to get Android on a wider range of electronic devices beyond the smartphone and tablet.

"From TVs to car stereo head units to refrigerators and lighting fixtures, it seems no piece of consumer electronics is out of Android's reach," Wired magazine wrote.

"And, ultimately, getting Android on as many devices as possible gets Google's search bar and services on to multitudinous screens beyond the desktop environment. This potentially means more ads served, and more revenue for the search company's core business."

The specs, as supplied by FXI Technologies:

ARM(R) Cortex(TM)-A9 (1.2GHz) CPU, an ARM Mali(TM)-400 MP (Quad-core) GPU, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, HDMI output and the Android operating system.

The USB decodes MPEG-4, H.264 and other video formats and display HD graphics on any HDMI equipped screen.

by officePROhub.com on 11/21/2011 - 12:41 am

Tags: Managed Print Services, Printers, software and programs

By Scott Sloan — [email protected]

Posted: 12:00am on Nov 20, 2011; Modified: 8:20am on Nov 20, 2011

Two acquisitions since last year by Lexmark International have continued to move theLexingtoncompany further from its roots in printers only and more into computer software and services.

Foreshadowing much change in the printer industry, behemoths including Hewlett-Packard have followed suit and snapped up competitors in the realm of what's called enterprise content management.

The name is complicated, but the idea is simple. Printer companies are working to make themselves invaluable to businesses by getting more involved in the flow of information, regardless of whether it ever shows up on a printed page.

ForLexington, it could mean more high-tech employees of a different sort. During the past year, Lexmark has been posting more and more jobs with a computer software focus on top of the highly paid engineering posts the company is known for locally.

What have they done?

The moves began in June 2010, when Lexmark acquired Kansas-based Perceptive Software, which specializes in enterprise content management software.

Perceptive bills itself as providing "content in context," as it takes information in any number of ways — a scanned document, perhaps, or a typed-in form — and makes it accessible in a company's workflow.

Take, for example, a bank. If you were to fill out forms by hand to apply for a loan, Lexmark's role in the process once stopped after scanning the forms. Today, those forms can be scanned and sent directly to various steps of the bank's decision-making process using Perceptive's software.

"We were on the capture and delivery ends," said Lexmark's Tim Rowland, vice president of worldwide enterprise operations, referring to scanning and printing. "What we've done with Perceptive now is fill in that gap."

One of Perceptive's newest customers is Hospice of theBluegrass, which has hired the company to help in its government-mandated quest to move to electronic records.

Perceptive's software "came off as very intuitive and easy to use," said Cros well Chambers, the non-profit's chief information and security officer.

Lexmark continued to bolster those software offerings last month with its purchase of Netherlands-based Pallas Athena for $50.2 million. The company specializes in what's called business process management in which its software interfaces with other data bases to make workflow easier.

Take a vehicle accident insurance claim as an example, said Darren Knipp, chief technology officer of Perceptive Software, which will oversee Pallas Athena. To complete questions in a claim form, Pallas Athena's software will interface with other data bases to find the answers. The software also could route the claim to a particular customer service person based on certain factors.

"It will route the case to him and include any content like pictures of the accident, insurance cards, past losses and injury reports," Knipp said. "That way when it comes to you, everything is wrapped up in the case. You can do your thing, and it goes to the next person."

Pallas Athena specializes, too, in what's called document output management, which is just what it sounds like. Once everything is finished, one click of a button will print the necessary reports.

Pallas Athena "strengthens the workflow component that we have in Perceptive," said Lexmark CEO Paul Rooke.

How did they evolve?

Rooke sees the acquisitions as building on the legacy of Lexmark over its 20 years.

One of the original employees after the company was spun off from IBM in 1991, Rooke recalls the origins of Lexmark, when the company had more dot-matrix printers than laser printers in its fleet of products.

"At first, it was basic printing; then it evolved to managed services," he said of the industry revolution of the past decade, during which printer companies have managed businesses' printing by choosing the most efficient printer setups. "Now it's extending into the businesses' content and particularly this unstructured content, stuff that comes off of paper, and now into business process management and workflow management."

For Lexmark, it's a natural progression, he said. The company began to differentiate itself in the 1990s by tailoring its products to businesses. It helped pharmacies print on pill bottles. Its products helped retailers print the tags you see on product shelves. And now it's looking to become more and more to those companies.

"They're all connected," Rooke said. "It makes perfect sense for Lexmark, and that's what we're trying to do."

It was a vision that was surprising at first to Scott Coons, who continued as CEO of Perceptive Software after its acquisition by Lexmark.

"I never imagined being acquired by what people thought to be a traditional hardware company," he said. "As we got to know Lexmark, it became very apparent to us they're a solutions company rather than a hardware company."

And those solutions Lexmark talks about, such as ways to use less paper — its mantra is "print less, save more" — are what's driving the need to become more involved.

As companies and consumers begin to think more about their environmental footprint, many are beginning to print less. As the entire printer industry is maturing in terms of pages printed, companies have turned increasingly to software to boost revenue and profits. It allows them to strengthen their hold on customers, who are finding the companies helpful in finding efficiencies.

"As documents don't get printed at all, customers are looking at ways to manage that content electronically and, more importantly, not only managing the digital version of that but linking that information back to their core systems," said Kevin Goffinet, a Lexmark executive who has overseen the integration of Perceptive Software. "This isn't just about a repository of information but about the workflow."

Lexmark's software is competing with those of other companies such as industry giant HP, which acquired enterprise software company Autonomy last month. It's also competing to make businesses more efficient with the likes of Xerox, which acquired business process outsourcer ACS last year.

Lexmark's software and solutions on its multifunction printers and in its managed print services offerings recently led to the company being named a leader in the field by research firm Gartner.

"Software that touches printing and document management is incredibly important for the future success of these companies," said analyst Shannon Cross of Cross Research. "Lexmark is competing against Xerox and HP, who have strong software offerings in various areas, and very strong scale and research and development capabilities.

"It's incredibly important that they continue to invest in this segment."

Where are they going?

The goal to grow Perceptive's sales is based in part on using Lexmark's international sales force to expand the reach of Perceptive's products, which before the acquisition had been limited primarily to theUnited States.

"We're doing this by hiring more Perceptive salespeople into our international locations for Lexmark," said Lexmark executive vice president Marty Canning.

Goffinet estimates the company will have its sales force to the desired reach within six to nine months.

And the expanded focus on software could mean a larger variety of jobs inLexington. Perceptive will continue to be based inKansas, but Lexmark has been hiring cloud-based developers here for its printer-based software initiatives, noted Rooke, the CEO.

The company recently unveiled a cloud-based "Print Release solution" that allows mobile printing from anywhere.

And there still are plenty of industries to tap into for software development. Rowland, the vice president of worldwide enterprise operations, sees the worlds of insurance and government as prime targets.

Added Randy Sparks, director of worldwide solutions marketing, "There's a ton of paper-based processes that we can help with as they transition to digital processes.

"We think we're ready to be the bridge between the copy space and the digital place," he added.

But how far Lexmark goes will be the primary question, analyst Cross suggested.

"HP can do Perceptive-like things and then do business analytics on the data that Perceptive has rendered," she said. "They can take it a step further. The question is: Does Lexmark ever get to that point?"

She used Lexmark's example of how its software assists with mortgage applications: "Can you get to the point where a Lexmark solution does the first level of analysis on those documents, saying yes or no, we'll deny this mortgage application immediately?