The front-page headlines read "Hacker steals Twitter's confidential documents," but the real story isn't about Twitter — it's that the stolen documents were stored online, "in the cloud." This could happen to any nonprofit or company storing data this way. As we've seen … [Read more...]
NTEN’s Online CIO Conference in September
Want to build your IT leadership skills without a travel budget? Our friends at NTEN are launching a 2-day virtual conference for nonprofit IT leaders. I'm thrilled to see this. I think there's a big need for a "mini-MBA" for nonprofit chief information officers (CIOs), particularly … [Read more...]
Green IT for Dummies
Hewlett Packard has published a free guide to greening your IT. They describe it as: Green IT for Dummies ... is intended to give organizations simple and straight-forward ideas on how to reduce the environmental impact of IT systems and harness the power of IT to reduce the wider environmental … [Read more...]
New phishing scam: Please Update Your Email Account
I just received two identical messages with the following text. There's no URL -- the only way to respond is to reply to the message. Replies go to updatweb1 at aol.com I hope no one's foolish enough to fall for this. -----Original Message----- From: apache@net.lg.ua … [Read more...]
Security in-a-Box
The Tactical Technology Collective and Front Line have released Security in-a-Box, which was designed to meet the digital security and privacy needs of advocates and human rights defenders. They describe it as follows: Security in-a-box includes a How-to Booklet, which addresses a number of … [Read more...]
Early-Bird Discount on the Nonprofit Technology Conference Ends 1/31
The early-bird registration period for NTEN's 2009 Nonprofit Technology Conference ends January 31. I love the NTC. Here's what the NTEN folks have to say about it: In addition to the scores of breakout sessions, the networking, camaraderie, and general nptech-related good times, noted author … [Read more...]
Downadup Worm on the Rampage
Internet security firm F-Secure has estimated that more than 3.5 million computers have been infected with the Downadup worm, a malicious program. The worm, also known as Conficker, uses a major flaw that Microsoft patched in October to remotely compromise computers running unpatched versions of … [Read more...]
NTEN Conference Early-Bird Registration Discount
I'm a member of NTEN and a huge fan. I'm thrilled that their 2009 Nonprofit Technology Conference will be held at the San Francisco Hilton this year, April 26-28. The Early Bird rate expires after January 31st, so it's time to stop procrastinating. Here's what the NTEN folks have to … [Read more...]
New Year’s Resolution: Be Good To Your Data
My friend and fellow consultant John Kenyon is fond of saying that, after people, data is an organization's most important asset. An organization's databases store its history: contact records; people served; donors, funders, and prospects; VIPs, volunteers, and vendors; event attendees, and more. … [Read more...]
Securing USB drives
Last month I posted a list of best practices for managing a database and discussed, among other things, protecting data on USB drives and laptops. A recent discussion on the Information Systems Forum has suggested options for protecting USB drives. Richard Rothwell posted a blog entry on Portable … [Read more...]