IT Management
CIO, 6/30/04: Smaller Is Better
Less money and leaner staffs equal more value for the best IT organizations
By Jon Surmacz
Companies with the most efficient and effective IT practices spend 18 percent less money on IT projects and operate with 36 percent less staff than median companies, according to a recent report by The Hackett Group, a business advisory firm.
Hackett defines a “world class” IT organization as one that scores in the top 25 percent in its client database for measures of efficiency and effectiveness. According to the Hackett report, world-class companies spend $8,686 per end user per year, whereas median companies spend $10,532 per user per year. World-class companies are able to achieve this gain through smart outsourcing practices, standardization, higher levels of project discipline and overall business-IT alignment, says Beth Hayes, senior business adviser at Hackett.
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Security
Computerworld, 6/30/04: Could search sites spawn worms?
News Story by Joel Strauch
JUNE 30, 2004 (PC WORLD) - Worm attacks are bad enough by themselves, but some experts warn of an even more devastating variation: one that strikes at the application level instead of targeting network infrastructure, and spreads to Web sites through Web-based search engines.
Essentially, a smart worm could crawl into the data gathered by a search engine to identify the most vulnerable sites and target them, say some security experts and analysts.
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C|net, 6/30/04: Microsoft haunted by old IE security flaw
By Marguerite Reardon
A security flaw that had been fixed in older versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer has reappeared in the latest version of the browser software.
Security company Secunia issued a bulletin warning of the flaw in versions 5.01, 5.5 and 6.0 of Internet Explorer (IE). The problem had been fixed six years ago, when it appeared in versions 3.0 and 4.0 of the IE browser.
"It's a concern that a company like Microsoft has a problem that's already been fixed in older versions resurface in newer ones," said Thomas Kristensen, chief technology officer of Secunia.
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Otherwise
Engadget, 7/1/04: Coke cans compromising national security
We’d forgotten all about it, but remember that contest where Coca-Cola is putting special GPS-enabled Coke can-shaped phones? It’s going on right now, and if you find one of them you press a button which instantly connects you to an operator who’ll tell you that you’ve just won a Chevy SUV, and then instructs you to press another button that activates a GPS homing beacon on the can so that Coke can immediately deliver the prize to your location.
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