Given all the talk regarding enterprise resource planning, and all manner of sub-planning (disaster recovery, change management, business continuity, etc.), we often seem to forget that planning must be strategic.

Check a thesaurus. Something that is strategic is planned, tactical, calculated, deliberate, premeditated, considered, intentional…

Too often, business and IT plans become reactive. However, even strategic planning that starts out ahead of a curve, with foresight and collaboration, can suddenly be upended.  More than ever it is important to not only build plans that anticipate and lead changes, but to also put an underlying foundation to plans; a readiness posture for the whole of the organization so business and IT collaborate and succeed on a fluid basis; an “ongoing strategization.”  Organizations can no longer afford the occasional staggered lurch into the future – the surrounding environment presents challenge on a constant basis. Click to continue »

Most organizations most emphatically do not suffer threat of attack from inside.  That is, employees for the most part are loyal, educated, and careful.  Sure, they gripe, gossip, and drag their feet once in awhile– but hopefully, on balance, they’re glad to have a job and they’re glad to be working where they’re at.

On the other hand there is always human error with which you must contend:  Both its potential and often its manifestation. Click to continue »

As regular readers know, I frequently consult with and counsel small-to-medium businesses (SMB).  I also work with non-profits, volunteer groups, and sole-proprietorships.  A specific warning is coming to the small environment, and being that October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, I wanted to pass it along.

First,  “large business” is certainly welcomed to today’s post, but there is a specific warning coming to these smaller environments (in terms of numbers of people, size of budget, sophistication of technical supports; and allied policies).  This warning is coming from a rather robust set of agencies:  a U.S. House of Representatives committee, as delivered by agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and the Secret Service. Click to continue »

I frequently counsel people about today’s weave of business and technology:  Kick out your technical underpinnings, and you might sustain 5% productivity.  Business and technology are tightly interwoven:  We have a true Business-Technology Weave, with associated enablements, supports, dependencies, and even culture.

But now we must consider a human-technology weave.  The human-technology weave is, among many things, one with heart pumps, artificial knees, and even implants that dispense medicine at regular intervals…we could go on and on.  As another example, we influence the brain and mind with meds – things don’t get much more “human” than that – and that certainly involves technology. Click to continue »

It’s rather interesting to monitor what’s happening in the UK right now.  Data protection legislation is moving forward.  And… business there supports data protection legislation.

A survey of 1200 businesses indicates that those businesses are concerned about the strength of laws:  Nearly 50% feel that laws are weak and require revision, and 87% believe that organizations should be required to divulge breaches of sensitive content where information about the public is involved.  [Source:  Sophos]. Click to continue »

An interesting thing came to my attention last week when I was using a thumb drive to transport files back and forth between secure environments.  The thumb corrupted.  Fortunately, I only use thumbs for transport (not for primary storage), and I had the files available elsewhere for retrieval.  (For that matter, I was able to repair the thumb and its contents with a utility).

But in relaying my experience to a Fortune 500 IT colleague, and good friend, he recommended something for transport that concerned me – and I believe the concern may apply to a very wide audience.  When he travels for business, he relies on a site called Dropbox.com.  Basic Dropbox services are free:  That is, you can store up to 2 Gb of data for retrieval and swap (larger amounts require a paid account).  However, a quick review of terms reveals this: Click to continue »

There’s no shortage of security breaches and leaks, as indicated by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse’s Chronology of Data Breaches .  But I also happened to be reading an interesting international news story:  Back in July, SK Communications Company of Korea reported that the personal information of its 35 million users had been hacked.

In a statement, SK said, “The specific scale of the hacking is still being investigated, but it is estimated that some of the personal information of 35 million Nate and Cyworld members have been leaked.” Click to continue »