IT staff use their administration rights to snoop...

Twelve months after the Cyber-Ark “Trust, Security & Passwords” survey discovered that 33 percent of IT staff used their IT administration rights to snoop around networks to access privileged, corporate information such as HR records, layoff lists, customer databases and M&A plans, a repeat of the survey has discovered that the situation has escalated. Despite a sharp rise in data breaches and increased media awareness on the subject, the third annual Cyber-Ark survey reveals that 35 percent of IT workers now admit to accessing corporate information without authorization, while 74 percent of respondents stated that they could circumvent the controls currently in place to prevent access to internal information.

One of the most revealing aspects of the survey was found in the types and quantity of information employees would take with them if they were fired. As the economic climate has worsened, the survey found a sharp increase in the number of respondents who say they would take proprietary data and information that is critical to maintaining competitive advantage and corporate security.

Ominously, 1 in 5 companies admit having experienced cases of insider sabotage or IT security fraud. Of those companies, 36 percent suspect that their competitors have received their company’s highly sensitive information or intellectual property. Organizations are increasingly aware of the need to monitor privileged account access and activity, with 71 percent of respondents indicating that privileged accounts are partially monitored, while 91 percent of those who are monitored admitting they are “okay with their employer’s monitoring activities.” Despite these efforts, 74 percent of respondents revealed that even with the controls being put in place to monitor them, they could still get around them, making current controls ineffectual. www.cyber-ark.com.

One-to-Watch: Lanxoma, security software developed by Unity Solutions, restricts access to the root level of computer operating systems, grants limited time access permission to authorized users and records all activity while the authorized user is logged-on - so being a deterrent to the "insider threat." http://lanxoma.com

$300 billion of economic activity

Interactive advertising is responsible for $300 billion of economic activity in the U.S., according to a study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). The advertising-supported Internet represents 2.1% of the total U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). It directly employs more than 1.2 million Americans with above-average wages in jobs that did not exist two decades ago, and another 1.9 million people work to support those with directly Internet-related jobs. A total of 3.1 million Americans are employed thanks to the interactive ecosystem. These are the key findings of the first-ever research to analyze the economic importance, as well as the social benefits, of the Internet. Among findings: small businesses have thrived as a result of the Internet. Tthere are more than 20,000 Internet-related small businesses in the U.S. that provide a variety of services such as web hosting, ISP services, web design, publishing, and Internet-based software consulting. Many of these businesses have 10 or fewer employees. To read the full study, please go to www.iab.net.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 375 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising.

Security South of the Border

Banco Azteca has implemented the Nextiva IP Video Management solution from Verint  Video Intelligence Solutions to help safeguard its data center operations. With a previous digital video recorder (DVR) system in place, the organization required a scalable platform that would meet all of its security objectives. Verint’s Nextiva video management platform is integrated with Banco Azteca’s biometric access control system to help provide bank security and IT personnel with automated notification, along with sophisticated feature-rich video viewing and transcoding from the international location to the Mexico City central location. Banco Azteca has more than 1,500 branches throughout Latin America and is among the two largest banks in Mexico. With more than 5.2 million savings accounts, Banco Azteca operates as a bank which offers loans and depository services. Banco Azteca was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Mexico. www.bancoazteca.com. (Rogelio Garcia Cabrera, IT manager, Banco Azteca.)

Virginia Credit Union

Virginia Credit Union has chosen Online Resources Corporation for its integrated online banking and bill payment services. Virginia Credit Union is one of the top 70 credit unions in the United States and serves more than 188,000 members. Virginia Credit Union chose the Unite Financial Services Suite, opting for the customized retail Internet banking solution. This solution is hosted by Online Resources and provides the credit union the flexibility to perform extensive interface modifications for its members. Bill payment is fully integrated with the hosted solution, including same-day expedited payments. (Christopher Saneda, Virginia Credit Union’s Senior Vice President and CIO.) www.vacu.org.

Black Hills Federal Credit Union

Black Hills Federal Credit Union has purchased TotaleAtlasWeb, a remote signature capture and secure document delivery solution that provides the mobility to sign documents remotely anywhere, anytime, 24/7 via the Web. The credit union will use the solution to better service its members who live in other parts of the country. (John Madsen, Vice President of Information Technology of Black Hills FCU.)

One-to-Watch: Naultilus' unique holography revolutionizes overt and covert solutions for brand and print security. http://www.nautilussecurity.com

Sovereign Bank protection

Sovereign Bank is demonstrating its commitment to protecting its customers from fraud by agreeing to be among the first to leverage the Predictive Modeling platform, part of Financial Crime Manager suite from Fiserv. (Jim Zardecki, senior vice president, director of Loss Prevention and Security, Sovereign Bank.)

Digital color printer

Print & Letter Company has installed a Ricoh Pro C900 digital color printer, giving them greater capacity and enhanced flexibility in meeting their customers’ range of printing needs. With more than 12 years of industry experience, Print & Letter specializes in both commercial and digital printing, has a nationwide presence, and works with customers on their printing and fulfillment projects from start to finish — including concept graphic design, offset and digital printing, binding, packaging and complete direct mail and fulfillment services. (Dan Mashburn, President, Print & Letter.) http://www.printletterco.com/

One-to-Watch: NewField IT is an independent software and services company that helps organisations significantly reduce their print and document storage costs. It achieves this by accurately auditing the current costs, transforming paper related processes to an optimised state, and finally managing the new estate through the use of an innovative toolset. http://www.newfieldit.com

Financial and project management

Performance Contracting Group (PCG), one of the largest specialty contractors in the United States, has chosen to integrate their financial and project management functions with CMiC software. Based in Lenexa, Kansas, PCG’s largest subsidiary, Performance Contracting Inc, is the #1 Wall and Ceiling Contractor in the U.S and the company, as a whole, has about 3,000 ongoing projects at a time. For the last 20 years, PCG has been using a combination of homegrown, internally developed software packages and heavily customized 3rd party accounting software to meet their business needs. Though the systems served the company well, the lack of integration and multiple vendor databases became an issue. (Mick Matthews, senior vice president of Performance Contracting Group.)

One-to-Watch: Easy Price Pro is estimating software for the building industry. The main pricing system was started in 1990 by a builder who couldn't find an easy way of producing estimates. Now more than 3,000 copies of the software are in use. http://www.easypricepro.com

4,500 subscribers to customer base

In a move that will add a minimum of 4,500 subscribers to its customer base by October, Wireless Matrix has finalized a contract with a leader in the pay television industry to deploy its fleet management solution across its U.S. service fleet. Valued at more than $8,500,000 over the life of its three year contract, Wireless Matrix's solution combines its Reporter series GPS and communication device with its FleetOutlook and TechConnect fleet management applications.

Interactive Voice Response

The City of Philadelphia is using two customized NEC Interactive Voice Response (IVR) applications to help improve customer service and reduce call center costs. The first system was designed for the Revenue Department to help with information associated with real estate taxes for residents. The second was designed for The Board of Revision of Taxes, the agency that establishes property values which serve as the basis for real estate taxes levied by the City. Residents can access the IVR systems to check their tax balance, lien information, request receipt copies and gather information needed to complete tax appeals applications. Using the IVR system, callers can confirm their information and then begin the process for filing an appeal and addressing tax issues. Additional information such as current market value and assessed value of their homes, as well as the last recorded title date and sales price, is also available. (Pam Scott, information management analyst, City of Philadelphia.)

Integrated case management

The consolidated government of the City of Nashville, Tennessee, and Davidson County, Tennessee are to use Tyler's integrated case management software solution.Tyler will provide software licenses, as well as professional services, maintenance, and post-implementation support. The City and County will implement Tyler’s Odyssey product suite, including Case Manager and Financial Manager applications for civil cases in the Chancery Court Clerk and Master’s offices. (Cristi Scott, Clerk and Master for the court.)

ATN to take on 800,000 customers

Atlantic Tele-Network (ATN) is to pay Verizon Wireless $200 million for wireless spectrum licenses and network infrastructure - so acquiring assets serving over 800,000 customers. Verizon is required to divest these assets as part of the regulatory approvals granted for its purchase of Alltel earlier this year.

Is setting up a home network difficult?

A consumer survey conducted by ABI Research has found that while most owners of home networks find their equipment works reasonably well, they would be willing to upgrade if that resulted in easier troubleshooting. The conclusion: there is an opportunity for home network equipment vendors if they can automate some of the commonest diagnostic and configuration tasks.

Although nearly 30% of the 1007 respondents to the survey reported some initial difficulties in setting up their equipment, only 11% actually returned products as being “too hard” – a figure at the low end of the typical range of consumer electronics returns reported recently by the Wall Street Journal. Most of the problems occurred with wireless setup, suggesting that vendors have an opportunity to make wireless network setup and security a much easier process through software and hardware solutions. At present the overwhelming majority of those surveyed use their home networks to provide Internet access to more than one computer; printer sharing and (in those under 35) online gaming ran distant second and third. However that usage pattern – and the associated setup and maintenance – will soon become much more complex, as networks increasingly assume the role of distributing multimedia content around the home. www.abiresearch.com.

Kraft demand sensing

Kraft Foods, the world’s second largest food company with annual revenues of $42 billion, has implemented Terra’s Demand Sensing (DS) solution in North America to decrease costs, improve service levels and reduce inventory. Terra’s Demand Sensing solution uses pattern recognition mathematics to decipher daily streams of data to determine which information is predictive of actual demand and to more accurately predict retailer requirements. Kraft implemented the software after successfully piloting DS in all U.S. warehouse businesses. (Agnes Feliciano, vice president of customer service and fulfillment for Kraft Foods.)

Kraft Foods (http://www.kraftfoodscompany.com) has 100,000 employees. Brands include Kraft cheeses, dinners and dressings, Maxwell House coffees and Oscar Mayer meats, to global brands like Oreo and LU biscuits, Philadelphia cream cheeses, Jacobs and Carte Noire coffees, Tang powdered beverages and Milka, Cote d'Or, Lacta and Toblerone chocolates.

One-to-Watch: Kelsius automates temperature monitoring of refrigerators and cold rooms, simplifying task management and providing cost effective compliancy reporting for users in the food industries. http://www.kelsius.com

Secure file transfer at P&G

As part of its ongoing initiative to be a supply chain leader and optimize trading partner relationships, consumer products leader Procter & Gamble (P&G) uses Axway’s business-to-business (B2B) solution for their external managed file transfers (MFT). The solution delivers secure file transfer with real-time visibility and control, improving communication within and outside P&G. It also offers the agility P&G needs to respond quickly to changes in its supply chain. Currently, orders, invoices, shipment notifications and other message files flow through the Axway gateway daily at P&G, for a total of more than one million files per month — all of which must be processed automatically and on time for business to flow. Transmission failures and system downtime would interrupt P&G’s entire supply chain, negatively impacting production and revenue. (Chuck Patterson, P&G’s service manager, enterprise application integration.)

Predictive analytics and email services

Perricone MD, a leader in prestige skincare, is realizing improvements to both revenue and profitability by using iPost’s predictive analytics solution and email services to re-engage dormant customers. By segmenting customers based on level of engagement, Perricone MD is re-invigorating relationships – and sales – with both latent and active customers. (Neil Kjeldsen, vice president of eCommerce at Perricone MD.)

Prestige products are prone to counterfeiting. One-to-Watch: Naultilus' unique holography revolutionizes overt and covert solutions for brand and print security. http://www.nautilussecurity.com

500 wireless disconnect units

Nighthawk Systems, Inc., a provider of wireless and IP-based control devices and solutions, has received an initial order for 500 of its CEO700 wireless disconnect units from Inland Power and Light Company of Spokane, Washington. Inland Power is the largest electric cooperative in Washington, providing electricity to over 35,000 commercial, residential and agricultural customers. The CEO700 gives electric utilities the ability to wirelessly disconnect and reconnect power to residential electric meters from a centralized location, improving customer service response times and saving the utility significant time and money over the traditional manual disconnect method that requires multiple truck rolls and field personnel.

Support for life insurance sales

ULLICO Life Insurance Company has selected iPipeline’s Illustration Suite to support their individual life insurance sales. iPipeline’s Illustration Suite, powered by COSS, provides insurance carriers and their distributors and agents with flexibility, ease of use, and the option to integrate with iGO e-App for straight-through processing. (Stephanie Whalen, Director Insurance Operations, ULLICO Life.)

Centralized management of audit operations

Impac Funding Corporation (IFC), which, previously purchased non-conforming first mortgage loans and second mortgages from a network of third-party correspondents has selected ReliantAuditor, to provide centralized management of audit operations, controls testing, remediation and risk assessment. (Anthony Padilla, Director of Internal Audit.)

Predictive analytics underwriting

ICW Group, an auto, work compensation, catastrophe, and surety insurance carrier, has selected Valen Technologies to develop a proof of concept using its UnderRight  predictive analytics underwriting solution for their workers’ compensation line of business. Features such as Valen’s Xdata external data warehouse, as well as data from Valen Networks, Valen’s data consortium, add increased predictive value, all delivered through its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform. Additionally, the Valen solution should help ICW Group streamline operations through improved underwriting automation. (David Hoppen, Chief Operating Officer at ICW Group.)