Outlook Blog - Your Outlook calendar: Would you exist without it?

Outlook Blog - Your Outlook calendar: Would you exist without it?

Great tips on expanding your usage of Outlook's calendar functionality! There are tips for the calendar novice to heavy user. --Stuart

June Nielsen numbers show Android atop OS heap

Android is the top operating system in the United States, according to June data just released by Nielsen. Android hold a 39 percent share of the U.S. smartphone market, with iOS coming in second with 28 percent and Blackberry in third with 20 percent. Bringing up the rear is WP7 with nine percent, and Symbian and WebOS with 2 percent each.

Though Android is the OS to beat, Apple still holds the title of top smartphone manufacturer, claiming all 28 percent of iOS's market share. Among the devices running Android, HTC holds a slim lead with 14 percent market share, followed by Motorola at 10 percent, Samsung at 8 percent, and all other manufacturers accounting for the remaining 6 percent.

Report: Windows 7 almost five times more secure than XP

Report: Windows 7 almost five times more secure than XP: "Infection rates for Windows 7 is about four to five times less than for Windows XP, according to Microsoft's latest Security Intelligence Report."

Important for those thinking that Windows XP is adiquate in 2011.
-Stuart

How Dropbox sacrifices user privacy for cost savings

Must read for anyone considering DropBox for cloud storage...what is the real cost of free? -Stuart

How Dropbox sacrifices user privacy for cost savings:

Summary

Dropbox, the popular cloud based backup service deduplicates the files that its users have stored online. This means that if two different users store the same file in their respective accounts, Dropbox will only actually store a single copy of the file on its servers.

The service tells users that it 'uses the same secure methods as banks and the military to send and store your data' and that '[a]ll files stored on Dropbox servers are encrypted (AES-256) and are inaccessible without your account password.' However, the company does in fact have access to the unencrypted data (if it didn't, it wouldn't be able to detect duplicate data across different accounts).

This bandwidth and disk storage design tweak creates an easily observable side channel through which a single bit of data (whether any particular file is already stored by one or more users) can be observed.

If you value your privacy or are worried about what might happen if Dropbox were compelled by a court order to disclose which of its users have stored a particular file, you should encrypt your data yourself with a tool like truecrypt or switch to one of several cloud based backup services that encrypt data with a key only known to the user.

Whats thinner than a MacBook Air?

Samsung Series 9 arrives: lighter, thinner than MacBook Air

Wonderful to see some of these great versitile Windows based notebooks being released!

Google Responds To Android Malware, Will Fix Infected Devices And ‘Remote Kill’ Malicious Apps

Google has now confirmed that 58 malicious applications were uploaded to Android Market, and that they were downloaded onto around 260,000 devices before Google removed the apps Tuesday evening. That number sounds alarmingly high, but Google believes that only device-specific information, namely the phone’s IMEI number, was compromised — and that no personal data or account information was ever transferred. Given that these apps were getting root access, this could have been a lot worse. Now the cleanup begins.

Something to think about as smart phones becoming common place. Be careful what you install on your phone!
-Stuart

Scary Smartphone Privacy Story

IE9 and Tracking Protection: Microsoft disrupts the online ad business

IE9 and Tracking Protection: Microsoft disrupts the online ad business: "

Microsoft has just launched a remarkably effective tool to protect your privacy on the web. Using the IE9 RC, it takes exactly two clicks to begin blocking cookies, web beacons, and other third-party tools that track your movements and activities on the web. Here’s how it works.

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As indicated by Ed Bot in this report there are some really great features coming in the next version of Internet Explorer (IE9). If you have not done so already I encourage all our users to download the IE9 Release Client to see what improvements have been made - Download from Microsoft's Beauty of the Web HTML5 test site.

How to Avoid the Most Common and Dangerous Passwords

In a recent survey conducted by ZoneAlarm, 79% of consumers were found to use risky password construction practices, such as using personal information and common words. The graphic below illustrates some of the most commonly made mistakes people make when selecting a password, as well as some tips on how to make your password more secure - read further at the Zonealarm Blog.

Full Drive Encryption Now Available

At last we have access to full disk encryption tools for all University owned notebook computers. Once we have complete details available notification of our roll out strategy will be made to Staff/Faculty. This is a great tool in securing the important academic work done by our users in the event of notebook loss or theft.
Implementation will be seamless for users of our recommended Windows 7 notebook/docking station computing environment – for a full demo or to inquire about swapping your current desktop or desktop/notebook please send an email to wsmhelp@syr.edu.
Full disk encryption is a SU campus initiative and will be required for all Windows, OSX and Linux notebooks owned by the University. For details on how this may be implemented on your existing notebook please contact Stuart for more information.