Dave Ockwell-Jenner's blog

The Internet Storm Center is reporting news that some iTunes accounts have potentially been compromised. It appears that some 'up-to-no-good' types are using compromised iTunes accounts to make application/book purchases in the iTunes store, thereby boosting certain books and apps in search rankings.

If you have an iTunes account, I'd recommend changing your password IMMEDIATELY and possibly removing any stored payment information (such as credit card).

The Financial Post is reporting the finding from a recent study: Burlington, Ontario is Canada's Riskiest Online City!

The study, conduced by security company Symantec, draws conclusion that Burlington is the municipality most vulnerable to identity theft.

"This study is a real eye-opener, demonstrating that larger urban centres, such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, which have a diverse mix of high and low income communities, don't necessarily have the same level of Internet access as do wealthier suburbs like Burlington, Oakville and Kelowna," said Lynn Hargrove, director of consumer solutions for Symantec Canada.

Of the 50 cities examined, Kitchener came in at number 10--so there is a clear case to remain vigilant!

Read the article at the Financial Post.

Like many of us, I have been witnessing the absolute devastation that the earthquake in Haiti has caused. The pictures are shocking and point to a true struggle for those lucky enough to have survived. Obviously this imagery stirs an emotional response in us all and stimulates our desire to help.

Unfortunately, it also has an unwanted side-affect: it mobilizes crooks looking to capitalize on this human disaster.

Check out this story from Business Week... it's a tale of how security flaws can lead to big impact for small business.

News out of Visa's 2009 Security Summit doesn't paint a great picture for small business owners. The message: Small Business is the new target of choice for hackers and cybercriminals.

Think about the logic for a moment. Most small businesses don't have the kind of security defenses in place to deter cybercriminals and so it makes for 'low hanging fruit' for hackers and data thieves.

Well now, it's been a while since I blogged anything here at the SBCN. This morning, whilst getting up-to-speed with the conversations of my Twitter community, a good friend of mine shared a video of an interview he did with Microsoft, at their Small Business Summit.

It's nothing new, but a recent news item caught my attention: malware that encrypts your files and holds the data to ransom. How does this work?

Well, the first step is obviously getting infected with the malware in question. Most recently, the news item was talking about a new variant of the Gpcode virus. You might get this from installing software, or even visiting a web page... you know the drill. What makes this type of malware different is that it's just a new spin on plain ol' extortion.

An interesting story from the BBC today. They are reporting what information security professionals have been saying for some time: web security is getting worse. With an explosion in the amount of functionality that people are putting into their web sites, there is far more room to inadvertantly open-up security holes.

I just read this... whilst it's great that the author is obviously on her guard, it's sad that many businesses still aren't doing enough to protect their customers. It need not be a technology issue or even complicated. As this anecdote shows, just be careful about how your information gets passed around and where it ends up.

As small business owners, a web site is critical for many of us. But what happens when your web site inadvertently gets hijacked to attack it's visitors? As devious as this sounds, it's happening.

Several SBCN members perform web design services for clients -- I've occasionally done so myself. I came across an article today that typifies the difficulty in being a web designer: by looking at it in the context of an Architect, instead.

Unfortunately, the server hosting the article is running slowly, so here is the text...

I just finished reading this article on the BBC News web site. A study conducted by Carnegie Mellon concluded:

People will pay more for goods if a website does a good job of protecting their privacy.

Wow... so protecting information within your company is not only great to keep you out of the news for the wrong reasons, but it actually allows you to boost your revenue. Now who would have thought?

Hot on the heels of some ways in which PowerPoint should not be used, let's take a look at a really great innovation in using PowerPoint.

Dick Hardt is the founder and CEO of Sxip Identity and proponent of the evolution of Identity Management. He gave a now very famous presentation at OSCON 2005 in which he really used PowerPoint to make his presentation uniquely memorable.

Check out the presentation at the Identity 2.0 web site.

We've all done it... the PowerPoint presentation. That tool that takes mere mortals and turns them into presentation superstars -- or so we like to think. However, there are some definite techniques and approaches to making a coherent and valuable presentation with PowerPoint.

Before we can improve on our presentations, take a look at comedian Don McMillan's observations of what we should avoid...

Having worked at the fringe of marketing for many years, I am always interested in how that whole realm works. One thing I see frequently (especially amongst small business people) is the confusion between Marketing, Public Relations, Advertising and Branding.

To many, these are often interchanged. I came across what I think is the most succinct and easy to understand depiction of the differences between these disciplines: see what you think.