Computer and Technology

Many organisations exhaust a three tier help staff solution, with tier one (wait on desk)  personnel handling the initial calls, tier 2 (technicians and PC succor analysts)  and tier three (network administrators) . Most of those organisations follow a fixed staffing ratio, and being a network administrator is either the top job, or next to top job, within the technical assist department.

Network administrators are responsible for making obvious computer hardware and the network infrastructure itself is maintained properly for an IT organisation. They are deeply eager in the procurement of recent hardware (does it meet existing standardisation requirements?  Does it do the job required? )  rolling out unusual software installs, maintaining the disk images for current computer installs (usually by having a standardised OS and application install), making positive that licenses are paid for and up to date for software that need it, maintaining the standards for server installations and applications, and monitoring the performance of the network, checking for security breaches, abominable data management practices and more. (more…)

Security in the IT arena is not a recent topic, but corporate awareness of its presence (or lack thereof)  is at an all-time high. Not a day goes by without seeing a headline somewhere relating to stolen data, hacked company computers or leaked private information. When Sony’s Playstation® Network got hacked, there were estimates reported around $24 billion in losses. Then there were security breaches at Citigroup or Lockheed Martin. They were both juggernauts of industry with hardened defenses and yet were victims of stolen sensitive information. It appears no one is trustworthy, but does obscurity or anonymity level-headed qualify as protection for your cramped organization?

A few weeks ago I was sitting in a board room discussion with a couple of partners at a smaller private CPA firm and the topic of their network security came up. Mind you, these two gentlemen had a basic thought of technology as most business owners do, but could not wrap their heads around why it was so primary to choose and install a firewall. A firewall! The most basic of network security devices and here I was trying to define such a basic, yet mandatory, investment to any business, grand less a financial firm. (more…)