This is how Windows get infected with malware

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CSIS has over a period of almost three months actively collected real time data from various so-called exploit kits. An exploit kit is a commercial hacker toolbox that is actively exploited by computer criminals who take advantage of vulnerabilities in popular software. Up to 85 % of all virus infections occur as a result of drive-by attacks automated via commercial exploit kits.

The purpose of this study is to reveal precisely how Microsoft Windows machines are infected with malware and which browsers, versions of Windows and third party software that are at risk.

via This is how Windows get infected with malware.
I have never been a big fan of constantly chasing patches but this conclusion has me rethinking my thoughts on this…

The reason why patching are essential

The conclusion of this study is that as much as 99.8 % of all virus/malware infections caused by commercial exploit kits are a direct result of the lack of updating five specific software packages.

I think the main problem here is that all these PCs were directly connected to the Internet.  The simplest solution of using a hardware router and NAT should stop these kind of attacks from ever hitting the PC.   I’m still leery about constantly applying patches because sometimes the patches themselves are buggy and may introduce new vectors into your OS.  Software upgrade needs to be planned as a general policy for the entire PC or sets of PCs and not dictated to by a mere application or OS vendor.

Red Hat raids cloud storage market by acquiring Gluster

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Gluster, which was founded in 2005, has its R&D and engineering facility in Bangalore, India, while its leadership team resides in California. The company’s flagship technology is GlusterFS, which allows an enterprise to cluster large numbers of commodity storage and compute resources into a centrally accessible and managed and storage pool. It names Pandora, Box.net and Samsung among its customers.

via Red Hat raids cloud storage market by acquiring Gluster.

Remote Network Boot via PXE

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Let’s say you’re responsible for a network of 100 computers shared by students. What do you do if one of those computers starts acting funny? If you’re like me, you’ll just do a clean install of the operating system. But that’s a lot of work, especially if you have to do it several times a week. Fortunately, most PCs sold since 2001 follow the PC99 guidelines from Intel and Microsoft, which among other things says that new computers with Ethernet interfaces must implement two useful features: wake-on-LAN and network boot.

Remote Network Boot via PXE.

IT inferno: The nine circles of IT hell

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Thankfully, as in Dante’s poetic universe, there are ways to escape the nine circles of IT hell. But IT pro beware: You may have to face your own devils to do it.

Shall we descend?

1st circle of IT hell: Limbo

Description: A pitiful morass where nothing ever gets done and change is impossible

People you meet there:Users stranded by vendors, departments shackled by software lock-in, organizations held hostage by wayward developers

via IT inferno: The nine circles of IT hell.

Simple Cloud CRM

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Really Simple Systems Cloud CRM is aimed at small and medium sized organisations or departments of larger organisations who want a simple, easy to use web-based CRM sales, support and marketing system. The hosted CRM model is particularly suitable for companies with multiple locations and people who work remotely or at home. With over 5,000 users Really Simple Systems is one of the world’s largest providers of Cloud CRM systems and has offices in the UK and Australia. Customers range from single user to 300 user systems, and include Tumblr, the Red Cross, the Royal Academy of Arts, the British Museum, NHS, the Department for Environment and RSM Tenon as well as hundreds of small and medium sized companies.

In October 2010 the company launched Free Edition, a ground breaking free CRM system for two users.

Simple Cloud CRM – Free CRM, Small Business CRM, Web CRM.

Information explosion: how rapidly expanding storage spurs innovation

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On the other hand, the asymmetrical nature of most broadband solutions available to consumers in the US and Europe and a stagnation in their speed encourages only consumption at the “lower” levels of that stack. Companies that need both the ability to transmit and receive data over distance can usually afford to pay for symmetrical high-speed network links, while consumers (at least in the US) typically can pick from two choices for Internet access—DSL or cable. Both access methods typically provide plenty of download bandwidth for Netflixing and iTunesing and YouTubeing, but comparatively tiny upload bandwidth for sending data (most DSL and cable Internet plans have upload speeds that are less than 25 percent of the download speeds).

This asymmetry of access leads us to a strange place, where most folks have the ability to store and create more amazing things than ever before, while at the same time they lack the ability to quickly and easily share any of those things with each other.

via Information explosion: how rapidly expanding storage spurs innovation.