Thumb drives, portable storage devices : A security concern

A worker calls up a sensitive investor list and downloads it on her thumb drive, slips it into her pocket, and walks out, smiling and waving to her boss and the security officer stationed at the front door.

This is just one of the scenarios that security professionals and IT managers are increasingly worried about. According to one recent study, IT managers said portable storage devices, such as thumb drives and MP3 players, have surpassed even malware to become a top concern.
The study, which polled 370 IT professionals, showed that 38.4% of IT managers say portable storage devices are their top security concern. That's up from 25.7% in 2006.

To make matters worse, 80% of respondents admitted that their organizations don't currently have effective measures in place to combat the unauthorized use of portable devices. And 43.2% cited no control at all. Only 8.6% have a total ban on portable devices.

A worker easily could download corporate information -- sales figures, customer lists, marketing plans -- onto a small storage device, slip it into their bag or even a pocket, and just walk out the door with it. It makes stealing information much easier since it's not a matter of printing anything out or even walking out of the office with a laptop slung over a shoulder.
While IT managers fear what users might do with a portable storage device, they also really like them for themselves.

The study showed that 65% of IT managers use a USB flash drive on a daily basis.
"Portable devices do have a function in the workplace," said Piwonka. "They are an easy way to share, transfer, and store information. Managers need to create an acceptable use policy and share it with their employees to further control the handling of sensitive data."

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Students set sights on a job at Google

Up-and-comers are dying to get jobs at Google. But now it's official.

The Mountain View-based search giant was ranked the No. 1 place MBA students want to work at, according to Universum's annual Ideal Employer Survey, which was released last week. Google toppled McKinsey's 12-year reign as the most desirable place for newly minted MBAers to hang their diplomas.

Universum, a global employer branding consultancy, asked 5,451 MBA students from 43 prominent business schools to list the top five companies they'd like to work for. They could chose from a list of 186 companies that had been selected by students over the years as well as write in their own candidates. The write-in votes catapulted Google from No. 129 in 2005 to No. 2 in 2006.

This year's results show IT companies gained ground overall. Google was preferred by 20.58 percent of respondents, which is 6 percent more than last year. Apple was applauded with 10.78 percent, inching up to No. 6 from last year's No. 7 spot. Microsoft garnered 7.82 percent, propelling it to No. 7 from No. 16. And Yahoo snagged 4.80 percent, moving up to No. 22 from No. 26.

Other local companies lagged behind last year's spots. EBay slid to No. 42 from No. 37. And Intel sunk to No. 44 from No. 25.

The surveyed MBAs cited "industry leadership," "attractive locations," and "innovation" as the top three factors they considered in picking their ideal employer.

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Microsoft thinking of buying Yahoo!

Microsoft Corp. has stepped up its pursuit of a deal to buy Yahoo Inc., two newspapers reported on Friday, as the two companies reenter talks to strike a deal amid huge growth from rival Google Inc.

Yahoo shares jumped 14.6 percent to $32.20 in electronic trading on Friday, while Microsoft shares fell 1.4 percent to $30.53.

The two companies have held informal deal talks over the years. But the latest approach comes as Microsoft seeks to ink a deal in the wake of Google's expansion.

The New York Post reported early on Friday that Microsoft made an offer to buy Yahoo a few months ago, but Yahoo spurned the advances. The paper, putting a price tag of $50 billion on a Yahoo takeover, said that deal discussions continue between the two companies. Investment bank Goldman Sachs is advising on the process, the paper said. The bank declined to comment.
The Wall Street Journal followed with its own story, saying that the two companies are in early-stage talks about a merger or some kind of link-up.

The renewed talks are a sign of Google's power, the Journal said, and are also a sign of problems over the past year with in-house efforts at Yahoo and Microsoft. A deal could help Microsoft attract advertisers to its online businesses.

Google agreed to buy DoubleClick Inc. last month for $3.1 billion, accelerating a push into the graphic ad market. Google beat out Microsoft and Yahoo to win the deal, sources said.

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Navigation in Cell Phones

After hitting alarm clock makers and camera manufacturers, the cell phone industry has a new target--personal-navigation device makers.

Handset makers see navigation as one of the next major value-adding offerings and even at this very early stage, analysts say the annual market for phone navigation is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The world's top handset maker, Nokia, started to sell its first navigation phone, the N95, a month ago, and other top vendors are expected to follow shortly, hoping to make 2007 the breakthrough year for cell phone navigation.

The N95, with a $950 price tag, is not within reach of the masses despite early reports of strong sales, but the Finnish firm aims to bring GPS-positioning chips to a wide array of its products.

The GPS technology enables handset makers to bypass mobile phone network operators and at least some of the navigation phones can be used for routing when not connected to operators' networks.

Operators would get a share of the business when real-time data traffic starts to grow. The handset makers hope that people will use phones to find restaurants nearby, although car-navigation firms have already started to offer road data.

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Dell to offer Ubuntu Linux on PCs, laptops

Only 10 weeks after asking customers what products they'd like to see, Dell Inc. today announced that its upcoming Linux desktop PCs and laptops will be preloaded with Ubuntu Linux. They are slated to be avilable by the end of this month.

In postings on Dell's IdeaStorm and Dell2Dell Web sites today, the company said it moved quickly to offer the Linux-based hardware because of customer interest. In February, Dell had set up an "IdeaStorm" Web site to get feedback from customers about what products they wanted. In late March, after hearing from more than 100,000 users who filled out surveys on Linux preferences, Dell said it would start preloading Linux on some of its laptops and desktop PCs.

"The reason we're going with Ubuntu is because by far and away Ubuntu was the most requested distribution" by users who registered their preferences on the IdeaStorm site, said Jeremy Bolen, a Dell spokesman. "It was overwhelming, the response we got to the survey."
Bolen said that the models, configurations and prices of the Ubuntu-loaded hardware have not been announced. They will run Version 7.04 of Ubuntu Linux and will be available through a dedicated Linux Web page on the Dell.com site where buyers will be able to configure and price their machines.

Asked if the new machines will be cheaper than comparable machines loaded with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista operating system, Bolen said, "I don't have a solid answer for that."
He also left open the possibility that other Linux distributions such as Red Hat Inc. or Novell Inc.'s SUSE Linux could later be added to Dell's Linux line. The company will "continue to take feedback from our customers and implement meaningful offerings that meet their needs," Bolen said.

Details are also being worked out regarding suport for the new Ubuntu Linux-equipped machines, he said. Hardware support will be provided by Dell, but operating system support could be provided through the open-source Ubuntu and Linux communities -- which survey respondents said they preferred -- or through a paid support contract with Canonical Ltd., the Isle of Man-based company that is the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu Linux.

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