Microsoft and Intel spin Windows Embedded signage platform

Microsoft and Intel announced a "validated digital signage platform" that runs Windows Embedded Standard 7 on a 2.4GHz Intel Core i5-520M processor. The Digital Signage Evaluation Kit (DSEK-10) is said to include DisplayPort, DVI-D, HDMI, and VGA video outputs, a 2.5-inch hard disk drive, and 802.11a/b/g/n wireless networking.

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According to Microsoft and Intel, their new "validated digital signage platform" is designed to "address the market's need for a more streamlined, high-performance, and highly reliable solution." The Digital Signage Evalulation Kit, manufactured by Winmate, will apparently be one of the first devices to ship with Microsoft's Windows Embedded Standard 7.

Winmate says the DSEK-10 will be available at the end of this month. Software will include a preinstalled OS image optimized for digital signage usage, plus a recovery DVD, the company says.

Winmate's DSEK-10

According to Winmate, the DSEK-10 uses Intel's Core i5-520M, one of the embedded-specific CPUs launched by the chipmaker in January. The CPU has a base clock speed of 2.4GHz and Turbo Boost speed of 2.93GHz, dual cores, and a 35-Watt TDP. It's teamed here, as intended, with Intel's QM57 Express chipset.

Winmate says the DSEK-10 has 4GB of DDR3 memory, supplied via two SODIMM sockets, plus a 2.5-inch SATA hard disk drive of unspecified capacity. Intel-supplied components also provide gigabit Ethernet and 802.11a/b/g/n wireless networking, the latter via a Mini PCI Express module (WiMax is orderable, the company says).

Ports on the Winmate DSEK-10
(Click to enlarge)

The DSEK-10's front panel (pictured above) includes audio jacks (mic in, line in, line out) and two USB 2.0 ports, says Winmate. The rear panel (also above), meanwhile, has two more USB 2.0 ports, the gigabit Ethernet port, and four video outputs: DisplayPort, DVI-D, HDMI, and VGA. (Winmate does not cite potential resolutions nor how many of these outputs may be used at once.)

Features and specifications listed by Winmate for the DSEK-10 include:

* Processor -- Intel Core i5 520-M clocked at 2.4GHz
* Chipset -- Intel QM57 Express
* Memory -- 4GB of DDR3 RAM via two SODIMM slots
* Storage -- 2.5-inch SATA hard disk drive
* Expansion -- Mini PCI slot (occupied by WLAN card)
* Networking:
o LAN -- 1 x gigabit Ethernet
o WLAN -- 802.11a/b/g/n
o WiMAX (optional)
* Other I/O:
o 4 x USB 2.0 (2 front, 2 rear)
o Audio -- mic in, line in, line out
o DisplayPort
o DVI-D
o HDMI
o VGA
* Power -- 12VDC via external AC adapter
* Operating temperature -- 32 to 104 deg. F (0 to 40 deg. C)
* Dimensions -- 7.24 x 4.92 x 1.96 inches (184 x 125 x 50mm)


The Intelligent Digital Signage Concept
(click to play)
Source: Intel

Further information

According to Intel and Microsoft, the DSEK-10 is being shown off at this week's Screenmedia Expo Europe 2010 show in London, scheduled for May 5 and May 6. Also being displayed is the Intelligent Digital Signage Concept (see video, above) that made its debut at a January convention in New York.

The Intelligent Digital Signage Concept features a seven-foot six-inch multitouch screen touted as having holographic glass. More information may be found on Intel's website, here.

Winmate did not release pricing for the DSEK-10, but said the device will be available later this month. More information may be found on the company's website, here.

Microsoft delivers Office 2010 SP1 upgrade

Adds Chrome support for online apps as Office 365 launches

Computerworld - Along with today's launch of Office 365, Microsoft also released the first service pack for its Office 2010 business productivity suite.

Microsoft had previously said it would ship Office 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) by the end of June.

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Office 2010 first reached most customers in June 2010.

As it usually does, Microsoft today made Office 2010 SP1 available only as a manual download, and will wait several months before adding it to Windows Update for automatic installation. Microsoft typically gives corporate customers a 30-day heads up before it starts to automatically serve Office service packs through its update services.

Office 2010 SP1 includes the usual roll-up of past security and hotfix patches, as well as a number of improvements and new features, particularly for its Office Web Applications (OWA), the online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote that are key to Office 365, the service CEO Steve Ballmer today called "Office meets the cloud."

Among the new features in SP1 is official support for Chrome, a rival of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE), for running OWA through SharePoint 2010 SP1, which debuted last week.

Microsoft added native support for IE9 for accessing both SharePoint and OWA through the company's newest browser, and printing in the online Word's editing mode and in the OWA version of PowerPoint.

The Outlook 2010 SP1 email client also supports Office 365, said Microsoft in a partial list of the service pack's improvements and additions.

A full change list can be downloaded from Microsoft's website (download Excel workbook)

Users can uninstall SP1 if necessary, a tactic Microsoft first offered in the application suite two years ago with Office 2007 SP2.

Office 2010 SP1 can be downloaded from Microsoft's site in either 32-bit or 64-bit versions. Alternately, users can launch Microsoft Update and manually select SP1.

Microsoft plans 22 patches for Windows, Office next week

Sole critical bulletin will fix flaws only in Vista and Windows 7
Computerworld - Microsoft today said it will issue four security updates next week, only one of which is pegged as critical, to patch 22 vulnerabilities in Windows and Visio 2003.

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Next Tuesday's patch lineup is smaller than June's, when Microsoft shipped 16 updates that fixed 34 flaws. The company typically delivers a lighter load in odd-numbered months. In May, for instance, Microsoft shipped just two updates -- the company calls them "bulletins" -- to patch only three vulnerabilities.

Of the four updates slated, one will be rated "critical," the highest threat label in Microsoft's four-step scoring system, while the other three will be marked "important," the second-most-dire ranking.

Next week's Patch Tuesday vulnerability count will be among the largest for the year, with its 22 bested only by April's 64 and June's 34, and tied with February's collection.

But the bugs-per-bulletins ratio is the highest for the year, observed Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Security, hinting of next week's releases.

"I think we'll see one bulletin with a very high number of vulnerabilities," said Storms. "We've seen that happen several times this year, most recently last month when it patched eight bugs in Excel with one update.

In April, Microsoft patched 30 vulnerabilities in the Windows kernel device driver with a single bulletin, a record for one update.

Storms said that the multi-bug update coming next Tuesday may fix numerous "elevation of privilege" vulnerabilities or a large number of "DDL load hijacking" flaws.

The former describes a bug attackers can use to gain complete administrative control of a system that they can already access, perhaps through an exploit of a separate vulnerability. DLL load hijacking, on the other hand, is the term used for attacks that rely on tricking applications or operating systems into loading a malicious file with the same name as a legitimate DLL, or dynamic link library.

Microsoft has issued more than a dozen DLL load hijacking updates since last November. In May, the Slovenian firm Acros Security announced that more DLL load hijacking updates were necessary to plug holes in Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 9 (IE9). At the time, Microsoft said only that it was investigating the Acros report.

The sole critical update scheduled for next week affects Windows Vista and Windows 7, but does not impact the much older Windows XP or any of Microsoft's server operating systems.

Because Windows XP will be immune to the one or more vulnerabilities in that update, Storms said the bug had to be in code first used in Vista, then reused in Windows 7. He noted there are multiple candidates that fit the bill, including the security prompting component called UAC -- for "user account control" -- but said there wasn't sufficient information to take an educated guess.

Early Google+ can't touch Twitter for following breaking news

Having been in Norway just a couple of months ago, I have more than a passing interest in today's tragic news of a "giant" bomb blast in Oslo. During my lunch break, naturally, I went online to get more details.

On Twitter, both "Oslo" and "Norway" were trending; and I quickly found a curated list from the Washington Post of useful sources to follow about the Norway blast.

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Google Plus? Well, the current lack of search is crippling -- there's no way within Plus to find items mentioning the attacks. The search for people within Plus appears just looks through names, so "Oslo" finds people with the first name Oslo, not journalists or government officials based there. And, results from Sparks -- a way to follow topics within Google+ -- appear less useful than going straight to Google News.

Meanwhile, my stream of posts seems to have Google+ as the top news of the day most days, regardless of what's going on in the rest of the world.

I know that some of this has to do with the limited number of Google+ users -- not to mention the small number of people I've found to follow so far. Another issue has to do with Google+ still being in such early beta -- I find it hard to believe that at some point Google wouldn't add a more robust search capability.

Even if Plus had more users and better search, though, there's still the issue of how the posts display. When each item can include multiple paragraphs, several comments and sometimes fairly large images, I rarely see more than two items per screen. And that makes scanning rather tough. Without a more streamlined viewing option, Google+ simply isn't designed for making quick sense out of large amounts of data.

It's still unclear how Google+ will grow and evolve. As of today, though, it's hard for me to agree with those who argue that Google+ could take the place Twitter holds in the social networking arena.

Microsoft to retire Office XP, Vista SP1 next week

Slates plug-pulling for July 12; Vista users must upgrade to SP2

Computerworld - Microsoft will retire 2001's Office XP and the first service pack for Windows Vista next week, according to the company's published schedule.

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Both Office XP and Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) will exit all support July 12, this month's Patch Tuesday. That date will be the last time Microsoft issues security updates for the aging suite and Vista SP1.

Microsoft supports its business products for 10 years, the first five in what it calls "mainstream support," and the second five in "extended support." The biggest difference between the two phases is that in the latter, non-security fixes are provided only to companies that have paid for special support contracts.

Microsoft generally patches security vulnerabilities in its products throughout the entire 10-year stretch.

Although Office XP's support expires next week, Vista users can continue to receive security updates by upgrading to SP2, the service pack Microsoft launched in May 2009.

Users can install Vista SP2 through Windows Update, or by manually downloading the 32-bit or 64-bit version of the service pack.

The consumer editions of Vista SP2 -- Vista Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate -- exit support in April 2012, while the corporate versions of Vista Business and Vista Enterprise will be supported with security patches through mid-April 2017.

Microsoft supports Windows' consumer versions for only five years, but maintains the enterprise editions for 10 years.

Users can continue to run out-of-support software: There is no "kill switch" that gets thrown to disable or cripple the programs. Without security fixes, however, such software will be increasingly vulnerable to attacks.

Office 2003, the follow-up to Office XP, will receive security updates until April 2014. Office 2007 and Office 2010 will get patches until April 2017 and October 2020, respectively.

Office XP and Vista SP1 were last patched three weeks ago when Microsoft issued 16 security updates that fixed 34 flaws.

10 Secrets for Searching for a Job During a Recession

Focusing your efforts on jobs in growing industries and demonstrating how your work has generated revenue are just two simple ways to distinguish yourself from the rest of the job seekers competing for positions in a down economy.

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5. Compete effectively with consultants.

One of the biggest swings in the job market since the last downturn has been in employers' move to augment their staff with consultants and contractors, says Rosenberg. Companies have turned to consultants, who are often as experienced as full-time employees but generally cost less, to scale their staffing levels up or down as needed, in response to changing economic conditions.

"Employers want the immediate deliverable that a consultant can bring, with the lower overall costs and risks of a full-time employee," says Rosenberg.

Consequently, employers' openness to hiring consultants has changed their initial expectations of their new hires: Since consultants are brought onboard to have an immediate impact on a specific problem, and since employers see consultants and full-time employees as roughly equal, employers want full-time workers to have the same immediate impact on a company that a consultant has, says Rosenberg.
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To compete with consultants in this economy, job seekers need to convince prospective employers that they'll quickly get up to speed and deliver results.

"You need to demonstrate throughout—on your resume, your application and in your communications with a targeted employer—that you have delivered results on the problem the employer is facing," says Phil Wallner, president of Provident Link, an IT and executive recruiting firm. When your communications with prospective employers address their problems and describe how you've solved similar problems in the past, hiring managers will say, 'I need to talk to this guy!' says Wallner.
6. Focus on revenue.

In a down market, the bottom line still requires sales "above the line" to keep the company alive and growing. Even if you're not in sales, you should highlight the work you've done that directly improved business development, pre- and post-sales support, upselling and cross-selling activities, vendor and partner negotiations as well as business process efficiencies that led to greater client/customer satisfaction, according to executive recruiters. Doing so will show your focus on revenue growth and will help you differentiate yourself as a business builder.
7. Your resume is a marketing tool, not a bio.

Resume writing is tricky business. You have to provide just enough information to pique the recruiter's or hiring manager's interest in learning more about you. But if you offer too much, they can make a snap decision that lands your resume in the trash.

Complicating matters is the need for resumes to address three different audiences simultaneously: a junior recruiter or HR person screening for certain keywords, the senior recruiter looking for skills and experience, and the hiring manager, who is looking for team fit and specific relevant successes, says Marc Cenedella, founder, president and CEO of TheLadders.com.

Executive recruiters, resume writers and career specialists recommend that job seekers spend at least three to four hours customizing each resume for each opportunity. Tailoring your resume to each opportunity is even more critical in a sluggish economy and competitive job market: Employers want specialists with specific, creative solutions, not generalists with vague ideas.

To ensure that your resume works for (and not against) you, I recommend writing it more like a proposal than a job description. Focus on the immediate results you can offer as well as the long-term benefits you bring. Explain how your subject matter expertise can help your target firm address its specific challenges and opportunities and how your leadership and executive skills achieve bottom-line results. The key is to make your points relevant to the employer, not to your ego. In other words, it doesn't matter if you were top dog in your prior firm; you need to clearly show how your experience as the top dog will benefit your prospective employer.

One way to present challenges you've addressed on your resume is using the STAR analysis process, which breaks your challenges into situations, tasks, actions and results. What was the initial situation you walked into? What task or responsibility did you take on? What actions did you undertake? What were the immediate and big-picture results? A shorter version calls for simply noting each major challenge and accomplishment, generally in a case study-like format. The point is to present the greatest information relevant to the prospective employer's needs in the briefest context.

Also, use search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to make your resume keywords from the job specification and from your research on the firm and the industry. You want your resume to repeatedly stress "company insider" terms and keywords can differentiate you and your resume from all the others. Recareered's Rosenberg says your resume will get more hits from scanning software and more eye contact from humans (and you'll get more interviews) when your strongest keywords are in the top one-third of your resume.

After putting all that time and effort into your resume, it would be a shame for a recruiter or hiring manage to reject it on the basis of a spelling or grammatical error—or to have it get trapped in a spam filter. If you aren't using a professional resume writer, then at least have one other person review your resume. If you are in a crunch and must send your resume without another reviewer, here's a trick I learned from a Discovery Channel article on brain functionality: reading text backwards forces your brain to re-review each word individually. Use Lyris Content Checker to pre-scan your resume and cover letter to ensure that innocuous words don't get blocked as spam.

Google+ hit with spam bug

The social networking site e-mailed repeat notifications to users after a system ran out of disk space

The Google+ social networking site malfunctioned this weekend, spamming its users with repeated notifications via email.

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Google+, which is being beta tested with a limited number of users, ran out of disk space on Saturday, causing the glitch, according to Vic Gundotra, a Google senior vice president of engineering.

IN PICTURES: Google+ lets you hang with a small (or large) circle of friends

"Please accept our apologies for the spam we caused this afternoon. For about 80 minutes we ran out of disk space on the service that keeps track of notifications. Hence our system continued to try sending notifications. Over, and over again. Yikes," he wrote in a Google+ post.

"We didn't expect to hit these high thresholds so quickly, but we should have. Thank you for helping us during this field trial, and once again, we are very sorry for the spam," he added.

Google+ is the company's latest and most high-profile attempt to date to launch a social networking service that competes with Facebook, after a number of failed attempts throughout the years.

With Google+, the company is betting on the site's mechanism for sharing content, which Google maintains is more intuitive thanks to privacy controls that Google believes are easier to use than Facebook's.

Privacy experts have given Google early kudos for launching Google+ to a limited number of testers, which gives the company a chance to stamp out critical bugs, including privacy glitches, before opening up the service massively worldwide.

Offering The A-To-Z Of Enterprise Solutions On One Platform

IT’s all about usability and security!

The specs rock…
Where all three devices take the iPhone to the cleaners is in the technical specifications department. All three, on paper, offer more than the iPhone 3G. The Storm and the 5800 have 3.2 megapixel cameras, while the Touch HD offers a stunning 5 megapixel shooter. All three devices have GPS and expandable memory. And both the Storm and the Touch HD allows users to view and edit MS Office files, enabling you to work on documents, spreadsheets and presentations with minimum fuss – something the iPhone still cannot do. In terms of browsing the Net, all three devices are respectable competitors to the iPhone, with the Touch HD’s Opera Mobile being arguably the most powerful mobile phone browser in the business. There is also the little matter of ease of use–all three devices can be synchronised far more smoothly with a computer when compared to the iPhone, where you have to operate through iTunes, even to do something as simple as transfer photographs and music. The Bluetooth functionality on all three also supports more devices than the iPhone does. In terms of connectivity, all three match the iPhone, although the Storm surprisingly does not offer Wi-Fi.

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…but where are the apps?

The one area where the three have been unable to dent the iPhone is in applications. While the Storm does have an application store, it lacks the depth and variety of applications seen in Apple’s App Store, which recently crossed 20,000 applications. The Touch HD supports most of the apps that run on Windows Mobile 6.1 (Professional), but the greatest expectations are from Nokia. Although there are very few applications available for the operating system the company has used in the 5800, this number is likely to increase significantly as Nokia uses the OS in more devices, most notably the Nokia N97 that’s expected later this year. Another significant edge that Nokia enjoys in this regard is its N-Gage gaming platform, which, while not currently on the 5800, is expected to be made compatible to the Symbian Series 60 (5th edition) soon. Now, that could really dent the iPhone’s entertainment appeal. BlackBerry too seems to be looking beyond its corporate roots, but it will take some time before it can match the apps that will be on offer from Nokia. As for the Touch HD, with Microsoft readying Windows Mobile 6.5, all eyes will be on whether one can upgrade the device to the new OS or if the apps for the new OS will be compatible with its earlier versions.

Competition, at last!

If we could have had a device with the camera, display and interface of the HTC HD; the haptic feedback and e-mail expertise offered by the BlackBerry Storm; and an OS that offered as much hope for developing applications and the value for money proposition of the Nokia 5800, we would have been hailing the arrival of an iPhone killer. Unfortunately, while each of the three devices does manage to better the iPhone on some counts, they come up short in the overall package. That said, there can be no denying that those looking for alternatives to the iPhone have better options than they did a year ago.

Enterprise users are likely to flock to the Storm. Those looking for value for money will invest in the 5800 and those with deeper pockets will probably go for the Touch HD. They may not have unseated the iPhone from the touchscreen throne, but these three new contenders in the market have definitely given the folks at Cupertino something to think about. There still is a gap between the iPhone and its competitors. But it is narrowing. The ball is now in Apple’s court. Will June see it add yet another spin to its ubergizmo and catch the competition off guard? The world will be watching.

How to get your Mac ready for Lion

Here's how to get your Mac ready for the imminent release of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion

Now that Apple has released to developers the golden master of Lion (Mac OS X 10.7) -- typically the final non-public version before the official release -- speculation is mounting as to when the next major version of Mac OS X will hit the street. But the golden master signifies something more important on a practical level: It's time to start getting our Macs ready for Lion.

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Apple is advertising Lion as the easiest-to-install version of Mac OS X yet, and that may be true. But there are still a few things you can do right now to ensure that your Mac is ready for 10.7 when the update finally arrives.

[ Get the whole picture of Apple's plans for Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5, and iCloud. | Discover the key Mac, iOS, and Apple tech trends for business users. Read InfoWorld's Technology: Apple newsletter. ]

What you need
To install Lion, you need a Mac with a minimum of 2GB of RAM and one of the following Intel processors: Intel Core 2 Duo, i3, i5, i7, or Xeon -- early Intel-based Macs with Core Solo or Core Duo processors aren't compatible. You can determine your Mac's processor and the amount of installed RAM by choosing About This Mac from the Apple menu and looking at the Processor and Memory lines, respectively.

The list of Lion-compatible Macs includes most models released since late 2006. However, Macs with 4GB or more of RAM will surely run Lion better than those with only 2GB, so if your Mac currently has less than 4GB, I recommend upgrading to at least that much -- and ideally even more, as you'll see benefits in many computing tasks. A word of advice here: If you don't buy your RAM directly from Apple, be sure you get RAM that's specifically designed for use in Macs. Some third-party RAM that's not up to Apple's specs will cause problems when you upgrade your OS. Most reputable vendors will make it clear which RAM they offer is made specifically for Macs.

It's also a good idea to have at least 10GB (and preferably more) of free space on your startup disk. The Lion installer image itself is almost 4GB, plus you need some room for temporary files. In addition, some of Lion's new features mean you'll need more "everyday" free space than you did under Snow Leopard. (If you need to free up some space, utilities such as WhatSize and GrandPerspective can help you figure out what's filling up your drive.)

Apple's system requirements also state that "Some features may have additional system requirements." We're assuming Apple is referring to graphics cards, as some graphics-heavy features require more horsepower than the oldest Lion-compatible Macs provide. It's safe to say that the better your graphics card and the more dedicated memory it has, the better Lion will perform.

Finally, there's also a software requirement for installing Lion: Your Mac must be running Snow Leopard 10.6.6 or later. The main reason for this requirement is that Lion will be available only via the Mac App Store, and the Mac App Store debuted in Mac OS X 10.6.6. In addition, Apple recommends that you have the very latest version of Snow Leopard (10.6.8) before installing Lion, so be sure to check Software Update for any available updates (see "Pre-install checks").

An Oracle win over Google may mean a licensing fee for Android

Oracle is reportedly already asking handset makers to pay as much as $20 per Android phone, a move that could stifle the platform

Will handset makers maintain their dedication to Android if they have to pay to license it? That's the question experts following Google's battle with Oracle are asking, and some of them think the answer is no.

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If Oracle wins the lawsuit that it brought against the software giant, the consequences for Google and the entire Android market could be dire, analysts say. Oracle likely won't settle for a lump payment but instead will want a cut of each phone sold. That added cost changes the economics for handset makers such that many will take a second look at their commitments to the Android platform.

[ Learn how to manage iPhones, Androids, BlackBerrys, and other smartphones in InfoWorld's 20-page Mobile Management Deep Dive PDF special report. | Keep up on key mobile developments and insights via Twitter and with the Mobile Edge blog and Mobilize newsletter. ]

While manufacturers are unlikely to abandon Android for a couple dollars per handset, they might begin to find other platforms, like Windows Phone, more attractive and begin to reduce the number of Android phones they make in favor of other platforms.

The dispute started last year when Oracle sued Google for patent and copyright infringement in Android. Oracle alleges that Google's Dalvik virtual machine, which runs Java applications on Android devices, uses technology developed by Sun Microsystems without a license. Last year, Oracle closed its acquisition of Sun.

"Based on what I've seen up until this point, I think Oracle is very much in a strong position," said Dave Mixon, a lawyer with Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, who has been closely following the case. In an early hearing that typically sets the tone for patent disputes, the judge favored Oracle.

With Google on the defensive, Oracle is keeping the pressure on. "Oracle is taking an aggressive stance with this in that they understand the perception is that they've put Google back on their heels and that they may be on the verge of winning," Mixon said.

One way that Oracle may be trying hard to push its case forward is by reportedly directly asking handset makers to license its software -- for $15 or $20 a handset. Oracle is approaching the major OEMs and inviting them to join an early adopters program under which they agree to license the technology directly from Oracle, according to Jonathan Goldberg, an analyst with Deutsche Bank.

Oracle declined comment on whether it is asking handset makers to license its technology and did not comment further for this story. Google did not reply to requests for comment.

That licensing cost would make using Android comparable to the cost of licensing Windows Phone 7, Goldberg said. Microsoft often points out that while Android is technically free, OEMs must fund related work necessary to integrate the software onto their hardware. With Windows Phone, Microsoft includes support services that help hardware vendors do that as part of the licensing fee.

How to live with malware infections

Get used to it: Malware can't be completely blocked or eliminated. But you can manage your PCs, mobile devices, and networks to function despite being infected

Malware survival tip No. 2: Deploy technologies and tactics that can help keep malware from spreading Even when some of your systems are infected with a virus to the point where nothing seems to remove it completely, that doesn't mean the virus has to spread to other systems in your organization.

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When you discover or suspect such a virus, take the infected systems offline as soon as possible to reduce the chance of spreading the malware or compromising other systems. Next, reapply a known, clean image, says Andy Hayter, the antimalcode program manager at ICSA Labs, a testing and certification firm.

[ The Web browser is your portal to the world -- as well as the conduit that lets in many security threats. InfoWorld's expert contributors show you how to secure your Web browsers in this "Web Browser Security Deep Dive" PDF guide. ]
Browser Security Deep Dive

Putting in a layered defense that includes technologies such as firewalls, antispam, intrusion prevention systems, intrusion detection systems, and antivirus software -- plus keeping systems up to date with the latest patches -- should help prevent the malware from infecting an entire organization, Hayter says.

"Control gateways between network segments and apply greater monitoring and control over internal networks," adds Richard Zuleg, a consultant at security consulting firm SystemExperts.

Encrypt traffic and data whenever possible, Zuleg advises, and use technology such as server and desktop virtualization both to quickly redeploy systems or even reset them to clean images and to separate data from the system.

"Companies need to be controlling who has advanced privileges on systems and strictly control access to data," Zuleg says. "If infected PCs are to become an accepted part of a network segment, then you will have no trust in that segment and must consider it to be like the public Internet."

New network analysis tools will soon emerge that let you better identify where malware exists on the network and how to best contain viruses, says Marc Seybold, CIO at the State University of New York at Old Westbury. When such technology becomes available, "if devices that Jane Smith uses to access the network are persistently trying to transmit data to outside domains that are in some way anomalous compared to other traffic on the network or her long-term patterns, then additional attention would be focused on such a user's devices and remedial action taken," he says. Among the companies working on such technology are Alcatel-Lucent, Riverbed, and SonicWall.

At the same time, Seybold says, network traffic flows will start to be more compartmentalized and insulated from each other as network access control and policy-based management are combined with application flow monitoring. "As these are linked up, full behavioral analysis based on end-to-end application flows bound to specific users will become possible," he says. Eventually there might be predictive analytics that could preemptively intercept malware transmissions based on past user behavior, "but that is still science fiction," he says.

Malware survival tip No. 3: Diversify your IT infrastructure to decrease reliance on one or two OSes or browsers
It might make sense to move away from the Windows monoculture, which can be more quickly and easily attacked, and bring in other operating systems and devices so that you know a malware infection can never take down everyone in the organization. Maybe some people who handle critical systems or data can use a Linux PC or a Mac OS X PC so that they're not as likely to be hurt by a virus aimed specifically at a common Windows vulnerability.

Along these lines, consider avoiding a browser monoculture, because a lot of current malware invades systems via the browser. Evaluate browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera to see which fit best with your enterprise applications and user base.

"Diversity is always good to prevent your entire infrastructure from coming down," says B. Clifford Neuman, director of the University of Southern California's Center for Computer Systems Security. "But there is the flip side to this strategy in that it gives an intruder many different possible choices of attacked system in which to get a foothold into your organization." You trade potentially limiting infection for having more possible infection entry points.

Of course, whenever you make a move to switch operating systems, you might encounter resistance from some quarters. Tony Hildesheim, senior vice president of IT at financial services firm Redwood Credit Union, says his company is reviewing the use of alternative operating systems, browsers, and some business applications. But "none of these options appear to be all that popular with the business units," he notes.

Technology diversity is not always an effective defense per se. ICSA Labs' Hayter points out that malware infections are not limited to desktop PC environments. "There are many serious pieces of malware that can infect other [operating systems] and devices, be they desktop-based or mobile," he says. "Additionally, malware can cross platforms from one OS or device to another, further requiring a layered defense plan."