Michael Gracie

The US Defense Department thinks it is losing the war of information, with bloggers, Blackberries, and a generally unchecked internet foiling their ambitions.

I would have thought that with all the money getting spent inside the beltway, the government would have plenty of talent swooning to help them out. Maybe the dough isn’t really there, or maybe it is just getting wasted on unproductive “talent” (which wouldn’t surprise me). Maybe they (the Department of Defense) should call “the unfrozen caveman executive director” for some help.

James Derk of CyberDads couldn’t have deployed a more common sense list of rules for fighting spyware - it is simply fantastic.

Nothing is free on the internet; use Firefox; run Linux (or just buy a Mac); and more everyday advice that anyone can easily follow. It is the way computer security advice should be deployed, in layman’s terms.

Everyone please thank this man.

The Federal Trade Commission, in collaboration with Homeland Security, the Postal Service, the Department of Commerce, and the SEC, has launched a new website called OnGuard Online to educate computer users about security threats. Spyware, spam, phishing, identity theft, and safe shopping guidelines are part of the mix, and my perusal of the site noted the content is pretty solid, and shaken down enough for the non-geek computer user. Looks like they hired some AJAX developers too, as the site looks sharp, and moves and shakes with unadulterated flair.

One thing I did find strange, however, was all the care these folks took at instructing users on how to safely set up P2P file sharing, as I suspect that will raise the ire of the RIAA and MPAA. And their section on VoIP fails to mention that software like Skype easily puts a lid on government eavesdropping techniques.

Silly me for mentioning that stuff, eh?

Bruce Schneier asks why anyone thought it couldn’t be - everyday employees will infect company machines despite blatant warnings not to. As part of a social engineering type experiment, employees of an IT training company handed out CDs containing a purported Valentine’s Day surprise. Despite obvious warnings about the dangers of third-party software and the obvious potential violations that could occur by dropping the CD in company machines, several financial services firms’ employees tried anyway.

I have to ask, would the outcome have been any different if you only targeted independent contractors using their own hardware? The “creative class” doesn’t have to sit in a windowless cubicle all day, which is why I think the original experiment is somewhat skewed - they handed the CDs to obviously pissed off drone workers.

And Sam Angus of Fenwick & West is making sure it isn’t.

I give kudos to Sam’s list, which includes:

1) Guarding your intellectual property
2) Finding good partners
3) Taking care with the distribution of equity
4) Timing your rounds, and choosing your capital sources, carefully
5) Not going your raise alone
6) Building a good board
7) Worrying less about valuation

Never forget - execution comes first, and all of Sam’s recommendations thoughfully respect the idea that the deal alone is not going to make your company work. The points above should be easy to manage, yet entrepreneurs allow it to take up too much of their time, and mind. Those energies are better directed towards bring ideas to fruition.

If the telecomm industry wanted to get a leg up, they should have thought about partnering with real innovators in the industry long ago. Instead, they sat on their uncreative behinds, and let companies like Skype run right over them. Skype fetched a multi-billion dollar purchase price via eBay not too long ago - not bad for a company without any copper lying behind the walls.

Now it seems the product might just be capable of making the Bush Administration, the NSA, and whomever else is lying in wait to douse basic personal privacy, look like the same asses the telecomm executives resemble now. The free product is being called a hell of a way to thwart eavesdropping - the software uses strong encryption, which has been available for things like email for some time, but a little more difficult to apply to voice communications due to the need for “devices” at both ends of the call. The free software is that “device.”

You can bet Skype/eBay executives will be getting hauled in front of Congress any day now to explain.
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Houston’s police chief wants ordinary citizens to put security cameras in their homes, which just spawned a new posting category at Spamroll, “Privacy.” Between this and all the talk about NSA wiretapping, I have to think there is something in the water down in Texas that turns bureaucrats into paranoid schizophrenics; that, or making them impotent, prompting their desire to peer into the bedrooms of those who prefer bottled products.

My suggestion - they should all get back on their daily cocktail of bourbon, lithium and V1agra, and take a page out of Robert Mueller’s playbook - show a little humility, and ask for cooperation, citing some semblance of logic regarding said need.

If you are not doing anything wrong, what do you have to worry about? It’s become the popular byline of bureaucrats when talking privacy, and their delusional methods for invading it. My answer would and will, simple be, “you.”
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Techdirt notes that some political parties will stop at nothing to gain intel on what the opposition is doing. In the US, we have known this for more than three decades - it is something Watergate clued us into. Now Hungary has a Watergate of its own, only this time it is of the electronic variety.

The excuse for hacking into the governing party’s servers - an overzealous staff member. As Seth Godin pointed out just a few days back, politicians are one of the best when it comes to shirking responsibility. This time seems no different.

What do they have in common? Dale Begg-Smith, recent winner of a gold medal in Olympic moguls competition, thats what.

Begg-Smith is known for his success with internet related projects, and is now being heavily questioned regarding their potential improprieties. Brian McWilliams digs deeper into the story, and thinks the issue might just be worthy of a little more investigation (by the IOC, that is).

To me, it sounds a bit snowy, as in the kid is letting the business go to pursue other interests (which he is obviously excelling at). It happens - someone takes savvy from one arena to another, and continues to perform above par. Unless the kid has done something illegal (or, is still involved in shady dealings), it might be worth letting this sleeping dog, well, sleep. If the former is the case, well, the kid is about to learn the old adage regarding protecting your reputation at all costs. In Begg-Smith’s case, however, the cost may be no more than the keys to a Lamborghini.

SonicWALL, which sells security appliances for firewalling, content filtering, VPN and automated backup, recently purchased MailFrontier, which sells appliances and software for email security. It is a simple to understand marriage of internal and external security. Congratulations to both on the $30 million plus deal.