How bad is it?  What are the odds and cost of this horrendous problem? Take a read here:

In Consumer Reports’ 2008 State of the Net summary, the odds of contracting a serious computer virus problems are given to be 1 in 7, the yearly costs $2.9 billion. The odds of a serious spyware problem are 1 in 14, with a yearly cost of $3.6 billion. (Note that these figures are for both businesses and consumers.)  (source link from DefendingTheKingdom.com)

Stop for a second to put that in perspective… the odds of your property (your computer) doing something that you did not know about is 1 in 7!  Compare that to the below odds…

• Odds of drowning in a bathtub: 685,000 to 1
• Odds of being killed sometime in the next year in any sort of transportation accident: 77 to 1
• Odds of being struck by lightning: 576,000 to 1
• Odds of winning a straight up on a single number in roulette: 37 to 1
• Odds of being audited by the IRS: 175 to 1
• Odds of dating a supermodel: 88,000 to 1
• Odds of winning an Academy Award: 11,500 to 1

Doesn’t it seem reasonable that it should be more likely to get audited by the IRS than have your computer become a functioning part of an overseas crimebot?  Don’t you think that it would be nice if your chance of winning in roulette was better than the chance that your computer is recording your passwords via a key logger?

I don’t know about you, but I am simply embarrassed for our profession that we have gone this long, knowing of the problem, and not taking anything more than band-aide steps to mitigate the threat.  This week, I will focus on some of the more promising paths ahead for this as well as some of the key people fighting the good fight!

What do you think about this topic?  Do you agree or disagree with me? Do you have a recommended news story for next week? Please share your ideas below.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for January 18, 2010  by Scott Coughlin.

Image Credit: GovGab

Odds Sources: Funny2.com, defendingthekingdom.com

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We have all experienced network crashes as a result of bandwidth requirements exceeding availability. Saturation, is a system hang on a good day, and server crashes on bad. Entire industries have sprung up to prevent this occurrence. We have software throttling, service degradation, and processes, such as anti-virus tools, that simply don’t start in unfavorable bandwidth conditions. On the desktop, most online back-up tools, for instance, can be set to only use a fraction of available bandwidth, of only run when the network is not overly busy.

We all know that there are times, days, and periods when bandwidth is available. Some are predictable such as evenings, holidays, and weekends, but others are just usual circumstances that drive usage down. Maybe it is a company picnic, or an especially good (or bad) news report. I wonder if anyone has a sensor set up to detect these "opportunities" and use them for the good of the system? Instead of running these tasks as scheduled "cron" jobs based on anticipated network conditions, can you take automated actions based on actual network situations?

I could imagine the following as targets of opportunities:

Downloading or pushing patches Downloading or pushing updates Disk Scanning Network Attached Storage Devices Virus Scanning Network Attached Storage Devices Virus Scanning workstations Updating intrusion detection signature files Proactively running maintenance scripts

If you are doing something like I describe, please share your experiences, techniques, and tools with us. I would be very interested in hearing more about your lessons learned, case studies, return on investment calculations, and experiences. I believe that there may be an unexploited opportunity here for network health that does not seem overly challenging to implement with current hardware, software, operating systems, and personnel. Something to think about.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for November 13, 2009 ©Scott Coughlin

Image Credit: at: 4000ft.com

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While I resisted the urge to open the case, I would bet my left arm that its innards were a dusty, dirty fire hazard of problems waiting to happen.

In case you did not know it for some reason – you need to clean and inspect (C&I) your computers regularly.  This is just plain, simple preventative hardware maintenance and one of the easiest things to do yourself and ensure that your team does regularly.  I swear by this practice in preventing problems and I highly recommend it to you. 

Here are all the things that occur when you don’t C&I your machines regularly:

• Fire Hazard
• Wastes Energy (due to reduced heat transfer)
• Reduces Performance
• Accelerated fan failure
• Unexpected overheating shutdowns and errors
• Reduced Longevity
• Germ Incubator – Especially Those Keyboards!
• Allergen Storage and Breeding Ground
• Just Plain Gross!

The good news is that it is really very easy to do.  You can certainly find instructions for your particular rigs somewhere on the Internet.  Of course, you should always follow the recommendations of your hardware vendor and follow all of his safety precautions and instructions.  Also, don’t forget all of your basic electrical safety precautions in your eagerness to scrub-a-dub-dub!

Basically, this is what I do:

1. Shutdown the System.
2. Unplug the System
3. Ground your self properly
4. Open the case
5. Use a can of compressed air to blow all the dust and dirt out.  Get the fans especially well. Make sure that you get the vent covers, too.
6. If you cannot blow the dirt out of the case, at least blow it to the bottom in a clear area.
7. Use a vacuum with a small, plastic extension wand to suck out the dirt.
8. Close up the case.
9. Clean the outside of the case with a lightly dampened rag.  Be careful to only use approved cleaning agents especially on designer or Apple cases.
10. Clean the keyboard with lightly dampened rag.  They sell special anti-bacterial liquids and rags for keyboards that work wonders.
11. Clean the monitor, if there is one, in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.
12. Plug it back in.
13. Boot and perform system tests.  Verify that all fans are properly spinning.

That is it!  With these simple steps, you will have much happier machines, users, and corrective maintenance funding accounts!  In addition, you won’t gross out the other Information Technology Professionals!

What PMS (Preventive Maintenance Systems) does your group, organization, or team use for their computers? Do you have any similar “dirty computer” stories to share?  Please leave a comment.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for October 28, 2009 by Scott Coughlin.

Image Credit: computerhospital.net

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