Tuesday 31 January 2012

Are you ready you to be a ‘cyber warrior’?

At the Cyber Defence and Network Systems conference in London, officials from the world of cyber defence and IT security discussed the increasing threat to military and commercial sectors. According to the article from BBC Newsnight’s Science Editor, Susan Watts, the US military are recruiting 10,000 ‘cyber warriors’ with cyberspace seen as an ‘active domain’ for operations. You might not have to be as fit as a normal army recruit but will need to fit into “a professional elite… trusted and disciplined”, according to conference speaker Lieutenant General Rhett Hernandez. Other delegates such as John Bumgarner, from the US Cyber Consequences Unit in Washington and interviewed on Newsnight, regard the need for IT professionals as more of a ‘virtual UN peacekeeping force - in cyberspace’. If you think you might have what it takes or just want to see the latest on the security debate see the full article and Newsnight interview at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/9687338.stm

Monday 23 January 2012

IT Careers at GCHQ

Find out more about a career at one of Gloucestershire’s major employers with the extensive career and recruitment section of the Government Communications Headquarters website. The site describes the large range of IT personnel employed under its two main branches of Signals Intelligence and Information Assurance. Many case studies of successful recruits are offered in sections such as cyber security specialists.
A recent electronic and computer engineering graduate describes the importance of his work. “What we contribute to is fascinating and ever changing, so we are always evolving in order to stay one step ahead,” he says. The site explains that it employs 1500 staff in IT roles and is home to ‘some of Europe’s most powerful computers’. The careers site also explains a little more about the work of this Cheltenham based organisation – within the limits of national security. To find out more about employment opportunities go to http://www.gchq-careers.co.uk/

Monday 16 January 2012

Security threats – the ISF view

Maintaining supply chain security should be a company’s key objective according to the ISF, Information Security Forum, in an article in Computer Weekly magazine - “What is the most important nut for infosec to crack in 2012?”
The ISF, a worldwide independent authority on information risk management, consults key people in the security industry once a year – an exercise called ‘The Threat Horizon’. The contributors see ‘the threat’ in different ways. John Colley, managing director EMEA, (ISC)2 discusses the skills shortage and the increasing average age of the security technology professional. Elsewhere, Ruggero Contu, agenda manager, security solutions, worldwide, Gartner, has concerns over the personal use of mobile devices in the workplace. He offers an example where ‘ employees can download data to cloud storage services such as Dropbox, and then access it from unauthorised devices.’ For more detailed analysis of the security data threats from these leading experts, read the full article at http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Security-Think-Tank-What-is-the-most-important-nut-for-infosec-to-crack-in-2012

Monday 9 January 2012

CBI Report on IT Spending

Despite cutbacks in other areas, a recent report from the CBI indicates that companies still want to invest in IT, seeing it as a vital part of the company infrastructure. Looking at the report for CIO UK magazine, Richard Hammell looks at why companies are still spending on IT.
The CBI report highlights four key areas in the IT domain that business leaders see as vital for commercial success: ‘IT leadership and talent’, ‘Business driven delivery of large scale IT projects’, ‘New models for sourcing and contracting’ and ‘Innovation through analytics’. Hammell stresses the particular importance of analytics and the insights gained for the company through such analysis. “Whatever the outcome, the IT department should champion and exploit insight, not just technology…for each individual organisation, the challenge is to identify where IT matters the most,” he writes. See more about why companies value IT at http://www.cio.co.uk/article/3323840/it-matters-again/?pn=1

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Deloitte’s annual report – key trends for IT sector

New development areas are always important for IT professionals wanting to stay ahead and identify new business opportunities. Deloitte’s 3rd annual tech trend report for CIOs (company information officers) identifies in detail ten areas to watch next year. Mark White, chief technology officer and the report’s co-author, divides the trends into two areas.
The first five are known as ‘(Re)Emerging Enablers’, with examples such as Geo-spatial Visualization – the rise of geo-based company data. These first five trends are areas that some businesses may have already started to consider. The second set of five trends,’ Disruptive Deployments’, are newer trends that might on their own or together mean new opportunities for the IT technology and computing sector. Such trends identified by Deloitte are the Hyper-hybrid cloud and a trend known as ‘Enterprise Mobility Unleashed’ where the use of mobile information means emphasis on ‘secure and maintainable…back-office systems’. Get prepared for 2012 by
reading the full article http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/deloitte-predicts-the-top-10-technology-trends-for-2012-135248878.html