eWorld Translations

A recent SC Magazine article by Mark Weatherford, VP and CSO of North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC), discussed the effect of “unknown unknowns” on the electric grid and elaborated on the “High-Impact, Low-Frequency Even Risk to the North American Bulk Power System” which was created subsequent to a November 2009 workshop by NERC and the U.S. Department of Energy.

High-impact, low-frequency (HILF) events are somewhat elusive and unusual occurrences that potentially cause long-term, cataclysmic damage … in this case to the power grid, be it as a result of natural causes such as a solar storm triggering geomagnetic disturbances, or man-made causes like physical or cyber attacks, detonations of nuclear weapons or the outbreak of a pandemic.

To avoid the risk of the report gathering dust as a grand tome once it was delivered, NERC’s Electricity Sub-Sector Coordinating Council (ESCC) developed a “Critical Infrastructure Strategic Roadmap” framework based on which NERC and the electric industry drafted a Coordinated Action Plan in a collaborative public/private partnership.

It would not hurt to take this opportunity to review (or create, if you don’t have them, yet) your organization’s Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP), Disaster Recovery (DR) plan and/or Business Continuity Plan (BCP).

What would you for instance do if you are without power from the electric grid for an extended period of time? Do you have a UPS? If so, how long can it provide power for all your essential devices and facilities? Do you have a generator? If so, how long does your stored fuel supply last? Which steps have you taken to assure continued fuel supply until the situation has been remedied?

A freelancer, hit by a hurricane that knocked out power locally or regionally might just travel to a location not affected by the outage and operate from there using a laptop and a cellular phone. But this might not be quite as easy or even an option for a small or medium sized enterprise.

We’ll gladly help you to review and update or create your preparedness plans and policies. Contact us today.

Have you ever encountered a backup CD from which you wanted to reinstall some long-forgotten or accidentally deleted files? Did you then encounter a computer system and/or CD drive with major hiccups when trying to read the CD? When taking it out of the drive and holding it against a bright light, were you perplexed to find a slew of pinholes in the metallic data layer through which the light shone straight at you?

If so, take a look at this summary of research findings by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), posted at About.com:

You should never use a pen, pencil or hard-tip marker to write on your CDs. That’s just one of several recommendations made by computer scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), who sliced, diced and baked CDs and DVDs to see how long the digital information would survive.Most CDs and DVDs will last 30 years or more if handled with care, but many factors can slash their longevity.

Direct exposure to sunlight can do a great deal of damage both from the sun’s ultraviolet rays and the heat.

Any rapid significant change in temperature or humidity can stress the materials.

Fingerprints and smudges frequently do more harm than scratches. NIST recommends handling discs by the outer edge or the center hole.

Discs may be cleaned with a cotton cloth by wiping in a straight line from the center of the disc toward the outer edge. Isopropyl alcohol may be used for extra cleaning power.

Discs last longest when stored in plastic cases in a cool, dark, dry environment. Because gravity can gradually bend the disc, storing it upright like a book is best for long-term storage.Many libraries, archives and government agencies store information on optical media, and NIST collaborated with the Council on Library and Information Resources to issue the research report.

We’ll gladly help you to review and update your backup strategy, mechanisms and policies. Contact us today.

According to security and vulnerability research company Secunia, a typical home user who is running Windows is facing the “unreasonable” challenge to patch one software or another every five days.

In the last week of January, of the users who ran Secunia’s Personal Software Inspector (PSI) application, half had at least 66 programs from more than 21 vendors on their machines, resulting in the need to master 22 or more different patch mechanisms.

While Secunia’s Chief Security Officer, Thomas Kristensen, is calling for software vendors to create a unified patching standard, he is not holding his breath for this to become a reality any time soon.

Therefore, the company is releasing a technical preview of PSI 2.0 which will include automatic updating functionality reminiscent of what Microsoft provides for Windows and other software. Their patch tool eventually will handle 70-80% of the software on consumers’ Windows machines.

You can read more about Secunia’s PSI findings in their white paper.

We’ll gladly help you to review and update your computer’s configuration, your security mechanisms and your policies. Contact us today.