alt="IT Infrastructure Strategy Charter ISO" vspace=3 align=right
src="http://www.it-toolkits.com/images/IT_Infrastructure_Strategy_Charter.jpg">The
US Senate has a new bill on its agenda, The Marketplace Fairness Act, that
would allow states to collect taxes on Internet sales, even when the seller does
not have a physical presence in the taxing state.

In essence the bill would allow states that sign on to  collect sales
taxes from Web-based sellers, reversing a widespread practice of no Internet
sales taxes since the beginning of the commercial Web.

The new bill would allow states to collect sales taxes from remote sellers if
they sign on to the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA), a
12-year-old effort to meet the Supreme Court’s requirements to simplify sales
tax collection, or if they adopt a so-called alternative tax simplification
plan.

Sponsors of the bill, similar to past efforts to allow Internet sales taxes,
said the current system is unfair to small bricks-and-mortar businesses that
have to charge sales tax to local customers.

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Most small business owners believe that Internet security is critical to
their success and that their companies are safe from cyber security threats: but
most fail to take fundamental precautions. This is the major finding from a
survey of US small businesses.

alt="Security Manual - Sarbanes-Oxley" vspace=3 align=right
src="http://www.it-toolkits.com/images/Securitymanual.gif"
longDesc="Security Manual Template - Sarbanes-Oxley">The survey found that
two-thirds (67 percent) of US small businesses have become more dependent on the
Internet in the last year and 66 percent are dependent on the network for their
day-to-day operations. What’s more, 57 percent of firms say that a loss of
Internet access for 48 hours would be disruptive to their business, 38 percent
said it would be ‘extremely disruptive’ and 76 percent say that most of their
employees use the Internet daily.

The vast majority of small business owners think their company is
cyber-secure as 85 percent of respondents said their company is safe from
hackers, viruses, malware or a cyber-security breach and seven in ten (69
percent) believe that Internet security critical to their business’s success.
Additionally, a majority (57 percent) of small businesses believe that having a
strong cyber security and online safety posture is good for their company’s
brand.

Despite this, a closer look reveals that most small businesses lack
sufficient cyber security policies and training. 77 percent said they do not
have a formal written Internet security policy for employees and of those, 49
percent reported that they do not even have an informal policy. More small
business owners also said they do not provide Internet safety training to their
employees than said they do – to a tune of 45 versus 37 percent. And a majority
of businesses (56 percent) do not have Internet usage policies that clarify what
websites and web services employees can use and only 52 percent have a plan in
place for keeping their business cyber-secure.

At the same time, small businesses may not understand how to respond to
online threats or the danger they pose. For example, 40 percent of small
businesses say that if their business suffered a data breach or loss of customer
or employee information, credit card information or intellectual property, their
business does not have a contingency plan outlining procedures for responding
and reporting it. Two-fifths (43 percent) also say they do not let their
customers and partners/suppliers know what they do to protect their
information.

The survey also found that 69 percent of their businesses handle customer
data while about half (49 percent) handle financial records, one-third (34
percent) handle credit card information, one quarter (23 percent) have their own
intellectual property, and one in five (18 percent) handled intellectual
property belonging to others outside their company. When asked to rank the top
concern of small business owners while their employees are on the Internet, 32
percent reported viruses, 17 percent spyware/malware and 10 percent reported
loss of data. Yet only 8 percent are concerned about loss of customer
information, 4 percent about loss of intellectual property and only 1 percent
worry about loss of employee data, even though cyber security experts believe
the loss of any of this kind of information would be devastating to a
business.

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UK-based security software maker Sophos has acquired Astaro, a privately-held provider of network security solutions.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Astaro booked $56 million in billings last year, which makes it the fourth largest dedicated unified threat management (UTM) provider in the world.

Astaro was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany and Wilmington, USA. The company currently boasts more than 220 employees in nine countries, including a significant presence in the EMEA region.

The company raised a total of $12.9 million from Wellington Partners, Insight Venture Partners and OpenView Venture Partners.

The network security appliance maker says it has completed over 56,000 installations in over 60 countries, protecting business, school and government networks against a variety of IT security threats such as data theft, viruses, spyware and spam.

Astaro also boasts a network of over 2,500 channel partners.

With the acquisition of Astaro, Sophos aims to deliver coordinated protection and policy between endpoint and network to its clients, along with integrated management and reporting.

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Over 120 companies in Cairo’s smart valley are impacted by the closure of the
Internet by the Egyptian government.

alt="Disaster Recovery Plan Template" vspace=3 align=right
src="http://it-toolkits.com/images/Disaster_Recovery_Planning.gif" width=95
longDesc="Disaster Recovery Planning Template" height=123>Egypt’s move to
block Internet access prompted Microsoft to respond. Microsoft said it “is
constantly assessing the impact of the unrest and Internet connection issues on
our properties and services. What limited service the company as a whole
provides to and through the region, mainly call-center service, has been largely
distributed to other locations.”

Another tech firm with a presence in Smart Villages is Hewlett-Packard, which
has asked it employees to stay at home.  A partial list of
other impacted compaines includes: 3
Developers, Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property – AGIP, Advanced Applications
Technologies, Advanced Computer Technology, Advanced Project System Company,
Advice consultancy, Al Montada, Alcatel-Lucent, Amwal Al Arabia, Arab Bank,
Arpuplus, Auraporta Middle East, AuraPortal Middle East, Bank of Alexandria –
Intesa San Paolo Bank, Banque Misr, Basharsoft, Beltone Financial Holding ,
Biblioteca Alexandrina, Cairo Software Services, Carlyle, Center for
Documentation of Cultural & Natural Heritage – CULTNAT, Chamber of
Information Technology, CI Capital Holding, Citadel Capital, Commercial
International Bank – CIB, Commerze Bank, Comptel, Compume, Consumer Protection
Agency, Convergys, Corplease, Damlag, Data Charging and Policy Services,
Datanil, Delta Group, Delta Rasmala Securities, E-Learning Competence Center,
E-Marketing, EastNets-Egypt, Economic Research Forum, EFAD Real Estate, EFG
Hermes Holding SAE, Egypt Post, Egypt Stock Exchange, Egyptian Company for
Electronic Systems Development-NPC, Egyptian Competition Authority, Egyptian
Financial Supervisory Authority-EFSA, Egyptian Supervisory Authority –EFSA,
Eitesal, El Borg for development and real estate investment, Engineering
Consultants Group- ECG, Ericsson, ESLSCA (Ecole Superieure Libre des Sciences
Commerciales Appliquees), Etisalat, Expert Investement, Federation of Egyptian
Chamber of Commerce – IT Division, Finlink, First Capital LLC, Future Group,
Global Development Network, Good Life Insurance Consultation, HC Securities, HP,
Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation – HSBC Egypt, Huawei, IBM, Icann,
Information Technology Export Community-ITEC, Information Technology Industry
Development Agency – ITIDA, Inotek, Intel, IT Synergy, Kern Egypt, Link
Investment & Real Estate Development, Mahindra Satyam, Mahindra Satyam, MGM
Financial & Banking Consultants Co, Microsoft Egypt, Millenmed, Ministry of
Communications and Information Technology-MCIT, Mobinil, Naeem Holding, National
Bank of Egypt, National Investment Bank, National Telecom Institute, National
Telecommunication Regulatory Authority – NTRA, Nile University, Nile Ventures,
Nokia Siemens Networks, Online Modern Solutions, Ontrack, Optumatics, Oracle,
Ossama Badawy, Palm Hills Developments, Piraeus Bank, Prime Group , Purple
Digital House, RAC, Salec, Samatel, Sarie-Eldin & Partners, Smart Village
Real Estate Investment Company – SVREICO, Social Fund for Development, Software
Engineering Competence Center – SECC, Surv fund, Synergy Consulting, Systel,
Tadawol, Tagipedia, Tarek Nour Communications – TNC, TE Data, TEA Computers
S.A.E., Technological Incubation Program, Technology Development Fund – TDF,
Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center-TIEC, Technopark, TecPlus,
TekTrust, Tele Med International, Telecom Egypt, The American University in
Cairo, The Egyptian Exchange, The Egyptian Insurance Supervisory Authority, The
Information Technology Institute, Tribal Fusion Co., Valeo, Vodafone, Wipro,
Wunderman, Xceed ,  and ZTE.

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Internet security company Webroot today announced it has acquired BrightCloud, a Web content classification and security services provider. Webroot aims to integrate BrightCloud’s technology with its own proprietary malware detection and security-as-a-service (SaaS) technologies.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but the BrightCloud team will join Webroot’s Cloud Engineering team with an expanded focus on hosted security services.

Founded in 2005 and based in San Diego, California, BrightCloud provides Web reputation and content classification capabilities that aim to maximize productivity and mitigate Web-based security risks. The company claims to maintain information on more than 200 million URLs and IP addresses in order to comprise the most accurate and comprehensive data available for classifying content and detecting malicious sites. The company’s technology is used by partners to create an added layer of security and policy management for their customers.

BrightCloud was founded by CEO Quinn Curtis, who previously served as Director of Product Management at Websense and before that spent almost 9 years at Microsoft, working as a product manager on the team that built and launched the first version of Microsoft Exchange.

Webroot offers cloud-based Web security solutions that businesses can use to protect themselves against malware threats. The company, which employs more than 400 people globally, will deliver Web security via the cloud to consumers as part of Webroot Internet Security Complete, a new product launching later this month.

The acquisition of BrightCloud allows the software company to build and enhance services utilizing Web site classification and reputation across its business.

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

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A security
vendor has identified an online service offering to help anyone to hack into any
Facebook account for $100. However, those who sign up for the service could find
themselves becoming the victims instead.

face=Calibri> alt="Security Manual Template - Sarbanes-Oxley" vspace=3 align=middle
src="http://www.itproductivity.org/images/securitymanual.gif" width=240
longDesc="Security Manual Template - Sarbanes-Oxley" height=254>

Users of the service are required to
first register with the site and then provide an ID of the Facebook account they
want hacked. Users who enter the ID and click on a “Hack it” button are then
presented with the username of the owner of the Facebook account. They then have
the option to “Start Facebook hacking.”

Those
who follow the instructions are eventually told that the hack was successful and
a password for the account was retrieved. In order to get the password, the user
is then required to send $100 via Western Union to an individual in the
Ukraine.

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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang did not directly answer a question about whether government action was responsible for recent disruptions in access to Google sites from within China.

But he made plain the government’s anger at the U.S. company.

“According to complaints from many residents, Google’s English language search engine has spread large amounts of vulgar content that is lascivious and pornographic, seriously violating China’s relevant laws and regulations,” he told a regularly scheduled news conference.

Qin said various measures taken against Google were in keeping with the law, but did not detail what the measures were or directly comment Wednesday evening disruptions to Google services in China.

“I want to stress that Google China is a company operating within China to provide Internet search services, and it should strictly abide by Chinese laws and regulations.”

Google said last week it had met with Chinese government officials to discuss the problem of “pornographic content and material that is harmful to children on the web in China.”

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Homeland Security and the National Security Agency may be taking
a closer look at size=2>Internet communications in the future.

The Department of Homeland Security’s top cybersecurity official
said that the department may eventually extend its Einstein technology, which is
designed to detect and prevent electronic attacks, to networks operated by the
private sector. The technology was created for federal networks.

Is this the camel’s nose in the tent?

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