The recession is creating camaraderie amongst workforces, at the expense of their employers, is the finding of a transatlantic survey. Carried out amongst 600 office workers in Canary Wharf London and Wall Street New York, 41% of workers have already taken sensitive data with them to their new position, whilst a third would pass on company information if it proved useful in getting friends or family a job.

From an article on a security website, it states more and more employees are stealing data when they leave their current employer.  A couple of interesting stats from the article:

• 85% of people admit they know it’s illegal to download corporate data.
• 57% of people say it is easier to take sensitive data this year, up 29% from last year
• Top of the list is customer and contact details

During this current recession people are doing whatever they can to have an edge, especially in a new job.  If I take my current customer list to me new job, then I will instantly have a leg up.

As an employer you need to protect your data, do you even know where your data is?  Using a tool like Symantec’s DLP you can find that information, track that information and prevent it from leaving your network. 

Symantec has announced version 10 of its DLP product (formerly known as Vontu)  In a press release, Symantec touts DLP 10 as the

Symantec has announced Symantec Data Loss Prevention 10, the industry’s first open data loss prevention (DLP) platform, which aims to give customers more options to find and fix data loss problems. As organizations strive to center their security strategies around information, DLP becomes essential.

Symantec DLP has undergone various changes since they purchased Vontu all geared to making the product stronger and more useful for the security professional.

DLP 10 will “allow companies to apply encryption and enterprise rights management (ERM) based on content and will integrate with additional Symantec products.

One of the products DLP 10 will integrate with Symantec’s Workflow product to help build automatic response and workflows into the product.

DLP 10 will also support 25 languages and add full localization or Japanese, Simplified Chinese and also French.

DLP 10 will release to the public in December

I’ve come across several blogs recently describing a visit from the former President and his wife to Fort Hood after the shootings that took place there.

At what point will the current President show up and spend time there?

It is funny on how people in the past argued that history would look back in kindest on President Bush and the author of this blog is now a fan:

We are now officially committed fans of George W. and Laura Bush.  We are fans of Dick Cheney.  Our gratitude for them makes us newly protective of them, and the continued role they play in this country.

At no time did President Bush or his wife make a grand speech with teleprompters and the press, or make a special trip to Dover complete with the press to watch bodies being back from war.  The president just went, as this blog reports

A couple of days ago I heard the news that George and Laura Bush paid a private visit to the wounded soldiers at Fort Hood. They specifically requested that the base commander not inform the media of their visit. They came. They comforted the wounded soldiers and the Fort Hood community for a couple of hours. And then they left. And they never had their pictures taken saluting the troops or holding their hands.

Dear President Obama, please respect our trips, please visit them outside of the press corps.  Please figure out what to do with the troops in Afghanistan.

I’ve been reading Redmond Magazine (formerly MCPMag) ever since I got my first MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional).  Each year, Redmond’s User Awards are voted on by the readers.

This year, Redmond created more categories and had more products to vote on.  However Symantec/Altiris fared worse then last.  Part of me wonders if this was because of how bad Altiris 7 was right out of the gate or because not many have moved to version 7 and version 6 is starting to show it’s age.

Some of the categories that Symantec/Altiris was listed in:

• Best Software Distribution Product:
• System Center Configuration Manager won
• Deployment Solution came in second
• Best Asset Management/Resource Inventory Product:
• SCCM won
• Altiris Service and Asset Management Suite came in 3rd
• Best Licesnse Managemetn Suite:
• SCCM won
• Altiris TMS came in 3rd
• Best Imaging Product
• Symantec Ghost won
• Best Software Packaging Product
• SCCM won
• Package Studio came in 3rd
• Best Remote Troubleshooting Solution:
• SCCM won
• Altiris Client Management Suite came in 2nd
• Best Patch Management Product:
• Nothing Altiris listed which I found interesting
• Best Applicaiton Conflict Testing Tool
• Installshield AdminStudio won
• Package Studio came in 3rd
• Best Antispyware Tool:
• Symantec Antivirus won
• Best Anti-Spyware Tool
• No Symantec products even though SEP has an Anti-Spyware portion

More information can be found on Redmondmag.com

One of the key new features in Ubuntu 9.10 is Ubuntu One and the ability to sync files into the cloud.  This product is developed by Canonical and functions similarly to Dropbox.  More information can be found on the website including a FAQ.

However, Ubuntu One is not installed as part of a default install of Kubuntu (this is as of the Release Candidate, I don’t know if it might change in release).  This post will help explain how to install Ubuntu One and get it working.

The first I installed Kubuntu and tried to get Ubuntu One working, I did a simple apt-cache search ubuntu | grep one to try and figure out what packages I need to install, however there a couple of packages to install, which ones do I?

• python-ubuntuone-client
• python-ubuntu-one-storageprotocol
• ubunto-one-client
• ubuntu-one-client-gnome
• ubuntuone-client-tools

The first time I just installed ubuntu-one-client but couldn’t get anything to work.  The problem is you need ubuntu-one-client-gnome to install and work.

The problem with installing Ubuntu One are the 42 additional packages that get added as we install a lot of gnome packages.  Below is the list of packages included.

The following extra packages will be installed:
  gconf2 gconf2-common gnome-keyring libgconf2-4 libgcr0 libglade2-0
  libgnome-keyring0 libgp11-0 libidl0 libnautilus-extension1 libnotify1
  liborbit2 libpam-gnome-keyring libprotobuf3 libsexy2
  libstartup-notification0 libwnck-common libwnck22 libxcb-atom1 libxcb-aux0
  libxcb-event1 libxres1 notification-daemon protobuf-compiler python-cairo
  python-configglue python-gnomekeyring python-gtk2 python-notify
  python-openssl python-pam python-protobuf python-pyinotify python-serial
  python-twisted-bin python-twisted-core python-twisted-names
  python-twisted-web python-ubuntuone-client python-ubuntuone-storageprotocol
  ubuntuone-client
Suggested packages:
  gconf-defaults-service python-gtk2-doc python-numpy python-openssl-doc
  python-openssl-dbg python-pam-dbg python-pyinotify-doc python-psyco
  python-wxgtk2.8 python-wxgtk2.6 python-wxgtk python-twisted-bin-dbg
  python-tk python-glade2 python-qt3 python-profiler
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  gconf2 gconf2-common gnome-keyring libgconf2-4 libgcr0 libglade2-0
  libgnome-keyring0 libgp11-0 libidl0 libnautilus-extension1 libnotify1
  liborbit2 libpam-gnome-keyring libprotobuf3 libsexy2
  libstartup-notification0 libwnck-common libwnck22 libxcb-atom1 libxcb-aux0
  libxcb-event1 libxres1 notification-daemon protobuf-compiler python-cairo
  python-configglue python-gnomekeyring python-gtk2 python-notify
  python-openssl python-pam python-protobuf python-pyinotify python-serial
  python-twisted-bin python-twisted-core python-twisted-names
  python-twisted-web python-ubuntuone-client python-ubuntuone-storageprotocol
  ubuntuone-client ubuntuone-client-gnome

Once everything is installed launch ubuntuone-client-applet to finish the setup.

Recently came across an article, from my Google News feed in regards to a recent study about DLP products.

A great point from the article is that DLP is no longer just concerned about monitoring the network and what happens there, there is an even bigger need to monitor data on the endpoint and also on file shares.  Data at Rest (DAR) is only a click away from being Data In Motion (DIM) and needs to be protected just as well.

Another interesting point is the convergence via acquisition that is occurring as the big companies are snapping up the smaller DLP players and integrating them into the existing product suite.

I have seen several other posts in regards to Ubuntu 5th birthday and wanted to chime in and say Happy Birthday as well.

I have been using Linux for a long time, I think my first attempt was my sophomore year in college with some form of Red Hat.  Then I ordered some Slackware CDs which came with a stuffed penguin, which I have floating around someplace.

I used Slackware, Debian, and SUSE several times before settling into Ubuntu and the Ubuntu community.  Why did I choose Ubuntu?  Because of the openness in the community and the way a non-coder could contribute back to the distro.  The Ubuntu-Doc welcomed me with open arms as I posted bug reports in bugzilla and finally started hacking away at the docbook files themselves.  Finally when Kubuntu came out I took over as maintainer of the Kubuntu-Docs, which I know co-maintain w/ Richard Johnson.

I think the greatest part about the community that has developed in Ubuntu is the openness in welcome those non-coders into the family.

Happy birhtday Ubuntu :0

Saw this linked from Kevin Rowney, from Symantec, head of the DLP product and wanted to respond.

The article, “Nine out of 10 firms use data leakage prevention tools" and I wanted to respond “Oh Really?”   What exactly is their definition of data leakage tools?  A lot of the companies I work with and talk have no data loss prevention tools and in fact most of them don’t have anything budgeted in regards to these types of tools

A DLP purchase is often times not a budgeted purchase, but something that is driven by a business need and not an IT need.

Interested in DLP, drop me a note

In a blog post yesterday, I did a brief review of Kubuntu Netbook edition on my Dell Mini 9.

Today we take a look at the default desktop from the Live CD

One of the first we notice is the way the desktop is laid out.  By using plasma-netbook we are longer focused on using the Application Launcher to open programs, we utilize the Search and Locate folder along with Favorites. 

To install Kubuntu Netbook Edition, simply click on Install Kubuntu from the Favorites section and install as the rest of the Ubuntu versions.

More posts to follow describing navigation and using the Search and Locate desktop setting.

I have a Dell Mini 9 and use it as my testing machine, and for testing I mean load various operating systems to see how they work on a Netbook.

When the Kubuntu devs announced a version built on the plasma-netbook part of KDE 4.  From the Wiki Page (KubuntuKarmicNetbook):

KDE4 is designed from the ground up to be scalable to many form factors. Many Kubuntu users are already using it in netbook computers. The intent is to make it easy for Kubuntu to just work.

And just working is how things go with Kubuntu Netbook…. One problem in an out of box install on the Dell Mini 9 is the Wireless driver which requires a proprietary driver.  Jockey takes care of installing the driver and after a restart I was able to connect.

One of the things I’ve noticed (and its partly my fault as being a member of the Ubuntu-Docs team) is a lack of documentation.  As it is past String Freeze< I will be using my blog to post documentation with the goal to move it into docbook format for Lucid.

More to come