Could logon passwords be the thing of the past ?

FingerPIN offers scans in place of passwords...

UK based FingerPIN will this week make available a security tool of the same name that enables Windows users to log in using a sequence of fingerprint scans instead of a password.
The FingerPIN PC logon uses a standard fingerprint scanner, but users register up to four fingerprints instead of just one. The fingerprints must also be presented in the correct sequence, providing an extra layer of security.
FingerPIN MD Muazam Sarafarez said " the fingerprints replace the login, You put in the fingerprint sequence and it logs you on."

To find out more about this technology visit the FingerPIN website at: www.fingerpin.net

Possible New powers for trading standards to inforce software licensing ?

Trading Standards will soon have new powers to police copyright, but will its remit stretch to software licensing?

Firms using unlicensed software could face greater risk of detection and prosecution from next month as new legislation extends the powers of Trading Standards officers to police software piracy and licence infringements.
But while the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) has used the changes to warn that IT chiefs using unlicensed software could receive a knock on the door from Trading Standards officers and subsequent prosecution, the Trading Standards Institute (TSI) has said that it will not focus primarily on end users of unlicensed software.
The new powers, which take effect from 6 April, give Trading Standards officers the ability to police pure copyright as well as trade mark infringements. They have been given an extra £5m in funding and will have the power to raid premises where they believe there to be unlicensed software or other forms of pirated intellectual property, such as DVDs and music.
Robin Fry of legal firm Beachcroft LLP said that because the law makes no distinction between pirated software and unlicensed software the new powers should result in "much more powerful and vigorous enforcement" of software licensing violations.
However, Bryan Lewin, the TSI's intellectual property expert, said that although the new powers technically will give officers the right to pursue users of unlicensed software, they would primarily be used to target criminals dealing in pirated intellectual property. "We have the power now to start raiding places where [unlicensed] software is being used," he said. "But the focus will be on where people are manufacturing and selling [pirated software]. It's like counterfeit designer clothes - we go after the trader not the person buying a knocked-off handbag."
The TSI's position undermines recent warnings to IT chiefs from John Lovelock, director general of FAST, who claimed that "Trading Standards can now come knocking on your door, and you may be the subject of a criminal investigation. Very simply, the risk to organisations which misuse software will be greatly increased, and therefore compliance is absolutely essential".
IT Week this week learned that FAST agents have begun using the news of Trading Standards' extended powers to try to convince IT managers to enter a dialogue with the Federation – and ultimately subscribe to its software asset management services.
The TSI's Lewin said that FAST and other organisations are entitled to their view on how new powers will be used, but that it did not mean Trading Standards will definitely be involved in policing those areas. He added that companies guilty of software licensing violations will still be at risk of civil action from copyright owners.
John Benjamin of law firm Eversheds said regardless of the current debate over who should police licensing infringements, there is now an increased focus from government on intellectual property violations and that IT chiefs would be well advised to adopt best practices to limit the risk of running unlicensed software. "Any reputable IT director would have already taken steps to minimise the risk of licence violations," he said. "But those that haven’t need to realise there will be increased policing around intellectual property."

Source: IT Week

Tip of your tongue.com !!

It has been argued that clever domian names are superfluous today, given users reliance on search engines. However, all search engines constantly change site rankings, so sites among the top results at Google or Yahoo can vanish !

The best way to retain customers apart from providing a great service like we do here at West Coast Solutions is to own a memorable domain name, one people will remember if they see it on the back of your car as you flash past then in a hurry on the motorway !

Is your Business Ready for Flexible Working ?

Flexiable working might be coming to your business soon !!

Currently , the EC's flexible working directive of 2003 gives parents of children under the age of six the "right to request" flexible working. Employers must either accede or be able to provide a substantive business reason to turn down the request. According to government fiqures, 22 % of parents with young childen have requested the option and 80 % of requests have been granted by employers.

Presure for flexible working is sure to increase. More employers will be able to request flexiablility as of April when those with sick or elderly relatives can pursue flexible options.

The move away from Nine to Five deskbound working is asking new questions of IT Departments, which must adapt procurement,service and security to cope with growth in home and remote working. Other chnages may also need to be made, including health and safety advice and insurance cover.

To get around these issues a not-for-profit initiative run by Work Wise can provide your business with practical advice and services. http://www.workwiseuk.org/

SMEs Ignore growing IT Security threats !

Small and medium-sized firms are continuing to neglect IT security despite being at an increasing risk of attack, according to research released last week by analyst firm IDC.

Security company McAfree found that 70 % of IT decision makers put things like higher revenues and growing the customer base ahead of improving IT security on their list of priorites.

But smaller firms are at an increasing risk from more opportunistic criminals, able to make use of malware that can be easiliy sourced and downloaded.

IDC recommended that smaller firms with limited in-house knowledge and resouces to deal with increasung threats should turn to managed security services providers for help.

Source: IT Week

Twenty years late, flexi-work is coming

After decades of hands-off attitudes, politicians might be ready to get serious about flexible working.


Flexible working is back in the news again but this time it's probably not caused by just another headline-hungry politician.
I remember as a child in the 1970s reading breathless features about how telecottaging – as it was quaintly known at the time – would change the way we work.
Everybody thought the government would force change but technology sprinted by and the proliferation of mobile computing and communications options drove adoption of new working models with or without the express assent of managers. This change was hurried on by desperation as the disgraceful collapse of roads and public transport made getting into work the urban analogue to the film Deliverance.
The government's contribution to teleworking has largely been to stand back and gawp. External stimulus for change has been confined to the EC, which brought in the Flexible Working Directive of 2003 and the "right to request" flexible working for parents of children younger than six.
The battle lines in flexible working remain fixed. On the "for" side you have the folks who believe it is progressive, environmentally friendly and affords that yearned-for fulcrum: the work-life balance. On the "against" side are those who mistrust the concept, fear it could lead to more red tape and loss of control, and is damaging to the team-working ethos that makes the workplace whole more than the sum of its parts.
The debate was stirred up again this month by Beverley Hughes, the children's minister, who said that flexible working options should be available for all. Was this just another media meme or is there more to it? The latter, I think.
First, Hughes's words appear in Politics For A New Generation: The Progressive Moment, a book that is shortly to be published at the behest of the Institute for Public Policy Research.
The IIPR web site tells us that this tome is "to mark 10 years since Labour's election [and] to outline what the next phase of the progressive agenda should be". In other words – and the IPPR has a nap hand of clunkers, including " progressive agenda/narrative" and "evidence-based research" – it is the form guide to the aims of Gordon Brown and his pals. Messrs Balls, Miliband and Benn all contribute.
Second, Brown could use A Big Idea – a family-centric one that promotes radical change in the workplace and dangles the prospect of less misery time in offices or on trains, planes and automobiles will do nicely.
Finally, with a bit of trimming, the idea makes sense and has a zeitgeist-y feel to it. The crisis in our transport system and the current environmental panic both point to an overdue change.
Politicians only have to look at their own workplace, the House of Commons, to find the ultimate example of ancient working practices that could benefit from flexiwork. And as we have seen before, those who live or work in the capital will happily vote for pretty much anything that improves their journey – even that egregious pub-argument debater Ken Livingstone.

Souce: IT Week 26/02/07 www.itweek.co.uk