Advance Your Career With a Microsoft Training Course

Microsoft has been the industry leader in software technologies for many years. This gives individuals who have taken specialized Microsoft training courses a much-needed advantage in their careers. In many cases employers will only hire those who carry Microsoft certified titles over college graduates who do not possess these special skill sets and degrees. In today's marketplace there is a need for highly trained individuals who can take advantage of the full functionality of Microsoft applications.


There are a variety of training courses that help you learn Microsoft software functions. These courses include many of the applications you are probably familiar with such as Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Project, Server, Windows XP, and much more. With just the few applications mentioned you could develop office workflow strategies that will increase performance and cut costs in your business. Not just that, but knowledge in these applications will also prove valuable when designing and implementing customized databases for inventory and other valuable information. Unleashing the true power of these useful programs can be made possible if you seek training from a qualified professional.


The possibilities are quite literally endless when you become a Microsoft certified professional by completing an instructor-led Microsoft training course. You will become more confident in achieving performance goals while impressing your managers with detailed pertinent information gathered in a professional manner. If you are a business owner you will be able to increase your own company's performance and help secure yourself in a world of competition.


It's a very good choice for IT professionals to take training courses just to stay in touch with the newer versions of operating systems and programs that their clients use. From windows XP to Microsoft server platforms, you can stay equipped to handle the latest technology changes that are happening more frequently. Seasoned professionals understand that increasing knowledge is the best way to improve your career choices today. Technology has become the thread that industries use to weave their multiple locations together by virtual private networks and other Internet assisted business applications.


Become a leader in your field by attending a Microsoft training course. Many companies will reimburse you for the cost of these courses and you may even increase your salary potential at the same time. Taking the initiative to increase your career skills will prove that you are aggressive enough to handle the responsibility of upward movement in any organization.


The potential is limitless as you start attaining your Microsoft professional status. Many people have made life changing career moves after completing specialized Microsoft training courses. You can literally advance your career by increasing your knowledge of the Microsoft applications that your company uses.

Author is a trainer with a Microsoft Office Training company, the UK industry leader in its sector. For more information on Microsoft Training, visit
http://www.microsofttraining.net

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Legislating Global Internet Freedom

There is a disturbing tendency on the part of the US Congress to legislate the Internet.  A case in point is HR 2271 backed by eleven US Represntatives and submitted to review by the House Energy and Commerce and Foreign Affairs Commitees last May(2009).  Thankfully, there has been no serious deliberation on this proposed measure which intends to somehow regulate the Internet to promote, ironically, freedom of speech.  In its preamble the intent is well articulated:

To prevent United States businesses from cooperating with repressive governments in transforming the Internet into a tool of censorship and surveillance, to fulfill the responsibility of the United States Government to promote freedom of expression on the Internet, to restore public confidence in the integrity of United States businesses, and for other purposes.

Reading between the lines you can discern that this bill was proposed in part in a reaction to Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft engaging in less than ethical collusion with the Chinese government; activities that have led to incarceration of bloggers and restrictions on access to information.

The Bill has sections devoted to:

Creating an annual report that identifies those countries that engage in restrictive Internet activity (105.) Would this watch list contain Australia which is setting up a massive filtering infrastructure to protect its citizens from the less tasteful content on the Internet?  Would it include Germany which has attempted to ban hacking tools? Or the EU which has considered blocking searches that include certain key words like “bomb”?  Would it identify the US which, thanks to widespread eavesdropping on ATT’s network by the NSA has frightened businesses away from ever hosting data in a country where they perceive that data to be unsafe from snooping?

Setting up the Office of Global Internet Freedom reporting to the Secretary of State and led by a Director(104.) I suspect just the name of this department will create additional work for the State Department to smooth ruffled feathers of those that may take umbrage to the US unilaterally setting Global policies of any sort.   Ironically the only defined task for this Office will be to “ identify key words, terms, and phrases relating to human rights, democracy, religious free exercise, and peaceful political dissent..” an activity that in itself smacks of thought control. 
Section 203 requires any US company that imposes changes to their search results at the behest of one of the listed countries must report it to the Director of The Office of Global Internet Freedom (DOGIF).  Section 204 has similar regulatory burdens for any US company that hosts information.  This is obviously targeted at Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo,  but there are thousands of online content and search engine companies that could fall under these requirements.

HR 2271 also points out in its preamble:

“ A number of United States businesses have enabled the Internet censorship and surveillance of repressive governments by selling these governments or their agents technology or training.”

Luckily it stops short of proposing the restriction of sale of that technology. It is hoped that the backers realized the tremendous damage they could inflict on the US’s networking industry if they attempted to restrict commerce to the extent necessary to stop the sale of all technology that can be used for restricting access to information. It would include all firewalls, routers, and content inspection technology.

There seems little danger of HR 2271 ever coming to a vote but…We must keep a wary eye on this 111th Congress that has over 40 measures under consideration that bear on highly technical issues. A misstep could be costly and have debilitating consequences for a fragile economy.   Global Internet Freedom will be best served by governments of all types avoiding any meddling in the still young Internet.

Read the original here:
Legislating Global Internet Freedom

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Remote Support Services for Microsoft Windows 2003 Server

iYogi, a next generation remote technical support company, announced today the expansion of their small business services to include support for Microsoft Windows 2003 Server, enabling business owners to efficiently maintain their network without maintaining an IT department. With more than 30,000 customers worldwide, iYogi offers support for more than 70 software applications and peripheral devices and offers specific service packages uniquely geared for small businesses server services, starting at $84.99 per computer/per year.

"There are currently 2.4 million small businesses in the United States that have server-based LANs," said Merle Sandler, research manager in the SMB program at IDC. "Solving networking -- related problems can be an area of concern for small businesses, which often lack adequate IT resources."

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 is a multipurpose operating system capable of handling a diverse set of server roles. iYogi provides the following features and support options:

• Active Directory Services • Group Policies • Rights Management • Terminal server Support • Performance & Monitoring • File and print server • Internet Information Services • Virtual Private Network • Rights Management Services

"iYogi leverages India's 20 years of experience in providing excellent technical support to customers across the globe," said iYogi's President, Vishal Dhar. "We have expanded our personal off shoring model to deliver an incredible experience at a revolutionary price. Our Server services for Microsoft Windows 2003 Server are provided by Microsoft Certified professionals with years of experience supporting Microsoft's products. They have a passion for helping small business and enterprise customers develop the potential of their technology investments."

iYogi's Remote Service for Windows 2003 Server along with all of iYogi's services, is available to customers in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom. With a resolution rate of 86% and customer satisfaction rating of 93%, iYogi provides customers with an inexpensive and consistent option for their small business technical support needs.

Andrew Demm is an Online Small Business Support Executive for iYogi who provides detailed information on Remote Server services, Small Business Server Support, Exchange Server Support, Terminal Server Support, Windows 2003 & 2000 Server, Server Support , Small business technical support and Windows Server Support etc

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Act now to address your compromised networks

It is increasingly evident that even the most secure environments are compromised.  While the successful penetrations might not be targeted in all cases there are enough incidents now public  to indicate the extent of the present danger. Every organization should revisit their security plans based on a new assumption: that their enterprise is already compromised and that their data is being exfiltrated.

Consider just these few incidents taken from a Heritage Foundation report published in 2008.
I am not stressing the China factor here only the loss of data and the methods used.

Titan Rain.  In 2004 Shawn Carpenter discovered significant amounts of data from government research labs, NASA, and defense organizations residing on servers outside the United States.
United Kingdom. Throughout December 2005, British Parliament offices were surreptitiously penetrated, also from computers using the Guangdong network. Britain's National infrastructure Security Coordination Center investigators told reporters, "These were not normal hackers.... The degree of sophistication was extremely high. They were very clever programmers." Some of the attacks targeted files in British government offices that deal with human rights issues.
The Trojan e-mail attacks targeted specific victims. "One email was targeted at one company in aviation. It was a Word document that had a Math/ cad component. If you did not have math/cad on your computer it would not open," said one expert. "The point was to find documents that had been written in that particular program and then send them back.(McAfee whitepaper )

Taiwan. According to an official of Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense, in 2006, Taiwan detected 13 PLA zero-day attacks launched within Microsoft applications and experienced a total of 178 days of vulnerability between notifying Microsoft of the attacks and receiving the appropriate patches. One PowerPoint-based attack was so sophisticated that it took Microsoft engineers over two months to construct a patch.
Spring 2007, a program was discovered at a foreign coast guard agency that systematically searched for documents that had shipping schedules, then forwarded them to an e-mail address in China, according to David Rand, chief technology officer of Trend Micro

 

And more recently we have seen the extent of the network of infiltrated machines specifically targeting organizations that impact Tibet-China relations as documented by research teams at the University of Toronto and SecDev in their GhostNet report.   Techniques that look remarkably like those used to traget Rio-Tinto, the Autralian mining giant.

The methodologies employed in these wide spread attacks is typically the combination of new  vulnerabilities and custom Trojan horses delivered over the web or through email. This January’s revelation that Google and dozens of other companies had succumbed to such attacks was a wakeup call for industry, the US State Department, and now Congress, which is responding with  legislation to address the issue.

What should you be doing to address the presence of compromised internal resources?   While Data Leak Prevention attempts to provide an overlay of classification, network monitoring, and end point management (for USB devices), there is another approach that uses advanced agents on the desktop that continuously check for abnormal behavior that is indicative of root kits and custom Trojans.  I just posted a white paper on such a technology that is coupled with forensics tools from Guidance Software.  By identifying, disabling, and repairing infected machines you will engage in a constant battle against the enemy within.  But at least you will have a weapon for that battle instead of flying blind and trusting to ineffective AV, IDS, and firewalls. 

Go here to read the rest:
Act now to address your compromised networks

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