Friday, April 29, 2005

Watch That Spelling!

It's amazing to see what the idiot Spyware creators will do to infect your computer. An Internet security firm, F-Secure has discovered a malicious website at googkle.com Do you know how many people go to Google every day? Of those how many might spell it this way by mistake? The site will attempt to take advantage of unpatched Windows systems and force Spyware onto your machine.

So... watch your spelling. This is not the only site that does this. I have run into others. Next, keep Windows and all your applications up to date with patches and hotfixes. And never, never, never buy anything from a company that has spammed you or was involved in infecting your machine with Spyware. In fact, let them know you do not appreciate this type of "marketing".

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Microsoft Planning Blackberry Type Technology

Microsoft has a family of products called Windows Mobile, which is designed for mobile devices like Pocket PC's and cell phones. Currently, email can be received on these devices by the user "pulling" the messages from the server. The next upgrade of Window Mobile will allow email to be "pushed" to the devices. This is what the RIM Blackberry device does. It's basically on-line all the time and mail is sent to it without the user needing to request it.

This product is just one of many for mobile devices that Microsoft will roll out over the next year. It will be interesting to see how well it works. Microsoft has also announced a joint project with RIM that will allow it's technologies to work with the Blackberry devices. Covering all the bases I guess!

Here's some info on Windows Mobile.

Monday, April 18, 2005

HIPAA Security Rule In Effect 4/20

As everyone in the Health Care profession is aware, the HIPAA Security Rule goes into effect on Wednesday 4/20. This rule requires most Health Care Providers implement mechanisms to protect the Integrity, Security, and availability of Electronic Protected Health Information. Basically, if you transmit EPHI in any fashion, you must comply with the Rule.

We have been working with our Health Care Clients to help them become compliant. One of the tools we have been using is a Blog dedicated to the Security Rule. You can view it by Clicking Here. This is another site that contains some good HIPAA information.