Not all hackers involved in these groups fall under the unethical stereotype that probably comes to mind initially.  Some actually include federal agents, corporate IT professionals, lawyers and people who want to find out what latest attacks their systems are up against.  However, keep in mind that many of these public resources are openly available to unethical hackers as well.

Some  8000 people gather in Las Vegas each summer for DEF CON,  the largest and longest running underground hacking conference.  The conference organizers call themselves “goons” and go by names like “Priest” “Dead Addict” and “The Dark Tangent”.  The wireless network at the conference is nicknamed “the world’s most hostile network’ (as an attempt at flattery, so they say).  Besides discussing  computer security, the event includes all kinds of other hacker-friendly fun like  Capture the Flag  (where teams attempt to attack and defend computers and networks) and Spot the Fed (where everyone  tries to pick out the Federal agents from among the attendees by calling people up on stage and asking them questions).

The “Spot the Fed” contest took an interesting turn at a recent conference when the conference organizers changed it to “Spot the Reporter” to expose a Dateline NBC reporter who was there undercover trying to catch attendees admitting to crimes on a hidden camera .  The event organizers were alerted of her intentions prior to the event and even contacted her several times to ask her to register as press.  So, when she persisted to turn down their requests and showed up at the event as a regular attendee with the hidden camera, they decided to call her out publically in their new game called “Spot the Reporter”.  However, before they got a chance to call her to the stage, she bolted (followed by several hundred angry attendees and registered reporters).

The word on the street is that by the time she had made it to the airport, the hackers back at DEF CON had all of her personal information pulled up on the conference projectors and website- including her social security number, address, and  flight information.  The lesson here is don’t mess with hackers.

As professionals in the accounting industry we all need to commit to keeping our systems as secure as possible.  You might be surprised to know the most effective thing you can do to minimize your risk related to hackers is to keep Windows up-to-date.  Each week there’s potential that Microsoft will release an update that addresses some sort of security flaw.  If your firm hasn’t adopted a set of tools and policies to ensure these updates are regularly completed, please don’t hesitate to give us a ring so we can point you in the right direction.

By the way, if you happen to want a more in-depth retelling of the reporter incident mentioned above, here’s a link to an article with some footage caught on tape.

- Prior Post -
November 1st is rapidly approaching.  Seems like no one has all the answers.  We’d love to hear how your firm is preparing for the Red Flag Rules.

And, if you’re an expert we’d love to host a webinar and have you share your knowledge with the firms we serve.  If you’re interested please send an email to info@xcentric.com.  Thanks!

Here are some resources to review:
- FTC:  http://www.ftc.gov/redflagsrule
- AICPA:  Identity Theft Site

Pocket projectors (not to be confused with pocket protectors) are now readily available.  FYI: works with an IPhone. 

See more here:  http://www.wowwee.com/en/cinemin

Link to Office Training:  click here

I particularly like the one that explains how to use Text field in Word:  click here

So, will the Google OS take over Microsoft? I doubt it will any time soon. But it is likely to take a significant amount of the market share over time. 
Here’s more info:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html

Let’s start with Anti-SPAM.  Depending on whose reports you view, spam accounts for 85 to 95 percent of all emails sent.  That’s astounding.  Fortunately, most consumer email providers have an Anti-SPAM ability built in.  Businesses, however, have traditionally hosted their own email, which puts the responsibility on them to eliminate SPAM and email transferred viruses.  This can be accomplished by several methods:

1. Built-in options within Outlook: This method should not be used as the primary option because the mail is still getting to the end user, which is not only a security risk but also a time waster.
2. Self-hosted solution: There are several providers out there that have a hardware based offering.  The benefit of this is you typically have complete control.  This is also the primary downside.  It’s a never-ending battle to win the war against spammers.  This is typically a daunting task unless your firm has dedicated resources to manage this solution.
3. Hosted solution: Most businesses turn to a hosted solution for blocking SPAM and mail born viruses for two reasons.  It’s very cost effective and it transfers the responsibility of managing the ever-changing world of SPAM to someone else’s shoulders.

So, how does anti-SPAM relate to email archiving?  Let’s first review how the hosted Anti-SPAM solutions work.  Typically email flow goes like this:  person1′s mailbox -> sending mail server -> Internet -> receiving mail server -> person2′s mailbox.  Anti- SPAM solutions sit between mail servers and the Internet.  The nice thing about this is most spam is blocked before it even reaches your mail server.  This cuts down on storage space and bandwidth usage as a minimum.

Email archiving came about because someone asked, “If the Anti-SPAM solution is seeing all of the mail before it enters the mail server, why not hang on to it?”

Archiving solutions provide two key benefits:

1. Record retention (for historical and legal issues)
2. Disaster preparedness (the hosted solution keeps the mail queued in the event that the mail server is down)

So, now on to the shameless self promoting part.  We’re pleased to announce we now have the ability to archive emails leveraging the same hosted Anti-SPAM product Verity.  Notice the new tab named Archive in the image below.

Anti-SPAM, Anti-Virus, Archiving

Here’s some high level features of our archiving solution:

• Save up to 10 years worth of email
• Flat monthly rate (store as much email as you’d like without worrying about data costs)
• Emails are completely searchable via web interface
• Integrated into Xcentric’s Verity Anti-SPAM/Anti-Virus system
• Quick and easy setup/migration

If you’re interested in learning more just give us a ring at 678.297.006 or shoot us an email at  info@xcentric.com.

OK, I’m kidding…  But they’re not.  Nissan is seemingly proud of using a bull dog as their design inspiration.  Sorry Georgia fans, I know you love your bull dog, but it’s not exactly the most streamlined or fluid shape on our planet.

Who knows, maybe it’ll be the next Volkswagen Beetle.  I’m betting it’ll give the Pontiac Aztek a run for the money, which, by the way, is ranked #4 Ugliest Cars Ever.

Am I wrong here?  Is this thing really sweet and I just don’t get it?  Have I gotten old enough to no longer be relevant or able to recognize “cool”?

Check out the wrap-around window and water drop shaped speakers – Nissan Cube

The concept of customer service has been front and center on my mind for a few months now.  Each year during tax season while CPAs are nose down, we are busy trying to figure out what we can do differently and, more importantly, better.  Over the course of our planning season we noticed that each of our conversations and plans came back to the question “How can we serve firms better?”.  It’s interesting that no one ever said we’re serving firms well enough or why would we need to serve anyone better than we already do?  The reality is that a true pursuit to serve well is never ending.  If introspection and/or progression stops, service fails.

To my surprise a great example of this showed up just the other day when a crew came to wash the outside of our building.  Xcentric is located on the 4th floor of a five-story all glass (well, almost all glass) building.  As the crew inched up the building- and I do mean inched because it took them days to complete- they eventually ended up right outside my window.  My first thought was, there is no way I’d strap myself to some cables and hang a few hundred feet above the ground all day.  Eventually I got past that thought and spent a few minutes watching one of the guys clean the window; I was mesmerized.  He had turned his everyday task into an art.  As silly as it sounds, he was lost in the perfection of doing his job right.  He didn’t miss a spot; he didn’t waste one movement. He knew what he was going to do next without even thinking about it.  He was an expert in his craft.  He wasn’t just cleaning a window; he was serving me, his boss, and his company in a tremendous way.  I, undoubtedly, would leave a window in much worse shape and would take much longer to clean it.  Not to mention, I don’t think you could get me up on the side of the building in the first place.  But regardless of what he was doing, he pursued excellence.  That should be all of our goals at some level.

Customer Service is not dead.  It’s still as important as ever.  In fact, it occurred to me that what we do is no more or less important than what the window washer was doing that day.  In our world, anyone can build a server or maintain a network and anyone can do a tax return or perform an audit.  It’s those of us who pursue excellence and refuse to get comfortable with how we serve that will really make a difference.

Here’s one new thing Xcentric is doing to improve how we serve our clients: Xcentric Account Team.