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PermaLinkAdvisor Magazine RSS Feeds

I have not seen this blogged about or do not know how/where/why I missed it, but Advisor Publications has an extensive list of RSS Feeds available for their publications listed at http://webspheresolutionsadvisor.com/adv/AdvisorZones How did I find ...
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XBRL

PermaLinkXBRL: XML That Aids Compliance Efforts

If you have not heard of it yet, there is an initiative gaining traction in the financial world called "eXtensible Business Reporting Language", or XBRL. The XBRL Consortium describes it as follows. "XBRL is a language for the ...
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WebSphere

PermaLinkIs ISACA's WebSphere IT Controls Literature Lacking?Comments (0)

Last night, I was doing research on segregation of duties controls for WebSphere Commerce on the Information System Audit and Control Association (ISACA) website last night. They have a knowledge repository of literature and tools for a wide range of ...
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PermaLinkLeaving San Francisco with 2 CertificationsComments (1)

It has been an interesting week in San Francisco, learning about WebSphere, meeting new co-workers, and making new contacts. In addition, I finally got around to updating my Lotus certifications and am now an IBM CAAD and CASA for IBM Lotus Notes and ...
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PermaLinkAfternoon Session: Enabling a SOA Governance ModelComments (0)

Jon Richter of IBM, who gave an excellent presentation Monday afternoon on SOA Governance, is back on the platform at the WebSphere Technical Exchange. Today he is talking about with Enabling a Governance Model with WebSphere Service Registry and ...
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PermaLinkCertification Labs: WebSphere Tech Exchange vs. LotusphereComments (1)

It may hard to believe, but members of the IBM Lotus Notes and Domino Community may be spoiled a bit by the certification support received over the years (and no, let us not dwell on the loss of the CLP discount at Lotusphere 2007). When at ...
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PermaLinkMore SOA at the WebSphere Tech ExchangeComments (0)

This morning is more back to back Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) session at the WebSphere Tech Exchange. The first session, SOA Best Practices, suffered from some of the same deficiencies from the first day: unreadable slides and rambling ...
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PermaLinkLaying the Foundations of SOAComments (0)

Following on the heels of the excellent "SOA Governance and Management Methodology" session, IBM's Rob High is laying out the Foundations of Service Oriented Architectures. He is focusing at a high level of looking at "services" as ...
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PermaLinkGetting a Better Governance Picture from IBMComments (0)

After attending this morning's  "Getting Started with SOA" session, i was getting more concerned that IBM was missing the mark on their definition of SOA Governance and its relationship to IT Governance. This afternoon, I am sitting in a ...
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PermaLinkThoughts from The WebSphere Tech Exchange Opening SessionComments (0)

The screens may not have been readable, but the message was clear. The WebSphere business model is clearly wrapped around Service Oriented Architectures (SOA). Many times the term SOA Governance was thrown out, but it is not clear from my discussion ...
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PermaLinkHeard In SF: Is Oracle Your Competitor?Comments (0)

As I got on the elevator this morning, a security guard asked another IBM WebSphere Technical Exchange attendee: "So are you all competitors to Oracle? They seem so much bigger than you. I mean they blocked off whole streets for their conference ...
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PermaLinkGearing Up For The WebSphere Technical Exchange Next Week, ORD ToniteComments (0)

The WebSphere Technical Exchange is coming up fast. It will be interesting to put myself into a different mode of thinking, and to become a sponge to absorb as much as possible. I will be catching of with Peter Santoro, the IBM Software Services for ...
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PermaLinkGearing Up For Some WebSphere TrainingComments (0)

I will be heading to San Francisco in a couple of weeks for the IBM WebSphere Technical Exchange. This will be my first real exposure to in-depth content on WebSphere, and it should be very interesting. In additon to technical sessions, I ...
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WayOffTopic

PermaLink"Thunderbirds" Are Go and Why You Must Watch Dennis Leary's "Rescue Me"

First things first, I do not care if it gets bad reviews or people think it is too much like Spy Kids. I grew up watching the old BBC classic, produced by Gerry Anderson (UFO, Space:1999), and am looking forward to seeing the Thunderbirds in a live ...
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Vocabulary

PermaLinkWord of the Day: SpackerComments (0)

A Spacker is a hacker that works for a spammer or a hacker that send spam. Spackers are a "new breed of hackers, focused soley on finding ways to obtain e-mail lists." From Inside the Spam Cartel by ...
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PermaLinkIS Governance Word of the Day: Wetware

No, this is not the word that describes what the models are, or are not wearing, in the annual swimsuit issue of a certain sports weekly. It is a term that is used for the same reason the words "Front Towards Enemy" appear on a claymore mine ...
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UserInterface

PermaLinkWhen Bad Portals Happen To Good OrganizationsComments (0)

As we start this new year, people in the IBM Lotus Notes/Domino and WebSphere Portal worlds are going to be hearing a lot about composite applications and how Domino will be able to offer up information for use in WebSphere Portal interfaces. But even ...
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UserEducation

PermaLinkShould We Train or Trick End Users? Or...Comments (3)

A couple of weeks ago, Greg Eldred wrote about a trick/tip posted on SearchDomino, wherein the writer of the tip "changed the labels on the "Reply with History" and "Reply without Attachments" actions. So my "Reply with ...
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UnderstandingCOBIT

PermaLinkUnderstanding COBIT: User-Machine/Graphical User Interfaces as A Control ObjectiveComments (1)

Have you ever seen one of the people who will be users of your current project? Jakob Nielsen in "Usability Engineering" A week or so ago, Scott Good of Teamwork Solutions mused that one of the reasons that people do not like Lotus Notes ...
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PermaLinkUnderstanding COBIT Part I: What is COBIT and Why Does It Matter?

I have been doing some postings on here that have involved or referenced "Control Objectives for Information and related Technologies" (COBIT). But what exactly is COBIT and why does it matter to you?. In simplest terms, COBIT are henerally ...
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TV/RadioSports

PermaLinkNews From "Eye on Sports Media" BlogComments (1)

Here are some recent postings from my other blog ("Eye on Sports Media"). I just found it hard to get excited today about IBM's purchase of Cognos. I will ahve to give that some attention later. Lincoln Financial Group Announces Sale of ...
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PermaLinkSpinning Off a New Blog on TV/Radio SportsComments (0)

I have decided to expand my experiment in blogging and writing by spinning off content from this blog to a new blog called "eye on sports broadcasting". I invite you to visit the new blog, add it to your blogrolls if you would like ...
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PermaLink"Hey, That Guy Doing Stats is Good!"Comments (0)

This coming Saturday is going to feel pretty strange. For the first time since I moved to Georgia in 1994, I will not be working the CBS Sports broadcast of a Bulldog home football game. I have fallen victim to the fact that there is a new generation ...
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PermaLinkSaying Goodbye To A Dave In The Broadcast BoothComments (0)

Dave Rowe (right) with broadcast partner Dave Neal during a 2006 braodcast. Photo Copyright 2006 by Christopher Byrne, All Rights Reserved. For viewers of Southeastern Conference Football on Lincoln Financial Sports (formerly ...
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PermaLinkBeginning of the End for Georgia Legend?Comments (0)

He is 84 years old. He is battling health issues that make road games very difficult for him. And his sharpness in the radio booth has been on the decline for the last ten+ years. But for University of Georgia football fans. Larry Munson IS Bulldog ...
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PermaLinkThrow That Blogger From The Pressbox!Comments (0)

Bloggers should have the same rights as regular journalists! Free speech should not be restrained! Does this sound like some of the cries and arguments you hear from bloggers and others in the new media? Well that is certainly what Brian Bennett of ...
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PermaLink17 Years Ago It Was No April Fools Joke for MusbergerComments (0)

April 1, 1990 was also a Sunday. It was Final Four weekend in the NCAA Tournament. The night before. Brent Musberger and Billy Packer has called the semifinal games on CBS Sports. It was about 8:30 in the morning, and I was sitting in front of the ...
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PermaLinkA Thank You Shout-Out To David Johnston of 960 The Ref!Comments (0)

For the most part, my conversations with David Johnston of WRFC 960 The Ref (see right) have been limited to short hellos, even though we have seen each other at various University of Georgia sporting events over the years. And every morning, the kids ...
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PermaLinkCoach Knight, The Record, and Seth DavisComments (1)

First off, congratulations to Coach Bobby Knight on setting the career coaching record for NCAA Division I victories at 880. Like him or not, he has set a new standard that will be hard to match. Is he perfect? No. Like all humans, he has weaknesses. ...
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PermaLinkTaking on The North Avenue Trade SchoolComments (0)

It has been two years, but CBS Sports is back in Athens. This afternoon is the Georgia Tech vs. University of Georgia football game, and I am back in my spot as the officials stats liaison between the press box and the truck. The weather is glorious ...
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PermaLinkOh The Unbridled Joy of College SportsComments (0)

The Empire State Building was bathed in scarlet lights. Times Square was lit up with screens touting the big game. And over in Piscataway, New Jersey, perennial Big East football patsy Rutgers University was playing the biggest game in school history, ...
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PermaLinkWhen Eye-Tee Meet Tee-VeeComments (0)

College football kicked off for me this past Saturday. I was back in the booth at UGA as stage manager for Lincoln Financial Sports (formerly know as JP Sports). Early in the game I had to do a double take. One of my customers, Titan Technology ...
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PermaLinkTrying Not To Be A College Baseball FanComments (0)

They use aluminum bats. They have a designated hitter. Two very good reasons why I try not to like college baseball. But there is a very interesting 3-game series that starts tomorrow at Foley Field in Athens, Georgia. Number 7 Kentucky (unbelievably) ...
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PermaLinkThe Masters: Quality Family TelevisionComments (5)

Today marked the closing round of the 70th Masters, televised on CBS Sports. One of the joys of watching the Masters (and golf is much better on TV than in person), is the fact that there are only 4 minutes of commercials for each hour of ...
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PermaLinkSuper Bowl MVP Hines Ward Went To School Where?Comments (3)

Yes, former University of Georgia (UGA) quarterback Hines Ward was named most-valuable player (MVP) of Super Bowl XL. But something seems to have been lost on the media and the University of Georgia (UGA). If you had watched the ABC Sports ...
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PermaLinkCBS Sports College Football On-Air Team To Be Overhauled?Comments (0)

Speculation has been flying this week that CBS College Football Lead Color Analyst Todd Blackledge will be jumping ship for ABC Sports. If this does happen, one would have to wonder if CBS will also replace play-by-play announcer Verne Lundquist as ...
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PermaLinkJP Sports Marks 20 Years of SEC BasketballComments (0)

Yesterday marked the 20th year that Jefferson-Pilot Sports has been covering Southeastern Conference basketball. I decided to take along my camera and take some pictures to share with the crew and my readers. This also gave me a chance to learn more ...
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PermaLinkIt's Raining Sugar In Georgia!Comments (4)

Congratulations to Coach Mark Richt, Quarterback DJ Shockley and the rest of the University of Georgia Bulldogs on their solid spanking of 3rd-ranked Louisiana State University, 34-14, in last night's SEC Championship game. Their reward? A January ...
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PermaLinkGeorgia Gets "Shocked" in 23-20 Win Over RazorbacksComments (4)

I started my 24th year working in TV sports today, working as the stage manager for Dave Neal, Dave Rowe and the rest of the Jefferson-Pilot Sports Crew. What did I witness? Possibly the end of any national title hopes for 4th-ranked 7-0 Georgia (AP, ...
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PermaLinkNCAA Has To Get Priorities in OrderComments (0)

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the largest governing body of intercollegiate athletics in the United States has never been known for consistency or rationale decisions. Many times people have openly wondered where common sense went ...
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PermaLinkPGA Tour Returns To A Real Golf CourseComments (1)

Years ago from 1980 to 1986, the tournament known as the Kemper Open was contested on the spectacular and tough Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, MD. Unfortunately, to the dismay of many players and fans, it was moved from the less than ...
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PermaLinkCollege Hoops On Ice

I worked a women's college basketball doubleheader this afternoon (GA Tech vs. Arkansas, Georgia vs. Clemson at the Arena at Gwinnet Center. It was the first time I had worked games with a basketball court lain out on top of an ice hockey rink. And my ...
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PermaLinkHatfields and The McCoys in Durham, NC

There is a minor college basketball game going on in Durham, North Carolina tonite. #2 North Carolina is taking on #8 Duke. This tobacco road rivalry is one of the most intense in the country. But this is not the Hatfield/McCoy feud I wish I was there ...
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PermaLinkVanGorder Leaves Georgia Bulldogs For NFL's Jags

In a move I would not have predicted but makes perfect sense, Defensive Coordinator Brian VanGorder is leaving the University of Georgia to become the Linebacker Coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. It makes sense because he can now continue to grow in ...
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PermaLinkSEC Championship: #3 Auburn vs. #15 Tennessee

I am here in the press box of the Georgia Dome in Atlanta with about 90 minutes to go until kick-off of the SEC Championship Game between #3 Auburn and #15 Tennessee (6:00 PM EST, CBS). As much as I despise football played indoors, the Georgia Dome ...
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PermaLinkEverywhere I Turn, I Meet a Lotus Professional, Even At A Georgia Basketball Game

Athens, GA -- Tonite I had four tickets to see the University of Georgia Men's Basketball team host Nevada, the surprise Sweet 16 team from last year's NCAA Basketball Championship Tournament. Georgia, as expected fell to 0-2 by a score of 58-47. ...
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PermaLinkMoment of Truth: #5 Georgia Takes On #3 Auburn Down In The Plains

Saturday afternoon at around 3:30 PM EST, the 8-1 University of Georgia Bulldogs and 9-0 Auburn Tigers/War Eagles meet for the 108th time in the Deep South’s oldest rivalry that began in 1892. Led by Quarterback David Greene, the all time winningest ...
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PermaLinkMusings From The World of Sports

42 years old and a 7th Cy Young Award for Roger Clemens! Gives me hope that at age 42 I can perform similar feats. Wait, who am I kidding?...Maurice Clarett will just not go away and "The" Ohio State University (do not ever, ever leave the ...
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PermaLinkCollege Basketball Season is Here...

and I have received my schedule from Jefferson-Pilot Sports, which includes a Georgia Tech game. That will all start after an unusual double-header for me at the SEC Football Championship at the Georgia Dome (Atlanta) in December. First, I will be the ...
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PermaLinkDawgs End Frustrations in 31-24 Win Over Florida

They had lost to Florida in 13 of their last 14 games against Florida, including the last 6 in a row. They came into the game having to beat Florida to keep their SEC Championship and Bowl Championship Series (BCS) hopes alive. Florida was playing under ...
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PermaLinkDawgs to Take on Gators With Championship Hopes On Line

In less than 90 minutes at the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party", the University of Georgia Bulldogs take on the University of Florida Gators in Jacksonville. Right now South Carolina and Tennessee are tied 8-8 at the half, but no matter ...
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PermaLinkDawgs Squeak By Hogs Despite 513 Yards in Offense

Nothing like being a couple of days late, but unless I am working a game, I do not get to see it at home. Plus my oldest daughter had two soccer games (3 Goals!), we had to go pumpkin picking, and then we had to carve the pumpkins. But enough of that, ...
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PermaLinkGeorgia Sinks The Vanderbilt Commodores 33-3 Despite Penalties

The Sixth Ranked Georgia Bulldogs (5-1, 3-1 SEC) cruised passed 1-5 Vanderbilt 33-3 as expected Saturday. The statistics, for the most part, meaningless because Vanderbilt does not have a defense that can do much against a team like Georgia. David Greene ...
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PermaLinkNotre Dame vs. Navy Is About Tradition, Friendship and Loyalty

Earlier this week I promised myself that I would write about Notre Dame playing against Navy this weekend. For all practical purposes, I was being pragmatic because Vanderbilt at Georgia should be a yawner (we will find that out tomorrow). I knew what I ...
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PermaLinkPost Game Notes: 12 Penalties, A Missed 29-Yard Field Goal, and 19 Seconds Seal Dawgs' Fate

The game was as ugly as a game could get. The 3rd Ranked University of Georgia Bulldogs (4-1, 2-1) lost to the 17th Ranked University of Tennessee Volunteers (4-1, 2-1) by a score of 19-14 in front of a sellout crowd of 92,746. Even if they had managed ...
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PermaLinkPre-Game Notes: Tennessee vs. Georgia

Sanford Stadium is empty except for a few players on the field doing warm-ups. The UGA Sports Communications Staff is helping reporters get their Internet Connections. CBS Sports is getting ready to walk through graphics and do their rehearsals. I am ...
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PermaLinkPost Game Notes: Tigers Leave Athens With Tails Between Legs

In 10 years of working college football games in Athens, GA (USA), I have never seen the atmosphere witnessed this afternoon into evening. Four hours before kickoff and there was not a parking spot to be found in town. The atmosphere was electric with ...
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PermaLinkPost Game Notes: Georgia Beats GA Southern, Business Controls Software, DUI Hypocrisy, and the Loss of a Colleague

Georgia Beats GA Southern 92,000+ fans from around the State of Georgia gathered in Athens, GA to watch a valiant effort by the Eagles of Division IAA Georgia Southern against the #3 Ranked Georgia Bulldogs "between the hedges" (tm). This is ...
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PermaLinkWho, In Your Opinion, Are the Best and Worst College/Pro Football Play By Play Announcers Ever

This does not include analysts, just the main announcers. We will hit the analysts next week. My picks for the best: Pat Summerall (It is great having him on ESPN for a short while) Al Michaels (Goes without saying) Keith Jackson (the ...
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PermaLinkFootball Season is Creeping Up On Us

No, not the one with the little round ball, the other one where people bang each other around, get paid lots of money, and then hopelessly try to find meaning in life when they are cast aside for younger players. I just confirmed my first telecast of ...
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Trivia

PermaLinkWho can identify this IBM Facility?

Winner gets a round of applause! We have a winner. Much applause all around. I have replaced the mystery image with the full ...
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TravelTips/Observations

PermaLinkI'm In A New York State of MindComments (1)

I have not been in New York State since 1992. I have not been in Rye, NY, home of the then Westchester Classic, in 25 years. So here I site on my 45th birthday in Rye. I always liked coming here for the Westchester Classic, and now I am back to see a ...
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PermaLinkIn Tulsa On the Last Leg of Eleven Day TripComments (0)

I arrived in Tulsa this afternoon. It is the last leg of an 11 day road trip. It started in Phoenix with a Domino Health Check. This weekend I was back in Los Angeles to finish up a server migration/cluster set up. The next two days will be a IBM Lotus ...
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PermaLinkObservations About Phoenix, ArizonaComments (1)

I have spent the last 4 days in Phoenix, AZ. It is my first time in the state of Arizona and I have a few things I noticed: 1. Like Portland, wireless access in the airport is free. Very nice. 2. People here cannot drive, or just drive way ...
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PermaLinkA Sign That Shocked Me In LAComments (0)

What was it that shocked me about the sign pictured above? No it was not the price of gasoline (though it is obscene). It was the fact that there are still ARCO stations around in this country. They used to be everywhere, but I am used to seeing ...
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PermaLinkMy Favorite Restaurant in the Los Angeles AreaComments (1)

One thing I learned by staying in LA for a month back in 2002 is to stay in Santa Monica, so you can enjoy the shops and restaurants of not only Santa Monica, but close by Venice Beach and Marina Del Ray. My favorite restaurant, the On The Waterfront ...
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TrainingSeries

PermaLinkAdvisor Live: E-Mail Compliance Frameworks

In addition to the two other sessions I will be presenting at Advisor Live in July, I will have a session being sponsored by Compliance Solutions Advisor Magazine entitled "E-Mail Compliance Frameworks in the Real World" that I would hope ...
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PermaLinkAdvisor Live: The Human Side of E-Mail Administration

This year at Advisor Live, Compliance Solutions Advisor Magazine will have a one day E-mail Compliance Management series of workshops. I will be presenting the following session which may be of interest to attendees: Handling the Human Side of ...
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PermaLinkAdvisor Live: Compliance/Governance for Notes/Domino Pros

This coming July I will be in Las Vegas for Lotus Advisor Live and will be presenting a session entitled "Compliance and Governance for Lotus Notes and Domino Pros". Here is the description of this session: Compliance and Governance for ...
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PermaLink"Hacking A Domino Infrastructure And Countermeasures" Training Brochure Available

The Cayuga Group, LLC/The Business Controls Caddy is pleased to announce the availability of our training brochure for the first course offering in our "Business and Information Tehnology Controls Training Series". The 4-day class, ...
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PermaLinkAdding Admin2005 to "The IS Governance Tour 2005"

Well if Rocky Oliver has the LotusGeek Tour, I figured I needed a snappy title for the blog as well:-). I am sure I can do better, so if you have any suggestions, go for it! That being said, it looks like I will be presenting two sessions at ...
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PermaLinkThe Business Controls Caddy Training Series: Hacking a Domino Infrastructure and Countermeasures

The Cayuga Group, LLC is pleased to announce the availability of "Hacking a Domino Infrastructure and Countermeasures", a hands-on training course for Lotus Notes and Domino Professionals, Information Systems Auditors, and Business Control ...
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TheDisposableSociety

PermaLinkTICDWO: The Disposable Video Camera

I have decided to add a no acronym to my vocabulary: Things I Can Do Without (TICDWO). Why? I was in CVS Pharmacy tonite standing at the cash register. Staring me right in the face was a banner telling me that for only US$29.95!, I can purchase a ...
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TelecommutingRisks

PermaLinkTelecommuting and Business/IT Risk (Part I)Comments (1)

Most of us want to telecommute at least part-time. Sometimes employers embrace the idea, sometimes they don't. But how often does the opposition discuss reasons of information technology (IT) governance. And if it does, is it a two-way conversation? In ...
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SpreadsheetControls

PermaLinkLotus Notes, Spreadsheets and Compliance Frameworks

An article entitled "Conquering the Spreadsheet Compliance Nightmare" from the Information Technology Compliance Institute (ITCI) came across my RSS Feed today. As I had recently written an article on spreadsheet risk for Corporate Compliance ...
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PermaLinkSpreadsheet Horror Stories and a Blog on Spreadsheet/Information Risks

The European Spreadsheet Risks Interest Group has a great link that catalogs strange but true stories of spreadsheet errors and the business losses they caused. In addition, Patrick O'Bierne of Ireland and who is actively involved with this group has a ...
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PermaLinkRemembering 1-2-3: When Did You First Use It and How?

I was doing research for an article on spreadsheet controls this weekend and came across an archive of Lotus 1-2-3 print ads that included this one: When did you first use 1-2-3 and what did you use it ...
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PermaLinkSpreadsheet, Audits and SOX Oh My!

When people talk about Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX or Sarbox depending on what you call it), much discussion centers around the costs of compliance, the level of controls needed, what needs to be tested,and what area make a company most ...
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SoftwareTools

PermaLinkSteinbrenner Blames Loss to Red Sox on Lotus Notes

Well, Mr. Steinbrenner did not really blame Lotus Notes for the humiliating defeat. But according to an article in the November 29, 2004 issue of eWeek, Lotus Notes is a key part of the technology infrastructure that was behind the success of the Red ...
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PermaLinkPicasa Now Available Free From Google

Google has recently acquired Picasa, a desktop image management program and has made it available free for ...
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SoftwareDevelopmentControls

PermaLinkArticle Analysis: The Power of a Well-Designed Build Process for Lotus Notes and Domino

In the subject Article, published in Lotus Advisor Magazine, Craig Schumann walks through an explanation of how a "solid, well-documented build process can be invaluable to the long-term success of your applications". Craig, who is the lead ...
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PermaLinkReusable Code as a Business Control

Bob Congdon has written on his blog about code bloat, quoting a posting from Jason Marshall about the exponential growth of code. Bob states that "Often developers are aware of code that they want to use but it's not in a form that allows reuse. ...
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PermaLinkChanging The Oil at 2 MPH

Ben Langhinrichs of Geniisoft took me to task very early this morning about my post last night entitled "Would You Change Your Oil at 70 MPH?". As I started reading it, I thought "what is Ben doing to me?", but I quickly realized ...
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PermaLinkWould You Change Your Oil at 70 MPH?

The July issue of Baseline has a news article about how the insertion of a "few lines" of faulty code into production transactions cost RBC millions of dollars in a two week span, made their customers the targets of phishing scams, has the ...
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SocialSoftwareRisks

PermaLinkSo The Texas Longhorns Coach's Stepson Has a MySpace PageComments (0)

For those of you who did not see it on the Holiday Bowl broadcast the other day, the University of Texas got assessed a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. Why? because Chris Jessee, the stepson of Texas Coach Mack Brown stepped onto the ...
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PermaLinkDoing an About Face(Book)Comments (0)

I had signed up for Facebook some time ago in preparation for a privacy presentation I gave at the University of Georgia's New Media Institute (NMI). I had pretty much forgotten about it until someone in the Lotus Software community found it. ...
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PermaLinkMySpace Taking a BeatingComments (0)

MySpace.com. the fastest growing and most popular web site on the Internet, is certainly taking a beating. There are rapes and a couple of murders being associated with the site. Fair or not, these are among a number of issues associated with this ...
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PermaLinkWikipedia Prankster Loses Job Over False PostingComments (0)

As reported in the New York Times on December 11, Brian Chase, who posted false and libelous information on Wikipedia about an individual, from a work computer, gave into the pressure of being hunted down online and resigned his job as an operations ...
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PermaLinkCould Radicati Be Right About The Future of Blogs?

Now before my esteemed colleagues jump all over me by thinking that Radicati may have a point in their prediction that corporate blogging will fade as a fad in the next year, I am approaching this from a different angle. Last week at the ...
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SocialSoftware

PermaLinkWhat is the True Value of Social Networking Software for Business?Comments (1)

As IBM is in launch mode for Lotus Connections, dubbed as MySpace for the enterprise, there are many questions that may arise. The most fundamental question is if it even makes sense for the enterprise level? If so, will it gain traction ...
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[Replication or Save Conflict]

PermaLink"Yes, I Facebook with 15 year-old girls"Comments (3)

"Yes, I Facebook with 15 year-old girls" was the title of UGA New Media Institute (NMI) Director Scott Shamp's (see left) weekly essay sent out to students and friends of the NMI. The headline is definitely an attention getter. And this is a ...
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SocialEngineering

PermaLinkThe Naked Truth About Paris Hilton's Cell PhoneComments (2)

Remember when Paris Hilton's cell phone was hacked? There was a lot of speculation that there was a team of hackers cracking cell phone passwords, or worse yet that she may have been "ditzy" enough to not even have password protection on her ...
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SmokingKills

PermaLinkPeter Jennings and Thoughts of My FatherComments (0)

The passing of Peter Jennings triggered thoughts of my father, who died on March 2, 1998 of lung cancer. His death came 10 weeks or so after his diagnosis, even though he was in total denial that he was terminal. At the risk offending some of my ...
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SiteUpdate

PermaLinkPhishing Scam Alerts Added to Security Alerts Page

A section displaying the 10 most recent Phishing Scam Alerts has been added to the "Security ...
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PermaLinkSecurity Alerts Link Now Active

The "Security Alerts" link above is now active. This link takes you to real time RDF/RSS alert feeds from ...
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SecurityControls

PermaLinkA Physical Security Lesson From ESPN's Kenny MayneComments (1)

Yes, I know all of you have your servers in a secure, locked facility. But what can happen when key systems are not secure? Just ask ESPN's Kenny Mayne when he tries to have a little fun at work.Updated at 12:48 PM, July 1, 2009 - Apparantly Keith Brooks ...
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PermaLinkShould Security Fear Trump Productivity?Comments (0)

We all live in an age of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD). In many cases, we make irrational decisions based on FUD. In some cases, this would include security decisions. Why do we have security systems in our homes? Is it the salesperson making ...
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PermaLinkCERTEGY Done In By Poor SODComments (0)

After a bit of phone tag, I was finally able to have a phone conversation with the president of CERTEGY. If you may recall my article from the other day, an employee of CERTEGY stole and sold 2.3 Million consumer records to a data broker. This ...
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PermaLinkBig 4 Auditors Continue Their Sarbanes-Oxley FolliesComments (1)

I have heard horror stories of Sarbanes-Oxley audits going way beyond reasonable. I have heard stories of controls being forced on companies by auditors without careful thought. I had hoped these stories would fade away as the Big 4 accounting firms ...
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PermaLinkTJX Data Breaches Worse Than Thought?Comments (0)

The story about the TJX keeps getting bigger and bigger. Their internal reviews are reporting that the hacking activity may have been going on back to July 2005. Not being on the inside and having all of the information, it is hard to make any deep ...
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PermaLinkCould You Absorb a $50,000+ Financial Hit?Comments (1)

I was sitting in Jittery Joes Coffee yesterday, and I ran into a web business entrepreneur who was quite stressed. It seems that someone from Viet Nam had hacked into their servers and stolen the transaction records for 125 customers. It turns out the ...
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PermaLinkSkype vs NHTTP Conflict Resolved, But What About The Security Risk?Comments (1)

Thanks to Rocky Oliver, I have eliminated the conflict between Skype and the nhttp task conflict I wrote about the other day. It was definitely a RTFM moment for me, and I appreciate his pointing out what needed to be done to eliminate the ...
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PermaLinkGoogle Admits Desktop 3 Security RiskComments (0)

In the category of "No S%#% Sherlock", CNET is reporting that Google has acknowledged the significant security risks that Google Desktop Search 3 presents to organizations. I wonder what prompted them to offer this ...
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PermaLinkQuestion: Which of These Login Options Offers Better Security?Comments (9)

If you are implementing and/or reviewing application security in an enterprise, which of the Login options above is better for security? Post your thoughts here and be prepared to defend your answer. It may or may not be what you ...
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[Replication or Save Conflict][Replication or Save Conflict][Replication or Save Conflict]

PermaLinkState of Georgia Offers Up More Data (In)SecurityComments (0)

The State of Georgia, through its poorly managed and now drastically downsized Georgia Technology Authority (GTA), has had a number of highly publicized information security breaches/problems over the past few years. These have included release of Hope ...
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PermaLinkWhat Do You Do When CIOs Do Not Listen?Comments (8)

Last week I posted an article entitled "Does Your Organization Block Malware Sites?". In the discussion thread that accompanied this posting, the issue of not using strong passwords, along with a mandatory password change policy, was ...
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PermaLinkDoes Your Organization Block Malware Sites?Comments (8)

I was talking to a colleague from a Big 4 Accounting Firm the other day and we were talking about hashed passwords in Lotus Notes/Domino. During the discussion we touched on the tool out there called Domino Hash Breaker. He said his firm was very ...
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PermaLinkWhen Regulations/Controls Seem To Go Beyond Common Sense

Anybody who knows me knows that I do not suffer fools or foolish regulations/rules that make no sense very well. Airline security since 9/11? Do not even get me going. Terror levels? Call me when they have real meaning. Trying to go to my credit union at ...
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PermaLinkWhy End-Users Are The Biggest Security Vulnerability

In a survey conducted by the nonprofit National Cyber Security Alliance, more than a third of the 493 PC users surveyed said they had a greater chance of winning the lottery or being struck by lightning than of being hit by malicious code. There ...
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PermaLinkDammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a hacker!: The Google Hacker's Guide

I think Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy might have said those words to Captain James Tiberious Kirk if the writers of Star Trek if Google and the Internet had been around in the 1960's. If it was, perhaps the enemies would not have been the ...
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PermaLinkKeeping Data From Google's Prying Eyes

Duffbert posted about a story on eWeek about how Google can be used to find unprotected data such as Social Security numbers on unprotected web servers. There is no bigger business control risk for a company doing business on the Internet. As such, I ...
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PermaLinkSecure Coding Question for Thought: Coding So It Is "Just Secure Enough"

I will be reviewing a new book soon that asks this question: "If you accept the principle of writing code that is "just secure enough" for your own applications, do you think it is socially responsible for software vendors to do the ...
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PermaLinkThe Olympics IT Infrastructure Called "Hackproof": Is Anything Truly Secure?

In an article in today's USA Today, Jean Cevaller, vice president of Altos Origin and head of the US$400M Olympics Information System, makes the bold statement that "the image of a hacker coming in from the Internet is ...
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SecurityAwareness

PermaLinkThere Are Loose Lips, And Then There Are IdiotsComments (2)

In World War II, the posters said it quiet simply as displayed on the left: Loose Lips Might Sink Ships. The same thing might be said for modern corporate warfare. How many times are people looking over your shoulder on an airplane, watching what you ...
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PermaLinkWorkstation Locking for DummiesComments (0)

One goal of information security professionals is to have users lock their workstations when they walk away, even for a few minutes. But not all users are easily educated in the use of control-alt-delete, or the even shorter windowskey+L combination. ...
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PermaLinkThe FBI and Cyber-SecurityComments (0)

There has been some benefit to finally being back home in Athens, GA on an actual workday. Not only did I finally get to meet Stan Gatewood, Chief Information Security Officer at the University of Georgia, I was able to listen to a presentation by ...
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PermaLinkThomas Duff Book Review - "Defend I.T. - Security By Example"

"Security is often the mundane task of writing policies and enforcing regulations. Gupta and Laliberte draw upon experience from their past consulting engagements to look at these various issues with a sense of realism that is often missing in ...
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PermaLinkCobiT Security Baseline: An Information Security Survival Kit

I have finished reading an advance draft of the subject publication, which is going to be released by the IT Governance Institute, in cooperation with the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA). They are publishing this in ...
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PermaLinkThe Internet Explorer Security Vulnerabilities: The Real Source(s) of the Problem

"Mirror, mirror on the wall. who's the fairest one of all?" Yes, we all know that Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) has vulnerabilities serious enough that major financial institutions and CERT have declared the browser unsafe at any ...
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PermaLinkThe SSL Web Security Myth and "The View Domino Web Coding Bootcamp"

In the July 12 issue of "VAR Business", Jeremiah Grossman of White Hat Security writes about "5 Security Myths". The very first myth is that "since a web site uses SSL, it must be secure". This is a myth of course ...
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SecureMessaging

PermaLinkIf You Are Going to Post About a "Security Hole"...Comments (2)

If you are going to post about a "security hole" in a product, it is important that you discuss it in its full context. If you don't, you risk the chance of misleading people and creating FUD. The posting I am referring to is a recent entry ...
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PermaLinkBad Admin Tricks: Network Security By Frustrating Customers and Users

I came across yet another "scheme" or "method" to keep viruses from getting into a networked environment: just automatically delete them on inbound messages if they are certain file types including zips and make the recipient and ...
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PermaLinkSchadenfreude, Instant Messaging and Business Controls

On the heels of Chris Miller writing an ePro article called "Administration and Strategy: How to Write an IM Policy (Part 1)", I read an article on the security risks of instant messaging today in the Information Systems Control ...
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PermaLinkTim Speed on Secure Messaging with Domino 6

Summary Tim Speed, along with Raj Balasubramanian, has published a new technical article on Lotus developerWorks entitled "Lessons in secure messaging using Domino 6". While this article goes into great detail about technical aspects of ...
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Sarbanes-OxleyTools

PermaLinkUsing IBM Lotus Notes/Domino for Compliance ToolsComments (0)

One of the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is that corporations establish and maintain a whistle-blower program. It is requirements like this that make IBM Lotus Notes and Domino the perfect tool of choice, far superior to anything else ...
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PermaLinkDoes Your Organization Ignore Lotus Notes As a Process Management Tool?

Submitted for your approval. The auditors have finished their Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 audit of controls. Your organization has been cited for not having an approval process for changes to your PeopleSoft HR Financial Systems. They tell you that you ...
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PermaLinkLotusphere 2005: Sarbanes-Oxley Tools As An IBM Hosted Service

Just announced by IBM: An IBM Hosted Workplace Solution for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Tools. More later as I get some additional ...
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PermaLinkDvorak: Oracle Bought PeopleSoft for Its Sarbanes-Oxley Tools

John Dvorak is one of those writers you either love to hate or just love. Either way, he offers an interesting opinion on just why Oracle was so aggressive in their pursuit of PeopleSoft. It was their Sarbanes-Oxley Module called Human ...
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PermaLinkCompliance Toolkits and Marketing FUD (or Smarts)

A press release came out today touting the fact that Ingersoll-Rand had "selected" the Sarbanes-Oxley Express Toolkit Offering from OpenPages. It is one thing to cheer loudly when you have a competitive win, but another thing entirely to leave ...
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PermaLinkPricewaterhouseCoopers Releases "Framework for Evaluating Process/Transaction-Level Exceptions and Deficiencies"

PricewaterhouseCoopers has issued the subject DataLine describing a framework that can be used when evaluating manual and automated process/transaction-level exceptions and deficiencies resulting from the evaluation of a company's internal control over ...
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PermaLinkAccounting Media Misstatements Do Not Help Lotus Workplace Message

Following a link in a listserv message I received today took me to an article entitled "SOX software: More questions than answers?" on the WebCPA Website. Because the site is gernerated by Cold Fusion, I could not find a publication date for ...
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Sarbanes-Oxley

PermaLinkUGA Paper on SOX Impact on Corporate Boards AvailableComments (0)

Jim Linck (UGA), Jeffry Netter (UGA), and Tina Yang (Clemson) have published a paper entitled "The Effects and Unintended Consequences of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and its Era, on the Supply and Demand for Directors". The paper provides an ...
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PermaLinkSteve Ballmer: SarBox Means No XBoxComments (2)

One of my favorite subjects to post on is how companies, auditors, and people are taking the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to extremes, claiming it requires or prohibits things that are nowhere to be found in the law. The latest, for want of a better ...
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PermaLinkAre Lotus Notes Applications In Scope For Sarbanes-Oxley?Comments (0)

"Are Lotus Notes Applications In Scope For Sarbanes-Oxley?" This was the question of found in my Google referrer logs tonight. I hope the person asking this question was not looking for a definitive yes or no answer, because the answer depends ...
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PermaLinkPricewaterhouseCoopers SarBox Editorial from the Wall Street Journal

This advertorial from PricewaterhouseCoopers(PwC) was published in the Wall Street Journal today. I received permission from Bruce Winters of PwC to reprint it here for discussion purposes. I may publish some rebuttal thoughts in the near future but ...
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PermaLinkSarbanes-Oxley Section 404: The Section of Unintended Consequences

A very important paper worth reading has been published by the AeA. Go ahead and take a gander at Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404: The Section of Unintended Consequences and Its Impact On Small Business. From the Executive Summary: "Section 404 of ...
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PermaLinkA Holiday Gathering of Information Technology Audit and Compliance Professionals

Last night I attended the holiday party of the Atlanta Chapter of the International Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA). It was a last minute thing because of an e-mail I received from Jay Simonton of Jefferson Wells. It was quite an ...
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PermaLink2004 Oversight Systems Financial Executive Report On Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Released by Oversight Systems

Altanta-based Oversight Systems Inc. today announced the results of the 2004 Oversight Systems Financial Executive Report On Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance, a nationwide survey of 222 financial executives. The report shows most financial executives are torn ...
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PermaLinkSarbanes-Oxley Questions in The Lotus developerWorks Discussion Fora

Sarbanes-Oxley questions can come up where you least expect it, including the Lotus Developer Works Discussion Fora. Why? The fact is that Sarbanes-Oxley and other regulatory drivers are going to be more and more a part of the daily lives of ...
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PermaLinkSarbanes-Oxley and Notes/Domino Administrators

As a thread I started trying to gather Atlanta area Lotus Notes/Domino professionals grows, I came across this short but to the point post on "LiveJournal": Date: December 3, 2004 Time: 11:12 pm. Finally got home from work about 20 ...
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PermaLinkHolman Jenkins: "Auditors Cuddle Up In Sox"

In an opinion piece published in the Australian Financial Review, Holman Jenkins, a member of The Wall Street Journal's editorial board and author of the weekly Business World column writes that ""Sarbox" (as it's also nicknamed) ...
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PermaLinkProtecting Whistleblowers Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 as Amended

There are provisions written into Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as Amended, to protect corporate whistleblowers and encourage a culture of ethics and honesty in corporations. So say Senators Patrick Leahy (D- Vermont) and Charles Grassley (R- Iowa) who ...
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PermaLinkBeware The Ides of March, Julius Caesar Was Warned

In the Roman Calendar, the Ides of March fell on March 15th. This is the day that Caesar was warned to be careful. Alas, he did not heed these words and he was killed by Brutus. The Ides of November fell yesterday, but the 15th is an all important ...
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PermaLinkWhen Does a Deficiency Become a "Go To Jail" Offense?

"If your company manages projects, then financial mismanagement of those projects could leave your senior management legally exposed."  Ruthanne Schulte in "Is Poor Project Management a Crime?" When I was negotiating ...
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PermaLinkSarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and What Auditors Want

The bar is very high for passing and very low for stumbling. IT controls are considered pervasive -- poor controls could undermine the integrity of financial systems and processes. It requires more to prove everything's running soundly in an IT ...
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PermaLinkDoes Section 404 of SOX Really Require Me To Tie My Left Shoe First? Seriously, I Really Want To Know.

Does Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) really require me to tie my left shoe first? The answer is absolutely no! But if you think this question is absurd, you might think the same thing about internal control questions I am reading on SOX ...
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PermaLink168 Words That Created An Industry and Changed The Way Businesses Report

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal...". So starts the Gettysburg Address, delivered by Abraham Lincoln on ...
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PermaLinkJournal of Accountancy: "Choose the Right Tools for Internal Control Reporting"

While doing research for an article for this blog, Bruce Winters, a leader in the Systems and Process Assurance practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers, pointed me to "Choose the Right Tools for Internal Control Reporting", an article that he ...
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PermaLinkIn China, It's Comply or Die as IPO Looms

A year or two ago my then five year old daughter was standing on a diving board as I encouraged her to jump in, It had reached the point that In was turning to bribery. First, I offered her $1.00 to jump in. She refused. I then doubled my offer to $2.00. ...
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PermaLinkThe Impact of Sarbanes-Oxley and Accounting Reform Outside of the United States

I had a conversation the other night with my nephew, who is a manager with a Big 4 accounting firm in the West Indies. We were talking about issues he had to deal with in the region and I was taken aback by what he told me about the impact of ...
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PermaLinkNew White Paper: "The Use of Spreadsheets - Considerations for Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act"

This White Paper from PricewaterhouseCoopers discusses the evaluation of the control environment and specific control activities that should be considered by management in evaluating the use of significant spreadsheets as part of their 404 ...
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PermaLinkTransparency, The Cost of Information, and Compliance

"Transparency, however, is not an end in itself. There are costs to produce high quality information. Markets will seek a compromise between the high cost of collecting, analyzing and using information and the need to disclose the information to ...
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RiskAssessment

PermaLinkLooking At The Business Risk of Google SoftwareComments (0)

Google has made some interesting strides in software tools that it offers on-line. One of these tools is the Google calendar. This tool allows people to post private and shared calendars on Google servers, and the tool is indeed pretty swift. This may be ...
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PermaLinkSnTT: The Perfect Storm Hits This BlogComments (1)

This is not the Show-and-Tell Thursday topic I had planned on, but it does offer lessons for other that would like to learn from my mistakes. You see, readers may have noticed that this blog was offline most of the day. Why? Because this site became the ...
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PermaLinkShould Technology and Operational Risk Drive Decision Making?Comments (0)

A definition of technology risk includes the risk that a given technology may not work, or be compromised, and that technology risk is a significant part of operational risk (Scott Green, Manager's Guide to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (Hoboken: John Wiley ...
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PermaLinkE-Commerce Across National Boundaries Can Have You Sent To Jail

One of the points I try to emphasize when talking to people and groups about the risk of e-commerce is that they could be held responsible for the laws of their own, or other, countries if violated. As a CEO, you do not even have to have personal ...
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PermaLinkBlogging and Business Reputation/Brand Name Protection

For many people who blog, the blog itself is either the creation or an extension of a personal or company brand. For most, the personal and company brand are one in the same. In a recent interview in American Way (the in-flight magazine of American ...
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Reflections