CLOUD COMPUTING FOR OUR SMEs.

...In small businesses, the cloud environment brings the most valuable benefits. The physical infrastructure deployment and maintenance, the need for specialized IT staff and the expensive software updates are just some of the aspects small businesses would not worry about if they would switch to cloud-based applications. But let’s see what kinds of productivity tools are out there in the cloud for SMBs:Cloud computing solutions should be the natural option for small businesses.
In a recent survey released by Spiceworks, 62% of the SMBs interviewed reported that they are using some type of cloud application. Most of them are using cloud services as tools for file-sharing, but haven’t moved into online productivity applications. According to the survey cloud-based productivity suites have the lowest adoption rate. Nearly two out of three businesses have no plans to use cloud-based productivity suites. Only 14% of those surveyed are currently using cloud-based productivity suites e.g safaricom ltd, and another 22% are thinking about adopting these services sometime in the future.

• There are many options online nowadays: The Best Cloud Storage Solutions. The best cloud-based file storing and sharing tools are Dropbox, Microsoft SkyDrive and Box.

• Team collaboration tools are able to track tasks assigned to different people,  and support projects milestones. Some of the most used team collaboration tools are Evernote, Teamly, and Basecamp.

• Email is one of the first tools that went to the cloud. Cloud email services are easy to setup and use. Plus they give access to critical information anywhere, anytime. The most used webmail services are Gmail and Outlook.

• Document collaboration tools allow employees to work together simultaneously on a particular document, spreadsheet or presentation. Google Drive, Office 365, and Zoho.

Cloud computing offers small businesses the great opportunities to reduce their costs, increase agility, and focus on their operations. Productivity applications such as email, documents, communication and collaboration are business-critical. Moving them to the cloud environment requires serious consideration of provider capabilities. A cloud computing vendor within or out of kenya must provide reliable and secure services to its clientels.

Its been an indolent sunday and i thought of letting folks in kenya know a little bit of what is the next big thing in their tech-world.
Lovely sunday.......

CYBER ATTACK STATISTICS IN KENYA

....Although the number of Cyber Attacks in February in kenya has not reached the level of January, the level of attention in this part of the year remains high.

The Daily Trend of Attacks chart clearly shows a peak around the 23th of February, the International Privacy Day, when the Anonymous unleashed their OpBigBrother, concentrating the fire against industries related to Video Surveillance and several Law Enforcement Institutions. Other “trafficked” day of the month were the 3rd and the 15th.

The Motivations Behind Attacks chart confirms the prevalence of hacktivism with 56% of occurrences, exactly the same percentage observed in January. Cyber Crime is stable at number two, even if its percentage dropped from 40% to 31%. It is interesting to notice, month after month, the growing number of Cyber Espionage campaigns discovered.

SQLi leads the Distribution Of Attack Techniques chart with 34.3% of occurrences, a value similar to the one encountered in January (32.6%) when this category of attacks ranked at number two. One month ago, the first place was for DDoS, which apparently is loosing appeal in February, dropping from the first to the fifth place with a small 8%, far from the 39% of the previous month and also overtaken, by Targeted Attacks (11.7%). The next months will tell us if this is the beginning of a new trend or simply an isolated sporadic event.

Last but not least,industry targets lead the Distribution Of Targets charts. This is a consequence of the spree of attacks against video surveillance industries happened on February the 23rd. Governmental targets confirm their second place with a value (23.7%) close to the one registered during the previous month. Targets belonging to organizations rank at the third place, in front of financial targets.

As usual, no need to remind that the sample must be taken very carefully since it refers only to discovered attacks included in the 1-15 and 16-28 February 2013 Cyber Attacks Timelines (the so-called tip of the iceberg), and hence it does not pretend to be exhaustive but only aims to provide an high level overview of the “cyber landscape”.

As they say in latin,''BAHEMUS ATTACKUM'' meaning ''we have a new attack''.Folks,kenyans,this menace is deadly than TB,swine flu and AIDS combined together.Believe me!!!!!!!!!...www.samwelkariuki.blogspot.com

Source:sam

             www.samwelkariuki.com

 

....Well, well well! It seems like our own favourite ethical african hacker, samwel kariuki, is about to meet the clan with whom he shares his talents! If you still haven't figured out who S.K is, please do your homework before falling in love with him! (yes, I said it!)

Security researchers and ethical hackers are massing up in nairobi at an undisclosed conference this time of the year. The crowd is going to be equipped and ready to hunt down every vulnerability possible in Chrome, Internet, Explorer and Java (good riddance since Java has attacked over and over again since 2013 began). And in doing so, we will be able to bag generous 'cash prizes'.
On the other hand, Google is arranging its own competition with the name of Pwnium 3 but abroad in the US. Pwnium 3 focuses on finding vulnerabilities in Chrome OS and is offering a more-than-generous $3.14159 million is reward. This particular competition will be based on Samsung S5 550 Chromebook running the latest version of Chrome OS. You will need to successfully exploit the browser or system of the device logged in as a guest or a user or "compromise with device persistence - guest to guest with interim reboot, delivered via a webpage." My readers should take in notice to upgrade and update their systems with the latest versions of softwares to stay safe from cybercrimes and attacks.Ethical hacking has been on the rise since bounty hunters tend to look for every possible way to attack a system to earn their much deserved 'prize money'. Therefore, many International companies are encouraging hackers to join them in their pursuit for safe and secure softwares, programs, systems and the like.Samwel Kariuki has made it his mission to spread awareness regarding Ethical Hacking and its advantages. Believe me people, its always better to do the right thing and get paid than do the wrong one and get caught.

Let the hunting begin!.....

Cheers!

Facebook Hacked#really?!?!?!

Facebook hacked, social media company says

...Cloud computing & its cons...

......Cloud computing is finally with us. Recently a leading telecommunication service provider launched a cloud computing service for individuals and businesses. Cloud computing is basically the use of computing resources, like applications and servers, as a service (Software as a Service).

An example would be a small construction and road repair company somewhere in Kericho. At the end of every month the company runs its payroll and pays its casual and permanent employees. Before the advent of cloud computing this company would be forced to invest in a computer, a payroll system and stationery so as to automate its payroll process.

The cost of purchasing a dedicated payroll computer and its system would be prohibitive to a small enterprise. The concept of cloud computing means that instead of dedicating resources to a process that is run only once a month the company can subscribe to a cloud computing provider to do it. The company is then billed only for the time it uses the payroll system.

So instead of worrying about the costs of the payroll system, and security of the data, the cloud computing provider provides access to these computing when needed and charge for specific usage only.

Examples of global cloud computing providers include Hewlett Packard, Fujitsu, Red Hat, Amazon and many others.(Samtech  Ventures) coming soon.

Cloud computing, just like any other technology process, has some security risks.There are many security concerns in cloud computing. One of the most common queries concerns access to data. Who has access to your data?

An example is the United States of America. In October, 2001 the USA Patriot Act was signed into law as a response to the September 11 terrorist attack. This Act allows the American government to access data in any American owned data center, no matter what country that data center is in. If you outsource any of your ICT functions to a cloud infrastructure owned by an American company, then your data can be accessed by the American government.That was states,imagine the damaged that might be caused by the kenyan gov if they get tech whizz aficionados to do all this!!!!!!! Who can potentially access your data becomes a priority concern when choosing a cloud computing provider.

Keeping data private and secure is an ongoing concern for everyone in this interdependent and connected world. Due diligence should be conducted. The only truly safe approach in cloud computing is to subscribe to a cloud computing provider that is locally owned and locally located......

Adepoju: Africa’s Budding Technology Kid

Adepoju: Africa’s Budding Technology Kid

....Pay up or else!Says Verizon...

Verizon Wireless customers with unlimited data plans are not happy that they'll have to pay full price for phones to keep their unlimited service in the future.

To say that Verizon's unlimited data smartphone customers are unhappy about changes in the company's new pricing structure is putting it mildly. But what's a disgruntled subscriber to do?

I offer advice to a Verizon customer about the carrier's new service plans, which will require him/her to pay for a new smartphone at full price to keep his unlimited data plan. Should he/she ditch Verizon or suck it up? You'll find some alternatives below.
Also in this blog, I explain why I think smartphone screens will only get bigger and bigger.....

...dropbox mayhem!...

....After a two-week investigation, the online file storage service confirms that usernames and passwords were stolen from third party Web sites and then used to access Dropbox accounts.


When a few hundred Dropbox users began receiving spam emails about online casinos and gambling sites two weeks ago, it seemed like something was up. And indeed there was.
The online file storage service confirmed today that hackers accessed usernames and passwords from third party sites and then used them to get into Dropbox users' accounts.
"My investigation found that usernames and passwords recently stolen from other websites were used to sign in to a small number of Dropbox accounts. I've tried contacting these users and have helped them protect their accounts," the company wrote in a blog post today. "A stolen password was also used to access an employee Dropbox account containing a project document with user email addresses.I believe this improper access is what led to the spam."

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Dropbox users get spammed via personal e-mail accounts
When the problem first began earlier in the month, several Dropbox users posted on the company's Web site forum saying they received spam from email addresses only associated with Dropbox. By the time the company got a hold on the situation, 295 people had posted on the forum. The majority of the users were European, coming from Germany, Holland, and the U.K.
Dropbox has since put in place additional security controls to avoid a repeat occurrence. According to the company blog post, here are some of the steps it is taking:
Two-factor authentication, a way to optionally require two proofs of identity (such as your password and a temporary code sent to your phone) when signing in. (Coming in a few weeks)
New automated mechanisms to help identify suspicious activity. I'll continue to add more of these over time.
A new page that lets you examine all active logins to your account.
In some cases, i may require you to change your password. (For example, if it's commonly used or hasn't been changed in a long time)
The file storage service also recommends that users avoid using the same password on multiple sites, since it means that if one site has a security breach then all accounts could be at risk. As TechCrunch notes, Dropbox's security breach is eerily reminiscent of LinkedIn's mega-password leak in June.....

Credit:Samwel Kariuki

...Grid computing...

...Justin is doing the grid computing talk#techexpo...

...cloud based platform....

....When migrating to the new wave of cloud-based applications, we now think about business logic, we think about automating processes, and we think about how we can make the systems better. Force.com is a cloud-based platform that is used to build and deploy enterprise applications on the cloud with minimum coding. Demand for Force.com experts is growing rapidly and companies look for certified professionals. This books comes in handy when you are seeking to clear the Salesforce.com Certified Force.com Developer exam.

The Force.com Developer Certification Handbook is a practical guide for you to become a Salesforce.com Certified Force.com Developer. This book will help you to impress your colleagues with excellent Force.com skills, and prepare for the Dev 401 certification exam. From building applications to automating business processes everything is covered from the certification perspective, and you will gain hands-on expertise with the step-by-step approach of this book.

Force.com Developer Certification Handbook will help you build and deploy a complete application on Force.com by using point and click. With this book you will learn to create and manage custom objects and their data. You will build the user interface for your applications and automate your business process by using workflows and approvals .

This definitive certification guide provides a disciplined approach to be adopted for successfully clearing the DEV 401 exam, which gives you an edge over Force.com developers who are not certified. Each chapter contains ample practice questions at the end.

What you will learn from this book

Create data objects and become familiar with the type of fields required to store data
Build a custom Force.com application including page layouts, fields, and tabs
Automate complex business processes using workflows and approvals
Perform data operation on chunks of data using data loader
Build scalable cloud-based applications for multiple users and learn to share data with them based on their position
Understand the administrative capabilities of the Force.com platform and other useful functionalities that can be achieved using point and click, without writing a line of code
Quickly build completely scalable and working applications on the famous Force.com platform
Approach

A practical guide that will help you discover fundamentals for building applications on Force.com without writing a single line of code. If you are new to the Force.com platform and want to learn from scratch, it is advisable that you begin with the first chapter and move on to the last. However, if you are familiar with Force.com and want to understand in detail some aspect of it, you can dip into any chapter. Each certification module is covered in a separate chapter, and is accompanied by questions being asked in the exams.
Developers who need to prepare for the Salesforce.com Certified Force.com Developer exam will benefit from this book. This book is ideal for developers who are new to Salesforce CRM and the Force.com platform. It would be advantageous if readers have some familiarity with Salesforce applications and have basic HTML and XML skills. By the end of the book, you will be ready to appear for the exam and develop various applications on the cloud platform.

Credit:Samwel Kariuki

...faster FB applic for apple lovers...

....Let’s face it, Facebook’s mobile apps aren’t exactly the most stable we’ve seen and based on the various user comments left on the iTunes App Store and the Google Play store, there have been a lot of calls to “fix” it. That being said, according to sources who revealed to Bloomberg, four former Apple software engineers have been hired and are working on speed and performance enhancements for the iOS version of the Facebook app. The update is expected to roll out in the next couple of months, and that a complete overhaul of the app is in the works and will most likely see a 2013 release. Since there has been no official word from Facebook yet, we suggest taking this with a grain of salt. Either way I will be keeping our eyes peeled for this supposedly improved, faster app, so be sure to check back with me at a later date for more info!

....appcloud applic#nifty work...

...The mobile app analytics company aims sky-high and launches its new cloud services collection -- hooking it into the company's analytics, which helps developers increase app engagement.


Flurry launched new cloud service today called AppCloud.
(Credit: Flurry)
Venturing out of its typical terrain Flurry announced today that it is launching a collection of cloud services to "empower developers to build better apps faster."
To accomplish this feat, the mobile app analytics company acquired the mobile startup company Trestle (it bought Trestle back in May but didn't announce the acquisition until today). Together they worked to create the data driven app built on cloud infrastructure. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The way AppCloud aims to work is by letting developers put cloud-driven capabilities into their apps, such as user account management, scalable cloud storage, and push notifications. AppCloud will also be hooked into Flurry's analytics, which could help developers get a better read on user behaviors and buying habits.
Related stories
iTunes movies in the Cloud expands across the world
Amazon aims new rentable servers at app developers
Panda's Cloud Antivirus upgrades offline protection
Several companies are now looking to attract app developers to their cloud storage. Just last week, Amazon launched its own SSD-backed rentable servers through Amazon Web Services.
Flurry AppCloud is slated to launch later in the summer and in the meantime developers can sign up for the iOS and Android beta.

Source:www.samwelkariuki.blogspot.com
Credits:Samwel Kariuki

...D33D!!!!.....

....Yahoo appears to have been the victim of a security breach that yielded more than 400,000 login credentials stored in plain text.
The hacked data, posted to hacker site D33D Company, contained more than 453,000 login credentials and appears to have originated from the Web pioneer's network. The hackers, who said they used a union-based SQL injection technique to penetrate the Yahoo subdomain, intended the data dump to be a "wake-up call."
"We hope that the parties responsible for managing the security of this subdomain will take this as a wake-up call, and not as a threat," the hackers said in a comment at the bottom of the data. "There have been many security holes exploited in webservers belonging to Yahoo! Inc. that have caused far greater damage than our disclosure. Please do not take them lightly. The subdomain and vulnerable parameters have not been posted to avoid further damage."
The hacked subdomain appears to belong to Yahoo Voices, according to a TrustedSec report. Hackers apparently neglected to remove the host name from the data. That host name -- dbb1.ac.bf1.yahoo.com -- appears to be associated with the Yahoo Voices platform, which was formerly known as Associated Content.
CNET has contacted Yahoo for comment and will update this report when we learn more.
Because the data is quite sensitive and displayed in plain text, CNET has elected not to link to the page, although it is not hard to find. However, the page size is very large and takes a while to load.
The disclosure comes at a time of heightened awareness over password security. Recent high-profile password thefts at LinkedIn, eHarmony, and Last.fm contributed to approximately 8 million passwords posted in two separate lists to hacker sites in early June. Yesterday, Formspring announced it had disabled the passwords of its entire user base after discovering about 420,000 hashed passwords that appeared to come from the question-and-answer site were posted to a security forum.

....not so green apple#sad...

...Apple design direction is no longer in keeping with the requirements of a major program devoted to the fostering of environmentally responsible electronics, according to a report.


Apple has decided to stop participating in a major program devoted to the production of environmentally friendly products, reportedly saying that its design direction is no longer in line with the program's requirements.
Late last month, Apple told the nonprofit EPEAT group that the company would no longer submit its products for green certification from EPEAT and that it was pulling its currently certified products from the group's registry.
(Credit: Apple graphics)
According to The Wall Street Journal's CIO Journal site, 39 of Apple's products had received EPEAT's green stamp of approval, including laptops such as the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air.
EPEAT, or the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, receives funding from the Environmental Protection Agency and calls itself "the leading global environmental rating system for electronic products, connecting purchasers to environmentally preferable choices and benefiting producers who demonstrate environmental responsibility and innovation."
The U.S. government requires that 95 percent of its electronics bear the EPEAT seal of approval; large companies such as Ford and Kaiser Permanente require their CIOs to buy from EPEAT-certified firms; and many of the largest universities in the U.S. prefer to buy EPEAT-friendly gear, CIO Journal reports.
Apple "said their design direction was no longer consistent with the EPEAT requirements," CIO Journal quotes EPEAT CEO Robert Frisbee as saying. "They were important supporters and we are disappointed that they don't want their products measured by this standard anymore."
Among other things, the EPEAT requirements hold that electronics must be easy to disassemble, so their components can be recycled. The iPhone, the iPad, and the new MacBook Pro with Retina display don't pass muster because of things like batteries and glass displays that are glued to casings and backings. Apple may soon introduce an alternate green standard to apply to its products, CIO Journal reports.
We've contacted Apple for comment and will update this post if and when we hear back. CIO Journal said Apple had declined to comment but had referred the site to the Environment section of Apple's Web site.
The Verge points out that Apple had touted an EPEAT Gold rating for its iMac computer (see screenshot of the relevant page on Apple's site below).

(Credit: Screenshot by Edward Moyer/CNET:blogpost by Samwel Kariuki/APPLESAM)

...code execution!Great!!!!...

....Microsoft has announced what vulnerabilities it plans to patch on Tuesday.
According to the company, its Tuesday update will include fixes for nine issues. Three of those issues are "Critical" vulnerabilities, meaning that they can allow code execution without any user interaction. The remaining vulnerabilities are labeled as "Important."
Although all three of of the Critical vulnerabilities center on Windows, one of them also includes Internet Explorer 9. Interestingly, the flaw does not extend to previous versions of the browser, so it appears it's something new. Beyond that, the nine patches address flaws in everything from Windows XP Service Pack 3 to Windows Server 2008.
As with previous security bulletins, Microsoft is urging users update their affected software as soon as possible. The company will be holding a Webcast on July 11 to address customer questions....

Source:Samwel Kariuki