When talking with people about privacy and information security I often come across a common misconception – that there is nothing more to privacy than security, or that the two are roughly the same.  In particular this often comes up in discussions around the use of cloud services where people seem to think that if they address security issues with cloud services, then there is nothing more to do from a privacy perspective. Two overlapping areas of concern We can view security and privacy as being two distinct but overlapping areas of concern. If we start with security, it should ..read more

If you are looking at a significant use of cloud computing, have you considered what this might mean for your network? Corporate networks are an often overlooked factor when thinking about cloud computing. The problem is that cloud computing increases the criticality of your network, because if your network isn’t available then your cloud services aren’t either. If we think about typical SaaS applications (the ones that replace some of my traditional desktop applications) the network – in particular internet access – has become critical. With traditional services network availability has less ..read more

At the time of writing we are heading into Christmas, we’ve just started the traffic light system, we are getting our vaccine passports, and there are new variants of Covid spreading. Spammers and scammers take advantage of events like these (and the confusion and anxiety that comes with them) to rip us off. So do something about it before the spam hits! If you watch the security news like I do you’ll know that spammers and phishing gangs quickly adapt their messages and techniques to the latest events. Because their whole modus operandi is to take advantage of fear, people’s better impulses ..read more

I’ve heard a few people in different organisations mention that they weren’t worried about ransomware because they could just restore from backup. If only it were that easy! CERT NZ and the US Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency have recently warned about increases in cases of the RYUK ransomware (specifically affecting the healthcare industry).  This got me wondering about how useful backups are as a protection against ransomware. In theory it should work, right? Ransomware works by encrypting your data on disk and then ransoming your data by offering to sell you the encry ..read more

In the past I’ve seen people present to me a list of technologies and tell me “Here’s the architecture of our solution.” But, in my opinion a solution architecture is no more a list of the technologies used than the architecture of a building is a list of the materials that it is made of. Once I’ve expressed this opinion, I’m sometimes asked “So, what is an architecture?” Or, “What does an architecture look like?” Or, more pointedly “So, what do you think an architecture is?” My answer to this question has evolved over time (and continues to evolve). Here’s my current answer. If I think about ..read more

As I discussed in my previous article self management is a key competency of a good project manager, and time management is a significant part of self management. Time management is important for everyone. As I have taken up more senior roles,  I’ve found that I’ve needed it more and more – when I was junior there was often someone else giving me direction, checking whether I had done something. When I started managing projects I realised that this was even more important. What I have found is that so many other people are dependent on the things that I do. If I don’t send that email to t ..read more

Have you ever asked yourself what makes a good project manager? I know I have. I’ve asked it with respect to good (and bad) project managers I’ve worked with, and I’ve asked it with respect to myself as I manage projects. In conversation with others I’ve batted around obvious talking points like “it’s a combination of the ‘hard’ technical side of project management, plus the softer side of influencing people”. But the best answer I’ve ever seen is in the guide to Project Management for Development Professionals (PMDPro). For me, reading this was a bit of an epiphany. According to PMDPro, proje ..read more

This post is a summary of a presentation I gave to a group of lawyers on ICT fundamentals. It represents my own opinion, and not that of my employers or anyone else! I apologies for it being so wordy – but a lot of material was covered. My presentation walked through some fundamental concepts in ICT, some major trends that are shaping ICT, and how ICT organisations are evolving. The aim is to give a plain english summary to allow ICT lawyers to have sensible conversations about ICT to support the work that they do with ICT professionals. In my view ICT may be hard to do, but it is not hard to ..read more

Exciting news (for me anyway)! Last Friday, November 1 2013, the New Zealand Government Chief Information Officer (Colin MacDonald, Chief Executive of the Department of Internal Affairs) announced that the New Zealand government had negotiated contracts for the supply of Desktop as a Service (DaaS).  The service provides both virtual desktops (hosted and managed by vendors) and management of traditional desktops, along with application packaging and delivery services. To quote the press release: Agencies can focus on creating more services that customers want and expect, rather than havi ..read more

The big news, from my point of view, from VMworld in Barcelona was the announcement that VMware has acquired the Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) vendor Desktone. VMware is probably the leading vendor for enterprise virtual desktop technology (i.e. virtual desktop infrastructure or VDI – with their Horizon product line) – though Citrix might dispute this. Desktone are the leading provider of DaaS technology for service providers – that is virtual desktops delivered from the cloud on an as-a-Service basis. What does this acquisition mean? For VMware I think it means that they fill a serious hole in ..read more