Sharon Gaudin

The world of wireless communications has much it can learn from the mistakes long made in the wired world, according to the information security administrator for the International Finance Corp. and a wireless security author. Tara Swaminatha, a top security administrator for the IFC, a part of the World Bank Group, has just released her […]

Less than half of all IT customers are pleased enough with their vendors to remain loyal to them and 29% feel trapped in the relationship, according to a study released this week. Vendor loyalty has taken a hit, according to the 2002 National Customer Benchmark Study conducted by Walker Information, Inc., a consumer survey company […]

Industry research giant Gartner Inc. is predicting that half of today’s software vendors will have gone under within the next two years. Speaking at Symposium/IT Expo 2002 in Orlando, Fla. this week, Gartner analyst Carl Claunch made 10 major IT predictions. Claunch, a 30-year IT veteran and vice president and director of research at Gartner, […]

Bad timing seems to be derailing Senate debate over a controversial online privacy bill that would force companies to allow their online customers to access personal information kept in corporate databases. The Online Personal Privacy Act, sponsored by Ernest “Fritz” Hollings (D-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, has been waiting for Senate floor debate […]

The high-tech sector is expected to rebound out of its economic slump at the beginning of next year, ushering in the return of the IT worker shortage, according to a new report from International Data Corp. The study, which IDC conducted in June and July, reports good news and the return of a common problem […]

A former U.S. Secret Service agent, experienced in risk assessment and high-tech crime, says companies are doing a poor job of securing themselves from the inside out. And they’ll pay a heavy price for their careless unless they dramatically up security — soon. Larry Cunningham worked with the Secret Service, one of the government’s top […]

Understaffed and overtaxed IT departments don’t have time to sit on the line with a vendor’s tech support center and are increasingly turning to online information to make them more self-reliant, according to a new study. “You need to be more efficient and work faster when you have fewer people in your IT department,” says […]

Although July showed the lowest number of job cuts in 14 months in the U.S., the dot-com sector suffered yet another blow, with layoff figures jumping 156% from the month before. “It’s like the industry is on a roller coaster,” says John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based outplacement firm. “We’re getting […]

Microsoft Corp. is working to quickly retire old, security-weak code in its Windows operating system, but users running current or old versions won’t be able to take advantage of it until they buy into upcoming versions. Steve Lipner, Microsoft’s director of security assurance, said in an email interview this week that any old code containing […]

A bill designed to stiffen the penalties for computer crime could help law enforcement crack down on industrial espionage and computer sabotage, according to industry watchers. “They really have to juice up the sentencing a lot,” says Assistant U.S. Attorney V. Grady O’Malley, who prosecuted the first federal criminal case of computer sabotage. “We need […]

Now that it’s all systems go for the largest high-tech merger in history, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Compaq Computer Corp.’s corporate customers are preparing to make some big decisions and maybe even bigger expenditures if the new company kills off or stops supporting the equipment that runs their networks. “I don’t know what to think at […]

If U.S. lawmakers push through new online privacy rules, industry watchers say companies running e-commerce sites will have a long, expensive and complicated job in front of them. Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, Ernest “Fritz” Hollings, D-S.C., is trying to push through a privacy bill — S. 2201 — that would set a national […]