Securing your people

Human error - not technical malfunction - is the most significant cause of IT security breaches, accounting for over 63% of breaches, reports The Register. This is according to a US survey by the Computing Technology Industry Association, published yesterday.

The study found that:

* 31% of respondents experienced from one to three "major security breaches" in the last six months;

* 66% believe that staff training/certification has improved their IT security;

* 22% said none of their IT employees had received security-related training;

* 69% said fewer than 25% of IT staff were security trained;

* 11% said all their IT employees had received security training; and

* 59% said government security regulations were largely inappropriate, failing to adequately address the practical side of the problem.

The survey details can be found here. [The Register]

Microsoft is rethinking its release dates for the next versions of Windows client and server systems, according to published reports coming out of the Microsoft management summit in Las Vegas.

Microsoft is to release a "Longhorn" server and a "Blackcomb" client. Last year, Redmond executives said the company had decided to make Longhorn a client-only release and "Blackcomb" a server-only Windows product.

The company also offered ballpark timeframes - which are considerably later than dates the company has privately revealed to its partners and customers - as to when customers should expect Longhorn and Blackcomb. Earlier scheduling Longhorn`s release for the end of 2004, the company now talks of shipping it in 2005. Blackcomb`s 2006 target is now 2007 or 2008. [Microsoft-watch.com]

In the wake of the dot-com bust, investors are struggling to find new technologies to invest in, reports Geek.com. Much investment is going towards the nascent field of nanotechnology, but there are several other fields that are attracting investors` attention and dollars. One is data mining, another is grid computing and a third is security software. But the biggest investment area outside of nanotechnology is biotechnology in general and biopharmaceuticals in particular.

In general, investors appear more interested in software than hardware because hardware "has become too commoditised, too standardised to make it pay". [Geek.com]

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