Tag Archives: information
John S. James Co. Closes the Information Gap with IES Technology
IES, Ltd., a leading provider of logistics and compliance software solutions to the global marketplace, announces the rollout of its Forwarder Suite at international freight forwarder and customs broker John S. James Co. The software was selected to provide the company with one central point of connectivity, streamline operations and realize productivity improvements.
“The successful implementation is a milestone for John S. James Co. as it moves into 2012. John S. James Co. has significantly grown in our market niche over our 70 year history,” explains Len James, CFO of the Savannah-based company, “Our growth is based on leveraging the best technology to deliver more customized services. We were essentially looking for technology that is future proof that can grow with us as we expand into new markets.
“The move to IES was a logical step for us,” continues Mr. James, “IES solutions are flexible and cover all aspects of our business. The software helps close the information gap that exists between what’s happening in the real world and the information systems world. In particular, the integrated accounting product has helped us to examine key metrics within our organization and streamline controls.”
The company describes how previous technology providers required them to act in more of an IT capacity. This expectation only served to detract from their overall directive. In contrast, IES serves more as an IT partner, “IES takes care of the entire gamut of running its applications, from maintenance, to upgrades and enhancements to regulatory changes. This frees us to do what we do best moving freight. The technology is an enormous resource for our company and a springboard for our business.”
Commenting on the launch, Mr. James explains, “From the time of uptake to the time the system went live, the exceptional implementation management provided by IES was the cornerstone for the success of the rollout. Essentially, IES has provided us with the highest caliber of IT experts and infrastructure that has enabled us to focus on our core business objectives, accelerate information flow and improve efficiency. The resulting effect is a lower cost of operation that has allowed us to meet our customer demands in a timely and cost effective manner.”
“We look forward to continuing our partnership with IES.”
How could Web application (in)security affect me?
Nearly 55 percent of all vulnerability disclosures in 2008 affected web applications.
Web applications have become the major hunting grounds for cyber criminals who quite rightly view them as low hanging fruit. Just as building new motorways improves access for traditional burglars and car thieves, web applications internet accessibility literally delivers them to the hackers doors.
For some time now, cyber crime has simply been another arm of organised crime. And organised crime is pouring a substantial portion of its vast resources into cyber crime … because the return on investment is very high.
Organised crime goes to great lengths to get its hands on any information and the more confidential it is, the better. Once theyve hacked into an application, they can either make use of it themselves or sell it on to others. They can also take control of the various resources such as servers and databases that house that information and turn a profit from that as well.
Having gained control of your computing power by exploiting vulnerabilities and adding code to your application, they add your power to their existing haul and create botnets a global network of robots reporting to their master command-and-control node which can be directed to attack other organisations, or sold to other criminals who, once they hold enough power, can orchestrate denial of service attacks.
No longer is it enough for these criminals to boast of their hacking prowess; these days its all about the money. Given that a properly engineered denial of service attack is powerful enough to bring down pretty much any global multi-national corporation or, in fact, any small country and take them off-line for the duration, this is not about bragging rights, its extortion. It is money-motivated from start to finish.
Because all information and all computing power is grist to the mill for the criminals, no company is too small and certainly no company is too big to be targeted. And as the security in large enterprises is often no better than small entities, size is truly no barrier to the criminals.
And no business can afford the consequences of a security breach. At the very least, mismanaging confidential information almost always leads to reputational damage. Reputational damage leads to departure of existing clients as well as difficulty attracting new business a situation that can go on for many years. There are obvious bottom line implications to those consequences; in the most extreme cases, businesses can go under.
According to IBMs X-Force 2009 Mid-Year Trend and Risk Report, the predominant risks to web applications are from cross-site scripting, SQL injection and file include vulnerabilities.
Cross-site scripting vulnerabilities occur when web applications do not properly validate user input, thus allowing criminals to embed their own script into a page the user is visiting. This script can steal confidential information or exploit existing vulnerabilities in the users web browser. Cross-site scripting vulnerabilities are typically exploited in phishing attacks by sending users a malicious link to a page in a legitimate domain name via email. The criminals get high returns because users trust the familiar domain name they are visiting and thus trust the links (created by the criminals) therein.
SQL injection vulnerabilities are also about improperly validated user input, but in this case that input includes SQL statements that are executed by a database, giving attackers access to that database to read, delete and modify sensitive information (like credit card data) as well as embedding code into the database allowing attacks against other visitors to the web site.
File-include vulnerabilities occur when the application is forced to execute code from a non-validated remote source, allowing criminals to take over the web application remotely. This category includes some denial-of-service attacks as well as techniques that allow criminals direct access to files, directories, user information and other components of the web application.
Facilitating all these kinds of attacks is the fact that many web sites contain some code to support various features and functions which inadvertently introduces vulnerabilities.
Russian roulette, anyone?
How could Web application (in)security affect me?
Nearly 55 percent of all vulnerability disclosures in 2008 affected web applications.
Web applications have become the major hunting grounds for cyber criminals who quite rightly view them as low hanging fruit. Just as building new motorways improves access for traditional burglars and car thieves, web applications internet accessibility literally delivers them to the hackers doors.
For some time now, cyber crime has simply been another arm of organised crime. And organised crime is pouring a substantial portion of its vast resources into cyber crime … because the return on investment is very high.
Organised crime goes to great lengths to get its hands on any information and the more confidential it is, the better. Once theyve hacked into an application, they can either make use of it themselves or sell it on to others. They can also take control of the various resources such as servers and databases that house that information and turn a profit from that as well.
Having gained control of your computing power by exploiting vulnerabilities and adding code to your application, they add your power to their existing haul and create botnets a global network of robots reporting to their master command-and-control node which can be directed to attack other organisations, or sold to other criminals who, once they hold enough power, can orchestrate denial of service attacks.
No longer is it enough for these criminals to boast of their hacking prowess; these days its all about the money. Given that a properly engineered denial of service attack is powerful enough to bring down pretty much any global multi-national corporation or, in fact, any small country and take them off-line for the duration, this is not about bragging rights, its extortion. It is money-motivated from start to finish.
Because all information and all computing power is grist to the mill for the criminals, no company is too small and certainly no company is too big to be targeted. And as the security in large enterprises is often no better than small entities, size is truly no barrier to the criminals.
And no business can afford the consequences of a security breach. At the very least, mismanaging confidential information almost always leads to reputational damage. Reputational damage leads to departure of existing clients as well as difficulty attracting new business a situation that can go on for many years. There are obvious bottom line implications to those consequences; in the most extreme cases, businesses can go under.
According to IBMs X-Force 2009 Mid-Year Trend and Risk Report, the predominant risks to web applications are from cross-site scripting, SQL injection and file include vulnerabilities.
Cross-site scripting vulnerabilities occur when web applications do not properly validate user input, thus allowing criminals to embed their own script into a page the user is visiting. This script can steal confidential information or exploit existing vulnerabilities in the users web browser. Cross-site scripting vulnerabilities are typically exploited in phishing attacks by sending users a malicious link to a page in a legitimate domain name via email. The criminals get high returns because users trust the familiar domain name they are visiting and thus trust the links (created by the criminals) therein.
SQL injection vulnerabilities are also about improperly validated user input, but in this case that input includes SQL statements that are executed by a database, giving attackers access to that database to read, delete and modify sensitive information (like credit card data) as well as embedding code into the database allowing attacks against other visitors to the web site.
File-include vulnerabilities occur when the application is forced to execute code from a non-validated remote source, allowing criminals to take over the web application remotely. This category includes some denial-of-service attacks as well as techniques that allow criminals direct access to files, directories, user information and other components of the web application.
Facilitating all these kinds of attacks is the fact that many web sites contain some code to support various features and functions which inadvertently introduces vulnerabilities.
Russian roulette, anyone?