New Technology Reviews!.: Monitoring

Web TV audiences to be measured by Barb

<img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="90" src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com///Review%20images/What%20Video/WHV%20356/WHV356.freeiplay.xtra-200-200.jpg" width="120" /> Web TV is to finally get an audience measurement system, with Barb (the Broadcaster's Audience Research Board) announcing that it will begin monitoring web TV viewing figures. Barb will initially trial the monitoring in 100 homes in 2011, but this will be rolled out in 2012 to 1,100 homes with this reaching around 2,500 viewers. "The rollout of the web TV meter demonstrates our long-standing commitment to the development of TV audience measurement," said Bjarne Thelin, Chief Executive of Barb. "We will continually consider and verify the web TV measurement technique so that we can confirm the appropriateness of this approach for Barb. "Following this initial stage we'll evaluate the value of proceeding further and with the industry we will assess how this data can best be utilised and applied." Learning over time Barb has already been trialling its measurement software in 75 homes and it is hoping that the expansion will help with understanding how users watch web TV content and on what devices. "The prospect of a measurement which enables web-TV viewing to be examined alongside television set viewing, from a single source, will have a number of applications," said Thelin. "It's likely that the greatest initial learnings will come from data aggregated over time."

Web TV audiences to be measured by Barb

Web TV is to finally get an audience measurement system, with Barb (the Broadcaster's Audience Research Board) announcing that it will b...

The Top Ten of Audit and Event Log Monitoring

Event Log, Audit Log and Syslog messages have always been a good source of troubleshooting and diagnostic information, but the need to back up audit trail files to a centralized log server is now a mandatory component of many governance standards. Contemporary, SIEM solutions need to be • flexible enough to cater for all devices, operating systems, platforms, databases and application • sufficiently scalable to cope with thousands of devices generating millions of events • intelligent, correlating events and identifying true security incidents only so resources can focus on genuine threats and attacks.This is an introductory 'Top Ten of Audit Trail and Event Log Monitoring'. 1. Security Standards and Corporate Governance Compliance Policies such as PCI DSS and GCSx CoCo require logging mechanisms and the ability to track user activities as they are critical in preventing, detecting, or minimizing the impact of a data compromise. Other policies such as FISMA, Sarbanes Oxley, NERC CIP, ISO 27000 and HIPAA all benefit from a means of centralizing audit log events to identify security incidents.2. The state of the art in Audit Log Correlation technology provides automated configuration assessment, proactively testing and assessing a server environment against preconfigured, out-of-the-box policies, helping to enable a minimal deployment window. The best solutions leverage industry standards, specifically benchmarks from the Center for Internet Security (CIS), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). These benchmarks include thousands of configuration assessments enabling automatic sustainable policy compliance testing for FISMA.3. Security standards such as PCI DSS and GCSx CoCo mandate the need to track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data Logging mechanisms and the ability to track user activities. The presence of logs in all environments allows thorough tracking and analysis if something does go wrong. Determining the cause of a compromise is very difficult without system activity logs. A central event log analyzer is the best option to use.4. It is vital that your system for centralizing audit log trails is robust and comprehensive. PCI DSS requires your audit trail history is retained for at least one year with at least 3 months history available for immediate access. The best audit-log tracking software solutions provide real-time indexing of logs with instant keyword search and correlation facilities.5. While Unix and Linux hosts can forward audit trail and system events using syslog, Windows servers do not have an in-built mechanism for forwarding Windows Events and it is necessary to use an agent to convert Windows Event Logs to syslog. The Windows Events can then be collected centrally using your audit log server. Similarly, applications using Oracle or SQL Server or bespoke or non-standard applications do not use syslog to forward events and it is necessary to use an agent to forward events from these applications. Finally, if you are using an IBM z/OS mainframe or AS/400 system you will need further agent technology to centralize event and audit log messages.6. Audit trail history must be securely stored in order to prevent retrospective editing or any tampering. The PCI DSS requires that audit trails are promptly backed up to a centralized log server or media that is difficult to alter. The best centralized log server solutions employ file-integrity monitoring for the log backup files so that any modifications can be detected and alerted.7. Firewalls (Checkpoint, McAfee Sidewinder, Juniper, Netscreen, Cisco ASA, Nokia, Intrusion Protection System (IPS), Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), routers and RADIUS accounting and authorization services, vulnerability scanning solutions such as Retine eEye, Nessus and other Pen Testing solutions, wireless routers, switches all natively generate syslog messages to report a range of events from the low-level informational logs through to critical events.8. Syslog messages are defined in RFC 3164 and is officially known as the BSD Syslog Protocol. Syslog messages are sent using UDP on port 514 by default although different ports can be used. Syslog messages use a range of Facility Codes and Severity Codes. The Facility Codes range from 0 to 23 and determine the message type. The Severity Codes range from 0 to 7 as follows:0 Emergency: system is unusable 1 Alert: action must be taken immediately 2 Critical: critical conditions 3 Error: error conditions 4 Warning: warning conditions 5 Notice: normal but significant condition 6 Informational: informational messages 7 Debug: debug-level messages9. The Security Information and Event Management or SIEM market as defined by Gartner covers the advanced generation of solutions that not only harvest audit logs and provide centralized log server functions but parse event log messages and analyze event logs as they are stored. This allows event logs to be correlated to identify hacker activity and attack patterns and notify IT security teams. The best SIEM systems employ a range of artificial intelligence capabilities to recognize threat signatures by cross-referencing events from IPS, IDS and RADIUS systems, Anti-Virus, Host Integrity Monitoring systems, File Integrity Monitoring software, Firewalls, Active Directory and watching for classic hacker activity such as deletion of log files and "brute force" hacks where repeated/sequential logon failures or bad password events will be generated.10. The goal for any SIEM solution is to provide comprehensive log harvesting, automatically filter out all 'information only' or 'normal operation' events while placing a spotlight on a manageable list of genuine, serious attack patterns or security incidents. Even a medium sized enterprise can have thousands or hundreds of thousands of events generated by devices in their infrastructure so a properly implemented SIEM system is invaluable.	 	 		 			 				 					 						All NewNetTechnologies software solutions are built using the latest technology, which means they can be fully adapted to suit all business environments. For more information on <a href="http://www.newnettechnologies.com/event-log-management.html" target="_new">Event Log Management</a> view our software solutions on <a href="http://www.newnettechnologies.com" target="_new">http://www.newnettechnologies.com</a> which provide 100% of the features you need but at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions.

The Top Ten of Audit and Event Log Monitoring

Event Log, Audit Log and Syslog messages have always been a good source of troubleshooting and diagnostic information, but the need to ba...

Monitoring Your Child Online

Most parents usually just monitor and keep their kids safe in the real world, usually monitoring where they are, what they are doing, who they are with and who are their friends. That is the real world, what about the other world?The virtual or online world is a dangerous playground, its dangerous especially if children are not monitored. The child safety on the internet cannot be compromise, just like the real world. The Internet is growing and evolving fast with technology popping out everyday which will change the way we communicate, interact and live our life. With social websites everywhere, web evolving with web 2.0, it is very important that we see that the child is monitored online and that the child safety on the internet is not at stake. It is as important as in the real world, where we would monitor our children while they are playing, in the online world, we would need to monitor our children while they are online as well.Most children now a days are introduced to computer at a very young age. Usually at about age 5 plus onwards, when they are learning about everything around them, they are already exposed to technology. I guess the first thing they are exposed to which will hook them on, is the television. I mean you see kids watching TV day in and out, if there's no control over that, everyone can imagine what the child would learn from the medium. I am sure as a parent you have also noticed that children also learn new things fast at this age when they are exposed to media. They will learn new words and actions, mimic things learned from TV, all these happens very fast with the growing mind. As parents, it is our responsibility to ensure they are learning the correct things and filter out the bad things.With the Internet growing fast, as parents, it is important to watch and monitor over them. I mean if your kid is glued to the computer all day at home, it does not mean he is safe and in no danger. The danger lies in the knowledge he is gaining from the virtual world. Good things, bad things, all are absorbed into the ever curious mind that is learning every single moment. It is our responsibility that we must know exactly what your child is surfing online. This would enable us to filter out bad things and ensuring good knowledge learned.Generally I think most parents are totally unaware of what their children are doing online. Most of them think that as long as their kids are home, they are safe. If you see, in the real world, kids might hang out at a local mall and mix around with bad company. You will want to ensure who he is with and what sort of company he is with. In virtual term, he is at home, but he is mixing around with people online, chats, messenger...etc, and there are bad company online as well. This also posed as a danger equal to a kid hanging out at a local mall with bad company. With chats, one does not need to see a person in real, so its even easier to talk to strangers. And with no contact in real, one cannot even assessed the stranger's body language as to what he might be up to. Without the real contact, the stranger can pretend to be a nice person with words, and personal information could be reveal easily too.Another danger could your child is breaking the law unknowingly. In the real world, if your child steals or shoplifts, the law would have caught up with him. In internet world, hacking into people's computer, downloading illegally, is the same as breaking into someone house stealing their things. If you know that your child is learning about hacking and such, then you can quickly take action and explain what is right and wrong to him, before any bad consequences can happen.I feel that it is important to monitor a child online. We must be completely aware of what they are doing online and who they are chatting with. People might argue that isn't that an invasion of the child's privacy? If its monitoring an adult, then I think that is defined as invasion of privacy. But for children, we are the guardian of the kid and we are responsible for their behavior and safety. So, stepping into their privacy zone, I would feel that it is an action to protect the child. Of course, when approaching your children to discuss what danger they might be in, you will have to be tactful in creating the conversation such that it does not hurt the kid's ego and esteem.It is our responsibilities as parents to ensure that we protect our children online. The child safety on the internet must never be compromised. Even adults also get conned and tricked online, so what about little kids? Monitor your child online today.www.child-monitoring-online.blogspot.com Kelvin KL Lee is a freelance educator and artist/designer.

Monitoring Your Child Online

Most parents usually just monitor and keep their kids safe in the real world, usually monitoring where they are, what they are doing, who t...

Monitoring Your Child Online

Most parents usually just monitor and keep their kids safe in the real world, usually monitoring where they are, what they are doing, who they are with and who are their friends. That is the real world, what about the other world?The virtual or online world is a dangerous playground, its dangerous especially if children are not monitored. The child safety on the internet cannot be compromise, just like the real world. The Internet is growing and evolving fast with technology popping out everyday which will change the way we communicate, interact and live our life. With social websites everywhere, web evolving with web 2.0, it is very important that we see that the child is monitored online and that the child safety on the internet is not at stake. It is as important as in the real world, where we would monitor our children while they are playing, in the online world, we would need to monitor our children while they are online as well.Most children now a days are introduced to computer at a very young age. Usually at about age 5 plus onwards, when they are learning about everything around them, they are already exposed to technology. I guess the first thing they are exposed to which will hook them on, is the television. I mean you see kids watching TV day in and out, if there's no control over that, everyone can imagine what the child would learn from the medium. I am sure as a parent you have also noticed that children also learn new things fast at this age when they are exposed to media. They will learn new words and actions, mimic things learned from TV, all these happens very fast with the growing mind. As parents, it is our responsibility to ensure they are learning the correct things and filter out the bad things.With the Internet growing fast, as parents, it is important to watch and monitor over them. I mean if your kid is glued to the computer all day at home, it does not mean he is safe and in no danger. The danger lies in the knowledge he is gaining from the virtual world. Good things, bad things, all are absorbed into the ever curious mind that is learning every single moment. It is our responsibility that we must know exactly what your child is surfing online. This would enable us to filter out bad things and ensuring good knowledge learned.Generally I think most parents are totally unaware of what their children are doing online. Most of them think that as long as their kids are home, they are safe. If you see, in the real world, kids might hang out at a local mall and mix around with bad company. You will want to ensure who he is with and what sort of company he is with. In virtual term, he is at home, but he is mixing around with people online, chats, messenger...etc, and there are bad company online as well. This also posed as a danger equal to a kid hanging out at a local mall with bad company. With chats, one does not need to see a person in real, so its even easier to talk to strangers. And with no contact in real, one cannot even assessed the stranger's body language as to what he might be up to. Without the real contact, the stranger can pretend to be a nice person with words, and personal information could be reveal easily too.Another danger could your child is breaking the law unknowingly. In the real world, if your child steals or shoplifts, the law would have caught up with him. In internet world, hacking into people's computer, downloading illegally, is the same as breaking into someone house stealing their things. If you know that your child is learning about hacking and such, then you can quickly take action and explain what is right and wrong to him, before any bad consequences can happen.I feel that it is important to monitor a child online. We must be completely aware of what they are doing online and who they are chatting with. People might argue that isn't that an invasion of the child's privacy? If its monitoring an adult, then I think that is defined as invasion of privacy. But for children, we are the guardian of the kid and we are responsible for their behavior and safety. So, stepping into their privacy zone, I would feel that it is an action to protect the child. Of course, when approaching your children to discuss what danger they might be in, you will have to be tactful in creating the conversation such that it does not hurt the kid's ego and esteem.It is our responsibilities as parents to ensure that we protect our children online. The child safety on the internet must never be compromised. Even adults also get conned and tricked online, so what about little kids? <a href="http://www.child-monitoring-online.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow" target="_new">Monitor your child online</a> today.	 	 		 			 				 					 						<a href="http://www.child-monitoring-online.blogspot.com" target="_new">www.child-monitoring-online.blogspot.com</a> Kelvin KL Lee is a freelance educator and artist/designer.

Monitoring Your Child Online

Most parents usually just monitor and keep their kids safe in the real world, usually monitoring where they are, what they are doing, who...

Monitoring Your Child Online

Monitoring Your Child Online

Most parents usually just monitor and keep their kids safe in the real world, usually monitoring where they are, what they are doing, who...

Monitoring Employee Internet Use

Internet Abuse in the WorkplaceThe Internet has become an invaluable resource in the workplace, the world's biggest reference library, social media center, and pornography outlet is now only a click away. This availability presents a significant risk factor for employer liability and costs employers thousands of hours in productivity each day. Monitoring employee internet use is one way to reduce employer liability, and whether or not you agree with the principles behind internet monitoring, many employers agree that it is a necessary evil.Internet abusers range from upper management employees in private offices viewing hardcore pornography, to the department assistant in a cubicle that spends 3 hours a day doing online shopping, making travel arrangements, and paying bills through the company Internet. Internet abuse is endemic in the workplace and organizations are being forced to face the problem head on, or suffer the consequences.Among the many consequences of internet abuse is a loss of productivity and scores of litigation issues such as sexual harassment, hostile work environment and discrimination. Monitoring Employee Internet access is one way that an organization can limit its liability.Defining Internet AbuseDefining Internet abuse is the first challenge, and creating an organization wide acceptable use policy (AUP) is the first step in the definition. An AUP defines what constitutes internet abuse in your organization. What was acceptable internet behavior in one organization may be unacceptable in another, so the AUP is a highly customized policy, based on the organizational mission. The organization determines what lines will be drawn when it comes to internet abuse.The key to a successful AUP implementation in most organizations is similar to other policy development issues in the workplace. There must be "buy-in" from the "top-down", in other words, the leaders of the organization must agree to the principles of the AUP and endeavor to push that policy down to the directors, managers and supervisors within the organization. The most critical stage of AUP development is dependant on upper management "buy-in" and their willingness to demonstrate the importance of this policy to the rest of the organization.Internet WorkshopsHolding a series of Internet workshops with the employees of your organization is one way to introduce your new acceptable use policy. As an educational session, an internet workshop can address the sensitive issues surrounding internet abuse in an open forum where employees can ask questions and provide input in a non-confrontational setting.During the internet workshop, the organization can begin to educate the employees about Internet abuse and give them a chance to re-evaluate their internet habits at work. It is important to be as open as possible with your employees regarding your chosen methodology for enforcing the AUP.For example, if the organization has decided to employ internet blocking technologies, the AUP should define the specific types of websites that will be blocked, for example, many organizations block pornography, "gross depictions" and "hate" websites. Discussing the types of websites the organization has decided to block and answering questions regarding the reasons for blocking will reinforce the organizational mission, and demonstrate the types of websites that are inappropriate within your organization.If your organization is going to monitor and report on employee internet access, the workshop will give you a chance to show the employees what the internet reports look like, and discuss the circumstances in which they will be used. Taking the mystery out of what the organization is planning in regards to internet monitoring and blocking will reduce employee speculation and set new expectations throughout the organization.Problems with Internet MonitoringThe technical aspects of blocking website access and monitoring employee internet access are not without problems. The software for blocking websites has advanced tremendously over the past 5 years; however, there are still problems with blocking "all" inappropriate websites and blocking websites that you did not intend to block. No system is perfect and you will need assistance from your selected software / hardware vendor in addition to your information systems department.If possible, it is always better to meet, in person, with the vendor representatives prior to the purchase of any internet monitoring software. Voice your concerns with the vendor and secure "after sale" support with the vendor help desk. If you have an information systems department, make sure they are involved from the start of the project to help address any technical problems that the new system could bring.Monitoring Employee Internet Access- the People SideOutside of the technical issues that will occur, the people side of internet monitoring can be the most problematic of all. Even with the dissemination of information given at the internet workshop and taking great care during your policy development, some employees will, inevitably feel that internet monitoring is unfair. Given this fact, it is of the utmost importance that the internet reports are accurate, beyond question. Even if they are correct, there are still issues to consider. The scenarios listed below are examples of how employees could react if they are confronted with the accusation of internet abuse. Moreover, the excuses below may be completely accurate and good explanation by the accused."It wasn't me!"It's always possible that some other person was on the accused employee's computer surfing the Internet. Once a user steps away from the computer anything can happen. Another person sits down and starts using the computer logged in as the accused, everything they do on the Internet is recorded under somebody else's name. One suggestion is to have the user lock their computer before leaving for an extended period of time; this will reduce the chances of misidentification of the internet abuser."They have my password"This is a similar situation to the one mentioned above, if I have a user's password, I could log-in as the user and all of my internet access would be attributed to them. How they got the password is another issue entirely, however the user makes a good point and has a potentially valid excuse for an internet report that shows abuse."The Internet Report is Wrong"This can occur if the monitoring software is setup incorrectly or if there are network issues causing identification problems. This is another reason why you want your information systems department involved from the start and technical support from the vendor who sold you the internet monitoring solution. Defending a internet report that shows abuse is a difficult when you don't understand how the technical aspects of internet monitoring work.The Bottom LineInternet reporting is not an exact science, the reports could be wrong, and the person accused of Internet abuse may be completely innocent. The key is to research the potential offender and look into their history. People who abuse the internet usually have a history of doing so, so look into their past Internet use first and then look at the internet records on their computer. In short, do a "reality check". Too often we take technology for its word and fail to look on the human side for insight that may confirm or make us question our suspicions. This practice will help reduce the number of errors that could be made during the investigation of internet abuse, and help the employer maintain their credibility.SummaryInternet abuse is a fact of life in most large organizations today. Monitoring employee internet use and employing blocking technologies can be helpful in reducing employer liability and improving employee productivity. Developing an acceptable use policy to outline acceptable internet behavior in your organization is the first step in the process. To implement this policy successfully, the policy must be supported by upper, mid, and line level managers. The organization should endeavor, with enthusiasm, to educate the employees of the organization about internet abuse and share the organizations plans to monitoring use and block inappropriate websites.Prior to purchasing a software or hardware solution for internet monitoring / blocking, a vendor should be selected and invited into the organization to explain the technical problems that can occur with internet monitoring and blocking technologies. During this vendor selection process it is very important to include your information systems department and other technical staff. Arranging after-sale support with your vendor of choice is highly recommended.Finally, there is the people side of the problem. Internet monitoring and blocking are only as good as the software and hardware solutions that are developed. There are many ways that these solutions can fail, so doing a thorough investigation prior to accusing an employee of internet abuse is also highly recommended.	 	 		 			 				 					 						Steve Thomas is a network analyst and has a website located at <a href="http://www.drivinglaws.org" target="_new">http://www.drivinglaws.org</a> that provides information about hands-free driving laws across the United States

Monitoring Employee Internet Use

Internet Abuse in the Workplace The Internet has become an invaluable resource in the workplace, the world's biggest reference librar...