In ancient times, cities were often walled fortresses, with heavily guarded perimeters, and strangers were closely scrutinized before being allowed to pass through the gates. Likewise, in the “old days” of computer networking, there were strict lines of demarcation between …

“Knowledge is power” – scientia potential est in Latin – is an aphorism commonly attributed to Sir Francis Bacon. It’s true, but what we sometimes forget is that information (much less raw data) does not equal knowledge. Data consists of …

Some of my younger friends may not have ever encountered an old-fashioned fax machine, but I remember them well. There was a time when it seemed nothing short of a miracle to feed a document into it and have someone …

When Tim Berners-Lee first conceived of a system of interlinked documents that could be accessed over a world-wide network, nobody could have foreseen what a tangled Web we would weave. Today’s web is an amazing source of information and entertainment. …

Removable storage devices offer a big convenience for easy transfer of data from one computer to another – but they also bring with them a big security risk. The ability to copy gigabytes of company information to a tiny card …

A couple of months ago, I postulated here that, far from being dead, email is alive and kicking in business organizations around the world. We talked about how to secure those messages from attackers, but that’s only part of the …

You know how important it is to keep all the systems on your network updated – you’ve certainly been told often enough. And if you operate in a regulated industry, it’s not just a good idea – it’s a requirement. Part of …

Slowly but surely, many IT professionals have gotten past the initial fear and anger (which was based on the idea that the Cloud would drastically change or even eliminate their jobs). They are not only accepting the move to the …

The current consensus among the “cool crowd” of tech pundits seems to be that email is dead. Instant messaging and social networking have supposedly made it obsolete. They’ll tell you that business is moving toward a more “real time” model …