June 17th, 2009 by Tyler
I found this great article today in the SANS Internet Storm Center Reading Room and thought I would post a link to share with our readers.
PCI DSS and Incident Handling: What is required before, during and after an incident.
It can not be stressed enough how important it is to follow PCI-DSS when credit cards come even remotely close to touching your servers. It is a comprehensive standard and can be very expensive to comply with. The cost of a breach is almost always greater than the cost of compliance!
Posted in Security, Small Business | No Comments
May 30th, 2009 by Tyler
A few weeks ago, I wrote about getting ready to attend a security competition called CANVAS: Computer and Network Vulnerability and Assessment Simulation. I was among five students in the field of Advanced Networking and Information Assurance who participated from my University, Fort Hays State University. Here’s the lowdown on what we learned at the competition.
Lessons Learned
- Just how easy an SQL Injection can be
- SQL Injections can lead to much more serious problems
- Why attack a router/firewall when the systems behind it are not secure?
- Emergency Incident Response can be stressful, but very rewarding
- Team building among geeks in time-critical environments can be interesting
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Posted in Security, Small Business | No Comments
April 7th, 2009 by Tyler
In today’s market, someone can find quality web hosting with a large company that offers $5 per month with all kinds of space and bandwidth allocated toward an account, and that person may never have any trouble with it. If you are in the hosting business, though, this creates a problem: how do you compete with the common $5 per month plan? How do you attract clients to your business over someone else?
It comes down to several elements that go well beyond a simple space and bandwidth question. What you most focus on as a small host is what you can do that the larger businesses can not.
In marketing, we call this type of analysis a SWOT diagram.
SWOT
A SWOT diagram is a simple four-square chart that analyzes the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a business. It is used for strategic direction and determining how to best position your business against your competition.
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Posted in Marketing, Small Business | 2 Comments
March 19th, 2009 by Tyler
Rumors were swirling around Wall Street yesterday that IBM was in talks to buy Sun Microsystems, the owner of technologies such as Java, MySQL, and Solaris. If this were to happen, it would certainly bring to light several interesting possibilities for Open Source Software – and especially MySQL.
IBM – although typically known for their hardware division – has some very capable software development teams in place. Popular Open Source Software that is heavily updated and maintained by the company include:
IBM also develops some closed source applications for the enterprise, primarily the Lotus package and DB2 – and it is DB2 where things could get interesting.
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Posted in Industry News, Small Business | No Comments
March 15th, 2009 by Tyler
A common question among growing web businesses who are expanding beyond the capability of a shared hosting environment is whether they should go with a Virtual Private Server (VPS) or Dedicated Server. What should a business consider when looking to upgrade beyond their basic shared or reseller account?
There are many reasons why you might be expanding beyond a shared environment and these must be addressed before you can make an informed decision.
What is a VPS, Anyway?
A VPS is a fairly recent development in the IT world that has opened many doors for medium-sized web operators. Basically, it is a dedicated server with several “virtual machines” running on it. For instance, you can have four different operating systems running at the same time, completely independently of each other. In datacenters all over the world, this technology has revolutionized how things are done.
In the old days, you might have a dedicated server sitting around using 100 GB of disk space, but only using 2-5% of a processor’s capability. Not only is this extremely inefficient, as the Internet expanded, having a dedicated server for each client got to be a monumental task for IT teams. Then virtualization was born. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in General Support Questions, Small Business | No Comments
March 11th, 2009 by Tyler
There are said to be four P’s at the core of marketing: Product, Price, Promotion, and Place. Together, these elements can allow a business to be competitive in the global marketplace of today’s economy. Businesses stretch their marketing budget thin trying to achieve these objectives, but often times overlook a growing – and free – trend of marketing via social networking.
The four P’s are elements of an expanded definition of marketing: putting your product in front of a potential customer at a time when they are most likely to buy that product, in a place where they are willing to buy it, and at a price they are willing to pay for your product. By properly leveraging these elements, a business can capitalize on their potential market and compete on a global scale.
When you are considering a marketing campaign, you look at the cost-to-benefit ratio, reach, relevancy, and return on investment of a particular advertisement. Let’s consider for a moment social networking as it relates to advertising:
1. Cost-to-Benefit Ratio
Social networking is a method of connecting people, a way to “shake hands” with anyone, anywhere in the world. The cost is typically minimal – if not free – which fits well in any budget. The benefit can vary from one customer to thousands depending on the effectiveness of your campaign, but at no cost, any benefit is a positive return for your business. Not to mention it allows your business to craft a positive public image, which can be invaluable if it helps create return customers.
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Posted in Marketing, Small Business | 3 Comments
March 1st, 2009 by Tyler
Why should a small business host their Internet services with a company like WebHostingBuzz? The answers are quite simple, but often go without notice:
- It can easily cost more to maintain your own web server than hosting off-site
- Companies like WHB have a dedicated data center under their control
- Staff is on-site to manage the equipment 24/7
- Data Centers have redundant power, cooling, and Internet Connections
- Security and integrity of data
Small Businesses Get Caught in a Trap
I often see technology situations in small businesses that are less than ideal. I have seen an active server – without Anti-Virus – being used as a workstation by a receptionist. Other times, I’ve seen servers that use public IP addresses and are not behind a firewall (hardware or software). There is simply no excuse for these oversights, but it happens frequently to small businesses.
The reason for this can often be the greed of corporate consulting companies who try to convince a small business owner to buy some “latest and greatest” “must have” product or service that is a magic solution to all a business’s problems. Even though it is sometimes nice to have a magic solution, getting charged $150 per hour (or more) when something breaks is not so nice.
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Posted in General Support Questions, Small Business | No Comments
