Google Acquires VirusTotal, Adds Online Security Capabilities to its Portfolio

Google has acquired VirusTotal, a free service that analyzes suspicious files and URLs and facilitates the detection of viruses, worms, trojans and malware.

According to VirusTotal, two key elements of the acquisition are “great news for (customers), and bad news for malware generators.” Namely, VirusTotal says the quality and power of its malware research tools will keep improving and most likely get faster and Google’s infrastructure will ensure that its tools are always ready when needed.

Google May Have Internal Motives

Some observers think Google is purchasing VirusTotal in an effort to boost the security of its own Internet services, rather than to increase the security of VirusTotal customers. For example, a FirstPost Technology article states Google bought the “fledgling but widely used cyber-security industry player in a move that could beef up protection for its Internet services.”  

The article goes on to say VirusTotal “could significantly shore up the search giant’s ability to weed out infectious content from Gmail, social network Google+ and even the pages it shows search users.”

And stating “Companies like Google have to be especially cautious when it comes to security,” VentureBeat also speculated Google is looking to internally benefit from VirusTotal’s security know how, commenting, “Google plans to keep the technology up and running, and, in return, gain from the employees’ expertise in the security industry.”

So far Google has made minimal public commentary on the acquisition, but did tell VentureBeat it is “delighted to be able to provide (VirusTotal) with the infrastructure they need to ensure that their service continues to improve.”

Google Takes Security Seriously

Even before purchasing VirusTotal, Google made it clear that as a company it takes IT security seriously. In May 2012, Google earned an ISO 27001 information security certification for Google Apps Business. The certification designates that Google is following security best practices for systems, technology, processes and data centers that support Google Apps for Business. ISO certification is well-respected, especially in highly regulated industries, for its rigorousness.

This is not the first security certification for Google. The company obtained FISMA certification for Google Apps Government and has regular third-party audits for SSAE 16/ISAE 3402, a standard similar to the ISO 27001 certification. But as CMSWire pointed out in an article about the certification, “It’s unlikely that Google is seeking a pat on the back for its hard work achieving the certification. This move is about one thing: Wooing customers.” Purchasing VirusTotal is likely another signal to users of Google’s various Internet services that their security is a top priority.

Google is a longtime VirusTotal partner. VirusTotal will continue to operate independently, maintaining partnerships with other antivirus companies and security experts. Financial details were not disclosed.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Driving Business Efficiency: Process and Project Management Fusion & the Impact of Time

Webster’s dictionary defines “fusion” as a merging of diverse, distinct or separate elements into a unified whole. In the past while the word fusion was typically used in the context of energy, most recently it has become associated with food and music. “Asian fusion” restaurants offer an East meets West culinary experience, and today’s music offers a fusion of styles, combining jazz with rock or ethnic elements with more traditional sounds.

Technology has also created fusion with the merging of product offerings. Previously telephone and cable providers offered specific "point solutions" only; today they compete with offerings that fuse voice, Internet, television and cellular products. This fusion of services has separated the companies that offer all-in-one packages from those that offer single products alone, leaving the single service providers looking for ways to recapture lost business.

Given current economic conditions, organizations need to be innovative to drive new business. One of the ways many are achieving this is by focusing on improvements within their infrastructure. These improvements, such as those that involve a company’s business processes, have the capacity to transform the businesses themselves, leading to innovation and opportunities. In his book "Management Challenges for the 21st Century," Peter Drucker stated that “Continuous process improvements transform the business. They lead to innovation. They lead to new processes. They lead to new business.”

Not all business processes, however, were created equal. Structured business processes often exist alongside of ad hoc processes, as well as activity-based processes (which more closely resemble projects). Different types of processes need different kinds of interfaces to optimize and manage them.

While there will always be a requirement to manage both structured and un-structured processes, what is needed is technology that can manage and improve all processes, regardless of type. This is particularly true as companies continue to operate with fewer resources and need to find solutions that help them achieve faster and better returns. That requirement sets the stage for tools that offer a fusion of traditional process management with the ability to also embrace project management requirements.

Driving Competitive Advantage

As a prerequisite for innovation, companies must strive to achieve greater operational effectiveness. To do so, they must improve their internal processes. That enables them to remain competitive, while providing quality services and products. Streamlining internal processes further enables these organizations to become more efficient and, consequently, more competitive.

As a result of implementing new methodologies and approaches, articulated and measured as part of key corporate initiatives, today’s business leaders can point to track records that demonstrate performance improvements within their organizations.

Process improvement strategies and initiatives, including Lean Six Sigma, Business Optimization and Business Process Management, have improved process management. While these Initiatives are excellent at establishing baselines and metrics for the anticipated improvement, the Initiatives often fall short of the goal by failing to address one very vital dimension: Time.

Time is a critical element in the planning, oversight and improvement of business processes. Organizations must seek not only to automate and streamline processes, but to also reduce the overall amount of time it takes to execute those processes. This is particularly true for processes that are repeated with great frequency or those for whom timely completion is a requirement, not an option.

 

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Source : cmswire[dot]com

Granicus Helps Grow Citizen Participation with New Features

It’s not often the words transparency and citizen engagement are used in the same sentence, but they are essential elements if you really want to innovate and evolve your community into taking meaningful action. Which is why the folks at Granicus announced new features aimed at empowering its Citizen Participation Suite users to better collect and analyze feedback from their community.

Making Cloud-Based Government a Viable Option

For the past few years, Granicus has made the case for cloud computing at the government level. With cloud computing, they argued, government agencies can defer costs, improve productivity and increase collaboration. Furthermore, with their platform, Granicus provides the cloud-based government transparency tools necessary to spearhead community innovation.

Whether it’s thanks to the Obama Administration’s push for transparent government, or better availability and scalability of cloud software, there’s been a growing interest in online community collaboration within the government sector. Public agencies want to have more in-depth and meaningful dialogues with their citizens online, but traditional social media isn’t solving this problem.

Citizen Participation Thrives on Transparency

The new features in Granicus’ Citizen Participation Suite are focused on bringing together the right combination of crowdsourcing and other civic engagement tools with the aim of making social collaboration work for government. The new features are designed to help government staff members facilitate more productive discussions with members of the public, including:

Discussion Analytics — Users can analyze public feedback with tools like geo-coding, word tags and demographic filters, which can help government agencies understand where community feedback is coming from and what topics mean the most to them. In turn, these insights can help drive better government decisions and actions.

Projects - The new projects feature combines three powerful community engagement tools into a simple package for community planners allowing governments to educate their community about upcoming projects and allow for public input online through idea forums, discussions, and surveys — all for a single project.

Granicus lets residents submit ideas for community improvement. Citizens can vote, comment and share other ideas, helping local governments prioritize what’s most important.

eComment — Granicus also upgraded the usability and design of its flagship citizen participation tool called eComment. Now, Citizen Participation Suite users have an easier way to solicit participation in their public meetings using a “Feedback” widget on their website. This widget simplifies participation by allowing citizens to comment on upcoming meeting agenda items electronically before the meeting, through video or text, instead of attending the meeting in person. Current eComment users will have access to these upgrades for free.

eComment provides an easy way to add voices to the democratic process and makes participation in public meetings convenient.

A Civic Action

By combining Granicus’ public engagement tools into a single solution, governments of any size are empowered to streamline community collaboration workflows, simplifying how agencies manage and measure large volumes of citizen requests and inquiries related to projects, plans and public meeting agenda items.

At a time when the need for more public works are confronted by a need for a reduction in government spending, tools like Granicus’ Citizen Participation Suite help give citizens a voice and a chance to take civic action.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com