Certification Magazine - October 2007 - (Page 3)

EDITOR’S LETTER Tools and Techniques for the IT Professional No Online Pay? No Way SARAH STONE WUNDER Like most people, I have grown to rely increasingly on technology. All my bills, credit card payments, prescription reﬁlls and photo printing, and most of my shopping, dining and pizza-delivery requests — just about everything I do in life, I do online. In fact, I opened my current checking account two years ago, and this month, I wrote my rent check on check No. 143. Bear in mind that my checks started with 100. Essentially, this means that over the past two years, I’ve managed to write a whopping 43 checks. Every other transaction during that period was done with cash, plastic or online. The daily reliance on technology is a realization most folks probably have accepted over the past few years, and it’s a realization that businesses, with any luck, are ﬁnally starting to embrace — the old, paper-based methods of business have gone the way of the dinosaur. According to a new Robert Half Technology survey, most chief information ofﬁcers said their companies’ technical support teams are, on average, 40 percent smaller than they optimally should be. Businesses understaffed technologywise probably notice diminishing returns to the bottom line — technology leads to convenience, and convenience almost always leads to higher sales. For example, I hold a few department store credit cards. Until recently, all but one of those cards sent me paperless statements and let me pay my bills online. After a few late payments and frantic searches for stamps, I stopped using the card that I couldn’t pay online. A few months ago, the store ﬁnally set up online payments, and I quickly started spending again. Now, I don’t want to suggest that my passive resistance directly led to this store enabling online bill pay (believe me, I don’t spend that much). Chances are this company ﬁnally realized just how behind the times it was. Overall, most businesses, even the smallest ones, are beginning to recognize they can’t compete locally or globally without a robust online component. Have you noticed yourself avoiding technology-free situations? If so, I’d love to hear your stories. Send an e-mail to at sarah@certmag.com. 8 VOLUME 9 ISSUE 10 OCTOBER 2007 GROUP PUBLISHER John R. Taggart | jrtag@certmag.com EDITOR IN CHIEF Norman B. Kamikow | nkam@certmag.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Mike Prokopeak | mikep@certmag.com MANAGING EDITOR Sarah Stone Wunder | sarah@certmag.com TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Ed Tittel | etittel@certmag.com SENIOR EDITORS Brian Summerﬁeld | bsummerﬁeld@certmag.com Kellye Whitney | kwhitney@certmag.com COPY EDITOR Lisa Rummler | lrummler@certmag.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS Tegan Jones | tjones@certmag.com Daniel Margolis | dmargolis@certmag.com EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Ben Warden | bwarden@certmag.com DIRECTOR, CREATIVE & PRODUCTION SERVICES Kendra Chaplin | kendra@certmag.com PRODUCTION MANAGER Linda Dziwak | linda@certmag.com WEB MANAGER Chris Patterson | cpatterson@certmag.com DESIGNER Spencer Thayer | spencer@certmag.com E-MEDIA MANAGER Kat O’Connor | koconnor@certmag.com TRAFFIC COORDINATOR Cassandra Schmutz | cassandra@certmag.com VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS Gwen Connelly | gwen@certmag.com EVENTS MANAGER Trey Smith | tsmith@certmag.com EVENTS COORDINATOR Christen MacKenzie | cmackenzie@certmag.com BUSINESS MANAGER Vince Czarnowski | vince@certmag.com CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Cindy Cardinal | ccardinal@certmag.com LIST MANAGER Jay Schwedelson | mediatec@worldata.com REPRINTS reprints@parsintl.com OR call David Einziger at 212-221-9595, ext. 407 ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER & ADVERTISING DIRECTOR James R. Yeakel | jyeakel@certmag.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Dave Lienemann | davel@certmag.com Lisa Newton | lnewton@certmag.com PUBLISHER’S ASSISTANT Sarah Ryan | sryan@certmag.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Wayne Anderson Katherine Spencer Lee Jay Bavisi Daniel Margolis Bruce Culbert Linda Musthaler Tegan Jones Lisa Rummler Kellye Shermach Brian Summerﬁeld Ken Wagner Ben Warden Kellye Whitney Norman B. Kamikow PRESIDENT Philip S. Wolin GENERAL COUNSEL John R. Taggart EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Patricia Pierce CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Certiﬁcation Magazine (ISSN 1529-6903) is published monthly by MediaTec Publishing Inc., 318 Harrison St., Suite 301, Oakland, CA 94607. Periodicals Class Postage Paid at Oakland, CA and at additional mailing ofﬁces. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to: Certiﬁcation Magazine, P.O. Box 2083, Skokie, IL 60076-7983. Subscriptions are free to qualiﬁed IT professionals. Non-qualiﬁed paid subscriptions are available at the subscription price of $39.97 for 12 issues. Canada/Mexico orders must be prepaid in U.S. funds with an additional $15 postage charge. All other countries outside the U.S. must be prepaid in U.S. funds with an additional $40 postage surcharge. Certiﬁcation Magazine, CertMag and CertMag.com are the trademarks of MediaTec Publishing Inc. Copyright © 2007, MediaTec Publishing Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction of material published in Certiﬁcation Magazine is forbidden without permission. Sarah Stone Wunder Managing Editor sarah@certmag.com Printed by: RR Donnelley Inc., Mendota, IL October 2007 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE 3 http://CertMag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Certification Magazine - October 2007

Editor's Letter Contents Data Stream Tech Careers Dear Techie Academic Connection Virtual Village Rebooting Your Career Development Inside Certification Forensics Investigators: Cybercrime Fighters Interface Building Your Skills Through Security Tools Ad Index Endtag

Certification Magazine - October 2007

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