Threats come in all shapes and sizes, but all of them can, ultimately, cause damage to an organization <sic>

And earlier tonight I’ve been involved in another Facebook chat about security with a friend that I thought would know better. If anything though, his initial re-post of a bit of Facebook spam has at least done something. It’s caused me to jump in on the thread and put over my point of view.

Am I right?

I think so.

But what say you? Should security be a one off concern or an ongoing one? And let me be clear here … I’m talking essentially about cyber or online security but equally this applies to the real world as well. Would you go on holiday and leave your house unlocked? No, so why then allow the world to see your high jinks on places like Facebook?

And I’m not picking on Facebook here.

Far from it. Any social network or publicly accessible forum needs to be treated with the appropriate caution. If you want a place to unburden or unload your frustrations then either make sure it’s private or you are anonymous – or as anonymous as being on the internet allows you to be.

I have ways I do that if needed but have never yet felt the need.

So proactive or reactive – which are you?

Ongoing Security is a post from: Church Techy

Anwyay, I had a need to take a screenshot of an app I use and had no idea how to do this. As ever in these situations, Google was my friend.

I discovered that for HTC Android based phones you need to:

“hold the power button & then click on your home button”.

A short camera noise will alert you to the success of this and the image itself is on your film roll.

That’s it.

HTC Screen Grab is a post from: Church Techy

I’ve just had a metaphorical kick up the backside.

Some of you may know – most probably don’t – that I’ve harboured a desire to gather techs be they hardware or software fans or even both. Whether they be sound or video or AV, or IT or media or film or ….! Basically there is no limit and minimal restriction – if you are a tech or know a tech then please read on or get the tech to read on.

I don’t want to gather them to build a community.

I don’t want to boost my reputation.

I want to build a worldwide database of techs and their abilities.

I want that database to be restrictive in only two ways.

1. You must be a christian walking the walk.
2. And you must be a tech head who’s willing to serve.

With that out of the way you’ll be wanting the why – well let me outline the vision a little bit:

A desire to serve the smaller Church, charity, non-profit, small business and others whom don’t have access to dedicated and / or regular support – be that via volunteer or paid basis. To see this be a vehicle to serve the Church and community so that God’s love may be seen by our actions. To see this be a vehicle that will draw together those from different backgrounds; denominations; race; creed; upbringing; etc. To see this work so that the local Church may better fulfill its own destiny.

I have let this vision slip but I have never stopped believing in it.

I want us to be an army of techs able, willing and ready to meet the tech needs of our local churches – wherever that may be.

But I’m not asking you to do this for nothing – though that is of course your right and your blessing to do so – in fact all this was born out of my desire to see the local churches to me be better served by local techs. I personally know 3 or 4 local techs with varying skillsets and if I thought harder could probably think of and find a few more. I wanted my home town to have the best tech served set of churches in the world. I wanted us, on meagre budgets to help our local and smaller churches be able to walk alongside (not compete) with the bigger churches.

I don’t want an us & them situation.

I want us all to pull together.

I want us all to use our talents and abilities to help further God’s kingdom. After all, as a tech not serving in a large church I often wonder whether I’m in the right place or not. I wonder why others get to play with new ideas & kit and I struggle to keep 6 to 10yr old PCs going with no budget and wonder why I’m placed where I am.

I want techs to have a purpose.

I want techs to know they are valued – even if that value has a monetary gain for them.

If you want to read the full vision then have look here.

So what say you?

Do you want to use your talents and abilities for more than just your day job?

If you do work for the church then consider:

• the potential to earn more
• or to serve others less fortunate

If the answer is yes then all I need at this stage is for you to contact me and give me some very basic information:

• Name & Contact details
• Location – doesn’t have to be precise, just an area, county & country at this stage
• The capabilities you’d be willing to serve others with – whether free or paid

If you aren’t happy to divulge this info yet then please do get in touch so we can begin to build a relationship.

Without God and your willingness then this won’t happen.

So one final thing …

Please pass this along to any techs you know

Tech Call to Arms is a post from: Church Techy

A time saver – for the end user if not for the creator.

They originated in car manufacturing back in 1994, but in the last few years they’ve become much more available – from the giant building size codes visible from space via company’s such as Blue Marble to QR codes on your business cards. The key thing about them is the amount of data the code can hold is more than a simple one visible line.

They are being used in education – in sales – in marketing – in … well you get the idea. If you can think of somewhere then it’s likely a QR code could be used.

And therein also lies a problem.

As we become more and more used to them and in some cases even dependent on them then so the bad guys will use them.

Consider how easily we accept QR codes as benign and just scan them in.

(The following taken from the Optimal Security blog)

•  Malicious URLs are at all time highs – from Q2 2011 to Q4 2011 they are up an additional 89%
• QR scanning growth is exploding – the Mobile Barcode Trend Report provides interesting statics:
  o Active users of QR codes is up 525%
  o Average number of scans per code is up 39%
• Mobile Marketer reports QR code scanning is up 4,549%
•  It’s easy for anyone to create a QR code with any kind of content
•  Mobile devices such as iPhones and Androids out of the box are poorly equipped to deal with filtering QR codes and their underlying URLs
•   Malicious QR codes are already in use and are making money for the bad guys. It is a certainty that the use of malicious QR codes will expand.

When you consider the explosive use of QR codes then have we, the techs, kept up with educating the end users of possible dangers?

Are all of us techs aware that we can equip our smart devices with 3rd party scanning tools that we would natively install on our desltops?

Or how about getting the tech industry to only release apps that pre-emptively pre-scan and advise us of what the URL(s) we are about to visit are? As it happens, Google Goggles does this and is one of a very few that do.

QR Codes – good, bad or ugly?

QR Codes is a post from: Church Techy

I’m certain we could all list bad service but would you include the like of the following examples that have all happened to me in the last 2 or 3 weeks – and personally being busy at Christmas is no excuse for not providing a reasonable level of service.

1. I’ve wanted to purchase a pair of ZEMgear’s for use with my martial arts training – the dobok (gym) where we train is usually covered in sand and other muck so these would help out. Also I could use them in my garage / decking when training at home.

Anyway I contacted the UK distributor of these only to not receive an answer. So I sent a fresh email and CC’d in the US manufacturer. I got a reply from the US within a day or two but still not the UK. Replied as such to the US whom apologised on their behalf, etc but still 2 weeks later and nothing.

2. Or then there’s the UK company (only just down the road from me) that have replied to my email but only opted to answer one of the questions.

3. Or how about the internet service company that needs 2 or 3 prompts to actually supply an answer to a query from a paying customer.

4. Or the service supplier who just closes tickets off without telling you what they did to fix the problem.

These are but 4 of many examples I could cite – but all are very recent.

And as I said above being busy over the Christmas period is not an excuse. It will cause me to give them more latitude in how long it takes to reply, but after several week amy patience wears thin.

But in truth it doesn’t take much to get it right.

So what about good service then?

Yes, I rightfully complain to, hopefully, the right people about poor service but equally I will praise a company and write to them to say thank you. I even go so far as to find out the name of the person that dealt with me and thank them personally as well as singling them out in the letter / email.

And how does one improve the level of service?

And I’m sure there are more you could add…. but ultimately it does come down to the senior management within a company – if the ethos they push down the line is all about profit then customer service will go by the by.

- so what’s your service like?
- how do you handle good / bad service?

Service is a post from: Church Techy

It would appear that an upgrade to WordPress 3.3 has severely mangled my blog.

The theme and back end operations are all to pot – so over the next few days / weeks I’m hoping to fix it. In the meantime I apologise for the changes you’ll no doubt see …

EDIT: It would appear that a downgrade to 3.2 has fixed most of my problems – still only have html edit available but will see what the WP boys n girls come up with as a fix.

Apologies is a post from: Church Techy

Today, just before I enter 2012 I thought I’d re-hash that post to remind myself why I do what I do.

I need that ….

I need to remind myself.

I need to throw the challenge out there so that others might be challenged too.

So…. without further ado, here’s my 10 (some are a repeat)

1. It is what I’m called to do.

2. As an “armour bearer” my prime role is that of servant. If I’m not serving then I’m not living.

3. I don’t know any other way to be.

4. I love to serve, freely and willingly. This is my ‘pay it forward’.

5. As someone who serves I expect to be “forgotten” until such time as a crisis hits – I have no problem with that. Though sometimes I have to remind myself.

6. It’s not about me – I’m not out to make my name stand out in lights.

7. My mum, may she rest in peace, raised me this way. It’s in my nature and nurture.

8. Doing what I do helps to perfect my craft allowing me to better to do my paid for job.

9. Because I will be rewarded for it – Colossians 3 v 22-24

10. God expects it – Joshua 24 v 15

And a bonus freebie …

1. 11. Because I was asked and my character is such that if I can I will.

- So what about you?

- Why do you do what you do?

- Can you list 5 reasons?

I’d love to see your responses to this, even if it’s as a blog post of your own.

Groundhog Day is a post from: Church Techy

First thing to say is that I haven’t been very good at blogging on any of my sites, with one exception. In the last 6 months it seems time has just run away from me and as we approach 2012, now is as good a time as any to consider and take stock.

First thing though is to say thank you to all of you that come here and read this little blog – or indeed any of my ramblings.

Second thing to say is that whilst I don’t get many commenters, I do see the stats from various plugins and analytics that tell me you do in fact come here in reasonable numbers. And whilst we aren’t talking ProBlogger type numbers, they are enough to encourage me to keep on.

But I do wonder what it is that stops you from commenting.

Anyway.

Two or possibly three prime reasons for lack of blogging.

I’m not religous enough about recording ideas for blogging and end up in a rut of nothing to write.
My one a day photo blog (and the hobby behind it) has been taking pretty much most of my time since September.
I’ve found a new hangout – it’s called Google+

Those things said, I am still very much committed to blogging here and bringing you my thoughts, ideas and perspectives and I trust you all continue to enjoy.

Let me finish by wishing you all the very best for the Christmas season and I’ll be back in 2012 with more.

State of Blogging is a post from: Church Techy