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Sharing thoughts and ideas on business, security and photographyA place at the table : Giving consumers a voice in the marketplace
Posted on May 30, 2010Host : Paul Crankshaw – Editor of National Consumer Forum’s newspaper Consumer Fair
Date : Wednesday 2nd June 2010
Time : 07h40 for 08h00 until 10h00
Venue : Hellenic Community Centre, 6 High Grove Road, Umgeni Park, Durban North
Cost : R285 per person
Booking is essential, contact Ms Debbie Main on 031 260 1627 or maind1@ukzn.ac.za
Apart from tightening controls on undesirable business practices that prejudice consumers, the Consumer Protection Act also aims to “promote consumer participation in decision-making processes concerning the marketplace and the interests of consumers”. For South Africa, this strengthens the fourth dimensions to the traditional tripartite approach to planning and implementing policies, promises to bring long-overdue focus (and perhaps even more resources) to the country’s depleted consumer movement.
The presentation will focus on how business and government will need to reconsider the way they see, and engage with, consumer groups at a strategic and operational level.
Tech4Africa conference 2010
Posted on May 28, 2010I just came across the website and speaker lineup for Tech4Africa. TECH4AFRICA is a web & emerging technology conference, bringing global perspective to the African context. It looks as though it will be a really great conference.
The schedule and speaker lineup are on the website.
The conference takes place in Johannesburg on the 12th and 13th August 2010 at The Forum in Bryanston, Johannesburg. Directions, map etc are available on the website.
The website is a great example of how to promote a conference using new media. Wonderful to see a tech conference really using the tech available.
ZaCon II Call For Papers
Posted on May 28, 2010Date : 9 October 2010.
Location : University of Joburg. Joburg.
Cost : The goal is to hit breakeven on the costs, so an entry fee (if charged) will be low.
Many other conferences exist to cater either to the strictly Academic or Professional individual. We want a simple community based forum that is completely free of corporate affiliation (or shilling). The intention behind this is that the passion for the field or of sharing knowledge should be the primary motivation of attending or speaking at this conference.
We aim to fulfill these objectives:
* Provide a platform for publication of infosec research
* Showcase free locally-developed infosec tools
* Support the interaction of industry, academia and the interested public
* Encourage discussion on infosec / hackery / sec-related-geekery at large
* Build the ZA infosec community
* Provide a platform to up-n-coming talent
Closing date for submissions is 20 August 2010.
Contacts
* Site: http://zacon.org.za
* Abstracts: abstracts AT zacon org za
* Organisers: people AT zacon org za
* IRC: #zacon on irc.atrum.org
Knowledge Cafe on the proposed Personal Information Protection Act and impact on CRM (Jhb)
Posted on May 27, 2010CRM SIG EVENT
Date: Tuesday 8 June 2010, SAP Woodmead Offices (9am – 1:30pm)
We expect the Personal Information Protection Bill enacted later this year. The purpose of this act is to define personal information, align with international laws on data protection and regulate the use of personal information. Imagine the end of cold calling. Imagine knowing your rights when your information is misused.
The Bill introduces the new office of the Information Protection Regulator and in your organisation the Information Protection Officer. Do you know what the impact of this Bill will be on CRM in your organisation? Have you done an assessment to identify the personal information stored and processed? Are you ready for information with purpose and consent?
We have the privilege of Grant Brewer’s (E&Y Advisory Services) company to unpack the Bill and provide insights in what will be expected of CRM in our organisations.
Please join us in the CRM Knowledge Café in Woodmead for a conversation on the proposed Bill and CRM.
TIME Conversation Menu
09h00 – 09h30 Registration & Refreshments
Starter
09h30 – 10h00 Privacy Matters, Grant Brewer – Head of Strategy and IT Advisory Services – Ernst & Young
10h00 – 10h10 In the Knowledge Café, Manti Grobler – SAP CRM Solution Manager
10h10 – 10h30 Conversation on Privacy Matters
10h30 – 11h00 Feedback
11h00 – 11h20 Break
Main
11h20 – 11h50 The 8 Core Information Protection Principles and you, Grant Brewer – Ernst & Young
11h50 – 12h15 Conversation on CRM and these Principles
12h15 – 12h45 Feedback
Dessert
12h45 – 13h15 Act Readiness, Grant Brewer – Ernst & Young
13h15 – 13h30 SIG & Saphila discussion, Warren Hero – CRM Chairman
13h30 Lunch
Should you have any problems registering for this event, please forward all details to juanita.schirmer@sap.com. The invite is also posted on the website.
Information security and its impact upon society (Jhb)
Posted on May 27, 2010by Prof. Vijay K. Bhargava, FRSC, FIEEE
DATE: Monday 7 June, 2010
TIME: 10h00 for 10h30 to 12h00, after which lunch will be served
VENUE: The Kerzner Building, Conference Room 1, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, Auckland Park Bunting Road Campus (click here for a map and directions)
COST: No cost, free-of-charge
There is no point in having information unless it can be communicated from one point to another point (telecommunications) or from one time to another time (storage). In both cases, protecting information from unauthorized access, modification and disruption is critical. Cryptography is a key technology in protecting information. It was traditionally concerned with maintaining confidentiality. Recently, there has been a dramatic growth in the applications of cryptography in other areas such as commerce.
Modern cryptography can be divided into symmetric-key cryptography and public-key cryptography. In this talk, some of the current symmetric-key and public-key cryptographic techniques used in achieving information security are outlined. These include the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) which is the symmetric-key encryption standard adapted by the US government, and two well-known public-key cryptosystems, namely RSA (the initials of its inventors) and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC).
The impact of information security upon society is then outlined. In particular, we focus on the usage of information security in Internet filtering. The Internet filtering can take place in different levels: local, organizational or national. In all these levels, the objective of filtering is to prevent or limit access to information/content that is against national/cultural values or is considered harmful for the users whether they are children or adults. Some of the current filtering techniques are outlined, as well as some of the circumventing methods to bypass it.
For catering purposes it is essential to register by latest 3 June 2010. For further information and regstration, please contact:
Monya Badenhorst, University of Johannesburg
Tel: 011 559-4743, Cell: 083 770 5902, Email: monyab@uj.ac.za
IT Governance: King III Breakfast
Posted on May 20, 2010I attended a breakfast session this morning hosted by Ernst & Young exploring the IT governance requirements of King 3.
” King III has shifted the IT governance landscape. Alongside the enhanced IT governance requirements, it recommends adequate reporting to the board in order to assist the board to discharge its responsibility.
What is regarded as sufficient reporting? How can such a technical area be demystified so that the reporting makes sense without losing its substance and meaning? How often are reports to the board required? ”
The presenters were Leon du Rand an independent consultant and previous CIO of ABSA and Marius van den Berg a Director in Ernst & Young Advisory Services who chaired the King III IT Governance subcommittee.
Both of the speakers have tremendous insight into King 3 and IT governance. The presentation covered the King 3 principles, and spent a fair bit of time exploring the process for defining the board reporting, providing a methodology that can be used to achieve this.
The presentation brought home to me the vast size of the task of achieving compliance with the King 3 principles, and of how organisations still need to grapple with just how they are going to tackle this. Much responsibility is placed onto the directors by King 3, and one has to wonder just how much IT experience they have and how directors are going to co-opt this experience onto their boards so they can discharge their responsibilities.
Note : I am a long time employee of Ernst & Young
Some documents available on the EY website that you may find useful :
ISACA SA KZN Regional Chapter Meeting – 17 June 2010
Posted on May 20, 2010Details for the next ISACA SA KZN Regional Chapter meeting.
Region: Durban, KZN
Date: 17 June 2010
Time: 2:30pm for 3pm
Venue: KPMG Services (Proprietary) Limited, 20 Kingsmead Boulevard, Kingsmead Office Park, Durban 4000
Farzana Badat – Compliance Services (Financial Risk Management) will be presenting: “Privacy – Protection of Personal Information”
Overview: Information protection principles. Understanding the practical implications of the PPI Bill for industry. What other organisations are doing to get ready for the PPI Bill. Critical success factors for privacy implementation along with examples of privacy breaches.
Members are encouraged to invite one non-Isaca member to attend the chapter meeting.
Please note:
· These meetings are free of charge to all members and their guests, there is no charge to attend.
· Remember that attendance at Chapter meetings counts towards CPE hours.
· Please RSVP by no later than 15:00hrs Friday, 11 June 2010 to Nadine: admin@isaca.org.za
Please remember that attendance at ISACA events have cost implications for the chapter. We respectfully ask members not to arrive at events unless you have confirmed your attendance by the due date. Likewise, if you have confirmed your attendance, please endeavour to attend the event.
See more ISACA events at the ISACA website.
White Hat – May 2010 : Metadata: Have you sprung a leak?
Posted on May 20, 2010The details for the next Durban White Hat meeting are now available.
Title: Metadata: Have you sprung a leak?
Speaker: Sean Thomas
Date: 27 May 2010
Time: 18:30
Venue: Elephant Room, M Block.
If you have any problems or need help getting to the venue, email ralfepoisson@gmail.com or drop me a mail and I will provide you with whatever details you need.
If all goes according to plan will see you there.
More Gridhost magic
Posted on May 19, 2010The guys from Gridhost saw I mentioned them in my first post. They dropped me a mail saying they had credited R60 to my account as a thank you. Thanks guys, I’m even more impressed. Looking for an ISP? Try them. Gridhost.co.za
Adding sparkle to my Bold
Posted on May 19, 2010I have a Blackberry Bold 9000 (wonderful device, slightly larger than I would like, but love it). It has served me well for almost a year, but over the last month or so the trackball has been giving problems. This morning it was finally fixed. Thanks to the assistance of the guys at Smartech Cellular it is working 100% again. Not only did they replace the faulty trackball, they did a software upgrade for me (free of charge) and I am delighted with my wonderfully rejuvenated device. It took around an hour (largely due to the backup and recovery of data), and I have now lost the urge to fling it at the nearest wall (that happens when you can only move your pointer every direction except down). Thanks guys for excellent and friendly service.
If you are having problems with your blackberry and need help give them a shout.
Nishen Niacker
Email : nishen@robtronics.co.za
Address : 8 Nollsworth Park, Nollsworth Crescent, La Lucia Ridge
Phone : 031 566 4464
ITWeb Security Summit 2010
Posted on May 19, 2010I was up in Johannesburg last week to attend and co-present at the IT Web Security Summit 2010. The conference had some really good speakers (Joe Grand, Moxie Marlinspike, FX, Charlie Miller, and others) covering a wide variety of most interesting topics.
You can read some articles about the conference, the speakers and the presentations at the link above. Alex Kayle did a brief email based Q&A ahead of the presentation and wrote up the following article. It gives some idea of what the presentation is all about.
I was co-presenting with a colleague, David Volschenk on the implementation of Security and control frameworks. We took two hypothetical companies (combined from various client experiences) and compared the processes and experiences to contrast what worked and what didn’t across the organisations, while looking at the key drivers (of which King 3 is now a significant one). This was woven around Dickens’ “A tale of two cities” to bring a bit of a different angle into what otherwise could have been quite a dry topic. Take a look at the King 3 responsibilities on the Board of Directors if you haven’t already. They are quite onerous compared to King 2 (which pretty much ignored IT governance). The King 3 report is available for download on the Institute of Directors (IOD) website.
Our presentation on the day went down reasonably well to quite a full venue. Thanks to all those who attended, hope you enjoyed what we had to say.
The presentation has been uploaded for all those who may wish to check it out.
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