Example automation code and a demo video have been posted by Virtu-Al Renouf

…this really does show the power of PowerShell and how we can simplify everything down into a couple of lines of code which can be used over and over. The last line of this code is all that is now needed to install vShield services on not just 1 host but 100’s of hosts !

Install vShield Services from Alan Renouf on Vimeo.

CSO Online cites a recent survey on security leadership and offers this perspective in a post called “Are CIOs Too Cocky About Security”:

There’s been no shortage of high-profile and damaging data breaches in the past year….

Despite these attacks, the ninth annual Global Information Security Survey conducted by CIO’s sister publication CSO magazine and PricewaterhouseCoopers indicates that of the 9,600-plus business and technology execs surveyed, 43 percent identify themselves as security frontrunners and believe they have a sound security strategy and are executing it effectively.

“Clearly, something unusual is happening, with so many organizations viewing themselves as security leaders,” says Mark Lobel, a principal in the advisory services division of PwC. In reality, “nowhere near 43 percent [are] leaders.”

Pete Lindstrom, research director at Spire Security, has another take. “Either 43 percent are fooling themselves, or they are reaching a good level of success in setting their strategy and hitting it.”

I have serious doubts about how this survey was written.

Asking a CIO if they are a leader is like asking for trouble. Why not be concerned that 57 percent of top executives say they are followers?

In other words, being a leader in security does not mean being breach-proof or free from attacks, which the quotes above imply. That’s an awful dichotomy. Leaders are the ones who respond quickly to breaches, disclose them fully and learn from them.

The BBC reports how real-time reporting tools available to the public are enhancing the quality of information and therefore improving the social and political landscape in multiple countries.

Although billed as a social network, the founders call them “tools for people who don’t believe they have any power” and “the opposite to a cute kitten video” platform such as Facebook.

Africa’s move to aggregating and crowd-sourcing content began with the now famous Ushahidi platform.

After the disputed Kenyan elections, it played a key role in identifying outbreaks of violence and has since been adopted around the world.

Philip Thigo, an adviser with Nairobi-based non-governmental organisation Sodnet, is using the platform for his Uchaguzi election-monitoring project which allows citizens to report incidents of violence in elections across Africa.

“In Kenya it has changed how elections are monitored. It is working in real-time to impact elections as they take place, creating pressure on officials to act,” he said.

It has been used in recent elections in Uganda and Zambia and has spawned a similar tool that has more long-lasting applications.

The Huduma platform has drawn inspiration from MySociety projects to create a place where citizens can report day-to-day issues.

“If they go to hospital and don’t get the medicine they should have, they can report it,” he said.

Users can report problems with health and education services as well as with water supplies and the justice system.

According to Mr Thigo, the government has responded to problems reported.