Overheard in the tech blogosphere - A Whatis.com blog
Nov 24 2009   8:09PM GMT

Overheard - Onboarding and offboarding



Posted by: Margaret Rouse
“Onboarding is one of those made-up words that creeps into the English language to drive us purists crazy. I suspect their authors cheat at Scrabble, adding ‘ing’ to words such as network, partner and dialogue to get extra points.”

Jim George, Onboarding, offboarding and just plain B.S.

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is onboarding.

Nov 23 2009   6:12PM GMT

Overheard - Pandemic planning



Posted by: Margaret Rouse
pandemic planning, Disaster Recovery, risk management
“Most of the larger financial institutions have some kind of pandemic/influenza plan or at least a pandemic overlay to their existing business continuity plans, but I don’t know if I would say they’re all prepared to the extent that they need to be prepared.”

John Copenhaver as quoted in Swine flu puts spotlight on pandemic planning

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is pandemic planning.


Nov 20 2009   1:17PM GMT

Overheard - Patch antenna



Posted by: Margaret Rouse
antenna, patch antenna
The feed mechanism plays an important role in the design of microstrip patch antennas. A microstrip patch antenna can be fed either by coaxial probe or by an inset microstrip line. Coaxial probe feeding is sometimes advantageous for applications like active antennas, while microstrip line feeding is suitable for developing high-gain microstrip array antennas.

M. Ramesh and K.B. Yip, Design Inset-Fed Microstrip Patch Antennas

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is patch antenna.


Nov 19 2009   3:46PM GMT

Overheard - Port Address Translation (PAT)



Posted by: Margaret Rouse
Port Address Translation, NAT, PAT, NAT overloading, CCNA Training
As soon as you start using private addresses and PAT in your network, you lose one of the important security features: accountability.  If a rogue user of your network is attacking an outside server, it’s close to impossible to identify him…Apache, the most popular open-source Web server, does not log port numbers.

Ivan Pepelnjak, Avoiding private IP security risks in public networks

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is Port Address Translation.


Nov 18 2009   2:44PM GMT

Overheard - FACTA Red Flags Rule



Posted by: Margaret Rouse
Compliance, Red Flags Rule, identity theft, identity management
Compliance with the Red Flag rules must take a risk-based approach. Organizations are not given a specific set of items to implement; there is no detailed checklist. Compliance is principle-based focused on the outcome — avoiding identity theft — and not on specific requirements.

Michael Rasmussen, Red Flag Rules compliance demands a risk-based approach

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is Red Flags Rule.


Nov 17 2009   6:17PM GMT

Overheard - Backscatter spam



Posted by: Margaret Rouse
backscatter spam, Spam
Sending spam, or hiring someone to send it for you, is illegal in many countries, including the U.S., where it violates the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Using false or misleading header information is also a violation of the CAN-SPAM Act, but since the spammer has already decided to break the law by sending the spam in the first place, adding the crime of email address forging is trivial.

Michael Cobb, Why is backscatter spam so difficult to block?

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is backscatter spam.


Nov 16 2009   8:52PM GMT

Overheard - Vouch by Reference protocol



Posted by: Margaret Rouse
Vouch by Reference, Email
URL spoofing substitutes an outlaw Web address for a legitimate one. A simple way to do that is to exploit the state of spelling among English-speaking people. A site like eddiebaur .com might fool the eye of a casual Web surfer looking for outdoor gear from Eddie Bauer.

John P Mello, ICANN move contributing to URL spoofing?

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is the Vouch by Reference protocol.


Nov 13 2009   3:43PM GMT

Overheard - Enterprise document management



Posted by: Margaret Rouse
Compliance, enterprise document management, Enterprise content management
Compliance is a hamster wheel of pain. Are we in compliance? -> Hire Consultant -> The Consultant Says No -> Scurry and spend -> Repeat.

Alex Hutton, The Cult Of Compliance

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is enterprise document management.


Nov 12 2009   7:18PM GMT

Overheard - Closed loop MRP



Posted by: Margaret Rouse
manufacturingERP, Supply Chain Management, closed loop MRP
“Because the closed-loop assesses capacity at every level, it shortens the timeframe in which any shortfalls may be detected and rectified.”

Pat Kennedy, Vivek Bapat, Paul Kurchina, Manufacturing plant information management

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is closed loop MRP.


Nov 11 2009   2:59PM GMT

Overheard - Bank Secrecy Act



Posted by: Margaret Rouse
Bank Secrecy Act, finanical security, Compliance
FinCEN is now seeking to engage smaller to moderate size depository institutions who are working to implement the four pillars of theBank Secrecy Act regulatory regime: (1) policies, procedures and internal controls; (2) designation of a compliance officer; (3) ongoing training; and (4) independent testing.

Bryan Cave Law Firm, October 2009 Client Alerts

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is Bank Secrecy Act.