Richard Bray

Do acceptable Internet use policies pose unacceptable risks? In the government workplace, the acknowledged right to make personal telephone calls looks like a close analogy to e-mail and Web surfing. But in terms of security risk, there is no comparison: When it comes to accidentally revealing secret information, sending embarrassing information to thousands of people or crashing entire networks, there is no substitute for a personal computer connected to the Internet.

If front line personnel are behind the curve on IT security, does the blame lie with ... senior management? In many Canadian governments, the responsibility for awareness training on IT security is so diffused throughout the bureaucracy as to be meaningless.

No news here: The federal government wants to reduce head counts, centralize computing resources,and move service to Canadians to an online model. The results should be better service, streamlined operations and billions of dollars in savings. The question is: Can grid computing contribute to the solution? The answer: Yes, but . . .

Faster networks and inexpensive computing power provide the technological foundations of grid computing, but ease of use is the key to successful implementation. Even at the National Research Council, where scientists are eager to master new skills to create supercomputing tools, a great deal of effort is spent to put grid computing just a few keystrokes away.

Is federal IT security a disaster waiting to happen? The Auditor General

Public sector IT security managers in Canada have succeeded in reducing the volume of spam in their users

The old saw has it that

In the back-alley world of computer crime, the government