Every Friday here on In The Personal Cloud we’ll be presenting a roundup of links highlighting popular and rising news stories from the world of the cloud and online security. Everything from news regarding hacking and how to be secure to advancements in the field of cloud computing. Stay tuned to In The Personal Cloud each Friday to remain up to date on everything you need to know.

KnowBe4 Alerts Businesses to the Top 5 Spear-Phishing Scams Targeting Executives – According to Internet security expert, founder, and CEO of the Internet Security Awareness Training firm KnowBe4, spear-phishing scams are not only on the rise, but are specifically targeting business owners and executives. He outlines the top 5 scams and how to spot them. [PRWeb]

Malware Threat Level Hits 4-Year High – In just the first 3 months of 2012, the amount of malware circulating in cyberspace has reached a four-year high and is on pace to reach 100 million samples by year’s end. [PCWorld]

What are the most dangerous websites? – Here is a list of most dangerous categories of websites that tend to release infected code. As the article states, conventional wisdom would flip this list upside down, but it’s interesting to note that these sites tend to go after the more affluent, educated, and technologically savvy. [CBSnews]

Internet voting still faces hurdles in US – We shop online. We bank online. Yet, we still don’t vote online. Why? In short, too many variables. However, this article highlights the small steps being taken around the world to keep the possibility of voting while on your lunch break a possibility. [Turkish Press]

Interest in Cloud Computing Has Peaked – According to a recent study, many of you are no longer chomping at the bit to search for cloud computing info. In fact, it’s on the decline. This article points out this more than likely doesn’t have anything to do with the business side of it. Rather, the public’s curiosity is just waning as most if not all of the information is now out on the table. [Forbes]

The evolutionary vs revolutionary approach to cloud computing – So you’ve decided to move into the cloud. Great! But how? This article highlights two approaches your business should consider during its migration: evolutionary (building your needs from the ground up) or revolutionary (retrofitting your current needs). Both come with a 3 qualifiers to help you decide which approach is best for you. [The Guardian]

Cloud Adoption Approaching a Crucial Point – Google CIO Ben Fried thinks that we’re about to hit the cloud computing tipping point aka the standard. Pretty soon, you’ll be able to run a company anywhere wi-fi is available. [sys-con]

Every Friday here on In The Personal Cloud we’ll be presenting a roundup of links highlighting popular and rising news stories from the world of the cloud and online security. Everything from news regarding hacking and how to be secure to advancements in the field of cloud computing. Stay tuned to In The Personal Cloud each Friday to remain up to date on everything you need to know.

Americans less concerned about Internet security – As of a May 9th report, more Americans found themselves more concerned with national security and financial security than they did with Internet security. In fact, only 39% of those surveyed admitted to being “seriously concerned” with their computer’s security compared to 48% of those polled last year. [FierceGovernmentIT]

Dot-Music, Dot-Sport and (Security Experts Hope) Dot-Secure – At this very moment, there are only 22 familiar top-level domains (.com, .org., .net, etc.). ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is currently taking applications for hundreds if not thousands more i.e. .secure, .sport, .travel. Will this help curb cyber scams, or will it create an online registry war between cyber squatters and legitimate businesses. [Bits]

Companies less wary of personal devices at work-Cisco – A recent study shows that IT departments seem to be less bothered by the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trend that started off a bit spiteful, but has quickly become the norm. Some employees are even willing to pay quite the premium to use their personal device over a work issued one. [Orlando Sentinel]

Business trips abroad could endanger your data – We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. If it seems suspicious, it probably is. The FBI recently issued a warning to Americans traveling abroad to be very careful about their Internet connections while staying in hotels. If you get pop ups or find yourself coming across arbitrary links, you might have some very malicious malware knocking on your door. Don’t answer. [Reuters]

Nine Major Ways Criminals Use Facebook – Here’s a comprehensive list of the most popular ways hackers use Facebook to their advantage and ways you can avoid being an easy target. [Fox Business]

Cloud Computing a Game Changer for Your Company? 5 Questions to Ponder – To cloud or not to cloud, that is the question. Sort of. Rather, how much cloud does my business need would be more accurate. For those still tiptoeing towards the revolution, here are 5 fundamental questions to ponder before your transition can potentially do more harm than good. [FORBES]

Cloud Computing and Mobile Processing Saves Small Business – With all this talk about the benefits of cloud computing, many seem to have glossed over the cloud’s ability to help recover data just as efficiently as it stores it. Virtual servers leverage the power of the entire infrastructure as opposed to being dependent on any particular hardware. In short, if something happens to your location or any physical infrastructure, it still might be available somewhere else, waiting to pick up where you left off. [Forbes]

Clouds with a silver lining – One day, you’ll gather the grandchildren around you and tell them wondrous tales of life before cloud computing and how you used to transfer information from one computer to another via various storage devices. They will simply smile and nod at one more story of an obsolete technology due to the inevitable evolution of Google, Microsoft, DropBox, and Sugar Sync’s latest forays into cloud computing. [The Age]

It’s hard to believe that the cloud has come so far that we’re addressing this topic already. Less than a year ago we were busy writing posts introducing the general public to the concept of cloud technologies and cloud storage. Now we’re going to prod your skull on the likelihood of whether or not you can go a full day without tapping into a cloud-computing product. You may be thinking that you clearly can, but we’re willing to bet that it’s not quite as easy as it sounds.

Cloud technology has found its way into almost everything we Internet users do as a digital culture. One of the first questions you should ask yourself, regarding getting off the cloud, is how long you can survive without your smartphone? Almost everything that makes your smartphone run, is thanks in part to the cloud. Do you download apps? If so, guess what? Apps are all digital files that you download from a remote server. Thus, they are stored in the cloud. So, if you’re cutting the cloud from your life for a day, you gotta cut your smartphone apps too.

How about streaming music? Do you stream music from Pandora, Spotify, or anywhere else? If so, you’ll have to quit that for a day too. The music you’re streaming is being stored on a virtual server, making it available to you through virtual storage and streaming.

Next up you’ll have to spend a day without your streaming movies, TV shows, and on-demand features on your television. All of these digital assets are completely reliant on virtualization.  Without virtual storage, Netflix would have nowhere to store their database of movie files, to shoot them directly to your living room, phone, and PC.

Have you grown accustomed to driving with your GPS? If so, you better be prepared to unfold an old-fashioned map. GPS technology is fully integrated with the cloud, and the pinpoint location technology is only half the story. All the data in a GPS regarding road names, addresses, and detours is all part of a real-time updated cloud library.

If you remove virtualization from your life for just a single day, you’ll have to spend that day without your smartphone capabilities, your streamed music, your on-demand movies and television, and you’ll have to teach yourself how to get around town all over again.

Now, we’re not saying this is impossible. Clearly, there’s going to be a time (hopefully) in all our lives where we can “get away from it all” and find ourselves camping next to a lake with no cellphone signal, while reading a good book by the campfire. So, yes, there is probably going to be a day where you will avoid using the cloud. Just good luck getting to a remote location without your GPS and smartphone!

Every Friday here on In The Personal Cloud we’ll be presenting a roundup of links highlighting popular and rising news stories from the world of the cloud and online security. Everything from news regarding hacking and how to be secure to advancements in the field of cloud computing. Stay tuned to In The Personal Cloud each Friday to remain up to date on everything you need to know.

Amazon’s cloud infrastructure said to power 1% of the Internet – Exact numbers are hard to come by due to proprietary restrictions, however, estimates have found that Amazon’s cloud is responsible for 1% of all Internet traffic in North America — and that percentage is still growing. Since 2010, their business has been growing an estimated 30% year over year. [Wired]

Facebook And The Auction of Doom – Security exploits are a dime a dozen, and companies trying to find and patch them on their own are becoming increasingly futile. Facebook, on the other hand, has started what some are calling the “auction of doom.” They will buy any knowledge that has the power to do some serious damage to its site or their users. In effect, they’re paying cyber mercenaries to pick up where their internal team left off. [Strategy Page]

Blacknight Sponsors Campaign To Raise Cybersecurity Awareness – “Treat your password like you treat your toothbrush.” Leading Irish domain registrar and hosting company Blacknight is partnering with an Irish non-profit to spread the word amongst Irish youths about internet security. [Virtual-Strategy]

Are Generation Y ‘careless’ in their use of Wi-Fi? – The majority of Generation Y (ages 18-34) admittedly uses free wi-fi for work and and other sensitive matters, but they are also “extremely” or “very concerned” about their data falling into the wrong hands. This article takes a look at the free wi-fi habits of Generation Y based in Australia and New Zealand. [ZDNet]

Consumers lack trust in mobile use – A recent study found that only 15% of participants have a great deal of confidence in the security of their mobile devices and that 63% “are at a crossroads” as to whether or not they should even trust in the security of their devices. Meanwhile, IT administrators are still frustrated with employees using their personal devices for work related matters without permission or instruction. [ZDNet Asia]

Training workers to be cyber safe – We’re almost halfway through 2012 and we’re already seeing an increase in data breaches caused by employees who lost or leaked confidential company data — unintentionally. More often than not, employees fall victim to a link presenting itself as associated with the site they’re visiting, but is instead just another phishing scam. [Network World]

FBI warns travelers of pop-up window cyber-attacks – You know that little pop-up that you see when trying to login to your hotel’s network? Make sure that’s actually from the hotel. Sounds silly, but the FBI has seen an increase in malicious activity targeted at international tourists. [CNN]

Every Friday here on In The Personal Cloud we’ll be presenting a roundup of links highlighting popular and rising news stories from the world of the cloud and online security. Everything from news regarding hacking and how to be secure to advancements in the field of cloud computing. Stay tuned to In The Personal Cloud each Friday to remain up to date on everything you need to know.

Mozilla Slams CISPA, Breaking Silicon Valley’s Silence on Cybersecurity Bill – Silicon Valley has been quietly taking sides either in support of or against the government’s latest proposed cybersecurity bill. However, Mozilla has come forward as the most vocal, stating that although they support a more secure internet, they can’t support a bill that seems to ignore privacy laws already in place. [Forbes]

How to spot dangerous links before you click them – Once again readers, a little vigilance now can save you from a lot of heartache later. Here are a couple of quick and easy ways to not just spot dangerous links, but to put a little more faith into that leap ranging from installing plug-ins directly into your browser, to simply mousing over the link to see where it plans to take you. [CNET]

First Drive-By Malware Sites Discovered for Android – If you have an Android device and use it as your primary source of surfing, pay very, very close attention to the advice offered in this write-up. There are now sites out there that can detect not only whether or not you’re using an Android device, but are then capable of invisibly installing malware on it. Good news though, the fix is easy and it’s free. [Gizmodo]

Skype security hole shares Internet addresses – Looks like a new hacking tool has surfaced with the ability to capture a Skype user’s last known IP address. This can be used to send malware directly to the user or to help launch a denial-of-service attack. Fortunately, the fix is pretty quick and simple. [Technolog]

Facebook teams up with security vendors, offers free antivirus software – Although you may be limited to one security app download per Facebook account, you get six months of security updates for free. Not bad. [ITWorld]

Google Drive: Hybrid of Cloud Storage and Cloud Computing – This Huffington Post writer took Google’s latest product for a spin, and concludes that although it may take some getting used to, it seems to be a step in the write (pun intended) direction. [The Huffington Post]

Google Drive: Watch out, cloud computing in the U.S. like ‘Wild West’ – It wasn’t all that long ago that law enforcement needed a warrant to gain access to your personal computer. The reason for that being that they had to actually enter your home to seize it. Nowadays, with cloud computing on the rise, they really only need access to the server your data is stored on. And depending on the company you store that data with, that could be quite easy. [Prospectus News]

Growing Up Google: How Cloud Computing Is Changing a Generation – 7 Year olds creating workarounds is only the beginning. This article highlights how Google might be more than a trend, it might be positioning itself as the norm. [Mashable]

Every Friday here on In The Personal Cloud we’ll be presenting a roundup of links highlighting popular and rising news stories from the world of the cloud and online security. Everything from news regarding hacking and how to be secure to advancements in the field of cloud computing. Stay tuned to In The Personal Cloud each Friday to remain up to date on everything you need to know.

Infected PCs may lose Internet service in July – …and for my next trick – looks like hackers have caused a bit of a detour between several hundreds of thousands of computers that could leave them without the ability to access the Internet in just 3 months time. During a recent raid, the FBI confiscated servers that supported malware, but quickly realized without the servers themselves, for the infected, their Internet was as good as broken. [WTSP]

The Internet’s Political Voices Are Lining Up To Smash CISPA – Looks like the US Government might be 0-2 with regards to cybersecurity legislation. Several university professors have written an open letter to Congress calling upon lawmakers to oppose the latest cybersecurity bills e.g. CISPA and SECURE IT because of their ability to turn any service that relays or receives internet traffic into a potentially invasive surveillance system. [Forbes]

CISPA isn’t ‘son of SOPA’ – On the other hand, this blogger warns that after such a monumental defeat with SOPA, we need to be careful not to immediately put down subsequent bills that could potentially and genuinely make the internet safer. [POLITICO]

Cyber arms race will be next step in computer warfare, says F-secure’s Mikko Hypponen – Yesterday’s nuclear arms race is slowly turning into today’s cyber arms race. It appears as though China and the US are engaging in a series of “war games” where the other is trying to predict what the other will do if things should escalate. Chief Security Researcher, Mikko Hypponen warns that any future crisis will involve cyber elements. [The Inquirer]

One in Five Mac Carry Windows Malware – And it doesn’t even have to be harmful to the Mac user. It turns out that Macs are becoming hotspots for Windows viruses. The virus finds its way onto a Mac and just waits to come into contact with an unprotected PC that it can infect. [IB Times]

Eugene Kaspersky: ‘Apple ten years behind Microsoft in terms of security’ – We already know OS X is not the impenetrable force it’s long since been rumored to be, but it turns out that may be due in part to the fact that their security patches – lately – have been few and far between. [Macgasm]

Cloud computing leads training priorities – Not only do the majority of organisations believe their IT staff will require training in cloud computing and virtualization, but they’ve also allocated a great deal of their budgets towards it as well. [IT Web]

Google Adds Drive to Cloud Computing Options – Google’s latest foray into an already crowded space may find itself on top quicker than anyone thinks. Their primary target? Dropbox. At more than twice the storage and half the price, Google has made its consumer cloud intentions known. [HispanicBusiness]

How artists are using cloud computing to create, collaborate and share their work.

By Ryan W. Neal

The Ancient Greeks believed that artistic inspiration came from the Muses. These goddesses would descend from heaven and bestow mortals with ideas for science, literature and art.

Now, artists are actually putting their work back into the clouds. Cloud computing not only gives creative types a digital space to save their work; it opens up new possibilities for creation, distribution and collaboration with other artists around the world.

On April 23, Adobe unveiled its new Creative Cloud: a subscription-based service they say will be a game-changing hub for making, sharing and publishing for design, Web and video professionals. Adobe says the Creative Cloud will allow users to download and install Creative Suite 6 – which features the latest versions of their popular programs like Photoshop, InDesign, Acrobat and Flash – and store their projects in the cloud for easy sharing and integration with mobile applications like Photoshop Touch. Adobe is also introducing new tools for HTML5 design, Adobe Edge and Adobe Muse (a nod to the Greek goddesses of divine inspiration), that they say will make it easy to create apps for mobile marketplaces and publish, manage and host websites from anywhere.

“The urge to be creative is universal, and harnessing the creative spark – in everyone from school children to creative pros – has never been more important,” said Shantanu Narayen, Adobe’s president and CEO, in a press release. “Wherever and whenever inspiration strikes, Adobe will be there to help capture, refine and publish your ideas.”

The step may be a gamble for Adobe, as users will now have to pay $50 each month to access the CS6 apps on up to two different machines. But the membership fee also comes with 20 gigabytes of online storage that allows users to store and share up to five projects on Adobe’s servers at once, and access them from anywhere. Adobe says users can also adjust permission levels, allowing colleagues to make edits while clients can only view the projects.  These features alone might make it worth it for many on-the-go media professionals.

Another service, hitrecord.org, is taking over the job of the Muses by hosting works of art in the cloud and encouraging artists to collaborate with each other. Owned by actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt of Inception and 50/50 fame, the website describes itself as an open collaborative production company.

“Hollywood can be, you know, a bit exclusive,” says Gordon-Levitt in a video explaining the website. “There’s so many great artists around the world doing great work, so this is my way to work with them.”

HitRECord considers itself more of an online studio where people make things together. As the director, of sorts, Gordon-Levitt starts most of the collaborations between artists, although any user is free to start a project at any time. Users upload their original music, movies, writing, or art pieces, and other users download them to remix, sample, edit, and then re-upload them as new content. Unlike online exhibition sites like YouTube, Vimeo, or Tumblr, most of the content on hitRECord is incomplete, and intended to be worked on by other artists.

“Remixing isn’t theft,” says Gordon-Levitt. His website actually requires users to give up exclusive rights to anything they upload. “Its just how we work together.”

Since 2010, hitrecord has had over 200,000 contributions from about 50,000 different artists. Last year, they released an anthology of the website’s work as book, CD and DVD package. They have also released The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, and have a deal to create two more volumes. HitRECord also has plans to turn the tiny stories into tiny movies. If a project turns a profit, hitRECord keeps half of the money and divides the rest among the contributing artists.

In a more literal sense than the Greek poets could have ever imagined, works of art are more and more coming from the clouds. Although the Muses may now be digitized, artists have never been more equipped to express and share the inspiration they receive.

When talking about cloud storage, one of the primary concerns is figuring out why you would rather have someone else watch over your files, instead of getting an external hard drive. The simple answer is: an external hard drive will eventually breakdown, whereas your data in the cloud is backed up three times over, and is at no threat of ever crashing.

This week’s cloud quiz will test your knowledge on the life expectancy of your hard drive; which may give you a little more persuasion to move your files into the cloud as soon as you finish with the quiz.

So, without any further delay:

Q: What is the average lifespan of a hard drive?

A. Three Years

B. Five Years

C. Seven Years

D. Nine Years

Just in case we created a state of total panic in some of our readers, we’ll quickly let you know that answer A. is incorrect. Your hard drive should last longer than three years, so there’s no need to sprint off to the nearest computer store (yet).

Next, we’ll address any false sense of relief you may be feeling if you guessed answer D. Nine years is well above the average lifespan for a hard drive. Nine years would be pretty nice though, as you’d be able to use one external hard drive to transfer data on several generations of PCs and laptops.

This leaves us with two options: five and seven years. I hate to be the pessimist and leave you with a bad taste in your mouth, but the answer is B. Five years. According to LIVEdigtally, you shouldn’t count on your hard drive lasting much longer than five years. Of course, these numbers vary from case to case; but we’re going with an overall average here, so this is what you should expect.

The scariest thing here is that you can never know when your hard drive is going to go. So, even if you’re extremely diligent with backing up your files, you may always be a step or two behind when your hard drive crashes. This is why cloud storage is such a beneficial technology. You can easily and constantly back up your files onto your cloud server, just by using a simple desktop application. Your files can be dragged and dropped into the cloud and be fully uploaded moments later.

If you’re anywhere near your five year threshold, just take a second and think about the benefits of the cloud. Once you’re in the cloud, you’ll be amazed at the feeling of freedom. You’ll never have to worry about the state of your files again, and the fear of a computer crash will be as obsolete as your latest dead hard drive.

Every Friday here on In The Personal Cloud we’ll be presenting a roundup of links highlighting popular and rising news stories from the world of the cloud and online security. Everything from news regarding hacking and how to be secure to advancements in the field of cloud computing. Stay tuned to In The Personal Cloud each Friday to remain up to date on everything you need to know.

Why 1 in 5 U.S. adults don’t use internet – Despite the fact that there are entire generations thriving today who can’t remember a world before the Internet and/or exhibit physical symptoms when they find themselves without access to it, there are those who simply never felt the urge. Check out this thought provoking article as to the reasons why some people just don’t see the point. [WYFF]

CISPA: Embraced by Facebook, Scored by Privacy Advocates – Are tech companies flip flopping or is the grass actually greener? SOPA and PIPA may have crashed and burned, but CISPA is getting support from some major tech company power houses. The difference? CISPA only hopes to facilitate the sharing of information that may stop an attack on one entity, that has already been attempted on another. Sounds simple enough. Right? [eWeek]

Facebook changing parental relationship – Remember when “fine” and “nothing” were sufficient barriers between you and your parents? Well, fortunately and/or unfortunately, Facebook has done away with all that. More and more parents nowadays are reporting about monitoring their kids activities online as a means of keeping tabs on them. [Stuff.Co.nz]

Next big security risk for home users: If it can be connected to the Internet, it’s not a matter of if it will be hacked, but when. Recent findings estimate that there will be approximately 100 million homes in North America and Europe that will own Internet connected TVs with potential vulnerabilities that are not proactively being addressed. [ITWorld]

Security Firms: “Mac OS X Invulnerability a Myth” – People used to believe that Apple software was unhackable. Turns out in the first 3 months of 2012, Apple software suffered more security vulnerabilities than that of any other company. They’ve since course corrected, but for 600,000 people in the beginning of April, it was a tough lesson to learn. [The Mac Observer]

Ron Dzwonkowski: Why carry money when you can swipe it? – By the year 2020, cash will be extinct. Well, not really, but close. According to a recent report released Tuesday, 65% of “technology stakeholders or critics” believe cash and credits cards will have “mostly disappeared”, but 33% said the move to an “all-digital-all-the-time” conversion will take much, much longer. Why? You got it. Security concerns! [Detroit Free Press]

Instagram Malware Strikes Android – But, is only available via third party sites. The quick lesson? If it’s not in the app store, you’re rolling the dice with the security of anything you have stored on your phone. Stay ever-vigilant readers. [The Huffington Post]

ONLINE SAFETY: Think before you post and don’t overshare information on social networking sites – Surprisingly, but understandably, it’s not always the kids these days who overshare online. It’s the adults, too. Posting too much information online can not only damage your reputation, but invite unwanted and dangerous attention both to you and your family. Think before you post. [Heritage]

Every Friday here on In The Personal Cloud we’ll be presenting a roundup of links highlighting popular and rising news stories from the world of the cloud and online security. Everything from news regarding hacking and how to be secure to advancements in the field of cloud computing. Stay tuned to In The Personal Cloud each Friday to remain up to date on everything you need to know.

Bill calls for teaching students more about Internet security – The House Education Committee backed House Bill 236 last Wednesday without objection. What is House Bill 236 you ask? A bill devising much like sex ed did back in the day that schools properly educate children about the risks they face online. Topics include everything from social media practices, safe cell phone use, and beyond. [Daily Planet]

Move to online voting will benefit voters, democracy – There has been a lot of back and forth in the online voting debate. Some believe it’s long overdue, while others complain about the still lacking Internet infrastructure in the United States. However, the one thing all sides can agree on are their doubts about its security. Lori Steel, CEO of Everyone Counts, a company developing online-voting technology, says her company’s product already meets security requirements and has been used in prior major elections. Are we really ready to elect the next president during our morning commute? [The Seattle Times]

We have to be more secure – Remember when we used to call the Internet the World Wide Web? Well Chris Hardy of the UK public sector at McAfee believes we need to embrace the global implications of the Internet once again. There needs to be more cooperation and collaboration between the international community if we are ever going to thwart the increasing number of cyber attacks. He’s even outlined some steps to help us get started. [Public Service]

Test shows free virus scanners provide adequate protection – First and foremost, “There is no all-around worry-free [Internet security] package,” warn anti-virus testers. But contrary to popular belief, and according to a recent study, free Internet security software in some instances actually does stand toe to toe with some of the more robust solutions. [The Hindu]

Check out this check-in scam – Once again readers, be ever vigilant in your digital comings and goings. Here’s a cautionary tale about someone who received an email that at first glance seemed legit, despite the subtle red flags that kept popping up every step of the way. If something doesn’t seem right, odds are, it’s not. [North Jersey]