Carriers in turn are developing apps for the growing market segment that wants to use their mobile screen to obtain quotes, check on submitted claims and buy coverage. Regardless of which devices consumers use – and whether the screen is a 17-inch agent’s laptop, 9.7-inch display on a tablet like the iPad, or a 5-inch LCD on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone – application forms and policy documents still need to be signed.

Digital signature technology is pivotal to enabling mobile transactions (beyond just informational apps). Not only in terms of straight-through processing (entirely electronic, paperless transactions), but also for full compliance, legal enforceability and record retention. Carriers can find detailed information on these topics in a free webcast on Insurance, Mobility and Electronic Signatures, presented by electronic signature provider Silanis Technology and Ellen Carney, a Senior Analyst with Forrester Research.

Carriers are using online signature technology to meet consumer expectations for real-time, “right now” purchasing and service, without paper. Combining an online signature with mobile devices allows for a convenient method of presenting documents to clients during face-to-face interactions with agents. This is actually the most common usage of mobile e-signing in North America — through agents who use wireless devices like an iPad to close business on the road. Due to the lightweight form and screen size

of these devices, entire applications and contracts can be presented on-screen to the consumer in a web browser. Mobile technology is rapidly pushing change and it’s no surprise this has become a strategic focus for insurance companies.

Change is not without challenges, however. Authentication is the single most important issue that preoccupies carriers when they first consider mobile e-signing. Who really signed? Do you really know the person’s identity? Has the document been signed in the legal sense – was it really the individual in question who applied the e-signature? What happens if two signers share the same mobile device? Did they both sign separately, or did one person sign for both?

Authentication, or validating that a person really is who they say they are, happens at three levels. To ensure an insurance application or contract is reliably e-signed, a carrier will likely use a combination of different techniques to add further signer validation at the time of signing in each of these three areas:

• Ÿ Identifying the signer
• Ÿ The method used to sign (“an electronic sound, symbol or process…”)
• Ÿ Signature attribution

Identifying the signer  

Identification is the first step to establishing authentication in electronic transactions. This is easiest to do via an in-person meeting between agent and applicant, using government-issued ID such as a driver’s license. However, when customers are remote, accessing a transaction from their mobile devices – without any prior face-to-face interaction – more sophisticated techniques are needed. When evaluating how to identify people, consider how customer identity is verified in other remote channels such as call centers and by mail. These processes often identify applicants using out-of-wallet information like a credit card or other physical credentials. Identity is also confirmed through the transaction process itself, since a significant amount of personal information will be collected about the applicant in the context of a life or auto insurance application process, which will in turn be validated through a third-party consumer credit verification database such as Experian or Equifax.

Another technique is knowledge-based authentication, which relies on a set of shared secrets that both parties agree to use before initiating the e-signing session. As an example, it could include a user name and password, an insurance application number, the last three digits of the consumer’s SIN, year of birth, etc. In this approach, the online application process would present these questions, which the consumer must correctly answer before accessing the e-signing session. This is another means of ensuring that Jane Doe Applicant really is who she says she is.

This is easy to do in a self-serve, Web-based transaction. Members log into the application using their personal credentials and are in sole control of when and what documents they sign.

However, this is not the case when processes take place in-person because service representatives and agents must share their mobile device with consumers, raising the question of who actually e-signed – the consumer or the representative?

Until now, the only way to get around this problem was to equip every point of sale with a costly hardware device, like the ones that are used by many courier companies today, to capture member’s handwritten signatures electronically. The problem is that most organizations, carriers included, are reluctant to assume the cost of buying, deploying and managing signature capture pads. E-signature solutions that use SMS and voice authentication features solve the problem by providing additional, software-based methods for identifying users in electronic transactions.

With SMS text authentication, for example, the representative enters the member’s mobile phone number prior to e-signing. A unique PIN is then automatically generated by the application and sent to the member’s cell phone as a text message. The agent hands over their computer to the member who then must enter the unique, one-time password in order to continue the e-signing process.  As such, SMS helps attribute a signature to a particular individual.

The method used to sign  

According to the US Federal E-SIGN law, an electronic signature can be “an electronic sound, symbol or process”, which opens the door to many different means of signing. Common methods of mobile e-signing are:

Ÿ Click-to-sign, where an individual is asked to take the mouse and click to apply their name as their signature. “Click-to-Sign” buttons are placed over signature locations on the document. This method is a true zero-client solution, meaning the signer doesn’t need any special hardware or software other than a web browser.  With the Silanis E-Sign Enterprise Platform, for example, documents can be signed on the iPad in exactly the same way as on a laptop’s browser. The click-to-sign signature method works by tapping on the iPad touchscreen with a fingertip.

Ÿ A handwritten signature captured electronically on either a signature pad (commonly used by courier companies), a tablet PC such as an iPad, laptop or smartphone. Any of these mobile devices can be used to capture a consumer’s signature image and intent to sign. In fact, thanks to its large screen area and easy to use scrolling and zooming features, the iPad is perfect for reviewing and signing documents while away from one’s main computer. An agent can use the iPad to walk the customer through an e-signature process without having to carry around a laptop and signature capture pad, or worse, a briefcase filled with paper forms.

Ÿ Voice signature, which can be captured through the built-in microphone of an agent’s laptop, for example, thereby providing irrefutable evidence of the customer’s participation during an e-signature process. While less frequently implemented, audio can be used in conjunction with mobile devices to capture consumers verbally accepting disclaimers, affidavits or signing documents.

Signature attribution  

Signature attribution applies to a scenario in which sales or service representatives interact with customers in a face-to-face environment. Picture a consumer reviewing and signing contracts in a retail branch or at their kitchen table. As more and more field and branch automation applications become hardware-free (no signature tablets), the challenge becomes how to prove who actually signed.

When using the digitized handwritten signature capture method, a carrier typically would not need to add additional layers of authentication because a handwritten signature is relatively unique in terms of proving who applied it. However with click-to-sign electronic transactions, carriers may want to take extra steps to attribute the signature to a specific person – to show who was actually holding the mouse at the time of e-signing.

One of the most practical approaches for establishing attribution is SMS password (PIN). During the initial data capture process, the agent would input the customer’s mobile phone number. When the e-signing session is initiated, a one-time, unique password would be sent via text message to the customer’s cell phone. When control of the session is handed over to the signer, that person is prompted to enter the SMS password. This links the customer to the transaction and provides an audit trail that becomes part of their electronic signature.

Yet another (or additional) option for attributing in-person, click-to-sign signatures is voice capture. The signer navigates through the signing process, clicking to accept in all the designated places. At the end of the process, the signer is prompted to confirm their agreement to e-sign through a voice signature. Once clicked, a dialog box appears with a prepared statement that the signer reads (i.e., “I, Jane Doe, do solemnly swear that I am the person signing this contract…”). As they read it, their voiceprint is recorded and associated to the e-signed documents in question.

While there are many possible combinations of techniques that reinforce authentication for non-repudiation of legally binding business contracts, the main point is for carriers to weigh the risk involved in the process versus the ease of use and cost of authentication methods in deciding how to best approach mobile signing. Learn more in the 60-minute “Insurance, Mobility and E-Signatures” webcast from Silanis.

What did you think of this article?

[This is a guest post]

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But despite this, we’re still seeing a steady increase in the number of serious data loss incidents. And what’s really surprising is that there seems to be a new trend of critical data loss amongst people and companies that already back up their data on a regular basis.

Amongst this new breed of data loss incident, the most common variable is a reluctance to test backups. Although most leading backup experts advise their clients to test backups on – at least – an annual basis, people are still neglecting to perform these regular tests.

And because of this, we’re now seeing an alarming trend where organizations have many years worth of backups on file, but have no idea if these backups can actually be restored.

Outlined below, are a number of key reasons why people and companies should test their backups at least once per year.

1. New computers are constantly being added to networks. And often, we forget to back up these new computers. (This is particularly true in the case of virtual servers).
2. New applications may be added to your computers, which save data in unusual parts of the hard drive. If you’re only backing up your desktop and “My Documents” folders, you may be leaving some important files unprotected.
3. There may be some new internal processes within your company which dictate how certain types of data should be handled. Failure to follow these policies could land you in trouble. (Either for privacy, security or performance reasons).
4. Likewise, there may be new laws or regulations that dictate what you can and cannot do with private customer information. Failure to adhere to these rules could lead to heavy penalties. (Ex: HIPAA, SOX404, PIPEDA, etc…).
5. Storage is now growing at an alarming rate. Many people are reporting that their file storage doubles in size every year. This rapid data growth means longer backup times, slower recovery, more difficulty finding specific files, and more chances for error.
6. Now that we’re living in the Web 2.0/Cloud Computing age, we’re seeing a rapid change in the network topology of most organizations. Employees are increasingly moving outside of the internal network, while the datacenter is being reshaped in order to leverage the benefits of public, private and hybrid clouds. If a backup administrator loses track of where these servers fit within the network architecture, they can be accidentally left out of the backup process.
7. Now that employees are increasingly working from laptops and mobile devices, extra care must be taken to track, administer and secure the backups of these remote travelling devices.
8. Because organizations are increasingly working in a global 24/7 marketplace, there is less tolerance for downtime. You need to ensure that your backups can be recovered quickly in order to minimize downtime.
9. Some programs – like word processing or spreadsheets – can tolerate up to a day’s worth of data loss without causing too many problems. And other systems – such as e-commerce databases – have almost zero tolerance for data loss. It’s important to know what your backup priorities are in order to design an efficient and cost-effective backup process that still covers all of your data protection needs.
10. Often, backup storage can become damaged without anyone realizing it. It’s important to test your backups to ensure that your data can – in fact – be retrieved.
11. Sometimes you need to recover only a few files, and sometimes you need to recover an entire system. “Bare metal recovery” is one of the trickiest areas of backup. You need practice to ensure that you’re properly prepared… and that you’re able to recover when needed.
12. The IT industry is known for its high turnover. Would your company be able to restore its servers if you – or another key person – were unavailable?
13. Too often, we assume that backups can be recovered to the same systems on which it was created. But what would happen if your entire datacenter was destroyed by a natural disaster? How certain are you about your ability to recover in a timely manner?

Of course, this is not meant to be a comprehensive list. If you can think of any other reasons why backups need to be tested regularly, please leave them in the comments below.

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SpyShelter has long been one of the more noted antispyware/anti-keylogging systems on the market, and version 5.1 was recently released only last week – a beefier system with a much larger signature base, an improved interface, and a greatly enhanced experience for users.

The reason SpyShelter is popular is unfortunately due to the strength of keyloggers. A keylogger is an incredibly dangerous threat because it resides totally in the background of your computer and is nearly impossible to detect unless your antispyware program carries its signature.

You can log in to your e-wallet or internet casino account without any issues, but the keylogger can be recording your every stroke or even capturing your entire screen image.

Keyloggers aren’t designed to give you problems, so you will not notice any performance drop or anything out of the ordinary. All the while, though, your personal information is being recorded remotely. Anti-virus and anti-malware systems sometimes aren’t enough.

SpyShelter’s new version offers users 64-bit protection for its AntiNetworkSpy feature, which protects great against threats like Zeus or Torpig and uses protocols like HTTPS, HTML, FTP, POP, SMTP and SSL.

Some of the key features in the new-look SpyShelter include:

• A tough Anti-Kernel Mode Logger for 32-bit (the worst of keyloggers)
• Protection against SSL loggers via an AntiNetwork Spy Module offering 32 and 64-bit protection
• A smaller footprint with a  lighter look and cleaner interface, giving you more power without using more performance
• Fuller-featured version now available in freeware

If you like to play real money blackjack, enjoy doing a little bit of shopping, or simply want your privacy protected like it deserves to be, an anti-keylogger is essential. These malicious pieces of software can easily sneak through, and specifically protecting against them is a must.

SpyShelter has long earned rave reviews for being able to offer protection against the threat.

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By each passing days, the potency and diversity of online threats is increasing and Internet Security is becoming more and more important. Howsoever smart, intelligent and updated security software you are using on your system, you can never be assured that your computer is totally safe and protected.

There are a lot of sites including Internet Security Blog, which try to impart awareness about these online threats and the ways and means to protect your system from them.

PCRisk.com is one such site, which has recently been launched and gaining popularity very fast. They have compiled a good database of some of the recent spyware and malware traces. You can click each link to open a new page, where you can find more details about the threat and also simple instructions to remove that malware from your computer in case your computer is infected from that malware. The database is alphabetic order, although I wished that the same could have been categorized in different sections for easy grasp and understanding.

They have a section dedicated to the review of some of the best antispyware and anti-malware suites. You can read the reviews before deciding about your favorite security suite. However, I must say that these reviews only portray the basic features and functionalities of the security suites and miss about the advanced details and features of the software. I was expecting a more rigorous reviews.

In the Internet Security News section of their website, you can find some well written articles on the hot topics of Internet Security. They will provide you some good understanding of the topic and help increasing the awareness about these issues.

If you like the site, I would request you to help the site by clicking some advertising and affiliate links, because I know how painful and costly it is to run a website like that.

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At least one vendor has ensured to buck this trend. Bullguard has recently come up with the latest edition of their Internet Security named as Bullguard Internet Security 9.0. It has come after around two years of last major version 8.0 being released. Although in-between, they had also released the minor revision 8.5.

BullGuard Internet Security 9.0 has an impressively simple to use interface. It presents you a simple interface studded with a few icons, which allows you to perform common security tasks like scan, backup and other things with a single click of a mouse button.

Yet another feature, which I liked about BullGuard Internet Security 9.0 is silent-to-perform approach. Many Internet Security Software suites create lot of noise while performing, asking for user intervention at every step. Most of these tasks are trivial, and the user goes by the recommendations provided by the security suite.  It feels annoying being asked every time to instruct the software to do the task, when it can apply its own discretion and wisdom.

BullGuard Internet Security 9.0 has also done away with the usual approach of different levels of customized scans; quick scan, complete scan and deep scan. Instead it allows you to customize your scan, which some users may or may not like.

Overall a nice update.

[Visit Bullgauard Antivirus]

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Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) (previously codenamed Morro) is a free antivirus software created by Microsoft that provides protection against viruses, malware, spyware, adware, scareware, rogue security software, rootkits, keyloggers, dialers, worms and trojans for Windows XP (x86), Windows Vista, and Windows 7 (both x86 and x64).

MSE replaces Windows Live OneCare, a commercial subscription-based antivirus service and the free Windows Defender, which only protected users from adware and spyware. It is geared for consumer use, unlike Microsoft’s upcoming enterprise-oriented product Microsoft Forefront.

(Source: Wiki)

Fine, But Which is the Best Free Internet Security Tool

Independent Security Researcher Team at http://www.av-comparatives.org has been testing and comparing popular Internet Security Software for long. This time they have published a report based upon the testing of popular security suites against new malware and viruses.

They had updated the virus definitions of these software suites with the database updated till February 2010 and tested their efficacy in detecting the malware, which were developed after that. This essentially meant that the definitions didn’t contained the signatures of these malware and these software suites were expected to detect them based upon their heuristic and analytic powers.

The test results show that Microsoft’s Security Essential is rated the best FREE Internet Security Tool in detecting the new malware threats. It is not the absolute best, but Best among the Free Suites.

There are lots of other interesting observations as well.

Read the complete report here (pdf).

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Many people get confused with the name because of its similarity with the name of a huge species of lizards, that inhabits the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang in Indonesia. You can have more information about the Komodo Lizards on the Wiki page here.

But if you are looking for the a review of the Comodo Browser, then I would suggest you to check out the Comodo Browser Review from the PC Security Blog.

It gives a nice review but suggests to prefer the popular and regularly updated web browsers like Firefox and Google Chrome saying that…

Despite these useful features and security enhancements, I would still believe that security update is a very important factor behind the security of a web browser. With a vast pool of resources and information available, browsers like Google Chrome and Firefox, are in a much better position to detect and counter a potential vulnerability as soon as it is exposed. Howsoever efficient Comodo is, they cannot match the huge resources and efforts, Google can put in to immediately detect and plug-in a security hole in its browser through security update..

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Norton Power Eraser, NPE, is a freeware tool, which can attempt to find and remove such deep rooted, hidden and tough-to-detect malware and virus infections. Unlike other security applications, it does not provide you a real time protection, but is developed to be used for cleaning an already infected computer.

NPE is a portable antivirus, meaning that it does not need any installation to run. You can even run it through a USB or CD Drive. At present NPE is in Public beta, you can download it and use it for fee.

Caution: Please note that NPE is meant to be used as aggressive malware removal tool. What this means is that you should use it when most other applications and attempts to clean computer have failed. NPE is designed in such a way that you may get a few false positives while cleaning attempts.

You should use Norton Power Eraser tool when nothing else will remove an annoying program and you are willing to accept a higher risk that the scanner may quarantine a legitimate program. Because the Norton Power Eraser uses aggressive methods to detect these threats, there is a risk that it can select some legitimate programs for removal. You should use this tool very carefully, and only after you have exhausted other options.

[Download Norton Power Eraser]

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In a recent report, top security vendor Symantec had studied this underground economy and listed the top selling and advertised products. The report has some very interesting observations and it is surprising to know that sensitive data like Credit Card information is available for as low as $0.85.

The underground economy is an evolving and self-sustaining black market where underground economy servers, or black market forums, are used for the promotion and trade of stolen information and services. This information can include government-issued identification numbers such as Social Security numbers (SSNs), credit card numbers, debit card information, user accounts, email address lists, and bank accounts. Services include cashiers, scam page hosting, and job advertisements such as for scam developers or phishing partners.

Following are the top selling products and services in malware infection economy.

Bank account credentials—may consist of name, bank account number (including transit andbranch number), address, and phone number. Online banking logins and passwords are often soldas a separate item.• Cash out—a withdrawal service where purchases are converted into true currency. This could be in theform of online currency accounts or through money transfer systems and typically, the requester ischarged a percentage of the cashout value as a fee.

Credit card information—includes credit card number and expiry date. It may also contain the cardholder name, Credit Verification Value 2 (CVV2) number, PIN, billing address, phone number, and company name (for a corporate card). CVV2 is a three or four-digit number on the credit card and used for card-not-present transactions such as Internet or phone purchases. This was created to add an extra layer of security for credit cards and to verify that the person completing the transaction was in fact, in possession of the card.

Email accounts—includes user ID, email address, password. In addition, the account may contain personal information such as addresses, other account information, and email addresses in the contact list.

Email addresses—consists of lists of email addresses used for spam or phishing activities. The email addresses can be harvested from hacking databases, public sites on the Internet, or from stolen email accounts. The sizes of lists sold can range from 1 MB to 150 MB.

Full identities—may consist of name, address, date of birth, phone number, and government-issued number. It may also include extras such as driver’s license number, mother’s maiden name, email address, or “secret” questions/answers for password recovery.

Mailers—an application that is used to send out mass emails (spam) for phishing attacks. Examples of this are worms and viruses.

Proxies—Proxy services provide access to a software agent, often a firewall mechanism, which performs a function or operation on behalf of another application or system while hiding the details involved, allowing attackers to obscure their path and make tracing back to the source difficult or impossible. This can involve sending email from the proxy, or connecting to the proxy and then out to an underground IRC server to sell credit cards or other stolen goods.

Shell scripts—used to perform operations such as file manipulation and program execution. They can also be used as a command line interface for various operating systems.

Complete Report-pdf, 4MB]

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Repeated Switching ON / OFF the printer is of no use and the only option looks to reboot the computer and do it again.

How to Forcefully Cancel the Print Jobs

Luckily, there is a freeware software, which can do the job easily. Stalled Printer Repair, from Fantastic Software can detect the stuck up print jobs and allows you to cancel them easily.

The features of this useful utility are as follows.

• Detect the existence of Stalled Print Jobs.
• Purge all Stalled Print Jobs on the Printer.
• Portable Application: does not need to be installed and does not write to the registry.
• Replaces the Manual Process and even dos batch scripts, which cannot be emailed through most email service providers.

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