International organisations assemble at the ECDL Foundation Annual Forum to Influence International Digital Literacy Policy, and to Shape National Initiatives Around the EU Commission’s Digital Agenda

Computerworld Philippines

A local group of IT professionals recently came face-to-face with one of the most notorious cybercrimes of today, as a malicious individual constructed a fake website bearing the group’s name, asking around for membership renewal fees.

PCS (Philippine Computer Society) executives reported recently that a cybercriminal has been going around member schools of their academic arm, the JPCS (Junior PCS), asking for fees to renew their school’s membership.

A JPCS member reportedly identified the attempt, which was carried out through a fake JPCS website, asking them to deposit the renewal fee to a certain bank account.

With the Automated Elections just days away and issues and concerns about the system, the equipment, the technology and people were less than reassuring giving no comfort to the voting population, PCS, with the help of its friends and partners in the industry, undertook and hosted one of the first ever Crisis Management Forum for the AES 2010 as a means of providing and uncovering the necessary steps to improve the acceptability and reliability of the results of the elections. See the foregoing link as summary of the already known and not-so-known vulnerabilities of the AES 2010 and the steps to follow to avert a crisis or to handle possible crisis that may arise should the concerns about the vulnerabilities be proven to be fact rather than fiction.

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In recent times, a number of events have tested businesses’ capability to continue operations in the face of emergencies. Manmade disasters like Y2K and 9/11, natural calamities like hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis, and other catastrophic events like the swine flu epidemic have made today’s organizations finally heed the call of those who advocate the importance of business continuity planning.

A US study showed that over 40% of businesses never reopened after a disaster, and of the remaining companies that do, 25% closed in two years. Thus, a company’s survival depends not only on how it can cope while a disaster is occurring, but also how it will respond to new scenarios when the catastrophe has run its course. This is where a sound, viable business continuity plan can prove to be an organization’s saving grace.