One of the major appeals of the Mac computer environment is the security that comes with them. For years, the common refrain for Mac computers was they were more secure because more people used the Windows operating system, so malware creators normally targeted the Microsoft environment. Fast forward to 2011 and we find that Mac/Apple is considered the world’s most valuable brand, as more and more users want to be involved with Mac’s dominance of the mobile device world.

While the home computing market may be falling behind the mobile device industry, that doesn’t mean it’s not a viable target for malicious program writers. Furthermore, the idea that Mac home computers are inherently more secure may be coming to an end, which is something to consider if your IT department has plans of conducting a switchover to the Apple environment.

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Passwords are the first line of defense. Some would consider this secondary to firewalls and other road blocks. However, many attacks are from inside the network, and once outside attacks have gotten inside, passwords still remain a defense. The recent breach at Sony as well as other reports show that IT departments should take a second look at their password policy.

First, let’s look at why password policies need to be revisited. When RockYou was attacked in 2009, the list of 32 million passwords were posted online. Imperva took the data and published a report titled “Consumer Password Worst Practices” which revealed that at least 50% of users had chosen trivial passwords. The fact is, most people do not choose good passwords.

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The concept of cloud computing — the process of allocating resources of a group of networked computers — has been growing in popularity at an accelerated rate So much so, in fact, the concept can be obfuscated to the point where the concept does not fit the type of computing being done, all in hopes of sounding current.

Simply put, the idea of “cloud computing” has become a buzz word, and because of that, it’s used to describe systems that don’t necessarily offer true cloud computing. However, thanks to a definitive guide published by CloudAve.com, there are now some standards to consider before companies start throwing the “could computing” label around.

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