The Wall Street Journal-20080115-Business Technology -- Best of the Business Tech Blog- A Trojan Targets iPhone- Work of an 11-Year-Old-
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Business Technology -- Best of the Business Tech Blog: A Trojan Targets iPhone; Work of an 11-Year-Old?
[Excerpts from Recent Entries at WSJ.com's Tech Blog]
Some research firms have warned businesses not to adopt Apple Inc.'s iPhone because they say the device may not be adequately secure. Indeed, many iPhones have been modified by their owners to install unsanctioned or unverified third-party applications.
Reports surfaced last week describing the appearance of the first "Trojan" to target the iPhone. The Trojan is a malicious computer code that gives hackers access and control of someone's computer. This particular one removes legitimate applications once users try to remove or "uninstall" the Trojan from the iPhone, if it's a phone that has been modified or opened through a security hole in the system.
F-Secure, an antivirus and security software company, confirmed the Trojan and the Web sites hosting it were removed. One interesting tidbit: the Trojan was apparently created by an 11-year-old. An Apple spokeswoman didn't provide a comment.
-- Mylene Mangalindan
A Starter's Guide To SOA
Many companies are struggling with how to implement what's known as a service-oriented software architecture.
The jargony term -- or SOA as it's known in the industry -- allows business processes like verifying a customer's address to be built using modular chunks of software called "services." These software chunks can communicate with each other and be used across different parts of a business. Analysts view SOA as an increasingly important technology because it saves time and money by creating "services" that can be used and reused.
But due to a sour U.S. housing market and talk of a looming recession, some companies are cutting their budgets for SOA projects, according to InfoWorld.
The Business Technology Blog thought it might help to give cost- conscious companies curious about SOA some tips on how to implement the architecture without breaking the bank. Susan Eustis, president of Wintergreen Research Inc., says that the first step is to find help. Companies such as International Business Machines Corp. and Hewlett- Packard Co. have large services organizations to help companies get started, though Ms. Eustis warns companies should spend no more than $100,000 on the consulting services.
Next, she says, find a pilot project or one small business problem that needs solving as a way of getting your feet wet. Lay out that problem and define how you plan to measure the efforts toward success or failure.
After all that's done, Ms. Eustis says companies can set about creating reusable software based on services. To be cost effective, she recommends keeping all the software chunks in one place -- such as a mainframe computer -- and consistently updating and tweaking them. After about 10 or more successful pilot projects, it's OK to start a larger rollout throughout the organization, she says.
The best part: Throughout all of this, if a budget gets cut or stalled, the pilot projects a company has successfully created will continue to work. Companies can turn to the rest of the business later when the money comes back.
-- Christopher Lawton
