The Australian Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCERT) which wrapped up its security conference last week, will team up with a new security team as envisaged by the Australian government.

As part of the government’s cyber security strategy, the new CERT, which was started up in November 2009, will cover a wider area of security, including the ability to better analyse and protect against threats in the areas of government and infrastructure, education of Australians on threats, and make changes to the legal framework so that cyber-crime can be more effectively prosecuted.

The new CERT is operational in July this year.

To read the full article, click here.

Asia Pacific Information Security Conference (AusCERT) annual Autumn conference is taking place right now in the Gold Coast, from 16 – 21 May 2010.

This conference is known as the premier IT security event for professionals and featuresa large list of delegates and sponsors from the IT and security world coming together to share knowledge and expertise.

Finalists for security awards have been announced, with the awards dinner happening later this week.

IronKey products and expertise is on show at the Duo International Pty Ltd stand.

Further information about the AusCERT conference is available here.

This week, litigation funder IMF Australia is financing a class action against Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, NAB and Westpac on the basis that ‘exception fees’ charged by the banks including late fees and dishonour fees were out of proportion to the actual cost charged by the banks.

At todays 14 May 2010, 40,000 Australians have signed on as claimants.

Full article available here.

Ironkey introduces its Trusted Acess for Banking USB drive.

Banking customers have been increasingly affected by malicious software which can gain access to secure logins and other confidential information.

Ironkey is assisting banks in the USA with providing extra security for its customers.

Click here to read the full article.

Ironkey has just released the D200

https://www.ironkey.com/d200

The Ironkey D200 is a lower end, more affordable Ironkey model designed for the office worker.

You can now buy the D200 online in Australia at www.ironkey.net.au

The latest upgrade to Informant.me brings with it the ability to send SMS messages to your clients.

Whether you’re going to be telling them about your latest promotions, or reminding them about that overdue invoice, we think it’s a helpful new addition. Enjoy.

It frustrates me when giant banks take so long to get up to speed with web technology. Why do they not all have Mobile Internet Banking so those of us with iPhones and other devices can login quickly and easily? And why did they not have it yesterday?

I asked myself this question about CBA, they are one of, if not the, largest bank in Australia, yet they did not have Mobile Internet Banking – absurd!

Let’s just take a step back before I get worked up about this again. What is this and why does anyone need it?

Mobile Internet Banking allows you to log into internet banking from your cellphone/PDA device, wherever you happen to be, so long as you have internet on your phone.

The value in this technology, is that for those of us used to Internet Banking, all the things you’d normally have to visit a bank for, or go to a computer for, to do – such as paying someone or transferring funds – can now be done on your phone.

You don’t actually need a “Mobile Internet Banking service” – a special version of internet banking for a cellphone, because you can just access internet banking if you have internet on your phone. However, the downside of this is that it’s really slow, and everything’s really tiny. Even if you have an iPhone, constant zooming in and out is required to use it.

In the case of the CBA, after a recent upgrade, while Internet Banking is a pleasure not a chore with them, it is on a tiny screen, virtually unusable.

Enter Netbank – http://mobile.netbank.com.au/

My opinion is, the reason CBA has taken so long to sort this out, is because they have taken the time to make it really, really good.

It is clear that a lot of time and thought has gone into what people want. And the result is a well thought out, user friendly system that is designed extremely well.

If you visit the link above on your web browser, it looks terrible. Ugly. Crank it up on your iPhone and it comes to life, and you can see what these guys have done.

The first page you come to gives you what you want, well, what I want anyway:

-Log in to mobile banking
-Find a branch
-Find an ATM

With all the fees these days, finding an ATM is really helpful. Finding this information through other means is a painful process. It’s great to see it on the front page.

Using the log in page, you can get instant access to your account information and recent transactions.

Transferring funds can be done easily, with the click of a button. Interface is easy to use and intuitive. And it tells you what’s going on at every step.

They have taken the interface one step further, it is made to look more like an iPhone app rather than a website on your iPhone.

It’s worth noting also that the ATM locator is simple. Searching for my current location, it gives me a raft of options nearby. Clicking a button I am given the exact location of my nearest ATM. Clicking a few more buttons I find out it will take 4 minutes to walk there. Easy.

If you’re in Australia and use CBA, suggest you try this out.

Over the last few weeks and months, we’ve been working on improving how Informant.me works to make it a better product for you and more useful.

As well as resolving some technical issues, we have:

1) Made editing customer details much easier.

2) Added a ‘Templates’ button down the left hand menu. Templates allows you to save your newsletters to work on them later.

3) ‘Save for later’ now added to the ‘Send Mail’ page. When you’re working on a newsletter, click on ‘Save for later’, choose a name and come back to it later when you have more time! All saved newsletters will go into the ‘Templates’ page. Yes, we’re working on better wording for all of this so stay tuned!

4) Homepage update. Now you can see how many customers you’ve been in touch with in the last 90 days, and how many of your customers you’ve never even contacted before. Work on lifting those percentages and we reckon your rentention rates will rise.

As always, we appreciate your feedback at all times. Let us know what’s going on and what improvements you’d like.

OPMC Client www.thecrewlist.com has just reached the milestone of 700 members.

Congratulations to their team, and if you haven’t visited their website check it out now!