Know More on Secure Software Development from IEEE Computer Society

Developing secure software correctly and successfully is something that the stakeholders are responsible for, as they are involved in the software development life cycle process. Whilst software security can by opting in selected procedures and technologies, the eventual responsibility is described to the ones that are setting it up. The secure and safe technologies are limited and in certain situations when selected it is likely that they are less secure. There have been times, when the procedures that are included in software security get evaded.


The secure software development process comprises of various stakeholders. This team can include people like testers, analysts, operations professionals, architects and coders and many more. Similarly, the secure software development process also comprises of project, personnel and product management and in some cases there is executive level management. Furthermore, it might also comprise selected members firm the security and audit teams.


A secure software lifecycle professional can be a stakeholder who is responsible for setting up software with the aim of ensuring that the same does not lead to any security hassles. Along with this, it is important that we understand that no single software can turn out to be 100 percent secure. Though software can certainly be developed with the mindset of security and putting safety checks to minimize the unwarranted exposure and negative influences of the same.


Some of the best practices of secure software development lifecycle include the following:


* Secure the brand and your customer’s trust

* Have a clear understanding of your business and assist it with secure solutions

* Have a thorough understanding of the software technology

* Ensure compliance to governance, privacy and regulations

* Understand the fundamental tenets of software security

* Ensure the security of sensitive and confidential data

* Setup software with secure features

* Develop software with secure features

* Implement software with secure features

* Stay updated on the ways to establish secure software and encourage others to do so as well


Keeping in mind all these considerations the IEEE Computer society has come up with online software engineering magazines that present updates and current research, developments and schedules data, edited in order to improve the clarity and readability. IEEE Computer Society has flagship publications, such as Computer that offers technical content spanning across various aspects such as secure software development, computer engineering, and technology and software applications. Articles and news published in these computer magazines not only helps enterprises but also helps to set up a community to expert software practitioners.


Other Links - Software Certification

The Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) – Version 3

With the aim of establishing a baseline for the body of knowledge for the field of software engineering, the IEEE Computer Society and the Association for Computer Machinery (ACM) came up with a new international standard SWEBOK (Software Engineering Body of Knowledge). SWEBOK defines the software engineering knowledge that practitioners should have after four years of practice.


The SWEBOK Guide:


* characterizes the contents of the software engineering discipline

* promotes a consistent view of software engineering worldwide

* clarifies software engineering's place with respect to other disciplines

* provides a foundation for training materials and curriculum development, and

* provides a basis for certification and licensing of software engineers


The SWEBOK Guide (2004 Version) is also known as Technical Report ISO/IEC TR 19759. The 2004 edition of the SWEBOK guide defines ten knowledge areas (KAs) within the field of software engineering:


  1. Software requirements

  2. Software design

  3. Software construction

  4. Software testing

  5. Software maintenance

  6. Software configuration management

  7. Software engineering management (Engineering management)

  8. Software engineering process

  9. Software engineering tools and methods

  10. Software quality


The SWEBOK also defines disciplines related to software engineering:


* Computer engineering

* Computer science

* Management

* Mathematics

* Quality management

* Software ergonomics (Cognitive ergonomics)

* Systems engineering


The IEEE Computer Society is in the process of refreshing the Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK)--adding new knowledge areas (KAs) and revising others. Changes to the SWEBOK Guide include:


* Updating of topic descriptions in the 2004 version

* Inclusion of topics that have gained general acceptance since 2004

* Retirement of topics that are no longer relevant

* Addition of five new knowledge areas (KAs) that provide a guide to foundational knowledge in software engineering

* Better integration of the related disciplines

* Renaming and distribution of some material into different knowledge areas


The SWEBOK V3 has 15 KAs and the IEEE Computer Society is now soliciting public review comments for the Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge. Of the 15 KAs, nine KAs have completed public review; three KAs are currently available for public review and three yet to be reviewed.


The nine KAs that have completed public review are:


  1. Software Construction

  2. Software Configuration Management

  3. Computing Foundations

  4. Software Engineering Models and Methods

  5. Software Maintenance

  6. Mathematical Foundations

  7. Software Design

  8. Software Engineering Management

  9. Software Engineering Professional Practice


The three KAs that are currently open for public review are:


  1. Software Engineering Economics

  2. Software Requirements

  3. Software Testing


The three KAs left to be reviewed are:


  1. Engineering Foundations

  2. Software Engineering Process

  3. Software Quality


The SWEBOK V3 is to be released in mid 2013.


Other Links - Computingnow  & Computer Magazines

Professional Translation Services For Effective Content Translation

The success of every modern globalized business lies in the effectively managing the multicultural and multilingual customer base and retaining them. This requires understanding customer requirements and developing products and services to meet their demands. Language being a mode of communication, translation is an activity which will help enterprises bridge the gap between languages and understand their customers


The early period in business history found most of the organizations employing  people with knowledge of multiple languages to help them in translating documents and  speech across different communities. Nevertheless, as business took the global route with the expansions to different nations, the expanse of the documents to be translated increased manifold making language translation a strenuous process demanding professional translation services to take over. This is because incorrectly translated product manuals, marketing documents and contracts will not only be embarrassing for the enterprises but will have a deep affect on its finances and revenue.


The   accredited translators equipped with a vast  knowledge of local languages and cultures  enables   governments, business organizations  and individuals  to communicate accurately and effectively. Further, the  human powered translation  services  also understands the elusive cultural nuances that  bring about changes in the language translation process. However,the advent  technological  innovations as well as the to need to provide  faster services to meet the  growing demands of  a wider audience have paved way for development of automated language translation services.


Nevertheless before engaging the services of the third party service providers and professional translators, enterprises need to check the fundamental aspects such as professionalism, quality and availability of translation  into large number of languages. The professional translation services from the leading service providers of language translation technology have revolutionized the way content is translated throughout the business environment and government establishments.


For the technology enabled enterprises with a large cross-section of  end-users worldwide, the language translation service providers offer a web based collaborative translation platform that enables easy and effective translation of content in a number of languages. Further, with a worldwide network of large number of translators proficient in more than 150 languages these service providers has the ability to translate content irrespective of size and languages.  The automated language translation software offers the  bilingual speakers a contextual translations of words and phrases enabling an increase the speed of translation along with   a 50% reduction in  the cost of localization.


The clients using these professional translation services are benefited by its terminology management functionality that helps to maintain messaging consistency and accuracy, the translation memory facilitates content recycling across various projects. The automated translation aids as a springboard for the human translators. Further, equipped with a project management dashboard and a real-time reporting system this  ensure team coordination and high-level of professionalism.


Related Links: language translation solution, Collaborative Translation Platform

Need For Enterprise Translation Solutions

Today majority of professional translators try to keep up with the pace of changes happening to various languages around the globe. There are many words and phrases that are no longer used or are being used only to describe specific situations. The fact that most content is written in English does not solve the concern for entrepreneurs, as research shows that there are audience who prefers the web content in their regional languages.


This is the reason why numerous companies and MNC’s operating globally need professional translation services for various aspects of their business. Corporate websites, marketing documents, compliance documentation, help forums, human resource manuals and technical handbooks all need language translation support. To cater to the ever increasing customers demand, there are internal teams within the organization that touch base with language translation service providers offering cost efficient translation solutions.


The Common Sense Advisory, which is an independent market research firm has released a new data that affirms the advantages of language translation services from trusted solution provider. This can result in minimized expenses for enterprises and quicker time to market huge volumes of translated content. The firm conducted a survey with 226 respondents from global companies that buy translation services. Despite the global economic issues, the majority of these firms recorded that the translation spending has risen from  2010 to 2011.


Therefore, in order to address this demand today solution providers have come up with enterprise translation solutions that are affordable and can convert business data channels, such as websites, brochures, legal documents and advertising campaigns into other global languages. The solution provider offers the services of their own translators spread globally having the expertise in multiple regional languages. Other services offered include the following:


* Automated translation that can be easily used as a springboard for human editing

* Real-time reporting and project management dashboard that further helps to streamline team coordination

* Terminology management that provides messaging precision and consistency

* Translation memory that helps in recycling content through successive projects


Enterprise translation solution providers also offer bilingual speakers with contextual translation of sentences, words and phrases rather than an elementary sentence-based translation. This in turn helps in minimizing the localization cost by over 50 percent and increasing the translation speed. Furthermore, the enterprise translation solutions come in the form of a licensed software that allows companies to own their own servers, thereby giving them the security and flexibility to host their own translation platform. With this you can monitor every phase of the translation process and cooperate better with your community to save time and money.


Related Links: language translation solution , Collaborative Translation Platform

Developments In Aerospace Engineering Services

The modern day business scenario in the engineering vertical is extremely competitive and demanding. Added on to that there is an increasing demand from the market forces to reduce the product pricing. Over the past few years the aerospace engineering services domain has shown and experienced certain developments. It has overcome all the hurdles and is now gaining higher heights of success with every passing day. With the rapid expansion spree in the aviation industry vertical there are important matters in aerospace engineering services that requires to be given focus. This includes the incorporating flexible processes for offering high-quality and innovative solutions to fulfill international demands.


The aerospace engineering services and projects that use value engineering in the initial development or conceptual stages are mostly successful owing to the common understanding of the objectives, requirements and deliverables. When critical design and development resources are completely involved and the manner in which the fundamental operation of the service is to function is not set up appropriately, then it is important to gather alternative ways to address the same. It has been viewed that the value engineering is unrestricted in its capability and has the capacity to recognize the verticals for potential savings when applied with flexibility and creativity.


Today companies specializing in global engineering services have been aiming at expanding its support and service base to the aerospace industry by offering “ready to fit” as well as customized aerospace precision machined parts. These global firms are well equipped with the state-of-the-art machinery for manufacturing the precision machined aero engine and aerostructure components to comply with the strict quality industry standards. The machining technology they follow comprises:


* 3/4/5 axis machining centers

* 2/3 axis CNC turning and milling

* 3 axis vertical turret lathes

* Assembly and other bench work activities


In addition to that the inspection facility too includes the following:-


* Totally equipped inspection center

* Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM)

* Leica microscope and Millipore testing for Dirt and chip level content (Clean room)

* Other essential inspection instruments and gauges


These companies are involved in engineering outsourcing solutions and comprises of service such as assembly process planning, value engineering, value analysis, design and development, reverse engineering, CNC program coding and assembly tooling design and development. This apart, these companies also partner with well known enterprises to expand their service portfolio to other manufacturing domains like sheet metal manufacturing and other specialized processing areas.


Related links: engineering analysis services , Integrated Engineering Services

Effectively Address Business Requirements With Engineering Consultancy Services

The manufacturing process also requires a highly equipped facility and instrumentation tools. The undertakings that manufacture machines for aerospace, automotive and for industrial use have to ensure that the models prepared for mass use are safe and risk-free.  In most cases there is a lot of risk for the manufacturers if the methods are flawed or deficient in quality and expertise. Mediocre quality materials and incomplete processes can produce devastating results, which is why these manufactured components need to be tested several times under rigorous conditions before they reach the market.


The job of manufacturing and engineering entails high levels of competency, making it all the more reason to employ specialists who have spotless track records. It is a prudent to employ outsourcing companies who are adept at managing the entire process right from its nascent stage to the ultimate stage of completion. In this highly volatile market, aerospace manufacturing businesses that are capable of combining outsourced engineering services along with their own internal capacities are the ones that are successful. Organizations all over the world need to speed up their respective engineering capacities to keep up with the ever-increasing consumer demand.


Advanced engineering services outsourcing help build and deliver products that are better and cheaper, minimize development costs, reduce lead times and maximize resources. By partnering with a reputed service provider, your business is bound to receive  unmatched support across the entire product life cycle the best offshore engineering services that can transform your company into a global force. Such service providers also have an advanced product development capabilities that help leverage local presence and global reach to support globalization initiatives, and also gain  from better and faster solutions that deliver more value.


The secret to successfully executing a robust global product development capability is in a modular style of building and managing a global model for engineering. The engineering plays a key role in determining the aerospace organization’s performance on very critical metric like time to market, cost or flexibility and usually requires a highly equipped facility and instrumentation tools.


Most organizations dealing with engineering services absorbs experienced engineers having a sound knowledge in the latest equipments and technologies and their respective applications. They are highly capable of completing any project at hand within the estimated budget and time. Any expertise in solving any engineering issues in time and in a cost-effective way is always a bonus, so choose your service provider with care.


Related links: engineering product design , Offshore Engineering Services

Features of High Performance Computing Clusters

High performance computing can be best described as a branch of computer science that has developed from a domain of computer science, known as supercomputing. There have been many scientists who have taken this as a separate branch as both can be used to resolve and synthesize higher computer science problems. There are some who can relate to this form of computing as both uses supercomputing strategies and provide solutions for innovative estimations.


As most of us have learned that high performance computing cluster is totally related with supercomputing, the equipments and applications that comes along with it is applicable to supercomputing as well. It has made utilized in everyday lives, for instance simulation of car crashes and weather forecasting. Yet another area whether high performance computing has been extensively used is for recognizing wind tunnels, such as cyclones, tornadoes and hurricanes. Furthermore, it also helps in everyday errands such as business processing and transactions.


This apart, high performance computing clusters can be successfully applied to the Line of Business. Due to its effective planning end users can have a good target and also attain a high performance computing platform. Recently, there has been numerous companies specializing in storage server and unified storage solutions that has also introduced high performance computing clusters. These clusters offer the end users with the required speed to access data efficiently and manage the growth. Furthermore, end users are also able to bring down various hassles seamlessly. The design usually brings benefits to a wide selection of application platforms, comprising the ones that are optimized for financial services, manufacturing, industrial design, government, education as well as life sciences. Irrespective of the workloads requiring a huge complicated cluster or an office cluster service providers today assist the end users in establishing a well-incorporated dynamic, high-performing computing cluster architecture that is easy to implement and manage.


In addition to that the new age market leaders in HPC cluster solution are also related to the hardware providers and HPC middleware technologies. This in turn helps the consumers to have a one-point contact for a comprehensive cluster application that ensures lesser risks.


The modern day service providers today have come up with cost efficient personalized high performance computing clusters that offer scalable performance and assists in leveraging high speed interconnects, open source infrastructure, industry standard servers and many more. There are other advantages too, one being the Micro Gen Technology.  


Read More About: custom computer systems, data centre solutions

The Need To Invest In An Anti-Phishing Software

A critical IT hazard that most organizations are encountering today in this high-tech world is that of internet data security. This is because of the continuous social engineering attacks that has been on the rise with the advent of social media and Web 2.0. The by products of this are Malware and Phishing attacks that have resulted in making employees vulnerable to cyber threats that leads them to fraud web pages and URL links. Simultaneously, these attacks rob individuals of their private data in a tricky manner that cannot be comprehended from before and can lead to enormous losses.


Defining Phishing


For those unaware, Phishing or Phishing attacks can be best defined as a vicious strategy and a result of social engineering that is planned and deployed by faulty third party hackers. They plan these attacks using sophisticated methods for gaining illegal access to your professional, personal, financial and critical data. There have been instances of phishing attacks that includes hoax mails that when clicked takes an individual to web portals selling counterfeit goods and has other harmful web content that can even corrupt the entire computing device. Therefore, keeping all these concerns in mind it is essential for companies to plan for phishing awareness programs.


The New Age Phishing Attacks


Phishing attacks these days concentrate on employees who are not aware of any third party intruders who are engaged in sensitive and critical data. Today most Phishing awareness programs and advanced anti-phishing software offer limited security against all social engineering attacks. However, leading solution providers function beyond IT loss and the use of advanced technology and processes in order to recognize people’s risk.


Advantages Of Phishing Protection


The new age phishing solutions offered by renowned service providers focuses and addresses issues concerning the computing device as well people’s/employee’s mindset as a whole. An important part of the modern day anti-phishing solutions is to set up a mock Phishing attack test for the organization employees and analyze how they perform. The reason for conducting this review is to understand whether the employees are capable of detecting phishing attacks at the first go. The end users can hence take adequate measures in order to fight any risks.


The new age Phishing protection solutions are nothing less than mechanized devices that are installed internally. The solution provides essential statistics under behavior electronic data leakage, data leakage, evaluate Data Loss Prevention and other important security awareness solutions. When companies invest in innovative phishing protection tools they can detect and diagnose the threat and alleviate them and foster network security.


Read More About: anti phishing tool, protection from phishing, Simulated phishing attack

Easy Way To Reduce Phishing Attacks

One of the most common things that an online browser encounters whilst browsing the internet are the unknown pop ups and emails that request for private details. Sometimes they also make way to our Inbox in the form of URL links on mails, along with compelling content of huge prize money or any other property won and to proceed and claim the prize the user needs to share private details such as passwords and bank details. For many these mails might look exciting. However, these mails are the way Phishers plan their attacks so that they can get access to your personal details and hack your system.


Therefore, Phishing attacks can be best defined as an after effect of social engineering and is regarded as a criminal strategy. The process deploys technical deception in order to steal personal, corporate, financial data and other identity details. Today there are several hoaxes e-mails that lead to counterfeit websites that result in destroying a computing device.


Phishing attacks in the recent times have become increasingly sophisticated and are aimed at employees who are naïve and can easily be attacked by fishy mails, as they are not skeptical. The normal Phishing awareness campaigns or solutions usually offer a restricted security against malicious attacks. However, there are certain solutions that offer a little more by addressing the hassles of the employees Such solutions are efficient in securing an employee and the concerned organization against dangerous Phishing attacks by setting up a prioritized action to eliminate the possible threats.


New Innovative Anti-Phishing Solutions


New age anti-Phishing tools are available today. This helps the service providers to offer statistics on the end user behavior and estimate the security awareness amidst the employees and recognize the possible data leakage and assess the Data Loss Prevention. Furthermore, they also examine the incident response program. After this, the solution provider comes up with a test through a customized email that is sent to the employee, informing them about their responses and the appropriate action that needs to be taken. Furthermore, an e-learning model helps in updating the employees about the security awareness. Other benefits of the solution include the following:


* Allowing the organization is evaluating the potential threats linked with Phishing

* Providing flexible reporting capabilities and integrates them back into the organization’s main performance-indicator framework

* Provides a detailed “route map” solution that highlights Phishing awareness and training within the enterprise

* Identifies the loopholes within the process, people and technology links

* Assists in prioritizing remediation activities through efficient benchmarking and maturity assessment

* Helps in increasing the employee awareness and know-how to secure sensitive data


Phishing protection solutions therefore help organizations to effectively diagnose the hassles for selected segments and the overall business.


Read More About: Protection From Phishing, Anti Phishing Software, Simulated phishing attack

Understanding Tax Planning And its Benefits

Business growth brings in higher revenues for the enterprises and a higher earning potential for the workforce. The governments however, deduct a percentage of earnings  in the form of taxes. For the enterprises  this is in the form of corporate tax. Irrespective of the enterprise being an SME or large conglomerate, corporate taxes include income, capital, net worth along with other such as sales tax etc. Most often, enterprises as well as individuals try to evade tax payment. Since  paying taxes is  a necessity and tax evasion a crime, involving in efficient tax planning will put one on the safer side.


Tax planning is defined as a process which helps individuals and organizations to evaluate their financial status and their tax liabilities.To reduce the cases of tax evasion, the government  gives tax incentives and  tax relief packages. The tax incentives offered  by the government  can be availed by every citizen of the country. Nevertheless, to reduce the tax liabilities both enterprises and the individuals needs to follow prudent tax planning. Efficient tax planning involves a thorough analysis of  ones' investments, expenditures, income and profits  generated and understanding of the liability.


For the business enterprises, tax planning is a vital aspect of their financial success. By deploying the services of qualified tax consultants, enterprises can make use of the legal technicalities to their advantage. The tax consultants help the enterprises to estimate their tax amounts and manage their finances with best alternatives and facilitate solutions for a profitable business. The workforce also needs to understand their  tax liability and plan their taxes religiously.


The taxpayers need to file their taxes. However, in case of failure the income tax departments through the various amnesty programs allow the tax defaulters to pay their taxes in full. Enterprises with a global presence and offshore workforce, is considered tax evasion as an easy option. However, the Overseas Voluntary disclosure program and regulations of the US Government makes it compulsory for the multinationals bring to disclose all sources of income and immovable and movable properties  across various locations. This helps to bring forth the any undisclosed accounts, foreign bank accounts of both individual and  enterprise.


Tax consultants at leading tax planning service provider studies and understands the client's requirements and the changing tax regulations.They help the taxpayer with decisions on reducing tax burdens,tax evasions,available tax reliefs and also on FBAR. Effective tax planning will help the taxpayer avoid the penalties that come with  tax evasion or delayed filing of FBAR.


Read More About:  IRS Amnesty, Entity Formation