BeckHart Productions

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BeckHart — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:06:39 +0000

Merry Christmas from the Gregory’s

BeckHart — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:42:00 +0000

Here’s our 2011 summed up in 2 minutes.

New Resort Underway

BeckHart — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:27:55 +0000

Last week we closed on our new 40 acre property. Situated at 3,500 elevation the tranquility of an off-grid cabin, with no sound but the wind in the trees and a bull elk bugling early in the morning, is beyond words. This is where we get-away from it all!

Off-grid Cabin

The May issue of the magazine, Sunset (Living in the West), featured a section called Camp in Comfort. Inside you’ll find a list of some luxury campgrounds. We love the concept of canvas tents set up with luxurious beds, stunning views and fresh air. This will be Phase II of our mini-resort. Phase I involves renovating the cabin, and doing the necessary outdoor work which will make the property more accommodating for guests.

So, it’s back to work at my desk with internet, conference calls, marketing, and all my electronic devices. It’s a great life. It’s my alternate life. My other one is somewhere out in the woods.

NOTE:

We are already receiving inquiries about our camp. We are accepting reservations for dates after August 1, 2011.

For more information contact:

CowicheCamper@yahoo.com.

100% Safety Record for Online Purchases Over the Last Ten Years

BeckHart — Thu, 12 May 2011 04:41:36 +0000

I’m married to a data security expert. “Honey, I bought a book off eBay, and somebody stole our credit card number and emptied our bank account”? Do you know how embarrassing it would be if I had to tell him that? Thankfully, I’ve never had to despite that I’ve made a lot of online purchases.

Here are my safety tips:

Never use a debit or credit card that is associated with your primary account…ever. Open a separate bank account and maintain a minimum balance for online purchases and the like. That way if someone gets a hold of your card number the worst thing that will happen is they’ll get your $50-$100 (or whatever your maximum is).
Skip the above and use pre-paid cards. I just now used a pre-paid, $50 American Express gift card to purchase a $49/yr membership to an online financial investment research firm. I already received the confirmation in my Inbox, got the free newsletters they promised, and will not have to worry about that auto-renewal that will happen in a year if I don’t cancel.

I was recently on a website called scam.com. There was a long list of people who complained that they had been ripped off by a particular company. They agreed to an original purchase price but had no idea that additional charges would be added to their cards. Not a single person dealt with this problem the way I described above. It sounded like they all used debit cards that were tied directly to their bank accounts. Don’t do that!

Still, while I have a pretty good track record I never assume that I am immune to online fraud, scams, and other nasties and you shouldn’t either. Statistics prove otherwise.

So, if you’re going to be making online purchases, or giving your credit card number to somebody over the phone try what I suggest and stay alert, stay informed, and stay safe. The bad guys really are out there to take your money!

Enhance Your Facebook Business Page in 5 Minutes

BeckHart — Wed, 04 May 2011 22:52:07 +0000

I’ve tried several methods for enhancing mine. I’d hate to tally up how many hours I’ve been on their developer’s site.

Thankfully, I stumbled across Pagemodo. Within minutes I had a whole new look!

Check out Pagemodo and try it yourself. Just be forewarned; when you use the free version you only get to use it once.

All Work and No Play Makes You-Know-Who a Dull Boy (or Girl)

BeckHart — Mon, 02 May 2011 19:34:37 +0000

No deadlines, no loose ends to tie up, and nothing to attend last weekend. Well, that was a first, at least for this year!

And the sun was shining so you know we had to do it!

HERS

HIS

Custom paint jobs by Malone.

Well…he’s done it, again!

BeckHart — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:45:19 +0000

This weekend Peter walked out of our home office and came downstairs to announce that he had just finished writing the CISA All-in-One Exam Guide. It went into its 2nd edition in exactly two years which is great!

Admittedly, a 2nd edition is easier to write than a first edition but this time around required updated information, an additional 75+ pages of new content, and 300 CD questions. It’s still a lot of work.

When studying for the CISA exam this is the premier supplemental study guide. It will hit the press September 2011, and will have all the latest, up-to-date information for the December 10, 2011 exam date. The early registration deadline is August 17. Final registration deadline is October 05. Visit ISACA for more information on registration and exam locations.

And don’t forget your study guide! Pre-order today on Amazon.com.

*NOTE This puts Peter’s number of published works well over 25. You can check out his complete list on his Wikipedia Bio. Maybe by book #30 the publisher and Amazon will get his middle initial right (it should read Peter H. Gregory). Looks like we’re going to have to keep working on them!

How to Become a Private Investigator

BeckHart — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:26:03 +0000

A lot of people are fascinated with P.I. work and often ask me how to become certified. Peter and I both took our courses through Linda Montgomery Investigations (LMI). We highly recommend LMI, which has been in business for 28 years and has a stellar reputation, nation-wide.

Visit LMIPI.com for more information

Digital Software Magazine Article

BeckHart — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 22:08:53 +0000

Taking a Wider View of Application Security

March 2011

By Peter Gregory

Securing an application involves securing much more than just the application itself; the app is only the beginning

As a software developer, you have a lot to worry about when writing and testing your code. But if you faithfully use secure coding guidelines from the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP), test your code with security tools, and conduct peer code reviews, then your application will be secure, giving you worry-free sleep at night.

Wrong.

OK, sorry about that. I put that trap there for you, but I didn’t really expect you to step into it. I want to help you expand your thinking about application security.

If you are a software developer, being aware of OWASP secure coding principles is absolutely vital and has no margin for error. It is critical that your application be free of the vulnerable areas that are so easily compromised and could lead to the exposure of the entire app environment.

But there is more to application security than just securing your application. Sure, other people may be responsible for the other parts, but it is still important that you know what those other parts are. If your organization is small, the people responsible for the other parts of application security may not be fully aware of their implicit responsibilities.

Securing the Web Server

If you’re a Web application developer, then your application is probably running on a Web server. In a larger and more complex environment, your app may be running on a separate server, but for the sake of illustration, I’ll keep things simple.

The Web server—and by this I mean Web server software, such as Internet Information Services (IIS), Apache, WebLogic or iPlanet—is almost as complex as an operating system. Regardless of which Web server software your organization is using, there are some excellent guidelines for securing them. My favorite is Guidelines on Securing Public Web Servers, published by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).¹

The topics in this publication include:

Planning and managing Web servers
Securing the Web server (this includes configuring access controls and server settings)
Securing Web content
Using authentication and encryption technologies
Web server administration (this covers logging, backups, and content management).

Each chapter includes checklists that the Web server administrator can use to make sure that all aspects of the Web server are configured correctly.

Full article

A Quarter Finalist on Amazon!

BeckHart — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:40:10 +0000

Elise Stephens

Congratulations to Elise Stephens who is a quarter-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards with her manuscript for Moonlight and Oranges: a retelling of the Cupid and Psyche Greek myth, set in modern day Seattle.

A couple of months ago I assisted Elise with setting up a new blog and gave her some ideas for promoting her work. I use the word, “assisted” very lightly here because I merely showed her a few things and she ran with it! I’ve been following her posts and can tell you that she has been very diligent. She has a passion for writing, and she writes, writes, writes and not just in hopes of acquiring readers. She has to write. She can’t not write!

Read an excerpt from her novel on the Elise Stephen’s blog, Turning Leaf.

NOTE: I just wanted to add that as a very experienced user of Amazon, with an author management account, I dislike Amazon’s format at the bottom of book pages; specifically, Customer Discussions/Active discussion in related forums. It’s a shame because negative discussions take place that are totally unrelated to the book being promoted on that page, which is the case here, so ignore them and enjoy Moonlight and Oranges. And if you pass a woman wearing a flesh-colored suit and a huge stuffed python, dancing the Macarena to the music in her head…you’ll know you’re in the right place!