From ngourlay at gmail.com Tue Apr 10 00:50:48 2007 From: ngourlay at gmail.com (Nigel Gourlay) Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:50:48 +0300 Subject: [Qatar-pm] QSTP TechTalk - 18 April 2007 Message-ID: <2379a820704100050p51c83e1bpfa563d76424a6a6b@mail.gmail.com> The invitation is at the bottom of this email. If you want to go (it's worthwhile, just for the conversation), send an email to events at qstp.org.qa - I think the dip club doesn't like people just turning up uninvited. This months it's Gartner's turn to sell themselves. In places I've worked, the IT guys have always been skeptical about Gartner, but consultants seem to have some secret method of short-circuiting managers' brains. It's something to do with their ability to explain obvious technology while making the listener feel intelligent. Anyway, Gartner has a reputation amongst Linux users for saying what vendors pay them to say. I hope no one takes their advice too seriously. http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9910/22/gartner.linux.idg/ In San Francisco, Gartner is about to tell its delegates that the *eight* major IT trends are: 1. Commoditizing the tech sector (older technologies become cheaper, lose brand-name advantage). 2. Globalization of supply and demand (there are cheaper places to make stuff than the USA). 3. Virtualizing the enterprise platform (buzz-word bingo - CRM, ERP, SCM, SOA, BPM, Agile, MDM, CMDB, web services). Blah blah blah. 4. Freeing communications (use IP for everything). 5. Socializing technology (the web 2.0 bandwagon is leaving town). 6. Revolutionizing industries (nothing stays the same) 7. Inspiring innovation ("By 2010, Generation Y will persuade mainstream enterprises to use social networks and 'folksonomies'."- Gartner Research). ;) 8. Transforming IS management (buy more stuff, please). It will be interesting to compare these against the *five* hottest trends for a Qatari audience. http://www.gartner.com/it/sym/pdf/Brochure_SF07_v4.pdf See you there. --Nigel >>>>> IT in 2008: the five hottest trends It's April already, and that means 2008 - and a new wave of IT innovations - are just around the corner. What will be next year's Skype? Will our pockets have more or fewer gadgets in them? How should Qatar companies plan their IT budgets? Mathew Silvester of Gartnet, one of the world's top IT consultancies, thinks he knows the answers, and will share them with us at the QSTP TECHtalks on 18 April, 7:00pm, at the Diplomatic Club. We are privileged that Chan Meng Khoong, ictQatar's Chief Information Officer, will be guest of honour. We hope you can join us too. From ngourlay at gmail.com Wed Apr 11 02:48:38 2007 From: ngourlay at gmail.com (Nigel Gourlay) Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 12:48:38 +0300 Subject: [Qatar-pm] Computer Security Technical Colloquium - April 12-16 Message-ID: <2379a820704110248t84305afk5460727527353cb8@mail.gmail.com> Just received this from David Mundie . You can't turn up on the door unannounced, but I suspect that should you drop David an email explaining that you're interested in security, he'd probably be happy to send you an invitation. More details in this PDF: http://readng.com/qcert_invite_april.pdf --nigel >>>> As a QISF member, you are invited to join us for a very special event. Q-CERT, the Qatari national program in Information Security, was recently approved as a member of the international Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST), the premier international organization and a recognized global leader in computer security incident management and response. To mark our acceptance into this esteemed community, ictQATAR and Q-CERT are hosting an international technical colloquium in Doha, from April 12th – 16th. On April 12th, we will conduct a special session on "Managing Organizational Information Security". The sessions will present the Qatari national incident reporting and response system, describe how to establish organizational incident response teams, provide an overview of training options, and conclude with a session on how an organization can review and improve its information security posture. From Saturday through Monday, the rest of the colloquium will consist of open sessions on topics ranging from identity theft and phishing to the latest developments in cyber forensics. We are proud to be a part of the international FIRST community, and look forward to hosting this unique event. We hope that you can join us. I am attaching a brochure about the colloquium, and you can visit the Q-CERT web site at www.qcert.org to register and review the latest information on the program of events. Sincerely, David A. Mundie Manager for Outreach and Training, Q-CERT From ngourlay at gmail.com Tue Apr 17 11:47:40 2007 From: ngourlay at gmail.com (Nigel Gourlay) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 21:47:40 +0300 Subject: [Qatar-pm] London Job - Linux / Apache / MySQL / Perl / Mod_perl Message-ID: <2379a820704171147u6b96341bh7b32f512e5884a11@mail.gmail.com> This looks like it's at lovefilm.com in London. If you know anyone who's got the skills and wants to work in the UK, pass on the message. --nigel ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Matthew Geppert ** Perl Developer ** - Linux / Apache / MySQL / Perl / Mod_perl Are you a developer that wants to further your perl skills?....A perl developer that wants to work within exciting commercial environment?....Europe's leading online DVD rental and movie download company with nearly 500,000 active household subs are looking to rapidly expand! In the last 2 years they have launched their service in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Germany and have become the 3rd most visited UK Site in Entertainment and Movies. Currently looking for a number of PERL DEVELOPERS at various levels to join our rapidly expanding and challenging environment. For this challenging role you will be need to be a competent commercial Perl developer. Their working environment is a high load, enterprise level Linux / Apache / MySQL / Perl platform. Challenges include creating scalable functionality supporting large growth rates, developing innovative algorithms (front-end or back-end APIs), and discipline and accuracy within a fast-moving, exciting commercial environment. **Required skills** Perl Linux MySQL **Desired skills** Apache mod_perl HTML Mason Profiling Please call me ASAP on 0207 987 1001 so I can discuss further! Best Regards, Matthew Geppert Mobile & Multimedia Consultant · MECS Europe · Tel: +44 (0)20 7987 1001 · Fax: +44 (0)20 7987 2002 · Direct Line: +44 (0)20 7536 3102 · Web: www.mecseurope.com From kutch at km33.com Thu Apr 19 05:03:38 2007 From: kutch at km33.com (Kutch KM33) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:03:38 +0300 Subject: [Qatar-pm] I.T. assistant required Message-ID: Hi Everybody, My company is looking for I.T. Assistant. For interested individual please visit our site posting. http://careers.alwabra.com/content/view/12/1/ Kind regards, Kutch From ngourlay at gmail.com Fri Apr 20 00:33:23 2007 From: ngourlay at gmail.com (Nigel Gourlay) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:33:23 +0300 Subject: [Qatar-pm] Gulf Times - "Open Source technology catching on in Qatar" Message-ID: <2379a820704200033p3d98318ey828e3bf2cf76724a@mail.gmail.com> The Gulf Times this morning is running a story about the formation of an open-source group called Qatar Perlmongers. :) It's a very positive piece, and it's worthwhile reading the full article if you have a moment. I'll post a link on http://qatar.pm.org if it appears on the Gulf Times website. "Open source, described as the free software movement that revolutionised information technology worldwide, has come to Qatar with the formation of the Arabian Peninsula's first open-source group in Doha, the Qatar Perlmongers, it was announced yesterday." "Open source is the term given to software developed by highly qualified enthusiasts under the terms of the Open Source agreement." "The software is developed and shared freely, with the operating system Linux as the the most famous example of this revolutionary approach to technology." --nigel From ngourlay at gmail.com Sun Apr 22 21:33:16 2007 From: ngourlay at gmail.com (Nigel Gourlay) Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 07:33:16 +0300 Subject: [Qatar-pm] QISF (Qatar Information Security Forum) - April 24 Message-ID: <2379a820704222133q3894457dt3345a7b9e24df0df@mail.gmail.com> I'm not going to be able to go to this one. I'd say it's worthwhile attending if you have free time in the middle of the day. Does anyone have any more details on venue or timings? The last one was at around 1230 at College of North Atlantic. I'm away in the UK until May 9. If you hear of any events announced in the meantime, can you post them to the list? Thanks. --nigel >>> Next Event: April 24, 2007 http://www.qcert.org/qisf/ The Future of Incident Response Presenter: Thomas A. Longstaff, PhD, Deputer Director of Technology for the CERT Program If you are interested in attending this event, please complete the registration form: http://www.qcert.org/forms/form.php >From the earliest days of networked computing, we have counted on a collection of computer security experts to watch for anomalous activity, track down the source of the attacks, and bring the network intruders to justice. A good review of how this used to work is documented in the book "The Cuckoo's Egg" by Cliff Stoll. Today, attacks are fully automated, vulnerability-seeking missiles that can hide in our normal activity and relaunch from our homes and offices around the world. These cyber weapons of mass disruption have completely changed the nature of incident response from a cat-and-mouse activity to a complex distributed analysis job more concerned with limiting damage and notifying victims than in finding the perpetrator. As we move into the future of advanced attack technology, today's response will prove to be inadequate and ineffective and must once again drive a change in the way we will think about incident response. In this presentation, I will wind through the history of incident response, using that trend as a guide to how we are likely to respond to the future threat we will face in the years to come.