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VOLUME 1 - ISSUE 8 / September 2007

Corporate Ethics Affect Employee Productivity

According to a survey of 1,151 men and 795 women, 73 percent of Americans have witnessed unethical behavior while on the job. The study, conducted by corporate ethics consultant LRN, also discovered that 36 percent of respondents reported unethical behavior negatively affected their job performance. When asked how they would handle the situation, 43 percent stated they would deal with the situation themselves, while 48 percent would report the problem to management. Some reasons given for those who chose not to report ethics issues included being unsure how management would handle the misconduct, and the absence of official company reporting procedures.

Source: HR Magazine (07/07) Vol. 52, No. 7, P. 16 http://www.shrm.org/hrmagazine/

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September is national preparedness month

www.ready.govNational Preparedness Month is a nationwide effort held each September to encourage Americans to take simple steps to prepare for emergencies in their homes, businesses and schools. National Preparedness Month 2007 is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The goal of the month is to increase public awareness about the importance of preparing for emergencies and to encourage individuals to take action. Throughout September, Homeland Security will work with a wide variety of organizations, including local, state and federal government agencies and the private sector, to highlight the importance of family emergency preparedness and promote individual involvement through events and activities across the nation.

Learn more about National Preparedness Month at www.ready.gov

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Hiring Checks Will Be Enforced

Recently, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff informed a House panel that his agency will not accept interference by alleged "sanctuary cities" in regards to hiring illegal aliens. Chertoff stated that his institution will enforce the Basic Pilot Program that mandates companies to confirm the legal status of new workers by matching Social Security numbers and data in Homeland Security Department databases. Chertoff did not say, though, that he would withhold government financing to such establishments. Sanctuary cities are places that have enacted rules prohibit police officers or other city workers from inquiring about immigration status.

Source: Washington Times (09/06/07) P. A1 ; Hudson, Audrey

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How pathetic is your password?

Think putting a "1" on the end of "daisy" is going to stymie crackers intent on breaking your password? Turns out that with a reasonably up-to-date computer, a dedicated hacker should be able to break it, by brute force, in about an hour and a half.

Lockdown.co.uk has a handy document that shows just how secure your password really is, based on its length and the type of characters you use in it (all numbers, letters and numbers, uppercase/lowercase, special symbols, etc.).

Think about your most common passwords, then visit the site. You'll be most interested in the results for a "Class D" attack, which represents somone with a single, very fast PC. (Class E and Class F represent multiple PC attacks and aren't as likely to be involved with someone trying to break into your eBay account.)

As an example, the site notes that a password like "darren" would take all of 30 seconds to break. "Land3rz" would take 4 days. And "B33r&Mug" would take 23 whopping years.

The key to great security isn't just length, but adding in non-traditional characters, too: A great password should be eight characters long (or more), and include at least one number, one uppercase letter, and one special character like an ampersand. To make it easy on yourself, try using the same button on the keyboard in both lower- and uppercase versions. For example: "JjKkIi*8" requires you only hit four different keys (plus Shift), and they're all clustered in a tight group.

Source: Yahoo Technology - article by Christopher Null

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