At a time when warnings of breaches in data security are becoming ever more prevalent, it is now that IT security in businesses should be of highest priority (UK firms are warned to tighten up on security, www.computing.co.uk/2220313).

I agree that security is about managing the risk of people and their interactions with information
systems. However, it must be recognised that technology can play a big role in managing this. A good example of this is the use of intelligence tools that can prevent and detect employee/internal fraud by highlighting irregular patterns in employee behaviour.

Using this type of cutting-edge technology, small businesses will have real-time capability to detect and stop internal fraud and security breaches, while pinpointing where fraud is likely to happen in the future.
Not only will UK customer data be kept safe, but the prevention of fraud could potentially benefit small businesses financially.

Mark Elkins

Data privacy should be a higher priority (Data privacy a low priority for IT chiefs www.computing.co.uk/2220132).

The findings of this survey are interesting, especially as they seem to conflict with previous research, from the likes of Gartner and IDC, where security is positioned in the top three priorities.

It seems to me the priority should not only be the protection of data, but also the correct use of, and the safeguarding against, misuse of that data. One of the biggest challenges is inappropriate behaviour by employees  because you have to give  employees access to both customer and company data to do their jobs, but that same data can represent significant business risk if used for criminal purposes.

A top priority for chief information officers should be the monitoring and analysis of employee behaviour if they want to ensure policies are being followed - otherwise they could be the next company splashed across the headlines.

This, ultimately, will affect their bottom line, something which I'm sure is at the top of their priorities.

Richard Kellett

Cloud computing is a good thing? Well probably, however it is predicated on the availability of cloud applications to run in the cloud (Cloud computing will change business technology, knowledge.computing.co.uk).

Problem - applications to service particular functional needs are frequently determined and bounded by organisational preferences rather than inherent characteristics, so software tends to reflect the likes and dislikes of the commissioner, which many others reject on a "not invented here" basis.

The solution is that there needs to be a consensus on best of breed functional flows before applications can be easily picked up. For  example, the accounting industry has a best-of-breed process defined by the  accounting standards and several hundred years of double entry book-keeping. Result - companies can pick up most accounting software and use it successfully.

A converse example is the industry and sector where I am employed - public education for 16 to 19-year olds. Here we have little common and even less agreed mapping of function in, say, the administration of students. This results in multiple vendors with differing packages which do not even meet
external constraints in standard ways. Here, and throughout higher and further education generally, institutions cannot see a way to introduce even limited shared services, according to a recent survey.

So, for us, cloud computing is just a dream.

Jim Blair

What's the alternatives in IT? Chained to a hell-desk for minimum wage or being outsourced to Bangalore on a whim? (IT staff tell children not to follow in their footsteps, www.computing.co.uk/2221003)
IT is now a service industry within business, akin to the lightbulbs and toilets. Zero control, less respect. Why on earth would you want your kids to make the same mistakes as yourself?

Bill, submitted on the web

Big volumes of data is not the issue regarding criminals hiding in the virtual world (Volume reduction,
letters.computing.co.uk).

Today's machines can process far more bytes than we can produce. Every single person online is becoming more traceable. With the eventual introduction of IPv6, anyone will be able to know exactly who and where you are. It will be quite the opposite - you will not hide online, you will go offline to hide.

Dave Walker

Exams are the lazy way to solve the problem of student plagiarism (Write 100 lines: "I must not outsource my homework to India", markkobayashihillary.computing.co.uk).

I've been using interviews with students for over a decade to address the possibility that a student has plagiarised their programming assignments. Having to explain your code and make changes to the code in an interview is a very effective way of guaranteeing that the student actually wrote the code, or at the very least understands the code well.

Martin, submitted on the web

I'm sorry that Mr Cordrey does not understand the nature of security (Payment data rules criticised, www.computing.co.uk/2221187). Since the attack landscape changes almost every day with every new attack, security must change to address these new risks.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a fluid document based on the fact that the PCI Security Standards Council and the card brands understand that the security landscape does change.

Maybe Mr Cordrey would prefer his company to suffer a breach while he waits to take his time to address his organisation's compliance with the DSS.

Jeff Hall

As the first generation of IT professionals prepare to retire, businesses need to plan ahead if they have any hope of solving the skills crisis (How to stop the IT brain drain, www.computing.co.uk/2221152).
Appointing tech-minded business heads is a start, but companies must make sure their IT staff face the future, keeping their knowledge and skills fresh.

Today's IT professionals should be viewed as innovators. But instead, the misconception of IT as the socks-and-sandals stuff of the 1970s prevails. Computing is no longer a departmental solution to a niche problem, but the soul of all businesses and the platform for competitive differentiation.

The journey doesn't end there. Once businesses have attracted the best minds, they need to keep them that way by giving them structured career development and ongoing support. Only then will IT attract the candidates it truly deserves.

Rob Chapman, Firebrand Training

The current debate about falling house prices and negative equity has given me much food for thought. I'm not immune to it, but I think some perspective is required.

The credit crunch gloom comes as we at Byte Night prepare for the 10th anniversary of our event in support of NCH's fight against youth homelessness. It's a momentous anniversary and this year we're hoping people will get behind us to help raise £500,000.

And just as we begin to  recruit people to join our sleep-outs, it is interesting to note the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has recently released a report providing the first UK-wide review of youth homelessness in a decade. The parallels with the Byte Night timeframe and our shared purpose should not be ignored.

The report reveals a 73 per cent reduction in people sleeping rough since 1998. That's amazing progress. That said, there is still a frighteningly large problem that we can help solve. It is estimated that one in every 100 young people aged between 16 and 24 experiences some form of homelessness each year. This is normally borne out of domestic violence, trauma or a relationship breakdown, and can lead to health issues.

The nature of the "house price" debate creates a large amount of self-interest and concern for our own welfare. But every time there's a focus on the state of the housing market, I'm going to think about the 75,000 kids in this country who don't have a roof over their head.

I'd love for everybody to sign up to one of the nationwide Byte Night events, but I know that's a pipe dream. However, if we manage to put the issue front of mind for the next few months, especially in the context of the wider economic market, it will hopefully go some way to continuing the progress made over the past decade to ease one of this country's most pressing problems.

Ken Deeks, Byte Night
www.bytenight.org.uk

One of the most important UK IT pioneers, David Caminer, died on 19 June.

He was head of LEO Computers, which took the Cambridge University EDSAC and turned it into the "first business computer in the world" in 1951, for Joe Lyons, the teashop chain. LEO Computers sold out in 1963 to English Electric, which then sold it to ICT, the forerunner of ICL, in 1967.

Three important things about LEO are relevant to the present.

First, it came from much closer co-operation between industry and universities. And the industrial partner was not an electronics company, but a retailer with a business problem to solve - payroll and the stock control of buns. Caminer called the LEO story "user-driven innovation", the only innovation that works.

Caminer and the LEO programmers and systems analysts were people who understood business before they became involved with computers. Unlike the products of today's "computer science" graduates, their systems - payrolls of 30,000 workers - were implemented on time and on budget, and actually worked.
Finally, when the LEO team merged with ICT, a box-shifter, their business   knowledge was undervalued. They lost out in management in-fighting, and moved on. The British computer  industry was never the
same again.

Unlike most computer people, the LEO people had  subsequent distinguished careers in academia and business. The most famous was Tim Holley, the "fat cat" who launched the National Lottery for Camelot, then the largest network in Europe. Again, it came in on time and within budget.

David Caminer and his team can still teach us a thing or two.

Richard Sarson