EFF, Mozilla back new certificate authority that will offer free SSL certificates | PCWorld

A new organization supported by Mozilla, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and others is working to set up a new certificate authority (CA) that will provide website owners with free SSL/TLS certificates.

The new CA will be called Let’s Encrypt and is expected to become operational in the second quarter of next year. It will be run by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG), a new California public-benefit corporation.

The goal of this effort is to get as many people as possible to use the TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocol—the more secure successor of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)—said Josh Aas, executive director of ISRG. Aas is also a senior technology strategist at Mozilla.

The new CA will not only provide certificates for free, but will also automate the certificate issuance, configuration and renewal processes in order to encourage widespread TLS adoption.

The goal is to make getting a certificate as easy as possible, because that’s currently the hardest part of turning on TLS, Aas said. With the new CA “there will be no billing interaction, no need to create an account. You don’t really need to know much at all except that you want to turn on TLS.”

To read the full article please click the link below.

EFF, Mozilla back new certificate authority that will offer free SSL certificates | PCWorld.

It Only Takes Five Minutes to Become a Morning Person

Came across this excellent article by HAL ELROD

How you start your day sets the context and your mindset for the rest of the day.

Yet, most people start the day with procrastination by hitting the snooze button, telling their subconscious that they don’t even have the self-discipline to get out of bed in the morning, let alone do what’s necessary to be happy, healthy and successful.

Stand-up comedian Demetri Martin’s humorous take on the subject sums it up well: Hitting the snooze button in the morning doesn’t even make sense. It’s like saying, “I hate getting up in the morning so I do it over and over and over again.”

Step #1: Set intentions before bed.

Step #2: Move the alarm clock across the room.

Step #3: Brush your teeth.

Step #4: Drink a full glass of water.

Step #5: Get dressed in your workout clothes.

To read the full article please click the link below.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/238219

13 Productivity Hacks to Help You Get Stuff Done

Came across this excellent article by Jonathan Long.

As entrepreneurs, we’ve all experienced it at some point — that moment in the day where you are sitting at your desk and have lost all focus. You grab your phone and check out social media, reply to some text messages and surf your favorite websites. You have a mile long list of tasks to get done but you can’t seem to focus on them.

Here are 13 hacks to help increase your productivity:

1. Exercise first thing in the morning.

2. Tackle your least desirable tasks first.

3. Empower your employees.

4. Quit social media.

5. Immediately knock out simple tasks as they come in.

6. Get out of your office.

7. Use technology and make tasks simple.

8. Fuel the machine.

9. Disconnect from technology during crunch time.

10. Unclog your email.

11. Keep one day off limits each week.

12. Work Sunday evening.

13. Automate and systemize everything.

To read the full article please click the link below.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239485

8 Common Habits That Destroy Your Success

I came across an excellent article by William Arruda on forbes.com

Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy. We do things intentionally or subconsciously that impede rather than advance our success. The first step in eliminating these destructive behaviors is acknowledging them. Here are eight of the most egregious:

1. Confusing busy with productive

“Don’t mistake activity for achievement.”—John Wooden

2. Seeking perfection

“If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.”—Leo Tolstoy

3. Avoiding risk

“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.”—William Faulkner

4. Letting fear impede progress

“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.”—William G.T. Shedd

5. Reacting vs. planning

“Failing to plan is planning to fail.”—Alan Lakein

6. Fixing weaknesses

“Over the years, I’ve learned that a confident person doesn’t concentrate or focus on their weaknesses – they maximize their strengths.”—Joyce Meyer

7. Going it alone

“The power of one, if fearless and focused, is formidable, but the power of many working together is better.” —Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

8. Surrounding yourself with clones

“Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.”—Stephen R. Covey

To read the full article, please click the link below.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2014/10/26/8-common-habits-that-destroy-your-success/print/

Two-Factor Authentication

I am a strong proponent of two-factor authentication but the worrying thing is the way it’s being advertised or pushed as a holy grail of security. The weakest link is still the person using the service/device and if they continued to use weak passwords then it just become the matter of loosing your token device or mobile.

When enabling two-factor authentication users still must advised to setup secure passwords with at-least 10 digit length containing Alphabets, Numerals and Special Characters.

It’s a good thing that Microsoft is building two-factor authentication directly in the OS and it will help the IT administrators to better manage and protect the device in their network.

See the link below for more detail about the implementation of two-factor authentication in Windows 10.

Windows 10 to get two-factor authentication built-in