Alpha Software donates over $240,000 to TechSoup.org

October 31, 2008

Alpha Software donates over $240,000 to TechSoup.org
Last week I told you about our donation to TechSoup, and the free webinar we’re hosting with them next Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 11 a.m. Pacific time. Well, the press release officially hit the wire today. Read on below for more information.

Alpha Software Donates over $240,000 to TechSoup.org

Alpha donated more than 600 copies of Alpha Five through TechSoup’s philanthropy service to help nonprofit organizations build desktop and AJAX web applications rapidly

BURLINGTON, Mass. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Alpha Software has directly supported the database needs of over 600 nonprofit organizations by its donation of over 600 copies of Alpha Five through TechSoup.org, amounting to more than $240,000. Organizations benefiting from this donation effort work for a range of causes, include cultural awareness, community service, juvenile delinquency prevention, community health planning, convict rehabilitation, low-income housing, and more.

These organizations now have access to an easy-to-use, world-class database so they can build custom applications to better and more effectively manage their agencies. This is further evidence of Alpha’s commitment to worthy causes. Alpha recently introduced a new discounted pricing model for schools and students that drastically reduced the cost of Alpha Five.

“We appreciate the men and women who toil to improve our communities and help those who need help most,” says Richard Rabins, Co-Chairman of Alpha Software. “TechSoup Stock is a great way for any company to share what we know and do best. In our case, that’s building better database tools. When I think about the fact that Alpha Five will be powering some truly socially responsible applications, it strengthens my sense that our technology is doing something meaningful in the world. I encourage all my colleagues throughout the information technology industry to seriously consider supporting TechSoup.”

To get these organizations up and running as quickly as possible, TechSoup is partnering with Alpha Software to offer a free webinar on building Web and desktop databases applications with Alpha Five on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 11 a.m. Pacific time. Developers can sign up for the one-hour presentation by Alpha developers Chris Peters and Steve Workings by emailing marketing with the words “non profit” in the subject line.

TechSoup is powered by TechSoup Global one of the country’s oldest and largest nonprofit technology assistance agencies. The organization offers nonprofits in over 20 countries a one-stop resource for technology needs by providing free information, resources, and support. In addition to online information and resources, TechSoup Stock offers nonprofits donated and discounted technology products provided by corporate and nonprofit technology partners.

TechSoup Stock is open to all qualified 501c3 nonprofit organizations. For more information, please visit the TechSoup Stock eligibility section. Or for more information on Alpha Software or the company’s donation distribution, please contact Kate Ritchie at mailto:%20KateR@GregoryFCA.com.

ABOUT ALPHA SOFTWARE

Since 1982, Alpha Software has been providing developers with award-winning tools that make it easy to rapidly build robust database and business applications. Today over 1 million developers rely on Alpha Software’s flagship platform, Alpha Five, to build desktop, client-server, distributed, Web 2.0, and AJAX applications for organizations of any size—from SOHO to the Fortune 100. Every day, tens of millions of people and businesses rely on applications built in Alpha Five. With the introduction of Alpha Five Version 9 Platinum Edition in 2008, Alpha Software set new standards for speed of development, portability, reporting, and security for database applications of all stripes. The company is privately held, and based in Burlington, Mass. Alpha Software can be found on the Web at http://www.alphasoftware.com.

PRESS RESOURCES
Media contact
Kate Ritchie
610-642-8253, ext. 162

KateR@GregoryFCA.com

Alpha Five Platinum microsite
http://www.alphasoftware.com/alphafive/platinum/index.asp

Alpha Software blog
http://blog.alphasoftware.com/

Alpha Software home page
http://www.alphasoftware.com/

USER REFERENCES, IMAGES, AND PRESS EVALUATION COPIES AVAILABLE ON REQUEST.

Review copies available: PRESS & BLOGGERS ONLY

Security 101: When e-commerce sites make epic flubs
See this Computerworld article about how credit card thieves have been helped by “well designed” software? Jeez Louise.

The Department of Justice is charging 11 people with fraud in what is considered one of the largest and most organized credit card theft operations ever, targeted at BJ’s Wholesale Club, TJX, DSW Shoe Warehouse, OfficeMax, Barnes & Noble, Boston Market, Sports Authority, and Forever 21.

The process these thieves used was a “packet sniffer” on wireless networks, which let them see customer logins or intercept transactions when they broke into the companies’ wireless network. Once they were logged in with the right access, they could probably see everything, including any stored credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, etc.

Since many login process don’t use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), they’re easy targets, and the obvious weak link. Even with encrypted passwords, if the login isn’t across SSL, the password is sent as clear text on the login request! Trying to encrypt on the client side is worthless, since the code is exposed and easy to crack. It’s even easier to capture real-time transaction requests with sensitive data that are made outside of SSL.

Once the thieves had the information, they decrypted PINs, made new cards, and then got cash from ATMs. The Department of Justice says the thieves sold credit card data on Web sites that specialize in trading that information. Millions of dollars were lost. And they operated globally, using offshore banks and other methods to turn stolen data into cash.

The solutions here are obvious. Most advanced e-commerce sites complete all of their checkouts across SSL to block that avenue of attack, but few run all logins across SSL. Even if the system doesn’t store credit card numbers or other sensitive data, getting login information could expose other valuable data a thief could use.

From my standpoint, it’s hard to believe that this stupid stuff is still going on. We’re talking absolute Security 101 here. But, then again, after the Wall Street shenanigans, anything is possible in the Wide World of Dumb.

There’s no question that it’s time for some of these negligent IT people — and their CEOs — to do the perp walk. The only way to get their attention is by gently squeezing their cajones … for three to five years.