Yesterday, we learned of yet another data security breach: 15,000 current and former New York MTA employees had their personal data exposed on a CD that was found in a CD drive that had been refurbished and subsequently sold. The employee data on the CD was easily readable, but fortunately for all concerned, the buyer of the CD drive was a technology security official who happens to work for a New York City Transit vendor--and who reported what he'd discovered. People are not always that lucky when their personal data pops up in unexpected places, whether by design or accident.

When I want to geek out on one of the major sports, especially the NFL (and sometimes MLB or even lesser-followed events), I turn to Grantland, one of my favorite sites. It provides great insights and writing, eye-glazing analysis, and has the added bonus of covering pop culture (music! film!), too. The Oscars are being awarded this coming weekend and in its typical 'let's provide a lot of info and let you decide whether you agree with us' fashion, Grantland has been running a series of articles and videos about the award nominees, complete with thorough analysis and commentary, and of course, predictions. Now, being a fan of second-run movie theaters, I personally don't see many of the movies before the Oscars are handed out, so my predictions are about as accurate as any attempt I might have to predict the NCAA basketball tournament results, Warren Buffett's billion dollars notwithstanding.

Yesterday at Gustav's, a restaurant near CRU world headquarters in Vancouver, Washington, we kicked off a series of local events in which we’re talking with our partners (and partners-to-be) who specialize in delivering IT solutions to small/medium businesses and professional practices. As we find in many conversations, the talk inevitably turned from German food and our recent snowy winter weather to safety of data, whether that means encryption or physically removing hard drives full of data to an offsite location.

Welcome to a new year! College bowl games (in my house, anyway) and resolutions are themes of the day, and it’s also that time when people start thinking about getting better organized and making plans for the year, both personally and on the business front. Data safety and integrity are crucial issues for any business, and with the headlines coming all the time about security breaches (the latest being Target, Snapchat, and Skype), it’s time to think about whether you’re doing your best to look after your business data. Computer backup plans, encryption, and offsite copies of data that you can get to quickly in case disaster (mother nature or plumbing) strikes are important to build into your daily business routines. If you need help, let us know. We have some ideas on how to help you get started or who to point you to if you like.

Welcome to CRU’s blog. And new website. We’re excited to bring you a better way to find information on our products, solutions, technologies, and the industries we serve. We’ve taken the time to consolidate the former wiebetech.com and cru-inc.com sites and hope that you’ll find it easier to navigate to the information you’re seeking. I’d love to hear your comments, suggestions, pointing out errors—all feedback on the site is always welcome.