eEye Digital Security, a provider of IT security and unified vulnerability management solutions, today announced availability of Retina CS 2.5. This latest version of the eEye Retina CS unified vulnerability management platform provides customers with flexible risk scoring, broad exploit intelligence, integrated attack malware information, and enhanced risk reports and analytics. Enhancements and added features allow customers to improve vulnerability management efficiency and to better prioritize and remediate security risks based on their unique environments. The combination of new and enhanced capabilities allows customers to:

• Optimize remediation based on security and compliance risk thresholds
• Prioritize vulnerability risk based on exploit volumes
• Simplify reporting and analytics with prioritization heat maps and additional asset risk reports
• Improve asset risk prioritization based on malware and attack information
• Improve vulnerability management efficiency with additional grouping and rule options, enhanced patch management, and interactive reporting

“Many organizations fail to address their most critical security weaknesses, spending time and money correcting relatively minor security problems,” said Eric Ogren, principal and founder of the Ogren Group. “Security risk prioritization is an indispensable element of any pragmatic IT security and compliance strategy. Enterprises need solutions that will allow them to prioritize so that they can quickly and easily close the most dangerous security gaps in their networks.”

Retina CS 2.5 Enhancements and Associated Benefits:

• Flexible Risk Scoring: Refine CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) based on business, assets, and risk appetite.
• Broad Exploit Intelligence: Identify whether a vulnerability has an associated exploit from Core, Metasploit, or Exploit Database to improve risk prioritization.
• Integrated Attack and Malware Information: See malware and attack data — including attacks from third-party solutions — to improve asset risk prioritization.
• Enhanced Risk Reports and Analytics: New vulnerability prioritization heat map and additional asset risk reports improve allocation of resources for remediation tasks.
• Updated PCI 2.0 Scoring and Reporting: Automated PCI reporting available via a redesigned PCI scoring and reporting format that complies with PCI 2.0 requirements.
• Additional Smart Groups and Rule Options: Extended library of built-in Smart Groups with more filtering and action options including “virtual servers and desktops,” “alert on vulnerability,” “open tickets,” and “assign tickets.”
• Patch Management Enhancements: Improved patch management user interface streamlines patch remediation and reporting.
• Interactive Reporting: More reports available that include even more flexibility and customization with enhanced usability, summary metrics, and interactive drilldown.

“Recent high-profile hacks that successfully compromised several organizations underscore the need for effective vulnerability management. If these organizations would have had the ability to better identify their weakest links, they may have been able to repel the attacks,” said Brad Hibbert, vice president, strategy, eEye. “Retina CS 2.5 empowers IT security teams, allowing them to pinpoint weaknesses and to quickly close the gaps that hackers thrive on.”

Availability:

Retina CS 2.5 is available now. For more information visit: www.eeye.com/Products.aspx.

Security in Context:

Security is not a one-size-fits-all operation. Security solutions today need to take the fear and hype out of security and provide straightforward solutions — in the context of each organization’s unique needs. As part of eEye Digital Security’s mission to keep security in context, Retina CS 2.5 provides new contextual features for organizations to define, prioritize, and remediate security risks more efficiently. In addition to this new product, this week eEye will also announce the availability of Retina CS Mobility Connector and free patching for the Retina Community product.

Central Desktop, provider of the industry-leading cloud-based social collaboration platform for businesses, today launched its new program for non-profits, Central Desktop Gives. This newly created program helps non-profits communicate and collaborate better by donating Central Desktop’s online collaboration solution to select qualified applicants.

Non-profits often struggle with not having the resources they need to effectively work together to accomplish their organizations’ missions. Central Desktop Gives’ goal is to help non-profits connect volunteers, manage projects, centralize communication and organize events. Qualified nonprofits are invited to apply for the program. Applications are accepted on a quarterly basis and will be evaluated by the Central Desktop Gives selection committee, which will choose one winner every quarter. The deadline to submit an application for this quarter is September 30, 2011.

As part of Central Desktop Gives, the company is also launching an employee volunteer program that grants all Central Desktop employees eight hours of paid volunteer time per year. Additionally, Central Desktop is awarding a $500 donation every quarter to a nonprofit of an employee’s choice.

“We’re excited to have the opportunity to give back to the community through Central Desktop Gives,” said Isaac Garcia, CEO and co-founder of Central Desktop. “We recognize the benefits our collaboration solution can have for non-profit organizations, and we want to do our part to help. Our goal is to help as many deserving organizations as possible through our contributions, product donations and employee volunteer program.”

Central Desktop Gives’ first solution donation recipient is the Society of Women Engineers – Santa Clara Valley Section (SWE-SCV), an organization dedicated to providing encouragement and support to current, retired and future women engineers. The Society of Women Engineers offers professional development programs and leadership opportunities that promote the success of women in the engineering workforce.

“As volunteers, members of the SWE-SCV executive council must balance full-time employment commitments with their dedication to advancing SWE’s mission,” said Charisma Canlas, vice president of member services and social technologies strategist. “Technology solutions like Central Desktop improve communication within SWE’s geographically dispersed organization by centralizing our activities, discussions and documents. We use Central Desktop to improve organizational efficiency, track progress of ongoing initiatives and maintain an archive of collateral so nothing is ever lost.”

Industry observer Carol Fox noted recently that CSO Insights (News – Alert) has “released the results of its annual Lead Management Optimization (LMO) Study.”

Done in partnership with Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI) and Marketo (News – Alert), the study is intended, as Fox says, to “help shed light on the role marketing plays in lead generation for sales by showing how marketing organizations are investing their time and money into efforts like lead scoring and nurturing, then relating this data to sales results.”

In mid-June TMC’s (News – Alert) Anshu Shrivastava wrote that Software as a service companies ExactTarget and Marketo announced a partnership to integrate Marketo’s Revenue Performance Management with ExactTarget’s Interactive Marketing Hub.

The application was developed as the first partner application for the Interactive Marketing Hub, a cross-channel interactive marketing platform. It’s expected to provide Marketo’s full lead management functionality directly from the Interactive Marketing Hub to help marketers plan, power, monitor and track Marketo revenue performance management campaigns alongside ExactTarget-powered email, mobile, social media and Web campaigns.

The LMO study’s results showed that marketing “seems to be shifting more and more toward alignment with sales objectives,” according to Fox, which makes sense — among companies surveyed, in 2011 “less than 42 percent of firms cited brand recognition as a top objective, a significant drop from 54 percent last year.”

And of course social media is hot hot hot — with 18 percent of companies citing it as a key objective as opposed to last year, Fox said, “when it was lumped in with ‘other’.”

Lead generation? It’s “slipping steadily,” Fox said, explaining that according to the study’s results, “sales is relying increasingly on avenues other than marketing-generated leads,” and “allocation of funds to lead generation programs has not increased.”

Shrivastava wrote that the Marketo partner application will feature full integration with the ExactTarget Interactive Marketing Hub, to give marketers access to unified calendaring, campaign management, data management and ExactTarget’s channel applications by bringing B-to-B and B-to-C communication together in a single platform.

Scott Maxwell grew up in Silicon Valley, but these days he is practically operating a shadow economic development agency in Massachusetts. As founder of OpenView Venture Partners, a Boston-based venture capital firm (and before that as the head of the Boston office of Insight Venture Partners), he has persuaded more than a half-dozen companies from around the world set up shop here.

OpenView targets software and Internet companies that have already created a product or service, and begun generating revenue. “We look for companies that have around $5 million in revenue when we invest,” Maxwell says, “so it’s really expansion investing, giving them the resources they need for growth.” OpenView will invest in start-ups anywhere in the world, Maxwell adds, “but the company needs to have a North American strategy.” Often, that entails setting up a new headquarters in the U.S. and hiring a CEO here. OpenView’s current fund totals $233 million, Maxwell says, and typically the firm puts about $7 million or $8 million into a company as its initial investment.

While a partner at Insight (a Manhattan-based firm), Maxwell brought three companies — Astaro, Imceda Software, and Acronis — to Burlington from Germany, Australia and Russia, respectively. Intronis, a cloud-based back-up service that started life in New Jersey, is now operating out of OpenView’s Fort Point Channel office, and Zmags, an online merchandising company founded in Denmark, is now headquartered in the same neighborhood. Two other companies, Exinda and Open-e, have established headquarters in Boston after raising money from OpenView.

Most of the companies are still relatively small; all told, they account for perhaps 250 jobs in the state, according to OpenView’s figures.

“Boston is just the best place to set these companies up,” Maxwell says. Often, they start by using space in OpenView’s offices.

“It’s really difficult to grow a company in Silicon Valley,” he continues. “There’s too much competition for hiring, the costs are high, and people in Massachusetts work a lot harder. For business-to-business companies, the labor pool is incredible here, and there are plenty of salespeople. And I say all that as a California native.”

Instructure hosts InstructureCon 2011 (#InstCon11) its first annual user conference this week at the Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort in Utah with over 200 people in attendance from 60 institutions across the US. Speakers include Auburn University, The Wharton School of Business, Howard Community College and many others.

“Over 50 educational institutions have chosen Canvas in the last nine months,” said Josh Coates, CEO of Instructure during his keynote at the conference. “We’re experiencing amazing growth.”

Instructure addressed areas such as how to leverage Instructure’s open API, what it means to be the only commercial open source learning management system and the difference between hosted software and a native cloud app.

“We’re the only LMS native to the cloud, which means we have no software versions,” said Brian Whitmer, co-founder and VP of Products at Instructure. “Our customers don’t have to wait for upgrades and service packs to use the latest features because cloud software updates continuously.”

Institutions presented sessions on a variety of topics, including how Canvas aids in learning outcomes and in distance education on a global scale. They shared best practices and tips on how to train faculty and migrate courses from legacy systems.

Instructure also gave attendees a sneak peak into the product roadmap by providing demos of the new messaging center in Canvas called “Conversations,” the enhanced grade book and the upcoming iPhone app for students.

ExactTarget, a global provider of interactive marketing solutions, announced it posted record performance in the second quarter, boosting revenue 52 percent over the same period in 2010.

The increase in revenue marks the 42nd consecutive quarter of growth for the company that welcomed new clients and key renewals in the quarter including Overstock.com, Norwegian Cruise Line, Belk, The Economist Online, Von Maur and Bank of Montreal.

“We continued our record-setting global growth in the second quarter as marketers across all segments and verticals achieved unparalleled results from our interactive marketing platform,” said Scott Dorsey, ExactTarget’s CEO and co-founder. “Powering our clients’ cross-channel marketing successes across email, mobile, Twitter, Facebook and the Web at record-setting scale allows us to fuel our growth and build our team to support the world’s leading brands.” Since 2009, ExactTarget has expanded its operations in the UK and Australia and added hundreds of employees around the globe. The company posted 52 percent year-over-year revenue growth in the first quarter 2011 and recorded annual revenue growth of 41 percent in 2010, finishing the year with $134 million in revenue.

eEye Digital Security, a provider of IT security and unified vulnerability management solutions, will exhibit at Black Hat US 2011 in Booth 511.The event, which will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada at Caesar’s Palace, August 3-4, 2011 assembles more than 5000 IT Security professionals from around the globe. The Black Hat Briefings are known as the biggest and the most important technical security conference series in the world.

At Black Hat, eEye will unveil its newest versions of the Retina CS Unified Vulnerability Management solution and will introduce enhancements to other products in the suite, including the popular free vulnerability scanner, Retina Community. Stop by eEye Booth 511 to learn more.

On the second day of the conference, eEye will co-host an invitation-only executive lunch with technology partner, Core Security, Thurs. Aug. 4, 12:00-2:00PM at Caesar’s Palace. This event will bring together IT Security leaders from enterprises across industries to discuss the value of integrated vulnerability scanning and penetration testing.

eEye CTO, Marc Maiffret, commented, “This year, eEye will exhibit at Black Hat to demonstrate the strength of our solutions and to show the significant investments we’ve made over the last couple of years in eEye’s technology. We look forward to sharing our latest innovations in Vulnerability Management with Black Hat delegates and to an exciting conference overall.”

eEye will host several other events and contests from its booth (511), including daily interactive shows featuring world-renowned “edutainer” and Guinness World Record Holder, Scott Flansburg, also known as the Human Calculator, who will challenge delegates to battle his extraordinary mathematical skills. The Company is also participating in the Passport to Prizes competition, hosted by Black Hat, and will award multiple giveaways though this and other contests throughout the two-day event.

ExactTarget, a global provider of interactive marketing solutions, announced today that leaders from Facebook, Yahoo!, Adobe, Foursquare, Klout and award-winning journalist and philanthropist Soledad O’Brien have joined the speaker lineup for ExactTarget Connections 2011.

“Technology is breaking down barriers and empowering people to create a conversation that is changing the world”

The global tech execs and award-winning O’Brien join previously announced speakers for the three-day event, including Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, Best Buy Global Chief Marketing Officer Barry Judge, Best Buy Chief Technology Officer Robert Stephens, author Aron Ralston and eMarketer Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder Geoff Ramsey.

“Technology is breaking down barriers and empowering people to create a conversation that is changing the world,” said Tim Kopp, ExactTarget’s chief marketing officer. “There is no better group of experts than Facebook, Yahoo!, Adobe, Foursquare, Klout and Soledad to demonstrate how the power of one person, one technology and one idea can make a lasting positive impact locally, nationally and around the globe.”

Speakers announced today, include:

• CNN – Soledad O’Brien, global journalist, news anchor and philanthropist
• Facebook – Tom Arrix, vice president of sales
• Adobe – Brad Rencher, senior vice president and general manager
• Yahoo! – Miriam Geller, director of product management
• Foursquare – Siobhan Quinn, product manager
• Klout – Joe Fernandez, chief executive officer

Reinforcing the conference theme of “The Power of One,” O’Brien will keynote the final day of Connections ’11 with an address and discussion on the power of one person to make a difference in the world through education and diversity.

The conference, which runs Sept. 13 -15, will feature more than 50 breakout sessions ranging from cross-channel marketing best practices to case studies featuring results with campaigns across email, mobile, social media and the Web.

Registration is available online at ExactTarget Connections 2011. Marketers who register before Aug. 10 will receive $200 off the $995 registration fee. Marketers attending Connections ’11 may also register for ExactTarget’s certification session Sept. 12 in Indianapolis. The day-long program offers registrants the opportunity to earn certification in three levels – Professional, Marketer and Partner. To register or to learn more, visit www.Connections2011.com.

Connections ’11 follows ExactTarget Connections ‘10, which welcomed more than 2,000 marketers to Indianapolis and featured a lineup of industry titans including Virgin Group Founder and Chairman Sir Richard Branson, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and a private concert from Grammy Award-winning band Train.