Author: Shirley Rodríguez

Houston, TX — January 08, 2019

The International Oil Scouts Association is a non-profit organization that has been promoting the scouting profession and petroleum industry since 1924, providing extensive networking and educational opportunities to its members.

The International Oil Scouts relied on the feature-rich Tendenci Content Management System (CMS) to build a fresh modern look and an engaging interface that makes information readily accessible.

Not only is their new layout modern and mobile-responsive, but their new design provides more readily available information about their extensive networking system of national and international forums, while of course saving room to promote the charities they support.

IOSA also uses their directories module to highlight association sponsors on their homepage, as well as featuring a member portal to assist members in finding current industry information and networking opportunities.

Tendenci – The Open Source AMS is proud to partner with the International Oil Scouts Association to help them connect and enrich Oil Scouts all over the world.

VIEW THE INTERNATIONAL OIL SCOUTS ASSOCIATION SITE LIVE !

Houston, TX — December 20, 2018

The Nehemiah Center of Houston has provided a safe haven and enriched learning environment for at-risk children since 1996, serving and following these children and their families from early childhood to college years.

Nehemiah Center relied on the feature-rich Tendenci Content Management System (CMS) to build a fresh modern look and an engaging interface that makes information readily accessible.

Their updated website’s mobile responsive design allows users faster and easier access to information and forms needed for families to connect to the Center, helping to build lasting relationships with families and their children, as well as Center volunteers. The Nehemiah Center website boasts a wealth of information from individual program descriptions and Center events to volunteer and parent portals. In addition, supporters of the Center can donate to their cause at the click of a button in a seamless experience with an embedded donation form. Nehemiah proudly highlights their all-stars on their hompage with easy to manage data and their sponsors using the Tendenci directories module. The random select in their Tendenci photos module allows for a unique experience with every site visit.

Tendenci -The Open Source AMS is proud to partner with Nehemiah Center on their mission to provide assistance to low income families who are invested in seeking a better future for their children through education, emotional wellness and spiritual enrichment, and excited to see what their future brings to the communities of Houston.

Check out Nehemiah Center Live Site!

About Tendenci – The Open Source AMS
Headquartered in Houston with an office in San Francisco, Tendenci – The Open Source AMS develops the is a revenue generating online tool with over one million users overall and earned a spot in Capterra’s Top 20 Membership Management Software Products. Tendenci powers the websites of the Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, DePelchin Children’s Center, and Americans Citizens Abroad, among hundreds of others. Tendenci also offers web design services and integrates other open source applications into the websites of its international client base. Tendenci Open Source powers websites that encompass a variety of NPO and industry segments around the world. Additional information about Tendenci – The Open Source AMS is available here.

Why does the Internet seem broken lately? Let’s start with the obvious – the government shut down is a horrific occurrence far beyond what people realize.

Why is the Internet slow right “now”? Because DNS is under attack and the government is shut down and incapable of responding. Seriously. We, the InfoSec community, are flying blind. For the average person – you are kind of hosed. (kidding, not kidding….)

What is DNS? “DNS” means “domain name resolution.” and it tells your computer how to find a web site. The thing is, *most* sites pull content from numerous places (think twitter feeds on your page, or a FB badge, or a font, etc.) If *ANY* of these items are slowed down, so is your site.

Not surprisingly, criminals look for opportunities and our politicians gave them a big giant gift by shutting down the government.

The DNS attacks, among others, haven’t made the news because the government has been shut down.

Recovery from one month of nobody managing CyberSecurity for the US Government will take months if not years. Some damage is permanent. (I’m just the messenger.)

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/01/multiple-us-gov-domains-hit-in-serious-dns-hijacking-wave-dhs-warns/

If the Internet and cybersecurity are put in the category of “non-essential” then we have a serious problem. And we have a serious problem far larger than the drop in home buying. Hackers are patient. Very patient. Recon conducted over the last month will be used far into 2020. The RATs will persist in silence and nobody will know until they are activated.

Image from: https://www.deteque.com/live-threat-map/

Additional resources:

Fox News on the impact of the government shut down on cybersecurity

https://video.foxnews.com/v/5990953428001/#sp=show-clips

Krebs on Security’s take:

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/01/how-the-u-s-govt-shutdown-harms-security/

#forgotten Hurricane Harvey and Houston

One federal agent with more than 20 years on the job told KrebsOnSecurity the shutdown “is crushing our ability to take the fight to cyber criminals.”

“The talent drain after this is finally resolved will cost us five years,” said the source, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak to the news media. “Literally everyone I know who is able to retire or can find work in the private sector is actively looking, and the smart private companies are aware and actively recruiting. As a nation, we are much less safe from a cyber security posture than we were a month ago.”

The source said his agency can’t even get agents and analysts the higher clearances needed for sensitive cases because everyone who does the clearance processing is furloughed.

Mobile responsiveness was crucial to the design of the new site in order to deliver an optimal user experience to NCCEH members and constituents. The added challenge for the Coalition was the enormous amount of information they host and determining the best way to structure their resources for ease of access and maintenance. NCCEH relied on the feature-rich Tendenci Content Management System (CMS) to build an engaging interface that makes information readily accessible.

Using Tendenci Events, NCCEH hosts a variety of informational meetings, trainings and community events. The flexibiilty of the Events module allows NCCEH to post both paid and free events, collecting registrations and payments online when needed. Event reminders, rosters, invoicing reports and quick addition of offline registrations makes event management simple and complete.

The North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness, NCCEH, serves as an advocacy group and central resource for agencies,organizations and individuals that address the needs of the homeless residents of North Carolina. The recently upgraded Tendenci website has been critical to collection and dissemination of information following the devastation of Hurricane Florence.

Read full story here.

I believe humans as a whole, put too much faith in technology. Not all phone calls ring on the other end. SMS/text doesn’t always get delivered. Even worse is – sometimes they get delivered hours or days later and the recipient sees a time stamp that may be yesterday, or just this instant. I think that is why phone calls can clear up misunderstandings so quickly. 

I believe we need to be kinder to each other in general. And give people the benefit of the doubt instead of doubting their credibility when they say “I sent that to you!” They probably did. 

In this regard – technology unfortunately can divide us. We should try to focus on the positives and be kind with each other when communication isn’t perfect. Be it a turn of the phrase, delayed chat, or just a message lost in the ether. 
Be kind. Especially with our families. I know all of you are really awesome people. 

-Ed Schipul
#peace

To Our Open Source Family,

As the holiday season is upon us, we find ourselves reflecting on the past year and those who have supported us and the entire Tendenci community. With your help, we continue to work toward our shared goal – Connect the world’s people and do some good.

For many of us, it’s been a tough year with all the changes happening across the globe  – natural disasters, wildfires, shootings, political issues, personal issues, and hardest of all, the loss of our loved ones. All lead us to the greatest lesson—love. It is the action of love that makes our world a better place.

It is why we are sending you our most loving holiday wishes as you embark on your journey into 2019. So Happy Holidays our dear Tendenci friends and we wish you all a Happy New Year!

As leaders in Open Source, we are here for you. Always.

Warmest regards,

The Tendenci Team