Steps to develop secure and trustworthy websites and web applications

submitted by Betha Aris CEH/CISA/CISSP, System Specialist

What role should the System Administrator and Developer play in the creation of more secure websites and web applications? Here is a step by step guide:

Securing the Web Server
Web server is one of the many public faces of an organization. Let’s take a look at some of the threats and solutions to secure the server:

• Operating System Hardening
  OS Hardening is a method to safeguard the Operating System from intrusions. It was developed due to the rise of computer hacking incidents. Before using, remove all non-essential tools and utilities so the security features of the system are activated and configured correctly.
• Protecting from Denial of Service Attack
  Denial of Service (DoS) attack is an attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users. The main types of DoS attack are Buffer Overflow, SYN Flood, Smurf Attack and Zombie attack. The ways to prevent this attack can be done by installing a good firewall to filter out potentially dangerous packets. Again, out-of-the-box System Administrator will likely be set up for ease of access to proactively search for damaging programs.

• Protecting the Server from Remote and Local Exploitation
  There are a bunch of gangsters: they want to control your network, they want to deliver your emails, they want to know who does what and they try to shut down everything. Open your eyes and keep up to date with Vulnerability Development news; also apply regular patch on the system.

Securing the Database
Database server is the foundation of virtually every electronic business, and the database hold sensitive financial data and must be guarded from competitors and unauthorized internal access. These are the actions you should also be taking to configure and operate a secure Database environment.

• Securing default user accounts
• Securing database access
• Audit data access
• Patch the database server from known and unknown vulnerability

Securing the Code
There are several ways hackers can manipulate the URL of a website to perform remote exploitation (SQL injection, XSS attack, RFI attack, Remote buffer overflow attack, etc). These are just some general tips about keeping your web-applications protected:

• Have your web code reviewed by a person to identify and correct vulnerabilities.
• Do not instantly trust open-source code. If you find a nice open-source CMS on the internet that you would like to integrate into your site, use common sense and audit the original code. You can search for various web exploits and then read through the code yourself.

Monitoring the System
In order to protect the network from intrusions, you can apply the following intrusion prevention: Apply host-based intrusion detection system or network intrusion detection system. These systems are highly configurable and feature detailed logging, analysis of attacks and security alerts. These two systems complement other forms of security systems and add another defense against the growing security threat faced by all organizations.

Vulnerability Assessment
There is a high amount of new vulnerabilities discovered on a daily basis and it is important to do regular network vulnerability scanning of all your systems to ensure that your configurations are correctly set and that you have the proper security patches applied.

• Regular Audit
  It is recommended to perform an IT audit procedure on a daily, weekly or monthly basis (depends on IT organizational policy) to ensure your computer is scanned for the latest threats and if at risk, you are immediately alerted.
• Keep the System Up to date
  Install and patch the system from trustworthy web sources as possible with the latest security updates.
• Vulnerability Scanning
  Vulnerability scanning can be used to conduct network reconnaissance, which is typically carried out by a remote attacker attempting to gain information from a network. You can use some various standard vulnerability scanners like Nessus Vulnerability Scanner that provides a view of your networks as seen by outsiders. It uses Nmap to scan for open ports and then attempts to determine what vulnerabilities may exist for the services it finds. It can then provide a detailed report that identifies the vulnerabilities and the critical issues that need to be corrected.

The Precision Group is a global business process outsourcing company with offices in Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Jakarta, London and Manila. It provides integrated middle and back-office support solutions, as well as creative and web services for the financial and professional services sector.
For more information, please visit our website at www.precision-group.biz

Outsourcing opportunities during recession

As written by Matthew Deayton, General Manager, Business Development

Outsourcing has become a key business tool for small and large companies across market sectors. But with the current economic downturn, have companies put a stop to outsourcing?
Based on our experience, the answer is a definite no. We are still grabbing business opportunities from the financial and professional services sector.

I recently attended a KPMG conference on outsourcing trend, and the advisory firm confirmed that the recession is opening new opportunities and focus on outsourcing, with companies seeking newer destinations to lower costs and get added benefits.

According to KPMG, the economic downturn’s impact on outsourcing varies by market. But it has emerged that demand for outsourcing from Asia Pacific is on the rise, creating large opportunity for local suppliers to develop their capabilities.

The focus of companies looking to outsource has also changed as economic outlook still looks gloomy. The World Bank expects the world economy to contract by 1.7% and global trade by 6.1% in 2009. While companies previously were willing to invest in outsourcing relationship more than longer term benefits, the recession has put the priorities on cost optimisation and sustainable innovation. In short, outsourcing has risen above just a mere cost cutting tool, to become more strategic to the overall business strategy.

In terms of outsourcing destinations, India is still popular but China is aggressively catching up, and other markets like the Philippines may get a second look.

The KPMG report said in aggregate, the majority of companies in Asia outsource to India at 55%, with China as the second most popular destination at 36%, Singapore at 20%, Hong Kong 16%, and the Philippines 7%.
KPMG said English is the main outsourcing language in India, but with its rapidly rising labour costs, English-speaking companies might give the Philippines, another English-speaking outsourcing destination, a second look.

The conference highlighted some of the key factors that make a location attractive to outsourcing, which included:

• Demographics – a large pool of well educated people available at a highly competitive cost
• Infrastructure – stable environment in which to operate, power, internet connectivity, access to the work place.
• Political Stability – giving confidence to potential clients that the operation is not going to be shut down due to political unrest.

There are other factors like rule of law, protection of intellectual property right, and track record. But the three factors stated above in bullet points were significant barriers for us to attract clients in Indonesia or the Philippines had we entered these markets several years back. Things have changed. Less of the well educated population are no longer attracted to go overseas as more opportunities open locally, the infrastructure has improved significantly, and the political stability is much more evident.

We are positioned in a perfect situation to be a key outsourcer of business processing, and we already have a core of well-experienced team in our specialised field of financial services. As China attracts more outsourcing to this side of Asia, all the region’s countries will benefit. In addition, having representative offices in Hong Kong and Manila positions us well to capture part of the market migrating south.

The Precision Group is a global business process outsourcing company with offices in Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Jakarta, London and Manila. It provides integrated middle and back-office support solutions, as well as creative and web services for the financial and professional services sector.
For more information, please visit our website at www.precision-group.biz

Brainstorming in Virtual Space: was it possible?

PART ONE

I was thinking of how should I conduct a successful brainstorming, which requires more than a bunch of people sitting in a room. I need a brainstorming technique to get the creative juices flowing so that even the most reticent participants feel free to contribute. Usually we keep an ordinary approach by doing a brainstorming session where the group members are communicating directly in the same room.

One good reference of how should brainstorming goes is from the book of The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from Ideo, America’s Leading Design Firm. Wrote by Tom Kelley, a general manager of Ideo Product Development, one of the world’s premiere product-development firms. Kelley points out that a poorly planned brainstorming session could cause more harm than good. That’s why Ideo follows strict rules for sparking good ideas. At Ideo, idea-generation exercises are “practically a religion,” Kelley says.

Some are simple truths: Morning meetings work best; 3 – 10 participants should take part; and cookies always spur creativity. Some, like those outlined below:

1. Sharpen the focus
2. Write playful rules
3. Number your ideas
4. Build and jump
5. Make the space remember
6. Stretch your mental muscles
7. Get physical

Thus when brainstorming rules apply, that means (1) we are trying to get as many ideas on the table as possible, and (2) we will come back as a collective group later and sort, organize and judge the ideas. But the two stages are kept distinctly separate.

Each person has to be very careful in an in-person meeting to suppress the judging and idea evaluation parts of themselves when brainstorming rules apply, in order to not ruin the creative idea generation spark that is kindled within other people.

I do have an interesting working environment. While I am in Jakarta office, my General Manager is in Hongkong, and some of our clients. Sometime we need to do skype call or phone call to discuss about the project.  But sometime this media is not suffice or adequate enough for any brainstorming session. Then this question will follow, when we can’t be together, but we still need some ideas and we have to keep still the brainstorming rules, how do we translate the guidelines of brainstorming but not in a usual place, such as virtual space?

To be continued…

Bajoy

Our Indonesia office will be closed

Our Indonesia office will be closed due to the “Ascension day of Jesus Christ” on Thursday, 21st May 2009. We will resume operation on Friday, 22nd May 2009.

Our Hong Kong office will maintain normal business hours as usual during this time.

We appreciate your understanding and apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Kind regards,

Client Services

The Precision Group is a global business process outsourcing company with offices in Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Jakarta, London and Manila. It provides integrated middle and back-office support solutions, as well as creative and web services for the financial and professional services sector.
For more information, please visit our website at www.precision-group.biz

The Precision Group offers payroll administration solution in Indonesia

6 May 2009 – The Precision Group has launched Precision Payroll, an efficient and cost-effective payroll administration service for both small and large corporations. The service is presently offered in Indonesia only but will be rolled out to other markets later.

To enhance its service offering, the Precision Group has partnered with leading bank HSBC and Indonesia-based tax adviser The Practice to provide corporations and employees an integrated and seamless solution encompassing payroll, banking and tax advice.

Jeremy Kemp, managing director at the Precision Group said, “We launched Precision Payroll in response to demands from companies for a reliable third-party payroll administrator. What we offer is an integrated and seamless solution that is cost-efficient and secure. We do the worrying for you so you can focus on managing your business”.

Precision Payroll deliverables include: payroll tax filing, HR information management, employee benefits management, sick leave and maternity leave administration, commission management, overtime management, with Web-based self-service functionality.

The Precision Group’s strategic partnership with HSBC and The Practice provides you added benefits, including:

• International banking standards for corporate and individual protection
• Preferential employee banking facilities including access to credit cards and personal loans with attractive rates
• An E-Tax system that automates seamlessly with the payroll process
• Automatic online authorisation facility for salary paymentsFree transfer fee in IDR to any banks in Indonesia

For more information on the Precision Payroll solution please contact us at (62) 21 2557 4573 or email payroll[at]precision-group[dot]biz

The Precision Group is a global business process outsourcing company with offices in Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Jakarta, London and Manila. It provides integrated middle and back-office support solutions, as well as creative and web services for the financial and professional services sector.
For more information, please visit our website at www.precision-group.biz

The Precision Group expands its foothold with Manila office opening

7 May 2009 - The Precision Group today announced that it has expanded its foothold in Asia with the opening of a Manila office. The Manila branch is being headed by Jojo Battung, concurrently the general manager for corporate service.

Jeremy Kemp, managing director of the Precision Group, said: “The Philippines’ business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is one of the fastest growing globally. We would like to take advantage of the opportunity to expand our business and our capabilities in this new geographical market and to new industries”.

“With our highly-skilled employees and driven business strategy, we are optimistic that we can grow our business in the Philippines within a short time. We aim to venture into new industries, such as travel and hospitality, logistics, legal and medical,” said Mr Kemp.

The Precision Group is a global business process outsourcing company with offices in Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Jakarta, London and Manila. It provides integrated middle and back-office support solutions, as well as creative and web services for the financial and professional services sector.
For more information, please visit our website at www.precision-group.biz

The Precision Group launches new website

7 May 2009 - The Precision Group today launched its new website to effectively communicate to the public our role as a global provider of outsourced solutions.

The website introduces our comprehensive range of services for the financial and professional services sector, comprising payroll administration, fund administration, IFA administration, asset management administration, institutional administration, creative & website services, Precision Language, and Precision Email Marketing. Each service line offers tailored and highly-efficient solutions to meet your individual business needs.

The website allows you to get to know us better – it provides an overview of our vision and mission, our dedicated team, our service excellence pledge and our commitment to social responsibility. We have also included a case study section to present in detail how our solutions have helped enhance the operational efficiency and enrich the bottom line of businesses.

Please visit our new website at http://precision-group.biz

Take Control of Your Finances in Difficult Economic Times

submitted by Fordyono Sukamto, Senior Account Executive

So what do you do when you are facing difficult times with your finances during a crisis like the current one: The Global Economic Crisis? Well, we all know that many people will experience negative side effects of the current economic downturn as people are losing jobs due to the volatility of large corporations unable to sustain the impact of the economy meltdown and global stock exchanges being hugely affected by the sort of bailout plans the US has passed to rectify the situation, with nail biting fear of another ‘Great Depression’. It is no wonder both nations and people around the world are feeling a dash of trauma by what is going around presently.
Moreover, the psychological effect is emotional distress due to a perceived loss of control. When the financial news is grim and market indices fluctuate hundreds of points daily, it is really easy to feel that you are helplessly at the mercy of external forces. Some research has found that people are especially unhappy in situations where they perceive themselves to have a lack control. Therefore, it is no surprise that commuting ranks high on the list of things that make people most unhappy. Commuters never know from day to day what traffic gridlock, accidents, and weather they’ll encounter.

The good news is that there are ways to maintain control in times of economic uncertainty. I have researched around and found a list of many things you could do to maintain or get control over your finances and distract yourself during this crisis:

1. Watch Your Spending – The first and foremost thing to do is to watch how you spend. As economic uncertainty would mean the unexpected, such as facing sudden job layoffs or salary cuts, hence, it would be wise to start off early and prepare for what is to come, meaning to say “live below your means” and practice what economists call “precautionary savings.” The KEY is to spend on what you “need” rather than spend on what you “want”.
2. Prepare a Spending Plan – Preparing a budget or a spending plan would massively help you to forecast your future and current expenditure without having to spend or purchase the unnecessary blindly. It helps as a written “best estimate” of the cost of future spending and saving. Ideally, a spending plan should balance income and expenses, including regular savings for future financial goals. A worksheet is usually used to create a spending plan and there are many ready-made templates you can download through the internet.
3. Distract yourself – The best solution for not spending money is to stop thinking about it altogether. Naturally, this is easier said than done, but if you’re serious about keeping your money where it belongs, make an effort to pick up some activities you could do to distract yourself: sports activities or hobbies or do something you tend to enjoy doing that does not necessary break the bank.
4. Make more friends – You might not truly realise this but socialising and hanging around with groups of people, through talking and sharing thoughts and ideas, would greatly ease some forms of distress and provide comfort. Join some social group events and activities to broaden your social network, you might eventually benefit from an idea or concept for a small business opportunity.
5. Dealing with the crisis without feeling like it’s a crisis – The global financial crisis is only part of a common and natural cycle. It is just like when you are having flu, but this flu is present around the globe. Therefore, we shouldn’t get carried away with the frightful discussions. It all depends on how we respond it. Never panic when hearing bad news from the mass media. Get rid of the feeling of being afraid of becoming poor. Always have positive thinking, just like a kid when they are cheering and screaming for joy in the rain. This crisis will pass over, for sure.
6. Taking Care of Your Health – The last thing that someone needs in an uncertain economy is health problems, especially if your job (and access to health insurance) is shaky. Major health “issues” such as diabetes and cancer, are expensive to treat and a drain on household wealth. Put the odds in your favour by taking charge of your health. Specific actions such as losing weight, exercising regularly, and quitting smoking provide many associated financial benefits. Health is, indeed, the greatest wealth.

The economy and financial markets can seem out of control today, nonetheless the best remedy for economic uncertainty is controlling things that we can. Numerous studies have confirmed that people who maintain some measure of control over their lives in times of crisis and uncertainty generally cope better and feel less powerless than those who don’t. Making plans, and revising them when needed, is also a characteristic of financially savvy people. Abraham Lincoln once said “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

Philippines answers the call to prosperity

Canadian companies see opportunity in country’s rise in offshore services

Sarah Efron, Financial Post Published: Friday, September 05, 2008

Filipino agents work at Advance Contact Solutions Inc.’s call centre in Manila.

MANILA — In a row of cubicles, young women with headsets are talking with customers across the ocean in North America, answering their questions about products they’ve purchased at a U.S. department store. It’s midday and the call centre is mostly empty, but by 2 a.m., the newly renovated room will be packed. And by October, two more floors will be transformed into call centres.

No, this isn’t Bangalore. This shiny call centre, operated by global outsourcing company SITEL, is located in the Philippines, now the No. 2 country in the world for offshore services. Following India’s model, the Philippines has realized that offshoring — bringing part of a company’s operations to a foreign country — could be the key to dragging the country out of poverty.

Total offshore and outsourcing revenues in the Philippines grew to US$5-billion in 2007 from US$1.5-billion in 2004. The sector now directly employs 340,000 people and contributes more than 3% of the country’s GDP. And the industry trade organization is trying to keep the boom going: Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) has an ambitious goal of increasing the country’s share of the global market from to 10% from 5%, and aims to hit revenues of US$13-billion by the end of 2010. The Philippines is just one of many countries, such as China, Hungary, Poland, Brazil and Mexico, that is trying to tap into the rapidly-growing offshore market.

This SITEL office in Manila is just one of six call centres the company has in the country. The company established 200 call centre seats in the Philippines in the year 2000, and now has 7,500 seats manned by 9,000 employees. SITEL, which is controlled by Onex Corp., Gerry Schwartz’s Toronto-based private equity firm, operates call centres in more than 20 countries. Like an increasing number of outsourcing companies, they’re looking to spread their business operations across various countries in order to mitigate risk factors in any particular region.

“There’s a trend away from putting all the eggs in the India basket,” says Paul Schmidt, partner and managing director at TPI, a global outsourcing advisory firm based in Texas. “For our clients, it’s not India or some other location. It’s India and some other location. They’re looking to have a number of global locations, kind of a diversified portfolio, if you will.”

The Philippines’ widespread use of English and its historical ties with the West — it was a U.S. colony for almost 50 years — is helping in the global outsourcing market. “In call-centre work, the Philippines is a strong No. 2 and is very competitive with India,” says Mr. Schmidt. “The quality of their voice services is considered very high because of their English proficiency and cultural affinity, particularly for North America, which they have leveraged into supporting the back-end processes as well.”

Like India, the Philippines is also buoyed by a strong telecommunications infrastructure, tax breaks and low wages: Total labour costs for an employee are around US$5,000 to $6,000 a year, compared with US$25,000 to $30,000 in North America. The Philippines also has one distinct advantage over India: the local accent is seen as more palatable by some Western customers.

“We decided to start our operations in the Philippines rather than India, because the dialect here is softer,” says John Langford, executive vice-president of ICT Group, a Pennsylvania-based global outsourcing company. He is sitting in the boardroom of the company’s call centre in Manila’s Makati City. “A lot of our clients in the U.S., and also the U.K. and Australia, find the Indian accent very harsh. The Filipino accent is more neutral. A lot of the time, our agents are mistaken for Hispanic.”

Out of ICT’s 5,000 call centre seats in the Philippines, 200 serve Canadian clients. Most are contracted by Canadian financial institutions to respond to incoming service calls or to make outgoing sales calls. Other Canadian companies with offshore operations in the Philippines include Telus Corp., which has 6,500 employees servicing their own clients and clients of other companies, and Thompson Reuters Corp., which has more than 1,000 employees doing back-office work.

However, there are some red flags for Western companies considering setting up shop in the Philippines. The country is seen as politically unstable, and some foreign companies fear a sudden regime change could alter the business climate. The quality of education is also seen as a limiting factor for the industry’s labour pool. “At the moment, we are churning about 800,000 new people into the workforce every year, yet very few of them can qualify for an outsourcing job,” says Winston Padojinog, senior economist at Manila’s University of Asia and the Pacific. “The acceptance rate for workers in the industry is only about 5%. There’s a mismatch of skills, and some of those skills are very basic: English skills and analytical skills.”

While achieving 10% of the world’s offshore market in the next two years may be a difficult target for the Philippines to reach, the sector is certainly on track for substantial growth. The Philippines’ offshore industry is already making moves to expand beyond Manila to other regional centres to keep labour costs down, and call centre managers are working with educational leaders to align graduates’ skills with industry needs.

And taking another page from Bangalore’s playbook, BPAP is encouraging the industry to move beyond call centres, which currently make up about two-thirds of the country’s operations, and move into higher-value outsourcing such as legal services, back-office accounting, architecture and video game design.

Meanwhile, the impacts of the offshore industry are having ripples through the Philippines’ economy. Near the call centres, 24-hour shops and restaurants have popped up to cater to the young, well-paid workers. Plus, the industry is having a side effect of retaining some workers in the country, which is well known for sending its people abroad to be homecare workers, nannies, nurses and seafarers.

“One of my goals is to give Filipinos job opportunities here in our own country,” says Danilo Reyes, president of SITEL’s operations in the Philippines. “Because of the offshoring industry, a lot of would-be migrants have stayed behind because they have a stable, good paying job here that they can be proud of.”

Financial Post

sefron@financialpostbusiness.com

Outsourcing the Offshore Operations

Western companies are increasingly getting away from running their own offshoring operations, handing the jobs over to Indian tech-services specialists

by Steve Hamm

A monumental shift in how Western corporations tap into Indian talent is taking place. Companies are moving away from running their own offshoring operations and handing at least some of those jobs to Indian tech-services specialists.

The most recent sign of the sea change came July 10, when British insurance giant Aviva (AV) said it sold a 5,000-strong South Asian outsourcing operation to WNS Global Services (WNS) of Mumbai. WNS paid $228 million for these so-called captive operations in Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, and Colombo, Sri Lanka. In return, Aviva agreed to pay up to $1 billion to WNS over more than eight years for handling customer service, account setup, accounting, and claims processing.

There has been a steady drumbeat of similar large deals in recent years, but industry executives and analysts say the pace is quickening—driven by currency swings, the increased costs of doing business in India, and the need for some Western financial services to raise cash to handle shortfalls elsewhere. “The writing is on the wall,” says Sudin Apte, an analyst at market researcher Forrester Research (FORR). “This is not working anymore.”

Labor Savings Aren’t Enough

Apte estimates more than 150 companies have shifted in the past few years from running captive operations to using a mix of internally run and outsourced operations. He expects another 80 to 100 companies will make the move in the next year or so. In an April report, his survey of 59 corporate information technology executives showed 22% of them plan to stick with captive operations while 66% will use outsourcing companies in whole or part. That’s a huge shift from the results of a survey at the end of 2005, when 55% of respondents said they’d run their own offshore operations.

A lot has changed since 2005. For one, many of the captive operations have swelled in size and have staffs numbering 3,000 to 6,000. Apte and other analysts believe offshoring outfits that large are hard for parent companies to operate efficiently. In many cases, it’s better to hand the business to outsourcing firms that have even larger-scale operations and can move employees from one project to another as the needs of a large customer base shift. The other major change is that the rising costs of doing business in India mean it no longer makes sense to move work there just for the labor-cost reductions. To pay off big-time, these shifts must include gains in productivity through process improvements and innovation that the top Indian outsourcing companies have mastered.

Other notable handoffs include the 2007 Infosys acquisition of Philips Electronics’ business process outsourcing (BPO) operations in India, Thailand, and Poland; and the 2006 joint venture formed between Tata Consulting Services (TCS.BO) and Britain insurer Pearl Group. General Electric (GE) gave the trend a lot of momentum in 2005 by spinning out its Indian back-shop operations as Genpact in 2005. WNS itself was formed six years ago as a spinout from British Airways (BAY.L).

Economies of Scale

The Aviva deal gives WNS a chance to get bigger fast. The BPO specialist now has 22,000 employees. WNS bested a handful of other bidders. “This is a very sizable piece of business that makes us a company of a different scale,” says WNS chairman Ramesh Shah. “We understood the business, and we wanted to have a long-term relationship with them.”

Aviva had pioneered the strategy of hiring Indian outsourcing specialists to set up and temporarily run operations and then pass them off to Aviva. It was new to the market and figured it could benefit from the expertise of local players. WNS was one of its partners. But last year it reviewed its options and decided to reverse the way it does things. In a time of volatile currency and salary shifts, Aviva sought more predictable costs. Also, it believes WNS can wring more costs from its operations. “These companies have been better than corporations at driving efficiencies because they’re specialists in the area,” says Cathryn Riley, chairman of Aviva Global Services. She says the company is as committed as ever to having much of its work done in India, in spite of rising costs.

One of the advantages the Indian firms bring is their sheer size. Infosys, for instance, now has nearly 100,000 employees and plans to hire another 10,000 this quarter alone. These companies have hundreds of customers they can serve from their large delivery centers, using standard technologies and business practices.

A wild card in the shift from captive offshoring operations is the problems of big Western banks. Hard up for funds as a result of their mismanagement of real estate finances, they need cash. But analysts and executives caution that these firms may not be able to get the kind of money they’re looking for by selling Indian operations, mainly because the Indians typically drive a hard bargain. “Sometimes the price is too high for us,” says Kris Gopalakrishnan, chief executive at Infosys, which is now looking at two potential banking deals.

But Forrester’s Apte believes the banks may eventually be forced to sell out even if it means settling for less. “Their desperation is going to grow,” he says.

Hamm is a senior writer for BusinessWeek in New York and author of the Globespotting blog.