Catch Comitatus

New Statistics on Web Usage

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:58:00 -0500

From Mashable's recent article at: http://mashable.com/2009/09/17/facebook-google-time-spent/

It appears that facebook is leading the way with the amount of time people spend surfing their site. Estimates show that most users spend on average close to 5.5 hours a month on Facebook. That dwarfs Google by almost 2.5 times the usage. Read the full article at the link above.

The iPhone, Active Sync, EAS, and iPhone Software 3.1

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:48:00 -0500

Is the iPhone ready for mainstream business? I love the functionality of having only one device (I currently use an iPhone), but there seems to be lots of criticism around the service.

One specific article: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/09/16/exchange_enhancements_in_iphone_3_1_cause_some_users_grief.html

To date, we have had no issue with our iphone users, total number being 3, and we are a fairly small company. Being a rather small sampling, I don't know that we can speak for the masses; but we are interested in hearing your opinions if you feel so inclined.

myComitatus Portal Service Interuption

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:46:00 -0500

By now some of you may have noticed the downtime that's been occurring since Friday September 11th, 2009. Yesterday, at 3:12 pm CST, Piryx noticed a bandwidth spike on the downstream connections to Piryx.com server at the Piryx Datacenter. This was the result of high packet rate attacks mixed with the traditional bandwidth based DOS (Denial of Service) attacks targeted at a specific Piryx client.

At 3:25pm CST we took the first step to mitigate these attacks by filtering them on all our boarder routers in Austin and Dallas. During which time, we were hit larger attacks that began to grow in size.
Throughout the evening the Piryx crew was hard at work trying to mitigate these attacks, and at 1:45am CST on September 12th, we successfully integrated a block that filtered out most of the malicious traffic and brought our systems back online.

“ Our security and technology team worked tirelessly during the traffic spike and the subsequent attack. After assessing the situation and exploring a number of options, additional security filters were implemented to block the malicious traffic. Our most immediate concern was that the proper measures be taken to ensure that the system did not suffer further outages after coming back online,” said Brian Upton, Piryx CTO.

“None of our systems were compromised in the attack because they were centered on disabling access to our services, basically blocking people from making payments to our users through our social commerce platform. We have hired external security consultants to help protect our customers,” said Tom Serres, Piryx CEO.

Comitatus and Piryx are working to keep any potential downtime to a minimum. We appreciate your patience and thank you for your understanding and support.
We are prepared to work with our partners to keep any potential downtime to a minimum. We appreciate your patience and thank you for your understanding and support. This does not necessarily mean that we are out of the woods yet, but you should be back online.
Piryx is a non-partisan software start-up based out of Austin, TX serving Non-Profits, Political Organizations, and Small Businesses; providing users with advanced Social Commerce technology to use in branded commerce activity. Priyx serves organizations of all shapes and sizes all over the US in a private beta environment. Not only did this attack affect you, but it affected all of our users – and does appear to be politically motivated. Please note that Piryx does not endorse or serve any specific political affiliation – we are simply a social commerce provider.

A New Look for myComitatus

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:18:00 -0500

Along with our new look, the myComitatus page has also gotten a face lift. Starting at the front page, the page boasts a new color scheme and format. Once you've logged in, we've added an app market place to expand the cabailities of the portal as well as a redesigned dashboard and user interface. We find it to be much easier to navigate and a breeze to use. Feel free to let us know your thoughts.

Great Social Media Article for Small Businesses

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 09:00:00 -0500

Mashable published a great article on small business social media practices. Really hits home and thought we would share it

RT @comitatus Interesting Article on Social Media practices http://bit.ly/10ZBbz

New Look, Same Great Service

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:45:00 -0500

Some of you may have noticed a new look to the Comitatus website and the myComitatus site; we are working to make both sites more user friendly and intuitive. Feel free to give us your feedback.

Movin On Up

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:40:00 -0500

After making our initial debut, the Comitatus team is taking the website to the next level. We are working to evolve the site into a more interactive and user friendly experience. Make sure to check out our blog, info about the team, the newsroom, and our social media pages. Thanks for stopping by, hope to hear from you soon.