The University of Washington notified this week 6,000 employees that their names and social security numbers were on a computer system that was hacked. According to The Seattle Times, two parking management computer servers were hacked into starting around December 6th of last year. An initial on-site review showed obvious signs of a network […]
The Guardian newspaper in London, England, was ordered by a British Court to take material down from its Website, that was published, pertaining to documents which describe the lengths Barclays Bank went through to avoid paying taxes in Britain. According to Noam Cohen, of The New York Times, the judge in the case, Nicholas Blake, also […]
In response to the recent data breaches by Heartland Payment Systems, Inc., ("HPS"), and RBS WorldPay, Inc., Visa has dropped them from its "PCI Compliant" list, but added that it would consider restoring the credit card processing companys’ status if they were recertified by a third-party auditor. Industry analysts, however, feel that the move […]
On March 5, 2009, Computerworld ran an article about how the CEO of Mahalo, a Santa Monica-based search engine company, defended the hiring of an employee, Mr. John Schiefer, who, on Wednesday of this week, was sentenced to 4 years in prison for leading a botnet scheme before he was hired by the company. […]
A data breach has occured, and you received a "notification letter" in the mail, from the organization who was storing your personal identifiable information, stating that your private information may have been exposed in the breach, and that if necessary, the organization will pay for 1 year credit monitoring services. What happens after that? […]
John Markoff, of The New York Times, wrote an article on Saturday, February 14, 2009, which states that because Internet privacy and security has become so maddingly elusive, the best way to solve our current cyber-security problem is to build a "new and improved" Internet. What this new Internet may look like is the subject of […]
According to McAfee, Corp., they recently stated that total economic loss due to data theft and security breaches thanks to organized crime, malicious hackers, and inside jobs totaled $1 trillion dollars in 2008. The report released by McAfee also highlights the rise in "cyber-mafia," which breaks into corporate databases and targets executives by extorting money […]
It has been well-settled that employers have a right to attach whatever conditions they want when it comes to accessing or inspecting workplace computers. So much so, that it does not even have to be reasonable. However, if the terms and conditions involving computer usage, Internet, e-mail, or other corporate communication systems, are not carefully outlined […]
There is a huge disconnect between CEO-type personnel and CTO-type personnel when it comes to the discussion of cyber-security. Technology officers often are aware of the risks and vulnerabilities associated with running an IT network, but they have been unable to translate those same risks and vulnerabilities into language that financial minds can comprehend. […]
The news headlines over the past 4 days seem to suggest that breaches in corporate data are becoming more prevelant, but the mechanisms used to commit the acts are a result of human behaviors, and not technology. As more and more layoffs occur in the marketplace, and those individuals who once had access to […]