In recent days, high-profile social media companies LinkedIn and eHarmony disclosed that data from their IT systems have been exploited, via a cyber-attack, and the information obtained from the hack was placed on Russian Internet forums. LinkedIn estimated that approximately 6.46 million passwords were hacked, and are advising all users to update/change their login credentials. In response to […]
On behalf of the European Union, French privacy regulators expressed “deep concern” over Google’s new privacy policy stating that the search engine company has not been “sufficiently forthcoming” in its investigation with the regulatory agency. The National Commission for Computing and Liberties (also known as “C.N.I.L.”) asked Google in February to answer a questionnaire, which […]
The U.S. government announced yesterday (May 22, 2012) that terrorist organizations, like al Qaeda, are looking to launch “electronic jihad” on U.S. networks that are critical to its infrastructures. A video released by the terrorist organization yesterday urged extremists to exploit network flaws in systems related to the aviation and power grid industry, to name a few. This […]
The Federal Bureau of Investigations announced a public service campaign today to bring attention to the $13 billion dollars in lost trade secrets to U.S. businesses by way of state-sponsored organizations and organized-criminal elements. In February, 2012, five companies and individuals were charged with economic espionage and theft of trade secrets for their role in […]
When assessing risk options for cyber-attacks, the natural response for corporate managers is to insure against the risk by paying a third-party to ‘indemnify and hold harmless’ against such a catastrophe. However, in mid-April this year, Insurance Journal reported that 3 out 4 corporate managers were forgoing cyber-insurance policies to cover data breaches despite the […]
Eight months ago I was notified that my domain registration provider would be cancelling its service, and that I would need to find a new provider before the site shutdown. I was assured by both my old and new domain provider that the transition would be seamless and hassle-free (famous last words). Knowing very well […]
Last September, the Seattle City Council passed the ‘Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance’ which will require any company, with 4 or more employees, doing business within the City of Seattle to provide paid sick and safe leave to employees at the same hourly rate and benefits that the employee would have earned during the same time […]
Atlanta-based Global Payments, Inc., was the latest payment processor to have its mission-critical information accessed in an unauthorized manner by hackers this past Friday. The fallout extends far beyond the possible exposure of up to 1.5 million accounts maintained by the seventh-largest payment processor. The high-profile customers that this relatively unknown company represents includes businesses, like Caesars […]
On Monday, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued a stern 73-page report on privacy, which outlines a demand for Congress to pass comprehensive data privacy legislation. The FTC wants to mandate that U.S. commercial data collectors implement a “Do Not Track” button on Web browsers by the end of the year, or the agency says […]
Documents filed in federal court regarding the January data breach of Amazon.com subsidiary, Zappos.com, shows the online shoe retailer’s data security team had detected the cyber-intruder while the hack was in progress. Zappos.com team members were able to thwart the breach before critical customer data was stolen, but the damage to its brand reputation continues to […]