When executives of publicly traded companies sign their annual and periodic statements, such as Form-10K or Form-10Q, with the various regulatory agencies, it is a comprehensive summary of the corporation’s performance. In signing these forms, the executive is attesting that all data pertaining to the health and viability of the organization has been fully disclosed to […]
This past week in San Fancisco, "Cyber Czar" Howard Schmidt announced the Obama Administration’s approach to confronting the cyber-threats against U.S. infrastructures. Many of the strategies outlined in the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative ("CNCI") were designed to enhance the Government’s objectives of, (1) establishing a front line defense against today’s threats to our cyber-infrastructure; […]
Last week, a ruling by an Italian court in Milan set a troubling precedent by imposing a six-month suspended jail sentence on three Google, Inc., executives and one Google, Inc., officer over a video that was posted depicting an autistic boy being bullyed by a group of teenagers in Turin, Italy. Under European Union privacy law, […]
The Associated Press reported today that an arrest warrant has been issued for disgraced American cyclist Floyd Landis in Paris, France. Mr. Landis, former 2006 Tour de France champion, had his medal revoked when it was determined that he had elevated levels of performance enhancing drugs in his system. Mr. Landis maintains that the computer files were […]
This week, both The New York Times and Wired.com, released articles that shed some light on how cyber-thieves hack into organizational databases, and what kinds of information they are looking for. What the reporters exposed is enough to make any business owner rethink what their risk management policy (if any) is towards information technology, […]
Today, January 28th, is national Data Privacy Day. If the purpose of this day is to raise the level of awareness and a call to action by consumers and businesses alike, then we still have a long road to build. Most people realize that their personally identifiable information (i.e. name, address, social security number, […]
In a follow up to the developing story between China’s response to Google’s threats to leave that market, The New York Times reported today that many corporations are starting to voice their concerns about the amount of government-backed surveillance in China. Security researchers in Canada found that "an automated espionage system based in China […]
Google, Inc., announced today that it will stop censoring its search results in China, and possibly pull out of the country completely, after it was discovered that Chinese hackers had tricked human rights activists into exposing their e-mail accounts to outsiders. According to The New York Times, the hackers were trying to break "into the computers […]
A Federal District Court judge ruled in December that personal e-mails from a government employee that were sent to his attorney from government computers is private, which challenges the popular notion that government employees do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy at work. Whenever I talk about expectations of privacy in the workplace, I am quick to point […]
Almost seven months ago to the day, President Obama announced that "[i]t is now clear this cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation…We’re not as prepared as we should be, both as a government or as a country." In response to that proclamation, it […]