What are my rights? That is what a majority of people want to know when they receive a letter in the mail from their bank, credit card company, hospital, etc., that states their personally identifiable information ("PII") has been compromised. Most likely, the answer is – NOTHING! Oh, you can take the 1 […]
"Cloud Computing" is the next big technological wave to crash upon the shores of commerce and industry. Giant companies like Microsoft, IBM, Amazon.com, Google, Salesforce.com, etc., are venturing into the foray to grab a piece of the "Software as a Service" (SaaS) marketplace. However, like any emerging industry, questions are being raised as to […]
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday that a federal identity theft law used to prosecute illegal workers who used fake social security numbers to obtain a job here in the United States was rejected. The question in the case was whether workers who use fake identification numbers to commit some other crimes, […]
Over the past two days, there have been 3 news events that have highlighted the importance of why organizations need to do a better job of protecting their mission-critical data. However, corporate fiduciaries, who are in the best position to counsel businesses on this matter, have very little knowledge about what sorts of "care" should be […]
The New York Times reports today that the European Union has commenced legal action against Britain for failing to properly apply EU data privacy rules that would restrict an Internet advertising tracker called "Phorm" from watching how users surf the Web. Phorm analyzes Internet users’ behavior so it can display ads that might appeal […]
For all the years that security experts have been warning that the "sky is falling" around our national infrastructure, it appears that all the talk is about to become reality. Reuters reported today that cyber-spies HAVE penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system. […]
The Associated Press reported today that the Pentagon spent over $100 million in the past 6 months to respond and repair damage from cyber-attacks and other computer network problems. This astonishing amount of taxpayer dollars highlights the fact that the Department of Defense is constantly under attack by both sophisticated and non-sophisticated cyber-terrorists. The […]
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 […]