On October 28th President Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. OK, so more people are needed. Now, let’s talk money. How much money is provided in the 2010 Defense Authorization Act for Cyber Defense? A lot.
Once a predator uses your Internet connection to go to into the bowels of the web, your Internet Protocol address, which is connected to your ISP billing address, is now considered one that is owned by a criminal. If law enforcement happens to be chatting with that person, who’s using your Internet connection to trade lurid porn, then someone may eventually knock on your door at 3 AM with a battering ram. And in freakish and relatively new twist, hackers can use a virus to crack your network and gain remote control access, and then store illicit porn on your hard drive.
The question is not lack of process but whether or not security is being used to help enforce business process in the relevant areas of product safety, customer service, employee workplace security and information protection in business-to-business relationships.
These new regulations come at a time when healthcare breaches are on the rise; according to the 2009 ITRC Breach Stats Report healthcare breaches account for over 66 percent of all records breached this year, up from 20 percent in 2008. In fact, some of the largest names in healthcare suffered data breaches.
Congress is still considering the Informed P2P User Act, a law that would supposedly make it safer to use peer-to-peer file sharing software, an effort that is similar to banning mosquitoes from sucking blood. It just isn’t happening…
Every organization has some form of Information Security Risk Assessment - some perform a formal risk assessment, others simply use their practical experience. There aren’t that many tools that assist the organization in performing risk assessment. The most widely used one is Excel, but it is far from a good choice.
The ISA will release a new cybersecurity report, which proposes frameworks for taking key issues in the Obama Administration’s “Cyberspace Policy Review” document to the next level, in an effort to achieve tangible progress. The report will include frameworks for creating a new, practical model for information sharing; addressing the international nature of cybersecurity issues; developing a market for adopting good security standards and practices; building a highly educated digital workforce; and managing the global IT supply chain.
Hackers are spreading their operational bases further around the world, according to threat analysis from managed security firm, Network Box. Not only should we all be wary about what links we click on in emails, social networking sites and IM, but we should examine what data we put online.
The notion that social media sites are little more than a trendy consumer oriented technology is misguided. Most business activities have legal ramifications and social media is no exception., and legal issues can arise when an organization does not adequately address social media with company policy.
Identity theft is preventable. As with any other crime, the risk will always be there. But there are many things people can do to minimize that risk, both online and offline. The National Foundation for Credit Counselors, which sponsors Protect Your Identity Week, has compiled a number of identity theft myths.
There are four pillars to the cyber war realm: intelligence, technology, logistics, and command. By understanding these factors IT security practitioners can gauge the threat to their own organization from cyber war and perhaps take steps to prepare for either direct attacks or the fallout from an outbreak of cyber hostilities between nations.
A Rhode Island Hospital was fined $150,000 after a surgeon operated on the wrong finger of a patient, and now the hospital must install video cameras in all of its operating rooms. Of course video surveillance will not PREVENT such incidents from happening, but knowing such recordings are being made will likely make surgeons much more careful…
The short answer for persons leaving a company is to be very careful and to have a very clear understanding with the employer about what can and cannot be taken. The increasing involvement of government authorities in enforcing remedies involving trade secrets certainly signals a new level of risk for those who may be considering taking or copying trade secrets.
Symantec isn’t the only company to forecast improved enterprise IT spending based on quarterly results in the past few weeks; executives at EMC, IBM, and Intel all spoke positively about IT budgets rebounding in the coming months.
As we all approach the inevitable chaos of the holidays with shopping, company parties, and client gift lists - all on top of Q4 and 2009 reports and wrap ups - please take care care to protect yourself and your family from possible tragedy due to simple oversight...
During this week’s Federal Executive Forum taping, Navy CIO Robert Carey discussed his views on cloud computing. Stating that the NGEN and CANES (Navy Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services) programs will both leverage cloud computing, he also describes a future of “grey clouds” on each ship.
With the threat of aftershocks in the US Stock market, continued bank closings and takeovers by the FDIC, serious consideration needs to be given to changing the current reporting, auditing and oversight regulations, and the public needs to pressure elected officials into action before our entire country is taken off financial life support.
In terms of speed, Retina performed much faster. In terms of scan depth, Nessus has a small advantage, since it includes a web mirroring tool that is very helpful in HTTP. In a direct comparison, Nessus wins simply because Retina manifested erroneous results on repeat scans.
Regardless of what you feel should or should not be private, we all have a right to set expectations that we trust will be met. And as technologists, we have the capability to improve the state of privacy in the face of technological advances that might otherwise undermine it. Privacy is not an Illusion, it is a challenge.
![PLANETS [data and graphics]; Know Your Neighborhood Pantheon](http://i2.crtcdn.net/images/asset/901/252/76/l30970_60x45.jpg)
