Her sensational Internet fame over, Kari Ferrell—now in a Utah jail for fraud and forgery—displays her reflective side in a wide-ranging chat with The Daily Beast about the realities of jail (food, masturbation, and the guards' nickname for her), how she will change when her sentence ends—and why Steve Jobs should send her a check.
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.
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.
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...
Charles Nemeroff, an Atlanta psychiatrist who was the subject of a Senate investigation concerning huge sums he received from drug companies, is being named chair of the psychiatry department at the University of Miami medical school.
Last year Nemeroff, as chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Emory University, was the intense focus of an investigation by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who said he was concerned about the money the psychiatrist received from drug companies while conducting supposedly unbiased research for the National Institutes of Health on drugs made by the companies he was receiving money from.
On Thursday, Pascal Goldschmidt, dean of UM medical school, called Nemeroff ``an extraordinary psychiatrist and scientist. . . . He got into serious trouble on disclosure on conflict of interest.''
Goldschmidt said he had read investigative reports from Emory about Nemeroff's activities and found nothing to indicate that payments the psychiatrist received had in any way influenced his research results.
In a telephone interview at mid-day Thursday, Nemeroff, 60, told The Miami Herald he was excited to be coming to Miami. ``I think it's going to be a top-10 school.''
A front-page report by The New York Times in October 2008 said that congressional investigators found Nemeroff -- ``one of the nation's most influential psychiatrists'' -- had received $2.8 million in consulting deals with drug makers over seven years and failed to report at least $1.2 million of that to Emery University.
Based on Grassley's complaints, Emory suspended Nemeroff's work on an NIH grant and asked him to step down as chair of psychiatry while it studied his conduct. Earlier this year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services had launched an investigation into Nemeroff's activities.
The OIG said it never confirms nor denies any inquiries about investigations. Nemeroff said he knew nothing about an OIB investigation. NIH did not immediately respond on Thursday morning to Herald requests for comment. Nemeroff said he had been told by NIH that he could apply for grants as soon as he arrives in Miami.
About $800,000 to $1.2 million, according to published reports, came from GlaxoSmithKline, while Nemeroff was leading a major study into mood disorder drugs, including ones made by GSK.
Nemeroff said Thursday that the news reports had not made clear that the talks were on GSK drugs now on the market, while his research funded by NIH involved animal and lab studies of GSK chemical compounds that were years away from market.
The psychiatrist said in retrospect he should have declared the drug maker payments but that, at the time, he viewed the university standards as not requiring such revelations since the talks were of an educational nature. Emory has since changed its rules to make them more clear.
In a letter to Grassley last December, Emory officials wrote: ``We do not believe that Dr. Nemeroff's participation in the compensated speaking arrangements with GSK in any way biased the research conducted under the grant, although we will continue to ensure that no such bias existed.''
The Emory letter said Nemeroff's talks on behalf of GSK were ``focused on medical education and were not product specific or promotional. . . . As you alleged, Dr. Nemeroff did not disclose substantial speaking fees from pharmaceutical companies to Emory. Under federal regulations and Emory's policies, we believe he should have done so, although both the regulations and our policies could have been clearer.
``In Dr. Nemeroff's view, substantive, nonproduct specific talks focused on general medical education did not present a significant financial interest and were therefore not subject to disclosure under the United States Public Health Service.''
Grassley responded in a letter that his staff's research found that Nemeroff's talks were not educational and should haveCharles Nemeroff, an Atlanta psychiatrist who was the subject of a Senate... more
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.
Dr. Paul John Hartmann, a psychiatrist practicing in South Lakeland, was arrested in Tampa on Friday on seven charges of possession of a controlled substance, two charges of possession of a drug without a prescription and a charge of driving under the influence.
Hartmann, 60, a board-certified psychiatrist with subspecialty certification in child and adolescent psychiatry, has a Tampa address on his Hillsborough County arrest record. But he is listed with the state Department of Health, and in the phone book, as practicing at 6700 S. Florida Ave. in Lakeland. His DOH record shows a clear license without a record of discipline.
Hartmann was released on $15,500 bail.Dr. Paul John Hartmann, a psychiatrist practicing in South Lakeland, was arrested in... more
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.
Forget about vampires, ghouls and zombies. You were much more likely to receive a fright this year from something lurking in your e-mail. There were the usual crop of Trojan horses and phishing expeditions, and as the surprising list points out, some of the scares go all the way up to White House and the FBI.
This report should be heeded by those banks, health care organizations, government agencies, insurance companies and others that we entrust with our social security and checking account numbers, birth dates and mothers’ maiden names, and in some cases our personal health information.
According to Sun Tzu, the Tao is the Way – the context that defines how actions are perceived and valued, and management must be able to accurately assess the program in the context of the company’s cultural and political reality. Failure to do this will inevitably create a clash between strategic security plans and the operational activities that enable that vision.According to Sun Tzu, the Tao is the Way – the context that defines how actions are... more
There is still a lot of scareware out there, and many people still falling for it. Forty-three million in the last year according to Symantec. Put simply, scareware programs are designed to frighten people into running malicious software by popping up when the user is online and declaring that viruses have been detected…There is still a lot of scareware out there, and many people still falling for it.... more
Consider the possible consequences of a catastrophic loss of data a doctor’s office, an insurance agency, a law firm, or basically any other business. It appears that users of cloud based services may have little in the way of legal remedies. A very quick review of the terms and conditions for two of the best known cloud providers illustrate the issue.Consider the possible consequences of a catastrophic loss of data a doctor’s office,... more
Do surviving relatives have a right to read their deceased son’s, daughter’s, husband’s or wife’s communications with other people whose lives could then subsequently be completely altered as a result? What would your email service providers do with all your messages? Who should make that decision, and when should that decision be made?Do surviving relatives have a right to read their deceased son’s, daughter’s,... more
