They start with basic questions: Are you a public company? Have you been in any actual or attempted merger, acquisition or divestment within the past two years? How many employees? What percentage of your revenue is international? From there they hone in on the specific controls and safeguards you have in place to secure your data and IT infrastructure. Here are seven areas that the insurance carriers are looking at…
An innovative new investor analytic tool made its public debut today, and it offers an exciting look at what may well be the future of online trading for both market experts and arm-chair analysts alike. Trefis, named for its focus on trends, forecasts, and insights, is revolutionary in its forward-looking approach to stock analysis which, incorporates a more intuitive look at the relationship between a company’s product divisions and its stock price.
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.
There is no independent auditor overseeing the federal agency responsible for some $6 trillion in home mortgages, because the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel ruled that the agency's inspector general didn't have authority to operate, according to internal memos obtained by the Huffington Post.
The ruling came in response to a request from the Federal Housing Finance Agency itself -- which means that a federal agency essentially succeeded in getting rid of its own inspector general.
The FHFA is home to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks, which are jointly responsible for purchasing or guaranteeing more than 80 percent of new mortgages issued since the middle of 2008, according to FHFA numbers.
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.
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.
For 35 years, William John Woods has made wooden toys for children. Each one of the 2,000 or so he makes each year passes through his hands at his shop in Ogunquit, Maine, and no child, he said, has ever been hurt by one of his small boats, cars, helicopters or rattles.
But now he and others like him — makers of small toys and owners of toy resale shops and boutique stores — say their livelihood is being threatened by federal legislation enacted in the last year to protect children from toxic toys through more extensive testing. Big toymakers, including those whose tainted imports from China led to the recall of 45 million toys and spurred Congress to take action, have more resources and are able to comply with the new law’s requirements.
“This is absurd,” said Mr. Woods, whose toys are made of maple, walnut and cherry and finished with walnut oil and beeswax from a local apiary. He estimates it would cost him $30,000 — a figure he calculated from having to pay $400 in required tests for each of the 80 or so different items he produces — to show that they are not toxic.
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
We limit the combined total dollar amount of item-labeled produce that any single grower can sell under our two item labels to less than $1 Million US dollars annually. This is our small effort to even the playing field between larger and smaller farms. Research shows that larger farms, particularly those with annual revenues in excess of $1 Million per year have a significant competitive advantage as compared to small family farms. Top 10 Produce LLC will invite socially conscious consumers to play a role by alerting the consumer that our brand provides a strategic advantage in favor of smaller farms, and by reminding buyers that we only license independent growers. 100% of our items have a transparency enabling barcode.
This item level barcode will be scanned by mobile phones to tell the consumer about the farmer, whether the produce is locally grown (including a map showing the location of the farm as compared to their current location based on their cell phone's GPS ), and anything else the consumer is interested to know about that produce item. Consumer reviews of fresh produce will be available to shoppers and chefs alike.
Suggestions are encouraged and welcome, so please share thoughts, concerns, criticisms and questions. We are listening carefully.We limit the combined total dollar amount of item-labeled produce that any single... more
An intruder could eavesdrop on sensitive data sent across the Internet, manipulate the DNS address that redirects traffic from trusted sites to malicious ones, and possibly even infect other routers automatically. Chen says he informed Time Warner’s security department of the hole; they responded that they were aware of the problem but couldn’t do anything about it.An intruder could eavesdrop on sensitive data sent across the Internet, manipulate the... more
Federal regulators took an important step Thursday toward prohibiting broadband providers from favoring or discriminating against certain kinds of Internet traffic.
Despite the concerns of telecommunications companies and the agency's two Republicans, the Federal Communications Commission voted to begin writing so-called "network neutrality" regulations. Proponents say the rules would prevent phone and cable companies from abusing their control over the market for broadband access.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said regulations are needed to ensure that broadband subscribers can access all legal Web sites and services, including Internet calling applications and video sites that compete with the broadband companies' core businesses.
"Internet users should always have the final say about their online service, whether it's the software, applications or services they choose, or the networks and hardware they use to the connect to the Internet," Genachowski said.
The FCC's two other Democrats voted to support his plan. The agency's two Republican commissioners voted merely to start the formal rule-making process, but said they are opposed to the substance of Genachowski's proposal.
Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell said he remains unconvinced that broadband providers are engaging in widespread anticompetitive behavior that requires government intervention.
"I do not share the majority's view that the Internet is showing breaks and cracks, nor do I believe that the government is the best tool to fix it," he said.
In addition, Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced legislation --The Internet Freedom Act of 2009--that would block the FCC from enacting net neutrality rules.
Story continues below
"This government takeover of the Internet will stifle innovation, in turn slowing our economic turnaround and further depressing an already anemic job market. Outside of health care, the technology industry is the nation's fastest growing job market," a press release from McCain's office said, according to The Hill (http://thehill.com/hillicon-valley/605-technology/64325-mccain-seeks-to-block-fcc-rules).
Next up for the FCC is to actually craft the rules, with a vote on whether to adopt them expected to come by next summer.
That would culminate a five-year debate in Washington that has pitted Internet companies such as Google Inc. against some of the biggest phone and cable companies - including AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp.
The broadband providers insist they need flexibility, free from government intervention, to keep their networks running smoothly. They want to ensure that high-bandwidth applications such as YouTube videos don't hog too much capacity and impede other traffic, like e-mail and online searches. They also say that net neutrality regulations would discourage them from expanding and upgrading their networks.
"We continue to hope that any rules adopted by the commission will not harm the investment and innovation that has made the Internet what it is today and that will make it even greater tomorrow," Comcast Executive Vice President David L. Cohen said in a statement.
But companies such as Google, Amazon.com Inc., eBay Inc.'s Skype and Facebook Inc. argue that without such rules, the broadband companies will become online gatekeepers that can prioritize their own online services or those of their business partners - and potentially put others at a disadvantage.
Markham Erickson, executive director of the Open Internet Coalition, called Thursday's vote "the first step toward ... creating a framework that promotes innovation and consumer choice on the Internet."
The Open Internet Coalition represents public interest groups and big Internet companies, including Google, Amazon and eBay (http://www.openinternetcoalition.com/).Federal regulators took an important step Thursday toward prohibiting broadband... more
Industry bias, lax scientific standards, exemption of food crops containing pesticides from registration requirements, and failure to independently monitor GM crops after approval, are among the regulatory problems exhibited by the EPA when it comes to regulating GMOs.Industry bias, lax scientific standards, exemption of food crops containing pesticides... more
The Fed and the Treasury are lending our money so banks can make big bucks and the rest of us linger in uncertainty.
The Federal Government is to "provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare".
Our elected representatives need to check their conscious and check their job description. Oh, yes, I see, they make more money from bribes than they do at their job.
God help us.If a bank is too big to fail, then it is too big.
We need separation of state and... more
Even as the American people are starting to fight back at the rich and greedy, it's important not to loose focus and keep an ever watchful eye out for a quick and fast one like this.
The upper 1% have been infiltrating our Government and public offices with their henchmen for years, and if we ever hope to effect any kind of real change in this country, routing out the worms in our Government has to be a top priority.
People should really make more noise about this kind of issue.Even as the American people are starting to fight back at the rich and greedy, it's... more
DALLAS — Environmental activists sued the Texas environmental agency Tuesday in an effort to force the state to regulate greenhouse gases, asking that coal-fired power plant projects be halted until that happens.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issues air pollution permits that set limits on toxic releases, but the agency says there is no need to regulate carbon dioxide. Texas emits more greenhouse gases, made up mostly of CO2 emissions, than any other state.
The lawsuit by Public Citizen — which describes itself as a consumer advocacy organization — calls for greenhouse gas limits to be imposed as part of the permitting process, based on a 2007 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that classified carbon dioxide as an air pollutant under the Clean Air Act.
"The time has come for the TCEQ to take its head out of the sand and begin the process to regulate CO2 emission from Texas sources," Tom "Smitty" Smith, director of Public Citizen's Texas office, said in a statement announcing the suit.
Bryan Shaw, the chairman of the TCEQ, said it would not make sense for the state to regulate CO2.
"The science on global warming is far from settled," he said in a statement. "Neither Congress nor the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) have been able to promulgate final rules on greenhouse gas regulation. What is certain is that if done incorrectly, CO2 regulations will impose great costs on Texas without any guarantee of a measurable environmental benefit. Reducing CO2 in Texas will do nothing to lower CO2 globally, but will have the effect of sending U.S. jobs to China and India."
Smith announced the suit in Austin in front of the Travis County Courthouse and a filthy 20-foot inflatable coal plant that Public Citizen often carts to protests around the state.
The group is hoping to change the rules for the five coal- and petroleum coke-fired plants awaiting permit hearings in Texas.DALLAS — Environmental activists sued the Texas environmental agency Tuesday in an... more
The root cause of application security vulnerabilities is usually design bugs, and often there are implementation defects. The empirical data showed that software bugs accounted for over 55% of the contributing vulnerability to the event (see the Business Threat Modeling study).The root cause of application security vulnerabilities is usually design bugs, and... more
I’m not arguing for an eggshell model of security - crunchy on the outside, squishy on the inside - but it makes things much easier to be able to address an application server’s security requirements without the need to assume that whatever security you implement on an application level is all you will have.I’m not arguing for an eggshell model of security - crunchy on the outside, squishy... more
As part of their storage security strategy, enterprises must understand the value of such intellectual property in combination with the risk tolerance of the organization before they can address how to appropriately secure it and store it. Moreover, because the value of information changes over its lifetime, so should its storage.As part of their storage security strategy, enterprises must understand the value of... more
In Estonia the State Department has arranged for a series of meetings/lectures and discussions for Mr. Clinton. In addition to visiting the NATO Center Mr. Clinton will meet with representatives of the Estonian government, private sector entities, law enforcement, university and primary education professionals.In Estonia the State Department has arranged for a series of meetings/lectures and... more
