tagged w/ regulations
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Review the state of play of cyber security for the government and the private sector, including recommendations on how to create a more productive public-private partnership. Cyber security policies are rapidly expanding, indicating the critical threat faced by any organization using Internet-based technologies. In 2008, the Bush Administration launched the most comprehensive cyber security policy review in the federal government’s history. Soon after taking office, President Obama tasked the National Security Council to review our nation’s cyber security policy. In April, the first major bill calling for broad federal regulations and unprecedented power over private sector cyber systems was introduced in the Senate.Review the state of play of cyber security for the government and the private sector,... more
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Sun Tzu’s theories are for the tactically minded professional wanting to secure every possible advantage - for the professional who wants to understand the mental, moral, and physical realms of conflict. WHY? Because that’s how we win on the street.Sun Tzu’s theories are for the tactically minded professional wanting to secure... more
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“We see many signs that criminals are mimicking the practices embraced by successful, legitimate businesses to reap revenue and grow their enterprises” -Tom Gillis, VP and general manager of Cisco.
According to Cisco Systems’ Midyear Security Report, issued July 14, online criminals are exploiting traditional business strategies as they continue to flourish amid a shaky global economy.“We see many signs that criminals are mimicking the practices embraced by... more
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As it evolves, Emerson believes this next generation telecommunications system, dubbed IronPipe™, will have huge implications for national security as well as tremendous new revenue opportunities for the carriers and supply chains which serve them.As it evolves, Emerson believes this next generation telecommunications system, dubbed... more
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Why cyber defense? How is this different than “security”? The difference is in motivation, purpose, and risks. Announcing the birth of Cyber Defense Weekly, a newsletter created to give participants in this new category a comprehensive summary of the week’s news, product announcements, and escalations in cyber threats.Why cyber defense? How is this different than “security”? The difference... more
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Report: Naked video of ESPN reporter used to spread virus; Cyber expert shortage may hinder government in protecting Web sites, internal systems; Adobe promises patch for seven-month old Flash flaw; Report: federal documents detail iPods overheating, catching fire; Vietnam security firm in trouble after tracking hackers; Adobe investigating zero-day bug in Flash; Blackberry maker questions Etisalat software upgrade; Open-source firmware vulnerability exposes wireless routers; Clever attack exploits fully-patched Linux kernel; Trust but verify: Security risks abound in the IT supply chain…Report: Naked video of ESPN reporter used to spread virus; Cyber expert shortage may... more
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The idea of having confidential records shopped to competitors and then offered up for sale to the highest bidder would be enough to keep any CIO up at night. Yet, as scary as this scenario is, cyber extortion remains rare. The bigger threat - one that should legitimately keep IT professionals up at night - is on the inside.The idea of having confidential records shopped to competitors and then offered up for... more
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Companies buy these so called certified products thinking they have the magic bullet to solve their ITIL project, and they’ll skip the hard part, which is designing the processes for their organization.
So instead of a magic bullet they’ll just shoot themselves in the foot with a real bullet.
ITIL isn’t about specific products but instead about putting in processes that bring efficiency to the organization.Companies buy these so called certified products thinking they have the magic bullet... more
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WORLDbytes correspondent Onyeka Igwe reports from Cabaret without Borders an event organised by the Manifesto Club, in opposition to the Home Office’s new visa controls on visiting artists and academics. These controls have already prevented a plethora of creative visitors coming to the UK leading to concerts, exhibitions and international programmes being cancelled. Under the new rules the Home Office effectively determines international programming, what we can and cannot watch, share and experience and whose work merits a UK visit. Meanwhile numerous institutions are co-opted to police and report on visitors they are granted permission to host. This lively cabaret event sees a wide range of artists express their opposition through artistic interventions and personal testimonies. Among the artists and speakers were author Maureen Duffy, cabaret singer Barb Jungr and Josie Appleton, Convenor of the Manifesto Club.WORLDbytes correspondent Onyeka Igwe reports from Cabaret without Borders an event... more
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Nielsen Online reported that by the end of 2008 social networking had overtaken email in terms of worldwide reach. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and Linkedin provide users with a way to build and interact with a community in real time on a familiar platform at a very low cost.Nielsen Online reported that by the end of 2008 social networking had overtaken email... more
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Bruce Schneier points out the attacks against US Federal sites that succeeded in shutting them down or the malware spread by USB thumb drive that infected the US Military Central Command, demonstrate a lack of common sense anti-virus and patch management. But that is a very big deal Bruce…Bruce Schneier points out the attacks against US Federal sites that succeeded in... more
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War has not changed. The weapons of disruption, corruption, and destruction reflect only the evolution of human creativity and innovation. We must understand the conflicts that drive their use, be they individual, corporate, or international. Without this insight, we are doomed to cyber attrition.War has not changed. The weapons of disruption, corruption, and destruction reflect... more
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Lexis-Nexis Breach Linked to Crime Family: One of the “old school” tactics that the organized crime figures use is going to the local watering holes and seducing young girls and finding out where they work. The mob’s tactic of dating new employees who work at companies that have access to customer data leads to Litan’s warning, “He’s not after your heart; he’s after your data.”Lexis-Nexis Breach Linked to Crime Family: One of the “old school” tactics... more
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And if Michael "Monsanto" Taylor states their concerns are overblown, then you know there is something to be worried about. The fact that the words "food safety" were used as part of the title of this bill to thwart criticism is a political ploy that is glaringly so obvious. Make no mistake about it, because of this bill small farmers will suffer on some scale while the real culprits (industrial agriculture and factory farms) once again get a free ride.
Excerpt:
Members of a powerful House committee and farmers raised alarms Thursday about a food-safety bill steamrolling through Congress, saying it could hurt small farmers, conflict with organic growing methods and trump efforts to boost wildlife habitat and water and air quality.
Overshadowed by the health care debate on Capitol Hill, the bill is part of a broad effort backed by the Obama administration and consumer groups to tighten food-safety rules after national outbreaks of food-borne illness caused by salmonella, E. coli and other pathogens in cookie dough, peanuts, produce and beef.
The Food Safety Enhancement Act by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate all farms. It has provoked uproar among small farmers.
"There's been a battle cry in North Carolina, that the FDA is coming onto the farm," said Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture oversees most farms, but regulates only meat, poultry and egg safety. FDA oversees other food but generally has not extended its reach to farms.
The legislation divides large and small growers in California, where most of the nation's fresh produce is grown.
Drew McDonald, head of quality systems for Taylor Farms in Salinas, the world's largest salad processor, said he favors FDA regulation as a way to fight the proliferation of private, often unscientific, food safety rules imposed by large buyers.
Farmers around Monterey Bay say that many of the rules, which are kept secret, have forced them to poison wildlife, destroy habitat and remove vegetative buffers that naturally filter pollutants and pathogens.
A Chronicle report Monday on environmental damage in the Salinas Valley caused by the rules was cited in testimony at Thursday's Agriculture Committee hearing.
Large growers have devised a Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement based on the best available science to try to thwart the private rules, but progress in getting large buyers to accept them has been slow.
Small growers say they are not the source of the problem, which is confined almost entirely to mass-processed food, including bagged greens intended as a convenience to consumers.
Organic growers fear food-safety rules that could mandate production techniques banned in organic agriculture or duplicate rules they already follow.
Nicolas Maravell, a small organic farmer in Maryland, said the ancient practice of raising livestock and food on the same farm is banned under the FDA's current voluntary rules. He said the rules put sustainable farming methods at risk.
"This is a fast-moving train," Maravell said. "Nobody wants to stand in front of legislation that has the words 'food safety' in it."
end of excerpt.And if Michael "Monsanto" Taylor states their concerns are overblown, then... more
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Twitter suspends accounts of users with infected computers; South Korea blocks sites to help end cyber attacks; Kansas audit raises computer security questions; Apple still mute to iPhone complaints; U.S. State Dept. workers beg Clinton for Firefox; Snooping through the power socket; New York official: Tagged site stole identities; Firefox 3.5 vulnerability rated ‘highly critical; Probe into cyberattacks stretches around the globe; BlackBerry update bursting with spyware; French workers threaten to blow up Nortel factory; FBI charges satellite descramblers…Twitter suspends accounts of users with infected computers; South Korea blocks sites... more
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Roxana Araujo is a financial crimes investigator for Florida's Office of Financial Regulation. It's her job to sniff out unscrupulous lending practices and help ordinary families avoid being taken advantage of by financial institutions. So it must have been odd for her to find herself seated next to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, describing the confusion and frustration she felt trying to understand why the interest rates on two of her credit cards had been increased without warning. But many readers will be all-too-familiar with that feeling of helplessness in the face of rising interest rates despite having always paid the credit card bills on time, as had Ms. Araujo.
Sometimes, you don't have to be a financial regulatory professional to know you're getting screwed.
Pushback against egregiously unfair lending practices in the credit card market is mounting. And it looks like Washington is finally getting the message. On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights by a landslide vote of 357-70. The bill, championed by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), would enact basic standards that eliminate some of the most exploitative practices in the business. Card companies will no longer be able to retroactively raise the interest rate on existing balances--except under limited circumstances, such as a 30-day delinquency. (This will put an end to "any time, any reason" rate increases) When the credit card companies do increase an interest rate, they will be required to give customers 45 days' notice. In addition, interest may only be tallied on balances in the current billing cycle, statements will be mailed earlier in the billing cycle, payments will always be allocated to the portion of the balance with the highest interest rate, and hefty fees for over-limit transactions will be banned unless cardholders explicitly permit it ahead of time.
When the free-marketeers were in charge, deregulation was the reigning political philosophy. Rules were scarce and enforcement even scarcer. The last time Congress imposed new regulations on the credit card market was the 1988 "Schumer Box."
Things have changed. Last week, the big card companies were called on the carpet at the (White House, where the President announced, "The days of any-time, any-reason rate hikes and late-fee traps have to end." And Thursday in the House, over 100 Republicans voted with Democrats to swiftly usher in the end of the freewheeling era in the credit card market.
Well, not so fast. Unfortunately, there is a 12-month lag between enactment and implementation. Congress is essentially outlawing these practices as harmful to consumers and then allowing them to continue for a year. Indebted Americans cannot wait a year for fair treatment when every day brings more bad news for the family bottom line.
Demos, a non-partisan public policy research and advocacy organization for which I work, has conducted has demonstrated through research that in a market with almost no rules, low-income families and households of color pay disproportionately high costs for credit card borrowing, in the form of painfully high interest rates and excessive penalty fees. And when the economy slows and unemployment rises, more and more families are forced to rely on credit card debt to cover shortfalls in income. In short, the absence of basic regulation in the credit card market is making this recession deeper for those already on the bottom.Roxana Araujo is a financial crimes investigator for Florida's Office of... more
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And hopefully lives will be saved because of it. Will more coal companies start to see the writing on the wall this year? We can only hope.And hopefully lives will be saved because of it. Will more coal companies start to see... more
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Good news for the environment.
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The Bush administration said Wednesday that it was abandoning its pursuit of two proposed regulations relaxing air-pollution standards for power plants, surprising both industry and environmentalists by ending its pursuit of one of the last remaining goals set out by Vice President Dick Cheney’s Energy Task Force in 2001.Good news for the environment.
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The Bush administration said Wednesday that it... more
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The following list contains 100 tools and resources you can use to make an informed decision about this issue. Health records have, historically, been protected by regulations that protect the patient's privacy.The following list contains 100 tools and resources you can use to make an informed... more
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Help Us Obtain Greater Enforcement
Of Boat Speed Zones
The Issue:
Cuts in state and federal funding have resulted in fewer on-water law enforcement officers in critical areas of Florida. The Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, created to safeguard manatees, is one such area. In July, a mother manatee was horribly injured in the bay by a speeding boat and subsequently died. Very recently, another manatee was also horribly injured by a speeding boat and died. Unfortunately, this scenario will continue to be repeated many times in areas heavily used by both boats and manatees unless law enforcement efforts are increased dramatically.
Although we don’t believe in gratuitously displaying manatee photos depicting disfiguring injuries, we have decided - after much soul-searching - to post some online photos of the poor manatee mother because a picture is worth a thousand words.
Warning: These photos are very graphic.
Click here to view photos: http://www.savethemanatee.org/cr_photos.htm
Our immediate goal is to get more officers on the water during times of peak use, even if it means Save the Manatee Club pays for them. We are also increasing boater awareness with a new poster featuring the message, “Navigate With Care, Manatees Are There.” And we will advocate to eliminate dangerous high speed areas.
What You Can Do:
Take action now by sending the following letter to Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, and to Florida’s Governor Charlie Crist, asking them to immediately increase their on-water law enforcement presence throughout manatee habitat. And please send this alert to your friends and family and ask them to take action, too.
Take Action! Sign this petition PLEASE!
http://www.savethemanatee.org/actionalert.cfm?id=12
Help Us Obtain Greater Enforcement
Of Boat Speed Zones
The Issue:
Cuts in... more
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