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INCOMPETENCE AND CARELESSNESS ARE TO BLAME FOR MOST DATA BREACHES

Eighty-seven percent of data breaches could have been prevented with reasonable security precautions, according to a study of over 500 forensic investigations conducted by Verizon Business Security Solutions — MORE

NEW iPHONE RAISES SMART-PHONE SECURITY CONCERNS

Whether IT organizations are ready or not, smart phones are a reality for enterprises. Gartner analysts predicted in a January report that smart-phone sales will reach about 173 million in 2008, a jump of 42 percent from last year — MORE

CYBER LIABILTY

Privacy risks and security breaches have become a major liability for 21st century businesses. A security breach could raze a company's reputation in a matter of hours and bring it to its knees. Lloyd's 360 risk project investigates the risks, the role for insurance and offers some 'top tips' from Lloyd's experts on how businesses can manage these emerging threats — MORE

AMENDED CANADIAN PRIVACY LAW COULD BOOST IT SECURITY BUDGETS

With changes coming to Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) this fall, one privacy consultant says IT professionals should be ready to use privacy as a business case for their future security projects — MORE

HACKERS TO CONCENTRATE ON MOVING (MOBILE) TARGETS

In a long and illustrious career in both the public and private sectors, Howard Schmidt has earned a reputation for being one of the world's foremost authorities on computer security — MORE

THE COST OF PRIVACY

The cost of trying to clean up the mess in US federal cybersecurity now has a price tag: $40 billion in new funding over the next six years. That's what analysts say President George W. Bush proposed to spend to put in place his new "Cyber Initiative" — MORE

PREPARATION KEY TO MANAGING DATA BREACHES

In this era of Internet connectivity, businesses must prepare for what is becoming the almost-inevitable data breach, according to a pair of chief privacy officers for major financial institutions — MORE

SPAM TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL, EXPERTS SAY

Today, spam - the abuse of electronic messaging system to indiscriminately send unwanted bulk messages - accounts for as much as 87 per cent of the world's e-mail, according to Symantec Corp. — MORE

CANADIAN FIRMS PUTTING A LOCK ON DATA PRIVACY

High-level executives charged with keeping consumer data safe from scammers and snoopers are increasingly common at major Canadian companies, especially those with vast databases of personal client information. And their efforts are making Canadian corporations privacy leaders — MORE

NEW CENTER TO THWART OLYMPIC HACKERS

Beijing set up an information safety emergency response and management center last week to safeguard Internet operations during the Beijing Games — MORE

CYBERCROOKS WINNING FIGHT FOR INFO ON WEB

Despite all the antivirus software, all the extra security features in your computer's operating system and all the government regulations intended to make the Internet a safer place, your personal computer and your personal data are as threatened as ever — MORE

CANADIANS VERY VULNERABLE TO IDENTITY THEFT, SURVEY SHOWS

While ID theft is rapidly growing, most Canadians are unaware of the seriousness of the threat and are taking only the most basic steps against preventing this menace, a new survey indicates — MORE

MSNBC, OTHER HIGH PROFILE SITES COMPROMISED IN MASSIVE HACK ATTACK

MSNBC Sports Web site became the latest victim in a string of hacker attacks that has compromised more than 26,000 other sites, according to a new alert by a Web security firm. The incident shows a growing trend of hackers injecting code into legitimate Web sites, as well as targeting major sporting events — MORE

BOTNET SCAMS ARE EXPLODING

Largely unnoticed by the public, botnets have come to inundate the Internet. On a typical day, 40% of the 800 million computers connected to the Internet are bots engaged in distributing e-mail spam, stealing sensitive data typed at banking and shopping websites, bombarding websites as part of extortionist denial-of-service attacks, and spreading fresh infections — MORE

WHEN DOES A PRIVACY BREACH CAUSE HARM?

Several countries are on the verge of doing what U.S. courts have stopped short of: codifying that breaches of personal information can actually harm people. Why should U.S. companies welcome this development? — MORE

THE TOP FIVE INTERNAL SECURITY THREATS

It's widely known that internal staff are the biggest threat to IT security, but what specifically should an employer watch out for? Research conducted by the US Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert) estimates that almost 40 percent of IT security breaches are perpetrated by people inside the company — MORE

COMPUTER SECURITY A NECESSITY

If your company hasn't addressed internal and external security of your computer systems, you are behind the times. It is estimated that 81 percent of all companies have had a data loss or an intruder hack into their systems. The cost of these security breaches runs about $181 per record — MORE

SURVEY: PRIVACY BREACHES RAMPANT IN CORPORATIONS

Nearly 85 percent of privacy and security professionals believe a reportable breach of personally identifiable information (PII) occurred within their organization in the last year, according to an online survey of 800 such professionals published in Dec./07 by accounting firm Deloitte & Touche and the Ponemon Institute — MORE

WI-FI USERS, BEWARE

Many Wi-Fi users don't know that hackers posted at hot spots can steal personal information out of the air relatively easily. And savvy criminal hackers aren't settling for just access to credit cards, bank accounts and other personal financial information; they love to sneak into your company's network, too — MORE

TOP FIVE CYBER THREATS IN 2008

Security threats in the cyber scene have grown at an extraordinary rate in the past year. This year will also see a rise in spyware and rouge ware threats to computer security besides the general virus and worms problem. Here is the list of prominent threats we can see in 2008 — MORE

ESTABLISH A STRATEGY FOR SECURITY BREACH NOTIFICATION

When it comes to security breaches, it's important to remember that old adage about quality vs. quantity. Data breaches aren't just about a hacker breaking into a network and stealing information. In fact, they come in all shapes and sizes — MORE

ONLINE PRIVACY: ACHIEVABLE GOAL OR WEB 2.0 PIPE DREAM?

A growing chorus of voices says the evolution of the Internet, the increasingly cozy relationship between search and advertising companies and the rise of Web 2.0 social networking technologies adds up to an environment where true privacy may be but an illusion — MORE

GYM HEIST RAISES IDENTITY THEFT FEARS

The theft of two computers from a Toronto gym more than a week ago has exposed thousands of current and former members to identity theft. The missing computers contain personal and financial information belonging to nearly 4,500 people — MORE

THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT SECURITY STEPS THE SMALL BUSINESS SHOULD TAKE

If you're a small business, please view these steps for exactly what they are: a starting point - simply an organized place to begin. These are the absolute bare minimum, basic, no-brainer, and got-to- have things! If you know someone who has a small business, send him or her this blog — MORE

BEWARE OF I.T. STALKERS

"You tend to be more trustful of people on the Internet. But if you don't really know the person you should treat him/her as a stranger. Use your common sense as you would in the real world," said Phil Hickey, consumer product marketing manager, Symantec Asia-Pacific — MORE

COMING TO A SCREEN NEAR YOU

Do you know who is running your computer? For a large and growing number of people the answer may not be the one you want to hear. Yours may be one of the millions of PCs around the world that have been infected and is now working for a criminal organisation — MORE

EIGHT HOT-BUTTON ISSUES TO WATCH FOR IN 2008

Ready for 2008? Budgets may tighten, but IT's challenges will just keep growing: security problems, virtualization technology, legal issues, users who can't be stopped and that worrisome baby-boomer brain drain. Here are eight hot-button issues to watch out for in the coming year — MORE

ONLINE BANDITS PROMISE MORE OF THE SAME IN 2008

Last year we saw hackers exploit trusted brands, and we can expect to see more of the same this year - especially with the popularity (and relative insecurity) of social networking sites. This coming year we can expect to see the continuation and evolution of current security threats. Here are some of the top ones to look out for in 2008 — MORE

ADDITIONAL NEWS ARTICLES IN 2007 ARCHIVE

More E-Commerce ALERTS Inside Our Archives:
Latest - 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999