E-Commerce ALERTS - Archive 2006

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DATA SECURITY, TERRORISM TOP LIST OF EXECUTIVE WORRIES

Topping the list of crisis situations that worry corporate executives is compromise of corporate information systems, cited by 61 percent as a major worry or one of their top worries. Terrorism (55%) and corporate malfeasance (40%) round out the top-three potential crisis situations that worry these business leaders most — MORE

TIME TO TAKE PRIVACY TECHNOLOGY SERIOUSLY

Our privacy is at risk in all of the online databases that store information about everything from our Web shopping habits to our income. That's why we're lucky to have someone like Cynthia Dwork. Most companies see this as a security problem and focus their research accordingly. But Dwork, who works at Microsoft Research in Mountain View, Calif., looks at it as a privacy issue, a different thing altogether from protecting data against would-be hackers — MORE

OMINOUS MILESTONE: 100 MILLION DATA LEAKS

On Thursday, Kevin Poulsen, senior editor for Wired News, noted in his blog (blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/), a milestone in the number of records that have been compromised in data breaches since the ChoicePoint breach nearly two years ago — MORE

HEALTH HAZARD: COMPUTERS SPILLING YOUR HISTORY

Bill Clinton's identity was hidden behind a false name when he went to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital two years ago for heart surgery, but that didn't stop computer hackers, including people working at the hospital, from trying to get a peek at the electronic records of his medical charts — MORE

UN CALLS FOR ACTION ON PRIVACY AND ID RISKS TO NET USERS

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a Geneva-based U.N. branch, said businesses and regulators need to find a solution to the spread of personal information on the Internet, possibly by developing more streamlined identification methods — MORE

COMPUTER SECURITY AND THE EVIL TWINS

When you set up your computer at a nearby coffee shop and log on to what you think is their wireless network, you could have an evil twin nearby who is following every move you're making online and without actually looking over your shoulder — MORE

US GOVERNMENT IT LEADERS FEELING MORE SECURE

More than half of IT leaders in the U.S. government are more confident about their agencies' cybersecurity capabilities than they were two years ago, according to a survey. However, the August phone survey of 200 U.S. government IT decision-makers also found that they are putting more time into cybersecurity — MORE

DATA SECURITY WILL BE THE FOCUS FOR NEXT YEAR

Regulatory requirements and increasing consumer concerns about information security breaches are making data-level security controls a top priority for 2007, according to IT managers at the Computer Security Institute (CSI) trade show — MORE

HACKERS BECOMING MORE SOPHISTICATED

PC Advisor reported that virus writers and hackers are using increasingly subtle methods to ensure that their programs are increasingly difficult to detect and remove from computer and network systems — MORE

COMPUTER SECURITY BIG LIABILITY FOR SMALL BUSINESS

The study states that nearly 9 out of 10 organizations experienced computer security incidents in 2005. What's worse, over 20% of organizations indicated they have experienced 20 or more attacks. Research shows that the average cost to clean infected computers is about $265 per user. Add to that employee downtime of 2 hours per incident. The cost of cleaning up after such an attack can easily run into the tens of thousands — MORE

COMPUTER SECURITY THREATS MULTIPLYING

Corporations, insecure? Yes, and increasingly under siege by threats against their information systems and intellectual property, three corporate security experts said this week at a half-day event sponsored by Xerox Global Services — MORE

SURVEY SAYS CONSUMER DATA BREACHES WILL GET WORSE

A new survey finds that the current epidemic of data breaches and identity theft resulting from stolen corporate laptops and other mobile devices will continue until more companies take aggressive action to protect the privacy of personal information they routinely collect on their customers - and ultimate victims — MORE

AS SPAM FLOW GROWS, CANADIAN GOVERNMENT SLEEPS

The briefing warned that spam now dominates email, with some reports suggesting that up to 80 per cent of all email entering businesses is spam. Moreover, it noted that the increase in spam "causes email systems to experience unexpected overloads in bandwidth, server storage capacity and loss of end-user productivity" and that "spam has become more dangerous, and a primary vehicle for network threats such as viruses, spyware, and phishing." — MORE

B.C. LOSES TRACK OF COMPUTER TAPES WITH CITIZENS' DATA

The B.C. government and Telus have tightened the way electronic records are handled at a Victoria data centre after computer tapes containing personal information on hundreds of thousands of B.C. residents were discovered missing — MORE

RCMP URGES FULL DISCLOSURE ON IT SECURITY BREACHES

An RCMP investigator is urging businesses to be more forthcoming with security breaches if they want to help put an end to them — MORE

PRIVACY DEBACLE HALL OF FAME

Earlier this month AOL publicly released a data trove: 500,000 search queries culled from three months of user traffic on its search engine. Here are ten other privacy snafus that made the world an unsafer place — MORE

DON'T LOSE YOUR LAPTOP

Intense media scrutiny of laptops recently reported missing from large organizations such as Veterans Affairs, Ernst & Young (while auditing Hotels.com) and Fidelity Investments should be a stark reminder to small business owners of the pitfalls associated with laptop theft — MORE

HACKERS COULD TARGET BLACKBERRIES

Hackers looking to invade corporate computer systems may soon find a new point of entry: the popular handheld device known as the BlackBerry — MORE

AOL's DISTURBING GLIMPSE INTO USERS' LIVES

AOL's publication of the search histories of more than 650,000 of its users has yielded more than just one of the year's bigger privacy scandals. The 21 million search queries also have exposed an innumerable number of life stories ranging from the mundane to the illicit and bizarre — MORE

A FACE IS EXPOSED FOR AOL SEARCHER NO. 4417749

Buried in a list of 20 million Web search queries collected by AOL and recently released on the Internet is user No. 4417749. The number was assigned by the company to protect the searcher's anonymity, but it was not much of a shield — MORE

HOW TO AVOID LAPTOP LAPSES

For the thief, the computer laptop has it all. It's a valuable piece of equipment he can easily flip for several hundred dollars, and there's also the potential it will contain personal or business information that can be used or sold to the highest bidder — MORE

SECURITY VS. MOBILITY

About 88 million Americans have been exposed to potential ID theft since February 2005 as a result of reported data breaches, says Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. In at least 43 instances - one-fourth of all reported breaches - stolen or missing laptops were involved — MORE

TINY PORTABLE MEMORY DRIVES CAN CAUSE BIG COMPUTER SECURITY RISKS

One device - the USB flash drive - is receiving more scrutiny in light of recent security leaks. The USB flash drive (also known as a jump drive or pen drive) is a cheap memory storage device that quickly plugs into a USB port and can copy stored data — MORE

SHOULD COMPANIES CARE ABOUT DATA BREACHES?

Large companies do not have an economic incentive to prevent privacy breaches occurring, according to researchers from Harvard and Carnegie Mellon Universities this week — MORE

SMALL BUSINESS COMPUTER SECURITY BECOMING MORE VITAL

There is a common belief among business owners, especially those that do not operate a big business, that their small size makes them safe from the malicious intent of computer phreakers and data thieves. Nothing can be farther from the truth — MORE

BANK ATTACKS SURGE IN PAST YEAR

Leading financial institutions experienced a huge surge in the number of security attacks over the past year, specifically from external sources, according to the Deloitte 2006 Global Security Survey released on June 19, 2006 — MORE

HACKERS TEACHING COLLEGES A LESSON

Computer systems at universities across the nation are becoming favorite targets of hackers, and rising numbers of security breaches have exposed the personal information of thousands of students, alumni, employees and even college applicants — MORE

CORPORATIONS FACE MYRIAD COMPUTER SECURITY CONCERNS

The biggest security threats to business are, of course, theft or sabotage of customer data. However there are myriad other threats to corporate IT security and productivity, including spyware, malware, spam, worms, phishing and Trojan horses, to name just a few — MORE

PERSONAL DATA ON 26.5 MILLION VETERANS STOLEN

Millions of U.S. military veterans have been put at risk for identity theft after their electronic records were stolen from the residence of a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs employee who wasn't authorized to take the data home — MORE

LOST, STOLEN LAPTOPS BRING SECURITY RISKS

With businesses relying more on laptops and mobile technology, more and more sensitive information is leaving the office, often unprotected. And when a laptop is lost or stolen, it's not only an inconvenience but potentially a security breach. — MORE

LAPTOPS MUST BE SECURE ON THE ROAD

Laptop computers, more commonly known as notebooks these days, are becoming the preferred type of computer for many businesses. They offer a wealth of convenience: portability, wireless network connectivity, always having your information with you, and more. Along with that convenience also comes risk, especially if you deal with confidential or sensitive information — MORE

HIGH-PROFILE COMPUTER BREACHES DRAW ATTENTION TO SECURITY

When an intruder breached the security of two Iowa State University computers containing encrypted credit card numbers of athletics department donors and Social Security numbers of more than 3,000 university employees, it prompted a swift investigation and immediate notification of those whose personal data may have been obtained, and caused many worries along the way — MORE

FEARS OVER COMPUTER SECURITY

In a report polling 600 companies across Europe, 45 per cent admitted that their technology systems were never 100 per cent protected from software and network vulnerabilities such as viruses and hacker attacks — MORE

YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LICENSE

Chances are, if you're using Microsoft products, you're wasting thousands of dollars. Organizations that aren't armed with the most up-to-date knowledge of the licensing programs available may be spending more on IT than necessary. — MORE

THIEVES USE CANADA SAVINGS BOND DATABASE TO STEAL $100,000

The Bank of Canada has shelled out $100,000 to reimburse Canada Savings Bonds investors victimized by thieves who used personal information in a CSB database to cash bonds — MORE

SPITZER SUES ONLINE MARKETER GRATIS, ALLEGING MASSIVE PRIVACY VIOLATIONS

New York's attorney general sued an Internet company Thursday over the selling of e-mail addresses in what authorities say may be the biggest deliberate breach of Internet privacy ever — MORE

10 WAYS TO STOP IDENTITY THEFT

A list of practical measures and preventive steps that individuals can take to avoid becoming victims of identity theft — MORE

CREATING SECURE PASSWORDS YOU DON'T HAVE TO REMEMBER

The unanimous lament among security experts is how most people don't use strong passwords. They either use personally identifiable information or else horribly weak passwords that won't survive a dictionary attack — MORE

SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS FOUND ON STATE WEBSITES

It is common for the websites of the USA's secretaries of state to contain personal information, including Social Security numbers (SSNs) and home addresses, in business statements. Besides Ohio, the data is available in New York, Florida and at least seven other states, say privacy experts who provided USA TODAY with links to public websites — MORE

CYBERCRIMINALS ABLE TO TURN ALMOST ANY PC ANYWHERE INTO A WEAPON

At the February RSA conference, FBI Director Robert Mueller summoned the cooperation of corporations and law-enforcement agencies worldwide to join in the battle against cybercrime. The agency created its own Cyber Division four years ago, and has since deployed specially trained cybersquads to 56 of its U.S. field offices — MORE

VIRUSES BIGGEST CAUSE OF BUSINESS SECURITY BREACHES

Computer viruses are the biggest single cause of the security incidents for UK companies, accounting for around half of them, according to new research. The Department of Trade and Industry's biennial information security breach survey also found that two-fifths of these incidents were described as having a serious impact on the business — MORE

CHECKLIST: WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU'VE BEEN HACKED

If you're faced with such a reality as these eleven companies were, hopefully you had the forethought to establish an incident response (IR) plan. It's really one of the most important steps, in that you are coming to the realization that an attack could happen to you — MORE

A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY PERMEATES THE BUSINESS WORLD - HERE ARE ITS 8 LEADING CAUSES

It is clear that after decades of Internet use, e-business innovation and progress, organizations are still way behind in terms of security preparedness and respect for the vast problems that define information asset protection — MORE

GEIST: OCEANS OF DATA RIPE FOR ABUSE

While much of the focus has been on the privacy implications of the justice department's request, the story highlights a much bigger issue - the significant risks and rewards that arise from retaining enormous amounts of data — MORE

BLACKBERRY BACKUP: SURVIVING A BLACKOUT

The Research In Motion and NTP patent dispute provided a few more twists and turns this week as the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal and a federal court judge set Feb. 24 as a key hearing date — MORE

ID THEFT, TELEMARKETING BIG WORRIES

Concerns about identity theft and telemarketing are on the rise as worries about spam fall, according to a new survey of consumer perceptions, which also found that IBM and Bell Canada remain the most trusted companies in Canada when it comes to protecting customer privacy — MORE

HACKERS BLACKMAIL MILLIONDOLLAR SITE

The FBI is investigating the hijacking of milliondollarhomepage.com - the website that earned $1,000,000 (£566,000) for its British creator Alex Tew by hosting micro-advertisements - by hackers who demanded a ransom to restore the site — MORE

BANKS STRESS VIGILANCE AS ONLINE FRAUD SCAMS INCREASE

Four times in five weeks, someone went phishing for information from Alaska's Credit Union 1 members. It's likely that thousands of Alaskans received e-mail messages last month that aimed to bait them into giving up their log-in passwords, personal identification numbers and even credit card information — MORE

ADDITIONAL NEWS ARTICLES IN 2005 ARCHIVE

E-Commerce Alerts are issued by Bennett Gold LLP, Chartered Accountants as situations develop. Bookmark this site and check back often.