Archive for March, 2007

What Were They Thinking!? U.S. Marshals Put The PII of Thousands of People on a D.C. Street For Anyone To Take

Saturday, March 31st, 2007

I read a lot of articles about incidents; it is hard to keep up with them all! However, one I ran across on the WUSA 9News Now site in Washington D.C. grabbed my attention.

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Software Licensing Infringement: Man Sentenced to 27 Months of Prison For Selling $700,000 Worth Of Illegally Copied Software

Friday, March 30th, 2007

One of the earliest types of activities I did with regard to compliance was a desktop computer-by-computer audit of a subsidiary that my employer at the time had just acquired. This was in the first half of the 1990’s. I found one licensed copy each of around 15 different software programs they used for business. I found anywhere from 25 to 150 copies of each of the software packages throughout the organization. At that time it was common for businesses to be unaware of software licensing requirements. However, I did find a few cases of folks who had actually tried to make a profit off the copies by selling them to friends.

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Royal Academy of Engineering Releases Privacy Study Report: Emphasizes Importance of Engineering Security and Privacy Into Technology

Friday, March 30th, 2007

The Royal Academy of Engineering, located in London, recently released a report, “Dilemmas of Privacy and Surveillance: Challenges of Technological Change.”
I just ran across it and haven’t had a chance to review it in depth yet, but a quick scan and reading the executive summary shows some interesting thoughts.

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Study Reports The Companies Trusted Most For Privacy

Thursday, March 29th, 2007

The Ponemon Institute puts out an annual survey asking anyone who wants to participate in their online survey who the companies are that they believe respect their customers most and do the best job of protecting their privacy.

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U.S. ONDI and DOD Standardizing Security Policies

Wednesday, March 28th, 2007

The Office of the National Director of National Intelligence (ONDI) and the Department of Defense (DoD) announced they are going to standardize their information security policies.
The work on the standardization started 8 months ago.

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Government Compliance: FBI Director Says USA PATRIOT Act Doesn’t Need Changes; That FBI Is To Blame for Associated Problems

Tuesday, March 27th, 2007

Today U.S. FBI Director Robert Mueller appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee and testified that there are no problems with the USA PATRIOT Act, but that the FBI did not implement the Act appropriately.

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U.S. Dept of Homeland Security Creates National Computer Forensic Institute

Monday, March 26th, 2007

On March 9 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the creation of a National Computer Forensic Institute.

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U.S. Dept of Homeland Security Creates National Computer Forensic Institute

Monday, March 26th, 2007

On March 9 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the creation of a National Computer Forensic Institute.

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Don’t Be A Security Slacker

Sunday, March 25th, 2007

Today I woke up to a beautiful, gorgeous spring morning…sunny, low 60’s (abnormally high for March), gentle breeze, the grass seemed to have gotten green over night, the birds are singing, the geese and ducks have come back after being gone for the winter and are swimming on our pond, a cute little chipmunk is eating from the birdseed and nuts I scattered on the patio outside my office door, what a great day! And then, after a nice walk outside, I come back inside, first to do some chores along with my family; my sons doing their assigned cleaning.

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Raise Awareness by Sharing Your Knowledge And Experience

Saturday, March 24th, 2007

You help to improve information assurance efforts and assist other information assurance practitioners by sharing your expertise, experiences, and suggestions. Consider writing an article for publication not only to help others, but also to help you hone your writing skills, validate your expertise to your business leaders by showing them your published work, and provide an avenue for meeting other professionals who reach out to ask you questions about your article.

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