Archive for March, 2007

What A Nice Surprise: I’m On the IT Security List of Top 59 IT Security Influencers!

Thursday, March 15th, 2007

It was quite a wonderful surprise to read an email message this morning from IT Security telling me I was put on their list of top 59 IT security influencers for 2007.

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Trying To Determine Actual Numbers of Privacy Breaches Since 1980; An Exercise in Futility?

Wednesday, March 14th, 2007

Today a press release caught my eye, “Hackers get bum rap for corporate America’s digital delinquency.”
Hmm…sounds interesting. Let’s see what is behind this nicely-hooking title.

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Preventing Data Leakage Through Email and Instant Messaging

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007

Incidents continue to accumulate and hit the daily headlines. Many of them involve the loss of sensitive information through some type of messaging activity. The losses can have devastating impacts to business.
The messaging-related incidents are sometimes technology-based, such as social-engineering tactics through instant messaging (IM) communications, sometimes they pre-meditated malicious activities, and sometimes they are just plain ol’ “OOPS!! What the heck did I just do!!!!???” types of situations.

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Identity Theft Example: It’s Not All About Going On Spending Sprees; And A Really Bad Texas Bill

Monday, March 12th, 2007

In January I blogged about how at least 220 illegal immigrants working for Swift and Company were charged with identity theft.
As a follow-up to that story, last Friday the first of the convictions was handed down.

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USA PATRIOT Act: FBI Is Underreporting Their Use Of This Law To Order Businesses to Monitor Email, Phone Calls and Financial Information

Friday, March 9th, 2007

CNN reported today that a U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) audit finds the FBI is has not kept good track of how many times they have ordered businesses monitoring of emails, telephone records and financial information. The report has not yet been posted to the DoJ site but is supposed to be released sometime today.
According to the CNN report:

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“Protecting Personal Information: A Guide for Business”: Free from the FTC

Thursday, March 8th, 2007

Today the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a 24-page guide, “Protecting Personal Information: A Guide for Business
Within the guide the FTC advises businesses to protect personally identifiable information (PII) through the following actions:

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How Access Management Compliance Supports Good Business

Thursday, March 8th, 2007

Many business leaders I speak with now have great concern for data protection law and regulation compliance, which is certainly prudent. However, often when digging into the details of their compliance plans and activities, I find most of the effort and budget is going towards initiatives for firewall and perimeter protection, with increasing implementations for encryption.

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New Benchmark Research Report Released Today from IT Policy Compliance (ITPC): “Taking Action to Protect Sensitive Data”

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007

Today IT Policy Compliance released a new benchmark research report, “Taking Action to Protect Sensitive Data.”
I had the great oppportunity to not only have a sneak peak at the report, but also to speak yesterday about the report with Jim Hurley, the Managing Director for IT Policy Compliance who authored the report, and Heriot Prentice, Director of Technology at The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) which is one of the sponsors for the IT Policy Compliance site.

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How Good are the Security Practices for “America’s Most Admired Companies 2007”?

Tuesday, March 6th, 2007

Yesterday CNN reported the results of the FORTUNE 2007 survey of business people for the companies, in any industry, they admired most.
The rankings were based upon 8 key score areas:

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Insider Threat Example: Wal-Mart Fires “System Technician” for Snooping On Text Messages and Taping Phone Calls

Monday, March 5th, 2007

Today CNN reported Wal-Mart fired a systems technician who was “intercepting text messages of people who were not Wal-Mart employees and for recording telephone conversations with a New York Times reporter without authorization.”

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