For those of you that weren’t aware, this past weekend the long-running Defcon convention (historically started with only “hard core” hackers in attendance, but now huge numbers of information security pros and law enforcement attend) was held in Las Vegas.
Some MIT students, Zack Anderson, R.J. Ryan and Alessandro Chiesa, were scheduled to talk about “Anatomy of a Subway Hack,” detailing a school project they did, and received an “A” on, that showed how the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) cards could be hacked to basically change a $1.25 MBTA fare card to a $100 fare card.
Well, the MBTA got wind of this…actually the MIT students contacted them in July to tell them about this security flaw, as well as let them know they were giving a presentation about it…and filed an injunction last Friday to keep the MIT students from giving their presentation on Sunday.
But guess what? Yep…I bet you can see this coming…
Archive for the ‘Information Security’ Category
What Happens On The Internet Stays On The Internet…No Matter What A Judge Says!
Tuesday, August 12th, 200840+ Million Credit Cards Stolen Using Wardriving…This Is Nothing New, Folks!
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008Okay, lots and LOTS has already been written about the DoJ press release yesterday, “Retail Hacking Ring Charged for Stealing and Distributing Credit and Debit Card Numbers from Major U.S. Retailers: More Than 40 Million Credit and Debit Card Numbers Stolen.”
But, I still want to put a few thoughts out about this…
40+ Million Credit Cards Stolen Using Wardriving…This Is Nothing New, Folks!
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008Okay, lots and LOTS has already been written about the DoJ press release yesterday, “Retail Hacking Ring Charged for Stealing and Distributing Credit and Debit Card Numbers from Major U.S. Retailers: More Than 40 Million Credit and Debit Card Numbers Stolen.”
But, I still want to put a few thoughts out about this…
New Website Seal For Companies Participating In The EU Safe Harbor Program
Sunday, August 3rd, 2008Something I’ve been spending a lot of work on this summer is creating management tools to help information security and privacy practitioners do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. In the past three months I’ve had over a dozen CISOs and CPOs call me and ask if I had specific types of tools to help them with their information security, privacy and compliance efforts and iniatives. One of the tools will help them with managing their programs and processes for, along with the many complex issues involved with, transferring personally identifiable information (PII) with any of the 27 European Union (EU) contries to the U.S. and other countries. One of the areas involved with tackling this issue is whether or not to participate in the Safe Harbor program.
So, I was very interested to read that the U.S. Commerce Department announced a new certification mark/seal for organizations to put on their websites to show that they have self-certified compliance with the Safe Harbor Framework requirements.
Free Info Sec & Privacy Training Hosted By The FTC and COPP
Thursday, July 31st, 2008If you’re in the Los Angeles area on August 13, here’s what looks to be a good, FREE, day of getting information security and privacy training hosted by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the California Office of Privacy Protection (COPP).
If you are a company with no dedicated information security or privacy position, like most small and medium sized businesses (SMBs), then go to this event to hear WHY you need to make efforts to safeguard your customers’ and employees’ personally identifiable information (PII). Hey, if you’re in the area, it’ll only cost your time!
Here’s the full announcement…
Do You Do Data Mining?
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008Many folks like to argue and pick apart what is meant by “data mining.” Marketers I’ve spoken with claim they are not doing data mining with their customers’ information, but just “repurposing” it.
Whatever you call it, you need to know how your organization is using personally identifiable information (PII) in ways other than the purposes for which it was collected. Many times these other purposes are achieved through data mining.
Last week the U.S. Department of Homeland Security held a workshop, “Implementing Privacy Protections in Government Data Mining” that provided some good information about data mining privacy issues that all organizations should consider. The comments the DHS received prior to the event were very interesting.
17 Info Security & Privacy Topics Call Center Staff Must Understand
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008Okay…back to my continuing lecture on the need to provide targeted training on specific information security and privacy topics to the various responsibility groups throughout your enterprise.
Consider this; what if you took a driver’s education class and all they told you to do, by showing you on a PowerPoint slide, is how to put the key in the ignition, turn the engine over, how to press the accelerator to move forward, and how to press the brakes to stop. Then they told you to go out there and drive…have it it! Would you be well prepared to get onto the road and deal with all the other things you need to know about driving? Most likely not. If you feel you would be well prepared, please tell me you will not be driving on the central Iowa roads… 🙂
Death and Data
Monday, July 28th, 2008I encountered something rather remarkable in just the past two months; a couple of CISOs told me that they have had high-level business leaders, each of whom had a significant amount of computing equipment and information at their homes, die suddenly as a result of different circumstances.
As I discussed this with them, I wondered, how many organizations are ready to deal with something like this?
