Posts Tagged ‘encryption’

Maine Seed Company Website Hacked: Demonstrates SMB Vulnerability & Questions Hacker Safe Seals

Saturday, March 3rd, 2007

This is the time of the year that thoughts turn to gardening as seed catalogs start filling the mailboxes. I enjoy having fresh-grown vegetables from my garden; nothing is better than a deep red, ripe, juicy Big Boy Beefsteak tomato right off the vine. These seed companies are overwhelmingly small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Many have gone online in the past few years, bucking the century-long tradition of depending primarily upon postal mail for their sales.

(more…)

Vermont State Privacy Breach Follow-up: Penetration Testing Reveals No Additional Vulnerabilities

Friday, March 2nd, 2007

After the January Vermont State privacy breach through a remote attack that compromised Social Security numbers and bank account numbers for nearly 70,000 people, Governor Jim Douglas ordered a security review of the computer systems.

(more…)

Punitive Actions Pursued Against Professor in Japan Who Had PII About 8,800 on Disk That Was Stolen

Thursday, March 1st, 2007

The differences throughout the world with which personally identifiable information (PII) privacy breaches are penalized is always interesting to me.
Today it was reported that the

(more…)

VA Suspends Medical Research Following Most Recent Breach Until Security Certification Is Obtained

Sunday, February 18th, 2007

Saturday, 2/17/07, it was widely reported that the U.S. Veterans Affairs (VA) was suspendingactivities at seven specialized research centers across the country after an unprotected computer hard drive disappeared from one of the facilities in Alabama last month.”

(more…)

VA Suspends Medical Research Following Most Recent Breach Until Security Certification Is Obtained

Sunday, February 18th, 2007

Saturday, 2/17/07, it was widely reported that the U.S. Veterans Affairs (VA) was suspendingactivities at seven specialized research centers across the country after an unprotected computer hard drive disappeared from one of the facilities in Alabama last month.”

(more…)

Awareness and Training Example: Privacy Impacts Throughout the Day

Tuesday, January 16th, 2007

There was a very interesting article in the Washington Post today, “Enjoying Technology’s Conveniences But Not Escaping Its Watchful Eyes
This documentary of the day in the life of a woman shows how privacy issues are encountered throughout the day, and how virtually all of us leave a bit of ourselves, and along with it our privacy, whenever we get online, make purchases from stores, make phone calls, or do any number of things in virtually any place.

(more…)

Laptop Incident: N.C. Dept of Revenue Laptop Theft Puts 30,000 Residents At Risk

Saturday, January 13th, 2007

Today the North Carolina Charlotte Observer reported a laptop was stolen from the car of an N.C. Department of Revenue employee in December.
They mailed letters to all 30,000 individuals this week. According to the report this is the first time notifications have been made within N.C. since they put their privacy breach notification law for government agencies into effect during the fall of 2006.

(more…)

HIPAA Mobile and Remote Computing Security Guidance from CMS

Wednesday, January 10th, 2007

Today I received notice that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) just issued a new publication, “Security Guidance for Remote Use‚Äù which is actually dated 12/28/2006.

“This document is intended to provide HIPAA covered entities with general information on the risks and possible mitigation strategies for remote use of Electronic Protected Health Information (EPHI).”

(more…)

Data Ransom Story: Crooks Targeting Small Businesses and Individuals

Tuesday, December 19th, 2006

Yesterday USA Today ran a report, “Cybercrooks hold PC data captive.”
This is nothing new, I blogged about this type of ransom scheme earlier this year. The crooks are getting more creative.

(more…)

Data Ransom Story: Crooks Targeting Small Businesses and Individuals

Tuesday, December 19th, 2006

Yesterday USA Today ran a report, “Cybercrooks hold PC data captive.”
This is nothing new, I blogged about this type of ransom scheme earlier this year. The crooks are getting more creative.

(more…)