I suspect an interesting definition of
“substantial complaiance” since the breach wasn't noticed for two
months, and the State didn't discover it. The article reads like the
State had never done anything about computer security – since the
breach they are implementing this or looking at that. Pathetic.
SC:
3.6 million Social Security numbers stolen from state Department of
Revenue (update 1)
October 26, 2012 by admin
Ouch. Tim Smith reports:
A foreign hacker
stole a vast database of the South Carolina Department of Revenue and
investigators told GreenvilleOnline.com that 387,000 credit card
numbers and 3.6 million Social Security numbers have been exposed.
Read more on Greenville
News.
Update 1: The paper
also has a later
article on the review of state agencies’ computer security.
The Dept. of Revenue had been found to be “in substantial
compliance” with sound security practices shortly before it was
successfully hacked.
[From the first
article:
The first intrusion
began in August, unnoticed by any officials operating the
Department of Revenue’s computer system …
By the time the computer crimes office
of the U.S. Secret Service discovered a problem on
Oct. 10,
… None
of the Social Security numbers were encrypted and
officials said they are studying whether they can do that [Yes.
Absolutely, positively yes Bob] — raising other
questions about whether safeguards exist that weren’t used.
… The breach occurred, ironically,
just as Haley’s inspector general, Patrick Maley, was finishing his
review of the security for confidential information at Haley’s 16
cabinet agencies.
… In his September letter to Haley,
Maley concluded that while the systems of cabinet agencies he had
finished examining could be tweaked and there was a need for a
statewide uniform security policy, the agencies were
basically sound and the Revenue Department’s system was the “best”
among them. [Perhaps a review by someone who actually knows what
they are doing is in order? Bob]
This one goes beyond stupid to cruel..
Bald
Beliebers Remind Us: Just Because You Read It On Twitter, Doesn’t
Mean It’s True
… Truth can spread like wildfire,
and so can lies.
Today, the Bieber nation has learned
that lesson. Behold, dear readers, the horror.
The story goes that Entertainment
Weekly’s verified Twitter account tweeted out the
following:
“Pop Star Justin
Bieber was diagnosed with cancer earlier this morning. Bieber fans
are shaving their heads to show their support.”
… In reality, 4chan was trolling
Beliebers. There were no tweets to begin with, and there definitely
isn’t any cancer. 4chan peeps simply photoshopped together an
image and sent it out into the world.
Unfortunately now, there are likely
dozens of bald tweenage girls crying in their bathrooms. And it’s
perhaps even more insane that most members of the Bieber nation still
believe that Justin has cancer, and are pouring sympathy,
condolences, and heartfelt love into the #baldforbeiber
hashtag, despite the fact that the other half of that Twitter
conversation is lawling over the hoax.
… In any case, this should serve as
an excellent reminder to all of us. Just because you
read it on Twitter, doesn’t mean it’s true.
Is this what the Air Force has come to?
U.S.
Expands Secretive Drone Base for African Shadow War
The Pentagon’s secretive drone and
commando base in the Horn of Africa is getting a lot bigger and a lot
busier as the U.S. doubles down on its shadowy campaign of air
strikes, robot surveillance and Special Operation Forces raids in the
terror
havens of Yemen and Somalia.
… According to an
investigation by The Washington Post, the Pentagon is
spending $1.4 billion to expand the base’s airplane parking and
living facilities.
… The Djibouti base is just one of
a constellation of hush-hush U.S. drone, commando or intelligence
facilities in East Africa. Others are located in Ethiopia, Kenya,
Somalia and the island nation of the Seychelles. But “those
operations pale in comparison to what is unfolding in Djibouti,”
the Post’s Craig Whitlock notes.
(Related) The article never says
anything about drones. (Still my lawyer friends should recognize the
potential for new clients...) But check out the picture!
Chris
Anderson on the Maker Movement: 'We're Going to Get Sued'
Chris Anderson expects to be sued. Any
day now.
In a
talk last night to promote his new book Makers:
The New Industrial Revolution, the Wired editor and
Slate's David Plotz discussed -- among many other things --
the IP implications of the maker
movement.
… So as far as patent law goes, he
said, there are two approaches. "You can either do a patent
search and find out whether you're going to violate a patent" --
and "you probably won't get a good answer." And then, "if
you do then violate a patent, the fact that you did a search first
actually increases your liability."
Or, Anderson continued, "you can
do what we do, which is just: Do it. Wait for the [cease-and-desist]
letter. When the letter comes, try to innovate around it. If the
trolls come after us, one of us is going to be brave enough to fight
back. And the courts will ultimately decide."
“You know Senator, you're right. We
can't trust products made by foreigners”
"China Unicom, the country's
second largest telecom operator, has
replaced Cisco Systems routers in one of the country's most important
backbone networks, citing security reasons [due to bugs and
vulnerability.) The move came after a congressional report branded
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and ZTE Corp. security threats in the
United States, citing bugs and vulnerability (rather than actual
evidence of spying.) Surprising to us, up to now, Cisco occupies a
large market share in China. It accounts for over a 70 percent share
of China Telecom's 163 backbone network and over an 80 percent share
of China Unicom's 169 backbone network. Let's wait to see who's the
winner in this trade war disguised as national
security."
So much for “Privacy by Design”
Might be interesting to ask if they will honor ANY DNT flag.
"And so it
begins... Yahoo has made it official: it
won't honor the Do Not Track request issued by Internet Explorer 10.
Their justification? '[T]he DNT signal from IE10 doesn't express
user intent" and "DNT can be easily abused.'"
Wonder what percentage of users would
rather be tracked by default.
This should be very interesting and
likely quite confusing. (Is this likely to attract new competitors?)
"Canada's CRTC (like the FCC)
has finally asked telecoms to provide
information about how much their services actually cost. Quoting
a Montreal Gazette story: 'In a report I wrote last year, I estimated
the markup for Internet services was 6,452 per cent for Bell's
Essential Plus plan, which provides a two-megabits-per-second speed
for $28.95 (prices may have changed since last year).' The markup is
likely similar in the U.S. It's about time that we consumers found
out what it really costs to provide Internet service, and for that
matter telephone and wireless services, so we can get a fair shake."
Perspective
Report:
Twitter hits half a billion tweets a day
Is this useful?
… To make sure that others can view
your contact information if your phone is lost, you can make use of
an app called misHaps.
… the application lets other people
handling your phone view your contact information in case your phone
is lost and the contact information of an emergency contact in case
of an emergency.
Interesting. Now list the countries we
buy these elements from...
"From calcium in cameras and
germanium in CPUs to selenium in solar cells. Here's a look at how
every single element in the periodic table is used
in common tech products. For example: Scandium
is used in the bulbs in metal halide lamps, which produce a white
light source with a high color rendering index that resembles natural
sunlight. These lights are often appropriate for the taping of
television shows. ... Yttrium
helps CRT televisions produce a red color. When used in a compound,
it collects energy and passes it to the phosphor. ... Niobium:
Lithium niobate is used in mobile phone production, incorporated into
surface acoustic wave filters that convert acoustic waves into
electrical signals and make smartphone touchscreens work. SAW
filters also provide
There might be something here for my
Math students...
Friday, October 26, 2012
MIT
+ K12 is a new MIT project that features MIT students explaining
math and science concepts for K-12 students. The website isn't a
collection of Khan Academy-style videos it's a place where you will
find videos featuring real MIT students explaining concepts while
showing them as hands-on demonstrations or experiments. Watch one of
the featured videos below.
Applications
for Education
MIT
+ K12 is new and so far they only have a couple of dozen videos,
but the concept of the MIT + K12 is promising. If
you have an idea for a video, you can suggest it on the site.
The MIT + K12 videos are hosted on YouTube and on MIT
Tech TV for people who cannot access YouTube in their schools.
A couple of interesting bits...
… In news I missed last week, SETDA
(the State Educational Technology Directors Association) has released
a database of state policies related to ed-tech. The site
includes information about broadband policies and online student
assessments.
… Two
great initiatives are teaming up — Generation
YES and ObaWorld.
The former helps empower students to be leaders in their schools’
technology efforts; the latter, a project by the University of
Oregon’s Yong Zhao, is a global online learning platform. The
partnership between the two organizations will help students will
learn how to lead online learning efforts at their schools.
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