Should
be an interesting read for my Computer Security students.
The
Target and Other Financial Data Breaches: Frequently Asked Questions
“In
November and December of 2013, cybercriminals breached the data
security of Target, one of the largest U.S. retail chains, stealing
the personal and financial information of millions of customers. On
December 19, 2013, Target confirmed that some 40 million credit and
debit card account numbers had been stolen. On January 10, 2014,
Target announced that personal information, including the names,
addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of up to 70 million
customers, was also stolen during the data breach. A report by the
Senate Committee on Commerce in March 2014 concluded that Target
missed opportunities to prevent the data breach.
Target.
To date, Target has
reported data breach costs of $248 million. Independent
sources have made back-of-the-envelope estimates ranging from $240
million to $2.2 billion in fraudulent charges alone. This does not
include additional potential costs to consumers concerned about their
personal information or credit histories; potential fines or
penalties to Target, financial institutions, or others; or any costs
to Target related to a loss of consumer confidence. The breach was
among the largest in U.S. history. Consumer concern over the scale
of this data breach has fueled further congressional attention on the
Target breach and data security and data breaches more broadly. In
the wake of Target’s revelations, between February 3 and April 2,
2014, Congress held seven hearings by six different committees
related to these topics. In addition to examining the events
surrounding the Target breach, hearings have focused on preventing
such data breaches, improving data security standards, protecting
consumers’ personal data, and notifying consumers when their data
have been compromised.”
Surely
someone can articulate a reason that does not disclose “state
secrets.” If Jewel could prove there was no warrant, the defense
would be that the warrant was secret and she should not have been
able to prove there was no warrant? Do we not teach logic an more?
Nadia
Prupis writes:
A federal judge ruled in favor of the National Security Agency in a
key surveillance case on Tuesday, dismissing
a challenge which claimed the government’s spying operations were
groundless and unconstitutional.
Filed in 2008 by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the lawsuit,
Jewel
v. NSA, aimed to end the agency’s unwarranted surveillance
of U.S. citizens, which the consumer advocacy group said violated the
4th Amendment.
[…]
US District Judge Jeffrey White on Tuesday denied a partial summary
judgment motion to the EFF and granted a cross-motion to the
government, dismissing the case without a trial. In his order,
White said the plaintiff, Carolyn Jewel, an AT&T customer, was
unable to prove she was being targeted for surveillance—and that if
she could, “any possible defenses would require impermissible
disclosure of state secret information.”
Read
more on Common
Dreams.
Why
can't I trust this article? Not sure where this is coming from, but
it reads like an MPAA press release. They call it a Mega Conspiracy
(a sound byte for the prosecutors) but it's not actually a company.
Kim Dotcom has “not fled the country,” was a resident of New
Zealand for some time before the Black Helicopters (literally)
descended. Does a plea deal count as a “conviction?”
Interesting that the “largest
criminal copyright case in U.S. history” results in a
“year and a day” sentence.
An
Estonian computer programmer pleaded guilty on Friday to helping
build Megaupload and conspiring
to violate vast numbers of copyright licenses.
Andrus
Nomm, 36, admitted to helping run the website as a forum for pirated
movies, music and other content, in the process doing more than $400
million of damage to the companies that created them.
The
company behind Megaupload, Mega Conspiracy, also obtained
at least $175 million through the efforts, Nomm admitted.
“This
conviction is a significant step forward in the largest
criminal copyright case in U.S. history,” Assistant
Attorney General Leslie Caldwell said in a statement. “We intend
to see to it that all those responsible are held accountable for
illegally enriching themselves by stealing the creative work of U.S.
artists and creators.”
From
2007 until his arrest in 2012, Nomm worked as a programmer with Mega
Conspiracy and personally downloaded a number of files from
Megaupload and similar websites.
At
its peak, Megaupload accounted for 4 percent of all Internet traffic,
with more than 50 million visitors per day.
Four
of the people charged alongside Nomm — including Kim Dotcom, the
founder of Megaupload — have
fled the country. An extradition hearing for them is
scheduled for June in Auckland, New Zealand.
Two
other people charged in the case remain at large.
“We
continue to pursue his co-conspirators until they face justice in the
American legal system,” Andrew McCabe, the FBI’s assistant
director of the case, said in a statement.
What
the guys just north of Colorado think.
James
Chilton reports:
A House committee on Thursday approved two Senate bills related to
private information and companies’ duties in notifying clients of
data breaches.
The House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions
Committee unanimously approved Senate Files 35 and 36.
SF35 would establish the actions companies must take if they learn
that clients’ personal information has been breached, while SF36
expands the definitions of personal identifying information.
Read
more on Casper
Star-Tribune.
For
the Marketing Club.
Better
Business Bureau Updates Advertising Standards to Reflect Digital
Realities
…
While the BBB has
always enforced honesty in advertising, recent changes in the way
advertisers reach their audiences (e.g., social media, texting, the
Web, etc.) prompted the bureau to update its Code of Advertising, a
set of advertising standards for businesses to follow.
These
changes place added responsibility on advertisers to ensure that
their ads are accurate. According to the code, "the primary
responsibility for truthful and nondeceptive advertising rests with
the advertiser."
Additionally,
advertisers need to be able to back up anything they share. The code
states that advertisers "should be prepared to substantiate any
objective claims or offers made before publication or broadcast."
…
To keep up with all of the new changes, read the full BBB Code of
Advertising here.
For
my Data Management students.
Knowledge
is Power. But Knowledge About What?
To
subscribe or to get the same thing for free (as long as you have a
smartphone), that is the question.
Just
as I was warming up to choosing a Microsoft Office 365 subscription
over making a one-time software purchase, Microsoft started giving
away a lot of subscription benefits for free. The company now offers
Word, Excel and others at no cost on most mobile devices.
It's
a smart move by Microsoft, but it makes me wonder whether you really
need a subscription, which starts at $70 a year.
The
subscription will appeal to people who use Office apps on traditional
Windows or Mac computers or Windows tablets, such as the Surface Pro
3. Those who primarily use iOS and Android mobile devices can
probably stick with free apps. What's right for you comes down to
whether you need a PC or can get things done with just your
smartphone or tablet. Here's what to consider.
… -- For PCs, a $70 one-user annual subscription lets you use all
seven Office apps on multiple PCs and tablets by signing in and out.
The $140 one-time purchase limits you to one device and four of the
seven apps.
Tools
for the toolkit?
The
5 Best OCR Tools for Extracting Text from Images
Free
laughter every week – what an industry!
Hack
Education Weekly News
…
Indiana is looking to shorten its standardized testing, says
Politico, “after learning it could take students up to 12 hours
to complete the exams.”
…
“Passwords
Stored in Plain Text” and other horrors from library
information security.
…
Woot Math, which offers apps
for teaching math, has raised
$1 million in funding from the Foundry Group. [Based
in Boulder Bob]
…
The latest Horizon
Report for Higher Education. On the horizon: BYOD, maker spaces,
the flipped classroom, wearable technologies, adaptive learning, and
the Internet of Things.
Perhaps
this is the replacement for internships?
20
Micro Jobs to Help You Make Money in Your Free Time
…
However, it can be difficult to sniff out the legit companies from
the scams. Below are 20 legit opportunities to easily make some
extra income in your free time.
An
interesting read...
Women
in Tech: What Future Tech Companies Need to Know
…
Few reasonable people suggest that women under-perform in tech.
This
list from the Huffington Post is just the tip
of a large, expanding
iceberg of influential women in tech,
including:
- Gina Bianchini, CEO and Founder of Ning
- Mary Hodder, Founder of Dabble.com
- Lynne D. Johnson, Director of Social Media, Fast Company
- Rebecca Moore, Director of Outreach, Google Earth
- Rashmi Sinha, Co-Founder SlideShare
- Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM
Another
excellent example is Sandy
Lerner, co-founder of Cisco Systems.
…
#1 There are more female users than male
…
If women are the leading adopters, users, media consumers and buyers
in so much of the tech industry, it surely makes sense to ensure
their interests are properly represented within tech companies
themselves.
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