Saturday, August 15, 2015

“We didn't detect the breach and we are upgrading our (clearly inadequate) security.” And they don't want anyone to worry?
Ella Shoup reports:
Several portions of the University’s information technology systems were illegally accessed by “sophisticated attackers originating in China” earlier this year, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Patrick Hogan said in an email Friday to members of the University community.
The University first became aware of a possible breach when notified by federal authorities and later confirmed the attack on June 11. With the services of international cybersecurity firm Mandiant and federal authorities, the University concluded in its investigation no personal information was accessed.
Read more on Cavalier Daily.
[From the article:
In response to the breach, a system security update began at 5:00 p.m. ET and is expected to continue until the evening of Aug. 14. All users of the University system will be required to change their Eservices login passwords after the system upgrade is finished.




I thought (hoped?) we were beyond “It's a computer and they fail all the time. There is nothing you can do to prevent it.”
“It’s just sort of the vagaries of the system (on) how it got corrupted”
— a statement by the secretary for Catholic education at the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese, on the catastrophic failures affecting computer servers in July that have delayed school opening at one high school.




As long as they don't classify these Top Secret (except at the State Department) this could be quite useful.
Homeland Security Advisory Council-New Tasking
by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Aug 14, 2015
August 14, 2015 Federal Register Notice: “The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Jeh Johnson, tasked his Homeland Security Advisory Council to establish a subcommittee entitled Cybersecurity Subcommittee on August 6, 2015. The Cybersecurity Subcommittee will provide findings and recommendations to the Homeland Security Advisory Council on best practices sourced from industry, state and local government, academic experts, and community leaders. This notice informs the public of the establishment of the Cybersecurity Subcommittee and is not a notice for solicitation.




Because you are what you Tweet, Like, Link, Blog, eMail, upload, download, off-load or reload. Because, “Sincerity - if you can fake that, you've got it made.” George Burns(?)
Being Professionally Personable on Facebook
When people talk about using social media to advance their careers, they’re usually talking about LinkedIn, Twitter, or maybe their blog. But the reality is that more people use Facebook than any other social network, which means that sooner or later, you need a Facebook strategy for your career.
… But most of the time we’re on Facebook we are using our personal accounts, so especially if you’re open to friending your colleagues it’s crucial to think about how you’ll manage your personal account in relation to your professional identity.




A sign that Computer Law is maturing? Or fragmenting.
Last week, a divided three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit ruled in United States v. Graham that the government must obtain a warrant to obtain from a phone user’s historical cell-site location information (CSLI) from a cell phone provider if the requested information covers “an extended period of time.” The opinion by Judge Davis, joined by Judge Thacker, is an important milestone in the ongoing debate on government surveillance authority in the technology age as well as development of more traditional Fourth Amendment doctrine. Judge Motz dissented. As Orin Kerr notes, it also established multidimensional circuit splits that are ripening for Supreme Court review. Below are my thoughts about several lines of tension and contention raised by the Fourth Circuit opinion.




For my Statistics, Data Analysis and Economics students.
'Moneyball' Mastermind Sees Market's Hand in Baseball Walk Dearth
… Through August, Major League Baseball saw an average of 2.8 walks per game. If the season were to end there, that would be the lowest level since the 1920s. Similarly, a lot of the stats show that pitching is dominant over hitting. Strikeouts are up, batting average is down, among other key statistics.
What's going on here? Could the decline in offense be related to ... the market?




There is truly a market for everything/anything in the global economy.
Forget Glitter: The New Thing to Ship Your Enemies Is a Potato
When Alex Craig told his girlfriend his business plan, she told him it was the stupidest idea she had ever heard.
While many may agree, there are thousands who do not. Craig, you see, has made a business out of sending potatoes inscribed with messages anonymously through the mail.
The 24-year-old Texas entrepreneur says he has sold more than 2,000 potatoes and is making a profit of $10,000 a month since launching Potato Parcel in May, reports WFAA. Potatoes sell for $7.99 for a medium (which fits 100 characters) and $9.99 for a large (up to 140 characters). Craig will ship them anywhere in the U.S.




Perfect timing for today's Midterm Exam! This should ratchet up the pressure. I also like the music option.
A Quick Way to Access a Countdown Timer on Your Computer
This morning on my Facebook page someone asked for a recommendation for a countdown timer. The first thing that came to my mind was to suggest using the timer function built into Google.com. You can simply type into Google search "set timer" followed by an amount of time and a countdown timer is displayed. An alarm beeps when time is up. Y ou can make the timer appear full screen without advertisements by clicking a little box icon to the right of the timer.
… If you're looking for a timer that has a few more features, take a look at Russel Tarr's Classtools Countdown Timer which has two slick features. You can create and set multiple timers on the same page. This means that if you had students sharing in rapid succession you wouldn't have to reset the timer for each student, you simply move onto using the next timer on the page. The second feature of note in the Classtools Countdown Timer is the option to add music to your timers. You can have your countdown timers set to music. Mission Impossible, The Apprentice, and Countdown are the standard music options. You can add other music by using the YouTube search tool built into the timer. [Perhaps the theme from Jaws? Bob]


No comments: