Centennial Man

Thursday, February 05, 2015

Could be all 80 million. Probably less.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-05/anthem-hacked-in-sophisticated-attack-exposing-customer-data

Anthem Hacked in ‘Sophisticated’ Attack on Customer Data

Anthem Inc., the second biggest U.S. health insurer by market value, said hackers obtained data on tens of millions of current and former customers and employees in a sophisticated attack that has led to a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe.

… “As soon as we learned about the attack, we immediately made every effort to close the security vulnerability, contacted the FBI and began fully cooperating with their investigation,” Anthem said. The Indianapolis-based company, formerly known as WellPoint, didn’t provide information on how the breach occurred or when it was discovered. [I think this is a mistake Bob]

… What is known is that the malicious software used to infiltrate the network and steal data was customized, which can be a sign of an advanced attacker, and is a variant of a known family of hacking tools, De Souza said. What’s rare in this case is that Anthem discovered the breach itself, instead of being alerted to it by a third party such as a bank or a credit-card company, De Souza said.

“We found DNA at the scene and this guy's got DNA so he's guilty!”

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_27461173/man-arrested-sexual-assault-freed-after-police-admit

Denver police DNA mistake frees man after two months in jail on sex-assault charge

… According to a statement released by Denver police, the initial investigation indicated that Hale's DNA matched DNA directly related to the assault.

… Hale's DNA was found at the scene, police said, but the DNA evidence did not implicate him in the sexual assault.

Ha! I knew lawyers were anti-social! But seriously, if you want to be secure/private, you have to control access. If you can gain access to my private data without my knowledge and consent, it was never private in the first place!

Ethics Case Alleging Improper Social Media Access by Lawyers May Proceed

Jason C. Gavejian writes:

As we previously reported, sending a ”friend” request to access information on an individual’s Facebook page that is not publicly available may have serious ethical implications. Specifically, the New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics (OAE) alleges John Robertelli and Gabriel Adamo violated the Rules of Professional Conduct, including those governing communications with represented parties, when they caused a paralegal to “friend” the plaintiff in a personal injury case so they could access information on the plaintiff’s Facebook page.

Read more on Jackson Lewis Workplace Privacy Data Management & Security Report.

(Related) As long as we're talking about Privacy... (Maybe Facebook users aren't intellectuals?)

Intellectual privacy vital to life in the digital age

Neil Schoenherr writes:

In our increasingly digital world, the balance between privacy and free speech is tenuous, at best.

But we often overlook the important ways in which privacy is necessary to protect our cherished civil liberties of freedom of speech, thought and belief, says Neil M. Richards, JD, a privacy law expert at Washington University in St. Louis and author of the new book, “Intellectual Privacy: Rethinking Civil Liberties in the Digital Age,” published Feb. 2 by Oxford University Press.

(Related) Facebook no longer has privacy.

http://www.bespacific.com/social-network-privacy-social-networking-facebook-re-facebook/

Social Network Privacy Social Networking facebook in re Facebook

EPIC – With New Policy Changes, Facebook Tracks Users Across the Web: “Over the objections of consumer privacy organizations, Facebook has implemented policy changes that allow the company to track users across the web without consent. The Dutch data protection commissioner launched an investigation after the original announcement. This week the a German privacy agency announced a similar investigation. Last year, EPIC and a coalition of consumer privacy groups urged the FTC to halt Facebook’s plan to collect web-browsing information from its users. Facebook is already under a 20 year consent decree for changing users’ privacy settings. The consent decree resulted from complaints brought by EPIC and others in 2009 and 2010.”

I would have thought this was obvious. You know what you want, here it is piled up with no effort required on your part and no hint that you were in your target's system (because you were not!)

Western Spy Agencies Secretly Rely on Hackers for Intel and Expertise

Glenn Greenwald reports:

The U.S., U.K. and Canadian governments characterize hackers as a criminal menace, warn of the threats they allegedly pose to critical infrastructure, and aggressively prosecute them, but they are also secretly exploiting their information and expertise, according to top secret documents.

In some cases, the surveillance agencies are obtaining the content of emails by monitoring hackers as they breach email accounts, often without notifying the hacking victims of these breaches. “Hackers are stealing the emails of some of our targets… by collecting the hackers’ ‘take,’ we . . . get access to the emails themselves,” reads one top secret 2010 National Security Agency document.

[…]

GCHQ created a program called LOVELY HORSE to monitor and index public discussion by hackers on Twitter and other social media.

Wednesday, February 04, 2015

This can't be true. The FBI concluded that North Korea was the culprit (it made sense from a movie promotion point of view) and the President claimed “secret intelligence” that confirmed it. Don't bother us with facts to the contrary!

http://www.securityweek.com/russian-hackers-breached-sonys-network-report

Russian Hackers Breached Sony's Network: Report

A group of Russian hackers had — and possibly still has — unauthorized access to the network of Sony Pictures Entertainment, according to a report published on Wednesday by Taia Global.

The Russian team allegedly breached the entertainment company’s network by sending spear phishing emails containing a remote access Trojan (RAT) to Sony employees in India, Russia and other Asian countries. Once they had access to the computers of these employees, the attackers leveraged advanced pivoting techniques to make their way to Sony’s network in Culver City, California, the report said.

… Yama Tough claims to have been in contact with a member of a Russian group that has had access to Sony’s network since last fall and until at least late January 2015. The unnamed Russian blackhat, who is said to have worked occasionally with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), provided Yama Tough with a large number of files allegedly stolen from Sony, the report said.

Yama Tough sent some of the files to Taia Global, including seven Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, five of which are dated from November 30 through December 10, and six emails, two of which are dated January 14 and January 23. Taia Global says the information is not included in the previously dumped Sony files, and the company has received confirmation regarding the authenticity of one of the documents from its author.

… North Korea denied any involvement in the attack and many experts questioned the findings of US authorities, especially since they haven’t provided any concrete evidence to back their claims.

In late December, Taia Global conducted a linguistic analysis of the messages written by GOP and concluded that the hackers were most likely Russian, not Korean.

If Taia Global’s reports are accurate, it’s possible that Sony was breached not by North Koreans, but by a Russian group. Another possibility, according to the company, is that Sony’s network was penetrated simultaneously by both Russian and North Korean threat actors.

… The attack launched against Sony by a Russian group will be discussed today by Taia Global President Jeffrey Carr in a 25 minute talk at the Suits and Spooks security conference in Washington, DC.

Not untypical, I'm afraid. Note that this has moved from a small breach hardly worth posting to my blog, to a Very Significant “Go away boy, stop bothering us.” The longer it takes them to take some visible action, the worse they will look when their victims start the lawsuits. Can't they see that?

U. of Chicago still compromised, data for sale on underground – researchers (updated)

On January 24, this blog reported that Carbonic had claimed to have hacked the University of Chicago. The U. of Chicago never responded to a notification and inquiry this blog sent via e-mail on January 22nd.

Yesterday, SLC Security reported that the university is still leaking information and is still vulnerable:

During a recent receive (sic) of some incidents being covered by databreaches.net I was able to do some additional research and confirm that even as recent as an hour ago that information is still being offered in the underground community. In addition server IP addresses owned by the organization are attacking other colleges and universities in the US and elsewhere.

Well, that’s not good. DataBreaches.net will send a second notification to U. of Chicago and hope that this time, they respond and take action to address any compromises they may have been – or may still be – experiencing. If I get a response from them, I will update this post.

SLC Security also notes that both the Illinois Institute of Technology and Northwestern University are also compromised, although I haven’t found anything through routine searches about their situations, other than Northwestern being reportedly hacked on January 20 by @AnonGhost (mirror of defacement here).

Update: I received the following email from the U. of Chicago’s Associate Vice President for Safety, Security and Civic Affairs & Chief of Police:

Both of your messages have been received and shared with our information technology services staff. Thank you for your concern.

Well, that doesn’t answer my question about what they’re actually doing and why the site is reportedly still leaking information, but at least we now know that they got my notifications.

(Related) Too common.

Yoohoo, Texas A&M: wake up!

SLC Security reports that they are

seeing indicators that this entity has been breached for over a month and does not realize it. It appears as though their infrastructure is being used to launch farther attacks on other educational institutions.

They also appear on Emerging Threats for malicious activity since at lease the 11th of December, 2014. You would think these large organizations would do something to get themselves off the blacklist but as of today we are still detecting malicious activity.

Food for thought.

http://www.securityweek.com/web-borne-malware-breaches-cost-32m-remediate-survey

Web-Borne Malware Breaches Cost $3.2M to Remediate: Survey

A new survey from the Ponemon Institute calls web-borne malware not only a growing threat to enterprise data security, but a costly one.

According to the report, which surveyed 645 IT pros and IT security practitioners and was sponsored by security firm Spike Security, web-borne malware attacks cost the organizations in the survey an average of $3.2 million to remediate. The organizations surveyed had an average of 14,000 employees.

… While all of the companies surveyed utilized a multilayered, defense-in-depth approach, they still dealt with an average of 51 security breaches during the past year tied to the failure of malware detection technology. According to the findings, the cost to respond to and remediate a single breach resulting from these detection failures was roughly $62,000 per incident.

… "What many organizations forget is that the browser is the only application that is permitted to download and execute code from a 3rd party location -- any external web site. Every time you allow unknown code into your network, you put yourself and your business at risk. This is why browser isolation outside the network is so important. It is the only way to prevent this problem."

I get the impression that even the Kim Dotcom haters are shocked by this ruling. They seem to think New Zealand just did whatever the US asked without bothering to consider the consequences.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11395297

Chris Barton: Chilling privacy call from our Supreme Court

Our Supreme Court has handed down a chilling ruling about the state's right to invade individual privacy - particularly when it's contained, as it is so often these days, on computers or mobile phones.

… The case was at the heart of our Supreme Court ruling which found, four to one, that the authority to ransack Kim Dotcom's Coatesville home on 20 January 2012 was perfectly legal. It was a ruling that excused shoddy police work and shoddy court work - a ruling that said warrants sanctioned by the court can be scant and meaningless and they are still OK. It established everyone's home is not their castle, even if your home looks more like a castle than others.

… In other words that they can't be general in nature and worded to allow police to freely rummage about and seize whatever they like. Yet that's exactly what happened in the Coatesville raid when police took away a staggering 150 terabytes of data, accessed through more than 135 computers and electronic devices.

They even took away the system that opened and closed the mansion's doors. "It is now acknowledged that a substantial amount of this data, perhaps as much as 40 per cent, was irrelevant to the offences charged. Some of it was personal and private," says Elias in her judgement.

The deeply concerning issue here is that while elsewhere in the world Supreme Courts are recognising computers and mobile phones are containers of individual lives and souls, our Supreme Court seems oblivious to the fact. It found that the warrant allowing holus-bolus searching of Dotcom's vast collection of computers and other devices with no provision for sorting out what was irrelevant or private was perfectly OK.

The court saw no miscarriage of justice despite Dotcom being unable to get access his seized information for more than two years. Not to mention that if Dotcom's legal team hadn't initiated a judicial review, all of this material would have been whisked away to the United States never to be seen again.

… Elias was alone in saying a warrant should be right when it's issued and it was wrong to treat a fundamentally flawed warrant as valid on the basis of what happened after the event.

For my Ethical Hackers.

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/231613-poll-online-voting-could-increase-turnout-for-young-people

Poll: Millennials eager for online voting

Nearly half of young people say they would be more likely to vote in the 2016 presidential election if they could cast their ballot online, according to poll released Tuesday.

The Fusion poll, which surveyed 18-to-34 year olds, found that 49 percent said an online system could encourage them to vote. A large portion, 42 percent, said voting online would make no real difference. Another 8 percent said they would be less likely to vote if it was made available online.

Thirty-eight percent said they would be more likely to vote if they could do it over their mobile phone.

Background for my Business Intelligence students.

http://www.bespacific.com/demographics-key-social-networking-platforms/

Demographics of Key Social Networking Platforms

Pew Report – “Fully 71% of online adults use Facebook, a proportion unchanged from August 2013. Usage among seniors continues to increase. Some 56% of internet users ages 65 and older now use Facebook, up from 45% who did so in late 2013 and 35% who did so in late 2012. Women are also particularly likely to use Facebook compared with men, a trend that continues from prior years. Facebook users were asked additional questions about their friend networks. Among Facebook users, the median number of Facebook friends is 155. When asked to approximate how many of their Facebook friends they consider “actual” friends, the median number reported was 50…

Some 23% of online adults currently use Twitter, a statistically significant increase compared with the 18% who did so in August 2013. Twitter is particularly popular among those under 50 and the college-educated. Compared with late 2013, the service has seen significant increases among a number of demographic groups: men, whites, those ages 65 and older, those who live in households with an annual household income of $50,000 or more, college graduates, and urbanites…

Some 26% of online adults use Instagram, up from 17% in late 2013. Almost every demographic group saw a significant increase in the proportion of users. Most notably, 53% of young adults ages 18-29 now use the service, compared with 37% who did so in 2013. Besides young adults, women are particularly likely to be on Instagram, along with Hispanics and African-Americans, and those who live in urban or suburban environments…

Some 28% of online adults use Pinterest, up from the 21% who did so in August 2013. Women continue to dominate the site, as they did in 2013: fully 42% of online women are Pinterest users, compared with just 13% of men (although men did see a significant increase in usership from 8% in 2013). While Pinterest remains popular among younger users, there was an 11-point increase between 2013 and 2014 in the proportion of those 50 and older who use the site. Other demographic groups that saw a notable increase in usership include whites, those living in the lowest- and highest-income households, those with at least some college experience, and suburban and rural residents.”

Business tool or buzzword? Analysis of Big Data is being talked about, but not in as much depth as my students see.

http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/using-data-to-call-the-shots

Using Data to Call the Shots

Daryl Morey loves good data, and lots of it. As general manager of the Houston Rockets, he has made a name for himself with his devotion to using data analytics to make team decision—on everything shot selection to whom to acquire in a mid-season trade. Morey talks with Kellogg Insight about the importance of assembling a staff that understands analytics, how to ensure you are using the data wisely, and the need to always keep your eye on the prize when crunching the numbers.

See? I'm not the only one!

http://business.financialpost.com/2015/02/02/morgan-stanley-thinks-russias-doomed/

Morgan Stanley thinks Russia’s doomed

And now Morgan Stanley is out with a pretty scary forecast, too.

“We downgrade 2015 growth from -1.7%Y to -5.6%Y and revise our 2016 growth from a mild (0.8%Y) recovery to a 2.5%Y recession,” writes Morgan Stanley’s Alina Slyusarchuk.

I think we have some students who do this...

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2015/02/123d-circuits-design-and-test-electric.html#.VNI4qywsrgw

123D Circuits - Design and Test Electric Circuits Online

123D Circuits is a free tool from Autodesk for collaboratively designing electronic circuits online. On 123D Circuits you can design your circuits and test them on the simulator in your browser. You can create circuits from scratch or use and modify templates and other publicly shared projects.

Autodesk recently published a short playlist of videos containing demonstrations of how to use 123D Circuits for various tasks. Short engineering lessons are included in the second half of the videos.

… Click here for seven other resources you can use to teach students about electricity and circuits.

For my International students. (There are even more in the article)

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/29/technology/personaltech/video-feature-english-grammar-aids-for-both-native-speakers-and-students.html

English Grammar Aids for Both Native Speakers and Students

… learning grammar is easier than ever now — with the right apps, of course.

And they are not just for people learning English; they’re also good for those of us who already speak it.

The free app Practice English Grammar from Cleverlize is among the most polished, and is easy to use for improving your grammar skills. It’s available for both iOS and Android and covers the whole gamut of grammatical details from conjunctions through tenses to using the passive voice.

… Another option is the LearnEnglish Grammar app from the British Council.

… This app is free for both iOS and Android, but you must pay for the complete range of content. Packs cover grammatical topics at different levels, from Beginner Pack 1 to Intermediate Pack 2 for more advanced lessons, and each costs $1.

Interestingly, there’s both a British English edition (free on iOS and Android) and an American English one (free on iOS and Android)

… A free alternative to these apps on Android is English Grammar Ultimate from Maxlogic.

Can't find the book you want to read in electronic format? Could my students divide a textbook and merge the electronic versions? Uses Windows 7 or 8, stores images on Amazon. (Article 3)

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/facebook-depression-pocket-points-students-ignore-tech-news-digest/

Kindle Convert Turns Paper Into E-Ink

Amazon has released Kindle Convert, a Windows program which lets you turn printed book into digital books. Currently priced at $19 (but with a list price of $49), Kindle Convert requires you to scan each page of the book you want to convert into the Kindle format. Which will require a lot of time and patience.

While this is likely to put most people off, it’s still good to have this option, especially for those who want to digitize rare or out-of-print books. Unfortunately, Kindle Convert is only available in the U.S. for the time being, though that’s likely to change in the future.

Global Warming! Global Warming! Another prediction they got wrong?

http://news.discovery.com/earth/global-warming/accelerated-ice-melt-causing-iceland-to-rise-150103.htm

Accelerated Ice Melt Causing Iceland to Rise

Tuesday, February 03, 2015

It is sometimes difficult to determine where a breach occurred. It is even difficult to know where personal data comes from unless there is a specific identifier built into the data or whoever posts it on the hacker site names the victim.

FBI alerts CICS Employment Services that personal info may have been compromised

When in doubt, notify. Even if you suspect that it may be a vendor and not your firm that’s been breached – particularly if it’s the FBI or Secret Service that comes knocking on your door to alert you that you may have been breached.

CICS Employment Services Inc is notifying an undisclosed number of individuals that their information may have been accessed without authorization. The firm provides investigative and background checks in Oregon.

I am writing to inform you of an incident that may affect the security of your personal information. We were recently notified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (the FBI) that personal information we processed regarding an application you made for employment may have been accessed without authorization.

… The FBI’s forensic examinations of relevant portions of our computer network, database and third party storage provider revealed no evidence of any compromise. [I didn't know the FBI turned over the results of their forensic examinations. Maybe only the ones where they find nothing. Bob]

… We immediately engaged the services of an independent forensics investigation firm [Because they didn't trust the FBI review or like me, didn't think they'd get the results? Bob] to determine whether CICS’ security had been compromised. The forensic examinations revealed no evidence that our network or database have been compromised.

… we changed web hosts and have ensured that all PII contained in our network is encrypted and secure. [Suggests none of this was true before. Bob]

Read their full notification letter on the California Attorney General’s web site. The firm has not responded by publication time to an inquiry asking them how many individuals have been notified and if the FBI had any evidence that the information had been misused for identity theft.

Curious. Who makes choices like this? Teenage boys?

http://www.securityweek.com/260000-facebook-users-infected-trojan-disguised-flash-update

260,000 Facebook Users Infected With Trojan Disguised as Flash Update

Once it infects a computer, the Trojan installs an extension in the victim’s Web browser. The threat tags the victim’s Facebook friends in a post advertising an adult video. When users click on the link, they are presented with a preview of the video, after which they are instructed to install what appears to be a Flash Player plugin. This component is the malware downloader.

Interesting. Perhaps the FBI should hire a lawyer to review stuff like this.

Judge tosses evidence obtained by agents posing as Internet repairmen

Ken Ritter of AP reports:

Undercover FBI and Nevada regulatory agents misled a federal judge and violated the rights of a wealthy Malaysian businessman and his son by posing as Internet repairmen to get into Las Vegas Strip hotel rooms in a gambling probe last summer, a U.S. magistrate judge said.

In a case with Fourth Amendment implications, U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Leen said evidence the agents collected as a result of the ruse didn’t justify the deception used in the case involving Wei Seng “Paul” Phua and his son, Darren Wai Kit Phua.

Monday, February 02, 2015

For my Network students.

http://hothardware.com/News/us-armys-cyber-defense-code-goes-open-source?google_editors_picks=true

US Army's Cyber Defense Code Goes Open Source

Sometimes, it just makes sense to go open source. We've seen Microsoft do it, and we've seen Google do it. Now, we see none other than the US Department of Defense do it, with DShell, a network foresnics tool.

It's an impressive thing to see the DoD release a home-built tool to the wild, but like most moves to open source, the agency has reached a ceiling and now welcomes improvements from outside sources.

… If you want to test DShell out for yourself, be sure to review the prerequisites on the GitHub page.

Have you ever considered hacking your TV? This article illustrates some of the things you could do.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/android-tv-google-tv-killed/

What Is Android TV, and Why Was Google TV Killed?

… It’s an operating system (OS). It’s a version of Android 5.0 Lollipop made just for TVs. But what that means for the average consumer is a much more cohesive relationship between all their smart devices.

This OS will come built-in to some TVs in 2015, and also in the form of set-top boxes to magically transform your normal TV into a smart TV. The set-top box arena is already pretty crowded, with options like the Roku (our review), Apple TV (our review), and Amazon Fire TV (our review) all offering compelling products. Some TVs by Hisense and TCL already ship with Roku TV built-in, just like what Google is trying to get manufacturers to do with Android TV.

… Assuming that Android TV gets the kinks worked out of it in the coming months, users can expect a few major features.

Voice control. Using a microphone built in to your remote, gaming controller, or smartphone, you can ask Google anything you want and the intelligence behind Google Now will respond well.
Gaming. Google is really working on improving the gaming experience here, so expect a larger push of Android TV-compatible games and controllers.
Screen-mirroring and content sharing. Have a photo or video on your phone that you want on the TV? No big deal.
Consistent interface. Google TV was hounded for its inconsistent, clunky interface, but Android TV is built on Material Design principles and should fit right in with your phone’s OS and all those Material Design-inspired apps.

For my Business Intelligence students. When should you “fire” a customer?

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/mind-your-manners-companies-are-rating-you/ar-AA8Msoj

Mind Your Manners, Companies Are Rating You

People routinely use the Internet to review services from plumbers to hairdressers. Now the tables are turned. Companies are rating their customers, casting into darkness those who do not make the grade.

… People routinely use the Internet to review services from plumbers to hairdressers. Now the tables are turned. Companies are rating their customers, casting into darkness those who do not make the grade.

… In response, some consumers are becoming more polite and prompt. But the knowledge that they may be rated is also encouraging people to submit more upbeat reviews themselves, even if the experience was less than stellar. When services choose whom to serve, no one wants to be labeled difficult.

… Reviewing customers is also raising questions about who owns the data detailing good and bad behavior, what they can do with it — and whether people even know it is being collected.

Why not keep pushing until someone pushes back?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/02/opinion/mr-putin-resumes-his-war-in-ukraine.html

Mr. Putin Resumes His War in Ukraine

The fighting in eastern Ukraine has flared up again, putting an end to any myth about the cease-fire that was supposed to be in force since September.

Though the Russian economy is staggering under the twinned onslaught of low oil prices and sanctions — or, conceivably, as a result of that onslaught — President Vladimir Putin has sharply cranked up his direct support for the rebels in the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, while continuing to baldly deny it and to blame all the violence on the United States.

For my students considering Law School.

http://www.bespacific.com/4-ways-copyright-law-actually-controls-whole-digital-life/

4 Ways Copyright Law Actually Controls Your Whole Digital Life

By Kate Cox in the Consumerist – January 22, 2015: “The tendrils of copyright law reach worldwide into almost everything we consume, do, and are in the digital era. The rules and regulations about how the internet works, what privacy rights you have, and how the entire digital economy functions all spring from copyright. It’s everything from why a bar can’t buy a really big-screen TV to why you don’t actually own any of the media you pay for. If you ever use a computer, or read, watch, look at, use, or listen to any piece of media or software created since printing or recording were invented, copyright law affects you. Writer Cory Doctorow, probably best known for his work with tech and culture site Boing Boing, is a copyright expert. He’s joined a special project with the EFF to advocate for easing the burdens of DRM on consumers and content creators. And late last year he published a book, Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free, explaining the impact of copyright law on pretty much everyone in clear, plain English. Doctorow’s book is a readable, concise look at the breadth and scope of copyright law in the modern age. Here are four key takeaways we should all keep in mind.”

For my students who want to try Windows 10.

http://www.winbeta.org/news/microsoft-launches-software-recovery-website-windows-7-lets-users-download-fresh-isos?google_editors_picks=true

Microsoft launches Software Recovery website for Windows 7, lets users download fresh ISOs

The recent Windows 10 Technical Preview saw a vast amount of Windows 7 users upgrade, just to see what's new and different. What they didn't realise however is there was no easy way of going back, and if said user didn't backup their previous install, they may have just lost out on their Windows 7-ness. Luckily, Microsoft has just launched a new website which allows you to go right back to Windows 7 with ease.

The new Software Recovery website allows users to create a Windows 7 install DVD or USB. All the user needs is their legitimate Windows 7 product key on hand, select their product language and that's it. Microsoft will cook you up a new ISO in seconds, being ready for download almost immediately. This ISO can be used much like any other ISO, for clean installing or upgrading from an older operating system like Windows Vista.

Sunday, February 01, 2015

Not communicating fully is really bad communications. Wouldn't this make you nervous?

Ca: Victor Valley College hit by computer security breach; entire IT dept. put on paid leave

This is an odd one. Brook Self reports:

The entire Victor Valley College Information Technology Department has been placed on paid administrative leave while campus police and an outside company investigate a breach in security protocol, President Roger Wagner said Thursday.

While emphasizing that no private student or employee information had been compromised, Wagner said what began as an administrative investigation became a police matter on Friday.

There is noting in the news report, however, that really suggests why this might be a police matter:

“We don’t have any reason to believe we’ve been hacked by outside hackers,” Wagner said. “There’s been a breach of protocol in how our internal security systems are set and who has access to our different servers and passwords. It’s an internal procedural issue. We felt it was important to put everyone on administrative leave for their protection, really, so we can track down to see if there was any internal violation.”

So I ask again: why rush to bring the police in? The college has retained a forensics firm, which is fine, but what exactly are the police supposed to be doing? The only description of the “breach” was:

Wagner said network issues first began on Monday when certain activities occurred that were “not normal.”

There’s no statement on the college’s web site that would make clear why you would bring the police in if you think this is an internal protocol issue.

Read more on Victorville Daily Press and see if you can figure this out. If you can, leave me a comment in the Comments section.

It's only so they can bill you later.

Hotels Can Track Those Towels That You Steal

Suzy Strutner reports:

There’s something utterly delicious about hotel beds… and towels… and robes. They’re so decadently fluffy and epically cozy, we’d totally steal them if we could.

And much of the time, we do. Towels are among the most-stolen items in hotels, The Telegraph reports. We could’ve guessed that.

But we never would’ve guessed that hotels can tell when you’ve stolen a towel (or robe or duvet cover for that matter). It’s all thanks to a tiny, M&M-sized tracking device that thousands of hotels have embedded in their linens — a device that lets them know where their towels, robes and bedsheets are at all times.

Centennial Man

Thursday, February 05, 2015

Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Tuesday, February 03, 2015

Monday, February 02, 2015

Sunday, February 01, 2015

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