Update It's interesting to see what they didn't know in time for the original notification. For example, if all the data was encrypted, they might not have needed to notify anyone!

http://www.databreaches.net/?p=4298

Update: Laptop stolen from UFCW also contained Canadians’ data

May 26, 2009 by admin Filed under: Miscellaneous, Non-U.S., Theft, U.S.

Remember that laptop stolen from United Food and Commercial Workers International in March? Some new details are emerging.

First, it turns out that Canadians’ details were also on the laptop. Bill Kaufmann of the Calgary Sun reports that a local union president said the laptop contained information on 28,000 Alberta members, [Why were they on a New York City laptop? Bob] including their social insurance numbers.

A recipient of a notification letter also revealed that his letter indicated that the theft occurred from a New York City UFCW office.

At the time of the union’s notification to the New Hampshire Attorney General, the total number of people affected was not indicated. Nor was the location of the theft or any statement as to whether the data were encrypted.

While total numbers have as yet to be revealed, Kaufmann’s story cites a union official as saying that the data were encrypted.

Alberta’s Privacy Commissioner has reportedly launched a probe of the incident. Although encryption might provide safe harbor here in the U.S., it will be interesting to see if Canada imposes any sanctions or requires new security procedures.

Some stats and some jargon.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227091.400-how-much-is-your-identity-worth.html?full=true

How much is your identity worth?

25 May 2009 by Jim Giles

… It was not always like this. In the early days, criminal hacking required advanced technical skills. But organised crime has moved in and the black market has become a service economy where anybody can buy a career in cybercrime.

Not sure it is as interesting or insightful as other “new economy” articles, but worth browsing...

http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/17-06/nep_essay

The New New Economy: More Startups, Fewer Giants, Infinite Opportunity

By Chris Anderson Email 05.22.09

Not the most effective system...

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/25/2221230&from=rss

DoD Sharing Threat Data With Critical Industries

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday May 26, @03:29AM from the scratch-your-back dept. Security Businesses The Military

Hugh Pickens writes

"The Washington Post reports that for the past two years, the Defense Department has been collaborating with critical industries to stem the loss of important defense industry data — by some estimates at least $100 billion worth over that time. The Pentagon is considering ways to share its threat data with other industries including telecommunications and Internet service providers, led by the DoD's Cyber Crime Center, the clearinghouse for threat data from the NSA, military agencies, the DHS, and industry. The Pentagon's trial program with industry illuminates the promise and the pitfalls of such partnerships: a reluctance of intelligence and law enforcement agencies to release threat data they consider classified, and the companies' fear of losing control over personal or proprietary information. 'This isn't just about national security,' says Barbara Fast, vice president of Boeing Cyber Solutions. 'It's about the economic well-being of the United States.'"

[From the article:

This information exchange took place, government and industry officials said, because the companies and the Pentagon have begun to trust one another. [Should we call this a miracle, or an “Uh Oh?” Bob]

… The threat scenarios, experts say, are chilling: a months-long blackout of much of the United States, wide-scale corruption of electronic banking data, a disabling of the air traffic control system. [With probabilities somewhere south of twenty decimal places. Bob]

Risks are not always rational, so how do you predict them?

http://www.pcworld.com/article/165440/youtube_yanks_thousands_of_porn_videos.html

YouTube Yanks Thousands of Porn Videos

Oliver Garnham, PC Advisor May 24, 2009 11:28 am

YouTube has removed thousands of pornographic videos from its servers following a coordinated attack which succeeded in uploading a catalogue of inappropriate clips to the video-sharing site.

4Chan, a bulletin board for Japanese manga content, has been blamed for the attack, which used the names of celebrities such as Hannah Montana to lure unsuspecting YouTube users to the porn videos.

YouTube's owner, Google, said thousands of videos have been deleted, but some may remain accessible for some time while the company removes the content and associated thumbnail images.

… However, tracking the content being uploading is a mammoth task. YouTube said in a blog on Wednesday that 20 hours of video is now being uploaded every minute. This has grown from 15 hours per minute in January 2009, and six hours per minute two years ago.

Clearly, someone believes that the American public is online. Or maybe someone pointed out that using their own website is far cheaper than purchasing space in the local newspaper. Or maybe the local paper just closed its doors...

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/25/212203&from=rss

Public Notices Going Online, Not In Newspapers

Posted by kdawson on Monday May 25, @07:00PM from the let's-see-if-you-can-find-it-now dept.

An anonymous reader tips a story up on Bnet.com about the growing trend for governments and others to eschew newspapers and post notices of public record on their own Web sites. It's under discussion at local, state, and national government levels, including in the SEC and the states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, so far.

"If classified ads were a backbone of the newspaper business, then the very center of the spine was the public notice. Mandated by laws and courts, these often long recitations of detail were to give official notification, to any who were interested, of the legal intents and actions of both government entities and companies that found themselves under some appropriate regulation. But a growing number of state and local governments want to move public notices online to their own sites as a cost-cutting measure. Beyond newspaper economics, critics are concerned that the shift would allow government officials to effectively hide their activities from scrutiny."

As is often the case, the comments are more interesting than the question – even the funny comments reveal a lot about understanding risks and controlling networks. Remember the old B-School maxim: First find all the indispensable people – and fire them!

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/25/2154237&from=rss

Documenting a Network?

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday May 26, @01:15AM from the what-matters dept. Networking

Philip writes

"Three years ago I was appointed as a network manager to a barely functioning MS-based network. Since then I've managed to get it up and running — even thriving — but have been guilty of being too busy with the doing of it to document the changes and systems that were put in place. Now as I look back, I'm worried that I am the only one who will ever know how this network works. If I get hit by a bus or throw in the towel for any reason, I'd be leaving behind a network that requires some significant expertise to run. Ultimately, this won't be a good reference for me if they are trying to work out technical details for years to come. It looks like I'm going to have to document the network with all sorts of details that outside consultants could understand too (no, I don't want to be the outside consultant), especially since it's likely that my replacement will have less technical expertise (read 'cheaper'). Are there any good templates out there for documenting networks? Is anyone who has done it before willing to share some experiences? What did you wish your predecessor had written down about a network that you inherited?"

Collect the complete wit and wisdom of Centennial-Man! Also useful for evidence gathering?

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/browse-blogs-offline-with-backstreet-windows/

Download Blogs For Offline Reading with BackStreet [Windows]

May. 25th, 2009 By Guy McDowell

Interesting. I wonder if the White Hat club would like to build a few of these? (Some interesting links in the comments...)

http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/25/1847208&from=rss

Best Way To Build A DIY UAV?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday May 25, @05:18PM from the please-include-armarment-instructions dept. Robotics

Shojun writes

"I am very interested in building my own UAV, not just one that can fly around happily, but one that I can program to say, take photos every second as it does a barrel roll under a bus (ok that part may be a pipe dream). I have enough embedded programming experience — it's the hardware which I'm uncertain about. I can go the kit way, and then build the remaining stuff, or get some Dollar Tree Foam boards and build it all. I'm in favor of ease, however. Once the plane is built, buying a dev board seems like a possibility, but I wonder whether it's overkill. Alternatively if there was a How-to-build example on the net for such an activity that I could adapt, to the degree that I could then program in even completely hardcoded flight instrutions, I can certainly take it from there. Thoughts? Has anyone here tried something like this before?"

Global Warming! Global Warming! What happens when “We gotta do something!” supersedes “What is the smart thing to do?” Should we call the Class Action lawyers?

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/25/2121248&from=rss

The Great Ethanol Scam

Posted by kdawson on Monday May 25, @07:50PM from the don't-even-think-about-switch-grass dept. Power Earth

theodp writes

"Over at BusinessWeek, Ed Wallace is creating quite a stir, reporting that not only is ethanol proving to be a dud as a fuel substitute, but there is increasing evidence that it is destroying engines in large numbers. Before lobbyists convince the government to increase the allowable amount of ethanol in fuel to 15%, Wallace suggests it's time to look at ethanol's effect on smog, fuel efficiency, global warming emissions, and food prices. Wallace concedes there will be some winners if the government moves the ethanol mandate to 15% — auto mechanics, for whom he says it will be the dawn of a new golden age."

I watched the video, and I still don't understand, but apparently people find these useful. Perhaps some day I will too?

http://teachingcollegemath.com/?p=969

Social Networking for Academics

Lately I’ve been getting some emails expressing bafflement at understanding the plethora of social networks and why on earth they are being used (many of these questions come from academics). So, here’s a short introduction to social networking for academics (specifically geared towards the mathematics variety). Watch the 8-minute video here or below.

Do you suppose they have one for Law?

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/againbutslower-wikipedia-in-plain-english/

AgainButSlower: Read Wikipedia In Plain English

Wikipedia is a grate [I often think it grates too Bob] resource to find information on many topics, however some articles can be really hard to grasp especially for non experts and people who are still learning English. AgainButSlower is a mashup website that displays a Simplified version* of the Wikipedia along the original one and helps users to understand those hard to read Wikipedia pages.