Inevitable…
http://www.databreaches.net/?p=18335
Federal lawsuit blames Michaels for PIN thefts
May 19, 2011 by admin
Josh Stockinger reports:
A West Chicago woman has filed a federal lawsuit against Michaels, claiming the arts-and-crafts giant failed to protect customers from “cyber-pickpockets” who stole sensitive banking information from checkout keypads at stores in 20 states.
The suit filed this week in Illinois’ northern district seeks class-action status and more than $5 million in damages for Brandi Ramundo and others whose credit and debit accounts were compromised. It comes in the wake of revelations by Michaels earlier this month that checkout PIN pads were tampered with at 80 of its stores across the country.
Read more in The Daily Herald.
Taking data is bad. Taking Personal Information is worse. Using that Personal Information is evil. Using it to demonstrate that you have stolen data is just stupid.
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=22968
NJ: Newark police investigating student information included in letters sent to school
May 20, 2011 by Dissent
Seth Roy reports:
Newark police are investigating a report filed this week that alleges leaders of the new Eagle Wings Academy took student information from Excel Academy to contact school districts.
On May 9, Marlene Jacob — former Excel director and current Eagle Wings director — sent letters to districts that contract with Excel about her new school, which is aiming to serve a similar type of student.
When Licking Valley Superintendent Dave Hile saw that letter and the accompanying sample contracts, the district immediately contacted Excel.
“The thing that concerned (special education director Jan Clayton) was it had our students’ names on it and their Social Security numbers,” Hile said. “We just didn’t believe that they should have had that information.”
Excel sent a letter to the 33 districts it contracts with Wednesday, stating Eagle Wings Academy is not affiliated with Excel.
“Any student information included in the Eagle Wings Academy mailing was not obtained with permission from Excel Academy,” interim director Amber Thorne-Hamilton wrote in the letter. “This breach of confidentiality is concerning.”
Read more on NewarkAdvocate.com
Although this will understandably strike some as a FERPA issue/breach, it sounds like the police are investigating it is a possible insider data theft/data breach. It will be interesting to see what charges, if any, are ever filed.
Learning from the Mother Country?
Australian Government To Widen Spy Agency Powers, Again
"It seems the Australian Government has a fondness for expanding the powers of the domestic spy agency, ASIO, be it for hacking into servers or tapping citizens' phones. Now the plan is to make it easier to engage in economic and industrial espionage, as well as on groups such as WikiLeaks."
Should be an interesting paper, can’t wait to translate it from the Australian.
When the privacy walls fail
The Brocial Network, a men-only group on Facebook where members share images of their scantily clad women ''friends'', has reignited calls for tougher privacy laws for social media in Australia. But this is not the first time the voyeuristic dissemination of women's pictures has resulted in privacy law-reform debates.
More than a century ago, the operation of men's networks of circulation and exchange in the United States, the antecedents of today's Brocial Network, led to the first declared ''right to privacy'' in the common law world.
[Student profile: http://www.research.law.unimelb.edu.au/index.cfm?objectid=32782AA6-95C2-89E3-275A85B8FFC18DFA&Profile=110771
p class="MsoNormal">Not all Data Mining is evil. This is “for your health!” therefore there is no Privacy risk whatsoever.
Criminal-Profiling Trick Used to Combat Disease
A technique that helps crime fighters zoom in on a serial killer’s whereabouts may help scientists prevent deaths of a different sort — those caused by infectious diseases.
The widely used criminology technique, called geographic profiling, helps investigators narrow a search by pinpointing high-priority targets among thousands of potential locations. In an upcoming International Journal of Health Geographics, researchers demonstrated the technique’s usefulness by identifying the sources of a recent malaria outbreak in Cairo and reconstructing an infamous cholera outbreak in Victorian London. Applying the technique to infectious diseases could help focus interventions, perhaps preventing the spread of disease while saving time and money.
e-Discovery is part of the Data Analysis and Data Mining arena.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20064495-83.html
Symantec to buy Clearwell for $390 million
Symantec announced today that it has agreed to acquire privately held Clearwell Systems for $390 million, bolstering the security company's efforts in the growing market for electronic legal-document discovery.
Symantec, best known for its Norton security products for PCs, will combine Clearwell's analysis and archiving of legal documents with its own Enterprise Vault e-discovery software. The e-discovery software market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 14 percent and is estimated to reach $1.7 billion by 2014, according to Gartner industry research.
(Related)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20064593-264.html
Google scraps newspaper-scanning project
Google might have near-boundless ambition, but every now and then it throws in the towel. The most recent example: a project to scan newspapers for publication online.
"Users can continue to search digitized newspapers at http://news.google.com/archivesearch, but we don't plan to introduce any further features or functionality to the Google News Archives and we are no longer accepting new microfilm or digital files for processing," Google told Search Engine Land in a story published today.
Economics 2.0? If this is true…
MasterCard Study: Youngsters Will Be The Catalyst Of Mobile Payment Adoption
…is this inevitable?
Bitcoin, Ven and the End of Currency
For my Geeks, Computer Security and Hacker students
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/100-portable-freeware-utilities-nirlauncher-windows/
Get Over 100 Portable Freeware Utilities With NirLauncher [Windows]
NirLauncher is a library that comes packed with over 100 portable freeware utilities for Windows. It is the perfect toolbox to carry around on your USB stick for emergencies, for example if you need to recover lost passwords or monitor your network. The tools are pre-sorted into 12 different categories and you are free to add additional software packages if you like.
We have previously covered NirLauncher here. If you are interested in portable apps in general, check out these resources:
- Portable App (MakeUseOf tag)
- Top 10 Most Downloaded Portable Apps [Movers & Shakers]
- PortableApps : Portable Apps Suite
- How To Create Your Own Portable App For A Flash Drive
A snapshot of the e-Wolrd.
Infographic: A Look At The Size And Shape Of The Geosocial Universe In 2011
Let’s see if my Security students really follow my Blog…
http://download.cnet.com/8301-32471_4-20063405-10391713.html
Free giveaway: Lock up your PC from hackers with Laplink's PC Lock
For 24 hours only, we are giving away a free copy of Laplink's latest new release of data encryption software, PC Lock. With its cloud management feature and military-grade 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard, it provides an additional layer of protection from hackers and thieves.
Hackers and thieves never stop working, so why take a chance when you can get a free copy of Laplink PC Lock to give you one additional layer of safety and peace of mind? Also note that PC Lock is complementary to your existing antivirus software.
Normally priced at $29.95, you can get your copy for free today, only on CNET.
This free offer ends at 8 a.m. PDT on Saturday, May 21, 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment