Sunday, November 20, 2011


Nice of them to add this to their apology. How could we turn this into the minimum companies MUST do?
TRICARE data breach
11/18/2011 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Science Applications International Corporation is mailing letters to affected military clinic and hospital patients regarding a data breach involving personally identifiable and protected health information.
On Sept. 14, SAIC reported the loss of backup tapes containing electronic health care records used in the military health system to capture patient data from 1992 through Sept. 7, 2011, in San Antonio-area military treatment facilities.
… As directed by TRICARE Management Activity, SAIC will provide credit monitoring and credit restoration services for one year for patients requesting them. The credit restoration services being provided exceeds current industry standards for responding to a data breach.


Take that, IP lawyers,
"Against the backdrop of governments and courts around the world ordering ISPs to block file-sharing sites, European commissioner Neelie Kroes has said people have started to see copyright as 'a tool to punish and withhold, not a tool to recognise and reward. ... Citizens increasingly hear the word copyright and hate what is behind it,' the EU's digital chief said, adding that the copyright system also wasn't rewarding the vast majority of artists."


Global Warming! Global Warming! (I see this as a guide to blaming every disaster, at least in part on global warming.)
November 19, 2011
Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation
First Joint Session of Working Groups I and II IPCC SREX Summary for Policymakers, November 18, 2011
  • "This Summary for Policymakers presents key findings from the Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX). The SREX approaches the topic by assessing the scientific literature on issues that range from the relationship between climate change and extreme weather and climate events (“climate extremes”) to the implications of these events for society and sustainable development. The assessment concerns the interaction of climatic, environmental, and human factors that can lead to impacts and disasters, options for managing the risks posed by impacts and disasters, and the important role that non-climatic factors play in determining impacts. Box SPM.1 defines concepts central to the SREX. The character and severity of impacts from climate extremes depend not only on the extremes themselves but also on exposure and vulnerability. In this report, adverse impacts are considered disasters when they produce widespread damage and cause severe alterations in the normal functioning of communities or societies. Climate extremes, exposure, and vulnerability are influenced by a wide range of factors, including anthropogenic climate change, natural climate variability, and socioeconomic development (Figure SPM.1). Disaster risk management and adaptation to climate change focus on reducing exposure and vulnerability and increasing resilience to the potential adverse impacts of climate extremes, even though risks cannot fully be eliminated (Figure SPM.2). Although mitigation of climate change is not the focus of this report, adaptation and mitigation can complement each other and together can significantly reduce the risks of climate change. "


For the Computer Forensic guys...
November 19, 2011
The growing impact of full disk encryption on digital forensics
The growing impact of full disk encryption on digital forensics - Eoghan Caseya, Geoff Fellowsb, Matthew Geigerc, Gerasimos Stellatosd http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1742287611000727
  • "The increasing use of full disk encryption (FDE) can significantly hamper digital investigations, potentially preventing access to all digital evidence in a case. The practice of shutting down an evidential computer is not an acceptable technique when dealing with FDE or even volume encryption because it may result in all data on the device being rendered inaccessible for forensic examination. To address this challenge, there is a pressing need for more effective on-scene capabilities to detect and preserve encryption prior to pulling the plug. In addition, to give digital investigators the best chance of obtaining decrypted data in the field, prosecutors need to prepare search warrants with FDE in mind. This paper describes how FDE has hampered past investigations, and how circumventing FDE has benefited certain cases. This paper goes on to provide guidance for gathering items at the crime scene that may be useful for accessing encrypted data, and for performing on-scene forensic acquisitions of live computer systems. These measures increase the chances of acquiring digital evidence in an unencrypted state or capturing an encryption key or passphrase. Some implications for drafting and executing search warrants to dealing with FDE are discussed."


Perhaps we should teach a class in jailbreaking?
The mixed reviews so far available for the new Amazon Fire tablet mostly address the Fire in its intended role as a locked-down portal through which to buy and consume ready-made content from Amazon. New submitter terracode writes with a different kind of review, which "goes into depth on the Kindle Fire's hardware, and provides details on how to root and tweak the tablet." The article also provides a friendly chart comparing the hardware in the Fire to that of the Nook Color and the iPad 2.


For my Geeky friends. Think of it as the geeky equivalent of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition...
November 18th, 2011 : Rich Miller

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