Computer Security: Pay me now or pay me
a lot more later. A case study of “worst practices”
"Earlier this year, the state's
Department of Revenue was storing
3.3 million bank account numbers, as well as 3.8 million tax
returns containing Social Security numbers for 1.9 million children
and other dependents, in an unencrypted
format. After a state employee clicked on a malicious email link, an
attacker
was able to obtain copies of those records. It's easy to blame
the breach on 'Russian hackers' but who is really to blame? 'The
state's leadership, from the governor on down, failed
to take information security seriously or to correctly gauge the
financial risk involved. As a result, taxpayers
will pay extra to clean up the mess. Beyond the $800,000 that the
state will spend — and should have already spent — to improve its
information security systems, $500,000 will go to the data breach
investigation, $740,000 to notify consumers and businesses, $250,000
for legal and PR help, and $12 million for identity theft monitoring
services.'"
[Which would you
prefer? $800,000 or $800,000 + 500,000 + 740,000 +
250,000 + 12,000,000? (That's $14,290,000 total, so far) Plus (one
can only hope) the next election.
“I'll give you a finger...” (But
with a very upper class British accent) Apparently people are
sneaking into the country to attend lectures.
Presto
Vivace writes that the UK's Newcastle University is instituting
a finger-print based attendance system. From the linked article:
"University
students may have to scan their fingerprints in future — to prove
they are not bunking off lectures. ... Newcastle Free Education
Network has organised protests against the plans, claiming the
scanners would 'turn universities into border checkpoints' and
'reduce university to the attendance of lectures alone.'"
The system is supposed to bring the
university "in line with the UK Border Agency (UKBA) and clamp
down on illegal immigrants."
Is this any way to treat a major
campaign contributor? Apparently it is...
Google
will alter search to end FTC antitrust inquiry, says report
The Federal Trade Commission may bring
its two-year antitrust
investigation of Google to a close by allowing the company to
make voluntary changes to its search business, according to a report.
The business side...
… A new infographic sheds some
light on the current state of online education, how non-profits are
slicing up the pie, and what you should know about online education.
Hint: it’s huge and getting more huger. Yes, that’s a term.
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