“Allow me to obfuscate...”
I came across a media
report on what appears to be a breach involving card numbers of
guests and employees of Island Resort & Casino
in Michigan. But was it their breach or not?
Read the casino’s statement:
We would like to
address the many rumors that are in circulation regarding the
harvesting of credit/debit card information for use in unauthorized
transactions.
Unfortunately, we
have received reports that guests and employees of the Island Resort
& Casino have had their debit/credit card information compromised
while on property. As soon as we started receiving these reports, we
immediately began working with those affected to not only determine
the source of the compromise but also to ensure that no other guests
or employees would be affected by these unscrupulous acts of fraud.
While in the
process of working with the financial institutions of those affected
by these acts of fraud, we have verified that all systems and
processes of the Island Resort & Casino/Island Oasis are
secure/uncompromised and that these incidents were NOT just isolated
to the Island Resort & Casino/Island Oasis, but were also
occurring on a local and national level as well.
As a result, we
are encouraging everyone who has used their credit/debit card for ANY
transactions to please check their credit/bank statements for any
signs of fraudulent activity.
They repeat some of that in this
media report.
So what are they saying? Guests who
experienced fraud following use of their cards at the casino posted
some frustrated comments on Facebook. In their shoes, I might feel
frustrated, too. Was there a payment processor breach? Suggesting
that the breach is regional or national would seem to rule out an ATM
compromise, wouldn’t it? Did the casino bring in an expert firm to
check their systems thoroughly to confirm that their system is secure
or is their statement that their system is secure/uncompromised based
on their own IT department’s investigation?
What really happened here?
And why is there no notice on the casino’s web site? Posting signs
on the premises or a Facebook page doesn’t reach everyone who may
have experienced fraud and may be wondering whether the casino is
aware of a problem.
I’ve emailed the casino to ask them
to clarify their statement. If I get a response, I’ll update this
post.
A little more detail please.
Katie Haas writes:
Aiming to
determine the impact of border searches on Americans’ civil
liberties, the Department of Homeland Security has produced a report
on its policy of combing through and sometimes confiscating
travelers’ laptops, cell phones, and other electronic devices—even
when there is no suspicion of wrongdoing. [Surely that can't be
true... Bob] The report was completed sometime between
October 2011 and September 2012, and last week DHS quietly posted
only the executive
summary on its website, without many people noticing.
The report draws
the highly questionable conclusion that the border search policy does
not violate our Fourth Amendment right to privacy, chill our First
Amendment rights to freedom of speech and association, or even result
in discriminatory search practices.
Read more on ACLU
That's a pretty strange bug...
Some Flickr users have been receiving
emails regarding a privacy-setting bug affecting their photos.
Whether you’ve received this email or not, this bug may affect you
if you have any photos on Flickr. According to the email, a
site-wide bug was discovered that caused private photos to be
switched to public. The bug was limited to photos uploaded between
April and December of 2012.
Once the bug was discovered, Flickr
decided to take an extra precaution and set every photo that may have
been impacted to private.
One assumes the workers in the building
will not go through the machines, only visiting citizens.
"The Federal Times, a weekly
print newspaper published by Gamnett Government Media Corp, is
reporting that the Rapiscan Systems 'backscatter' passenger screening
machines used by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration will
likely be redeployed to federal buildings. Rapiscan System's
backscatter machines have exposed passengers to radiation since they
were first installed. As previously reported on Slashdot, TSA
decided
last month to stop using the machines because the manufacturer
was unable to make changes to the machines that were mandated by
Congress. Now TSA is attempting to sucker another
federal agency into taking the nude-o-scopes."
Allow me to point out the obvious.
Serious terrorists do not spend a lot of time Tweeting their location
and intent.
From Information Age:
A system from US
defence contractor Raytheon that analyses social media data to
profile individuals has been described as “the greatest challenge
to civil liberties and digital freedom of our age”.
An
article by The Guardian yesterday profiled the Rapid
Information Overlay Technology (RIOT) system. It includes a
demonstration video in which a Raytheon spokesman claims that by
analysing social media data, it can provide
geographical location of an individual and even “predict”
criminal or terrorist activity based on social connections.
The RIOT system is
not being used by any customers, the Guardian reported, but the
underlying technology was developed in partnership with the US
government and other commercial providers.
Read more on Information
Age.
Another “First” but I doubt drones
will have anything to do with finding this guy...
US
To Use Drones In Chris Dorner Manhunt
… it was revealed that Dorner has
become the first human target for remotely-controlled airborne drones
on US soil.
A senior police source said: “The
thermal imaging cameras the drones use may be our only hope of
finding him.
Oh, the horror, the horror...
A
Call for Drastic Changes in Educating New Lawyers
Faced with profound and seemingly
irreversible shifts, the legal profession is contemplating radical
changes to its educational system, including cutting the curriculum,
requiring far more on-the-ground training and licensing technicians
who are not full lawyers.
The proposals are a result of numerous
factors, including a sharp
drop in law school applications, [My God! We
might run out of lawyers! Bob] the outsourcing of
research over the Internet, a glut of underemployed and indebted law
school graduates and a high percentage of the legal needs of
Americans going unmet.
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