Monday, July 08, 2013

Are we seeing a trend? Vendors being held accountable for failure to adequately (Best Practice level) secure a client's system?
Robert McGarvey reports that a credit union’s lawsuit against Fiserv has been resurrected by a Tennessee court:
The Court of Appeals in Tennessee, in a ruling filed July 3, ruled that a lower court erred when it dismissed a suit filed by Copper Basin Federal Credit Union and CUMIS against Fiserv Inc., wherein the plaintiffs alleged that Fiserv’s negligence allowed a data breach to occur on the Copper Basin FCU computers.
Wrote the court: “Plaintiffs alleged in their complaint that Defendant negligently performed professional services concerning the provision and maintenance of web defense software and that Defendant breached its contractual duty to protect the computer system of Copper Basin Federal Credit Union from computer incursion. For the reasons stated herein, we hold that the complaint alleges sufficient facts to allow the case to proceed, and, therefore, dismissal was in error.”
Read more on Credit Union Times.
In this case, the plaintiffs claim that Fiserv – as part of web defense services it offered them apart from its master contract – failed to activate the anti-virus software Fiserv required the credit union to use. Although the credit union duly paid for the update, they claim that only Fiserv had the login to the account. After the credit union was hacked and more than $500,000 stolen from an account, an employee discovered that Fiserv had failed to activate the software for more than 60 days.


I suppose if you wanted to deflect inquires into the UK surveillance programs...
UK Parliament to launch in-depth inquiry into US surveillance programmes
News release: “Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee will conduct an “in-depth inquiry” into the US surveillance programmes, including the bugging of EU premises and other spying allegations, and present its results by the end of this year, says a resolution passed by the full House on Thursday. Parliament’s President and political group leaders formally confirmed the launch of the inquiry. MEPs also call for more protection for whistleblowers. In the resolution, approved by 483 votes to 98 with 65 abstentions, MEPs express serious concern over PRISM and other surveillance programmes, strongly condemn spying on EU representations and call on the US authorities to provide them with full information on these allegations without further delay. Parliament also expresses grave concern about allegations that similar surveillance programmes are run by several EU member states, such as the UK, Sweden, The Netherlands, Germany and Poland. It urges them to examine whether those programmes are compatible with EU law.”


Useful for legal research?
Library of Congress – A New Look for Legal Blawg Archive
by Sabrina I. Pacifici on July 6, 2013
“For more than six years, the Law Library of Congress has been collecting images of select legal blogs on a monthly basis. The Legal Blawg Archive was created so that the legal events detailed and analyzed in the blogs of today can be studied for years to come. Now this archive is available in an updated user interface making the collection more attractive and engaging. This updated interface is part of a larger Library of Congress update, explained by Abbie Grotke in her June 21 entry on the Library’s The Signal: Digital Preservation blog, to the Library’s various web archive collections.”

(Ditto)
Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Overview and Discussion of Proposed Revisions
CRS – Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Overview and Discussion of Proposed Revisions – Eric A. Fischer, Senior Specialist in Science and Technology. June 20, 2013.
“For more than a decade, various experts have expressed increasing concerns about cybersecurity, in light of the growing frequency, impact, and sophistication of attacks on information systems in the United States and abroad. Consensus has also been building that the current legislative framework for cybersecurity might need to be revised. The complex federal role in cybersecurity involves both securing federal systems and assisting in protecting nonfederal systems. Under current law, all federal agencies have cybersecurity responsibilities relating to their own systems, and many have sector-specific responsibilities for critical infrastructure. More than 50 statutes address various aspects of cybersecurity either directly or indirectly, but there is no overarching framework legislation in place. While revisions to most of those laws have been proposed over the past few years, no major cybersecurity legislation has been enacted since 2002. Recent legislative proposals, including many bills introduced in recent Congresses, have focused largely on issues in 10 broad areas (see “Selected Issues Addressed in Proposed Legislation” for an overview of how current legislative proposals would address issues in several of those areas): national strategy and the role of government; reform of the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA); protection of critical infrastructure (including the electricity grid and the chemical industry); information sharing and cross-sector coordination; breaches resulting in theft or exposure of personal data such as financial information; cybercrime; privacy in the context of electronic commerce; international efforts; research and development, and the cybersecurity workforce.”


I'm not sure all of my students have a reading speed, but this can't hurt...
… Not only does a fast reading speed benefit book lovers but it also helps students prepare for exams quicker. Here to help you develop and polish your skills of speed reading is a useful website called I Read Faster.
I Read Faster is a free to use web service that helps its users develop, maintain, and polish their speed reading abilities.


Grab them while they're free!
Top iOS apps and games go free ahead of App Store's fifth anniversary
A host of highly regarded apps for iPhone and iPad have gone free today in what could be a major celebration to mark five years since Apple launched the App Store. So far, games such as Infinity Blade II, Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP, Where's My Water?, Badland and Tiny Wings (iPhone / iPad) are all on offer for nothing, alongside apps such as Traktor DJ (iPhone / iPad), Day One, Over, and Barefoot World Atlas.
None of these apps have ever been free on the App Store before, and many have commanded relatively high prices until now. In the case of Traktor DJ for iPad, the app normally sells for $19.99, and comes recommended by The Verge's Nilay Patel and Trent Wolbe.

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