Wednesday, October 09, 2013

“We've kept this data online since 1997. The Security fix was quick and easy, but we couldn't be bothered until the data was stolen.”
KAKE reports:
The City of Wichita says it’s [sic] website was hacked over the weekend, compromising the personal information of 29,000 vendors and employees.
In a news release, city officials say hackers may have gained access to Social Security numbers, taxpayer identification numbers and banking information of vendors and employees who were reimbursed by the city for expenses.
The data compromised dates back to 1997. The city says the security issue has been fixed and they are in the process of notifying those who may be affected.
Read more on KAKE.com. There does not seem to be any copy of the news release on the city’s site at the time of this posting.
CyberWarNews reports that it was the vendors subdomain which was defaced and the source of the leaked data. Misleadingly, that web page now states:
Thank you for visiting this City of Wichita web site. The site
is unavailable for a scheduled maintenance outage.
We appreciate your patience.
CyberWarNews also provides a description of the leaked databases and reports:
The leak was announced a few hours ago by @AgentCorporatio who appears to be either a member or ex member of the well known Turkish Ajan hacker group but is going by the name Agent Hacker Group.


Something to consider when measuring risk...
Law360 reports that a California Judge ruled Hartford Casualty Insurance Co. cannot dodge coverage for two class actions seeking $20 million over a 2011 Stanford Hospital and Clinics breach. Subscription required to read their coverage. Previous coverage of the breach on this site can be found here and here.


For all my students!!!
Watch Out! All Public Facebook Posts Are Now Fully Searchable
In what is probably causing employers and divorce lawyers to high-five one another and celebrate with copious amounts of booze, Facebook have now announced that all public posts will now be fully searchable, using their cool new Graph Search Engine.
That means that any of your drunken escapades where Facebook has public proof that you woke up hung over and dressed as a chicken the next morning are now going to be seen by every Human Resources department and law court in the country. Congratulations. Would you like fries with that?
Throw in Facebook’s decision to copy Twitter and include hashtags in their search engine searches, and this means that Facebook is suddenly a very rich data mine for anyone looking for information on someone who makes their Facebook posts public. If this describes you to a tee, then it means that you need to make all potentially embarrassing posts “private” immediately.


Stay anonymous by signing up?
Disconnect Search Lets Users Search Privately on Google, Bing, and Yahoo
News release: “Disconnect, a leading developer of popular consumer privacy and security software, today launched its newest service: Disconnect Search (https://www.disconnect.me/search). Developed by an ex-NSA engineer and three ex-Google engineers over the last year, Disconnect Search allows users to easily keep searches private without having to change their behavior. Unlike other private search solutions, Disconnect Search was designed so people can continue to use the web’s most popular search engines. Disconnect’s patent-pending technology also enables users to conduct private searches seamlessly through their browser’s omnibox or address bar… Disconnect Search protects users’ privacy in four ways: (1) search queries are routed through Disconnect’s servers, which makes the queries look like they’re coming from Disconnect instead of a specific user’s computer; (2) search engines are prevented from passing keywords to the sites that are visited from search results pages; (3) all queries are encrypted, which prevents ISPs from seeing them; and (4) Disconnect doesn’t log any keywords, personal information, or IP addresses.”


Logical as devices continue to converge.
– is an app that uses the new IR features of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and other Samsung products. By putting the power buttons of the most common TV brands onto one screen, you can now trick your friends or family by turning OFF/ON multiple TVs at once. This app is for the Samsung Galaxy S4.


Ethics of nullum crimen sine lege Should humans be held to 'smart car' standards?
The Ethics of Autonomous Cars
If a small tree branch pokes out onto a highway and there’s no incoming traffic, we’d simply drift a little into the opposite lane and drive around it. But an automated car might come to a full stop, as it dutifully observes traffic laws that prohibit crossing a double-yellow line. This unexpected move would avoid bumping the object in front, but then cause a crash with the human drivers behind it.
Should we trust robotic cars to share our road, just because they are programmed to obey the law and avoid crashes?


For my students, but it will take a while to review...
Create and Locate Standards-Aligned Video Playlists on OpenEd
OpenEd is a new site that claims to be the world's largest educational resource catalog. On OpenEd you can search for videos, games, and other educational materials. Your searches can be conducted according to content area, grade level, Common Core standard, or a combination of those factors. You can also search according to keyword although when I tried the keyword search option it didn't work well.
As a registered OpenEd user (registration is free and takes less than thirty seconds to complete) you can create courses and playlists of videos and other materials that you find in the OpenEd directory. You can align your courses and playlists to standards. If you choose to align your course to a standard, OpenEd will suggest materials to you.
The biggest benefit of OpenEd seems to be found in the search tools. Rather than searching and hoping to find a video on YouTube that matches the standard(s) you're addressing in a lesson, you can start with the standard and have OpenEd locate videos for you.

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