Not uncommon, initial estimates are really
guesstimates. (Do you believe the IRS knows the exact number of
“additional taxpayers” targeted?)
The IRS
says hackers stole data for twice as many taxpayers as initially
expected
… In total, cyber criminals may have accessed
tax data for more than 700,000 taxpayers by hacking the agency’s
“Get Transcript” tool, which allows taxpayers to obtain copies of
previous tax returns, the IRS said. Criminals tried to use the tool
to steal tax data for roughly 500,000 additional taxpayers but
failed, the agency said.
The latest tally was uncovered during a
nine-month investigation of the “Get Transcript”
application, leading back to when it was launched in January 2014.
… When the IRS first reported the issue in
May, it said 114,000 taxpayers may have had their tax data
compromised. In August, it bumped the total up to about 330,000.
You didn't think they were going to ignore all
that data, did you?
Joshua Phillip reports:
An insider in China has revealed to the Epoch Times that he helped build a database that is now being used to handle Americans’ personal information stolen in cyberattacks.
The FBI revealed on June 4, 2015, that a cyberattack, allegedly from China, stole personal information on close to 21.5 million U.S. federal employees after breaking into the computer files of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Subsequent Chinese cyberattacks have also targeted personal data on Americans, including the February 2015 breach of Anthem that stole close to 80 million records.
[…]
According to the insider, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has built the database needed to make use of the massive trove of stolen data. He said that to create the spy database, the CCP brought in a small group of independent software developers from the United States, who worked alongside Chinese security branches to implement the system.
There’s a lot more to this
report on Epoch Times, but given that they’ve granted their
source anonymity, even though they seem confident the source is
reliable, I’m a bit hesitant to rely on this without some other
sourcing.
I think this points to the new FTC strategy: “Get
serious about security or we will get serious for you.”
James Denvil and Paul Otto of Hogan Lovells write:
The FTC wants companies to listen. More precisely, the FTC wants companies to pay attention to and promptly to respond to reports of security vulnerabilities. That’s a key takeaway from the Commission’s recent settlement with ASUSTek (“ASUS”). In its complaint against the Taiwanese router manufacturer, the FTC alleged that ASUS misrepresented its security practices and failed to reasonably secure its router software. The Commission cited the company’s alleged failure to address vulnerability reports as one of the its primary concerns. The settlement reiterates the warnings contained in the FTC’s recent Start with Security Guide and prior settlements with HTC America and Fandango: the FTC expects companies to implement adequate processes for receiving security vulnerability reports and addressing them within a reasonable time.
Read more on Hogan Lovells Chronicle
of Data Protection. Additional discussion of this matter can be
found on Covington & Burling’s Inside
Privacy
In search of Free? Fuel for the debate.
The Plan to
Give Every Cellphone User Free Data
More than half the people on the planet still
don’t have Internet access. But figuring out how to get them
online is as much of a political challenge as it is a technological
one.
… In brainstorming possible alternatives, Song
realized he kept returning to the same question: What if all mobile
phones came automatically connected to the Internet at no additional
charge?
… “Each person that gets added to the
network adds value to everybody on the network,” Song said.
… For such a shift to take place on mobile
networks, Song says there will have to be a more rigorous economic
analysis. But he believes a good starting point might be to enable,
by default, free 2G Internet connections at speeds around 9.6
kilobits per second—which is slow, really slow if you’re used to
high-speed Internet. [Test
your speed at http://www.speedtest.net/
or http://www.bandwidthplace.com/
Bob] (He outlined his proposal in more detail in a
blog post.)
“That’s about a quarter of the speed of what
dial-up would be,” Song said.
… Song and others believe it’s most likely
that mobile-network operators would be open to implementing his idea
in areas of the developing world—where there are a significant
number of people who still don’t have the Internet. This is
already happening to some extent: In India, the telecommunications
company Aircel says
it will offer free Internet at 64 kilobits per second beginning in
the fall. And T-Mobile has
offered free 2G data roaming overseas.
… Upfront costs might be minimal, but
diminished access to data—the deep well of personal information
collected about people when they go online—would be a big
deterrent. In other words, if people opted for free access that’s
slower and more basic instead of paying for more expensive high-speed
connections, less data would be collected about them.
As Tesla proves that this model works, will GM (et
al) start selling direct? Will their dealers try to block them?
Tesla wins
big victory in Indiana to bypass dealers. Shares surge
An Indiana state Senate panel ruled Thursday that
Tesla Motors could sell its cars directly to buyers without
franchised dealers, a victory for the electric-vehicle maker and a
blow to dealers and traditional automakers.
The Commerce and Technology Committee of the State
Senate stripped an amendment out of a bill that would have blocked
Tesla’s direct sales, an amendment in part driven by lobbying by
General Motors and the state’s car dealers.
GM’s counsel testified at a hearing, arguing
that allowing direct sales by Tesla would put franchised automakers
at a disadvantage.
For my Data Management students, these
opportunities will not last long. Transform or die.
How to
Transform a Traditional Giant into a Digital One
If you’re not turning your company into a “math
house” you’re headed for serious trouble. Every industry will
soon be driven by digitization and every winning company will be
using algorithms, or mathematical rules for processing information,
to shape the end-to-end customer experience. Any advantages you have
now will pale in comparison with a great set of algorithms that
differentiates the customer experience. It is the algorithms that
will create value for the business.
Perspective. Has Amazon reinvented TV as it was
in the 1960's?
Amazon
Debuts Its First Original Show With Ads, Hinting at a New, Free Video
Business
Amazon has spent billions to create and acquire TV
shows that it shows without ads to boost the value of its Prime
membership program. Now, for the first time, it has unveiled an
original video series that will be supported by ads and live outside
Prime’s walls.
On Thursday, the company released the first
episode of Season 3 of “The Fashion Fund,” a 10-episode reality
show series produced by Conde Nast Entertainment that follows top
fashion design contestants as they compete for a $400,000 grand
prize. The show is
available for free to anyone who visits Amazon.com, so long as they
are willing to sit through a few minutes of commercials.
Watching the industry flounder.
Hack
Education Weekly News
… The Chicago Board of Education has
unanimously approved
the addition of computer science as a graduation requirement for all
CPS students beginning with next year’s freshmen.
… “Public Universities Struggle Without
State Aid Amid Illinois Budget Crisis,” NPR
reports. Earlier this week, Chicago State University said
that it was going to have to end of the semester early because of the
budget impasse. But as of today, “Chicago
State University Sends Layoff Notices To All Employees.”
… Via
Boing Boing: “NH bill would explicitly allow libraries to run
Tor exit nodes.” [Browse
free or die! Bob]
… Harvard will no
longer use the phrase “house masters” to describe dorm
administrators. [Because:
slavery. Bob]
… David
Perry has published a chilling set of slides from the University
of Houston explaining how faculty should respond to the new
law-of-the-land in Texas that allows people to carry concealed
weapons on (public university) campuses in the state.
