Saturday, March 11, 2017

They replace compromised credit cards and want the ‘breach-ee’ to pay for it.
Matt Day reports that another retailer has been sued by financial institutions hoping to recover their costs of a breach.  Veridian Credit Union filed suit, seeking class-action status, in Seattle federal court this week.
The complaint alleges negligence on the retailer’s part and seeks to compensate financial institutions for costs related to reissuing stolen credit and debit cards, refunding unauthorized transactions and other fallout from the malware breach that affected point of sale terminals in its brick-and-mortar stores.
The deficiencies in Eddie Bauer’s security system include “a lack of elementary security measures that even the most inexperienced (information technology) professional could identify as problematic,” the complaint said.
The company failed to implement chip-based card anti-fraud technology, and exacerbated the problem by failing to notify customers for weeks after learning about the problem, the lawsuit says.
Read more on Seattle Times.  In light of Home Depot’s settlement with banks over its 2014 breach, it will be interesting to see what happens with this one.


Abandoning a perfectly good parking spot is probable cause? 
Can police strip search a motorist over an unpaid $6.50 traffic ticket?  The New Jersey Superior Court’s Appellate Division said last week that such conduct is unconstitutional.  A three-judge panel considered the case of Robert L. Evans, who was subjected to a search on January 4, 2012, after a Vineland police officer saw Evans pulling into, and then out of, a parking spot at the Days Inn.
Read more on TheNewspaper.com.
A copy of the decision is available in a 160k PDF file on their site.
[From the article:  
The judges were upset that police failed to abide by the state attorney general's guidelines which say require a warrant for strip searches.  The panel saw no excuse for the failure to obtain one.


Not a real fear of Russians casting votes. 
Fears of election hacking spread in Europe
France has followed the Netherlands in placing its faith in paper-based voting systems ahead of key elections later this year, following allegations that Russian hackers influenced last year's U.S. presidential election.
   The move will only affect 11 of the 577 electoral districts voting, those representing French citizens living outside their home country.  These expatriates had previously been allowed to vote over the internet in some elections because the alternative was to require some of them to travel vast distances to the nearest embassy or consulate with a ballot box.
   That decision, though, was for reasons of electoral equality, not cybersecurity.
   In the Netherlands, it wasn't the internet that posed a security concern but the use of software to add up counts of paper votes.  Parliamentary elections will be held there on March 15.


“Well for one thing, you’re talking to a box…”   
'Alexa: What's Wrong With Me..?' Amazon's Virtual Assistant To Replace Your Doctor
Just when you thought Amazon’s virtual assistant knew enough already, WebMD – the hypochondriac’s favorite website - has teamed up with the retail giant to give Alexa medical diagnosis capabilities.
The integration will allow Amazon Echo, Echo Dot and Fire TV users to ask Alexa basic health queries, such as "Alexa, ask WebMD what are the symptoms of a heart attack", or "Alexa, ask WebMD how to treat a sore throat."
   "There are a number of reasons that voice-enabled interfaces are growing in popularity - they are generally hands-free, people can talk faster than they type, and when done right, they make it easier for consumers to quickly and easily get to the information they need."

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