News release: “The Ponemon Institute proudly presents the 2010 U.S. Cost of a Data Breach, the sixth annual study concerning the cost of data breach incidents for U.S.-based companies sponsored by Symantec Corporation. The average organizational cost of a data breach increased to $7.2 million and cost companies an average of $214 per compromised record,… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: PC Security
FTC Offers Tips on Wise Use of Wi-Fi Networks
News release: “The Federal Trade Commission, the nations consumer protection agency, released tips to help people protect their personal information while they use public wireless networks Wi-Fi hotspots in coffee shops, libraries, airports, hotels, universities, and other public places. While convenient, public Wi-Fi networks often are not secure. When using wireless networks, its best… Continue Reading
Facebook Enables Full-Session Encryption
EPIC: “Facebook will now allow full-session HTTPS. The switch to encrypted cloud-based computing promotes privacy and security, particularly when users access Facebook from public Internet access points. Previously, Facebook only used HTTPS when users passwords were being sent to the site. Third party applications currently do not support HTTPS. Users can opt into HTTPS through… Continue Reading
Reports that White House e-mail system used in UK cyberattack
Federal Computer Week: “The White House’s unclassified e-mail system is back up after an eight-hour outage, but the e-mail security problems may go deeper. It was disclosed February 4, 2011 that some officials alleged White House e-mails were the source of a cyberattack against British officials two months ago. Officials from the United Kingdom said… Continue Reading
Majority of Federal Employees Go Beyond Mandatory IT Security Requirements
News release: “Most Federal employees go beyond baseline IT security requirements, according to a new survey by the Government Business Council, the research division of Government Executive Media Group, and CDW Government LLC (CDW-G), a leading provider of technology solutions to government, education and healthcare customers. While 97 percent of Federal employees are required by… Continue Reading
OMB: Initial Assessments of Safeguarding and Counterintelligence Postures for Classified National Security Information in Automated Systems
January 3, 2011 – M-11-08, UNCLASSIFIED – Initial Agency Self-Assessment Program for User Access to Classified Information in Automated Systems: “Each department or agency that handles classified information should assess the agencys and its employees adherence to the policy issuances noted below, the requirements to safeguard classified information with an emphasis on their application in… Continue Reading
WaPo: WikiLeaks cable dump reveals flaws of State Department's information-sharing tool
Follow up to previous postings on WikiLeaks, via WaPo’s Joby Warrick: “Investigations into the attacks concluded that government agencies had failed to share critical information that could have helped uncover the Sept. 11 plot. Because of that lapse, Congress tasked the Office of the Director of National Intelligence with pressuring key government agencies – including… Continue Reading
Forbes: WikiLeaks And The New Corporate Disclosure Crisis
WikiLeaks And The New Corporate Disclosure Crisis – Stephanie Nora White and Rebecca Theim: “If the scandals that have plagued corporate America in the past two years haven’t gotten you thinking about your own company’s vulnerabilities, then the latest revelations out of WikiLeaks certainly should. In an interview with Forbes’ Andy Greenberg, WikiLeaks founder Julian… Continue Reading
Verizon White Paper: Escaping from Microsofts Protected Mode Internet Explorer
Escaping from Microsofts Protected Mode Internet Explorer – Evaluating a potential security boundary, November 2010 “In Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Vista, Microsoft introduced a new browser security feature called Protected Mode. According to Microsoft, this mechanism significantly reduces the ability of an attack [against Internet Explorer] to write, alter or destroy data on the… Continue Reading
EFF Tool Offers New Protection Against Exploits of Webpage Security Flaws
News release: “The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has launched a new version of HTTPS Everywhere, a security tool that offers enhanced protection for Firefox browser users against “Firesheep” and other exploits of webpage security flaws. HTTPS secures web browsing by encrypting both requests from your browser to websites and the resulting pages that are displayed.… Continue Reading
State of the Internet 2010: A Report on the Ever-Changing Threat Landscape
State of the Internet 2010: A Report on the Ever-Changing Threat Landscape, CA Technologies Internet Security Business Unit Internet Security Intelligence Report, October 2010 “Today approximately 1.8 billion people use the Internet to do everything from conduct business, communicate with friends and family, keep up with current events or simply entertain themselves playing games or… Continue Reading
FTC Testifies on Data Security Legislation
News release: [On September 22, 2010] the Federal Trade Commission told a Senate Subcommittee that it supports proposed legislation that would require many companies to use reasonable data security policies and procedures and require those companies to notify consumers when there is a security breach. In testimony before the Committee on Science, Commerce, and Transportation… Continue Reading
