The micro-blogging service rejects certain passwords when new users sign up if it thinks they are too easy to guess. However, bloggers recently discovered that the list of banned passwords is embedded in the source code of the page itself. Banned terms include commonly chosen generic passwords, such as “123456”, “password” and “password1”, as well…
Author: Dissent
Official: No computer security breach at Behrend
Gerry Weiss reports: A computer security breach at Pennsylvania State University that may have exposed thousands of Social Security numbers did not disclose personal information of any students, faculty or staff associated with its Erie branch campus, officials here said. Penn State Behrend, which experienced its own computer-related security breach in late January 2009, was…
Cybercrooks stalk small businesses that bank online
Byron Acohido reports: A rising swarm of cyber-robberies targeting small firms, local governments, school districts, churches and non-profits has prompted an extraordinary warning. The American Bankers Association and the FBI are advising small and midsize businesses that conduct financial transactions over the Internet to dedicate a separate PC used exclusively for online banking. The reason:…
UK: Leicestershire police 'strongly support' DNA legislation
Leicestershire police has said it “strongly supports” clearer legislation on retaining innocent people’s DNA. Yet in the past year, the force refused 22 of 24 requests to remove records from its database. This is despite a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights which has said holding the DNA of innocent people indefinitely was…
WA: 130,000 at risk after computer breach at EWU
Levi Pulkkinen reports: Following a computer breach earlier in December, Eastern Washington University will be notifying 130,000 current and former students that their identifying information may have been compromised. While it remains unclear whether any students or alumni have had their identities stolen due to the breach, officials with the Cheney-based university are preparing to…
Breach reports decline in 2009, but what does it mean?
As of today’s date, breach compilations by both the Identity Theft Resource Center and Open Security Foundation indicate that there were fewer breach reports in 2009 relative to 2008. While some of the apparent decrease may be due to two sources used last year not being available online for the second half of this year,…