Pat Kossan reports that data security in the Wickenburg Unified School District was found seriously lacking in a state audit: Wickenburg Unified School District has not secured its computer system containing sensitive student data, including student addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers, state auditors found. Staffers from the Arizona Office of the Auditor General…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
Analyst Study Shows Employees Continue to Put Data at Risk
From the press release, results of the annual “Human Factor in Laptop Encryption” study by Absolute Software and the Ponemon Institute: This year’s expanded study was conducted in the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany and Sweden, in addition to the United States. The study found that 15% of German and 13% Swedish business managers have…
Voluntary Breach Disclosure Rare But Valuable
Kelly Jackson Higgins writes: Google’s and Adobe’s disclosure in January that they had been hit by the same wave of targeted attacks were rare voluntary revelations, the likes of which may never be seen again: Most companies won’t disclose an attack unless required to by law or regulations. But security experts and forensics investigators say…
Fiserv to Banks: Stay on Outdated Adobe Reader
Brian Krebs reveals that Fiserv, a “Fortune 500 company that provides bank transaction processing services and software to more than 16,000 clients worldwide,” is urging customers not to use the most updated version of Adobe Reader. In a notice dated February 18, 2010 on a part of its web site available to security and IT…
[RANT] New Rule: No Waffling
A recent press release and open letter from Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites induces a rant. I’m working on my taxes and thought I’d send this notification off to the I.R.S.: To valued I.R.S. employees: I wish to inform you of possible income earned involving my private practice. At some point during the period April…
Local govt computers at risk in Japan
Computer servers operated by a number of local governments are vulnerable to cyber-attacks, with some local entities failing to take countermeasures, according to an internal document of a government-affiliated organization. The Local Authorities Systems Development Center document showed that servers managed by at least 193 local entities, which include prefectural and municipal governments and possibly…