An Australian Federal Police boast, on the ABC’s Four Corners program, about officers breaking up an underground hacker forum, has backfired after hackers broke into a federal police computer system. Security consultants say police appear to have been using the computer as a honeypot to collect information on members of the forum but the scheme…
Radisson breach affects N. American guests
The Associated Press has an item about Radisson Hotels & Resorts notifying guests of a breach that involved their credit card numbers. And I see that on Radisson’s site, they have posted a letter to guests: Radisson values your business and respects the privacy of your information, which is why we wish to inform you…
Surgeon resigns from Washington University
It seems that every day, there’s a new article on ethical charges or issues involving research. The recent revelations about prominent clinical researchers getting fees from pharmaceutical companies that they did not disclose and even more recent revelations about pharmaceutical firms “ghost writing” research reports and paying doctors to put their names on them are…
UMass battles hacker attack
Since the University of Massachusetts announced a breach of its computer system earlier this month, there have been a few inquiries but no evidence that hackers actually stole information, according to UMass spokesman Edward F. Blaguszewski. By law UMass had to post a notice on its Web site reporting “a breach of security regarding personal…
Laptop with loan data missing in Weber County
The Weber County Sheriff’s Office is concerned about a missing laptop from a loan officer that contains sensitive and personal information of hundreds of home owners in Utah. Deputies said the [Sun Valley Mortgage] loan officer accidently (sic) left his computer on a sidewalk instead of putting it in his car, a mistake that may…
Malware strikes Titanium Metals Corp.
Titanium Metals Corporation (“TIMET”) notified the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office on August 13 that “malicious software circumvented the Company’s firewall protections and downloaded information from the Company’s systems.” TIMET reports [pdf] that their Information Services Department discovered and stopped the cyberattack, but does not indicate how long it took for the attack to be…