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Los Alamos National Laboratory: Sometimes Data Security Requires More Than
2007-12-21 06:01:00
There is a short article at the AP that makes one wonder what exactly they do at Los Alamos National Laboratory .  I?ve read enough technology?centric books to know that Los Alamos was where the first nuclear bomb was developed under Manhattan Project.  It is currently home to many math, physics, and other science and engineering researchers working on some of the most cutting?edge technologies and basic and/or applied sciences.  You bomb this place and the average IQ in the USA falls by, like, 125 points.  So, the image I get of the place is that of a desert location dealing with extremely hush?hush, top?secret projects.  At the same time, it?s described as one of those places where scientifically?minded people get together to comingle and share information, sparking all sorts of revolutionary ideas.  Due to this dichotomy of being top?secret (= extreme security a là Mission: Impossible) and free?exchange of ideas (= hippie commune), you wonder how the...
More About: Security , Data Security , Data

Tens Of Thousands Of Seniors Affected By Laptop Theft With No Data Encrypti
2007-12-20 03:42:00
An employee of the Pennsylvania Department of Aging returned from a funeral to find his home burgled.  Among the items missing was his laptop issued by the department which contained information on approximately 21,000 senior citizens.  Information included names, addresses, Social Security numbers, medical information, and recently services on the part of the department.  There was no encryption on the machine, just the customary double?password.   Talk about bad timing.  The Department of Aging was actually in the process of encrypting computers when the burglary took place (all computers are encrypted as of the time of the press release), but the stolen laptop was one of those not yet encrypted.  There?s not much to say here.  One of the engineering creeds (that applies to pretty much anything in life) is ?you?ve got to start somewhere.?  This is very true with data encryption.  Encrypting takes time and a multitude of resources, from...
More About: Laptop , Data , Theft , Seniors

College Entrance Exam Data Security Breach In Japan
2007-12-19 09:15:00
The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that a personal computer and a memory card belonging to a test writer were stolen.  The test writer in this case was writing for the National Center for University Entrance Examinations, which is in charge of creating the college entrance exam that is given once a year in Japan .  The next upcoming one is given on January 19 and 20.   According to the article, over 400 teachers and professors at national, public, and private universities spent two years formulating the questions.  And while the test writer wasn?t storing the actual questions in the stolen goods (these are to be secured in a vault), he was carrying enough material used to create the questions to create problems?i.e., anyone who gets to see the contents of the laptop and memory card would be able to seriously narrow the field on what to study.  That helps a lot when twenty?eight subjects are covered in the exams.  The national exams are more akin to AP exams tha...
More About: Security , College , Data Security , Data

Security Guys Lose Laptop With Security Data
2007-12-18 07:11:00
A laptop computer with the details of a new security system protecting the British Parliament was supposedly lost by a Serjeant at Arms (not a typo) senior parliamentary official.  The Searjeant at Arms department is responsible for the security of the House of Commons at Westminster Palace.  Man, the UK government can't catch a break.   Based on the security entry at Wikipedia for Westminster palace, it looks like the House of Commons would be in dire need of security: pretty much all security breaches in history?physical attacks of one sort or another, that is?seem to take place near the House of Commons.  To heap some embarrassment on the irony of the situation, the laptop was lost on parliament?s grounds; taken right beneath their noses, as it were.  But then, supposedly the security is very lax at Westminster (according to the Register), and there is a ?notorious? amount of theft when it comes to equipment and furniture.  Hmm?maybe the re...
More About: Security , Laptop , Data , Guys

The UK Caught In A Perfect Storm Of Data Breaches. How Long Will It Last?
2007-12-18 04:45:00
The UK government has had to admit to another potentially serious data breach:  3 million learner driver records were lost.  There were some smaller incidents between this latest case and the two lost CDs case last month?a veritable peppering of breach after breach.  The difference between the smaller cases and these two big ones is, obviously, size.  With so many data breach cases seeing the light of day, one wonders if these are attempts to hamstring the new Gordon Brown Administration.  Of course, when one considers that these breaches are happening under the auspices of the members of the Brown administration, one has to throw the conspiracy theories out the window and embark upon the incompetence theory.   Or does one?  The Brown administration has been in place for a little less than six months.  When you?ve got a systematic failure of the government, it generally takes longer than six months to develop?and, usually, to diagnose it as on...
More About: Data , Storm , Perfect , Long , Caught

Obfuscation One Way To Implement Data Security
2007-12-15 05:35:00
But not necessarily the best method, especially when it involves hiding a security manual from your workers who are supposed to follow it.  The Guardian has just released an article stating that junior civil servants, the same ones that were implicated in losing to CDs with information on 25 million children in the UK, were not given the official instructions on how to secure the data that is transferred to other departments.  A manual was created for ensuring data security and privacy, but it was not distributed at the HMRC because it was decided that there was too much sensitive information in it.  Instead, a few senior civil servants got access to the manual and left it at that.  Did they ask for a new manual?  Doesn?t sound like it.  Talk about a Catch-22 situation.  The junior servant at the HMRC that was fingered as the culprit in the entire debacle had no choice but to do what he did.  How is he going to know the procedures if the proc...
More About: Security , Data Security , Data

The Silver Lining To So Many Laptop Thefts? Laptop Encryption Is Finally B
2007-12-14 08:12:00
Ohio has recently announced that they?re going to encrypt all of their data.  It took a task force of 37 IT professionals from 30 state agencies, but they finally decided on how to do it.  Also, there are reports that, in a first of its kind, the US government has issued blanket purchasing agreements for ?data?at?rest? encryption products.  Data?at?rest refers to data that is in storage, as opposed to bits and bytes traveling between one computer to another, or data temporarily parked, such as those residing in RAM.  One of the beneficiaries is the military.  For example, the Air Force now requires that all data?at?rest on laptops be encrypted.  This was supposedly prompted by the computer thefts and losses at the various Veterans Affairs departments in the past year or so.  State and local governments are also beneficiaries.  At the Tennessee Department of Revenue, encryption can?t be offered to all employees, but any machines that are mobi...
More About: Encryption , Laptop , Silver Lining , Silver , Finally

When It Rains, It Pours. More Disks With Personal Information Go Missing I
2007-12-13 04:31:00
I?m reading in the Daily Mail that the personal data of 16,000 children was lost at a London hospital (Hmm...  The headline says 16,000, the article says 160,000.  That?s a huge difference).  The data was contained on a computer disk.  Thankfully, the information was encrypted before being sent:  ?BT couriered a fully encrypted disc containing patient information to City and Hackney PCT? was the statement released by Ruth Carnall, chief executive of NHS London.  (BT operates the IT system used by NHS, the National Health Service.)  The lost disks contain names, dates of birth, and addresses.  The situation resolved for the most part (after all, encryption is encryption), my eye caught this line: ?Although the data on the disc was secured using a system known as 256 bit encryption, one of the most secure available, a team of researchers recently demonstrated the system could in theory be cracked in two weeks.? That last statement implies some...
More About: Personal , Information , Missing , Missi

Forrester Research Not Following Their Own Recommendations When It Comes To
2007-12-07 05:32:00
In an episode that many are calling ironic, Forrester Research has sent out letters to affected employees that a laptop computer stolen from one of their employees contained private employee information?and, one would assume, that the device was not encrypted.  Current as well as past employees are affected, and the data that could potentially fall into the wrong hands include names, addresses, and Social Security numbers.  As is the case in such announcements, it was pointed out that the hard drive is protected via a password, but there was no mention of encryption, leading one to believe that there wasn?t any.  Also, it sounds like there was no mention of there being other safeguards or ?technologies? on that laptop either, unlike the Memorial Blood Centers announcement from yesterday.  Could it be that the person sending out the letters made a gaffe?  Perhaps.  Forrester?s CPO?Chief People Officer?sent out the letter informing of the potential data ...
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Information Security For The Two Lost CDs In The UK Would Have Cost $102,00
2007-12-07 04:04:00
It boggles the mind.  And, in a way, I can understand why the information was not stripped when the two CDs were sent from HM Revenue and Customs.  Based on internal e-mails passed back and forth, it looks like there were questions in regards to whether the sensitive/unnecessary information could be stripped.  Thus asked an NAO official (the recipient of the CDs, I?d imagine): ?I do not need address, bank or parent details in the download -- are these removable to make the file smaller??  And the reply was, ?I must stress we must make use of the data we hold and not over burden the business by asking them to run additional scans/filters that may incur a cost to the department.?  It?s quite obvious that the data that is causing conniptions all over Britain were not filtered as a cost measure.  That backfired.  Big time.  Especially when you?re clued in to this fact: recent testimony by HMRC acting chair Dave Hartnett shows, upon pressured que...
More About: Security , Lost , Information , Cost , Information Security

Blood Banks In Need Of Endpoint Security? Potential Breach For 268,000 Dono
2007-12-06 06:00:00
A laptop was stolen in Minneapolis a couple of weeks ago while personnel were preparing for a blood drive.  The laptop was inside a briefcase, so it looks to be a random theft in which the perp scored big time.   A spokersperson for Memorial Blood Centers said that they?ve begun to contact blood donors.  Furthermore, they announced that there are multiple passwords and other technologies protecting the password.  I cannot find any references to what these technologies might be, but I can understand why the blood bank wouldn?t be specific about it: when combined with the statement, ?We also immediately implemented additional measures to further protect against unauthorized access to donor data,? I think it?s pretty obvious they?ve got some kind of computer program that kicks in once the computer connects to the internet.  After all, there?s nothing much you can do to protect a laptop to which you don?t have access to anymore?you can?t encrypt the machine afte...
More About: Security , Banks , Breach , Dono

UK Government's CD Loss Pales In Comparison To Laptop Security
2007-12-05 08:09:00
The lost CDs in the UK from last month are gifts that keep on giving.  Giving headaches, that is; one could also get a case of permanent slackjaw as well.  Because the lost CDs could affect nearly half the nation, Britons have been doing a lot of finger?pointing, nagging, and generally trying to pin the blame on someone for the fiasco.  After the low-level, junior government employee was initially blamed, plenty of people came to his defense, pointing out that lax security procedures have definitely not been the exception over the years.  Parliament itself has tried to figure out the extent of the problem, and the more they dig, the worse the UK government looks.  To begin with, plenty of ministers have admitted in parliamentary statements that laptops and desktop PCs have been missing from government departments for years.  In 2006 alone, over 290 computers were stolen from various governmental departments.  The good news, though, is that the nu...
More About: Security , Laptop , Loss , Comparison

The Eight Myths Of Data Encryption: Laptop Security Is More Attainable Than
2007-12-04 05:55:00
SC Magazine has an article regarding the eight myths of data encryption, and I would like to comment on some of them.  More specifically, I would like to comment on four of them, since only four of the eight were listed.  (I?m not sure if the article was posted in haste, or whether it?s a two-part series?there is no indication to the latter).  The four myths mentioned are that encryption is too complex to use and deploy; that it?s for computers in general, not smaller mobile devices; that there?s no government compliance requirements; and that it will impact network performance.  Encryption is not complex.  At least, it?s not complex if you?re using it, not designing it.  Whole disk encryption as offered by AlertBoot is a completely transparent software from the end-user?s perspective, with the only hint of its existence being the need to enter a username and password during boot up time.  Policies for file encryption can also be set up easily so...
More About: Security , Laptop , Data , Myths

Why Laptop Encryption Beats File Encryption When It Comes To Data Security
2007-12-01 03:54:00
Of course, it doesn?t mean that you can?t use both (or that using both is not recommended).  But encrypting an entire laptop?s hard drive holds an ace over individual file encryption: convenient, one-stop security.   Once a computer?s entire disk is encrypted, the only thing the end user has to do is remember the username and password required to access the laptop.   This process is identical to typing the username and password in order to gain access into Windows, if the login prompt is set up.  But unlike the Windows prompt, encryption provides security, whereas the Windows prompt just provides the sense of security.  You can think of encryption as a Jumble word puzzle with a shot of testosterone (strong enough that even the US Government uses it to safeguard their own documents if they decide to use encryption, which is not as often as you?d think, based on the news), whereas the ordinary Windows username and password is the gray, silver layer on ins...
More About: Security , Encryption , Laptop , Data Security , File

Tomorrow Is Computer Security Day. Change Your Passwords To Enhance Your L
2007-11-30 04:52:00
Computer Security Day falls on November 30th of each year, namely, tomorrow.  There are many things you can do to ensure that your laptop and desktop computers remain safe, ranging from running antivirus software and changing passwords to making sure liquids are not near your computer or electrical outlets.  Of course, some of them enhance your computer security in greater ways than others.  Changing your passwords happens to be one of them.  About two-thirds of people never change their passwords, and they are setting themselves up for a potential data breach, especially if their passwords are really short.  The reasoning lies in very simple math.  Assuming that the password in question is ****, meaning that four characters constitute the password, how hard is it to crack it?  Well, if characters are not case-sensitive (i.e., ?A? is the same as ?a?), and special characters such as #$%^& are not used, there?s 34 total options (24 from the Eng...
More About: Computer , Change , Tomorrow , Computer Security

Data Breaches Incur Higher Costs And Customer Churn With Time
2007-11-29 07:37:00
At least, that is the conclusion that the Ponemon Institute has arrived at, according to various articles on-line.  Among the findings:  Costs per breached record was $197 this year vs. $182 last year, an increase of 8% Breaches by third parties such as consultants and outsourced contractors accounted for 40% of the data security lapses, vs. 29% and 21% in past years.  Costs per breach were higher as well, averaging $231 per record Notification costs are down to $15 per customer vs. $25 in 2006 The churn rate for companies hit with data breaches was 2.67% vs. 2.01% in 2006  That last statistic is actually quite significant, apparently.  It?s a metric for measuring contractual customers or subscribers that leave a company.  I assume it would be a better metric for financial service companies or companies that provide encryption services like AlertBoot, than a grocery store or a retailer where the concept of a ?subscription? doesn?t really make sense. ...
More About: Time , Data , Customer , Higher

Floppy Disks Used To Trounce Data Security In Formula One
2007-11-28 07:56:00
For those who don?t know, this has been a very busy year for Formula One, not in terms of racing, but in terms of data theft.  Over the past Thanksgiving weekend I had seen a blurb in a small Brazilian article about McLaren accusing Renault of stealing secrets (Formula 1 racing in Brazil?I never realized that it was big until F1 driver Ayrton Senna got a funeral fit for a king back in 1994, when he died on the tracks from a head-on collision).  Anyhow, it turns out that theft is not what they?re accused of.  Rather, Renault was accused of possessing stolen secrets.  Secrets that belonged to McLaren-Mercedes.  Ironically enough, McLaren was accused of possessing stolen Ferrari designs and technology earlier this year.  What goes around, comes around.   What?s funny is that in both cases the data was delivered to each recipient team in floppy disks.  We?re talking about the 3.5? squarish, plastic things that couldn?t go near a magnet.  Ther...
More About: Security , Data Security , Data , Formula One

In The Digital Age, The Sun Never Sets On The (Former) British Empire: Cana
2007-11-27 07:53:00
Or at least, it certainly feels like it.  In addition to last week?s UK government public relations fiasco with the two lost CDs?and the other post I had regarding a break-in into an Indian government military research lab, where three computers got stolen?there are reports from Cana da that a consultant for the Provincial Public Health Laboratory (PHL) of Newfoundland and Labrador took home from a laboratory a laptop containing patient information, creating a data breach.  From the reports, it doesn?t sound as if the laptop was stolen from the consultant.  Rather, and this is freaky as hell, a security researcher called up the consultant in question at home, letting the consultant know that the researcher was able to access the data, via the consultant?s internet connection.  Can imagine?  You?re minding your own business, doing some government work when a guy calls in to let you know, ?I can see your data.?  It feels like the fourth sequel to I Know W...
More About: Sets , British , Empire , Digital

Indian Military Research Facility Suffers Computer Theft - Electrified Fenc
2007-11-24 04:46:00
The Times of India and several other news sites are carrying articles about a break?in to the Defence Material Store Research Development and Establishment (DMSRDE) in India.  As far as I can tell, this is a research laboratory under aegis of the Ministry of Defence (or Defense, if you prefer), a branch of an Indian DARPA that deals with materials research.  As such, one would expect a more than adequate level of security.  The details in the Times article bears this out: ?the entire boundary wall is fenced and the wires are electrified.?  I?d assume armed guards, most probably military, were also securing the entrances as well. Three computers were stolen, and due to the circumstances, there is a not-unsurprising belief that this was an inside job.  Thankfully, nothing of strategic importance has been stolen, according to official statements released by the government; however, I would imagine there are some reasons for concern.  One of the comput...
More About: Military , Computer , Theft

German Authorities Cannot Crack Skype Encryption. Should You Use The Same
2007-11-23 05:32:00
As I was scanning the news in some Spanish sites, I came across an article at eleconomista.es where German police profess having problems with the encryption used by Skype , the Internet-based telephone company now owned by eBay.  Based on the November 22nd article, the German police have been unable to decipher the encrypted calls.  The German authorities have been trying to tap the calls of those suspected of terrorism and other potential crimes, but have found the encryption impossible to break, and are looking for ways to intercept the calls prior to being encrypted or after it has been decrypted, on the receiving end.  An official was quoted as expressly stating that they are not asking for companies to divulge their encryption keys or asking for companies to establish a backdoor.  The Spanish article is kind of surprising, not in that the encryption used by Skype is unbreakable, but that the German authorities are claiming that they can?t break it.  B...
More About: Encryption , Crack , Authorities

Ten Seconds Is All It Takes To Steal A Laptop. Make Laptop Encryption Part
2007-11-23 03:21:00
If one does a search for the words ?laptop theft? in Google, the third result is the security footage of what looks to be a passing elderly man stealing a laptop.  More specifically, this elderly man scouts the place out and steals the laptop that was displayed at a storefront window in broad daylight, with at least two workers in the store.   I wanted to call him a vagrant, but it doesn?t look like his appearance is causing sirens to go off in the minds of the storekeepers, despite what looks like an unkempt appearance in the extremely grainy footage from the camera.  Plus, one can clearly see him pretending to be talking on a cell phone as he walks out with the hot goods (good?) literally stuffed down his pants.  You don?t have too many hobos with cell phones out there.  Well, with the exception of South Korea, it seems.  I?ve been a direct witness to someone begging for money in the streets and answering a call at the same time.  The foota...
More About: Encryption , Laptop , Part , Make , Steal

Another Day, Another Data Breach At A Government Facility: US Department of
2007-11-22 07:19:00
Hot on the trail of the UK Government ?s misplacement of two CDs with sensitive information on nearly half of all Britannia, there?s a small story concerning the Veteran Affairs office in the US.  Three PCs, two of them desktop machines and one of them a laptop, are missing from a medical facility in Indiana.  The theft took place, of all things, over Veterans? Day weekend, so it actually preceded the brouhaha that?s rising to a crescendo on the other side of the pond.   Some of the details vary, but this much is certain: Of the three computers stolen, one of them had the confidential records of 12,000 patients.  The contents were not encrypted, but they were password-protected (again, meaningless in terms of security; not so much in terms of PR).  Some say that the machines were stolen from an insecure location; however, the press release from the VA state that the computers were stolen from locked offices.  As well they should have been; otherwise, the...
More About: Department , Data , Breach , T A G

UK Up In Arms Over Loss Of Two CDs. 25 Million Britons Affected By Lack of
2007-11-21 07:54:00
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has lost two CDs containing the details of 25 million people in the United Kingdom.  With the official population of the UK at 60.5 million, this represents slightly less than half of all the people in that country.  The matter was grave enough, combined with other data breaches at the same department, for the chairman, Paul Gray, to resign.   The data that could potentially be compromised are the names, addresses, and the birthdates of every child in the UK, plus the bank account details and England?s equivalent of Social Security numbers of 10 million parents and other caretakers.  The two CDs were lost en route to the National Audit Office.  Because of the nature of the media lost?compact discs?there has been plenty of fist-pounding on why the government is using such ?ancient museum pieces? and that these must be replaced.  I would like to comment, as I usually do, that the method of delivery is not at fault.  Af...
More About: Loss , Arms , Million , Lack , Riton

Laptop Encryption Is The Most Commonsense Way To Protect Portable Computers
2007-11-20 07:33:00
InformationWeek has an in-depth article on preventing data loss, and has fingered encryption as a must-have in one?s arsenal.  They correctly point out that it?s the most ?commonsense? way to protect data, and that it also helps avoid penalties in certain states if the computer were to be stolen.   How powerful is encryption?  It depends on what you?re using, but it is so powerful that the UK has included as part of their terror laws the ability for police to ask for encryption keys.  Last week, an animal rights activist was ordered to surrender her encryption keys to the authorities as part of RIPA, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.   The measure is contentious, but English Parliament passed it in order to better fight organized crime and terrorism (criminals tend to be at the forefront of technology in order to escape the authorities.  This begs the question, how come the authorities are not using what?s at the forefront of technology?&...
More About: Computers , Encryption , Laptop , Portable , Crypt

Eleven Laptops Stolen Out Of Japanese Embassy. No Word On Laptop Security.
2007-11-17 04:58:00
The Yomiuri Shimbun is reporting that eleven laptops were stolen from a Japanese Embassy in Brussels, Belgium.  Japanese expatriates?about 12,700 of them?might be affected.  The information on the laptops included residence certification, overseas voting registrations, and passport information.  The information on residence certification also include personal details such as date of birth, name, permanent address in Japan, occupation, and family information.  Because of the fears expressed regarding personal identity theft, my guess is that there was nothing such as AlertBoot ensuring the safety of the information on the laptops via encryption.   Is it normal for an embassy to have this information?  Actually, it is, and it?s not because they?re playing Big Brother.  Generally speaking, embassies welcome their country?s citizens to register their arrival whenever they step onto foreign soil, although this is rarely followed anymore.  I guess i...
More About: Security , Laptops , Laptop , Word

UK Doctors To Be Prosecuted If Laptop Encryption Not Present In Stolen Devi
2007-11-16 07:51:00
Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner in the UK, has told the Lords? Constitution Committee that doctors who have their laptops stolen due to carelessness should end up in court.  Of course, the matter is not as simple as it sounds.  Mr. Thomas?s words were as follows:   ?If a doctor, or hospital [employee] leaves a laptop containing patients? records in his car and it is stolen, it is hard to see that is anything but gross negligence.?   Mr. Thomas also clarified his position saying that his intention was not to prosecute every incidence of a laptop theft, but those instances where such negligence is recurrent.  Encrypting the contents of the device, of course, would absolve the doctors and other hospital employees from any wrongdoing.  After all, encrypted data is virtually inaccessible by undesirables, so there?s no detriment to any patients who could have been affected by theft.   Naturally, such a suggestion has brought lots of critici...
More About: Doctors , Encryption , Laptop , Stolen , Present

Sloppy Laptop Security Can Cost Over $500,000
2007-11-15 03:15:00
The value of the data on those who do carry valuable information on their laptops is $525,000 on average.  This was the result of a survey commissioned by a company that specializes in offering secured wireless and wired broadband services to hotels and conference centers.   The survey included 491 participants, all of them users of mobile devices such as PDAs and laptops, who stay in a hotel at least once a month.  The survey also found that the value of the information on laptops is negligible most of the time.  If everyone were to be included, the above figure would lower to $330,000.   I took a look at the above numbers, and frankly I?m slightly puzzled, since I would conclude that most people do carry valuable information.  If the average is $330,000 with 491 people, that means the total value is $161.7 million.  (Note: That?s a pretty scary thought.  $100 million crisscrossing the nation on flimsy, easily filch-able devices?  And th...
More About: Security , Laptop , Cost

Laptop Security For University Students
2007-11-14 05:21:00
The Daily Bruin, a UCLA publication, is carrying an article about laptop thefts on their campus.  Eleven computer-related thefts were already reported in the month of October, despite the fact that this is not the beginning of the year anymore, and hence, one would assume, that students are not as trusting as they were at the beginning of the year.   However, the incidents highlighted in the article are not what I would call stupid, like leaving your laptop unattended and unsecured at a coffee table while you go get another latte and flirt with the barista.  No, the cases described include a burglarized car; laptops secured with laptop locks; laptops placed inside a room (no word on whether the door was locked, but I?ll assume it was).  These are your run-of-the-mill methods for protecting valuables?lock the door or physically secure your device.  And like in the real world, assuming that life in a college campus is not real enough, these run-of-the-mill met...
More About: Security , Laptop , University , Students , Univers

Corporate Espionage And Data Security
2007-11-13 05:52:00
The Korea Times is reporting that two executives at STX Heavy Industries, based out of South Korea, were arrested this past Friday on charges of stealing key technology from their former employer, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction.  The technology in question was related to desalination and power generation.  Doosan is one of the lesser known (at least, internationally) Korean chaebols, conglomerates that do everything from construction to building cars to building microchips.  Samsung, one of the leading chaebols in Korea, for example, is not just an LCD TV and flash-memory manufacturer.  It also builds cars (Renault supplies the engines, supposedly) and skyscrapers; operates a brokerage house; and develops heavy machinery as well as operating an amusement park outside Seoul.   How did the two executives steal the information?  Allegedly, they stuck something into the USB port of the computer and copied information (no details on what it was, ...
More About: Security , Data Security , Corporate , Data , Espionage

Data Center In Chicago Is Broken Into (Twice!): Why Hard Disk Encryption Sh
2007-11-10 05:28:00
An article in theregister.co.uk mentions how a Chicago -based data hosting center, C I Host, was broken into twice.  The more recent case was about a month ago, on October 2nd, when armed robbers (!) broke into the facility by ?cutting into the reinforced walls with a power saw.?  The night manager present was tasered and struck with a blunt instrument.  Then, the robbers made off with equipment belonging to C I Host and their customers, including servers.  In the ensuing days, C I Host turned the robbery into a major PR fiasco, taking several days to admit that there was a breach at the location.  In the meantime, they told affected customers that servers were down, routers were not working, etc.?anything but the truth.  What was management thinking?  We?re they planning on surreptitiously replacing the customers? machines?  What about the data on those machines?  Copy them over from back ups?  What about the serial numbers on the m...
More About: Encryption , Disk , Data , Hard