February 10, 2008   Sign In |  About ebizQ |  Contact Us |  Join ebizQ Gold Club
Peter Schooff
Peter Twenty-Four Seven Security
Peter Schooff's blog is a daily look at what's going on in the world of computer security with an emphasis on how it affects businesses.

« January 2007 | Main | March 2007 »

February 28, 2007
Podcast: The Future of Email Threats and the Coming Dangers of Web 2.0 - A Discussion with Dan Druker, EVP of Postini



Download file

Introduction

Postini has been on the front lines in the battle against spam since 1999, so it was a great opportunity for me to get a chance to speak with Dan Druker, Executive Vice President of Postini, about current and future threats against email and the internet.

“Virtually everyone who is listening to this will have seen an explosion in threats and attacks on the internet really starting in the 4th quarter of 2006. We process more than a billion messages a day at Postini and what we have measured is a dramatic shift in the world of internet threats,” Druker said.

Major Shift

Druker then detailed the recent change in methodology: “The source of spam has gone from the ISPs that are weak in terms of usage policies to now these things called botnets, which are networks of more than a million infected personal computers connected to high-speed networks that are controlled by these criminal networks. It is grid computing gone bad, and it’s changed the amount of bad stuff on the internet to record levels. We measured in December almost 95% of all messages on the internet are unwanted or malicious.”

This goes hand-in-hand with the major shift in the people perpetrating these cybercrimes. “Today, criminals have learned that committing internet crime is a way to make money at very low risk of getting caught and make a lot of money.” Criminals are now hiring computer scientists the write malicious code. Druker goes on the say that malicious software has two main goals: “First, steal your personal information to commit identity theft and fraud off of personal computers. Second, they’re designed to harness these personal computers to turn into these botnets.”

“This is related to the bad guys getting more sophisticated. So what you’re really describing is multi-channel threats. What’s happening is that they’re trying to get around your natural human inclination to be suspicious. So the attacks are more real time then ever before.”

Web 2.0

Druker explained that this represents the future of internet threats: Web 2.0. “The bad guys are also using Web 2.0 communities to do phishing attacks. You’re more likely to respond if you think you’re getting a note from you’re friend from YouTube or one of the other community sites. The attacks are very sophisticated and often times you simply can’t tell that an email is not coming from your bank and the site you’re being redirected too isn’t really it. It’s very difficult and it’s driven by how good the bad guys are getting.”

2007 Predictions

Also, for a company processing over 1 billion messages a day like Postini, I was quite interested to hear Druker’s prediction on what to expect in 2007. “We’ve had two of the largest intent worms in history have hit in the last 45 days. These worms were designed not just to steal information but to also infect more to grow the botnets. That means that the amount of spam and viruses, going into the first half of 2007, will be the largest it has ever been, simply based on more computers around the world infected to spew the stuff.”

“The second prediction we’d make is that web 2.0 is taking off so quickly that...what we see is a tiny percentage of businesses even have a policy in place about web 2.0. I mean, what is the policy on leaking confidential information out of the company via blog and chats. Are users really aware that there is danger in YouTube and MySpace and securing that access?”

Postini's Solution

The solution: “Postini’s job is to simply make this problem go away. Postini is a communication security and compliance company.” Drucker then said, “We sit in front of our companies business and we block threats from email, instant messaging and the web. When you turn Postini service on 94% of your email traffic will simply go away because we’re blocking out all the bad stuff out in the internet before it ever gets to you. We do the same thing for instant messaging traffic and for web as well. We protect it from those attacks and keep you safe.”

But those are just the highlights; give the entire podcast a listen.

Tags: Postini, Email Threats, Web 2.0, Block Spam, Cybercrime, Botnets, Multi-Channel Threats

Posted by ebizQ in | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

February 26, 2007
Firefox Fixes Flaws

Last Friday Mozilla released a significant update to their Firefox browser with a strong recommendation that all users immediately update. Here are the following details from Mozilla:

As part of Mozilla Corporation's ongoing stability and security update process, Firefox 1.5.0.10 and Firefox 2.0.0.2 are now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux for free download from getfirefox.com.

Due to the security fixes, we strongly recommend that all Firefox users upgrade to these latest releases.

Note: Firefox 1.5.0.x will be maintained with security and stability updates until April 24, 2007. All users are strongly encouraged to upgrade to Firefox 2. Firefox 1.5.0.10 is available for download from http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/all-older.html.

If you already have Firefox 1.5.0.x or Firefox 2.0.0.x, you will receive an automated update notification within 24 to 48 hours. This update can also be applied manually by selecting "Check for Updates..." from the Help menu at any time.

For a list of changes and more information, please review the Firefox 1.5.0.10 Release Notes and the Firefox 2.0.0.2 Release Notes.

Tags: Firefox+Upgrade, Security Fix

Posted by pschooff in Better Protection | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 23, 2007
New Data Breach Law Could Bring Big Change

Lawmakers in Massachusetts are weighing a law that would shift the financial burden generated by a data breach from banks to retailers. The law would be the first of its kind to make retailers assume all of the costs of a data breach.

As reported at Search Security, the proposed law is broadly written and would force retailers to cover all losses associated with a data breach notification, including the canceling of credit cards, the cost of freezing accounts, and credit information in cases of identity theft. Banks currently share a large portion of the financial burden.

The recent high-profile data breach at Mass. Based TJX Cos. Inc, which includes stores like T.J. Maxx, raised interest in the matter. The TJX breach compromised credit, debit, and driver license numbers of millions of customers.

The bill was introduced by Michael Costello, a Democrat in the Mass. House of Rep., but was shelved last year as lawmakers dealt with other issues. "We like to look at it as saying that everyone who holds sensitive information has responsibility," Adam Martignetti, chief of staff for Costello, said. "We're providing an incentive for companies to get them to protect the data responsibly and securely with the strictest protocols available."

As would be expected, banks heavily favor the bill, while retailers are strongly opposed. The simple fact is, though, that everyone who deals with personal consumer data bears a responsibility to secure that data.

Tags: Data Breach, TJX Cos., New Legislation, banks

Posted by pschooff in Better Protection | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 22, 2007
DuPont Insider Tries to Steal $400 Million

Recalling a recent series of blogs by ebizQ’s very own Andre Yee regarding insider attacks, I found this article on Dark Reader concerning a DuPont employee trying to steal $400 Million in trade secrets. Computer security played a big part both in letting him get as far as he did and in catching him.

The Delaware chemist, Gary Min, was flagged when he tried to access an abnormally high number of PDF documents from DuPont’s Electronic Data Library (EDL). It was discovered that Min downloaded 22,000 abstracts and 16,700 documents between Aug and December of 2005. This was 15 times the number of reports accessed by the next-highest user.

According to documents unsealed yesterday by Colm Connolly, U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, "The vast majority of Min's EDL searches were unrelated to his research responsibilities and his work on high-performance films. Rather, Min's EDL searches covered most of DuPont's major technologies and product lines as well as new and emerging technologies in the research and development stage. The fair market value of the technology accessed by Min exceeded $400 million."

Min began downloading the documents after received a job offer from Victrex, a DuPont competitor. The new job was not to begin until January 2006, and Min did not tell them he was leaving until December, which is when they uncovered his high-volume accesses.

While DuPont’s IT staff did well to uncover his treachery, they should not let have let him get as far he did. Min should not have had access to so many confidential documents, especially those unrelated to work. Also, closer attention to log data should have revealed the inconsistency of Min’s actions.

Min faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail and a fine of $250,000. Victrex was not accused of conspiring with Min.

Tags: Insider Attacks, log data, Insider Crime

Posted by pschooff in Better Protection | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 21, 2007
An Inside Look at Cybercrime

As the internet has evolved, so has the face of the cybercriminal, changing from what was once the providence of bedroom-geek hackers into something resembling much more of a full-fledged criminal who, instead of a gun, uses a computer. As I’ve blogged here before, their main intent has also shifted from making the biggest names for themselves to all about making money.

What is most frightening on this report found on Out-Law.com is that people with relatively low technical-skills can now effectively steal thousands of dollars a day without ever having to leave home. In fact, the cybercriminal can make more money online than dealing drugs, and the only time they have to leave their computer is to collect the cash.

Cybercrime has also become quite efficient, in that there is an active international market for skills and tools to use. It even has its own currency. The rise of cybercrime is directly related to the rise of online credit card transactions and online bank accounts.

For example, the cost to obtain authorized control over a six figure bank account is $400 (cybercriminals always deal in dollars). While that might seem like a fairly small figure, there is still quite a bit of risk and work left to do, and also remember that most people offering the information come from poor countries.

The transaction would probably take place in a hidden IRC (Internet Relay Chat) chatroom, and the $400 dollar fee paid in a virtual currency such as e-gold.

What follows below is a list of the various specialized functions that cybercriminals can engage in:

Coders – comparative veterans of the hacking community. With a few years' experience at the art and a list of established contacts, ‘coders’ produce ready-to-use tools (i.e. Trojans, mailers, custom bots) or services (such as making a binary code undetectable to AV engines) to the cybercrime labour force – the ‘kids’. Coders can make a few hundred dollars for every criminal activity they engage in.

Kids – so-called because of their tender age: most are under 18. They buy, trade and resell the elementary building blocks of effective cyber-scams such as spam lists, php mailers, proxies, credit card numbers, hacked hosts, scam pages etc. ‘Kids’ will make less than $100 a month, largely because of the frequency of being ‘ripped off’ by one another.

Drops – the individuals who convert the ‘virtual money’ obtained in cybercrime into real cash. Usually located in countries with lax e-crime laws (Bolivia, Indonesia and Malaysia are currently very popular), they represent ‘safe’ addresses for goods purchased with stolen financial details to be sent, or else ‘safe’ legitimate bank accounts for money to be transferred into illegally, and paid out of legitimately.

Mobs – professionally operating criminal organisations combining or utilising all of the functions covered by the above. Organised crime makes particularly good use of safe ‘drops’, as well as recruiting accomplished ‘coders’ onto their payrolls.

Control of a bank account is most often achieved through phishing, and numerous phishing tools can be acquired cheaply. To get started phishing pretty much entails purchasing a scam letter and scam page in your chosen language, a fresh spam list, a selection of php mailers to spam-out 100,000 mails for six hours, a hacked website for hosting the scam page for a few days, and finally a stolen but valid credit card with which to register a domain name, and can all be bought for a total of $60 dollars.

The worst case scenario for a return on the 60 dollars is 300 percent, or 180 dollars, which can go a long way in many countries. To fight this frightening rise in cybercrime there needs to be tighter digital laws with the ability of cross-border enforcement. Organizations also need to be more creative and more diligent in their defenses. That, along with greater user education, can create a better safeguard and assure that e-commerce remains legitimate.

Tags: Cybercrime, Phishing, e-commerce

Posted by pschooff in Better Protection | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 19, 2007
Podcast: SearchInform - The Path From Search to Security

I recently interviewed Alena Siameshka, the Marketing and PR Manager of SearchInform Technologies, a company once exclusively focused on search technology, on SearchInform's recent entry into the security sector with the MailSniffer email security solution. Give it a listen.



Download file


Tags: SearchInform, Content Search, Email Security, Computer Security,

Posted by ebizQ in Better Protection | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 16, 2007
Danger Danger Default Password

It’s been a few days since my last blog, so I have a couple of things to discuss.

First thing, I think it’s extraordinary telling of our times that, with spam and e-scams the way they are, that if you got a valentine message in your inbox, you could pretty much guarantee that it was the work of a cybercriminal. And I don’t mean that cybercriminals necessarily feel more deeply and are given to pronouncements of love (yes, that’s a joke), I am just annoyed that they’ve jumped on every honest and decent thing we have and exploited it to the hilt. I guess the only comfort I can take is that scammers and spammers get inundated with spam too.

I can just imagine some mastermind spammer opening his morning inbox to check on his scams and having to sift through hundreds of crap email and then thinking, Damn you, spam! Can't you just let me get on with my spamming.

Also, a recent report at Security Fix concerns how someone who buys a brand name router and does not bother to change the default password could very quickly lose some control of that computer. One of the simplest way to take over a wireless router remotely is by using Javacript, a powerful Web programming language that can allow other web sites to manipulate a computer’s settings.

One example shows how a criminal website could use Javascript to change the default settings on the router so every time the user tried to visit a financial site they are secretly redirected to a counterfeit site that records all of the user’s critical data (this is very similar to a phishing attack and is known as ‘pharming’).

Another router type of exploit could also allow a hacker to build secret gaps into the router’s built-in firewall that allows certain types of traffic free access.

Zulfikar Ramzan, senior principal researcher at Symantec, successfully tested such scenarios using mock Web pages and some of the more popular routers on the market today, including those sold by Linksys, D-Link and Netgear. "Using the same techniques, an attacker could create a very simple Web page that when viewed by a Web browser could change the default settings on a router," he said.

The reason this can be so dangerous is that the router basically exists apart from the computer, so even if someone keeps their computer secured and updated, this could present a totally unexpected vulnerability.

Apparently, the main reason for this is the incredible power and flexibility of Javascript, but which also makes it an increasingly good target for cyber attacks. Michael Sutton, security researcher for Atlanta based SPI Dynamics, said, “People are always coming out with new tricks with Javascript, but the reality is that it's a very powerful language and if you can convince someone to run your code by visiting your site, you effectively control their actions.”

The only good news about this exploit is it is very easy to stop dead in its tracks: whether you use a wired or wireless router to split traffic on your home network, make sure you change the default password. You may also want to consider browsing the web with Mozillas’ Firefox, which is head and shoulders above Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which to me has always been a hacker’s best friend.

Which brings me to the last thing I want to mention: Microsoft. This amounts to a Microsoft rant. As you may have noticed, I have recently delved into podcasting, which I find to be an incredibly useful information delivery system.

So, my very second podcast was set-up with Microsoft to discuss Vista, which they could only do on a very specific date and time. Fine, it’s Microsoft, so I rearranged my schedule, only to get BLOWN OFF. The first time they blew me off, they at least sent me a message, but then they rescheduled, and then I got totally BLOWN OFF.

No call, no message, nothing. Apparently, my time means nothing to Microsoft. So Microsoft has bags full of cash, that’s well known, and still holds great power in the industry, but I come from Detroit, I’ve seen huge industries reduced to rubble (Ford, GM, Chrysler) because management was too cut-off and insular.

Get with it, Microsoft, all of your riches gives you no license to operate without any professionalism or tact. Thank god for Apple.

Tags: Valentine Scam, Router Exploit, Default Password, Javascript, Microsoft

Posted by pschooff in | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 13, 2007
Gemalto's Amol Deshmukh Discusses the Fail-safe Network Identity Manager (NIM)

I recently interviewed Amol Deshmukh, product marketing manager of Gemalto North America, regarding Gemalto's Network Identity Manager (NIM), which introduces an innovative and completely secure approach to network security.


Tags: Network Security, Identity Management, Ecommerce

Posted by ebizQ in | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 12, 2007
Was Last Week's DNS Attack Just a Test Run?

A disturbing report found at Dark Reader questions whether the distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attack that temporarily crippled, but did not crash, two of the internet’s 13 Domain Name System (DNS) root servers was really just a test run.

Last week’s DDOS attack was the latest in a series of DNS attacks that started last year, when EveryDNS and EasyDNS, two DNS providers, each experienced attacks. Experts had predicted that it was only a matter of time before botnet operators went after a bigger target, which is what last week represented.

The attackers targeted five DNS root servers, using an army of bots from all over the globe to execute the attack. The majority of the traffic came from Seoul (61%), Beijing (18%), and San Francisco (13%). Two of the root name servers dropped 90 percent of their DNS query traffic, while the remaining three stayed operational.

"Yesterday's attack was likely a precursor to a larger attack. The rise of DNS attacks in the last year has been worrisome," says David Ulevitch, CEO of OpenDNS, and founder of EveryDNS, both DNS services. "I believe the attack yesterday and the night before were tests to see how far someone could push the limits."

The good news is that, while the operator will likely not be found, they will be able to pin down most of the IP addresses of the bot-network and shut them down. That means if and when they execute another attack, they’ll have to start at square one.

"This attack is a strange one," says Craig Labovitz, director of engineering at Arbor Networks. "This has some people scratching their heads. It has some of the earmarks of a trial run, but it wasn't insignificant enough to fly under the radar. It was fairly large and disruptive."

A much more frightening prospect is if the same sort of attack was aimed at a business. "How many midsize to large enterprises do you know that have 13 highly redundant data centers with highly redundant DNS servers?" says Paul Parisi, CTO for DNSstuff.com. "I'm worried about the corporate environment... This proves the technology is out there and can be leveraged autonomously.

Experts believe this just proves the potential devastating effect of botnets, which gives hackers a much larger base to launch these attacks. "Networks need to stop letting botnets run rampant across their backbones," OpenDNS's Ulevitch says. And "end users need to be running up-to-date antivirus software. Software manufacturers need to write better code. There are a hundred things that need to be done. And unfortunately, none of them are going to happen anytime soon."

Tags: Botnet, DDOS, DNS, Root Servers

Posted by pschooff in | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 09, 2007
Microsoft Expected to Release a Record Number of Patches Next Tuesday

Microsoft announced that it will release at least a dozen patch bundles this next patch Tuesday to plug various vulnerabilities in its Windows operating system and other software.

This batch of patches could end up breaking a record for the number of vulnerabilities fixed in one fell swoop, as each patch usually fixes a number of flaws. Microsoft said that most of the patches address 'critical' flaws, which usually means that they could be exploited by an attacker or worm to take complete control over a computer.

Three of the patches are expected to address problem with the MS Office productivity suites. Also, Microsoft noted that one of the critical patch bundles will patch security flaws in Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft Antigen, Microsoft Windows Defender, and Microsoft ForeFront -- Microsoft programs designed to defend Windows machines from spyware, viruses and worms.

As Microsoft has been known to make last minute decisions on updates and patches, I'll keep you notified once patch Tuesday rolls around next week.

Tags: Microsoft Patch Tuesday, Office Patches

Posted by pschooff in Patches | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 08, 2007
How to Build Confidence in a Wired World

What follows are the continuation of John Thompson's comments, Chairman and CEO of Symantec, at the RSA Conference, as he answers how to build confidence in the wired world:

Antivirus and firewall solutions are a first line of defense. But with new threats, we cannot become complacent and pat ourselves on the back for solving yesterday's problems. We also shouldn't assume that a less vulnerable operating platform delivers adequate security against tomorrow's threats.

We need to constantly innovate and develop new solutions to keep pace with the evolving risks to enterprises and consumers alike.

There is no doubt in my mind that managing user identities is the most pressing challenge facing the industry today.

We must give consumers ways to protect their identity and to gauge the reputation of the sites they visit.

What I'm talking about here is a user-centric approach - versus a technology- or platform-centric one. After all, the goal is to protect the user - regardless of the device they use, online transaction they undertake, or threat they may face.

Consumers will demand that enterprises conform to a set of technologies and business practices. They'll demand a certain level of security before they're willing to connect.

This all starts with intelligence - knowing what threats are out there. Once you have access to intelligence, you need a way to connect it to a technology platform that enables you to understand what's in your infrastructure. That means leveraging technology that collects data from traditional security solutions, such as antivirus, firewall, and intrusion detection products, and network infrastructure devices, operating systems, and databases. Then it's a matter of correlating the data with the external intelligence to prioritize critical incidents within your own network.

Responding to potential risks also takes the right personnel and processes. Organizations need to train their staff in security best practices, hire people who know how to manage an IT risk management program, and make sure they've put into practice the right procedures.

The paradigm has shifted when it comes to security. Enterprises now have the responsibility to secure whoever connects to their networks - especially their customers - and have confidence in that connected experience.

Organizations like Cyber Security Industry Alliance are important at this inflection point in our industry. If you don't know much about them, I encourage you to learn more. And if you haven't joined, please do. They are our voice - and it must be heard.

So let's review: the future will bring more risk, which will require greater intelligence and innovation, and demand more cooperation, as no one company can do it all alone anymore. But the future wired world depends on confidence, as does democracy, so it is essential that every company, including the company I work for, Message Partners, plays their part (which is why Message Partners built such a remarkable amount of flexibility into our email platform so we could adapt to the future challenges of email security).

Tags: Computer ConfidenceT, Email Security

Posted by pschooff in | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 07, 2007
Confidence is Key to the Future of IT

I found John Thompson’s speech, the Chairman and CEO of Symantec, at the RSA Conference very instructive. What follows are some of his points regarding security and the future of IT:

Confidence is the essential component if we want to realize the full potential of this connected world.

Today, the battleground for security isn't just the device. It's also about protecting the information that is being shared and the interactions that are happening online.

Today, the network perimeter can't be locked down. It's no longer defined by physical assets in the data center or desktops in the office. The reality is: people are the new perimeter.

...businesses today need to integrate security from the beginning and develop an end-to-end security approach.

Confidence in the connected world will only come if and when the infrastructure, the information, and the interactions are protected and secure.

The role of security officers needs to evolve from one that focuses on security to one that is more focused on risk management and its leverage on a company's bottom line.

Our research shows that roughly two-thirds of organizations feel that they might be impacted by a regulatory breach and a major information loss every five years. And, 60 percent expect more than one major IT incident every single year.

According to a November Gartner press release, almost $2 billion didn't get spent online last year because people were concerned about security and chose to curtail their shopping online.

Tomorrow I will relay what John Thompson feels are the answer to mitigate security risks.

Tags: Future of IT, Computer Confidence, John Thompson

Posted by pschooff in | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 06, 2007
Good News -- Loss from Identity Theft Decreases

With some good news for a change, Americans lost $49.3 billion in 2006 to identity theft criminals, which, while still a rather big number, compared to 2005, where the losses totaled $55.7 billion, represents the first decline in 3 years. This likely represents increased vigilance and awareness amongst businesses and consumers.

Also, the average dollar amount stolen for each identity theft decreased, from $6,278 to $5,720, according to Eweek. “Businesses are doing a better job screening, and consumers are doing better at locking up information and monitoring their accounts,” said James Van Dyke, founder and president of Pleasanton, California-based Javelin, in an interview.

According to the study, 8.4 million Americans, or 1 in 27, were victims of identity theft, which was down from 8.9 million folks in 2005 and 10.1 million Americans in 2004. The study further revealed that Adults under 25, African-Americans, and people who make more than $150,000, were among the groups most likely to suffer fraud. Younger adults were determined to be the least likely to take steps to avoid it.

Consumers on average spent $535 to clear up and clean up fraud, though many, or more than half, spent nothing, the study said. Many businesses excuse customers from liability for certain frauds.

But the fact remains that the total number is still quite high, and identity theft continues to be a major focus of scammers and consumers alike. If a consumer does suspect identity theft, they should quickly file "fraud alerts" with the Equifax, Experian and TransUnion credit bureaus.

Tags: Identity Theft, Fraud Alert

Posted by pschooff in Better Protection | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 05, 2007
The Superbowl Hack

According to Websense, the internet site for Dolphin Stadium, which hosted yesterday's Superbowl, played inadvertent host to a trojan horse program that will download a keystroke-logging machine on any Window's machine that hasn't obtained the latest upgrades. As you can guess, the site is experiencing heavy traffic, and according to Websense, what happens is:

"A link to a malicious javascript file has been inserted into the header of the front page of the site. Visitors to the site execute the script, which attempts to exploit two vulnerabilities: MS06-014 and MS07-004. Both of these exploits attempt to download and execute a malicious file.

The file that is downloaded is a NsPack-packed Trojan keylogger/backdoor, providing the attacker with full access to the compromised computer. The filename is w1c.exe and its MD5 is ad3da9674080a9edbf9e084c10e80516."

So please just remember to keep updating.

Tags: Dolphin Stadium, Malware

Posted by pschooff in | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 02, 2007
How Not to Protect Data

The recent report of a data breach at TJX companies, which is the parent company of TJ Maxx, would make a perfect cautionary tale of how not to store data five years ago, let alone in 2007.

As detailed by EWeek, "TJX officials said that outsiders were specifically able to gain access to the portion of its computer network that retains its customers' credit card, debit card and check information, along with data related to merchandise return transactions."

The breach included data all the way back to 2003, and the blame can be laid squarely on TJX, which did nothing to secure the data. And while TJX is still trying to keep the full story under wraps, apparently the data involved included customer records that were stored much longer then what is considered reasonable.

This story seems a clear case of a company unwilling to recognize the digital threats of the world we live in and were unable to see the value of data they thought worthy enough to gather and keep, but not to protect. Very simply, the customer data at TJX was not secured and encrypted in any way, and was really just waiting for someone to come take it.

As EWeek stated, it’s not entirely the fault of management who appoints a CIO then fires the CIO when something tech goes wrong. Blame can also be assessed to the technical staff, a few who must have been aware of the availability of all this unprotected data and never bothered to mention the looming disaster with upper management.

The simple lesson is this is not to wait for governmental regulation regarding cusomter data but, if you see the potential for a data breach within your data storage, say something, and say it load. After all, the survival of your company could depend on it.

Tags: Data Breach, Protect Data,

Posted by pschooff in | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 01, 2007
Army, Navy, Air Force, IT

The U.S. military is looking to add information operations and the defense of the internet as part of its core focus, according to the recently declassified “Information Operations Roadmap,” a document prepared by the Defense Department under Donald Rumsfeld. The 78-page document, reported by BBC News, and found on Dark Reading, was uncovered using the Freedom of Information Act by the National Security Archive at George Washington University.

This document gives a good glimpse into how the military views information operations and the internet, and the fact that they deem it of national importance to dominate the World Wide Web. This also relates to the modernization of the military and how they see information as a military asset.

A major theme in within the paper is the need to “Fight the Net,” treating the internet as if it were a “enemy weapons system.” The doc also hints at potential “offensive cyber tools” along with integrated weapons system, but most of that section was deemed classified and blacked out.

Sean Kelly, business technology consultant with Consilium1, says the "fight the net" campaign is the wrong approach. "I agree that our Defense Department needs to have strong security strategies for defending our information systems -- especially intelligence databases, as well as key communications channels," Kelly says. "I would hope that our Defense Department would employ some of the best and brightest network security professionals to develop a strategy that identifies and protects -- through monitoring and taking action where necessary, [a] good old fashioned incident response program -- high-risk areas of its own networks as well as on the Internet."

Another key focus of the document was the need to control the electromagnetic spectrum. "To prevail in an information-centric fight, it is increasingly important that our forces dominate the electromagnetic spectrum with attack capabilities," according to the document.

While Mr. Kelly says the Defense Department should take a more collaborative approach with other nations to identify threats and develop a plan address known vulnerabilities, as a New Yorker, I’ll always remember that the Fire Departments’ communication system, and the loss of it that day, likely contributed to the loss of so many of New York’s bravest. In an actual war, controlling communications would clearly be key.

Tags: Defense Department, Information Operations Roadmap, Fight the Net

Posted by pschooff in | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Subscribe
News Feed
Blog Roll
Blogosphere
This Work
Accountability:The opinions expressed in this blog are solely representative of the blog's author, and not of ebizQ

Marketing Solutions | Feedback | About ebizQ | Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy | Site Map