Financial Industry Under Stricter Scrutiny
It doesn’t feel so long ago that more and more people were beginning to recognize the unprecedented growth of cybercrime and data breaches, reflected in the increasing number of outlets (present company included) forewarning about the progressive frequency of data breaches. How stories like Target’s and Michaels’, and even smaller businesses, were becoming the norm. … Read More
Tis the season to protect your shopping list
Now that Halloween is over, consumers can safely turn their attention to Christmas without fear of social ostracism (Christmas commercials in October, ugh). Instead, they can freely prepare for the mad rush of holiday shopping next month, where consumers will be out in droves. Which means, a deluge of personal data for retailers, both physical… Read More
How hackers profit from data breaches
It’s a truth about those of us who cover the endless stream of data breaches that the reporting largely tends to skew to one side. Namely, with a focus on the effect on the breached organization: how many records were accessed, what types of data, how much in damages the incident will cost the company,… Read More
Decrypting a Credit Breach
Wednesday was the one and only Back to the Future Day. And though the trilogy that as of yesterday is set entirely in the past made some accurate predictions about the world we live in today, specifically the second film, it didn’t get everything right. The Internet, for one; not simply the servers and the cables,… Read More
Yes, @snowden, we can hear you now
I attended New York Comic Con this past weekend, making the annual nerd pilgrimage to the Javits Center, and, like everybody else there, costumed and plainclothes’d alike, I was taking pictures with my phone. Having seen Edward Snowden’s interview with theBBC last week, however, I couldn’t help but wonder about which of the hundreds of thousands… Read More
Infected Apps and Hyperloops
You know how, when you go to download something, and you get a warning that you might be downloading malicious software? Maybe it makes you think twice about going through with the process (and if it doesn’t, uhhh). Turns out, however, such a warning was not enough for some mobile app developers in China. Opting,… Read More
Millions More Medical Records Stolen
This has not been a good year so far for blue crosses and blue shields. Honestly, all these healthcare data breaches make for a double-edged sword, when it comes to writing about them. Sure, each one is its own story, and gives me new material; but at the same time, that story is just the… Read More
Healthcare Breaches and EMR Adoption
With a certain Ms. Madison recently dominating headlines (even earning shout outs on hit TV series), it might be easy to forget that other hacks—less scandalous but just as symptomatic—continue apace. Healthcare, in particular, remains an attractive industry for cyber criminals to target. People’s medical information can net thieves a much better payday, after all,… Read More
Data Security Encirclement and Encryption
Some movement on the enforcement front of encryption, as the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has confirmed the Federal Trade Commission’s authority to enforce data security standards. After a case involving three separate data breaches at Wyndham hotels, which were facilitated by Wyndham allegedly misrepresenting the security measures it had in place, the court… Read More
Carphones, Ashley Madison and the New Cyber Reality
Not that anyone expected otherwise, but this whole Year of the Data Breach business is turning out to be a global phenomenon, to now turn to the hack of British mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse. Personally, I don’t like the distraction of prolonged conversation while driving, free hands or not; but in its mission to… Read More