Encryption not an issue for NSA
Any time a ranking member of a top intelligence group, like the National Security Agency, seems to be in agreement with the sentiments of privacy advocates, you can bet things aren’t as chummy as all that. Even if it’s a refreshing break from the usual governmental discourse. Ordinarily, on the subject of encryption, we get… Read More
Internet Service Providers and Your Privacy
Last year, a heated national debate came to a satisfactory end when the Federal Communications Commission reinstated net neutrality rules without destroying the Internet. When the rule was overturned the year before, one of the ways the agency could impose it again, according to the court, was to make net neutrality less like common-carrier regulations,… Read More
Retailers put profits ahead of security
When Target experienced its major data breach during the holiday 2013 season, it suffered extensive financial and reputational damage. Having firsthand experience like this tends to put things in perspective, which makes it unsurprising that, out of 48 major retailers surveyed by Consumer World, Target is one of the only 11 who have ubiquitously enabled… Read More
Passing the Data Security Act
When you have a Senate that in one fell swoop votes both to defund a women’s health clinic, and to allow terrorists of all walks of life to continue to murder American citizens with minimal obstruction, it’s nice to see a politician do something that’s actually in the interests of the people he represents. Cyber… Read More
Encryption Under Siege?
As so often happens, tragedy leads to the five stages of grief, and it’s a natural element of the ‘anger’ phase to find a scapegoat for all those seething emotions. Especially now, since those responsible for last week’s Paris attacks, the fecal stains of humanity, have reportedly been given the quick deaths that were far… Read More
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