February 5, 2012

Privacy and Security Controls in Your Corporate Board Room — Perhaps a Review is Necessary

Photo courtesy of blog.dattobackup.com

In a recent article written by NICOLE PERLROTH a potential risk mitigation event was revealed and should be cause for all organization’s to re-verify that camera’s used in their corporate board rooms are properly and verifiably protected from hackers.

Ten years ago, videoconferencing systems were complicated and erratic, and ran on expensive, closed high-speed phone lines. Over the last decade, however, videoconferencing — like everything else — migrated to the Internet.

Now, many businesses use Internet protocol videoconferencing — a souped-up version of Skype — to connect with colleagues and customers. Most of these new systems were designed with visual and audio clarity — not security — in mind.

Click here to read this full article and become aware of how easily professional security experts were able to hack into the board room conference cameras of unsuspecting companies of all sizes.

If applicable, please pass this info along to those risk management and IT / information security team members in your own organization.

Google Plans to Alter Privacy Policy and Terms of Service

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The actions and decisions of Google can potentially affect many information security teams in organizations across the globe.  With that thought in mind, a recent announcement by Google to alter its privacy policy and terms of service to reflect the fact that it is now going to combine data from its various services into a single user profile may well be an event that requires close study, review and evaluation regarding an organization’s own existing privacy policy – i.e. particularly where services such as Google are involved.

It goes without saying that this privacy change by Google needs to also be closely reviewed where individual use of Google is employed as well.

In a recent article written by Thomas Claburn, Claburn is quick to point out that critics of the change have been quick to question Google’s decision.

This article also references Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) who said in a reaction blog posting that he’s troubled by the lack of an opt-out mechanism, and, David Jacobs, consumer protection fellow at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), expressed concerns that Google’s changes decrease the ability of users to control how their personal information is being used.

Click here to read Claburn’s full article, and, be sure to utilize the useful links in that article to dig more deeply into the reference documents and related postings to this potential privacy risks.

Additional stories about this controversial decision by Google are also listed below:

Google Says Privacy Change Won’t Affect Government Users” by Jaikumar Vijayan

Google Stirs Up Privacy Hornet’s Nest” by Sharon Gaudin

Google Privacy Policy: Who Will be Affected and How You Can Choose What Information Gets Shared” by Cecilia Kang

Google Seeks to Clarify New Privacy Policy” by Doug Gross

Lawmakers Press Google on Privacy Policy Changes” (Reuters)

If applicable, please pass this information along to those information security and risk management team members in your organization, those members of privacy rights protection groups in your community and to members of your family who use Google on a daily basis.

Business Continuity Planners May Face “Frictionless Sharing” Risks from New Facebook Apps

Photo courtesy facebook.com

While information security and privacy rights protection teams within organizations continue to monitor the potential privacy risks that Facebook may be presenting to their employees, a new announcement was made today indicating that Facebook is now adding over 60+ new applications within their auto-share technology.

Click here to read a Facebook company blog covering this news as released by Facebook’s director of platform Cal Sjogreen.

As you will read, Facebook users can now immediately begin adding these new apps to their timelines.

As Sjogreen states, “…the apps are all set up to use the “frictionless sharing” function on the social network, meaning that users only have to give an app permission to share information once. After that, the app updates automatically to a user’s profile, letting their friends know instantly what they may be eating, studying or listening to at any given moment.”

While it may be too early to accurately assess any additional risks these apps may present to existing business continuity plans, it may be a good idea to inform information security specialists, risk managers and HR privacy managers of this event.

PS-Prep strategy planning teams in the private sector, in local community disaster preparedness groups and even risk mitigation discussions among family and friends may warrant a close watching of this recent announcement.

E-Discovery No Stranger on Campus

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In response to a few recent inquiries and comments from readers working in the educational field, and, in particular for those readers working in a university campus information security department, who requested that more discussions and information be presented on the topic of e-discovery relevant to a university campus environment, our staff would like to present a listing of recent postings and articles addressing this growing dynamic within the “discovery” process itself.

Dian Schaffhauser, a writer who covers technology and business related topics for a number of various publications, has recently written and posted an article entitled “An e-Discovery Primer”  — and, this information may be a great reference resource to offer anyone who wants to learn the basics of e-Discovery.

To this point, it is also important to realize that the “discovery” process is neither something new nor is this process limited to the digital era.  As Seth Gilbertson, associate counsel for the State University of New York states, “…discovery is the process of saving and producing records and other evidence pertaining to an activity that may be the subject of litigation.”

If applicable, or even if you are new to the discussions and risk mitigation potentials embedded in the e-discovery process, click here  to read Schaffhauser’s full article.

E-Discovery Guideline and Toolkit offering posted on the EDUCAUSE website presents e-discovery issues for universities to consider.

E-Discovery Trends: Potential ESI Sources Abound in Penn State Case” by Doug Austin

E-Discovering Reference” article by Spolanka

School districts wrestling with ABCs of electronic discovery, compliance” by Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

“Hey @wfryer looking for the 411 on eDiscovery: http://bit.ly/9hcxe9 (your wiki) Bottom line: do schools have to archive STUDENT email?”

The E-Discovery Question   – Don’t panic over the new regulations, but make sure your school’s policy is clear.

If applicable, please add your inputs, comments and experiences of e-discovery challenges you might have had to face in your university campus environment.

Information Security Lesson from Recent Zappos Breach Incident

Photo courtesy of searchtimes.com

In the event that anyone on your organization’s information security team becomes complacent about the need to be ever diligent about maintenance and updating of information security levels in your organization — a privacy breach incident recently announced at Zappos.com should be adequate reminder that risk mitigation in this area is a 24/7 ongoing area of responsibility.

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh had to recently notify customers by email stating that the Zappos web marketplace system location that houses customer privacy centric information was compromised — asking them to create a new password for their accounts immediately.

We’ve spent over 12 years building our reputation, brand, and trust with our customers,” Hsieh said in his email. “It’s painful to see us take so many steps back due to a single incident. I suppose the one saving grace is that the database that stores our customers’ information was not affected or accessed.”

Click here to view a copy of that email along with Hsieh’s email message to Zappo’s employees.

Although you never want to face such a situation in your own organization, certainly, Zappos’ reaction to this incident may contain valuable lessons to pass along to your own in-house information security, crisis and risk management and disaster preparedness teams.

Hacker “Yama Tough” Threatens Release of Source Code for Norton’s Antivirus Software

Photo courtesy of reuters.com

For our readers who utilize Norton’s Antivirus software applications as part of their organization’s information security plans, be aware of a story recently released on the Reuters’ news related website announcing that “Hackers are to release full Norton Antivirus code on Tuesday”.

It appears that a hacker who goes by the name of “Yama Tough” is threatening to release the full source code for Symantec Corp’s flagship Norton Antivirus software.

Click here to read more about this developing story as reported by Frank Jack Daniel.

If applicable, please pass this information along to those disaster preparedness and network security planning team members in your organization.

Online Privacy Risks and Predictions for 2012

 

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With 2012 now well on its way, online privacy related risks will become an important issue to information security and risk management team members in today’s global village of organizational inter-relationship activities, as well as, for the growing number of consumers who are relying more and more on online communication tools and applications to conduct their day to day purchases.

As online businesses grew in 2011 – through innovative technologies in advertising, cloud services and mobile apps – the call for improved levels of online privacy controls rang loudly and repeatedly throughout the industry.

With the collection and usage of consumer data spreading like wildfire across a myriad of emerging online businesses, 2011 was a year of extraordinary change for online privacy,” said Chris Babel, CEO of TRUSTe.   “Along with the excitement about the potential of innovative online technologies, the industry was also forced to address both trepidation and concern for the safety and respect of consumers’ personal privacy. TRUSTe  is pleased to share some of our privacy expectations for the New Year.”

Leveraging its unique vantage point, TRUSTe  posted on the ITBusinessEdge website  the following predictable events or trends to take place in the year ahead:

  1. There will be increased levels of activity by the FTC to go after websites with high levels of privacy violations related to 3rd party tracking.
  2. Mobile self-regulatory guidelines regarding online behavioral advertising (OBA) will grow In 2012.
  3. Knowledge of and practical applied experience with laws and regulations regarding privacy will become an even hotter job skill to have in 2012.
  4. There will be much more use of location-based technologies.
  5. Yanks abroad will most likely be forced to follow the EU individual privacy standards whenever doing business in Europe.
  6. Most likely there will be no comprehensive privacy legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in 2012.
  7. One of the 2012 Presidential candidates will announce plans for a new cabinet post — Secretary of Online Privacy.

If any of our readers have come across additional privacy related predictions for 2012, please share them in the comments section below…..

If applicable, pass this information along to those risk mitigation specialists in your organization who might view an online privacy breach issue as a serious economic disruptive event to their organization.

Click here  to view more details of these predictions.

Information Risk, Data Breach and Career Domain Websites Launched by ISMG

The Information Security Media Group (ISMG) recentlyannounced the debut of three (3) new international media sites:

  1. InfoRiskToday – which site addresses information security, risk management, fraud and compliance concerns that affect all organizations and industry sectors.
  2. DataBreachToday – will provide news, insights and education on data breach prevention, response and notification.
  3. CareersInfoSecurity – will provide a single-stop for the latest news, insights, training and education on career strategies, skills and trends for information security and risk management professionals at all levels.

Concurrent with the launch of these three new sites, ISMG also will debut soon a new, updated design for its existing sites: BankInfoSecurity; CUInfoSecurity; GovInfoSecurity and HealthcareInfoSecurity.

Click here  to read more about these new and free resource opportunities to be presented to business continuity, emergency / risk management and PS-Prep strategy planning team members.

NQA Offers Complimentary West Coast Quality Conferences

Photo courtesy of listentech.com

As many of our readers know, ISO 27001 and ISO 20000-1 are hot topics in the information and IT spaces these days.  Regarding management systems integration issues — the same can be said for PS-Prep, ISO 14001, ISO 9001 and ISO 13485.

If you or your organization are located on the West Coast of the U.S., you need to be aware of a complimentary offering by NQA — one of the premier management systems registrars – being held in Bellevue, WA on January 23, 2012 – or – in San Jose, CA on January 25, 2012.

These free conferences are full day sessions where each location will include the following topics:

Morning Session:

AS 9100: 2009 (Rev C) Lessons Learned

Information and IT Management Systems: Minimizing Risks and Gaining an Edge through a Standardized Process Management Approach

ISO 9001 Internal Audits: A Risk Based Approach

An Organization’s View of Implementing and Maintaining an ISO 13485 (Medical Devices Industry) Management System

Afternoon Session:

ISO 9001 Internal Audits: A Based Approach

PS-Prep / Business Continuity

Counterfeit Parts Prevention

ISO 14001 Reviews: Lessons Learned & Integrating Management Systems

Click here  to register for these events or to receive more details and information about it.

If applicable, please pass this information along to those risk management, internal audit, disaster preparedness team members in your organization.

Is Google Wallet Secure?

 

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Our staff has reviewed reader’s comments and requests for more discussions regarding mobile devices along with reference information related to the levels of risk associated with those devices.

In response to those requests, our staff has decided to direct our readers to a recent article regarding  the Google Wallet application.

Google Wallet is a new offering from Google which allows consumers to use their Android device to perform contactless payments at retailers.  It incorporates Near Field Communication (NFC) technology and in the initial release supports 1 major credit card as well as some gift and loyalty cards.  Google Wallet is the first real payment system leveraging NFC on Android.

Click here  to view the appWatchdog review of Google Wallet offered recently.

Click here to view the full forensic security analysis of Goggle Wallet upon which the appWatchdog review was based.

If applicable, please pass this cyber security related information along to those information security and risk management IT team members in your organizations, as well as, to those individuals you know who are currently using this Google Wallet application on their Android smartphones. (View  an 85 page Mobile App Security Study focusing on iPhone and Android in the Enterprise)

Hopefully, this information will also open a dialogue with our readers to further explore this growing risk management issue for individuals, organizations and communities where smartphones have quickly become a critical communication tool.