'Double standard' on data safety
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Data security concerns are raised after it emerges celebrities and MPs cannot submit tax returns online.
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Open source is increasingly meaningless if the data it manages isn't open, too.  Should the Open Source Definition be expanded to include data provisions?
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Today, many people rely on computers to do homework, work, create, etc., so it's important to take special care with your data storage. This week you'll learn about how to protect your data and prevent intrusions.  By Vincent Deguzman. 0919
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Evil twin hash bash Antivirus firms are concerned about the emergence of techniques that could render meaningless the use of checksums to mark applications as safe.â¦
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Attendees at the RSA conference had mixed views about the value and effectiveness of the PCI data security standard, which is being pushed by the major credit card companies.
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Researcher finds two flaws that under unusual circumstances could let a malicious program read private data or render a phone unusable.
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Software on the Seine, anyone? Backup in Budapest? VTL from Vienna? And why not. Europeans have far more experience when it comes to dealing with data regulatory issues than we do.
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Encryption doesn't have to be the Brussels sprouts in your security diet, but prepare it incorrectly and it's bound to sour your network. Anton Chuvakin flags five potential data-encryption gaffes.
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Millions of computer users are at risk of attack because flaws in the way Windows handles some images.
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Reckless or repeated breaches of data security should become a criminal offence, a committee of MPs says.
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(InfoWorld) - Experts gathered for the ongoing InfoWorld Enterprise Data Protection Forum in New York today said that companies need to get a better handle on all the factors that make their sensitive information susceptible to attack and become more proactive with their overall defensive strategies if they are to improve on their current security status. In a panel presentation featuring leading security executives and consultants, experts highlighted a need for businesses to study all the elements that contribute to classifying their most valuable information as truly sensitive. Protecting records whose value is immediately apparent -- such as social security and credit card numbers -- isn't enough as companies must also shroud any related data that can be used to create an individual profile that could be used to carry out identity theft or other forms of fraud, the speakers said. By defending all the contextual data that can be used to create such a picture, enterprises can greatly reduce their risk and move beyond more obvious strategizing, said C. Warren Axelrod, chief privacy officer at financial services giant U.S. Trust. "What's interesting in financial services is that it is the combination of data that becomes valuable information when it comes together to create an identity," Axelrod said. "If you are just going to file away social security numbers with no way to tie them to identity, they're actually pretty innocuous; but even if you just have a way to associate that information to a phone number or other data, someone can put things together." Axelrod said for the record that "data protection is a contradiction in terms," and that the process will never be perfected, based on the nature of IT systems and the need for businesses to easy retain access to important information.Â  The only way to effectively improve data security is to create a governance hierarchy that allows IT workers to better classify all types of information and to elevate protection of anything that can be used to create an individual portrait, he said. IT consultants agreed, saying that they are advising their customers to use contextual data to help carry out their regulatory compliance projects with greater efficacy. "It's the context that data is used in that qualifies it for regulatory oversight," said Peter Robinson, senior manager for financial services information security at BearingPoint. "You have to protect both the data and all this other information." Perhaps the biggest challenge facing enterprises today in improving their overall data security strategy is becoming more proactive about trying to expect attempted misuse or theft of information, and putting more intelligent tools in place to defend themselves before those situations arise, said Pamela Fusco, chief security strategist at consultancy FishNet. Fusco, who chaired the panel, is also a former chief security officer at financial services bellwether Citigroup. "We don't write a law unless something happens first, as with seat belt laws. We write regulations because something happens, but those are reactive," Fusco said. "Most consultants feel as if we're in reactive versus proactive mode for data protection and integrity." Regulations like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act have proven less effective than legislators might have initially hoped they would be at improving overall data security because businesses have focused on meeting the terms of the guidelines versus boosting their overarching protection schemes, Fusco and other panelists agreed. However, some industry-driven security requirements, such as the PCI (payment card industry) standard forwarded by credit card issuers, have had the desired effect, experts said. Well-written guidelines can help make the difficult task of convincing senior executives to increase their IT security budgets easier, alleviating one of the most significant challenges of the entire data protection process, according to Steve Peltzman, chief information officer at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. "We had to spend a lot of time and money on [PCI], but now I'm thankful for it because I don't have to go through the same routine of convincing everyone that this effort is important," Peltzman said. "The credit card companies got together and made it more expensive for us not to deal with [data protection], which is a good example of industry coming together to create a standard that's actually good." In a seemingly-rare occurrence, the security experts agreed that the creation of an additional, worldwide data protection standard -- as proposed to the assembled group by FishNet's Fusco -- could prove useful in furthering their efforts to secure attention and funding for their data protection strategies. For global companies in particular, establishing such a global guideline could be effective, they said. "The international difference in data protection priorities is an issue. If it could be resolved to where we could get universal classification and more people building innovative solutions, that could be a big benefit," said Erich Mueller, security analyst for Allstate Insurance. BearingPoint's Robinson agreed that such a standard could provide much needed support for security pros. "Anything that can advance the understanding and foster the culture of security in the executive suite is a positive. We've all been trying to do things like this for ourselves for years," Robinson said. "A standard that can help shorten the education cycle and get us where we need to be is something that I would support."
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European council dilutes data proposals to taste European privacy wonks have become alarmed over the degeneration of policy talks on the protection of people who become the subject of police database cross-border pollinations.â¦
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It takes effort and intelligence to keep personal information out of the hands of people and governments bent on misusing the data.
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New national standards for driver's licenses worry some privacy advocates.
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Beta search app creates vulnerabilities that may threaten your data's security.
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Europe&#39;s top data protection official, European Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx, criticized plans to create a European equivalent of the PNR (passenger name records) gathered by U.S. authorities, questioning the plan&#39;s necessity and proportionality.
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Security gurus urge the industry to rethink the way it classifies malicious software.