Week in Review
Posted by LS on March 23rd, 2012. Category: Blog
Cyber security costs are high and budget cuts could put it this important issue at risk.
Confronting today’s cyber challenges requires a highly skilled and motivated research community, and it’s well documented that the demand for cyber expertise greatly exceeds the supply,” James Peery, director of the Information Systems Analysis Center at Sandia National Laboratories, told a Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing this week.
Read more: http://politi.co/GIVSrT
In cyber crime news… hackers contributed to 22% of the data breaches targeting large organizations, and stole almost twice as records from big organizations and government agencies.
Read more: http://cnet.co/GIVXff
Being the go- to for start ups and tech companies, San Francisco is also a haven for hackers and cybercrime. Enter eCrime unit.
eCrime aims to “make sure that vulnerable populations are safe, that consumers are safe, and that we allow good behavior to occur…”
Read more: http://cnet.co/GIVYQv
Have we missed something you feel we should touch on? DM or mention us on twitter with your ideas and we will be happy to mention and reference you!
Follow us on twitter @fednetworks
Cyber bullying
Posted by LS on March 20th, 2012. Category: Blog
Suicide rates among Canadian youth is higher than our American neighbours (i.e. 57% higher in males than in US), and cyber bullying an arena for cruel negativity and a rise in a new kind of bullying.
Sadly, cyber bullying is presenting new opportunities for the “bad kids” reach their targets, on new more dangerous levels. Luckily, celebrities like Demi Lovato recently took to twitter to speak against such cruelty, but what measures are we taking to protect the fragility of our children and youth?
Stopcyberbullying.org is a great resource for tips on how to educate youth and stand up against elements of cyber bullying. Most importantly, we need to talk to and help our youth understand what is cyber bullying, and how not to be afraid to speak up against it. If they remain silent, we won’t know the levels of their anguish, and they have to understand that we support them and cyber bullying is NOT acceptable.
Parents and educators have to be the safe place children can turn to when their online profiles have been attacked.
“T here are two kinds of cyberbullying, direct attacks (messages sent to your kids directly) and cyberbullying by proxy (using others to help cyberbully the victim, either with or without the accomplice’s knowledge). Because cyberbullying by proxy often gets adults involved in the harassment, it is much more dangerous.” –stopcyberbullying.org
“A quarter of youth who perpetrate cyberbullying are teenagers who have also bullied others offline. However, the remaining three quarters do not bully others in person – implying that the Internet has empowered youth who would never consider bullying anyone in the physical world to do so in the virtual world.” http://bit.ly/mW2Kqy
Discussion is key between parent and child, a trusting relationship where the youth can be open about their online activity and the issues they may be faced with.
Week in Review
Posted by LS on March 15th, 2012. Category: Blog
This weeks up’s and down’s in the cyber world, are nothing new to us here at Federated Networks… we just like to keep you in the know!
Recently, another Obama administration official is in support of the major cybersecurity legislation pending in the Senate; with US businesses becoming more and more vulnerable to espionage without the passing of such legislation.
“Over the past five years, a highly sophisticated team of operatives have stealthily infiltrated more than 70 U.S. corporations and organizations to steal priceless company secrets. They did it without ever setting foot in any victim’s office. Sitting at undisclosed computers, they could be anywhere in the world,” Bryson wrote. “This is the new face of corporate espionage.”
To read more: http://bit.ly/AmPIaE
A much needed new campaign, aims to highlight the dangers and threats of cyber crime. They aim to educate and provide insight into how both women and men can protect their identities online.
“We need to make sure that we provide the tools and information in order to assure them that if you follow some simple protection measures the risks of becoming a victim will be significantly reduced.”
The campaign outlines what people should look out for when it comes to fraud and the methods fraudsters use to target them.
To read more: http://bit.ly/y8qYIW
According to the BBC, Iranian hackers targeted Persian services.
To read more: http://on.ft.com/wf8mi1
Now the corporation’s chief is taking things a step further by accusing Iran of masterminding a “sophisticated cyber-attack” that involved jamming satellite feeds in an effort to wreak havoc with broadcasts into the country.“It now looks as if those who seek to disrupt or block BBC Persian may be widening their tactics,” Mr Thompson is expected to say in a speech to the Royal Television Society on Wednesday.’”
To read more: http://on.ft.com/w7Rru1
What is Privacy by Design
Posted by LS on March 8th, 2012. Category: Blog
Privacy by Design is a concept developed by Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D., the Informtaion & Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. This was designed to address the “ever-growing and systemic effects of Information and Communication Technologies, and of large-scale networked data systems.”
Taken together, the three pieces of legislation will diminish the privacy rights of Ontarians, and indeed, of all Canadians.” –www.ipc.on.ca
Ann Cavoukian, is a leader in the issues surrounding privacy in Canada. She recognized that legislation and regulation would no longer be sufficient to safeguard privacy and that Canadian’s deserved their right to an effectively designed system.
“In my view, with the increasing complexity and interconnectedness of information technologies, nothing short of building privacy right into system design could suffice. So I developed the concept of Privacy by Design (PbD), to describe the philosophy of embedding privacy proactively into technology itself – making it the default.” (October 2008) – http://privacybydesign.ca
The 7 Foundational Principles of Privacy, designed by Cavoukian, ensures privacy and personal control for both individuals and organization:
1. Proactive
2. Be Default
3. Embedded
4. Positive-Sum
5. Lifecycle Protection
6. Visibility/Transparency
7. Respect for Users
To learn more, please visit privacybydesign.ca, and educate yourself on the better ways to ensure the safety of your personal privacy, your business and your family.
What can you do to help ensure your privacy?
We have to be concerned! The proposed bills compromise our rights as Canadians,and our privacy is too valuable to be taken lightly.
Among the specific concerns raised by these proposed bills:
Bill C-50 would make it easier for the police to obtain judicial approval of multiple tracking warrants and production orders, to access and track e-communications.
Bill C-51 would give the police new powers to obtain court orders for remote live tracking, as well as weaker suspicion-based orders (rather than a “reasonableness” standard) requiring telecommunication service providers and other companies to preserve and turn over date of interest to the police.
Bill C-52 would require telecommunication service providers to build and maintain intercept capability into their networks for use by law enforcement, and would give the police warrantless power to access subscriber information – including IP addresses and personally-identifiable information, that goes far beyond address and phone number.
Sift through the below noted websites, and become aware and educated on the information regarding upcoming legislations, SOPA & PIPA, and privacy in Canada AND contact your MP to highlight your concerns.
Contact MP here: http://www.privacybydesign.ca/embedprivacy/
Websites to reference:
http://www.realprivacy.ca
http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cons/la-al/sum-res/faq.html
Week in Review
Posted by LS on March 7th, 2012. Category: Blog
Hacker mole helps the FBI find and arrest LulySec leaders, one big step in a crackdown against cyber criminals.
“One of the world’s most-wanted hackers secretly became an FBI informant last year, providing evidence that led to charges on Tuesday against five other suspected leaders of the Anonymous international hacking group.”
To read more: http://reut.rs/Ar9cYY
The privacy bill brought forward by John McCain may not be a positive for every party it affects.
“This is a privacy nightmare that will eventually result in the military substantially monitoring the domestic, civilian Internet,” said Ms Michelle Richardson of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
However, the types of information that could be shared are broad and the data is said to go to “cybersecurity centers” specifically the National Security Agency’s Threat Operations Center and the US Cyber Command Joint Operations Center.
“Senator McCain’s priority in crafting this bill has been to make sure it strengthens our security while continuing to safeguard the privacy of consumers,” Mr Rogers said. “He remains open to addressing legitimate concerns as this process moves forward.”
The bill says private companies such as Internet service providers could send the defense agencies evidence such as “network activity or protocols known to be associated with a malicious cyber actor or that may signify malicious intent”.
To read more: http://bit.ly/wsMXVg
ZDNet Australia explores whether cyber crime is actually replacing physical crime.
“The institute’s annual report (PDF), which was today released by the Minister for Home Affairs and Justice Jason Clare, showed that physical break-ins have halved since 1996, car theft has dropped by 61 per cent in the past 10 years and, overall, violent crimes decreased last year, with the exception of kidnappings and abductions.
However, on the online front, there has been a substantial increase in the number of compromised website notifications that the Australian Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCERT) received — up 255 per cent in 2010 from the previous year.”
To read more: http://bit.ly/yBMIZJ
That is what is in the headlines this week, did we miss something? Tweet to us @fednetworks and let us know!