LA Apps
No, that isn’t the name of a new grunge rock band. It refers to the City of Los Angeles trying to decide whether or not to use Google Apps as a replacement for the Novell Group Wise e-mail and Microsoft Office Applications. There are huge taxapayer and privacy concerns with such a move. In a press…
CongressDaily, Leahy Brings Back Identity Theft Measure For A Third Time
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy hopes the third time will be a charm for his legislation intended to better protect citizens’ personal information. The bill, which he reintroduced Wednesday and in two previous Congresses, would increase criminal penalties for identity theft involving electronic data and criminalize intentional or willful concealment of a security breach. Leahy…
WSJ, Is Hiding Your Social Security Number Worth It?
Consumers who have spent hours locking up their passports, shredding their billing statements and filing away their tax returns may soon learn they’ve wasted a great deal of time. Their efforts to shield themselves from identity theft by guarding their Social Security numbers are being undermined by government officials and social networking sites. These nine-digit…
AP, How to Keep Your E-Mail Safe While Traveling
When Daniel Carter logged on to a shared computer at a hostel in Rome to check e-mail, he had no idea he was in a hacker’s sights. After his trip was over, he discovered someone had hijacked his e-mail account and sent a message to hundreds of his contacts asking for money. ”Sorry i did…
NY Times, Twitter Hack Raises Flags on Security
SAN FRANCISCO — You might think your password protects the confidential information stored on Web sites. But as Twitter executives discovered, that is a dangerous assumption. The Web was abuzz Wednesday after it was revealed that a hacker had exposed corporate information about Twitter after breaking into an employee’s e-mail account. The breach raised red…
AP, Chips In Official IDs Raise Privacy Fears
Climbing into his Volvo, outfitted with a Matrics antenna and a Motorola reader he’d bought on eBay for $190, Chris Paget cruised the streets of San Francisco with this objective: To read the identity cards of strangers, wirelessly, without ever leaving his car. It took him 20 minutes to strike hacker’s gold. Zipping past Fisherman’s…
New York Times, NY Official: Tagged Site Stole Identities
NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s attorney general charged Thursday that Tagged.com stole the identities of more than 60 million Internet users worldwide — by sending e-mails that raided their private accounts. Andrew Cuomo said he plans to sue the social networking Web site for deceptive marketing and invasion of privacy. ”This company stole the…
Washington Post, Researchers: Social Security Numbers Can Be Guessed
Researchers have found that it is possible to guess many — if not all — of the nine digits in an individual’s Social Security number using publicly available information, a finding they say compromises the security of one of the most widely used consumer identifiers in the United States. Many numbers could be guessed at…
National Law Journal, FTC Rule on Identity Theft Draws Strong Criticism From Bar Groups
The New York State Bar Association Monday became the latest bar group to protest new Federal Trade Commission rules requiring lawyers to become involved in preventing identity theft, calling the move unauthorized, unnecessary and destructive to the attorney-client relationship. The State Bar’s objections follow those submitted last week by the American Bar Association and the…
New York Times, Medical Problems Could Include Identity Theft
Brandon Sharp, a 37-year-old manager at an oil and gas company in Houston, has never had any real health problems and, luckily, he has never stepped foot in an emergency room. So imagine his surprise a few years ago when he learned he owed thousands of dollars worth of emergency-service medical bills. Mr. Sharp, as…