[ insider_reports_insider ]
Information Super Pirate Ship?
SecurityProNews
Staff Writer
2005-04-26
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
Two hundred years ago, if you offered a pirate on the high seas a chest full of names, addresses and personal information, Black Beard would have made you walk the plank-unless the list was inscribed on pure gold.
 | | Are You At Risk From Cyber Attacks? |  |
Today's pirates have left the waters for landlubbin' (or maybe cyberlubbin') booty. While Fort Knox is a bit hard to enter, databases are not, and offer up a buried treasure of credit card and social security numbers.
What's scarier than a rum drunk pirate after your gold? How about a skinny hacker ghost after your identity?
Brrrrr. It gives me chills.
Admittedly, a few months ago, this all sounded like computer geek science fiction. But then came Choice Point and Lexis-Nexis with news of the theft of 440,000 names, addresses, and social security numbers.
That's the same number of people lives in Kansas City, MO.
It's still too early to tell if the information stolen from Lexis-Nexis will be used for fraudulent dealings.
But regarding Choice Point, Jim Acosta of CBS news tells us, "there were people whose information was exposed who later found out that they were defrauded, that some financial havoc was wreaked in their lives."
But the Pollyanna in all of us likes to believe these were isolated and rare incidents. There are standards and measures in place to take care of it, right?
Gail Hillebrand of Consumers Union said, "there are virtually no standards in place with respect to the security of that data [from Lexis-Nexis] and very few standards in place with respect to customer screening."
Gulp.
As far as being isolated and rare, the case for that is crumbling as well. Are you a student or alumnus of any of the following educational institutions?
· Tufts University, Boston, MA: On April 7, 2005, sent a letter to alumni and donors saying that up to 106,000 could be affected by a security breach.
· California State University: On April 18, 2005 reported a hacking that may have exposed up to 59,000 people's information.
· University of California, Berkeley: On April 14, reported the theft of a laptop computer containing the personal information of at least 100,000 people.
Grand total of possibly affected people: 265,000, the population (roughly) of Lexington, KY.
The aforementioned are establishments that should have ample resources to maintain security of the personal information they hold.
So what about small businesses?
"Small-business networks are particularly vulnerable to attack," said Vincent Weafer, senior director of security response for Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec, an Internet Security Company.
He continued to say that small businesses tend to overprotect one computer, leaving other computers unprotected. Other, less important, computers serve as great staging points for hackers and spammers.
There seems to be a recent epidemic of information and identity theft at least in the United States.
While, no one can be guaranteed protection from an exceptionally adept hacker, it is highly recommended to make sure your information, the information held by agencies, or the information you hold for others is as protected as it can be.
About the Author:
SecurityProNews is a daily online and email publication focusing on internet security issues.
More insider_reports_insider Articles
Insider Reports RSS Feed
|
|
iEntry 10th Anniversary
RSS
Archive
