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Encryption

FTC settles with rewards company over security infractions

Dan Kaplan January 09, 2012

Upromise, which helps students save for college, failed to live up to its oath to protect users' security and privacy, and offer encryption.

Encryption bans in the name of fighting terrorism hurt security

Rainer Enders, CTO of Americas, NCP Engineering December 28, 2011

Governments need to fight terrorism in ways other than prohibiting the encryption of networks, a technology that is essential to locking down business' private communication.

Getting serious about health care security

Peter Spier, manager of professional services, Fortrex Technologies December 06, 2011

Health care providers and their patients both have parts to play in the high-stakes game of protecting sensitive medical information, especially as technology becomes easier to implement and enforcement of regulations intensifies.

Encryption

Peter Stephenson December 01, 2011

We would be hard-pressed to find many product categories in the security space that did not have some encryption component associated with them.

Podcast: Fixing the SSL certificate chain

Dan Kaplan November 30, 2011

In this podcast, Access' Gustaf Bjorksten discusses why the SSL system has failed and what is necessary to improve its existing design and implementation. He helped author a call-to-action paper, and believes the future trust and privacy of the internet relies on finding a solution.

Sutter Health loses computer, data on 4.2 million

Dan Kaplan November 16, 2011

Northern California-based Sutter Health is the second major health care organization to fall victim to a major breach of unencrypted data.

GAO again slams IRS over security weaknesses

Angela Moscaritolo November 14, 2011

Despite repeated warnings from the GAO, the IRS has not done much to improve its security posture, and the tax collector was chastised in yet another federal audit.

Google enables search encryption by default

Dan Kaplan October 19, 2011

Google has turned on encrypted search by default. The tech giant announced in a blog post Tuesday that users, over the next few weeks, will be automatically directed to https://www.google.com when they sign into their accounts. The secure channel will help protect search terms and results pages from being intercepted by a third party. As a result, websites won't have access to each individual search query that drives traffic to their site, but they still will be able to view a list of the top 1,000 queries via Google Webmaster Tools. Users wanting to send their individual search entry to advertisers, so they can improve their campaigns, can opt to still do so by clicking on an ad appearing on the search results page.

Defense Department facing $4.9B lawsuit over breach

Angela Moscaritolo October 17, 2011

A suit contends that the defendants failed to properly encrypt data, then "intentionally, willfully and recklessly" allowed an untrained individual to access the information.

Delaware pediatric health facility loses data on 1.6 million

Angela Moscaritolo October 11, 2011

Three unencrypted backup tapes containing the personal information of more than a million and a half individuals have gone missing from Nemours, a children's health system in Wilmington, Del.

Amazon Kindle tablet routes web traffic to cloud first

Darren Pauli, SC Australia/New Zealand edition October 03, 2011

Amazon's Silk browser, used on the newly announced the Kindle Fire tablet, has raised privacy concerns because it directs all traffic through its EC2 cloud service.

It's all about the data

Peter Stephenson October 03, 2011

If we didn't care about who sees, damages or alters our data, we wouldn't need to waste millions of dollars on the tools of our trade, says Peter Stephenson, technology editor.

Lost backup tapes affect 4.9 million current, former military

Dan Kaplan September 29, 2011

One of the largest breaches of the year has struck a military health benefits firm and a major defense contractor, and the data wasn't encrypted because a compliant solution wasn't available.

Losing medical data

David Harley, ESET senior research fellow • September 26, 2011

Apparently, the loss of sensitive medical data is not purely an English disease.

SCADA system safeguards

September 01, 2011

Stuxnet demonstrated that even isolated physical networks could be hacked.

Smartphones? There's malware for that, too.

Troy Gill, security analyst, AppRiver July 07, 2011

Mobile devices, while unique, pose security challenges not unlike traditional PCs, and organizations can apply some basic tips to stay ahead of the threats.

New "indestructible" botnet comprised of 4.5 million PCs

Angela Moscaritolo July 01, 2011

A new botnet made up of more than 4.5 million infected computers is "practically indestructible," according to researchers at Kaspersky Lab. But some disagree.

Smartphones safer than desktops, but not without risks

Angela Moscaritolo June 28, 2011

Apple's iOS and Google's Android mobile platforms are more secure than traditional desktop operating systems though both are still vulnerable to many types of attacks, according to a new report.

Sony faces new lawsuit following PSN hack

Dan Kaplan June 24, 2011

A new class-action lawsuit filed against Sony in the wake of the massive PlayStation Network/Qriocity breach claims the company fired security workers just days before the breach occurred.

SC Congress Canada: Remediating mobile risks

Angela Moscaritolo June 15, 2011

Employee emails, contact lists, authentication credentials and sensitive company documents are some of the primary assets that must be protected on mobile devices.

Personal data of 4,000 SEC employees exposed

Angela Moscaritolo May 20, 2011

The personal information of thousands of Securities and Exchange Commission was accidentally exposed in an unencrypted email.

Sony PlayStation Network back online after intrusion

Dan Kaplan May 16, 2011

Sony has restored its PlayStation Network (PSN), more than three weeks after service was crippled by a breach that resulted in the theft of personal information belonging to tens of millions of users.

Texas breach affects millions of state employees, retirees

Angela Moscaritolo April 12, 2011

The Texas comptroller's office on Wednesday will begin notifying 3.5 million state employees and retirees that their unencrypted personal data was inadvertently posted to a public server.

Google offers Android encryption, wipe for businesses

Dan Kaplan April 12, 2011

Google has released a new version of its Google Apps Device Policy mobile application to allow for increased security management of Android devices, versions 2.2 and later, according to a Thursday blog post. The updated app enables administrators to locate lost or stolen devices on a map, ring the phones and wipe the PIN and password. In addition, the app permits remote encryption of data on the device. The app, only available for Google Apps for Business or Google Apps for Education customers, is part of a move by Google to increase Android adoption within businesses.

BP "leaks" data of 13,000 Gulf oil spill victims

Angela Moscaritolo March 30, 2011

A BP employee lost a laptop containing the personal information of thousands of Louisiana residents who filed compensation claims after last year's devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Digital-age copyright legislation killed again

James Hale March 29, 2011

For the second time in three years, legislation to bring Canada's copyright law into the digital age has fallen victim to parliamentary dissolution.

Security experts, DHS, lawmakers react to RSA hack

Dan Kaplan March 21, 2011

Five days after RSA announced that its systems were breached by a sophisticated attack, details remain scant about how customers of its SecurID two-factor authentication products may be affected.

GAO slams IRS for data protection missteps

Dan Kaplan March 17, 2011

With the tax filing deadline a month away, the IRS is feeling the heat from the U.S. Government Accountability Office over lax data security practices.

Health Net breach prompts investigation, affects 1.9M

Angela Moscaritolo March 15, 2011

Managed health care provider Health Net revealed this week that it lost the personal information of nearly two million current and past enrollees, its second massive breach in 16 months.

Encryption and advancing cloud security

March 11, 2011

SPONSORED VIDEO: Dave Asprey chats with SC Magazine Executive Editor Dan Kaplan on the RSA Conference showroom floor in San Francisco. Asprey explains that as cloud and virtualization technology gain traction with senior-level executives, enterprises are taking the time to build security into these projects. He also talks about the benefits of encryption in the cloud and how virtual machine density can be increased simply by running proper security products.