Archive for Freedom Threats
How a Security Response Plan Can Help Your Business Expect the Unexpected
Posted by: | Commentsby Lesley Fair
Taking steps to protect personal information in your files and on your computer can go a long way toward preventing a security breach. Nevertheless, breaches can happen. That’s why the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recommends that companies have a plan in place to respond to security incidents before they occur. Putting together a “What if?” action strategy now may help reduce the impact an information breach can have on your business, your employees, and your customers.
Here are some tips from the FTC about customizing your company’s security response plan.
- View from the top. Senior management sets the tone for any organization’s commitment to data security. That’s why drafting, coordinating, and implementing your company’s response plan isn’t a job for a newcomer. Designate a well-respected senior official to head up your response team. Select someone with a reputation for working well with every part of your operation — sales, financial, personnel, information technology, etc. — and give him or her a “hot line” to the head of the company.
- Put a plan in place. Once you’ve put together your response team, have them draft contingency plans for how your business will respond to different kinds of security incidents. Some threats may come out of left field; others — a lost laptop or a hack attack, to name just two — are unfortunate, but foreseeable.
- Trust your gut. Experience sharpens intuition. If your staff suspects a breach, investigate it immediately. Waiting days to convene a committee or “run it up the corporate flagpole” can waste precious time.
- Pull the plug. If you suspect a computer breach, immediately sever the compromised computer’s access to the Internet and to your network. To assess the impact, ask your IT staff to preserve any available network logs, file transfer logs, system logs, and access reports. Investigate if intruders opened files or placed new programs on your computer. Did they release viruses or other malware? By diagnosing the damage and retracing the fraudsters’ steps, you can help your company shore up unanticipated vulnerabilities.
- Making contact. Consider whom to inform in the event of an incident, both inside and outside your company. You may need to notify consumers, law enforcement agencies, customers, credit bureaus, and other businesses that may be affected by the breach. In addition, about 40 states have laws addressing data breaches. Have that information on file before you need it.
For more information, read Protecting Personal Information: A Guide for Business.
Lesley Fair is an attorney in the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection who specializes in business compliance.
Protecting Personal Information: Five Steps for Business
Posted by: | Commentsby Lesley Fair
What’s in your file cabinet right now? Tax records? Payroll information? And what’s on your computer system? Financial data from your suppliers? Credit card numbers from your customers? To a busy marketer, those documents are an everyday part of doing business. But in the hands of an identity thief, they’re tools for draining bank accounts, opening bogus lines of credit, and going on the shopping spree of a lifetime — at the expense of your company, your employees, and the customers who trust you.
Sophisticated hack attacks make the headlines, but many security breaches could be prevented by commonsense measures that cost companies next to nothing. That’s why the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has published Protecting Personal Information: A Guide for Business, a plain-language handbook with practical tips on securing sensitive data. The specifics depend on the size of your company and the kind of information you have, but the basic principles remain the same. Whether you work for a multinational powerhouse with branches around the world or a start-up based in a home office, a sound information security plan is built on these five key practices:
- Take stock. Know what personal information you have in your files and on your computer. Understand how personal information moves into, through, and out of your business and who has access — or could have access to it.
- Scale down. Keep only what you need for your business. That old business practice of holding on to every scrap of paper is “so 20th century.” These days, if you don’t have a legitimate business reason to have sensitive information in your files or on your computer, don’t keep it.
- Lock it. Protect the information you keep. Be cognizant of physical security, electronic security, employee training, and the practices of your contractors and affiliates.
- Pitch it. Properly dispose of what you no longer need. Make sure papers containing personal information are shredded, burned, or pulverized so they can’t be reconstructed by an identity thief.
- Plan ahead. Draft a plan to respond to security incidents. Designate a senior member of your team to create an action plan before a breach happens.
Get your copy of Protecting Personal Information: A Guide for Business at www.ftc.gov/infosecurity. While you’re there, download copies for your IT manager, your human resources department, your sales staff, and anyone else who comes in contact with customer or employee information.
Lesley Fair is an attorney in the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection who specializes in business compliance.
Cyberattack draws renewed attention to Internet freedom
Posted by: | CommentsAn alleged cyberattack by the Chinese government into systems operated by Google and other U.S. companies, including federal contractors, has prompted the U.S. government to revisit the complicated issue of Internet freedom.
Google on Tuesday announced it had detected an intrusion into its corporate infrastructure from China that attempted to penetrate the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. According to a statement on the search firm’s blog, officials discovered that at least 20 other large companies were similarly targeted, and it is notifying the affected businesses and U.S. authorities… MORE
Diversity Leaders Come Together to Call upon FCC for Concrete Analysis on the Impact of Net Neutrality on Minority Communities
WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Leaders from 23 national organizations representing the Hispanic, Asian-American, African-American and Disability communities yesterday called upon the FCC to address their concerns that the impact of the proposed network neutrality regulations on unserved and underserved communities has not been adequately studied. The joint letter was filed with the FCC in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on preserving the free and open Internet as a follow up to an original joint letter signed by many of the same organizations filed with the Commission in October.
The initial letter from October asked that the NPRM “include the framework and a request for comment that would produce a careful and empirical analysis of the impact that these [net neutrality] regulations would have on people with disabilities, low-income, minority, multilingual, elderly and young Americans.” Despite this request, the FCC has not addressed this issue, which continues to be a growing concern for many of the diversity organizations.
The letter filed yesterday states that “now, months later, there has been no analysis of these important factors, as the Commission has moved forward with the NPRM.”
The signers go on to write,
“As we have said before, we strongly urge the Commission to ensure that there will be no delays in advancing initiatives to bridge the digital divide. We also remain concerned that there are a number of proposals being considered by the FCC that may discourage broadband adoption, including many provisions being considered in the name of net neutrality. Should our communities be left behind in broadband deployment and adoption as a result of any reactive policy, we know our constituents and members stand to miss out on important opportunities for economic attainment, educational achievement, affordable health care, and civic engagement. At this time, the Commission’s top priority should be extending these benefits to all Americans, rather than limiting their impact.”
The letter concludes by stating that universal broadband deployment and adoption is and should be the first goal of the Commission, Administration and Congress in regard to a National plan.
To view the full letter filed with the FCC, visit the following link. http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020372993
About HTTP
The Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership (HTTP) is a coalition of national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organizations that works to increase awareness of the impact of technology and telecommunications policy on the U.S. Hispanic community.
Source: Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership
Police: Woman seduced date, made him undress then robbed him
Posted by: | CommentsEVERETT, Wash. — How’s this for a date from hell? A woman seduces you, leaves you naked and takes off with your valuables, including your car.
Police say that’s just what Ashley Dawson did to an unsuspecting man.
The alleged victim, Andrew Scarbrough, says it appears he went looking for love in all the wrong places, including the Internet. He hoped he’d found love when he met a woman on MySpace.
Continue Reading Police: Woman seduced date, made him undress then robbed him
Web of Justice?: Jurors’ Use of Social Media
Posted by: | CommentsFrom Citizen Media Law Project
At the start of a trial, the judge usually reads to jurors general instructions about how the trial will proceed. The instructions also tell jurors how they should behave during the trial, including the admonition that they should not discuss the case with others, including both trial participants and outsiders.
But in recent years, several courts have had to deal with jurors using social media — such as blogs and text messaging — during trials. Although this has arisen in a surprising number of cases, so far it appears that no court has overturned a jury verdict or ordered a new trial because of such activity.
Continue Reading Web of Justice?: Jurors’ Use of Social Media
‘Big Loser’ Says Snake Oil Firms Defamed Her
Posted by: | CommentsMINNEAPOLIS (CN) – A former “plus-size model” who appeared on “The Biggest Loser” says weight-loss companies defamed her by using her photos to push their products, which she never used and which may be dangerous. Jennifer Eisenbarth was booted off the first episode of season 3 of the show and went on to lose more than 100 pounds on her own, she says in her federal complaint.
Eisenbarth sued FWM Laboratories, Bromacleanse, Central Coast Nutraceuticals, Tricleanse and Tricleanse owner Dennis Hefter, of Boulder, Colo. She says the defendants pushed their snake oil by using fictitious names and personal details alongside “before” and “after” photos of her on their Web sites.
Continue Reading HERE
Justices to Tackle Text-Message Privacy Case
Posted by: | Comments(CN) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether a police department in California violated an officer’s privacy rights by reading sexually explicit text messages sent from a department-issued pager.
A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit had sided with SWAT team Sgt. Jeff Quon, who accused the Ontario Police Department of snooping on his personal text messages.
The department reviewed the messages to determine how much Quon owed it for exceeding his 25,000-character allotment. Officers usually paid the department for any overages, but the lieutenant who collected the money said he was sick of being a bill collector and decided to investigate Quon’s repeat overages.
Quon, his wife and other recipients of Quon’s text messages sued the department for alleged privacy violations, claiming the department’s actions amounted to an unreasonable search barred by the Fourth Amendment.
Continue Reading HERE
