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Posts Tagged ‘Apple’

Former Middletown School contractor accused of Laptop theft

December 5th, 2011

Not one or two but 400 laptops missing! A recent case of laptop theft saw 400 laptops being stolen from Middletown schools by a former contractor. A Butler County grand jury is currently reviewing the charges. If convicted, he faces 5 years prison time.

According to the Middletown police Larry A. Osborne Jr., 29,has been charged with third-degree felony theft on Nov. 9 in Middletown Municipal Court. He is accused of stealing computers since 2008. Osborne, a computer technician, was a former contractor of the Butler County Educational Service Center. The approximate value of the 400 laptops is $123,000. Osborne used to sell these computers on ebay. He sold around 350 computers to a man in PA who had no clue that these computers were stolen property. The PA man has not been charged. The machines were either used ones or non-working.

Former school contractor stole 400 laptops

The first theft was reported on Nov. 8 where eight Apple laptop computers were stolen from the district’s warehouse, 110 Baltimore St.

So far the department has recovered 46 of the 400 laptops. According to Lt. Scott Reeve. “The investigation is pretty much done. We’ve recovered all we’re going to recover,”. He further added that the thefts were discovered when the owner of 1 Stop Shipping Shop on Vail Avenue became suspicious about the no of computers Osborne was shipping. 18 laptops were recovered from 1 Stop Shipping Shop and 28 from Hallstead, PA. Lt. Reeve added “He wasn’t just taking them from one location,”. “He was taking them from multiple locations. I think that is part of the reason he got away with it for so long. He is an information technology guy and it’s not unusual to see him walking around with a computers in his hands, and they weren’t all being stolen from one location. He was spreading out the thefts at various schools throughout the district.”

Apparently Osborne was a full time IT worker with the district and lost his job a month ago when the theft came to light.

The modus operandi was that Osborne stole laptops that were left unattended while making service calls. Inspite of the fact that the district conducts general audits of its systems on an annual basis, the laptops were stole. The reason being Osborne was the employee in charge of this district.The district is revamping its security policy to make sure such thefts do not take place in the future.

Alertsec and data encryption go hand in hand

Information has become highly mobile. There are netbooks, laptops, iphones and blackberries. You leave any of these unattended and the next thing you know is that they are stolen!

To lose any of the above device means losing valuable information! Especially when this information includes not only your personal data but that of hundreds and thousands of people.

Encryption is the best security solution to data breaches and laptop thefts. Alertsec helps you keep your info secure.

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Posted in Computer security, Identity and Information loss, Lawsuits and settlements, computer security software, identity theft, laptop encryption, laptop theft

Tags: Apple Baltimore Counties Hardware Information Commissioners Office insurance laptop laptop theft LoJack Notebooks and Laptops security Theft United States

The case of 50 stolen laptops from Massabesic High School in Waterboro

November 24th, 2011

Looks like stealing laptops from school is very easy. Every other day we are hearing news about missing laptops and that too from schools. Time to tighten school security policies!

The case of the missing laptops and their recovery

The York County Sheriff’s Department has succeeded in recovering 50 Apple laptop computers that were stolen from Massabesic High School this week. Where exactly were they found is not revealed as yet, only that it was a good distance away from the school.

According to Sheriff Maurice Ouellette the laptops are in good condition and had been placed inside two, large plastic tubs with covers on them at the time of recovery.

“This was stuff that kids used to study with … That’s something I take personally,” Ouellette said.

How did the thieves manage to steal these computers?

It appears that the thief or thieves pried open a window to gain entrance to the school. The thieves entered the East Building of the school and did away with the computers and a projector.

“I’ve been working for this school district for a number of years and this is certainly the largest theft of any equipment that i’ve ever experienced or that i know of”, said RSU 57 Technology Director Bob Stackpole

School staff and students were interviewed in detail by the police in hope of getting clues about the theft.

A TV viewer caught this piece of news item on TV and got in touch with the authorities. The total value of the computers was around $60,000.

To catch the thief

Authorities have requested anyone with info about the thieves to get in touch with them. “We’re certainly interested in that, how that took place and at the end of the day we take a look at what transpired, how it transpired, who would have access and who would know, things to that nature”,said Sheriff Maurice Ouellette. The laptops were white in color and had identifying stickers. Currently the laptops are with the police. As soon as the investigation is over, they will be returned to the school.

Alertsec equips firms with encryption software

Alertsec is here to take care of our security issues especially for anyone working with PCs. Al

Stolen Laptops from Massabesic School recovered

Aertsec Xpress is the service that automatically protects ALL information you store on your PC. The fact that we now buy more laptops than desktops shows that the information we all store is increasingly more vulnerable to be exposed. It is a much higher risk to lose a laptop than a desktop computer.

Encryption is the only secure method for complete protection of data stored on your hard disk. Today laptops are overtaking desktop PCs as the major source of computing and media storage, laptops frequently store an organization’s most valuable information. Thus laptop encryption is becoming more and more important.

Alertsec Xpress offers full disk encryption and is therefore superior to other encryption methods when comparing security, performance, robustness and ease-of-use for both administrators and users.

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Posted in Identity and Information loss, identity theft, laptop encryption, laptop theft

Tags: Apple Hardware IPhone laptop LoJack Massabesic High School Notebooks and Laptops security Sheriff Theft

Apple’s systems hacked, internal passwords stolen

July 6th, 2011

User names stolen from Apple server

Hacking groups

Hacking attacks are on the rise. Hacker groups such as LulzSec have been successfully breaking into networks of big companies like Fox, Sony, AT&T, PBS, Citigroup and even the CIA. LulzSec, an anonymous group of hackers, have claimed responsibility for hacking into several major company websites.

The latest in the line is Apple’s website. It appears that hackers have broken into Apple’s systems before posting a list of names and password hashes online. The names were not linked to the more than 200m customer credit cards stored on the iTunes online store.

The complete story

Hacking group Anonymous broke into an Apple server, collecting 26 administrative user names and passwords. The group announced the breach through its Twitter where it shared a link to the data posted on text-sharing website Pastebin. “Apple could be target, too,” the group tweeted. “But don’t worry, we are busy elsewhere.”

LulzSec group has been very active in the hacking field and recently announced it was ending its hacking operation and asked its users to support Anonymous. Their movement is called “AntiSec.” Both Anonymous and LulzSec have always targeted big companies disclosing their political motives.

What does Apple have to say?

Apple declined to comment declined to comment and has not confirmed the breach as yet. Fortunately the data that was hacked has little value to the culprits.

Why is this happening?

“Part of the problem is that companies don’t have an incentive to disclose when a breach occurs unless it’s required by law,” said Ronald Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs. “But the volume [of attacks] suggests something is going on.”

Hacking operations by groups like Anonymous and LulzSec started with Sony who is still having a hard time getting its systems back on track since its breach in April.

One of the reasons for these successful hacking attempts is the very nature of most major corporations’ digital data. Up till now, large companies had an Internet website for public information and an “intranet” for internal use. But the picture has drastically changed today. A company’s public online presence includes websites, YouTube channels, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts – all very vulnerable for getting compromised!

Add to this the high-profile nature of such services. Even though Social networking platforms like Twitter or Facebook offer very less business value, they can be used to quickly and publicly embarrass a company – the latest in the news – Fox News Twitter account which displayed fake Obama tweets! Stay tuned..

Time for giant Corp orates to tighten their security – AlertSec’s security services

Organisations, especially corporate giants, have to have an information security policy in place that proves they have taken necessary steps and measures to safeguard the information they gathered. If these policies are not adhered to, the regulators may prosecute.

Alertsec Xpress is used by organizations that have recognized the need to protect their information. Customers range from single-user sole traders and consultants to multinational companies with a large number of offices around the globe. Alertsec Xpress’s Check Point Full Disk Encryption is used by over 4 million users worldwide.

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Posted in Computer security, Data Protection, computer security software, data breach, data encryption

Tags: AlertSec Xpress anonymous Antisec Movement Apple breach notification breach notification laws Data Breaches data encryption data theft prevention desktop encryption software Hacker iTunes Ronald Deibert Twitter YouTube

Laptop Theft Incidents at Schools in Australia

July 6th, 2010

: Bunch of Laptops via Flickr

In two separate incidents, laptops have been reported to be stolen from school premises. In the first incident, burglars hit the Glen Osmond Primary School on 29th June at about 2.30am and managed to steal eight Apple laptop computers.

In another incident, the ABERFOYLE Park High School also suffered a theft incident. According to the reports, on Monday, June 28 around 30 laptop computers were stolen overnight.

According to the principal of the school, Liz Mead the hospital has implemented measures to although she didn’t share the details of the security methods.

According to Liz Mead, “You just feel very disappointed because the school does have very good security”. “These laptops are there for our young people to work on so it’s disappointing when we have people who want to interrupt the learning of others.”

Ms Mead also mentioned that the school had ordered new laptops which were supposed to be delivered after the school holidays.

Laptop theft incidents at schools is a matter of high concern, because not only does it impact the working, causes financial damage but also creates a spot on our education ecosystem. These laptops are being used for educational purposes, so obviously the loss is more than the theft of a physical device or data loss. This creates an urgent need for appropriate laptop encryption measures !!

If you have information related to either thefts please contact BankSA Crime Stoppers on 1800333000 or online at www.sa.crimestoppers.com.au

Security against Laptop Theft

Today, information is often an organization’s most important asset. As laptops are overtaking desktop PCs as the major source of computing and media storage, laptops frequently store an organization’s most valuable information. Most laptops are stolen at the work place, conference centers, hotel rooms, cars, airports and train stations. As statistics show, it is just impossible to be able to prevent theft to occur as opportunists are everywhere in our society. Alertsec Xpress offers a very good and easy-to-use laptop security service that includes more than the traditional software licensing model. Feel free to subsribe for your personal 30-day free trial.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tags: ABERFOYLE Park High School Apple Education Hardware laptop Notebooks and Laptops Police Theft

SMBs Worried about Data Losses

June 25th, 2010

Computer software security and data encryption are two vital areas that organizations cannot afford to ignore. Symantec has released a new survey according to which over many small and medium sized businesses are worried about the cyber attacks and data loss incidents.

According to Symantec’s 2010 Global SMB Information Protection Survey around 2000 SMBs in 28 countries were surveyed. The respondents belonged to the following two groups: