Posts Tagged ‘Computer security’

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Increasing Laptop thefts, a major cause of worry

August 31st, 2010

Laptop thefts have been increasing this year, both on-campus & off-campus, according to a report from Information Technology.

The convenience and portability offered by laptops over desktop computers have made them popular among the masses and the thieves. “A laptop takes six seconds to grab,” said Harvard Townsend, chief information security officer. “Desktop machines are growing less common, Townsend said, and thieves realize this. Everyone should invest in a locking security cable,” he said. “Even at home, leave it kind of secured with that cable; it will eliminate opportunistic theft.”

A locking security cable locks the laptop with a heavy, immovable object, thus making it difficult for a thief to walk away with it. “The locks are available at any electronics retailer, including the K-State Student Union Computer Store. Laptops, whether they are in a room in a residence hall, apartment or house, are the easiest items to steal and have high value,” he said.

He also advised to record identification information about the laptop such as the serial number, hardware specifications, make and model and MAC (Media Access Control) address. The MAC address is an identification code, specific to every computer, both Mac and PC that can help the police track down a possible stolen device.

He also advises to back up data frequently so that incase of the theft, at least the invaluable data is not lost. A more secure way of protecting data is hard disk encryption.

Choose Alertsec’s Security Products right now

Alertsec is the frontrunner in offering hard disk encryption as a fully managed service. We provide protection for all information stored on laptops and PCs in an easy, convenient, and cost-effective way. Check out our convenient and cost-effective computer security software for Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7.

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Lost Laptops & mobiles cost BBC £240,000

August 12th, 2010

Laptops & mobiles worth more than £240,000 have been lost or stolen from the BBC over the last two years, a Freedom of Information Act request from an IT security company has revealed.

The equipment stolen from BBC or lost during the period from April 2008 to March this year included 146 laptops, 65 mobile phones and 17 BlackBerrys. The value of the missing laptops has been estimated at £219,000, the mobile phones at £12,913 and the Blackberrys at £9,106, according to BBC reports.

This comes to a total of £241,019, or the equivalent of 1,656 colour TV licenses costing £145.50 each, although 9 equipments, worth £23,450 were recovered.

The F.o.I. request also revealed that a BBC employee was investigated over the theft of a laptop, but whether a disciplinary action was taken against that employee is still unclear as the corporation could not confirm it.

The General Manager of the IT security company said “it is shocking that any organization could lose so much equipment, but the BBC is just one of many we’ve seen recently, proving it’s all too common.

“In this case, however, this technology is paid for by the license payer and employees should be far more careful about how they handle it.”

A BBC spokeswoman added: “The BBC takes theft very seriously and has implemented a number of measures to reduce the level of crime.

“The portability of laptops and phones means that in any large organization there is an inevitable risk of theft.”

Moreover, with the devices, the invaluable data on them was also stolen. Sure, the hardware theft is covered by the insurance in most cases, but the data lost in the theft is almost never recovered.

How Alertsec Xpress Would Have Helped

If you use a data security software a theft would simply be reduced to an insurance matter and cost of the hardware plus time to rebuild the laptop. That is certainly a small price to pay compared to what can happen if you lose confidential or sensitive data. 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 subscribe for your personal 30-day free trial.

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University of Hawaii Data Breach

July 19th, 2010
NEW YORK - MAY 20: In this photo illustration...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Following-up with our last post on Northwestern Iowa University data breach, another data breach incident has happened at the University of Hawaii in Manoa.

The computer security breach is believed to have impacted about 53,000 people causing exposure of their personal information which includes over 40,000 social security numbers and over 200 credit card numbers.Apparently the information was stored on on a computer server used by the Manoa campus Parking Office.

Breach Discovery

The damage was discovered during an audit exercise conducted on 15th June 2010. As per the officials the breach had happened on May 30, 2010. Once the breach was known, the sever was isolated from the rest of the network and an investigation was started which included notification of the Honolulu Police Department and the FBI. In addition, a forensic computer expert was hired to do further investigation.

About the data

As stated above, the database contained Social security numbers and credit card information. In addition, it also had records for faculty, staff, and students who were at the institution during 1998. Business information of people had engaged with the parking office such as purchasing parking permits or having a car towed was also exposed.

The Impact of the Breach

So far there is no evidence that the personal information inside the server has either been used or accessed. However, the people who have been potentially affected will be monitoring their their financial information and taking measures against identity theft. They have been encouraged to obtain credit reports and review credit and bank information statements regularly for any unusual or suspicious activities. A helpline has been setup by the university to answer questions via the phone and through email. The telephone hotline is at #956-6000 and email is at www.hawaii.edu/idalert/.

What the University Says

The university has issued a press release which says, “To protect personal information from further unauthorized access, Social Security numbers are no longer used for parking transactions and are being purged from all current and historic Parking Office databases,” the university said in a news release. “Additional security measures that are being taken include strengthening internal automated network monitoring practices, and performing extensive evaluations of systems to identify other potential security risks”.

The university spokesman Gregg Takayama said, “A computer hacker introduced a virus into a UH Manoa computer server containing parking office information and this enabled access to data on about 53,000 people”. “As part of our investigation we do know that a computer site in China was involved but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the hacker originated in China,” said Takayama.

What should affected individuals know and do?

Khon2.com has published a detailed set of FAQs which addresses most of the queries related to this incident. One of the queries also provides tips for affected individuals:

Carefully monitor your financial information and take protective measures against identity theft, which include:

  • Obtaining and carefully reviewing credit reports. Free credit reports from all three credit agencies may be obtained by calling 877-322-8228.
  • Reviewing bank and credit card statements regularly, and looking for unusual or suspicious activities.
  • Contacting appropriate financial institutions immediately upon noticing any irregularity in a credit report or account.

Are you suffering from the breach?

Have you been affected by data breach? Do you think that your organization is susceptible to a potential security breach? For further information visit our website where you will learn about our encryption software and other security protection methods.

If you use a data security software a theft would simply be reduced to an insurance matter and cost of the hardware plus time to rebuild the laptop. That is certainly a small price to pay compared to what can happen if you lose confidential or sensitive data. 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 subscribe for your personal 30-day free trial.

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Data Breach Report 2010 by ITRC

July 3rd, 2010

The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) has released a data breach statistics report for 2010 for all incidents that involved data breach till June 22,2010.

Apparently, the year has already witnessed 325 incidents which has lead to the exposure of 8.3 million recosrds. This number definitely indicates that the overall incidents for they year 2010 will exceed the cases that had happened in 2009. The reported incidents in 2009 were 498.

While the Business industry had accounted 208 of the total incidents in 2009, this year the number has already reached 121 incidents. In 2009, the cases reported from the Government/Military sector were 2009, while this year they have already reached 54.

The most surprising of all the categories is the Banking sector. While last year (2009) there were ‘57′ standing at 11.4% of the total breaches. This year inside 6 months, while the number has grown to ‘37′ the percentage of incidents has dropped to 11.1%.

Once again – The report highlights a key and an alarming fact. 41.8% of the stories have been reported from the business vertical.

Statistical reports like these are a fair lesson for organizations to implement proper security policies in place. Not only do the organizations need to be proactive they also need to take appropriate measures to encrpy data, implement computer security software, data enryption methods etc.

Data Security with Alertsec Xpress

If you use a data security software a theft would simply be reduced to an insurance matter and cost of the hardware plus time to rebuild the laptop. That is certainly a small price to pay compared to what can happen if you lose confidential or senstive data. 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 subscribe for your personal 30-day free trial.

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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:

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