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Posts Tagged ‘security’

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

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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

Mitsubishi Nuclear and Warplane data compromised

October 31st, 2011

Hackers don’t just hack small accounts like Hospital data or Software data. They get into big stuff like military and warplane data too!

According to Japanese Defense Ministry hackers have most probably accessed sensitive data relating to military aircraft, missiles, and nuclear power plant designs and safety systems.

The news in detail

Mitsubishi Heavy–Japan’s largest defense contractor is best known in America for manufacturing the surface-to-air Patriot missile.–In August it found out that multiple computers were infected with a Trojan application. Further investigation showed that the information had been sent outside the company’s computer network, clearly indicating an outsider’s involvement.

The computers were located in 11 different places. Some were placed in sensitive areas like the Kobe and Nagasaki shipyards that are into submarines and destroyers constructions. A few others were located at the Nagoya facility that manufactures guided missile systems. The nuclear data that was stolen included anti-quake measures.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was reluctant to share this info at first. It kept the Japanese authorities in dark stating that its military information was safe and that all security measures were followed. Initially the company said that the attackers were caught early on but later contradicted their own statement saying that data had been compromised.

Statement issued by the company

“The company recently confirmed unintended transferring of some information on the company’s products and technologies between servers within the company,” said Mitsubishi Heavy in a statement. “Based on the finding, the company investigated the incident further and recognized the possibility of some data leakage from the server in question.”

Other recent military data breaches

Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft, was a victim of military data theft recently. The Lockheed hack was done by using information stolen earlier from RSA Security. RSA is the branch of EMC that produces the SecurID two-factor authentication token used by thousands of contractors and corporations to secure their networks.

What are the Tokyo Police doing about it?

Mitsubishi Heavy has given a complaint to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department with details about damage done to its computer system in late September. The police are looking into computer records to find out the source of the data.

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The need of a Data encryption software and recovery software is felt by big and small companies in today’s vulnerable data world. The threat could have simply been reduced to an insurance matter by a mere investment of $13/month. 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.

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Posted in Computer security, Data Protection, Hackers, Identity and Information loss, data breach, data encryption, identity theft

Tags: alertsec AlertSec Xpress checkpoint EMC Encryption Kobe Lockheed Martin Military aircraft Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Heavy Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagoya Nuclear power Personal computer security Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department United States

Major security breach forces Sony to lock down 93,000 Online Accounts

October 13th, 2011

Another security breach at Sony's

Sony again !

After a very shocking and massive security breach, Sony locked down almost 93,000 user accounts on its online gaming and entertainment networks. A large number of unauthorized attempts were made to access these accounts.

According to Sony, a brief access to 60,000 accounts on the PlayStation Network was gained by the intruders using very large sets of sign-in Ids and passwords, similarly another 33,000 accounts on Sony Online Entertainment’s servers were also accessed by the intruders.

Sony reported through a statement that these intrusions took place from Friday to Monday and affected “less than one-tenth of 1 percent” of PSN, SEN, and SOE consumers. Even though the hackers got success in verifying the sign-in IDs and passwords, the credit card information remained safe and untouched as per the Sony report. The accounts are locked by Sony once it was confirmed that the attacks were unauthorized.

“In this case, given that the data tested against our network consisted of sign-in ID-password pairs, and that the overwhelming majority of the pairs resulted in failed matching attempts, it is likely the data came from another source and not from our Networks,” Sony Chief Information Security Officer Philip Reitinger said on the PlayStation blog.

The attacked accounts also “showed additional activity prior to being locked,” but that information has not been declared. “We are continuing to investigate the extent of unauthorized activity on any of these accounts,” Sony said.

Reitinger indicating about the “additional activity” said, “We will work with any users whom we confirm have had unauthorized purchases made to restore amounts in the PSN/SEN or SOE wallet.”

The affected consumers are receiving e-mails from Sony to inform about the locked status of the account and requesting to reset the password securely.

Sony has been issuing apologies and promising secure network to all the users. Sony, one of the rulers of entertainment industry is trying hard to regain the trust of the customers.

The company is aiming to link all its gadgets to an online cloud-based network of games, movies and music that would integrate all the verticals as well as the customers’ confidence in the company. However, industry experts find such incidents of security breach threatening for Sony’s brand image that may lead to permanent brand damage.

This security attack proves a major setback to the company plans and credibility too and the industry experts are not sure about the aftermath it may cause to the company.

Alertsec protects firms with encryption software

Alertsec is here to take care of our security issues especially for anyone working with PCs. Alertsec 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 Computer security, Data Protection, Hackers, computer security software, data breach, data encryption

Tags: Chief information security officer Enter your zip code here Intrusion detection system PlayStation Blog PlayStation Network security Sony Sony Online Entertainment Special Operations Executive User (computing)

Fairview Health Services in trouble for lost laptop

September 28th, 2011

Laptop theft causes huge data loss for Fairview and North Memorial

Travelers complained about camera thefts 10 years ago; that was replaced by camcorder thefts 5 years ago. And now it is the laptops that go missing ! A good laptop is worth a lot of money. It is a lucrative stealing business, if you think about it.

The latest laptop incident

The theft took place on July 25 in the parking lot of a Minneapolis restaurant. The laptop belonged to an employee of Accretive Health, a firm that does work for Fairview and North Memorial hospitals.

The laptop contained sensitive data such as names, addresses and social security numbers belonging to 14,000 patients of Fairview Health Services and 2,800 patients of North Memorial Medical Center.

Fairview officials had a strict policy of laptop encryption but in this case, it was not followed or somehow missed the eye. ”The assumption was that the information was safe,” said Lois Dahl, Fairview’s information privacy director.

Other similar incidents

This is the second data theft in the Twin Cities this year in which medical data has been compromised exposing personal data of thousands of patients.

According to Harley Geiger, a lawyer for Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, D.C. ”Events like these weaken public faith in care providers’ ability to keep digital health information confidential”. “It’s hard to argue that the issue is taken seriously enough when they keep losing unencrypted mobile devices containing the intimate medical details of thousands of people.”

What are Fairview and North Memorial doing about it?

Both the healthcare providers are sending letters informing all the affected patients about the data loss and offering free services to protect them against identity theft.

Dr. Mark Werner, one of the senior physician leaders at Fairview, said ”Obviously, we take this event seriously,” . “It’s deeply regrettable.”

Why was Accretive Health hired in the first place?

Accretive Health was hired to analyze and maintain a database of patients who may need extra care coordination. That means combing through data on thousands of patients.

Controversy about sharing patient data

Jeff Neuberger, the chief executive officer of Mid Dakota Clinic in Fargo, said he absolutely could not think of allowing an outside agency to access patient data. ”Someone might need to be fired for this one,” was what he said.

Alertsec equips firms with encryption software

Alertsec is here to take care of our security issues especially for anyone working with PCs. Alertsec 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 Computer security, Data Protection, Identity and Information loss, identity theft, laptop encryption, laptop theft

Tags: Accretive Health Desktop computer Enter your zip code here Fairview Health Services laptop Minneapolis Minneapolis – Saint Paul North Memorial Medical Center Patient Personal computer security Theft Twin Cities

Data of one out of every three people in the state of MA has been compromised in the past 20 months

September 25th, 2011

State of Massachusetts has seen the maximum number of data breaches in the past twenty months. Personal information of about two million Massachusetts residents i.e. one in every three people who are residents of Massachusetts, has been breached through electronic data breaches.

According to the 2007 state laws all companies doing business in Massachusetts must inform consumers and state regulators about security breaches that might result in identity theft. The list includes leaks of individual names along with sensitive data like Social Security numbers, bank account, credit card and debit card numbers. The law came into being in 2007 as a result of a 45 million hack of credit card numbers from Framingham-based retailer TJX Cos.

Martha Coakley, Attorney General, said that nearly 1,200 data breaches have been reported. Quarter of these were the result of intentional hacking.

The largest breach in the time period was the hacking of information of about 800,000 people that was lost by a vendor hired to destroy it. In addition, information on 210,000 residents entrusted to a state agency was put at risk.

These data breaches contained information from names and addresses to medical histories.

What MA residents had to say?

Daniel Paul, a courier, gets the jitters when he thinks about it. He made online purchases with his credit card but started getting charged for things he didn’t buy: his credit card had been hacked. It was a nightmare to get things back on track.

Here is what he had to say ”Just going through getting everything changed back, changed over, getting charges off your account, your credit– it was awful,” said Paul. ”I hope I never have to go through it again.”

Mike Paquette, Chief Strategy Officer for Corero Network Security in Hudson, MA said ”In today’s internet world there are so many opportunities where information can be disclosed, as an individual, unfortunately there is very little that you can do,”said.

Consumers do have the option of suing, but it really doesn’t get them anywhere as it is very difficult to prove data theft.

Consumers must carefully keep a track of their online transactions. It is always advisable to deal with well-known companies and do your homework about the company’s info.

Data security with Alertsec

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