About two weeks ago now a relative found a Dell Inspiron 4500 sitting in the trash at the complex where he works. As the computer looked perfectly fine and it was obviously thrown out, he grabbed it to take a look at it. When he got it home and booted the system he found that the hard drive was still intact and other than running very slow the system seemed fine… Additionally, it was determined that the computer came from the Curves that resides in the complex.
I was able to find several documents (Word Perfect) that contained mostly trivial data, while still others contained phone numbers and addresses of both employees and clients. Even more disturbing the system still contained the Curves database “iGo Figure” which is really just an Access database. By looking at the features of the “iGo Figure” software you can see that the database potentially contains extremely personal information (i.e. credit card information). The database is password protected and while I didn’t; extracting the information from the database would be trivial.
No matter who you are or what your knowledge is if you run a business it is your responsibility to educate yourself (or pay someone) on how to handle technological issues like proper data disposal. There is simply no excuse for a scenario like this to occur.
How far into your life does a computer have to penetrate in order to remain a tool and not an annoyance or intrusion? What if your bank considered you a credit risk and could shut down your car if you were late on a payment?
Or, maybe you might have to take your computer in for service, and the Geek Squad just happens to pilfer through your computer looking for private photographs. So many people look at the computer like an automobile: it’s something to use until the wheels fall off, and then you’re looking at major repairs, you have to take it in, and then you’re at their mercy. I guess (thankfully) that they’re stealing pictures, and not financial information.
I know that I have been extremely lax about updating the last couple of weeks. It’s a combination of several projects coming to a head all at once. However, here are a few things to look at to keep your interest in the meantime:
Ten free security utilities you should already be using from ZDNet: your mileage may vary on these applications, but you might notice some topics that we covered in class, such as drive-by downloads and “crapware” that comes pre-installed on computers by the manufacturer.
Blockbuster sued for participating in Facebook’s beacon program: Facebook has a program that monitors and tells your Facebook friends about your e-commerce activity. In the case of Blockbuster, they tell your friends what videos you rent, which is a no-no according to the Video Privacy Protection Act, which was enacted after Judge Robert Bork’s video rental history was published during his Supreme Court nomination in 1987.
Computer hacker hits Advance Auto: It’s not just banks and credit card companies that are getting targeted by hackers. One wonders, though, why they still had information on file that was 7 years old.
Class, here is the PowerPoint presentation from our final night of class. In addition, I may ask some of you if it is okay with you to publish your final presentations for use as examples for future classes. I’ll let you know once I review them again.
I enjoyed teaching your class and wish you all the best of luck in your future studies with Indiana Wesleyan!
A couple in Minnesota were posting personal ads on Craigslist for sexual encounters and then stealing identities, checks, and credit card information to purchase merchandise and prescription drugs.
Who do you / can you trust in these days of rampant identity theft? As we’ve been discussing in class, there are a lot of ways that you can safeguard yourself–you just have to be vigilant.
An employee of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan stole information from the records of as many as 40,000 patients, a hospital spokeswoman said on Friday.
The theft — which occurred over the past several years and included patients’ names, phone numbers and Social Security numbers — was discovered during a federal investigation, and the hospital was notified in January, the spokeswoman, Myrna Manners, said. An internal audit by the hospital confirmed the theft, she said.
The hospital does not believe that any medical information was stolen, Ms. Manners said, adding that there is no evidence that the stolen information has been used.
Investigators were looking into the possibility that the theft could be part of a larger criminal scheme, Ms. Manners said.
How do you stop this? Ummmm… maybe stop going to the doctor? As stated earlier in the course, a computer is a tool. How the tool is used is what’s the issue… you can’t stop bad guys from trying to be bad, but you can protect the information enough so that it makes it more difficult for the bad guys to get away with being bad.
Earlier this week, one of my colleagues sat down at her computer to file her income tax return electronically using TurboTax. Twice, her return was rejected. The message she got back was startling: the IRS already had a tax return filed under her Social Security number.
How could this be? She hadn’t filed yet.
Panicked, she called the Social Security Administration to make sure her name matched her Social Security number. It did. Then she called the IRS. A representative pulled up the tax return filed under her name and Social Security number, and asked to verify the address. It wasn’t hers.
A thief had filed a fraudulent tax return under her name, and would likely get her $1,000 refund, not to mention her $600 economic stimulus payment. Thus began her tedious task of clearing her name: filing a police report, filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, putting a fraud alert on her credit report and mailing in her tax return with copies of her driver’s license, police report and other documents to prove her identity. (Read here for steps you should take if you’re a victim of identity theft).
Despite the growing problems, the audit found that the IRS doesn’t do enough to prevent the problem or prosecute those who commit these crimes. It found: “No action is taken to stop someone from continuing to commit employment-related identity theft using another person’s SSN and name. The IRS does not actively try to identify or stop an individual from committing identity theft.”
For nearly 30 years, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employed a video-production company here to capture footage of its top executives, sometimes in unguarded moments. Two years ago, the retailing giant stopped using the tiny company.
At first, the decision threw Flagler Productions Inc. into a panic. Now it’s Wal-Mart that’s squirming.
In recent months, Flagler has opened its trove of some 15,000 Wal-Mart tapes to the outside world, with an eye toward selling clips. The material is proving irresistible to everyone from business historians and documentary filmmakers to plaintiffs lawyers and union organizers.
Among the revealing moments: A former executive vice president and board member challenges store managers in 2004 to continue his work opposing unionization. Male managers in drag lead thousands of co-workers in the company’s corporate cheer. In another meeting, managers mock foolish or dangerous use of a product sold in its stores. In 1991, founder Sam Walton describes Hillary Clinton, then a Wal-Mart director, as “one of us.”
The best part, maintains plaintiffs lawyer Gene P. Graham Jr., is that “Wal-Mart has no control over this stuff.”
Wal-Mart isn’t pleased. “It’s difficult to understand how the company could now sell to third parties the material we paid it to produce on our behalf,” says a Wal-Mart spokeswoman. “Needless to say, we did not pay Flagler Productions to tape internal meetings with this aftermarket in mind.” She adds that the company is “reviewing our legal options.”
So, remember… if you’re not sure you’re being taped, then pretend like you’re being taped and don’t do something you wouldn’t be caught doing. And, if you ARE being taped, then it’s probably not a good idea to dress up in drag.
The suit targets the company over images on its website, which allows users to find street-level photos by clicking on a map. To gather the photos, Google uses vehicles with mounted digital cameras to take pictures up and down the streets of major metropolitan areas. The Borings say the images of their home on the Google site had to be taken from their long driveway, labeled “Private Road,” and that violated their privacy.
“There’s no merit to this action,” Google spokesman Larry Yu said… He said Google has links on the website that let property owners request that such images be removed if they cite a good reason and can confirm they own the property depicted. Yu also said that if the Borings made such a request to Google, he is confident that the image would be removed.
At first, I thought this was a cash grab against the company, but they are really only asking for $25,000 in damages. So, here’s the question: how close is too close before it becomes uncomfortable that people are going to see your trampoline and your 3-car garage on the internet? Is Big Brother watching you? I suppose the only thing that would have made the story better was somebody in the picture sitting in a hot tub out back with a beer in their hand or something like that. Oh, wait… maybe it already happened.
