E-Commerce ALERTS - Archive 2003

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WAVE OF CYBER-BLACKMAIL HITTING OFFICES

Cyber-blackmail artists are shaking down office workers, threatening to delete computer files or install pornographic images on work PCs unless the targets pay a ransom, police and security experts say — MORE

PRIVACY WATCHDOG PLEDGES PATIENCE

Canada's new privacy watchdog has two words for businesses scrambling to understand and comply with the country's new privacy legislation: Don't panic — MORE

GHOST OF RADWANSKI TO APPEAR IN JANUARY

Remember George Radwanski? The former federal privacy commissioner is long gone. But his ghost is present and, in January, it is due to make a reappearance. That's when the federal privacy legislation he championed, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, lands on the doorsteps of seven provinces, including Ontario — MORE

REPORT: NEARLY HALF OF GROWING U.S. FIRMS HIT BY BREACHES

Nearly half of the fastest-growing U.S. companies have suffered security breaches, but most still aren't prepared to dedicate enough resources to address the problem, according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers — MORE

ONTARIO'S PRIVACY COMMISSIONER RELEASES SPECIAL REPORT

Ontario's information and privacy commissioner, Ann Cavoukian, has released a special report which states that privacy issues can have a dramatic impact not only on a company's financial fortunes, but can also affect directors personally — MORE

CANADA'S NEW PRIVACY LAW TO TAKE EFFECT JANUARY 1, 2004

On January 1, 2004 Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) takes full effect. Under PIPEDA, businesses can no longer collect, use or disclose personal information without consent — MORE

SECURITY THREATS OUTPACE NET USAGE GROWTH

Internet security breaches and fraud attempts have outpaced the "impressive" growth of Internet usage with the U.S. being the biggest target by attackers, according to statistics released by Verisign — MORE

FLAWS IN THE SYSTEM

Forrester Research said in September that consumer confidence in online credit-card security has eroded in the past few years. In a survey of 39,000 Internet users, nearly one-third were pessimistic about Internet security -- an all-time high — MORE

HOLES FOUND IN ONLINE JOB SEARCH PRIVACY

Some career Web sites, recruitment services and automated job-application kiosks offer flimsy privacy protections and might even violate employment and credit laws, a report released Tuesday asserts — MORE

E-TAILERS WILL SEE GREEN

It's going to be a busy holiday season, as research indicates that shoppers will take to the Net, buying and spending more than they did in previous years. Jupiter Research expects 2003's online holiday sales to be led by new shoppers, resulting in a 21 percent increase over 2002 — MORE

IDENTITY THEFT GROWING 'EXPLOSIVELY'

Identity theft is growing "explosively" in Canada and more decisive action is needed to stymie the fraudsters and better protect consumers, concludes the first major government-funded study on the issue — MORE

RUDY GIULIANI, EY JOIN FORCES IN CYBER SECURITY

While acknowledging that he is no expert in computer security matters, former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's consulting firm has forged a partnership with Ernst & Young to help make the issue part of the discussion in America's corporate boardrooms — MORE

SURVEY: 90% OF MANAGERS CHECK EMPLOYEES' E-MAIL & WEB USAGE

More than nine out of 10 (92 percent) managers check up on their employees' use of e-mail and the Internet at work, according to a new survey of 192 companies by Bentley College's Center for Business Ethics — MORE

THIEVES NAB PRIVATE DATA OF 120,000 CANADIANS

Elinor Caplan, the Revenue Minister, has ordered a sweeping security review after four tax department computers were stolen containing confidential personal information of more than 120,000 Canadians — MORE

VIRUS VICTIMS WEIGH CYBER-INSURANCE OPTION

In the wake of costly, virulent viruses such as the recent Blaster Worm, there is one word that is probably top of mind for businesses across the globe: cyber-insurance — MORE

SURVEY: SECURITY FALLING AS PRIORITY

Fewer companies describe security as a "high" priority today than did so three years ago, according to a worldwide survey conducted by Computing magazine — MORE

GRAND THEFT FOLLIES OF THE LATE 90s & EARLY 00s

August 2003 will be remembered as an infamous month for various virus and electricity-related losses. This in addition to the already alarming reality that this year's hacker and virus activity already exceeds last year's by a factor of ten — MORE

HOW SOME SPAMMERS GET YOUR E-MAIL

Those annoying chain letters circulating the Internet could be cursing you with an inbox full of spam e-mail, computer experts warn — MORE

E-COMMERCE EVALUATION REVEALS ERRORS

The report revealed undetected Web site errors on 10 of the 16 sites (62.5 percent) that were evaluated, resulting in an average of $278 in lost revenue per transaction. Consumers typically spent 7 minutes on these error-filled sites, hoping to navigate their way through the transaction — MORE

SURVEY FINDS OVER 13 MILLION ID THEFT VICTIMS IN THE U.S. SINCE JANUARY 2001

According to the results of a new survey funded by Privacy & American Business (P) and conducted by Harris Interactive, 33.4 million Americans have been victims of identity theft or fraud since 1990, with over 13 million since January 2001 and rising — MORE

STUDY: 70% OF CONSUMERS SAY COMPANIES KNOW TOO MUCH

An estimated 70 percent of the 10,000 consumers polled via Chicago-based Donnelley's FinSight online consumer panel say companies have too much personal information — MORE

GLOBAL CONSUMER DATABASE HACKED

A computer hacker gained access to private files at Acxiom Corp., one of the world's largest consumer database companies, and was able to download sensitive information about some customers of the company's clients, the company confessed last Thursday — MORE

LATEST IDENTITY THEFT SCAM CENTERS ON FAKE LOANS

Scammers have a new way of grabbing your identity -- and some cold hard cash too. Realistic-looking fake advertisements for financial institutions offering loans are cropping up in newspapers — MORE

REPORT: POOR BUDGETING HAMPERS SECURITY

When it comes to security budgets, organizations struggle, says a new Forrester Research report, "How Much Security Is Enough?" — MORE

PRIVACY AND SECURITY CONCERNS MAKE CANADIANS FEARFUL OF PURCHASING ON-LINE

A recent study by Ipsos-Reid indicates that many Canadians are fearful about what's going to happen with their credit card information when buying products or services on-line — MORE

"MANAGING RISK" NO LONGER SELLS

"You'll be much better off if you just do it." That mantra used to sell security, but no longer, says Forrester analyst Steve Hunt. With the exception of financial and defense sectors, "Businesses don't care about risk management, they only care about benefit management," says Hunt — MORE

AEROPLAN SITE REVEALS PRIVATE DATA FREQUENT FLYER PROGRAM

Members of Air Canada's frequent flyer program, Aeroplan, had crucial personal information -- such as their phone number, e-mail address and recent account activity -- made available on the plan's Web site this weekend due to a technical glitch — MORE

REPORT: COMPUTER CRIME LEVEL STEADY, BUT LOSSES DOWN

The Computer Security Institute (CSI) says the amount of "significant" computer-related crime in the U.S. remained steady last year, but related financial losses declined substantially — MORE

ONLINE SHOPPING DECISIONS SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACTED BY ENHANCED SECURITY

A new U.S. consumer study from MasterCard International has revealed that enhanced security features are key motivators influencing future online purchasing on retailers' websites — MORE

REPORT: MANY COMPANIES STILL GIVE SECURITY SHORT SHRIFT

Information security spending still makes up just 3 percent of overall IT budgets at the largest enterprises, barely enough to buy the basics for protecting critical data, according to a report from Nemertes Research — MORE

AN EYE ON PRIVACY

There are some supremely knotty questions surrounding the issues of privacy, especially for enterprise IT professionals, whose very jobs put them in the unique and sometimes perilous position of having to protect data on many fronts — MORE

TECH EXECS RENEW CALL FOR NETWORK SECURITY

Representatives from TechNet, a group of about 200 technology executives, said that although there has been an increased focus on security during the last couple of years, enterprises need to do more to ensure that their networks and their data are not exposed — MORE

HARDWARE BASED SSL CERTIFICATE TO SECURE ONLINE TRANSACTIONS

Hoping to engender a greater level of trust by consumers in e-commerce Web sites, VeriSign Inc. and nCipher plc. on Monday announced a new hardware-based SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate that the companies say should help protect sites against data theft and Web-site spoofing — MORE

DATABASES RIPE FOR ATTACKS

The SQL Slammer worm played a major role in a recently reported spike in security incidents during the first three months of 2003. The report, put out by security firm Internet Security Systems Inc., found an 84 percent jump in reported security incidents and confirmed attacks from the fourth quarter of 2002 to the first quarter of 2003 — MORE

APRIL FOOL'S PRANKS TARGET SECURITY INDUSTRY

Several security-related April Fool's Day hoaxes began floating around the Internet Tuesday, several of which ruthlessly satirized the security industry and its denizens — MORE

H&R BLOCK ACCUSED OF MISUSE OF CONSUMER DATA

H&R Block's marketing efforts are again stirring controversy as several consumer groups alert the Treasury Department this week of alleged privacy violations by H&R Block of data collected from taxpayers using the IRS' Free File program — MORE

CODE AIMS TO BOOST CONFIDENCE

Canada has developed a draft e-commerce code of practice to help increase consumer confidence in online business. The Canadian Code of Practice for Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce is a voluntary code to establish standards for electronic business — MORE

MORE NET ATTACKS LOOM

The recent rash of Internet worms has produced an army of hundreds of thousands of compromised machines that could ultimately be used to launch a massive distributed-denial-of-service attack at any time, according to security officials — MORE

THE ART OF BUDGETING FOR IT SECURITY BREACHES

Given that security incidents are inevitable, how can IT executives budget for them, earmarking funds to cover staff overtime, replace hardware and software, and pay security specialists to investigate an attack? — MORE

IT SECURITY ON A SHOESTRING BUDGET

In such an environment, security spending is likely to be squeezed even tighter. After all, systems security tends to go unfixed until proven broken -- in the form of sensational reports about billions of dollars in damages wreaked by malware or hackers — MORE

GOOGLE: A DO-IT-YOURSELF HACKING TOOL FOR THE MASSES

While recent large and recurring security exploits are taking most of the attention these days, there are more and more people discovering novel new ways to 'hack' for fun and profit using the Internet's favorite surfing tool: the search engine — MORE

COMPANIES WARM TO SECURITY

Businesses are demanding better protection for their corporate computer networks, a demand that is about to transform the world of electronic security — MORE

SURVIVAL STRATEGIES - CANADIAN BUSINESSES

Strategies exist that can be adopted by Canadian businesses for the good of the companies, their shareholders and employees. These moves would be good for Canada and raise our GNP and overall production efficiency — MORE

HACKER GAINS ACCESS TO MILLIONS OF CREDIT CARDS

An "unauthorized intruder" gained access to a database belonging to a company that processes transactions for merchants. The intruder had access to Visa, MasterCard and American Express account numbers — MORE

EXXON VALDEZ OF DATA LEAKS MAY HAVE HAPPENED

The big question in the ISM case is whether the employee intended to steal just the hardware or had eyes on the million or so confidential customer files stored on it. The hardware is worth a couple hundred dollars. The information, on the other hand, could potentially be worth tens of millions of dollars — MORE

E-COMMERCE AS A WAY OF LIFE

Internet usage as a part of people's everyday lives is increasingly pervasive around the world, says a study, and e-commerce is more than ever a part of life online — MORE

INFORMATION SECURITY AUDITS ARE A REQUIRED BUSINESS PRACTICE

Effective Information Security Auditing represents one of the most important corporate governance responsibilities by a Corporate Audit Committee, CIO or IT Executive — MORE

MISSING HARD DRIVE RAISES ENTERPRISE SECURITY CONCERNS

The disappearance of a hard drive containing thousands of customer records highlights the security implications enterprises face from employee theft and outsourcing data management, experts said Thursday — MORE

RESEARCHERS EXAMINE CANADIAN E-SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR

A large group of Canadian retailers and universities are about to launch 15 research projects that will collectively explore how to improve the online consumer shopping experience — MORE

SURFING WITH SENIORS AND BOOMERS

According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census and the National Center for Health Statistics, the senior population reached 35 million in 2000, accounting for 12.4 percent of the U.S. population, as well as a 12 percent increase since 1990 — MORE

IDENTIFYING IDENTITY THEFT

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) found a reported 86,168 instances of identity theft during 2001, and Aberdeen Group estimated more than $8.75 billion in related losses in 2002 — MORE

ONLINE, WIRELESS GAMING GAINING

The gaming industry isn't playing around, evolving beyond the console to the Internet and wireless handsets. Online PC game subscriptions are expected to reach $600.7 million in 2003, and grow to more than $1.513 billion by 2006 — MORE

WEB'S PRIVACY PROTOCOL NEEDS BIG-NAME BOOST

According to the study, about a quarter of Web surfers feel their personal information will be safe with businesses they interact with and buy stuff over the Internet — MORE

ADDITIONAL NEWS ARTICLES IN 2002 ARCHIVE

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