E-Commerce ALERTS - Archive 2008

SPECIAL NOTE TO ALL VISITORS:
Effective December 31, 2012, articles are no longer being updated on this web site.
The site is now maintained as an historical archive, covering articles from the period 1999 to 2012.

More E-Commerce ALERTS Inside Our Archives:
Final Entries | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007
2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999

NEW THREATS TO ONLINE SECURITY

Internet security has deteriorated markedly this year as a new generation of invasive computer attacks, often masterminded by criminal gangs, has reached a heightened level of sophistication, according to the latest studies of online threats — MORE

SOCIAL-NETWORKING SITES CONCERN CYBER-SECURITY EXPERTS

Social-networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace are being targeted so often by cyber-crooks and other mischief-makers that half of the information-technology specialists surveyed recently by Intel expressed concern about workers under 30, who disproportionately use such sites — MORE

LOOKING AHEAD AT SECURITY TRENDS FOR 2009

In spite of the global economic recession, information security will continue to be a dominant IT priority in 2009. Why? There are simply too many threats and vulnerabilities creating a perpetual increase in IT risk — MORE

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS: TOP WAYS TO PROTECT COMPANY INFORMATION AND PREVENT A DATA BREACH IN 2009

As the number of data breaches continues to rise, ShredStation, a leader in business and residential information destruction services, suggests companies consider the following Information Security New Year's resolutions — MORE

EIGHT EASY WAYS TO PROTECT YOUR iPHONE FROM THIEVES AND VANDALS

If your iPhone gets swiped, pillaged, or vandalized, it is either your fault or bad luck, and when bad luck plays a hand, it's likely that you contributed to the circumstances. Here are eight uncommon things you can do to steer the odds in your favor — MORE

TOP TEN TIPS TO SAFEGUARD YOUR LAPTOP AND DATA DURING TRAVEL

If you're planning on traveling with your laptop this holiday season, you might want to travel prepared. The statistics are overwhelmingly bad: According to Gartner, one laptop is stolen every 53 seconds. To help ensure a safer and less hectic holiday season, Absolute Software offers these 10 tips — MORE

GUNMEN IN MUMBAI ATTACKS USED GOOGLE EARTH, PROBE REVEALS

The gunmen who attacked various locations in south Mumbai last week used digital maps from Google Earth to learn their way around, according to officials investigating the attacks — MORE

BILLION-DOLLAR UNDERGROUND ECONOMY RUN OVER IRC

Cybercriminals are organizing themselves in the anonymous safety of Internet chat rooms. There, they trade billions of dollars worth of stolen financial information — MORE

DATA BREACH PUTS 333,000 DENTAL PATIENTS' RECORDS AT RISK

The University of Florida last week revealed that it has notified more than 333,000 people about the potential compromise of their personal data following a system intrusion at its dental school. It's an incident that is likely to further reinforce the reputation college networks and systems have of being notoriously insecure environments — MORE

WORLDWIDE E-MAIL SCAM CAMPAIGN EXPLOITS OBAMA VICTORY

A worldwide malicious e-mail campaign is using sensational "news" about U.S. President-elect Barack Obama as bait to steal the financial information of recipients — MORE

PRIVACY CONTROVERSY MARS GOOGLE APPS ROLLOUT AT CANADIAN UNIVERSITY

Anti-terrorism legislation gives the American government great powers to seize data at a whim and can prevent the user from ever knowing they are under investigation. Despite privacy watchdogs saying there is limited threat from the Act, the legislation has still been an obstacle for Google in selling their educational service abroad — MORE

TERRIBLE TROJAN STEALS 500,000 BANK ACCOUNT, CREDIT CARD LOGONS

A sophisticated cybercrime group that has maintained an especially devious Trojan horse for nearly three years has stolen the log-ons to more than 300,000 online bank accounts and almost as many credit cards during that time, a security company said today — MORE

DATA BREACH HITS 80% OF LOCAL COMPANIES: SURVEY

Almost 80 per cent of local organizations have experienced a data breach in the past five years, with a further 40 per cent reporting between six and 20 known breaches during the period, according to Symantec's first Australian data loss survey — MORE

75 PERCENT OF CANADIAN AND US FIRMS READY FOR IT BUDGET CUTS

Three quarters of Canadian and U.S. companies are ready to make cuts to their IT spending, according to a Canadian analyst firm. Firms that remain optimistic about maintaining budgets intact may need to wake up and become more aware of current financial realities, says London, Ont.-based Info-Tech Research Group — MORE

HACKERS COMPROMISE THOUSANDS OF WEB SITES

Several criminal gangs have acquired administrative log-in credentials for more than 200,000 Web sites - including the one used by the U.S. Postal Service - and have used the compromised domains to attack unsuspecting users' PCs with a notorious hacker exploit kit, a researcher said — MORE

PLAYING FELLOW TRAVELERS ON A STREETCAR - THE "NEW FACE" OF MOBILE GAMING

The "mobile gaming" and "social networking" worlds will intersect to such a degree that soon they will be indistinguishable, industry observers say — MORE

PRIVACY NOT AT ODDS WITH TECHNOLOGY, SAYS ANN CAVOUKIAN

Privacy is being eroded because of the belief that it must be traded in for improved security or increased efficiency, cautions Ontario's Privacy Commissioner. Ann Cavoukian is calling for a radically new approach that doesn't pit technology against privacy Š but sees them in a symbiotic relationship — MORE

FOUR FOOL-PROOF WAYS TO SECURELY MANAGE SMART PHONES

Often personal handhelds are granted wireless access, something that would never be allowed with a personal computer, creating security vulnerabilities, manageability challenges and tech support burdens. Companies don't plan beforehand about how to handle lost, stolen or broken devices, or the data on them — MORE

DATA BREACHES A CONCERN TO COMPANIES

It turned out that the loss was inadvertent, but before all was said and done, the company had spent at least $50,000 investigating the breach, notifying employees, and seeking legal advice. And that did not even include the cost in lost productivity as employees obsessed over the missing health records — MORE

TOP 10 SECURITY MISTAKES MADE BY SMEs

Unlike end-users who usually cause problems because they are not IT savvy or just cannot understand the logic behind computer security, IT administrators are expected to be infallible where technology is concerned — MORE

THE SECURITY LESSON IN THE SARAH PALIN E-MAIL HACK

When I first heard that Alaskan governor and Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin's private Yahoo email account had been compromised, I was almost certain that the hack was made possible by the "Forgot Your Password" feature that's present on almost every online log-in system — MORE

FIVE DATA LEAK PLUGS THAT COULD SAVE YOUR COMPANY MILLIONS

To make sure a data leak disaster doesnÕt hit your company, here are five tips to follow. The straight-forward advice comes thanks to a white paper authored by Barbara Filkins and Deb Readcliff, sponsored by Utimaco and Trend Micro — MORE

CYBER IDENTITY THIEVES CAN GET ANYONE

In 2007, identity theft topped the list of complaints reported to the Federal Trade Commission, the agency that enforces identity theft laws. Over the past two years, consumers and businesses have reported more than $100 billion in losses related to identity theft, FTC data shows — MORE

ENSURE YOUR SECURITY WHILE TRAVELING

If you're traveling, here are some financial security tips to pack with you — MORE

GOOGLE CHROME: MORE OR LESS PRIVACY?

Google's new Chrome browser may end up being more secure than the current crop of browsers, thanks to its sandboxed multiprocess architecture. But it's not yet clear whether it will be more private — MORE

RYERSON PRIVACY EXPERT FINDS NEW DIGITAL DIVIDE BETWEEN YOUNG CANADIANS AND "THE OLDER GENERATION"

A recent study by Professor Avner Levin of Ryerson University explores the attitudes and perceptions of young social-networkers to privacy and security as well as the organizational policies, practices and attitudes of business managers and executives on the use of online social networks — MORE

SIX SMART WAYS TO GROW SMALL BUSINESS IT

Your changing IT needs "will be upon you even faster than you expect," warns John Baschab, president of the management services group at Technisource, an IT and engineering outsourcer. Heed these six pieces of advice, Baschab and other experts say, and you'll never have to go to work with an IT infrastructure that just doesn't fit — MORE

E-MAIL SCAMS THAT HAVE SUCKERED MILLIONS

Here's PC World's list, in no particular order, of the top e-mail hoaxes that have come through inboxes and fooled millions — MORE

THE CANADA REVENUE AGENCY WARNS CANADIANS OF MAIL SCAM

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is warning taxpayers to beware of a recent scam where some Canadians are receiving a letter fraudulently identified as coming from the CRA and asking for personal information — MORE

SMBS UNDERESTIMATE CYBERCRIME RISKS

The latest survey from security vendor McAfee has found that small to medium-size businesses in North America and Europe wrongly conclude their revenue is too low to draw the attention of cybercriminals — MORE

A MILLION REASONS WHY CANADIAN FIRMS SHOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT SECURITY

Canadian companies and government organizations collectively lose $1.25 million annually, on average, to IT security breaches, and nearly a quarter of firms here are dissatisfied with their own security policies, a recent survey reveals — MORE

CANADIAN PRIVACY AND SECURITY EXPERTS ASSAIL US LAPTOP SEIZURE POLICY

A recently released U.S. Department of Homeland Security (HDS) policy indicates that agents do not need suspicion of wrongdoing to confiscate the electronic devices and that data contained in the devices may be shared with other agencies for decryption or other purposes. The policy covers laptops, MP3 players, pagers, cell phones, PDAs, voice recorders, digital and video cameras — MORE

INTERNET VULNERABILITY SHOULD CONCERN INVESTORS

Earlier this week it was revealed that a process called DNS poisoning could allow hackers to completely take over the entire Internet without users knowing it. This would put all your online data and even the routing of your email at grave risk — MORE

PRIVACY ADVOCATES EXPRESS CONCERN AT GOOGLE'S DATA COLLECTION PRACTICES

The privacy concerns raised by a federal judge's order that Google Inc. turn over 12TB of data on YouTube users and their video-viewing histories to Viacom International Inc. misses an important point, according to some privacy advocates: What is Google doing collecting and retaining all that data in the first place? — MORE

TEN REASONS YOU SHOULD BE PARANOID EACH TIME YOU POWER UP YOUR PC

From buttinski bosses to spies and spooks, there are plenty of reasons to be, well, a little paranoid about the vulnerability of your data and the potential loss of your privacy — MORE

THE REALITY OF DATA USAGE ON THE iPHONE

According to Rogers, a 400MB data plan with 150 minutes and 9PM evenings is a "HIGH-Value plan." What you'll find below is a list of Rogers highly exaggerated usage statements, followed by a few things left out of their documentation — MORE

INCOMPETENCE AND CARELESSNESS ARE TO BLAME FOR MOST DATA BREACHES

Eighty-seven percent of data breaches could have been prevented with reasonable security precautions, according to a study of over 500 forensic investigations conducted by Verizon Business Security Solutions — MORE

NEW iPHONE RAISES SMART-PHONE SECURITY CONCERNS

Whether IT organizations are ready or not, smart phones are a reality for enterprises. Gartner analysts predicted in a January report that smart-phone sales will reach about 173 million in 2008, a jump of 42 percent from last year. The iPhone 3G, slated to be available July 11, is Apple's latest attempt to capitalize on consumers' desire for Internet-enabled phones with more and more functionality — MORE

CYBER LIABILTY

Privacy risks and security breaches have become a major liability for 21st century businesses. A security breach could raze a company's reputation in a matter of hours and bring it to its knees. Lloyd's 360 risk project investigates the risks, the role for insurance and offers some 'top tips' from Lloyd's experts on how businesses can manage these emerging threats — MORE

AMENDED CANADIAN PRIVACY LAW COULD BOOST IT SECURITY BUDGETS

With changes coming to Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) this fall, one privacy consultant says IT professionals should be ready to use privacy as a business case for their future security projects — MORE

HACKERS TO CONCENTRATE ON MOVING (MOBILE) TARGETS

In a long and illustrious career in both the public and private sectors, Howard Schmidt has earned a reputation for being one of the world's foremost authorities on computer security — MORE

THE COST OF PRIVACY

The cost of trying to clean up the mess in US federal cybersecurity now has a price tag: $40 billion in new funding over the next six years. That's what analysts say President George W. Bush proposed to spend to put in place his new "Cyber Initiative" — MORE

PREPARATION KEY TO MANAGING DATA BREACHES

In this era of Internet connectivity, businesses must prepare for what is becoming the almost-inevitable data breach, according to a pair of chief privacy officers for major financial institutions — MORE

SPAM TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL, EXPERTS SAY

Today, spam - the abuse of electronic messaging system to indiscriminately send unwanted bulk messages - accounts for as much as 87 per cent of the world's e-mail, according to Symantec Corp. — MORE

CANADIAN FIRMS PUTTING A LOCK ON DATA PRIVACY

High-level executives charged with keeping consumer data safe from scammers and snoopers are increasingly common at major Canadian companies, especially those with vast databases of personal client information. And their efforts are making Canadian corporations privacy leaders — MORE

NEW CENTER TO THWART OLYMPIC HACKERS

Beijing set up an information safety emergency response and management center last week to safeguard Internet operations during the Beijing Games — MORE

CYBERCROOKS WINNING FIGHT FOR INFO ON WEB

Despite all the antivirus software, all the extra security features in your computer's operating system and all the government regulations intended to make the Internet a safer place, your personal computer and your personal data are as threatened as ever — MORE

CANADIANS VERY VULNERABLE TO IDENTITY THEFT, SURVEY SHOWS

While ID theft is rapidly growing, most Canadians are unaware of the seriousness of the threat and are taking only the most basic steps against preventing this menace, a new survey indicates — MORE

MSNBC, OTHER HIGH PROFILE SITES COMPROMISED IN MASSIVE HACK ATTACK

MSNBC Sports Web site became the latest victim in a string of hacker attacks that has compromised more than 26,000 other sites, according to a new alert by a Web security firm. The incident shows a growing trend of hackers injecting code into legitimate Web sites, as well as targeting major sporting events — MORE

BOTNET SCAMS ARE EXPLODING

Largely unnoticed by the public, botnets have come to inundate the Internet. On a typical day, 40% of the 800 million computers connected to the Internet are bots engaged in distributing e-mail spam, stealing sensitive data typed at banking and shopping websites, bombarding websites as part of extortionist denial-of-service attacks, and spreading fresh infections — MORE

WHEN DOES A PRIVACY BREACH CAUSE HARM?

Several countries are on the verge of doing what U.S. courts have stopped short of: codifying that breaches of personal information can actually harm people. Why should U.S. companies welcome this development? — MORE

THE TOP FIVE INTERNAL SECURITY THREATS

It's widely known that internal staff are the biggest threat to IT security, but what specifically should an employer watch out for? Research conducted by the US Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert) estimates that almost 40 percent of IT security breaches are perpetrated by people inside the company — MORE

COMPUTER SECURITY A NECESSITY

If your company hasn't addressed internal and external security of your computer systems, you are behind the times. It is estimated that 81 percent of all companies have had a data loss or an intruder hack into their systems. The cost of these security breaches runs about $181 per record — MORE

SURVEY: PRIVACY BREACHES RAMPANT IN CORPORATIONS

Nearly 85 percent of privacy and security professionals believe a reportable breach of personally identifiable information (PII) occurred within their organization in the last year, according to an online survey of 800 such professionals published in Dec./07 by accounting firm Deloitte & Touche and the Ponemon Institute — MORE

WI-FI USERS, BEWARE

Many Wi-Fi users don't know that hackers posted at hot spots can steal personal information out of the air relatively easily. And savvy criminal hackers aren't settling for just access to credit cards, bank accounts and other personal financial information; they love to sneak into your company's network, too — MORE

TOP FIVE CYBER THREATS IN 2008

Security threats in the cyber scene have grown at an extraordinary rate in the past year. This year will also see a rise in spyware and rouge ware threats to computer security besides the general virus and worms problem. Here is the list of prominent threats we can see in 2008 — MORE

ESTABLISH A STRATEGY FOR SECURITY BREACH NOTIFICATION

When it comes to security breaches, it's important to remember that old adage about quality vs. quantity. Data breaches aren't just about a hacker breaking into a network and stealing information. In fact, they come in all shapes and sizes — MORE

ONLINE PRIVACY: ACHIEVABLE GOAL OR WEB 2.0 PIPE DREAM?

A growing chorus of voices says the evolution of the Internet, the increasingly cozy relationship between search and advertising companies and the rise of Web 2.0 social networking technologies adds up to an environment where true privacy may be but an illusion — MORE

GYM HEIST RAISES IDENTITY THEFT FEARS

The theft of two computers from a Toronto gym more than a week ago has exposed thousands of current and former members to identity theft. The missing computers contain personal and financial information belonging to nearly 4,500 people — MORE

THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT SECURITY STEPS THE SMALL BUSINESS SHOULD TAKE

If you're a small business, please view these steps for exactly what they are: a starting point - simply an organized place to begin. These are the absolute bare minimum, basic, no-brainer, and got-to- have things! If you know someone who has a small business, send him or her this blog — MORE

BEWARE OF I.T. STALKERS

"You tend to be more trustful of people on the Internet. But if you don't really know the person you should treat him/her as a stranger. Use your common sense as you would in the real world," said Phil Hickey, consumer product marketing manager, Symantec Asia-Pacific — MORE

COMING TO A SCREEN NEAR YOU

Do you know who is running your computer? For a large and growing number of people the answer may not be the one you want to hear. Yours may be one of the millions of PCs around the world that have been infected and is now working for a criminal organisation — MORE

EIGHT HOT-BUTTON ISSUES TO WATCH FOR IN 2008

Ready for 2008? Budgets may tighten, but IT's challenges will just keep growing: security problems, virtualization technology, legal issues, users who can't be stopped and that worrisome baby-boomer brain drain. Here are eight hot-button issues to watch out for in the coming year — MORE

ONLINE BANDITS PROMISE MORE OF THE SAME IN 2008

Last year we saw hackers exploit trusted brands, and we can expect to see more of the same this year - especially with the popularity (and relative insecurity) of social networking sites. This coming year we can expect to see the continuation and evolution of current security threats. Here are some of the top ones to look out for in 2008 — MORE

ADDITIONAL NEWS ARTICLES IN 2007 ARCHIVE

E-Commerce Alerts are issued by Bennett Gold LLP, Chartered Accountants as situations develop. Bookmark this site and check back often.