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A Data Bill Of Rights
One of the biggest obstacles to fighting <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=177102202">cybercrime</a> is the corporations themselves. Never mind that many still don't heed the advice of their IT departments and make the appropriate investments in security. Once a crime occurs--be it hacking, identity theft, stolen equipment, or logic bombs--these same companies notoriously tend to bury their heads--and the news--in the sand. Many don't tell the cops, they don't t
14 Min Read
In This Issue:
1. Editor's Note: A Data Bill Of Rights
2. Today's Top Story
- Nightmare On Wall Street: Prosecution Witness Describes 'Chaos' In UBS PaineWebber Attack
Related Stories
- PaineWebber Systems Admin Faces Trial For Computer Sabotage
- Security Cleanup Costs Much More Than Encryption: Gartner
3. Breaking News
- Reliability Survey: Windows Servers Beat Linux Boxes
- Microsoft Tackles Enterprise Messaging Security
- Microsoft Live Labs Debuts Security Services
- Intel Gives Sneak Preview Of Core Duo
- HP Rolls Out First Dual-Core 64-Bit Notebook
- Groups Protest Proposed AT&T-BellSouth Merger
- Google Spreadsheets Set To Debut
- Plastic Missed In Factory Cooks MacBooks
- Press Releases More Popular Than Reported News
- IBM Has The Tools For Digging Deeper Into Data
- Yahoo Plans MyWeb Update
- Venture Capital Companies To Acquire CRM Vendor Onyx
4. Grab Bag
- Slide Show: Bidders, Beam Me Up (BusinessWeek)
- Watching The Snoops (BusinessWeek)
- The Browser: Truth And Rumors From The Tech World (CNNMoney.com)
5. In Depth: Oh, India!
- Blog: How 6 Billion IBM Dollars Helped Chase Apple Out Of India
- Blog: Everyone's Waking Up To The Importance Of India To IBM
- Motorola Plans Manufacturing Plant In India
- IBM To Invest $6 Billion In India To Increase Offshore IT Services Offerings
6. Voice Of Authority
- Report: Windows More Reliable Than Linux, But Unix Beats All
7. White Papers
- Event-Driven Services Fuel The Agile Supply Chain
8. Get More Out Of InformationWeek
9. Manage Your Newsletter Subscription
Quote of the day:
"If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done." -- Ludwig Wittgenstein
1. Editor's Note: A Data Bill Of Rights
One of the biggest obstacles to fighting cybercrime is the corporations themselves. Never mind that many still don't heed the advice of their IT departments and make the appropriate investments in security. Once a crime occurs—be it hacking, identity theft, stolen equipment or logic bombs—these same companies notoriously tend to bury their heads, and the news, in the sand. Many don't tell the cops, they don't tell their partners, and they especially don't tell their victimized customers, employees, alumni, or applicants. They keep it very quiet for as long as they can.
The excuses are always like these: It costs too much to notify people, they don't want the bad publicity, or as in the recent Hotels.com breach, a couple of months are needed to figure out what was lost on the auditor's laptop. (Don't these companies back up their systems? Don't they know what their employees have access to?)
Companies that allow employees to flout their security policies, or worse, that fail to enact basic or reasonable safeguards to deter cybercrimes, deserve every speck of bad publicity they get.
If a company is stupid enough to snail mail unencrypted drives containing sensitive data or apathetic enough to routinely allow employees to bring home laptops stuffed with sensitive data or unwilling to test its own system security or commits any of a dozen more breaches of common sense, then a little time spent squirming under the harsh glare of the spotlight might be just what it needs.
Which is why I was glad to see a judge reject UBS Wealth Management USA's transparent attempt yesterday to bar reporters from covering the trial of a disgruntled employee who allegedly brought down two-thirds of its network.
To the credit of UBS Wealth Management (PaineWebber to most of us), it did call in the Secret Service after a forensic team spent a couple of weeks working the problem and it became obvious that deliberate sabotage was involved. And it is working with law enforcement officials.
But there will be other similar trials, where companies with sloppier security procedures will try to prosecute, but from behind a curtain. Judges should not let that happen.
We should also be pressing for more immediate information when these breaches occur and for companies to do right by all potential victims. In fact, since we are in an age when A) more and more data is being collected by more and more entities—including the government—and shared with God knows whom, and B) data theft is accelerating, what we really need are two things:
A uniform bill of consumer data rights that covers what kinds of data can be collected, whom it can be shared with, what permissions are needed, and how long and where this data can be stored. This needs to be written in plain and simple English in readable type, and it needs to be accompanied by a reasonable, standard system in which consumers can quickly redress errors in their data.
A uniform agreement on best practices for companies and law enforcement to follow in the event of a data breach. When should alerts go out to the cops and customers? What kinds of follow-up services are reasonable? Who gets notified exactly from among a list of stolen data? What are customers owed?
Of course, we need to have some basic levels of security in place, too, but as it has become all too painfully obvious, we're not there yet. So we'd better get to work fast on figuring out the best way to deal with the increasingly ugly aftermath.
Leave your comment at my blog entry.
Patricia Keefe
[email protected]
www.informationweek.com
2. Today's Top StoryNightmare On Wall Street: Prosecution Witness Describes 'Chaos' In UBS PaineWebber Attack
Prosecutors claim the defendant, a former systems administrator for the company, set off a logic bomb designed to crash the network to get revenge for not being paid what he thought he was worth. But the defense argues anyone could have made the "sophomoric" attack.Related Stories:
PaineWebber Systems Admin Faces Trial For Computer Sabotage
The trial started for a former employee charged with building and planting malicious code that took down two-thirds of the company's network, hindering investment trading for several weeks and racking up $3 million in recovery costs.
Security Cleanup Costs Much More Than Encryption: Gartner
Encryption can cost as little as $6 per customer account, while cleanup after a breach can go upwards of $90 per customer account.
3. Breaking NewsReliability Survey: Windows Servers Beat Linux Boxes
According to the Yankee Group's annual server reliability survey, only Unix-based operating systems such as HP-UX and Sun Solaris 10 beat Windows on uptime.Microsoft Tackles Enterprise Messaging Security
Microsoft launches a line of enterprise e-mail security products for its Exchange server software as the company's first venture into corporate security since it bought Sybari Software 16 months ago.Microsoft Live Labs Debuts Security Services
One of the two new offerings lets users store authentication functions on Microsoft's servers, then call on them to log on to supportive Web sites.Intel Gives Sneak Preview Of Core Duo
In addition to energy savings, the chip supports Double Data Rate computer memory and transfers data at speeds of up to 800 MHz.HP Rolls Out First Dual-Core 64-Bit Notebook
The performance benefits of having a 64-bit processor, no less two, are limited today. But that is expected to change once Microsoft's Windows Vista starts shipping.Groups Protest Proposed AT&T-BellSouth Merger
The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday urged the Federal Communications Commission to review the proposed merger with an eye to NSA spying complaints. Small telecom firms are also complaining.Google Spreadsheets Set To Debut
Google Spreadsheets will, at least at first, be able to read and write Microsoft Excel files, but will lack Excel's depth of features. It will, however, use tools like Google Talk for online collaboration.Plastic Missed In Factory Cooks MacBooks
Some MacBooks may have left the factory with a thin piece of clear plastic covering the rear vent, Apple admitted in an advisory posted last week.Press Releases More Popular Than Reported News
Also, knowledge workers fail to find what they're looking for in Internet searches 30% of the time, according to a study.IBM Has The Tools For Digging Deeper Into Data
With a portfolio of companies and technologies, vendor helps government agencies analyze all the raw information they collect.Yahoo Plans MyWeb Update
Improvements include integrating MyWeb search results with the general Yahoo search engine.Venture Capital Companies To Acquire CRM Vendor Onyx
The company, with sales of $12 million in its most recent quarter, is being sold for $92 million.In the current episode:
John Soat With 'The More Things Change'
IBM invests billions in India, Google unveils spreadsheet software, another top exec leaves CA, and more.Keyla Kirton With 'Charged Up'
New product makes it easy to charge your cell phone on the go.Stephanie Stahl With 'Somewhere Over California'
Airlines soon will offer broadband Internet access on flights. This advancement could have some annoying consequences.
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4. Grab BagSlide Show: Bidders, Beam Me Up (BusinessWeek)
Star Trek memorabilia is going where it has never gone before—Christie's auction block. It's time for Trekkers to bid high and prosper. Here's a peek at some of the items on the block and what they're expected to fetch.Watching The Snoops (BusinessWeek)
Aggressive government eavesdropping underscores the need for beefed-up privacy safeguards.The Browser: Truth And Rumors From The Tech World (CNNMoney.com)
Read posts on whether Apple could team with BlackBerry, how biometrics can be fooled by Gummi Bears and Play-Doh, rumors of Intel layoffs, Apple In India, PlayStation 3 gripes, and more.
------- Now Hiring ----------------------
Real Networks, Inc. seeking Project Manager of Platform Services in Seattle, WAM&T Bank seeking Business & Planning Analyst in Buffalo, NY
Harvey Nash seeking Quality Assurance Lead in Chicago, IL
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5. In Depth: Oh, India!Blog: How 6 Billion IBM Dollars Helped Chase Apple Out Of India
In just the past two days, Apple Computer said it's cutting and running from a fledgling tech services operation in India, while IBM announced plans to invest a further $6 billion in the country over the next three years. These can't both be smart business decisions, can they?Blog: Everyone's Waking Up To The Importance Of India To IBM
The New York Times this week has an article highlighting India's importance to IBM, saying IBM now employs 43,000 people there, or about 13% of its total workforce. BusinessWeek recently ran its own take on this move. InformationWeek posted this storyline in March, when we also put it on the cover of our magazine.Motorola Plans Manufacturing Plant In India
Motorola plans to set up a plant in India to manufacture both mobile devices and network infrastructure equipment, according to a Reuters report from Singapore.IBM To Invest $6 Billion In India To Increase Offshore IT Services Offerings
IBM employs 43,000 workers in India, up from 23,000 just one year ago.
6. Voice Of AuthorityReport: Windows More Reliable Than Linux, But Unix Beats All
A million-dollar question is this: Which operating system is the most reliable? The Microsoft camp says Windows, the open source camp says Linux, but Yankee Group research reveals that it's Unix.
7. White PapersEvent-Driven Services Fuel The Agile Supply Chain
Enterprise services are the new technology wave poised to dramatically transform supply chain and manufacturing execution systems in the next decade. The SAP NetWeaver platform has shown that open systems based on enterprise services are here to stay.
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