L

If you’re looking for the biggest breaches of the year in terms of
numbers affected, you can find them over on DataLossDB.org or in
others’ reviews. Certainly there were some really big breaches this
year, but those were not necessarily the worst, in my opinion. So
here’s my short list of the year’s worst breaches involving personally
identifiable information. In chronological order:

1. The HBGary Federal hack.
I don’t claim to be a security expert, but if you’re making the claim,
then having your server successfully attacked and all your
professional correspondence exposed on the webshould be seriously
embarrassing. Not only should HBGary Federal have been embarrassed,
but the February attack also exposed – and brought into negative
public light – a well-known law firm. From a public relations
standpoint, this breach was an in-your-face and up-your-left nostril
attack that should have put everyone on notice that both data security
and the collective known as Anonymous needed to be taken more
seriously. In terms of immediate impact, after the firm’s emails
became public, the Chamber of Commerce and Bank of America cut all
ties with HBGary. Two other firms that had collaborated with them –
Berico Technologies and Palantir – also cut ties with them. By the
end of the year, however, HBGary CEO Gary Hoglund said that the breach
had actually helped their business. Good for them, but not so good for
others, perhaps?

2. Texas Comptroller’s Office web exposure incident.
In April, Texas Comptroller Susan Combs reported that thepersonal
information of 3.5 million people had been accidentally disclosed on
the web personal information of 3.5 million people had been
accidentally disclosed on the web for quite a while – including Social
Security numbers, dates of birth and other personal information. No
hack necessary to get a goldmine of information for identity theft.
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot…

3. The Arizona Department of Public Safety hack.
A hack by LulzSec in June also makes my list of worst breaches of the
year. In apolitically motivated attack that presaged other “AntiSec”
or political attacks, the hackers released personal information on
members of Arizona law enforcement and their families. For the rest
of the year, releasing personal information on employees and their
families became almost routine, despite the fact that the hackers
occasionally recognized that calling the exposure of innocent
uninvolved people “collateral damage” was not particularly acceptable
to many members of the public.

4. The stolen SAIC/TRICARE backup tapes.
There were some massive health care sector breaches this year, but the
SAIC breach was particularly bad for a few reasons. Unencrypted
backup tapes with medical data on 5.1 million members of the military
and their dependents wereleft in an employee’s car for 8 hours and
were stolen. This was not the first time SAIC had unencrypted backup
tapes stolen. In fact, it was the second time since 2010. Despite that
and other breaches they have had in recent years, they continue to get
huge government contracts. Members of Congress have nowasked why.

5. Insurance Corporation of British Columbia insider breach.
There’s a lot we don’t know aboutthis breachas yet, but it seems that
an employee of the insurance company accessed and then disclosed
information on 13 people who were later either shot at or were the
victims of arson. Scarily, the employee also accessed information on
52 other people. Will they become victims, too? The RCMP are
investigating, but this appears to be one of those breaches where
there can be real and serious harm that has nothing to do with ID
theft.

# Source.

Continuing the Linux vs. Windows debate begun, let’s take a look at
the advantages Windows has over Linux. As I have stated before, I have
used Linux for many years. However, I grew up on Windows, so I still
have things to say about it.

Windows Has More Software
Windows has a larger share of the market, so naturally, developers
tend to target Windows first, and other operating systems second (and
unfortunately, they rarely move past their first target). This is
especially true for software produced by big companies. The money is
in the market share, and the market share lies with Windows. This is a
good thing, of course, as Windows users typically have great tools
available to them to make really cool stuff with their computers (Sony
Vegas, Adobe Photoshop, etc.).

Windows is More “Feature Complete”
This can be tricky to explain. See, Microsoft ispayingpeople to work
on Windows, and most Windows software is created because companies
arepayingfor the development. As a result, you will see that the
software that you pay for will almost always be “feature complete.”
Linux software, on the other hand, is always a work in progress. Sure,
you will get updates frequently and bleeding edge software, but it
will usually be at the cost of missing features that you might require
to get any real work done.

There’s More Commercial Support for Windows
Big corporations don’t want to waste time diagnosing computer issues.
Rather, they like to call in support troopers from the company that
designed the software they’re using. Because Microsoft supports
Windows commercially, businesses are more likely to turn to Windows
software, as they can be sure they will get professional support for
their issues rather than the possibility arising that they are left to
deal with those issues on their own.

Windows is Familiar
Like I said before, I grew up on Windows. Thanks to its gigantic
market share, Windows is pretty much a household name and, as a
result, many people can identify it and work with it. If I were to
switch my mom over to Linux, for example, I would also probably have
to sit down with her on a couple occasions to explain how to do the
common things you’d do on Windows. Of course, Linux distributions
nowadays are pretty straightforward to use, but there are always
exists the little things that you can get caught up on.

# Read full story…

If I were able to build a friend, I’d choose the qualities on which I
could depend.

Her eyes would tell me how much she cared, and relieve my hurt when I
felt alone and scared.

She’d smile that smile that says it’ll be okay, I’m always here for
you night and day.

She’d cry with me when my world fell apart, and I’d know the tears
were from her heart.

She’d make me feel like a V.I.P., and no one could ever be dearer to me.

So where should my search begin, for this special lifetime friend?

There’s only one person I trust for advice, so I reach over to pick up
my phoning device.

It occurred to me as I dialed the number, this extraordinary friend is
my very own Mother.

As you say, “hello”, I get chills down my spine.

You’re my very best friend dear Mother of mine.

# Source.

WASHINGTON, USA: Hackers inChinabroke through the computer defenses of
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year and were able to access
information about its operations and its 3 million members, the Wall
Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The operation against the top American business lobbying group
involved at least 300 Internet addresses and was discovered and shut
down in May 2010, the Journal reported, citing unidentified people
familiar with the matter.

The newspaper reported it was not known how much information was seen
by the hackers, who may have had access to the network for more than a
year before being discovered.
The group behind the breach is suspected by the United States of
having ties to the Chinese government, one of the sources told the
newspaper. The FBI informed the Chamber of Commerce that servers in
China were pilfering its information, the source said.

The Journal quoted Chinese Embassy spokesman Geng Shuang saying the
allegation that the attack came from China “lacks proof and evidence
and is irresponsible,” adding that the hacking issue shouldn’t be
“politicized.”
The Chamber of Commerce employs 450 people and represents business
interests inCongress, including most of the largest U.S. corporations.

The newspaper reported that the emails revealed the names of companies
and key people in contact with the Chamber, as well as trade-policy
documents, meeting notes, trip reports and schedules.
“What was unusual about it was that this was clearly somebody very
sophisticated, who knew exactly who we are and who targeted specific
people and used sophisticated tools to try to gather intelligence,”
the group’s chief operating officer, David Chavern, told the Journal.

China is often cited as a suspect in various hacking attacks on U.S.
targets. In August, the Pentagon warned in a report to Congress that
hacking from China could one day be used for overt military means.

# Source.

OSLO, NORWAY: In the last State of the Mobile Web report for 2011, web
browser company, Opera Software takes a quick look at the most popular
websites people are surfing from mobile web browser, Opera Mini.
According to the report, websites like Wikipedia and Blogger saw an
increase in their number of unique visitors and crept even higher on
the charts.
With more than 144 million Opera Mini users each month worldwide, the
top-ten lists are somewhat static, but even a small change in list
rankings can signify a huge shift in usage patterns, said a report.
The report further added that, the top of the lists are the search,
social network and video sites Google, Facebook and YouTube. Some
sites that moved down or out of the list include app stores and older
social sites like Orkut.
The world’s most popular websites on Opera Mini 2011 are:
vkontakte.ru (down 1)
odnoklassniki.ruyandex.ru
(Data is from number of unique users in November 2010 through November
2011. Change from November 2010 is in parenthesis.)

# Source.