Linux News: Security

The Federal Government's Contradictory ID Advice

Sunday - July 6, 2008

When it comes to the risks of identity theft, the U.S. government isn't taking its own advice. The nation's Medicare agency and the Pentagon compel at least 52 million Americans to carry their Social Security numbers in their wallets, contrary to warnings by the Federal Trade Commission that people should avoid doing so. At least 44 million Medicare insurance cards include the beneficiary's full Social Security number. Social Security numbers also appear on 8 million Defense Department identity cards, and on identification cards issued to military retirees. [More...]

Virtual Personal Assistants: Not Just for the Filthy Rich

Saturday - July 5, 2008

Think only celebrities, high-ranking professionals and the wealthy can enjoy having personal assistants at their beck and call? Not necessarily. A growing number of Web sites are making it easier to outsource virtual errands overseas, making it cheaper to indulge in the luxury of never having to write another thank-you card or sit on hold with the department of motor vehicles. [More...]

Court Gives Viacom Window on YouTube User Activities

Thursday - July 3, 2008

U.S. District Court Judge Louis Stanton ruled that Google must provide Viacom with information from its database, including users' YouTube login IDs, the videos they watched, and the time they watched them. Viacom wants the data in order to rebut Google's claim that user traffic to copyrighted content on YouTube is just a small part of the site's overall traffic. [More...]

Study: 40 Percent of Web Surfers Using Leaky, Vintage Browsers

Wednesday - July 2, 2008

If the food industry ran its business like the Internet browsing software industry, then consumers would be hurling lawsuits like bad tomatoes at the companies that give us IE, Firefox and Safari. The comparison is existent in a wide-ranging new study showing that approximately 40 percent of the Web surfing public have browsed the Web using outdated or unpatched software, putting themselves and the computing public at risk. [More...]

Swedish Eavesdropping Law Ignites Uproar

Tuesday - July 1, 2008

Swedes have bombarded lawmakers with more than 1 million e-mails protesting the country's new eavesdropping law, adding to the growing public outcry over the measure, an official said Monday. The contentious bill allows officials to eavesdrop on all cross-border e-mail and telephone traffic. The government plans to implement it in January. [More...]

French Court Stings eBay With $63M Judgment Over Knockoff Sales

Monday - June 30, 2008

A French court has ordered eBay to pay $63 million in fines in a lawsuit that alleged the auction company didn't do enough to prevent fake versions of high-end goods from being sold by its members. The court commanded eBay to pay Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey, or LVMH, a French conglomerate of luxury brands, after it found the online auctioneer could have done more to stop sales of knockoff items such as Louis Vuitton handbags. [More...]

PC Tools Offers Sentry for Mac Security

Monday - June 30, 2008

Security software vendor PC Tools has watched the rise of two cause-and-effect security factors in the Mac OS X world -- first, the growing popularity of Macs along with increasing market share, and second, the accompanying attention of malware that's targeted directly at Mac users. Consequently, PC Tools has launched a beta edition of iAntiVirus, a new antivirus and antispyware tool designed specifically for Mac. [More...]

DHS and the Digital Strip-Search Dilemma

Monday - June 30, 2008

Amir Khan, an IT consultant from Fremont, Calif., and a U.S. citizen, has been subjected to U.S. Customs questioning for a total of more than 20 hours after returning to this country from a number of trips abroad. Customs officials have searched Khan's laptop computer, books, personal notebooks and cell phone. [More...]

Cyber-Security Lessons From the 15th Century

Monday - June 30, 2008

Put down the vendor white papers and turn down the volume on that webinar. If you want to secure your data and pass a PCI audit, take a look at the past -- the long-ago past. Between the ninth and 15th centuries, the castle was the Western world's emblem of strength and security. It enabled small villages and towns to repel larger forces and defend what was important to them. [More...]

Industry Players Outline Rules for Online Health Records

Thursday - June 26, 2008

Google and Microsoft have teamed with Intuit, WebMD and a consortium of more than 100 healthcare providers, insurers and consumer and privacy groups to develop a framework of practices governing online personal health record services. Under the leadership of the Markle Foundation, the Connecting for Health guidelines are an effort by PHR service proponents to establish a common set of principles. [More...]

The Quiet Little Pop of the Mac Security Bubble

Thursday - June 26, 2008

A Trojan targeting Mac computers in the wild used to be a rarity, but this type of malware is now turning up with alarming frequency. The latest Trojan is rudimentary, at best, although when coupled with a Mac platform vulnerability that came to light earlier this week, it could deliver an extra wallop. The Trojan is masquerading as a program for Mac OS X called "PokerGame." [More...]

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