Category Archives: Security

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Attention Walmart Shoppers: The DHS Needs Your Help

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The Department of Homeland Security has teamed up with the world’s largest retailer in an attempt to reach millions of shoppers this holiday season (and beyond) to remind them to report suspicious activity to law enforcement. The program is dubbed “If You See Something, Say Something” (a familiar slogan to NYC transit riders) and is currently operating in 320 Walmart stores across the nation.

“Homeland security starts with hometown security, and each of us plays a critical role in keeping our country and communities safe,” [DHS] Secretary Janet Napolitano said. “This partnership will help millions of shoppers across the nation identify and report indicators of terrorism, crime and other threats to law enforcement authorities.”

The initiative will focus on informing customers in checkout lines via a short video message by Napolitano herself. Eventually, the program hopes to have close to 600 stores participating from 27 states. And it’s not only Walmart that has been selected for this campaign. The program has already partnered with the Mall of America, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, Amtrak, the Washington Metroplitan Area Transit Authority, the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority, sports and general aviation. Here’s the video that some Walmart shoppers will see:

Terrorist Attacks: The Countries Most at Risk

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When we think of countries most at risk of terrorist attacks, we usually think of Iraq, Pakistan or Afghanistan. But according to a report from Maplecroft, Somalia is now more at risk than any other country in the world. The firm’s global ranking assessed the frequency and intensity of terrorist incidents in 196 countries and found the following countries qualify as “extreme risk” territories:

  1. Somalia
  2. Pakistan
  3. Iraq
  4. Afghanistan
  5. Palestinian Occupied Territory
  6. Columbia
  7. Thailand
  8. Philippines
  9. Yemen
  10. Russia

The report found that between June 2009 and June 2010, Somalia experienced 556 terrorist attacks, killing a total of 1,437 people and wounding 3,408.

The principal threat in Somalia comes from the Islamist al Shabaab, which has claimed responsibility for several deadly suicide bombings, including one in February 2009, which killed eleven Burundian soldiers on an AU peacekeeping mission.

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In a recent and worrying change of tactics, the group carried out its first major international attack in July 2010, when it bombed the Ugandan capital, Kampala, killing at least 74 people.

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Yemen makes its first appearance in the “extreme risk” category, with 109 attacks in the one-year period ending June 2010. The country’s primary source of terrorism is al-Qaeda, “which is causing growing alarm among Western intelligence services as the group plots more attacks abroad.

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Greece overtook Spain to become the European country most at risk from terrorist attacks. Though most Greek attacks tend to be non-fatal, they are highly disruptive, as we saw in the November 2010 letter bombs that targeted embassies in Athens and foreign leaders both in Greece and abroad.

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Ernst & Young’s Global Information Security Survey

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Last week, I attended the Ernst & Young media roundtable to hear the results of its 2010 Global Information Security Survey (GISS). The survey includes responses from participants in 1,598 organizations in 56 countries across all major industries.

With the increase in the use of external service providers and the adoption of new technologies such as cloud computing, social networking and Web 2.0, companies are increasingly exposed to data breach threats. In fact, 60% of respondents perceived an increase in the level of risk they face due to the use of social networking, cloud computing and personal devices in the enterprise. And according to the survey, companies are taking a proactive stance as 46% indicated that their annual investment in information security is increasing. Though IT professionals are trying, not all are succeeding in keeping up with new tech threats.

“I’ve never seen this kind of shift in IT before,” said Jose Granado, the America’s practice leader for information security services within Ernst & Young. “Security professionals are trying to keep up with the pace, but aren’t really doing a great job. The have limited resources and a limited budget.”

A concern for IT professionals is mobile computing. Demands of the mobile workforce are driving changes to the way organizations support and protect the flow of information. In fact, 53% of respondents indicated that increased workforce mobility is a significant or considerable challenge to effectively delivering their information security initiatives. Aside from investing more on data loss prevention technologies, 39% of respondents are making policy adjustments to address the potential new or increased risks.

“You have to implement realistic policies,” said Chip Tsantes, principal within the financial services division of Ernst & Young. “They need to be liveable and workable, or else people will go around them. You can’t simply ban things.”

Another major concern for IT pros is the gaining popularity of cloud computing. Both Granado and Tsantes were shocked to learn that 45% of respondents (primarily those on the non-financial services side) are currently using, evaluating or are planning to use cloud computing services within the next 12 months.

“From the standpoint of a traditional IT security professional, endorsing or supporting a cloud environment is counter-intuitive,” said Granado. “How do I know where my data is and how do I know it is protected?”

So how do companies increase their confidence in cloud computing? According to the survey, 85% say that external certification would increase their trust.

So I asked Granado and Tsantes if they could tell me when they believed there would be a universal set of standards for cloud computing providers. Granado feels there is a two-to-three year timeline in regards to having something solidified. He says businesses are going to drive it; If businesses continue to push, “cloud providers would have to follow.” With more and more sensitive data calling the cloud home, let’s hope Granada is being conservative with his estimate.

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October: A Busy Month for Data Breaches

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Every company, no matter what industry it is aligned with or what country it is based in, is vulnerable to losing sensitive data, either accidentally or by malicious endeavors. The Ponemon Institute has found that the average cost of a data breach in 2009 was an incredible $3.4 million. And, unfortunately, the frequency with which these breaches occurs appears to be increasing. Let’s take a look at some of North America’s more notorious breaches for October 2010:

October 14: In Lake County, Florida, a credit union employee stole customer’s credit information to take out loans — money which was used to help finance the attorney fees of her son, who is on death row for murder. The employee, Nazreen Mohammed, was accused of attempting to take $430,000 from banks such as RBC and Fairwinds Credit Union.

October 14: An employee of Accomac, Virginia had his laptop computer stolen while on vacation in Las Vegas. The computer held the names and Social Security numbers of approximately 35,000 county residents. The employee took the laptop on a personal vacation without permission from his superiors.

October 14: Though the incident occurred in August, it wasn’t recognized until October when the Veterans Benefit Administration Office in Boston realized they sent 6,299 benefit letters to the wrong address. All nine digits of Social Security numbers were on 3,936 of the letters. A Veteran’s Affairs report blamed the incident on programming error.

October 15: On this date, the University of North Florida reported that more than 100,000 people could be affected by a security breach. UNF stated that a file containing personal information on prospective students was possibly accessed by someone outside the United States. The university is working with the FBI “to determine the cause and intent of the breach.”

October 20: The personal information of 280,000 Medicaid members in Pennsylvania was compromised when a portable hard drive belonging to Keystone Mercy Health Plan and AmeriHealth Mercy Health Plan was lost. “The insurers said they have beefed up security practices and will provide free credit-monitoring assistance to the people whose Social Security numbers, either in whole or in part, were on the missing hard drive.”

October 21: The Thames Valley District School Board in Ontario, Canada shut down its online student portal after it realized that the internet passwords of more than 27,000 high school students were compromised. The culprit in this incident posted a link on Facebook that directed users to a site that listed the names and passwords of students.

This, however, is only a partial list. More incidents can be found at DataLossDB.org.

Does your company have a solid cybersecurity strategy? If not, check out the article, The 5 Steps of a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment, by Peyton Engel, a data security expert at CDW.

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