Stories by Jaikumar Vijayan

US Sets Deadline for Gov't Breach-Notification Plans

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is giving US federal agencies 120 days to develop and implement a security breach notification policy. Agencies have also been instructed in that time to review their use of personally identifiable information (PII), and to develop plans to reduce or eliminate the unnecessary use of Social Security numbers and other personal data.

Written by Jaikumar Vijayan30 May 07 11:50

Card Firms Loosen Grip on Data Rules

Large retailers and other key stakeholders in the payment card chain are finally being given a chance to help guide the development and modification of the data security standard imposed on them by the major credit card companies.

Written by Jaikumar Vijayan29 May 07 11:51

Retailers, Stakeholders to Have Say in PCI Standards

Retailers and other major stakeholders in the payment card chain finally have an opportunity to guide enhancements to the Payment Card Industry (PCI) data security standard mandated by the five major credit card companies.

Written by Jaikumar Vijayan28 May 07 15:22

US Tax Agency Wants Data on Users from Internet Firms

The Centre for Democracy and Technology (CDT) is sounding an early warning on a proposal in the US president's 2008 budget that would require Internet businesses such as eBay and Amazon.com to collect personal data on their customers and share it with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Written by Jaikumar Vijayan09 May 07 12:20

Privacy Groups Renew Push Against Real ID Bill

Privacy advocates are making a last-ditch effort to muster public opposition to the controversial Real ID bill, which proposes to create a national US standard for issuing state drivers' licences and other forms of state-issued identification.

Written by Jaikumar Vijayan07 May 07 11:38

House Committee Grills DHS on Information Security

Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, joined other committee members in sending a letter to Scott Charbo, the CIO at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seeking answers to 13 questions pertaining to information security at the agency.

Written by Jaikumar Vijayan03 May 07 10:37

E-mail Harvesters Hit with $US1b Antispam Lawsuit

A $US1 billion lawsuit filed Thursday promises to open up a new front in the battle against spam: It targets not just spammers, but - for the first time - also those responsible for harvesting e-mail addresses on behalf of spammers.

Written by Jaikumar Vijayan27 April 07 12:34

Group Wants Government Data Protection Standard

A leading industry advocacy group has endorsed the recommendations of a presidential task force that wants a national standard for private sector data protection as a key component of fighting identity theft. But it faulted the task force for failing to recommend a similar national standard for government entities.

Written by Jaikumar Vijayan27 April 07 12:08

US Gov't to Probe Network Intrusions by Foreign Hackers

A House subcommittee is scheduled to hear testimony from government and industry representatives about the extent to which US federal networks and critical infrastructure have been compromised by foreign hackers.

Written by Jaikumar Vijayan18 April 07 12:06

US Gov't Agencies See Slight Gain on Security Marks

The US government has received an overall grade of C- on an annual IT security report card issued by Republican Tom Davis. That was a slight improvement from the D+ grades handed out for the two previous years, but eight agencies got failing marks -- the same number as last year.

Written by Jaikumar Vijayan16 April 07 11:16

US Gov't Gets an Overall 'C' on Security

The US government got an overall grade of C-minus in a computer security report card that evaluates the performance of 24 individual agencies covered by the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA).

Written by Jaikumar Vijayan13 April 07 12:00

Cybersecurity Group Calls for New Gov't Approaches

The US government should explore new incentives for companies to invest in cybersecurity instead of focusing on regulation, a cybersecurity trade group said.

Written by Jaikumar Vijayan12 April 07 12:01

What's the Cost of a Corporate Data Breach?

Want to know just how much a data breach is likely to end up costing your company? Darwin Professional Underwriters may be able to help.

Written by Jaikumar Vijayan12 April 07 11:41

State Ends Web Access to Documents Amid Privacy Issues

The Colorado Secretary of State's business division shut down online access to certain documents on its Web site after being notified by a privacy advocate that the site had been posting potentially thousands of documents with Social Security numbers since 2001.

Written by Jaikumar Vijayan02 April 07 13:35

Official Ends Online Access to Public Records with Social Security Numbers

Three years after it first made available certain documents containing Social Security numbers and other sensitive data on its Web site, the California secretary of state's office last week finally shut down online access to the records because of identity theft concerns.

Written by Jaikumar Vijayan02 April 07 12:15
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