Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Daily Report

• KITV 4 Honolulu reported that a man was arrested Saturday night after he tried to board a plane at Honolulu’s airport with two fully-loaded guns. The individual had hidden the semi-automatics in his luggage and refused to tell officers why. Both guns were loaded and concealed in his packed clothes, officials said. (See items 9)

• According to the Associated Press, the loss or theft of personal data such as credit card and Social Security numbers soared to unprecedented levels in 2007. The trend is not expected to turn around anytime soon as hackers stay a step ahead of security and laptops disappear with sensitive information. Attrition.org, estimates more than 162 million records were compromised through December 21, compared to 49 million last year. (See item 20)

Information Technology

20. December 31, Associated Press – (National) Personal data theft reaches unprecedented levels in 2007. The loss or theft of personal data such as credit card and Social Security numbers soared to unprecedented levels in 2007, and the trend is not expected to turn around anytime soon as hackers stay a step ahead of security and laptops disappear with sensitive information. And while companies, government agencies, schools and other institutions are spending more to protect ever-increasing volumes of data with more sophisticated firewalls and encryption, the investment often is too little too late. “More of them are experiencing data breaches, and they’re responding to them in a reactive way, rather than proactively looking at the company’s security and seeing where the holes might be,” said the founder of the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center after becoming an identity theft victim herself. Attrition.org, estimates more than 162 million records were compromised through December 21, compared to 49 million last year.
Source:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319117,00.html

21. December 31, Computer World – (National) Microsoft patch puts up stop sign for some IE users. Microsoft Corp. acknowledged on December 18 that a software patch issued earlier in the month for Internet Explorer had crippled the Web browser for some users. After initially suggesting a work-around that required changes to the Windows registry on PCs, the company released an automated fix for the problem. But it did not reissue the patch with the fix included. The IE program manager at the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), said the problem affects IE6 users whose PCs are running Windows XP with the Service Pack 2 update installed. On such systems, the browser “may stop responding when you try to a visit a Web site,” the manager explained.
Source:

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=spam__malware_and_vulnerabilities&articleId=309832&taxonomyId=85

Communications Sector

22. December 30, PC World – (National) The year of the new mobile operating system. 2007 could be called the year of the mobile operating system. In 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone, which runs its own brand of smartphone software, and Google announced that it will introduce its operating system platform next year. The entrance of two new operating systems from well-known brands shakes up the plans of some mobile operators, creates headaches for end users, presents bigger challenges for application developers and indicates some fundamental changes in the mobile industry.
Source:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140666-c,nonwindowsoss/article.html