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Launch Tour 2007 Vista
http://www.microsoft.com/business/launch2007/signup/default.mspx
dude_danny
O.T. Eisner strikes internet TV deal
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c2595e40-a680-11db-937f-0000779e2340.html
By Matthew Garrahan in Los Angeles
Published: January 17 2007 23:35 | Last updated: January 17 2007 23:35
Michael Eisner, the former Walt Disney chief executive, is taking Hollywood into the world of internet television after brokering a deal to create an online channel with one of the entertainment industry’s leading talent agencies.
The deal was struck between Veoh, the internet TV operator in which Mr Eisner holds a significant stake, and United Talent Agency, which represents actors such as Johnny Depp, Ben Stiller and Harrison Ford.
The channel, which will be supported by advertising, will showcase new talent in an effort to discover the next Hollywood star. It will be open and available to all Veoh users to submit, view and share content.
The project also brings Hollywood together with the amateur film-making talent producing online video on user-generated content websites such as Google’s YouTube.
The deal was negotiated by Mr Eisner and Jerry Zimmer, a board member of UTA.
Mr Eisner is familiar with the inner workings of the entertainment industry, having led Disney for 20 years before being replaced by Bob Iger.
Since leaving the group in 2005 Mr Eisner has invested in Team Baby Entertainment, which produces sports-related DVDs for infants and has deals with the Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and Nascar. He has also presented his own chat show, Conversations with Michael Eisner, on CNBC.
However, following the sharp growth in online video sites, his work with Veoh is his most high-profile investment, giving him the opportunity to put his knowledge of Hollywood to work.
Dimitry Shapiro, chief executive of Veoh, said the deal with UTA would become “the new gateway for talent discovery in Hollywood”, adding the channel would bring the “newest and brightest creative minds to the new, more flexible medium of internet TV”.
Brent Weinstein, the head of digital media at UTA, said the partnership would “create a structured, standardised and legally sound mechanism for aggregating and reviewing unsolicited submissions in a peer-to-peer video environment that can support the high resolution, television-quality content that many aspiring artists produce”.
In an unusual move, UTA has bucked the industry trend of discouraging unsolicited material from aspirant actors, writers and directors and instead has actively encouraged people to submit material to the site. The group recently formed a broadband division and has already received thousands of submissions.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
dude_danny
Accelerating e-Health in Texas by DELL on Friday, January 19, 2007
http://www.dellevents.com/event.asp?EventID=434&t=1
Our hosting partners include the Technology CEO Council, the Greater Houston Partnership, South Central Texas HIMSS, Texas Hospital Association, and Intel
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is the healthcare industry's membership organization exclusively focused on providing leadership for the optimal use of healthcare information technology (IT) and management systems for the betterment of healthcare
http://www.himss.org/asp/topics_privacy.asp
This Committee has set the following goal: By 2014, all entities who use, send, or store health information meet requirements for confidentiality, integrity, availability and accountability based on sound risk management practices, using recognized standards and protocols."
Interesting URL from HIMSS site:
Health Care Data Breaches: Steps To Take When Prevention Fails
http://www.himss.org/HIEForums/d/whitepapers/DWT_DataBreaches.pdf
dude_danny
Financial institutions tighten security measures
May have been posted...
January 02, 2007
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Business/Headlines/bizBIZ03010207.htm
ATLANTA -- Over the next few days --if you haven't experienced it already --when you log into your financial accounts through the Internet, be prepared to go through another layer of "we-need-to-know-who-you-are."
Financial institutions of all sizes are incorporating new security authentication measures designed to be another layer of protection against crooks' attempts to hack into legitimate bank accounts to steal money.
Last month, Wachovia Corp. rolled out its Security Plus Project, aimed at thwarting would-be online hackers from logging in as legitimate bank customers and then taking their money.
The Charlotte-based financial institution's initiative, launched Dec. 8, is part of its efforts to comply with federal banking regulators' guidelines regarding security measures for customer log-ins.
The deadline set by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council --a consortium of federal banking regulatory agencies --calls for banks to establish multilayer authentication security protocols for customer log-ins by Dec. 31.
The recommendation follows a 2004 study by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and a subsequent meeting by FFIEC officials last year that showed the rise in online phishing and identity theft attempts. In effect, regulators told banks the basic user ID and password weren't enough protection against fraud.
Online banking is growing at a fast clip. According to comScore Networks, a consumer behavior research firm, more than 40 million Americans bank online. That's a 27 percent increase in the fourth quarter of 2005 vs. the same period in 2004, the most recent available figures.
The use of online bill payment services also grew --rising 36 percent --during the same period. And though adoption rates are slowing, regulators wanted more stringent measures.
"There were enough issues out there for us to take a proactive approach for the banks to strengthen their controls in online banking," said Michael Jackson, associate director of the FDIC's technology supervision branch.
And since the costs of implementation of these security technologies aren't as expensive now as they had been a few years ago, regulators thought institutions -- from the biggest banks to the smallest credit unions -- could incorporate them into their online security systems.
"It was an area where we thought the technology had matured enough for the institutions to strengthen their controls," Jackson said. "And we thought it was affordable."
Regulators gave banks a lot of flexibility in how to beef up their online security measures, provided they satisfied the principal mandate: the level of protection had to match the risk.
That explains why different financial institutions have adopted a myriad of measures, some apparent to the consumer and others not so.
At Wachovia, customers still enter their user IDs and their passwords, but behind the scenes, the bank is monitoring activity and weighs it against their history.
Using technology from RSA, a Bedford, Mass.-based firm that makes software for banks and other industries to help secure information and verify identities, Wachovia gives you a risk score.
The lower your score, the greater the likelihood it's you. If the score is high, that raises flags to the bank, alerting officials an unauthorized user may be attempting fraud.
That would trigger a block on your account or prompt you to answer a security question with a response that only you would know, that you've already answered when setting up the account.
Things that might trigger a higher risk score: Logging in from a computer or hand-held device other than the one you normally use. Another trigger is if the IP address - the unique identifying number attached to your computer or web-enabled device - has been connected to previous attempts of fraud.
But even as they deploy these safeguards, financial institutions are wary about making it so troublesome that it turns consumers off.
Indeed, several industry studies show that younger consumers - those under 34 - rank banking online as their preferred method of interaction with their financial institutions, followed by going to the ATMs and then in-person banking at the branch.
But too many layers can be a turn-off for some.
"I don't find it serves a purpose," said Nakeya Johnson, a Bank of America customer.
Last year, Bank of America Corp. introduced its SiteKey feature, which allows customers to pick a picture and asks them to create a word or phrase to go with the image.
These images and phrases lets the consumer know that he or she is at a legitimate bank Web site and not a scam site because when he or she logs in, the pre-picked picture and word appears. The banks use them to verify that the computer or Web-enabled device is actually the one normally used to login to the account.
If you logged in from another computer that the bank didn't recognize, it would prompt the Web site to ask you several questions that only you could answer before giving you access to the accounts.
It's similar to approaches adopted by ING Group N.V.'s ING Direct unit and First Horizon National Corp. in their online banking operations.
But Johnson, a social worker, said she checks her balances every day so she would spot any problems quickly.
Having a SiteKey picture is just one more thing to memorize, she said.
"You have to remember the login name and the password and now you have to remember the picture. I'm kind of indifferent about it," she said.
That's something bank executives are watching closely, particularly since consumer migration to online banking has lowered the overall operational costs for financial institutions.
"To the extent that you can deploy anti-fraud technology that is not burdensome ... the last thing you want to do is discourage business," said David Rowan, a senior vice president and head of technology risk management at Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks Inc.
Some banks like One Georgia Bank require account holders to change their passwords every 30 days.
"Sometimes people aren't used to that," said Willard "Chuck" Lewis, president and chief executive of the Atlanta-based bank. "They say, 'I didn't have to go through as much security at my other bank,' but ultimately, what it does is protect the consumer. When you explain it to folks, they feel more secure," he said. "In today's world, where you have hackers and Internet access to just about everything, it really pays to have that extra level of security."
Some institutions, like E*Trade Financial Corp. give its customers the option to log into their accounts with a digital secure ID fob. The fob has a series of numbers that change at a regular intervals and those numbers have to be entered along with the user ID and password in order to obtain account access.
Of course, wherever there's a new technology designed to thwart theft, there's a crook looking for a way around it, bankers say.
"There's always emerging new attacks by the community that's trying to break in," said Rudy Wolfs, chief information officer of Wilmington, Del.-based ING Direct.
ING Direct is among the biggest Internet banks with 4.5 million customers and $62 billion in assets.
"We're continually changing our procedures," Wolfs said. "It's not a standstill game."
dude_danny
CES - Experts: Vendors need to reach DRM consensus
Industry experts debate DRM's future now that purchasing digital content is becoming more pervasive
Elizabeth Montalbano (IDG News Service) 10/01/2007 12:00:46
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;758445938;pp;1
It's time for a DRM showdown, according to experts and industry executives.
The debate over digital rights management (DRM) is as contentious today as it was five years ago. But industry experts on a panel at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Monday said there will have to be some industry consensus soon over digital content protection as the purchase of digital multimedia files become more pervasive among the average consumer.
Pundits on various sides of the debate weighed in on where the future of DRM is headed, agreeing that the issue that has plagued music downloads will get even more complicated now that digital downloads have moved beyond music to television and films, both of which have their own set of complexities.
The two companies setting the tone for DRM are those who have been most successful at selling and marketing multimedia digital content--Microsoft and Apple Computer. The latter's iPod reigns as the most popular digital music player, and critics have slammed Apple for the iPod's take on DRM -- which is that any files purchased through its iTunes service can't be played on anything other than the iPod and Apple computers.
The company may have to revise that policy if it wants to be successful in the digital home, where it will likely have to interact with Microsoft-compatible consumer products such as the Xbox 360 game console, IPTV services and Windows Media Center PCs, said Jim Ramo, chief executive officer of movie download service Movielink.
"A key test of DRM will be the interoperability that we're going to see as we get to the television set," he said. "It will be interesting to see what Apple does having to deal with multi-vendor living rooms out there."
However, Microsoft has taken the same tack with its own recent entry into the music player space, the Zune device and Zune Marketplace online service. Although Microsoft's Windows Media DRM format allows files to be played on various third-party devices that license the format through a program called Plays for Sure, any files purchased through the Zune Marketplace can only play on the Zune.
Ashwin Navin, president and co-founder of BitTorrent, called iTunes' DRM policy "a time bomb waiting to happen," and said the same may be true for Microsoft's policy with Zune if the device becomes more popular.
"The lock-in you get from iTunes [or Zune] is great when you love the device you got from either one of those vendors," he said. "But if you don't, the amount you've invested [in purchasing media files] is worthless."
This will inspire more people to share and download files illegally than to purchase it legitimately from those vendors, Navin said.
Television and video content may have a smoother transition to DRM-protected digital files because their industries have found ways to protect the redistribution of content without being offensive to their customers, said David Leibowitz, managing partner of CH Potomac, a strategy and consulting firm for the entertainment, media and technology industries.
DRM for music files, however, continues to be a sore spot, mainly because the music format for many years was open, the compact disc, that could be easily copied, said Leibowitz, who used to be the general counsel for the Recording Industry Association in the U.S.
That is why music enthusiasts have had such difficulty accepting DRM on music files, said Don Whiteside, vice president of corporate technology group and director, technical policy and standards for Intel.
"In the music industry, this was a unique environment where the global product which was out there was an unprotected media format," he said. "After 20 years of unprotected media format free to be replicated and shared, introducing rights management technology into that market is proving to be extremely difficult."
Panelists proposed that at some point, Apple and Microsoft may have to shake hands over DRM and allow their devices to interoperate. But it's not something the two can do without the blessing of content providers, who are ultimately steering DRM's direction, said Blake Krikorian, chief executive officer of Sling Media.
"Part of the responsibility of content holders when they're negotiation with companies like Apple [is] to focus them to be more open," he said.
In an interview at CES Sunday, Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division, said Microsoft is "talking to everybody," including Apple, about a better way to approach DRM. But he, like Monday's panelists, said it's ultimately the content providers that need to bridge the gap.
"The real challenge there is it's really not my problem to solve," Bach said. "We're a participant, but ultimately it's the content guys who drive the policies and approaches that happen. But we'll continue to work with them, and I think you'll see some advances there that make DRM better."
dude_danny
Robert Thibadeau/ CMU ISRI Seminar Series
May have been posted...
http://calendar.cs.cmu.edu/scsEvents/demo/1779.html
When: Sunday, April 26, 1:30 p.m.
Where: Room 4623 Wean Hall
Robert Thibadeau, Director of Security Architectures and Storage Subsystems, Seagate Research, and Research Professor, Robotics Institute and Institute for Software Research International, Carnegie Mellon University
ISRI Seminar Series
Abstract:
There is a vision held by some of the next information age, after the Internet. In this vision, the hardware changes and the software changes, in order to provide individual control of information. At a first level, the Archilles Heal of the present information age, the ability to copy without bound, will be brought into control. That control will preserve the rights and obligations of all parties that may read, write, or copy the information through the entire life of the information whether that be measured in seconds or years. To bring this new information age into being requires a revolution in software and in hardware that is now underway. Whether it takes ten years or thirty years to get there, there is a growing understanding of both the roadmap and the need. This talk will speak to shapes of things to come that are forming in the mist. As such, we can pose some interesting problems for fundamental research.
Bio:
Robert Thibadeau, Ph.D., is current a Research Professor in the School of Computer Science (Robotics and ISRI) at CMU on leave as Director of Security Architectures and Storage Subsystems at Seagate Research. He has a broad range of research interests in advanced architectures for intelligent systems. More recently these include a focus on global Internet architecture studies with further focus on hardware and software architectures for information privacy, security, digital libraries, and storage (www.internetlab.ri.cmu.edu). Currently, he is one of the two member-elected members of the Board of Directors of the Trusted Computing Group (TCG, www.trustedcomputinggroup.org), a member of TCG's master Technical Committee, Chairman of the TCG Storage Workgroup and founder of the TCG Peripherals Workgroup. The other Board members are representatives of Intel, AMD, Microsoft, IBM, HP, Sun, Sony, and Verisign.
dude_danny
ID theft growing concern for MySpace users By GARY GENTILE, AP Business Writer
2 hours, 37 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061226/ap_on_hi_te/myspace_security
LOS ANGELES - MySpace devotee Kary Rogers was expecting to see a gut-busting video when a friend from the popular online hangout messaged him a link. First, though, he was directed to a page where he was supposed to re-enter his password. Rogers realized that someone was trying to steal his information, and he didn't take the bait. At best, he would be spammed with junk e-mails; worse, the Web thief might steal his real-life identity.
"I immediately went back and changed my password," said Rogers, 29, a network analyst for Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss.
MySpace bills itself as a "place for friends." Increasingly, it is also a place for unfriendly attacks from digital miscreants on the prowl, luring users to sexually explicit Web sites, clogging mailboxes with spam messages and playing on the trust users have when speaking to "friends" to obtain passwords that could lead to identity theft.
Managing the risks that come with rapid growth is an enormous challenge for MySpace, now part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. media conglomerate. The site can't afford to drive away users, who might defect to one of a growing number of alternative sites, or advertisers, who pay top dollar to reach the growing MySpace audience.
Last month, MySpace inched past Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) in U.S. page views, recording 38.7 billion, according to comScore Media Metrix.
A key reason behind the popularity is its ease. Simply by adding a few lines of computer code, users can create elaborate profiles and personalize them with photos, music and video. A host of communication tools makes it easy to send messages to one person or a whole list of friends, who number into the thousands for some of the more popular MySpace users.
Those same tools can be used by vandals to make it look like an innocent user has sent spam to the same long list of "friends."
Programmers are writing scripts that take advantage of specific features on MySpace, including "friend request," where one user asks to be added to another user's list of buddies.
One recent scam works this way: A spammer posts a number of phony profiles featuring pictures of cute women, often promising nude photos. A "friend request" with the woman's photo is sent to hundreds of users.
Once the fake profile loads, a blue screen descends, saying the profile is protected by the "MySpace Adult Content Viewer." Unsuspecting users who try to download the viewer instead get a worm that installs adware on their computers.
Social-networking sites make good targets because of the implicit level of trust users have when they're interacting with "friends."
"The ongoing interaction lowers your reservations and security barriers," said Marc Gaffan, an expert in online fraud and security at RSA, the security division of EMC Corp.
MySpace, which News Corp. bought last year for some $580 million, has recognized the threat and is stepping up security efforts, said Hemanshu Nigam, its chief security officer.
The company is rapidly expanding its team of software engineers, lawyers and other experts who look for suspicious activity, educate users on how to prevent attacks and go after the worst offenders.
Under Nigam's direction, the company recently formed a Content Assurance Team. Employees post fake profiles on the site, pretending to be vulnerable teens or clueless adults. The profiles are designed to keep tabs on everything from sexual predators to spammers.
MySpace also is preparing to launch a more aggressive education campaign, urging users to take care and use tools that restrict the viewing of their profiles to only trusted sources.
When all else fails, the company is also files civil suits and is increasing cooperation with law enforcement officials.
"We're trying to take away the 'cool' factor of trying to attack us," Nigam said.
Nigam came to MySpace after stints as a federal prosecutor specializing in child pornography and computer crime cases. He also led security efforts at Microsoft Corp. and the Motion Picture Association of America.
MySpace hired him in May to strengthen security and safety efforts at the site and other Internet properties owned by Fox Interactive media.
"Security is a top priority because it's critical for our community of users and for our business partners," Nigam said. "If advertisers feel uncomfortable being on a site that is seen as not as secure, not as safe, then we lose revenue."
So far, no major damage has been done on the site, although some users, increasingly annoyed by the fake friends and messages, are seeking other social networking alternatives.
"I don't have this problem on Facebook," Rogers said, referring to another popular site.
The Internet has weathered several threats over the years, but as users move on, so do the attackers.
Writers of malicious software used to count primarily on e-mail recipients to click on attachments to spread their wares. As e-mail recipients got more savvy, the writers looked to automate the process by exploiting vulnerabilities in e-mail programs, browsers and the Windows operating system from Microsoft Corp.
As those security holes get closed, virus writers are looking elsewhere, including social-networking sites, attractive in part because of their size.
"It's where the activity is and the attackers play the percentages," said David Cole, director of security response at Symantec Corp. "They go after the largest market share where there is the most activity."
Vista flaw discovered, risk believed low
By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer
1 hour, 22 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061226/ap_on_hi_te/microsoft_security
NEW YORK - Windows Vista, the new computer operating system that Microsoft Corp. is touting as its most secure ever, contains a programming flaw that might let hackers gain full control of vulnerable computers.
Microsoft and independent security researchers, however, tried to play down the risk from the flaw, which was disclosed on a Russian site recently and is apparently the first affecting the new Vista system released to larger businesses in late November.
The software company said it was investigating the threat but found so far that a hacker must already have access to the vulnerable computer in order to execute an attack.
That could occur if someone is actually sitting in front of the PC or otherwise gets the computer's owner to install rogue software, said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer for Finnish security research company F-Secure Corp.
"The bottom line is you couldn't use a vulnerability like this to write a worm or hack a Vista system remotely," Hypponen said Tuesday. "It only has historical significance in that it's the first reported vulnerability that also affects Vista. It's a nonevent in other ways."
Attackers with low-level access privileges on a vulnerable machine could theoretically use the flaw to bump up their status, ultimately gaining systemwide control, Hypponen said.
The flaw affects older Windows systems, too, and Hypponen said vulnerabilities like these are quite common and can be fixed with a software patch, which Microsoft releases on the second Tuesday of each month except for the most serious threats. The flaw remains a proof of concept, with no one known to have actually launched an attack with it, Hypponen said.
In a posting on Microsoft's security-response Web journal, a senior security manager, Mike Reavey, said he remained confident "Windows Vista is our most secure platform to date."
Vista, the first major Windows upgrade since Windows XP launched in 2001, was made available Nov. 30 to businesses that buy Windows licenses in bulk. Consumers generally won't be able to get Vista until Jan. 30.
In trying to improve security, Microsoft redesigned its flagship operating system to reduce users' exposure to destructive programs from the Internet. But most security researchers believe a complex product like Vista can never be error-free, so it was a matter of time for someone discovered a security vulnerability.
Microsoft shares rose 35 cents to close at $29.99 in Tuesday trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Wave Systems and ICT to Showcase Trusted Computing Solutions at Dell Business Club Events Across Europe.
Sorry if posted
http://www.ict-economic-impact.com/
Frankfurt, December 6, 2006: Wave Systems Corp. (NASDAQ:WAVX www.wave.com) and ICT Economic Impact participated in the Dell Roadshow, called “Dell Business Club,” taking place at 12 locations in Germany, Austria, Tcheck Republic, Poland and Hungary to present and demonstrate trusted computing solutions. Dell actually includes Wave Systems' EMBASSY ® Trust Suite for Dell software shipping on all Dell Latitude notebooks and Dell Precision workstations containing the Trusted Platform Module security chip.
ICT Economic Impact presented to more than 4000 Dell customers Wave Systems' security solutions. Dell customers now can benefit from Wave Systems' second-to-none PC-client security solutions as well as administration and infrastructure systems. "Wave Systems products are based on most modern design and on TCG technology exclusively. Hence, this overwhelming success was no surprise for us, " said Alexander W. Koehler, CEO of ICT Economic Impact.
For the German part of the Dell Business Club, please see here ...
Brochures, please see here for download:
Embassy Trust Suite for Dell - Authentication Server - Key Management Server
dude_danny
Secure Storage & Encryption Summit Agenda. Section 1 - December 6, 2006 SANS Institute
https://www.sans.org/mclean06/sse_agenda.pdf
Sorry if posted
Encryption Tools Today and Tomorrow
This is your chance to compare the leading solutions by hearing senior strategists from the vendors presenting
their stories. You’ll have lots of time to ask them penetrating questions.
Warren Smith – GuardianEdge
Jon Callas – PGP Corporation
Jamie Barnett – RSA, the Security Division of EMC
Dave Anderson - Seagate Technology
Tools Today and Tomorrow (Vendor Panel)
A discussion of current solutions and how they are evolving to address future issues in maintaining security and
meeting regulations.
Steve Schmalz – RSA, the Security Division of EMC
Tim Stone – Stoneword
Jon Callas – PGP Corporation
Michael Willett - Seagate Technology
Encryption at Rest: Next Steps on Hard Drive Encryption
Jay James, National Security Agency/Information Assurance Directorate
This presentation covers the reasons to include recently enacted laws, the technology
response, and the next steps to be taken by the U.S. government and industry.
High-tech firms to push data-privacy law By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Business Writer
Fri Dec 8, 4:46 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061208/ap_on_hi_te/privacy_legislation
WASHINGTON - Microsoft Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and other high-tech companies are preparing to push for data-privacy legislation next year to replace what they consider an outdated patchwork of state and federal laws that are inconsistent and burdensome.
"We think the time has come for a comprehensive privacy bill that would protect consumers' personal information while still allowing the flow of information needed for commerce online," Ira Rubinstein, a Microsoft lawyer, said this week.
Several recent high-profile breaches of consumers' personal information have made consideration of privacy proposals more likely, Rubinstein said. The Social Security numbers and medical data of approximately 930,000 people were compromised this June, for example, when computer equipment belonging to insurance provider American International Group Inc. was stolen.
Microsoft, HP and eBay Inc. earlier this year formed the Consumer Privacy Legislative Forum to lobby for privacy legislation. Google Inc., Intel Corp., Oracle Corp. and other companies later joined.
The forum supports legislation that would set standards for what notice must be given to consumers about personal information collected on them and how it will be used, Rubinstein said. The companies are aiming for a law that would override any existing state laws and standardize privacy rules across industries.
The group's efforts will likely face some opposition, however.
Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a consumer advocacy group, said the proposals, if adopted, would amount to an industry drafting its own regulations.
Rotenberg also argued that the notices to consumers preferred by Microsoft and other companies are insufficient to protect online privacy. Instead, consumers should have access to the data that companies have on them and have more control over how they are used, he said, similar to the way consumers can currently access their credit reports.
Rotenberg also opposes the pre-emption of state laws, which he said in many cases have better protections than federal rules. Many anti-spam experts complained when Congress in 2003 approved a measure that did not let individuals sue spammers and that pre-empted most state laws that did.
Meanwhile, Stuart Ingis, a partner at the law firm Venable LLP, said that a broad privacy measure is unnecessary.
"Comprehensive privacy legislation already exists in this country," he said, citing existing laws and regulations governing financial and health-care privacy.
Those rules took decades to develop and provide strong protections for consumers, said Ingis, whose firm represents several companies and trade groups that track privacy issues.
Although high-tech companies have been seeking comprehensive federal privacy legislation, Congress has focused on the steps companies should take to protect data and when companies should notify consumers of data security breaches.
But several data security bills failed to pass during the soon-to-end congressional session, largely because of jurisdictional struggles between different congressional committees, said Steve Adamske, spokesman for Rep. Barney Frank (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass.
Frank, incoming chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said Wednesday that he plans to consider the issue of data security next year. To avoid a repeat of the jurisdictional struggle, Frank says he plans to propose to incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that she appoint a task force of members from committees with oversight on privacy matters to work on the issue.
RE: OknPV, Hopefully that is the case. I hope we will see more revenue stream from INTC next year.
Best regards,
Danny
Intel Boxed Desktop Board Quick Guide (December 2006)
http://cache-www.intel.com/cd/00/00/32/94/329441_329441.pdf
dude_danny
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Conference feb 25- march 1 2007
http://www.himss07.org/docs/himss07Brochure.pdf
*** A couple of sessions that caught my eye:
41
Business and IT Alignment
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm Monday, Feb 26, 2007
Business Management Systems, Advanced
The Army Medical Department has
embarked on a systemic redesign linking
business and technology development
processes with strategic planning and
governance. The goal is to improve
accountability for selection, fi nancing and
development of automated systems.
Vaseal M. Lewis, COL, MSC, MS, BS
Chief, US Army Nurse Corps, Deputy
Surgeon General
US Army Medical Department
Falls Church, VA
60
Electronic Health Records and
Technology on the Battlefi eld
Helping Troops
9:45 am – 10:45 am
Enabling Technology, Intermediate
Military medical personnel manage warfi
ghters’ healthcare with mobile, fl exible
software systems, designed for low-to-no
communications environments. Learn
more about how this technology could be
used at home for national disasters such
78
Air Force Medical Service Information
Management/Information Technology
Reorganization
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Process Improvement, Advanced
This session will cover an overview and
update on Air Force Medical Service
reorganization with specifi c focus
on current information management
and information technology structural
challenges.
Jesus Zarate, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF, MSC
Deputy Chief Information Offi cer
Air Force Medical Service
Falls Church, VA
as Hurricane Katrina.
Claude Hines, Jr., MS Health Service Administration
BS Biology
Lieutenant Colonel
TMIP/OSD(HA)
Falls Church, VA
114
Air Force Medical Service
Information Management Tools
8:30 am – 9:30 am
Business Management Systems, Advanced
This session will delve into updates on
initiatives and data tools utilized by the Air
Force Medical Service corporate structure
for decision support by enterprise senior
leadership.
John Hyzy, Lt Col, MSC
Chief, Data Modeling
Air Force Medical Service
Falls Church, VA
dude_danny
O.T. New Rules Make Firms Track E-Mails, IMs
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061201/D8LNRQB80.html
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. companies will need to keep track of all the e-mails, instant messages and other electronic documents generated by their employees thanks to new federal rules that go into effect Friday, legal experts say.
The rules, approved by the Supreme Court in April, require companies and other entities involved in federal litigation to produce "electronically stored information" as part of the discovery process, when evidence is shared by both sides before a trial.
The change makes it more important for companies to know what electronic information they have and where. Under the new rules, an information technology employee who routinely copies over a backup computer tape could be committing the equivalent of "virtual shredding," said Alvin F. Lindsay, a partner at Hogan & Hartson LLP and expert on technology and litigation.
James Wright, director of electronic discovery at Halliburton Co. (HAL) (HAL), said that large companies are likely to face higher costs from organizing their data to comply with the rules. In addition to e-mail, companies will need to know about things more difficult to track, like digital photos of work sites on employee cell phones and information on removable memory cards, he said.
Both federal and state courts have increasingly been requiring the production of relevant electronic documents during discovery, but the new rules codify the practice, legal experts said.
The rules also require that lawyers provide information about where their clients' electronic data is stored and how accessible it is much earlier in a lawsuit than was previously the case.
There are hundreds of "e-discovery vendors" and these businesses raked in approximately $1.6 billion in 2006, Wright said. That figure could double in 2007, he added.
Another expense will likely stem from the additional time lawyers will have to spend reviewing electronic documents before turning them over to the other side. While the amount of data will be narrowed by electronic searches, some high-paid lawyers will still have to sift through casual e-mails about subjects like "office birthday parties in the pantry" in order to find information relevant to a particular case.
Martha Dawson, a partner at the Seattle-based law firm of Preston Gates & Ellis LLP who specializes in electronic discovery, said the burden of the new rules won't be that great.
Companies will not have to alter how they retain their electronic documents, she said, but will have to do an "inventory of their IT system" in order to know better where the documents are.
The new rules also provide better guidance on how electronic evidence is to be handled in federal litigation, including guidelines on how companies can seek exemptions from providing data that isn't "reasonably accessible," she said. This could actually reduce the burden of electronic discovery, she said.
dude_danny
Vista Will Add Vroom To New Business Software
A handful of business-software vendors are introducing products they've been working on for months that are designed to utilize the best of what Vista has to offer.
http://www.informationweek.com/software/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196600379
By Mary Hayes Weier
InformationWeek
Nov 30, 2006 10:35 AM
Windows Vista's good looks will help drive consumer sales, and it also will improve the computing experience for some business users. A handful of business-software vendors, in fact, will introduce products on Thursday they've been working on for months that are designed to utilize the best of what Vista has to offer.
For enterprise-resource planning vendor SAP, the Windows Presentation Foundation in Vista is key to an upgraded service it will offer retail customers starting next year. SAP's zone-optimization service includes delivery of data that helps retailers make decisions about how to market and price items at various stories based on demographics, climate, location, and other things. The upgraded service will deliver to retail managers' desktops an improved visual representation of this data, based partly on Vista's graphics strengths.
Retailers, for example, could toggle among dozens of store locations presented using Microsoft's Visual Earth software. They'll be able to zoom in on a specific location and look at data such as income levels in a three-dimensional chart form. The Windows Presentation Foundation makes it possible to "bring in all the data sources and tie it into the mapping software," explains Rick Chavie, SAP's senior VP for retail and wholesale industries. Screenshots of SAP's upcoming service were scheduled to go up on Microsoft's site today.
Business-intelligence software provider Hyperion, meanwhile, is announcing a new application environment that's designed to extend business intelligence to more people throughout an organization by making it easier to use and access on Windows desktops -- particularly if they're using Vista. Hyperion System 9 Smart Space lets desktop users create gadgets for specific functions, such as a "briefing book" where they can store the latest versions of their most commonly used reports. In Vista, those gadgets are found on the desktop's Windows Sidebar.
Another Hyperion gadget runs like a ticker along the bottom of the screen and can be customized for specific information, such as keeping a manager updated on the sales of a specific product. "The gadgets are specific to who you are and what you need," says Tobin Gilman, senior director of product marketing at Hyperion. "As a casual user I don't have to worry about the 10,000 other features in the product."
And AutoDesk is announcing a collaboration with Microsoft today to integrate its Design Web Format technology with Vista. Using data compression, Design Web Format lets designers and engineers transfer CAD files and 3-D models at a fraction of their size. The collaboration means users will be able to view and manage DWF design information on Vista workstations, without additional downloads or plug-ins, using a viewer compatible with the XML Paper Specification. Although it's a niche audience, Microsoft anticipates CAD users to be among the early adopters of Vista.
dude_danny
Awk:
...the lack of understanding is entirely the doing - or not doinbg - of all parties involved. But then again, I think the reason for that has been the fact that products are only NOW ready as "industrial" solutions...
Totally agree.
Best Regards,
dude_danny
TCG/Brian Berger Presentation Nov 2006
EVP Marketing & Sale
Wave Systems Corp
TCG Director & Marketing Cha
http://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/news/presentations/Global_Press_V1.pdf
Sorry if posted
dude_danny
O.T. As online shopping grows, so do dangers by Rob Lever
Thu Nov 23, 1:55 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061123/tc_afp/afplifestyleuseconomyitcrimeretail_061123065505
WASHINGTON (AFP) - As growing numbers of Americans turn to the Internet for holiday shopping, experts warn that online dangers such as fraud and identity theft are increasing as well.
One out of 10 people shopping online could become a victim of online fraud this holiday season, according to a report by the National Consumers League and National Cyber Security Alliance.
Still, the ease of online shopping and growing popularity of the Internet is becoming irresistible for time-strapped consumers.
A survey of some 9,000 US adults by Zogby International found two-thirds were planning to make at least one online purchase for the holiday season.
"Instead of fighting for a parking space and waiting in long lines, many shoppers have turned to the Internet to help with at least some of their holiday shopping," the research firm said.
Research firm comScore Networks predicts online retail consumer spending for the 2006 holiday season excluding travel will be above 24 billion dollars, a 24 percent rise from last year.
With the kickoff of the Christmas shopping season on Friday -- the day after the Thanksgiving Day holiday -- analysts see a greater share of sales going online.
While traditional stores call the opening day "Black Friday," e-commerce sites were gearing for "Cyber Monday," with many people shopping from computers at their offices.
A survey for the online retail association Shop.org found the number of people who will shop online for holiday gifts from work is expected to surge to 61 million people this year, up from 51.7 million people last year.
ComScore expects 600 million dollars in sales on Cyber Monday, which would be the biggest online shopping day on record.
But cyber-crooks are honing their tactics and stepping up their efforts as this trend increases, analysts say.
A report by the research firm Gartner Inc. found the number of so-called "phishing" e-mails -- designed to trick recipients into revealing personal or financial information -- has doubled in the past two years and that losses topped 2.8 billion dollars.
Gartner estimated that 24.4 million Americans have clicked on a phishing e-mail in 2006, up from 11.9 million in 2005, while 3.5 million have given sensitive information to the phishers, up from 1.9 million.
The average loss per victim has grown from 257 dollars two years ago to 1,244 per victim in 2006.
"The good news is that, this year, fewer people think they lost money to phishers, but when they did lose, they lost more," said Avivah Litan, a Gartner analyst.
"The average loss per victim nearly quintupled between 2005 and 2006, and the thieves seem to be targeting higher-income earners who are also more likely to transact on the Internet."
Experts warn that other online dangers have not disappeared either, such as spyware, hacking and e-mail fraud schemes, despite improvements in software and more consumer awareness.
The SANS Institute, a high-tech training center, said recently there is "an explosion in cyber crime, driven in part by a surge in the number of online criminals in Asian countries along with continuing growth in attacks from Eastern European countries."
"The surge is so great that several banks have reported 400 to 500 percent increases in losses to cyber fraud from 2005 to 2006," the institute said.
Security experts say consumers can minimize the risks by following a few common-sense guidelines: use firewalls and security software; use reputable merchants; and avoid using an unencrypted or open wireless network. Caution is also advised about giving away financial information.
"Knowing who you're dealing with and providing your financial information securely are very important when you're shopping online," said Susan Grant, Director of the National Consumers League fraud information center.
dude_danny
“Trusted Computing” requires
good data practices
http://www.gsnmagazine.com/pdfs/49_Oct_06.pdf
Sorry if posted.
“Trusted Computing” is the information
technology industry’s
response to the ever-increasing need
to protect the privacy of information.
The Trusted Computing
approach — an inexpensive method
of ensuring laptop, desktop and
server security at the hardware level
— is on the horizon.
The hardware aspect of Trusted
Computing, a standards-based chip
commonly referred to as the Trusted
Platform Module (TPM), already
appears as a feature in new businessclass
laptops. Development of the
software required to deploy Trusted
Computing to its fullest potential is
under way. Within a year, all operating
systems (Mac OX, Windows, and
Linux) will support the TPM without
third-party add-on software.
But it is a third component, good
data practices, that will determine
whether government can successfully
deploy Trusted Computing as effective
protection against unauthorized
data access, software attack and even
physical theft.
IMPLEMENTATION OF
TRUSTED COMPUTING
PCs, laptops and servers installed
with TPM (of which version 1.2 is the
latest) treat everyone and everything
as an adversary. Persons logging onto
the computer must present flawless
authorization credentials in order to
access data on the computer, which is
encrypted in secure storage for an
added level of security. Failure to
present proper credentials renders
the computer and its data useless.
The TPM can also be used by appropriate
operating systems or other software
to protect against software
attack -- such as viruses and spyware
-- in a similar fashion. Any program
must have the correct authorization
before the TPM will allow it to run.
And, because Trusted Computing
operations take place in a closed
hardware environment — the chip —
the secure operations themselves are
protected from attack. Even laptop
theft, featured prominently in recent
news reports, would no longer be an
issue as long as good data practices
are in place.
Good data practices are not a new
concept. In any environment that
uses critical data — with or without
“Trusted Computing” requires
good data practices
INFORMATION PRIVACY
Guest Columnist
BY SAM CHUN
Sam Chun, CISSP, is the director of
information assurance for TechTeam
Government Solutions, Inc., an IT
solutions company that provides
information assurance to federal,
state and local governments. Chun
can be reached at
sam.chun@techteam.com
dude_danny
O.T. Military Health System loses nearly 5,000 records
http://www.govhealthit.com/article96828-11-14-06-Web
BY Bob Brewin
Published on Nov. 14, 2006
Related Links
The Military Health System (MHS) lost records of almost 5,000 patient encounters because of hardware and software problems with portions of the Defense Department’s Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (AHLTA) electronic health record system, a top MHS official told Federal Computer Week.
The system is also experiencing backup problems with data stored locally at military treatment facilities (MTFs), which a Defense Information Systems Agency official described as anomalies but not systemic. DISA maintains the MHS network and provides mainframe storage at one of its data centers and local storage at MTFs.
Robert Foster, director of MHS’ Joint Program Executive Office, said the software problems occurred after local cache servers (LCS) were installed at 101 facilities and Northrop Grumman provided a new AHLTA software patch.
The patch, designed to improve LCS performance, was successfully installed at 99 MTFs, but did not work at Fort Stewart, Ga., and Fort Drum, N.Y., when it was installed in August, Foster said.
A database flag or trigger was incorrectly set at those two locations, Foster said. Consequently, clinical encounters between doctors and patients were not captured and stored because the system viewed each as an inactive patient, he said.
As a result, 2,608 encounters were not captured at Fort Drum and another 978 at Fort Stewart. MHS has resolved the patch problems at those two locations, Foster said.
A hardware problem at Fort Hood, Texas, in September resulted in the loss of information from 1,400 clinical encounters, Foster said. That loss was because of a hardware failure in a Redundant Array of Independent Disks when a Hewlett-Packard technician installed a new piece of equipment and inadvertently erased all the data on the disk by setting it to factor default, Foster said. No backup was in place.
Foster said some of the information erased at Fort Hood is stored in other MHS databases, and the system is working with clinicians to help them rebuild their records. The amount of clinical encounter information lost because of the hardware and software problems pales in comparison to the overall scale of AHLTA, which contains the records of 8.6 million active-duty and retired military personnel and their families, he added.
Alfred Rivera, DISA director for computing services, said MHS experiences local backup failures at two or three sites nightly and it is investigating the cause of the failures, which he viewed as “one-offs” and not systemic.
They include bad tapes in a backup system or the failure to insert a tape, Rivera said. DISA monitors whether backups have been performed locally, and if not, alerts the MTF to perform a backup either in during the night or the next day.
Backup is essential, Foster said, because AHLTA is an electronic system and “as general rules, we don’t do paper backups.” The LCS, which MHS started to use in February, provides redundancy to the AHLTA Clinical Data Repository housed at a DISA data center, he said. The repository is mirrored at that data center and at a remote center, Rivera said.
MHS’ disclosure of its data loss follows DISA’s acknowledgement earlier this month that the repository experienced a 20-minute failure in late October. Last week DISA dispatched its vice director, Army Maj. Gen. Marilyn Quagliotti, to the data center that houses the repository to conduct a review of that outage, an agency spokesman said.
The purpose of Quagliotti’s visit was to examine AHLTA from technical, operational and organizational perspectives, and to determine if DISA needs to make improvements, the spokesman added.
O.T. Electronic medical records use may rise
By DAVID TWIDDY, AP Business Writer
Sun Nov 19, 5:35 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061119/ap_on_he_me/e_medical_records
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Health care advocates have long encouraged physicians to switch to computerized medical records, saying they could improve patient care and increase efficiency. Doctors, however, have been more concerned about the high price tag — often more than $20,000 per physician for software, hardware and Internet connections — as well as having to maintain a computer network. Surveys estimate less than 20 percent of doctors have fully automated their offices.
"They're saying, 'I'm shelling out the money and everybody else is getting the benefits,'" said Tom Leary, director of federal affairs for industry group Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
But federal officials last month paved the way for hospitals to come to the rescue, allowing them to donate medical record systems to physician practices to blunt some of the financial bite.
In addition, those inside the industry recently agreed on technology standards that allow software from different companies to share data, taking some of the fear out of the purchasing decision.
Those moves are apparently loosening purse strings as medical software makers say they've seen a surge in new interest and new customers and predict this may be the spark they needed to pull the $1.5 billion electronic health records industry into the medical mainstream.
"It's been a month since the (new regulations) were announced and the increase in engagement has been immediate," said Sunny Sanyal, group president for clinical solutions at San Francisco-based McKesson Provider Technologies, which serves about a third of the nation's hospitals. "Physicians weren't ready to provide a big investment. The fact a hospital can now provide it for them completely changes the picture."
Added Rick Heise, an executive with Kansas City, Mo.-based software provider Cerner Corp., "It's created a huge amount of excitement so there's an opportunity for a lot of money to go around."
Electronic medical records have slowly gained acceptance in the health care industry, especially after President Bush in 2004 said he wanted all Americans to have an electronic patient record by 2014. Proponents, who envision a nationwide online database of medical information, say the records can speed up medical decisions, avoid errors and save lives.
Such information would be protected by federal privacy laws covering medical records, and supporters say secure networks would move information between health care providers bound by those laws.
Annual sales of records software are expected to more than triple to $4.9 billion by 2010, said Jewson Enterprises, an Austin, Texas-based research firm.
But while hospitals, with their deeper pockets, have steadily evolved to electronic medical records (EMRs), doctors' groups, constrained by declining Medicaid payments and a smaller pool of capital, have proven slower to adapt.
Hospitals weren't allowed to help, blocked by federal laws preventing physicians from referring Medicare patients to businesses in which they have a financial relationship or accepting compensation from a health care provider that could be viewed as an incentive to refer patients.
On Oct. 6, however, federal officials established exceptions to those laws that would cover medical record system donations, albeit with a host of conditions. For example, computer systems that are donated must be able to talk and interact with other health care computer systems around the country — a protection against hospitals using their donations to deter competition.
Doctors still must pay at least 15 percent of the system's cost and donations are limited to software or such things as maintenance costs or Internet fees. Donations of hardware, other types of software or personnel to run the systems are not allowed.
James Kumpel, a health care analyst with Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., said he expected it will take several quarters of working through the legal questions and mapping out hospital-physician partnerships before the market sees a significant increase in sales, but they will come.
"Bush said he had a 10-year plan for (records). This is a good first step," Kumpel said. "It's all gravy because it hastens purchasing decisions and broadens the addressable market for them."
For example, Cerner has started to put more sales focus on physician offices, rather than just hospitals, leading the company to sign up more small-scale customers in the company's third quarter than in all of 2005, said Reise, director of Cerner PowerWorks, whose division now serves around 3,000 non-hospital clients.
He added that hospitals are also looking at records networks as an edge in the fight to attract high-quality physicians.
"They weren't able to pay them" before, he said. "Now that this relief has played out and been communicated by (federal officials) almost every hospital that is in a competitive situation is scrambling to build a (physician office records) strategy."
Michael Raymer, vice president and general manager for global product strategy at GE Healthcare, said his company has "already seen an uptick in unit sales this quarter that we attribute directly" to the rule changes.
For example, the new rules allowed one of his customers, Valley Baptist Health System in Harlingen, Texas, to speed up its plans to link hundreds of area physicians to its medical records network. Hospital officials said the changes let them offer larger subsidies for doctors wanting to subscribe to the network, rather than forcing them to buy the software themselves.
"This is what I'd best describe is a rural area," said Jim Barbaglia, chief information officer for the 840-bed health system near the Mexico border. "We have a lot of physicians who are solo practitioners. Making them pull out $25,000-$30,000 would have been cost-prohibitive."
dude_danny
O.T. Many Business Leaders Do Not Trust Their Own Companies to Secure or Manage Sensitive Information, First-of-its-Kind International Survey Shows
*Note: Unisys is member of TCG*
http://www.unisys.com/about__unisys/news_a_events/11158727.htm
Unisys Trusted Enterprise Index reveals major gaps in maintenance of security and privacy
IT and business leaders disagree on top attributes for building and eroding trust
Most and least trusted industries identified
BLUE BELL, Pa., November 15, 2006 – Business executives focus hard on revenue and the bottom line and increasingly devote resources to corporate governance and security matters. Yet, almost one in every three of the more than 1,700 senior-level corporate and technology leader respondents in a new international survey do not trust their companies’ own ability to handle private or sensitive information, and that same number are either unsure or don’t believe that most of their business partners consider them to be trusted enterprises.
These and other findings are part of a broad research project called the Unisys Trusted Enterprise Index, a first-of-its kind survey measuring the importance, impact and influence of trust, privacy and security within the corporate world. Conducted in partnership with the Ponemon Institute, a privacy research organization, the study also found that despite a growing awareness of risk management and security issues in the corporate world, more than one-third of companies polled do not task senior leaders with protecting the trust that customers, investors and even their own employees have in those companies.
“It concerns me to see the overall lack of preparedness among business leaders to monitor and protect the trust their companies have with customers, vendors and even employees, especially given how devastating a breach of trust is to a company’s reputation and bottom line,” said Mike Gibbons, vice president and general manager, Enterprise Security, Unisys.
“Of equal concern is the disconnect between business and IT executives over how to build a trusted organization,” Gibbons continued. “Trust must be the cornerstone of every risk management plan. All senior leaders must be aligned on how to measure trust and ensure complete visibility of IT security and privacy matters throughout their organizations. They must think about security and risk management as a proactive strategy that can build trust rather than as solely a defensive measure.”
Technology and Business Leaders Disagree
The first phase of the research polled CEOs and other senior business executives as well as senior IT executives at leading U.S. and U.K. companies, and found a clear disconnect between the views of business leaders and technology leaders on the factors that build and erode trust. IT leaders placed a much stronger emphasis on protecting privacy and IT security while business leaders focused on more financial-oriented measures.
Business Leaders:
Business leaders place value on risk management and good corporate governance practices to build trust much more than do IT leaders.
Business leaders believe negative cash flows, a lack of shared values and weak fiscal management are much more likely to erode trust than do IT leaders.
Technology Leaders:
IT leaders believe that positive media coverage, IP protection and responsible marketing practices build trust much more than do business leaders.
IT leaders find inadequate intellectual property protection, weak privacy and undependable IT erodes trust much more than do business leaders.
Industries: Winners – and Losers
Among all industries included in the research, retail banking is the most trusted in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Beyond this, there are distinct differences in U.S. business leaders’ views on trusted industries versus their U.K. counterparts. Healthcare surfaced as among the most trusted industries in the United States, yet is among the least trusted in the United Kingdom. Similarly, government is highly trusted in the United Kingdom and one of the least trusted sectors in the United States, according to respondents.
Geographically, the top three most and least trusted industries are:
U.S. – Most trusted: Retail banking, healthcare and professional services vs. Least trusted: insurance, telecomm and entertainment and media
U.K. – Most trusted: Retail banking, local government, education and professional services vs. Least trusted: entertainment and media, healthcare and retailing
Trust Builders
The drivers of corporate trust are atypical from the more traditional, measurable factors that influence Wall Street and commercial success. Despite an increased sensitivity to corporate ethics and compliance among corporations today, customer satisfaction, leadership, prudent fiscal management, and customer respect are ranked much higher by business leaders surveyed as the most influential builders and stewards of trust. Factors including market capitalization, market share and others rank much lower.
Factors that erode trust are not necessarily interchangeable. Unethical business practices, customer dissatisfaction, lack of respect for employees and customers and poor leadership are the top five factors that erode trust within an organization.
“Trust is an intangible asset that is often overlooked until it’s too late,” said Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of Ponemon Institute. “Many companies devote tremendous dollars and resources to increasing market value, but as our research proves, in order to build trust among customers, employees and investors, they may be focused on the wrong factors, or ignoring the right ones altogether.”
The research underscores that while more quantifiable factors such as compliance and financial performance tend to get the attention of boards and their leaders, “softer” factors that build trust - how a company treats customers or motivates employees – need equal attention.
About the Research
The research was conducted on behalf of Unisys by the Ponemon Institute. The Ponemon Institute polled 1,700 respondents from a sampling frame of more than 30,000 business and IT leaders comprised of CIOs, CEOs, Boards, security and privacy experts in the U.S. and U.K. in the month of September, 2006. Surveys were conducted online with option for web-tel.
The research is part of a broader multi-year global initiative, the Unisys Trusted Enterprise Index. The Index will serve as a comprehensive tool for companies and governments to better redefine their own security and business processes for greater impact and visibility into the cause and effect relationships between business and technology goals.
About Unisys
Unisys is a worldwide technology services and solutions company. Our consultants apply Unisys expertise in consulting, systems integration, outsourcing, infrastructure, and server technology to help our clients achieve secure business operations. We build more secure organizations by creating visibility into clients’ business operations. Leveraging the Unisys 3D Visible Enterprise approach, we make visible the impact of their decisions – ahead of investments, opportunities and risks. For more information, visit www.unisys.com.
Decoding the FAQ’s on the FFIEC Guidance on Authentication in an Internet Banking Environment - November 21, 2006
http://www.bankinfosecurity.com/webinars_details.php?webinar_id=71&PHPSESSID=41ad74003977c535baf...
Author: Susan Orr, CISA, CISM, CRP
Date: 2006-11-21
Source: BankInfoSecurity.com
*** Please log in, or register for a new account
to sign up for this webinar. ***
Time 1: Time 2: Time 3:
1:00PM Eastern Standard Time
Description: Since its release on October 12, 2005, the FFEIC Guidance on Authentication in an Internet Banking Environment, has created a great deal of confusion, uncertainty, and speculation and raised many questions as to what is actually required to comply with the guidance. Many have interpreted the Guidance deadline of December 31, 2006 to only apply to the completion of a risk assessment, others understood the Guidance to require the implementation of multifactor authentication, and some are confused as to who and even what the Guidance applies to.
In an effort to clarify the myriad of questions the Guidance evoked, the Agencies recently jointly developed and released a compilation of the most frequently asked questions received from financial institutions, examiners, and technology service providers concerning the October 12, 2005 Guidance. The Agencies provide direct answers to specific questions such as:
• Does the Guidance require the use of multifactor authentication?
• Are there banking applications where single factor authentication as the only control mechanism would be adequate?
• Are the Agencies recommending multifactor authentication over layered security or other compensating controls?
• What do the Agencies expect institutions to have accomplished by year-end 2006
• What if a solution can’t be implemented by year-end
dude_danny
O.T. AMD designs prototype PC for the living roomBy Michael Kanellos, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: November 16, 2006, 10:13 AM PT
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6136186.html
Personal computers TVs Home entertainment Advanced Micro Devices Advanced Micro Devices has created a prototype PC designed to go in the living room, a place where several companies have tried to go before but almost none has succeeded.
Resembling a stereo component, the computer is designed essentially to function as a media vault: it stores music, videos, TV shows and photos and then pipes them to flat-panel TVs and other PCs. PC makers can, conceivably, use the prototype as a reference design.
"There will be PCs in the living room. They won't look like PCs," said Joe Menard, corporate vice president of consumer business for AMD, during an interview at the Samsung Executive Summit this week in San Jose. Some of these types of PCs may come out next year, he added.
Companies that have tried to get PCs into the living room include Gateway and Compaq, which tried to sell large projection TVs linked to PCs in the late 1990s. But high prices led to low sales.
In early 2004, Intel CEO Paul Otellini unfurled the EPC at the Consumer Electronics Show. The bulky appearance and the noisy fan crimped sales. Intel revamped the idea with its Viiv line of PCs. Still, most Viiv PCs are not packaged in sleek, small cases that would fit in living room entertainment racks. Most Viiv PCs are about the same size as standard desktops and laptops. Apple also came out with a Mac Mini in 2005, but despite the good reviews, it's nowhere near being a cultural phenomenon.
There are Intel-based computers making it into the living room, but they're not PCs. Toshiba's HD-DVD player runs an x86 chip and some set-top boxes have Intel chips as well.
So why will the living room PC concept succeed now where it has limped along in the past? Chip cooling has improved, so computer makers will be able to get away from fans, said Menard.
With Vista, Microsoft's soon-to-be released new operating system, consumers will be able to play high-definition content on PCs--providing them with an incentive to pick up a living room PC.
dude_danny
http://www.shmoo.com/~gdead/pres/USMA-Trusted.ppt
Sorry if posted
dude_danny
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/power/en/power?c=us&cs=RC968571&l=en&s=he...
SPECIAL FEATURE SECTION: SECURITY
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/power/ps4q06-20060431-CoverStory.pdf
Dell is committed to developing a highly scalable, standards based architecture and solutions for end-to-end security. As a result of Dell’s work with middleware, software, and virtualization providers
and strong alliances with partners who offer state-of-the-industry best practices, Dell™ hardware already integrates a variety of security features. For example, a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is included
in many Dell client systems for organizations that require security solutions with multifactor authentication or hardware-backed secure storage of digital keys, certificates, and passwords.
Laying the foundation with industry standards
Dell has assumed a leadership role in vendor-neutral standards organizations such as the Trusted Computing Group (TCG). TCG is developing specifications for trusted computing and security technologies that are designed to make security inherent in every
aspect of the IT infrastructure as well as the overall management framework—including hardware components and software interface
specifications across a range of platforms and operating environments.2 For example, TCG specifications define, among other things, the standards for creating TPMs, which are microcontrollers incorporated into computing devices to provide hardware protection for security tasks and authentication information. Dell is also working with industry standards bodies such as the Distributed Management Task Force to define the various characteristics of security objects so these objects can fit into large management frameworks. This effort includes creating common information flow formats for issues such as identity management and vulnerability definitions. By defining and creating common information schemas, security objects and information can be shared among security solutions— allowing organizations the flexibility to choose the most appropriate application environment and management framework for their particular business needs. In addition, Dell is creating a federated repository model for flowing information outside the organization. This model, which also integrates into the management framework, can help ensure that electronic data interchange is protected.
---------------------------------------------------
Protecting Enterprise Assets
with Identity Management Solutions from Dell and IdentiPHI http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/power/ps4q06-20070155-IdentiPHI.pdf
------------------------------------------------------
Enhancing IT Security
with Trusted Computing Group Standards
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/power/ps4q06-20070160-tcg.pdf
Dell includes TPMs and Wave Systems EMBASSY Trust Suite software on many Dell™ Latitude™ notebooks, Dell OptiPlex™ desktops, and Dell Precision™ workstations. Dell also anticipates eventually
incorporating TPM architectures on its servers and storage.
------------------------------------------
dude_danny
Vac Nice Find! Fujitsu Limited, Seagate Technology and Wave Systems. IMO 2007 will the year of FDE.
dude_danny
O.T. Fujitsu Receives 2006 Vendor Award of Excellence From Ingram Micro
http://www.fujitsu.com/us/news/pr/fcpa_20061101-03.html
Sunnyvale, CA, November 1, 2006 — Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc., a market leader in document imaging scanners and services, today announced that it received a 2006 Vendor Award of Excellence in the Peripherals category from Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM), the world’s largest technology distributor. Ingram Micro presented 12 awards this year, each taking into account the manufacturers’ overall alliance with Ingram Micro, its channel relationships and its achievements against performance metrics for revenue, profitability, marketing programs, reseller support and services.
“Fujitsu, along with its Ingram Micro team, have cracked the ‘reseller enablement’ code by teaching resellers about horizontal opportunities and how to implement viable and profitable practices in document management and imaging,” said Kevin Prewett, vice president, vendor management, peripherals, Ingram Micro. “We’re happy to honor Fujitsu as this year’s award winner in the peripherals category.”
“Fujitsu is honored to receive the Vendor Award of Excellence from Ingram Micro,” said Victor Kan, vice president of sales and marketing, Imaging Products Group, Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. “This award represents the focused commitment from Fujitsu to Ingram Micro and the resellers through product trainings, certification programs, innovative marketing plans and document imaging education.”
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About Ingram Micro Inc.
As a vital link in the technology value chain, Ingram Micro creates sales and profitability opportunities for vendors and resellers through unique marketing programs, outsourced logistics services, technical support, financial services, and product aggregation and distribution. The company serves more than 140 countries and is the only global broadline IT distributor with operations in Asia.
For more information, please see: http://www.ingrammicro.com
About Fujitsu
Fujitsu is a leading provider of customer-focused IT and communications solutions for the global marketplace. Pace-setting device technologies, highly reliable computing and communications products, and a worldwide corps of systems and services experts uniquely position Fujitsu to deliver comprehensive solutions that open up infinite possibilities for its customers' success. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.8 trillion yen (US$40.6 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006.
For more information, please see: http://www.fujitsu.com
About Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc.
Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. conducts engineering and marketing activities in Sunnyvale, CA and sales operations throughout the United States. Fujitsu Computer Products of America currently offers products and services including scanners and scanner maintenance, hard disk drives, Magneto-Optical drives, palm vein technology and 10Gb Ethernet switches. Fujitsu Computer Products of America is located at 1255 East Arques Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA, 94085. For more information about Fujitsu products and services, call us at 800-626-4686 or 408-746-7000.
For more information, please see: http://www.fcpa.fujitsu.com
Dell Latitude D420 review - Notebooks, PC Authority,
November, 2006
http://www.pcauthority.com.au/review.aspx?CIaRID=4284
dude_danny
Nice Find Vacationhouse!
dude_danny
Security's Big Spend
Budgets are up as businesses attempt to thwart more sophisticated cybercrimes
http://www.optimizemag.com/article/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=BTSHGMSQ3LOCAQSNDLSCKHA?articleId=19...
From SKS email
concerning this statement from wikipedia
"At one point, the U.S. army required that every new small PC must came with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM). That requirement was dropped two months later."
Not true, Army has now mandated TPM on all machines both as part of ASCP Army Small Computer Program and as Part of ITES 2H a multi billion
dollar procurement contract Air force also requires TPM on all machines as well. They remove the specific spreadsheet after a couple of months in anticipation of the next buy expect published specs in jan feb for CB4
Steven
Dell Technology and Solutuins Tour Autumn 2006
http://tst.dell-events.com/tst/2006/autumn/index.php
http://www2.dell-techtour.com/tst/2006/autumn/norway/
Dell Events for November
http://www.dellevents.com/index.asp
Date / Location Name / Description
11/1/2006 8:00 AM Central
Microsoft Corporation
7000 State Highway 161
Irving TX
Partnership in eHealth
Join Dell, Intel and Microsoft for partnership in eHealth
11/2/2006 8:00 AM Central
Marriott at the Capitol
Austin TX
S&P Partner Forum 2006 -DELL ATTENDEES ONLY
Dell invites you to attend the Dell Software & Peripherals 2006 Partner Forum on November 2nd. You will have the opportunity to meet with leaders from our partner companies and share plans for the upcoming year.
11/16/2006 - 11/17/2006 Central
Dell Executive Briefing Center
RR3
One Dell Way
Round Rock TX
Healthcare Customer Best Practices Sharing Seminar
Dell invites you to participate in open discussions with experts in the healthcare solutions field. Join your peers and share best practices around creative uses of technology, including virtualization, OEM integrated solutions, product certifications and security.
O.T. HP, Apple Have Passion, Microsoft's Got Security, VIA Goes Green By Rob Enderle
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/53480.html
Wave is familar with Shab Madina, HP
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:J2yBQApLA7YJ:www.infosecurityevent.com/App/PrintFriendly.cfm%3Fl...
Name: Shab Madina
Job Title: Product Marketing Manager
Company: Hewlett-Packard
Bio: Shab Madina is a Product Marketing Manager at Hewlett-Packard and is focused on client security technologies on HP's commercial notebooks. Shab is currently focused on driving leadership into the HP business notebook products security roadmap. He is also actively involved in building awareness of security concerns and solutions among customers and HP's sales force. Shab joined HP in 1993 and has served in numerous software technology and engineering management roles. Since 1999, he has primarily been involved in product and technology marketing. Shab holds a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Louisiana State University.
T1: Trusted Computing Group: Stopping Attacks on Your Corporate Assets: A Seminar on Protecting Data, Systems and the Network:
Date - December-06-2005
Start Time - 9:00AM
End Time - 1:00PM
Location - 1E07
Alexander Koehler - Alliance Manager, Utimaco Safeware AG
Brian Allen, Hewlett-Packard
Kerry Maletsky - Business Unit Director, North American ASIC and ASSP Companies, Atmel
Michael Willett - Research Staff, Seagate Technology and Chair, Privacy Framework Project of the Internat'l Security, Trust and Privacy Alliance
Stephen Sprague - President and CEO, Wave Systems
Shab Madina - Product Marketing Manager, Hewlett-Packard
Stacy Cannady, CISSP - Senior Consultant and Product Manager for Client Security, Lenovo
John Vollbrecht - Senior Technical Consultant, Meetinghouse Data Communications
T1D: Really Secure: Examples of Secure Enterprises and How They Got That Way:
Date - December-06-2005
Start Time - 9:00AM
End Time - 1:00PM
Stephen Sprague - President and CEO, Wave Systems
Shab Madina - Product Marketing Manager, Hewlett-Packard
Stacy Cannady, CISSP - Senior Consultant and Product Manager for Client Security, Lenovo
Home computers targeted by hackers '50 times a day'
09.10.06
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23370087-details/Home+computers+targeted+by+hackers+'50+t...
Risk: Home computers are a target for hackers
Home PCs could be under attack from hackers over 50 times a night, suggests a BBC News Website experiment.
The BBC News Website team set up a honeypot' PC – a computer that looks like a normal PC online but records everything that's done to it – in order to find out the dangers facing web users.
Every single time the 'honeypot' was put online it was attacked. In one of the busiest nights of malicious online activity, the computer was attacked 53 times:
1 hijack attempt. PC suffered buffer overflow attempt to subvert web server built into Microsoft Windows. A successful attack would hand over control of the machine to a hacker
2 "port scans" which look for weak spots in Windows software - reconnaissance by hackers seeking new victims.
11 attacks by the 'Blaster' worm - success would have rendered the machine unusable
3 attacks by the 'Slammer' worm - success would have left machine crippled and prone to crashing
36 fake security announcements/adverts for fake security software posing as warnings. Reacting to these could leave a PC clogged with spyware.
Over the course of the whole experiment, on average at least one attack an hour came from a dangerous computer bug with the ability to cripple an unprotected PC. And at least one attack per night was even more serious - an attempt to hijack the computer entirely – which could lead to the computer being turned into a 'zombie PC' and used to carry out criminal activity without the owner's knowledge.
The experiment demonstrates the vulnerability of unprotected home PCs to malicious hackers.
According to Symantec, 86 per cent of all targeted attacks on computers are aimed at home users. There are an estimated 200,000 malicious programs in existence.
Starting today, the BBC News Website is running a whole week of special features looking at the issue of hi-tech crime and giving people advice on they can stay safe online.
As part of the BBC News Website's 'Cracking Hi-Tech Crime[ specials the BBC also talks to the hi-tech criminals behind the viruses, 'phishing' e-mails and malicious programs putting home PCs at risk.
One hacker the BBC spoke to claims to have earned $10,000 a day from computer crime, another says that they can hack into many online shops within 3-4 hours and sell the data on for anything between $100-500. Unconcerned about the risk of arrest the hacker adds: "How can a cop catch me? Catch me if they can!"