While perusing the web earlier this week, I came across a small article called “Blue Shield leaks social security numbers”. This short segment went on to mention that Blue Shield inadvertently included social security numbers within a report that was posted to the public domain. Apparently, it wasn’t the first time. They did the same […]
I read an article earlier this week about a billing vendor employee whose laptop was stolen and although it was password protected, the data was not encrypted, possibly exposing confidential data on 3,500 students. Many of our past posts dealt with security issues such as password protection, malware and virus protection, etc. and that’s what […]
Did you see the 60 minutes segment last Sunday (06/22/14) on domestic drones called “Drones Over America”? It showed how commercially available drones are revolutionizing the way we work and play. Their use is increasing and soon they’ll become mainstream. Right now, anyone can purchase one on the internet and they are largely unregulated. Many […]
Here are a few startling statistics for 2013 from Symantec’s 2014 Internet Security Threat Report: Targeted attacks increased by 91% Security breaches increased 62% over 2012 exposing 552 million identities Web-based attacks increased 23% Read the report. It’s an eye opener! The threat landscape for all businesses is increasing at an alarming rate. Small-to-Medium Size Businesses […]
As a reader of our blog, you know that XSolutions emphasizes cyber-security in many of our posts. Some readers may think that our “rants” don’t involve them because they are not company owners or executives. IT security is EVERYONE’s business and concerns EVERY employee regardless of title. A recent article on CIO.com called “What Data […]
If you accept credit card payments in your business, then this concerns you — The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) also known as PCI Compliance. EVERY business that processes, stores or transmits credit card information is subject to PCI DSS. You are expected to safeguard and protect credit card information. Here’s a […]
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996 and provides federal protections for individually identifiable health information held by Covered Entities and their Business Associates (BA). Covered entities include: doctors, clinics, psychologists, dentists, chiropractors, nursing homes, and pharmacies. If your business provides services to a […]
While watching the evening news last night, I was immediately drawn to one of their leading segments announcing that the U.S. issued several indictments against Chinese Military officers alleging their involvement in cyber-criminal activities against American companies. The segment went on to say that, in one instance an American manufacturer that produced solar panels was […]
The lines between IT Security and Physical security are often blurred. In fact, they are strongly related. Not every IT security breach starts in a hacker’s basement. Sometimes, good old fashion industrial espionage gives a cyber-criminal the keys to a company’s “virtual kingdom”. We are all busy during the workday and in the evening we […]
It is becoming very hard to keep people safe on the internet these days since almost everything is online — from surveillance cameras to implanted medical devices to common household appliances. Recently, CIO published an article called “The Internet of Things Could Encroach on Personal Privacy”. It discusses the White House’s concern that the sensors […]
