Monthly Archives: November 2011

In a settlement announced today by the Federal Trade Commission and Facebook, the social networking service agreed to settle “charges that it deceived consumers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public,” according to the FTC’s press release.

In its complaint, the FTC alleged,… More

My colleague Dayle Cristinzio, former Legislative Director for Senator Harry Reid, has provided me with the amendments to Senate Bill1867, the Department of Defense Authorization Act.  Among these amendments is one from Sen. McCain, amendment #1229, which could provide greater cybersecurity collaboration between the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security. More

According to a November 16, 2011 letter from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to his Republican counterpart, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, it is his "intent to bring comprehensive cyber security legislation to the Senate floor for consideration during the first Senate work period next year." 

This is by no means a guarantee of legislative action, but it is the latest sign that cybersecurity will be a priority in Congress come 2012.… More

With an inflammatory title like “Foreign Spies Stealing US Economic Secrets in Cyberspace,” the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive’s “Report to Congress on Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage, 2009-2011” is tough to ignore.

The Report’s conclusions are equally notable for their candor about the recent actions of the Chinese and Russian governments:

• “Chinese actors are the world’s most active and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage.…

More

cyber-security “Advanced Cyber Security Center”

Interesting findings in the Unisys Security Index for the United States regarding what Americans say they would do in the event that they learned of a security breach suffered by an organization with which they were dealing:

• Change passwords on that organization’s website and other sites (87%)
• Stop dealing with that organization entirely (76%)
• Publicly expose the issue (65%)
• Take legal action (53%)
• Continue dealing with the organization but not online (31%)

Thanks to Ted Julian of Co3 Systems for bringing this report to my attention.… More