Bush Unveils Final Cybersecurity Plan FTD.com Security Flaws Leaks Personal Information NIPC? Encourages Heightened Cyber Security as Iraq-US Tensions Increase Valentines Dating Guidelines Online Senate Agrees Not To Allow Email Surveillance Everest Cyber Caf? Moore?s May Hold Another Decade Intel to Launch Cell Phone Chip Saving Digital History More Career Advice Mailbag Stratford News
A security flaw at FTD.com left private information open to harvesting this week
The flaw allowed a person to use a modified "cookie" to easily access customer information from the company’s servers, said Gerald Quakenbush, an information security analyst for Internet and e-business consulting service Fusion Alliance.
Cookies are snippets of data that reside on a person’s computer, linking that PC to information and personalized sites on the Web
"You can steal any customer’s information from the site," Quakenbush said in an interview with CNET News.com on Thursday
The security problem exposed customer billing records, including name, address and phone number, by changing a simple number, he added. A specific customer couldn’t be targeted by name, only randomly by changing numbers in an FTD.com cookie.
The National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) is issuing this advisory (03-002) to heighten the awareness of an increase in global hacking activities as a result of the increasing tensions between the United States and Iraq.
Recent experience has shown that during a time of increased international tension, illegal cyber activity: spamming, web defacements, denial of service attacks, etc., often escalates.
Recommended practices
Increase user awareness
Update anti-virus software
Stop potentially hostile/suspicious attachments at the E-Mail server
Utilize filtering to maximize security
Establish policies and procedures for responding and recovery
Warns US hackers to leave Iraq alone. Such actions may backfire.
They are more attracted to intelligence than testosterone; they don’t need football players – in fact, most of them find them to be a turnoff.
Most importantly, they like fellow geeks – prefer them, even.
With a geek girl, a geek guy has a decided advantage.
Most geek girls have a very active online life; that may be the only part of their life that is active right now.
Look for them on the ‘net, or even, if you’re brave, in the lab; but be careful. A geek girl might not be as comfortable with you in person as she is online; sometimes it’s best to try the ‘impersonal’ route first.
House and Senate negotiators have agreed that a Pentagon project intended to detect terrorists by monitoring e-mail and commercial databases for health, financial and travel information cannot be used against Americans.
The conferees also agreed to restrict further research on the program without extensive consultation with Congress.
House leaders agreed with Senate fears about the threat to personal privacy posed by the Pentagon program, known as Total Information Awareness (TIA).
So they accepted a Senate provision in the omnibus spending bill passed last month, said Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., who heads the defense appropriations subcommittee.
Here’s the flip side of the digital age’s magic act: It’s also making information disappear.
"The digital history of this nation is imperiled by the very technology that is used to create it," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.
Library of Congress announced the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP). The $100 million initiative was launched by Congress in 2000 to do for digital media what the world’s largest library already does for printed matter.
"This plan is the beginning of the creation of a national network to preserve the digital memory of our country," said Laura Campbell, associate librarian for strategic initiatives.
The average Web page has a lifespan of just a couple of months. Of all the Web content made in 1998, nearly half had disappeared by 1999.
"Much of what has been created is no longer accessible," Billington said. "And much of what disappears is important, one-of-a-kind material that can never be recovered, but will be desperately looked for."