Parents will be able to use a web portal to see their children's geographical location.
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Welsh trial to track schoolkids with GPS to start in May
A trial will be starting in wales in May to track school children during their journey to and from school.
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
The British Council has been ordered to encrypt all portable data
Following a loss of a disc containing data on 2,000 people including trade union membership and banking details the British Council has been ordered to encrypt all data by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
We say ENCRYPT ALL PORTABLE DATA NOW, the campaign starts here. How many more 'horses bolted' stories do we need?
Monday, 20 April 2009
The FBI have been using homebrew spyware for years
Recently declassified documents have revealed that the FBI have been using their own brand of spyware to install on targets computers and gather wide range of data to send back to Virginia.
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Tramp has phone numbers of Cabinet ministers on stolen Blackberry
A journalism student purchased the Blackberry device while working on an assignment about the homeless.
He discovered phone numbers several cabinet ministers and other sensitive data.
Now Blackberries have pretty good security.... as long as it is switched on! more here...
Fraudsters discover how to decrypt banking PIN numbers - is this the end of PIN's as we know it?
Hackers have discovered how to decrypt the algorythm that protects
bank card PIN data.
The best way to explain this is the Kentucky Fried Chicken anology.
Previously they could loiter at KFC and steal 1
piece of chicken at a time (perhaps a full bucket on a good day),
now they have the Colonel's secret recepie!
SAS laptop containing confidential information is unencrypted and missing
The Telegraph are reporting that a laptop belonging to the Signals Regiment attached to the SAS has gone missing.
The laptop containing counter terrorism and military data was discovered missing during an equipment audit. Unbelievably the laptop was unencrypted.
Employees still have access to company data after they leave
A new survey has highlighted a very common problem. when an employee leaves they frequently still have access to systems, login's and data.
The figures are shocking, read the full article here...
If you want help designing an effective policy for departing staff contact FaberBrent.
Monday, 13 April 2009
Coronation Street producers sweep for bugs to combat leaks
Coronation Street producers have been sweeping for bugs as part of
their security measures to combat plot line leaks.
Senior production staff have been asked to provide mobile phone
records and other data to try to identify where leaks may have
happened.
This comes as cost and wage cutting hangs over the heads of both
actors and production staff at ITV.
When times are hard we see an increase in unscrupulous activity such
as this. If you are concerned about industrial espionage contact FaberBrent.
Sunday, 12 April 2009
Watching a burglary live on web cam
Great video of a live burglary watched by a Florida woman live on her own covert security web cam.
Our mobile phones are self-inflicted surveillance
Great article on The Register detailing how our phones are effectively surveillance tags giving away endless data about our movements and behavior patterns.
Another delay for ICO data breach powers
Once again this government has failed to deliver on deadlines to bring in new powers for the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to fine companies who lose personal data. There has been no comment on why they missed the deadline, or when they now plan to publish the secondary legislation.
Perhaps they need time to gather the funds required to meet all the fines that will be leveled against government departments.... or just to try to get their own house in order?
Report shows decline in UK business mobile security
The report claims that more than half of UK business workers have to access remote sensitive data on an ongoing basis.
The report claims one in three businesses do not have sufficient security for this process.
In our experience this is very true. Many companies don't know how to implement better security for fear of compromising efficiency. If you need help finding the balance contact Faberbrent.
Key Brown advisor still doesn't understand emails are 'published documents'
Damian McBride had to resign after sending “juvenile and inappropriate” emails from his Downing Street email address.
How can someone who works in a senior public position have such a fundamental gap in their understanding of information security.
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Police Chief Bob Quick Resigns - UK's most senior counter-terror officer resigns because of stupidity!
Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, Britain's most senior anti-terrorist policeman has resigned after walking into Downing Street carrying papers detailing 'Pathway', an undercover operation to arrest al-Qaeda suspects planning a major terrorist attacks in the UK.
As a result the raids were brought forward and 12 people were arrested last night.
When will people realise that security has to be holistic, a piece of paper is just as dangerous as an electronic document or conversation.
Lets hope the operation (and the safety of the officers involved) was not compromised for the sake of an envelope!
Monday, 6 April 2009
Big brother is recording you right now viewing this page - UK go live today with new EU directive
Quietly, and to some degree by the back door, a new EU directive has gone live today in the UK. It is now law that all Internet usage, websites visited, emails and web phonecalls will be recorded and stored for at least 12 months.
The idea is for police and security services to have easy access to the data to combat crime and terrorism. Be aware that many other bodies including local councils will also be able to access the data.
Why has there been so little media attention to this?
more here...
UKBA set to share fingerprint data with US, Canada and Australia
We are soon going to see cross-border information sharing from the UK Border Agency. This appears to be the first major move from the organisation (that has achieved full executive agency status from 1st April).
I wonder how long until all biometric data will be freely exchanged between border agencies?
more here...
Friday, 3 April 2009
Scottish hospital leaves medical records in corridor for days!
The BBC have reported that Southern General in Glasgow had boxes of medical records unsecured for days.
The records were spotted by a concerned member of the public but nothing was done.
Perhaps someone would like to tell all the people who's records were there if anyone has accessed their data....oh sorry, they can't as they have no idea!
Yet another example of the powers that be really not caring about our information security. The second problem for Scotland's health bodies in recent weeks.
Full story here...
Photochaining - Great art, terrible security
Photochaining.com is a new website that encourages the sharing of random memory cards.
Whilst this may provide a fantastic variation of images and input it presents a very significant security problem.
'Seeding' memory devices (including memory cards and USB keys) is a classic way to covertly install spyware such a keylogging software. It is now a common practice by the criminal fraternity (or unscrupulous Private Detectives) to leave 'seeded' usb keys in your target companies favorite Starbucks. People will often take a found memory key and plug it into their computer 'to have a little look around'. when you put the 'seeded' USB key in you may find something like a PowerPoint presentation called 'honeymoon pics, open in private, i love u'. If you open it you will see some apparently private and intimate pictures. Unfortunately at the same time keylogger software will be installed on your machine recording and reporting back everything you ever type.
If you think this is the realms of super-criminals you should be aware that these kind of programs are readily available for about £50.00.
Vista and XP password recovery using Backtrack 4
Have you ever wondered how passwords are recovered. One way is to boot from a Linux Live CD/DVD/USB device running special software such as Backtrack 4
This is readily available software and whilst a little outside the average users skill-set, anyone who has a basic understanding of command line code should be able to use it.
The link here is from Cybexin's blog (one of my favorite's). He posts many informative video's about how-to which can be quite shocking if you ever thought your information was secure. If your information has value and you want to know how to protect it from these kinds of attacks contact FaberBrent.
Backtrack 4 video here. Warning do not try this at home kids.
Another article about workstation security
As reported recently there is finally a trend towards awareness of physical endpoint security.
The following article talks about some of the risks including bootable Linux Live CD's with programs such as Backtrack (read more about Backtrack here)
Are people beginning to grasp that security needs a holistic approach to be effective?
Article here...
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