UGN InfoManager

Betsy Scherzer, RMS PUBLIC RELATIONS sent in these statistics to keep readers alerted to the ever-present, ongoing computer security and privacy breaches

Did you know that last week alone, there were 3 major incidents? Here are just the privacy breaches from this week:

May 20, 2007
Northwestern University financial aid office (Chicago, IL)
A laptop belonging to the financial aid office was stolen. It contained SSNs and other information of "some alumni."

May 21, 2007
Columbia Bank (Fair Lawn, NJ)
Columbia Bank notified its online banking customers of a hacking incident. Names and SSNs were accessed, but account numbers and passwords were not.

May 22, 2007
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (Pittsburgh, PA)
UPMC mailed a fundraising letter to 6,000 former patients on May 7. The donor response cards "inadvertently" included each individual's SSN in the tracking code, visible through the envelope window.

May 22, 2007
University of Colorado-Boulder (Boulder, CO)
A hacker launched a worm that attacked a University computer server used by the College of Arts and Sciences. Information for 45,000 students enrolled at UC-B from 2002 to the present was exposed, including SSNs. The breach was discovered May 12. Apparently anti-virus software had not been properly configured. www.colorado.edu

May 23, 2007
Check into Cash (Champaign, IL)
Consumer loan documents and related reports were found in a trash bin behind the shopping center where Check into Cash is located. Documents contained SSNs, addresses, copies of driver's licenses and other personal information of the company's customers.

CoSort/IRI, is launching a new software tool that could have PREVENTED these breaches of personal data. AND, unlike other older technologies on the market, this one is AFFORDABLE, fast and offers SELECTIVE protection (this is key - many technologies encrypt an ENTIRE file, rendering it useless - you can't share it without unlocking it - which defeats the purpose). With the newly launched tool, CoSort/IRI can offer companies an encryption technology that operates SELECTIVELY -- allowing companies to PROTECT data while still keeping it useful and "share-able".

See hundreds more at:
http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/ChronDataBreaches.htm#CP

Also, you can see how current this is -- Cisco and RSA just signed on to protect storage data -- but again, there's NO NEED to encrypt the ENTIRE STORAGE DEVICE . it need not be a "zero-sum-game" . selective encryption is the key

See: www.cosort.com/

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