Richard Kuper
The Kuper Report
http://TheKuperReport.com
On May 9th I gave a presentation on Data Security at the NYC Software Process Improvement Network (NYC SPIN) annual Ten Minute Madness Event. In my presentation titled: "Data Security: An Oxymoron?" I highlighted news that had come out over the prior several weeks:
-Laptops stolen with unsecured data from financial firms
-CDs distributed with private data by, in this case, the Republican
Party
-University systems getting hacked
-State and local governments posting private data on the internet
-A breach allowing Retail Credit Card holder information to be accessed
-Unauthorized access to data by insiders
-The Federal Government hiring a firm that allowed criminals to set up
fake ids and access private data to guard the security of data for the
government
-A company not validating the practices of the firm they hired to
securely scrub data from recycled hard drives and finding the
unscrubbed hard drives on ebay
In the past week, there has been news about a stolen laptop that contained names, addresses, social security numbers and more on over 26 million veterans and news about a Red Cross employee having improper access to sensitive data such as social security numbers of over 1 million blood donors.
In my presentation, I pointed out that if all of the government agencies, colleges, retail stores, major corporations, and others had good
-Policies,
-Processes,
-Procedures,
-Standards, and
-Best Practices
(and enforced them), then perhaps much of this could have been avoided.
May 25, 2006
December 12, 2005
Not All Cookies Are Bad
Richard Kuper
The Kuper Report
http://TheKuperReport.com
Cookies (the ones that can be placed on your computer system, not the ones you eat), are not always bad things. Unfortunately many of the anti-adware and anti-spyware programs currently on the market seem to have difficulty differentiating acceptable cookies from non-acceptable cookies. An example of an acceptable cookie is one that is created when you are shopping online. In order to properly track where you may have found a particular link (so the source can get credit, which is only fair), a cookie may be put on your computer. The kind of information stored might be what site referred you, and how many days have passed between your original visit to a store from that referral and your actually purchasing something. The reason for this is that sometimes the referring site may be entitled to a small referral fee from the store you shop at. This does not affect the price you pay, but is instead a thank-you to the referring site for helping to spread the word about the store. This cookie expires after a certain number of days (different stores have different numbers of days). These are not bad cookies, but preventing them from being stored is bad for the referring sites (they don't get the credit they deserve) . I'm sure you agree that is very unfair.
Anti-spyware and anti-adware programs need to be more conscientious and not classify these cookies as bad and immediately purge or quarantine them. Help get this problem addressed. Forward this article to the maker of your favorite anti-spyware and anti-adware programs.
The Kuper Report
http://TheKuperReport.com
Cookies (the ones that can be placed on your computer system, not the ones you eat), are not always bad things. Unfortunately many of the anti-adware and anti-spyware programs currently on the market seem to have difficulty differentiating acceptable cookies from non-acceptable cookies. An example of an acceptable cookie is one that is created when you are shopping online. In order to properly track where you may have found a particular link (so the source can get credit, which is only fair), a cookie may be put on your computer. The kind of information stored might be what site referred you, and how many days have passed between your original visit to a store from that referral and your actually purchasing something. The reason for this is that sometimes the referring site may be entitled to a small referral fee from the store you shop at. This does not affect the price you pay, but is instead a thank-you to the referring site for helping to spread the word about the store. This cookie expires after a certain number of days (different stores have different numbers of days). These are not bad cookies, but preventing them from being stored is bad for the referring sites (they don't get the credit they deserve) . I'm sure you agree that is very unfair.
Anti-spyware and anti-adware programs need to be more conscientious and not classify these cookies as bad and immediately purge or quarantine them. Help get this problem addressed. Forward this article to the maker of your favorite anti-spyware and anti-adware programs.
