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BYOD Australia: Data Breach Notification Laws Coming Sooner Than You Think (Updated).

It looks like Australia may finally join the rest of the world and push forward a data breach notification law.  According to itnews.com.au, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is helming the introduction of a law mandating notifications when Australians’ personal information end up exposed.  This time, it looks real (I blogged in 2009 that such laws were […] read more

Data Backup Encryption: Kmart (Inadvertently) Suffers Data Breach At Gun Point.

Do you backup your data?  Excellent!  Do you use encryption software to protect its contents?  Not doing so means that you’ve joined the “Data Breach Club,” where the chances of a data breach are not an “if” but “when.”  Take Kmart as an example, which had a data breach because a thief robbed one of […] read more

US Fifth Amendment Rights: Suspect Cannot Be Compelled To Surrender Encryption Password.

The United States’ Fifth Amendment and encryption software like AlertBoot have a complicated relationship.  The question is: can the government force you to reveal your encrypted data?  The answer: it’s complicated and depends on the situation. However, it looks like things are beginning to converge towards certain key ideas.  While nothing will be definitive until […] read more

Canada Data Breaches: 3,000+ Cases Over 10 Years, Affects 725K.

Organizations around the world, both in the private and public sectors, are leveraging the use of technology to their advantage.  Take BYOD as an example: “bring your own device” initiatives are meant to reduce costs while increasing job satisfaction and worker efficiency.  There is a darker side to BYOD, however: losing sensitive and private data, […] read more

Personal Data Breach: Consumer Churn Rate Directly Tied To Infosec Events Is Significant.

A global study has revealed that personal data breaches lead to sizable numbers of customers to turn their back on companies.  This might not be news, but perhaps the figures are: 23% of the respondents affirmatively answered that they have stopped doing business companies that failed to properly safeguard their data.  All the more reason […] read more

HHS Laptop Encryption: Arizona Counseling and Treatment Services Announces Data Breach.

Dissent at phiprivacy.net brings us news that the Arizona Counseling and Treatment Services, located in the city of Yuma, has announced the theft of an employee’s laptop computer with personal patient information.  Although it’s not spelt out, it appears pretty evident that laptop disk encryption for protecting PHI like AlertBoot was not used. When it […] read more

Financial Data BYOD: Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada Loses Info On 50K.

According to Canadian media, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) has lost a “portable device” that contained information on over 50,000 people.  The IIROC has not been very responsive regarding the details, including whether the device was protected with a mobile data management software like AlertBoot.  However, we know this much: they’re “very […] read more

BYOD: How Stickers On Smartphones (Do Not) Secure Intellectual Property.

Forrester Research sent out a press release a couple of weeks back, noting how MDM is a “heavy-handed approach” to BYOD security.  They also noted that IT professionals will move away from MDM because “they don’t want to manage employee-owned devices” and will be looking to mobile virtualization. I have a different opinion on this. […] read more

Smartphone And Tablet BYOD Security: Because Physical Attacks Cannot Be Discounted.

Many websites reported earlier in the week that Vudu, a video-streaming company that’s owned by Walmart, reported a data breach.  Furthermore, Vudu recommended that users of the service reset their passwords, especially if their passwords are reused on other online sites.  These are usually the words of a company that was hacked online, such as […] read more

Hospital BYOD: 89% Of Healthcare Workers Use Personal Smartphones for Work.

BYOD and the medical sector are a match made in heaven…and in hell.  Consider the possibilities: the elimination (or more realistically, the minimization) of paperwork; the real-time synchronization of patient data; the savings in time, money, and complexity.  No wonder 89% of healthcare workers reported using their personal devices at work in a Cisco survey. […] read more