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Turkey Revenge
The turkeys are pissed this Thanksgiving they are seeking revenge.
Germs Infest 60% of Americas Phones
60% of Americans sleep with their phones, harboring germs. Cleaning regularly with UV sanitizer or alcohol wipes can help keep your phone and bed germ-free.
Smartphone Sanitizing: A Practical Guide
Securely erase personal data from your old smartphone before recycling. Protect your identity from hackers—easy steps to follow.
Why Soft Skills Matter in Today’s Job Market
Boost your career with essential soft skills like communication, teamwork, and emotional intelligence. Learn why they’re crucial for workplace success.
Project Manager Thought Crimes
The folks at TaskWorld designed this infographic as a warning to project managers about 5 thought crimes that PM’S should never ever think. The article says these thought crimes can be a real impediment to your ability to be a good project manager. One of the characteristics of a good manager is their ability to show a level of maturity when handling their staff.
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Of course I have never been guilty of any of these project manager assumptions. I do know a guy how has tripped over a few of these road-bumps.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him at LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Category: Project Management |
Tags: 2015, Business, Communications, Leadership, Maturity, Project management
TLA Does Good?
ZDNet reports that in the last batch of Snowden documents, there may finally be some evidence that some TLA’s were doing some good. They spied on criminals too. Apparently one Snowden document boasts of how “criminals” can be found through a TLA program.
Using this program TLAs can identify cyber attackers. ZDNet says that malicious users causing a “distributed denial-of-service” or DDoS attack, where a group of people overload a server or network with a flood of network traffic can be traced and identified. The TLA also used its program to troll online criminal forums.
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Unfortunately, for law-abiding U.S. citizens, none of the Snowden documents to date have shown that the info collected on criminals was used to stop cyber attacks or was passed on to law enforcement to take action.
Related articles
- Brit teen who unleashed ‘biggest ever distributed denial-of-service blast’ walks free from court (go.theregister.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him at LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Data Breach Is No Monkey Business
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ports are emerging that zoo’s across the nation have fallen victim to a POS attack and data breach. MLive warns anyone who made a purchase with a credit card at gift shops at the Detroit Zoo between March 23 and June 25, 2015, might be in danger of having the credit card information stolen. The Detroit Zoo posted a notice which claims that the only systems hacked were those run by Denver-based Service Systems Associates, the third-party responsible for running the systems at the Detroit Zoo’s retail stands.
SSA posted a notice on their site confirming a breach but no other details. Officials are investigating data breaches of the point-of-sale systems at nine or more U.S. zoos, including the Detroit Zoo. MLive reports that hackers gained access to card holders’ names, expiration dates, CVV security codes in addition to the credit and debit card numbers.
Sources claim the malware has been since identified and removed from the systems, though the case remains under investigation. In response, A separate credit card processing system was installed after the Zoo learned of the breach. Gerry VanAcker, Detroit Zoological Society chief operating officer, said in a release:
We are obviously concerned that the vendor’s system was compromised,” s “Transactions made since June 26 are not affected by the previous breach, and it is safe to use a credit or debit card at SSA’s retail locations.
Krebs on Security reports that the attack is widespread. Mr. Krebs cites financial industry sources that say the breach likely involves SSA concession and gift shops at zoo locations in Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, Oklahoma. Pennsylvania, South Caroline, Texas, and Tennessee.
Systems used at the Detroit Zoo for tickets food sales and membership sales were not affected by the breach and remain secure. Anyone who made a purchase via credit or debit card at a Zoo gift shop should check their bank statements immediately.
Those who expect that their identity has been stolen are asked to contact one of the consumer reporting agencies and place a fraud alert on their credit report.
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Why don’t these POS companies give a damn? I have covered POS data breaches a number of times from the Bach Seat. POS breaches have been the largest source of data disclosure for at least 3 years. Of course, we know the answer, follow the money.
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irms like SSA have no accountability. There are no costs or fines or even a demerit on their permanent record when they get breached. It is less costly for companies like SSA to allow a breach to happen than it is to update their systems and stop the attackers.
Maybe that will change in the future. Beginning in October 2015 firms like SSA that have not yet installed card readers which accept more secure chip-based cards will assume responsibility for the cost of fraud from counterfeit cards. – maybe.
Related articles
- Colorado Springs zoo gift store part of credit card security breach (denverpost.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Category: Uncategorized |
Tags: 2015, Credit card, Data breach, Debit card, Detroit, Detroit Zoo, Malware, Michigan, PII, POS, Security
T-Mobile Ordered to Turn Over Most Customer Info
T-M
obile received the most government requests for subscriber data in 2014 according to a report from CNET. U.S. governments made nearly 351,940 requests for data from T-Mobile (TMUS) in 2014. The author, Roger Cheng states that the 351,940 government requests for data are the most out of any of the four national wireless carriers.
The number 4 U.S. carrier by subscriber base recently released its first transparency report. The article breaks down the government requests for T-Mobile information:
- 177,549 criminal and civil subpoenas
- 17,316 warrants
- 3,000+ wiretap orders
- Between 2,000 and 2,250 national security requests,
- 8 requests from foreign governments.
These numbers represent an 11% increase in government demands for subscriber information over last 2013.
The article claims that Verizon and AT&T each have twice as many customers, but T-Mobile fielded more requests than its rivals.
- Verizon (VZ) with 132 million subscribers in Q4 of 2014, saw 287,559 government requests.
- AT&T (T), with nearly 121 million subscribers in Q4 of 2014, saw 263,755 government requests,
- Sprint (S) with 55.5 million subscribers in Q4 of 2014, saw 308,937 government requests.
- T-Mobile with just over 55 million subscribers in Q4 of 2014, saw 351,940 government requests.
Here is how the four wireless carriers’ government information requests compare.
| Carrier | Subscribers | Supeanas | Warrants | WireTap Orders | Total Requests |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verizon | 132 million | 138,158` | 31,214 | 1,433 | 351,940 |
| AT&T | 121 million | 201,754 | 20,985 | 2,420 | 263,755 |
| Sprint | 55.5 million | 308,937 | 13,540 | 3,772 | 308,936 |
| T-Mobile | 55 million | 177,439 | 17,316 | 3,087 | 251,940 |
| Totals | 358.5 million | 826,288 | 83,055 | 10,712 | 1,176,571 |
Transparency reports have become increasingly popular over the past year as civil liberties groups, shareholder and consumer advocates have pressured companies to be more open about when they disclose customer information. The article claims T-Mobile was the last of the four national carriers to issue a transparency report, which comes amid continued scrutiny of surveillance programs run by U.S. three-letter agencies and friends— including the bulk collection of phone call data — that was revealed when former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified government documents.
The author notes that companies aren’t under a legal obligation to show the data in transparency reports, but have been willing to share with the hope that the reports will help repair their reputations, which have been damaged by the Snowden revelations of the past two years.
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This data only represents data requests where they bothered to follow U.S. laws to legally request data. How much more is there sitting in a data warehouse in the sky?
Why is the T-Mobile number so high? Is it bad luck? Do they fight the requests the most? Are they playing ball with the TLA’s? We may never know. VentureBeat speculates that the best way to measure how willing T-Mobile works with the government is by looking at the percentage of government requests to which T-Mobile delivered data. But T-Mobile refused to offer that information to VentureBeat.
“Regarding the additional question on breaking out the numbers further than what’s currently provided in the report, our systems were not designed to track the kind of detailed reporting that other companies engage in today,” a T-Mobile spokesperson wrote to VentureBeat.
Related articles
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Ordinary People Did Extraordinary Things to Aid the American Revolution
The men who declared American Independence in 1776 get their due respect in the history books. But often, many of the men and women who helped earn that independence are forgotten. Mental Floss pays tribute to 11 of the unsung heroes who made huge contributions to the American Revolution.
This is the story of Joseph Plumb Martin the original Yankee Doodle. Martin was a typical soldier in the American Revolution. He joined the Connecticut state militia at just 15 years old. Martin served almost seven years in the Continental Army of General George Washington.
What set Martin apart is that he kept a detailed diary during the American Revolution. Many years after the war his diary was published as an anonymous account of the war. The book is titled A Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier, Interspersed with Anecdotes of Incidents that Occurred Within His Own Observation. It sold poorly during his lifetime. However, it was republished over 100 years later under the title Private Yankee Doodle and shed new light on the daily life of the men who made independence possible.
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Between the hot dogs, mosquitoes, and shopping, do something important. Turn off the TV, read a book, Thank a veteran, Get smarter about how politicians are destroying the country.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Category: Holidays |
Tags: 2015, American Revolution, Continental Army, Fourth of July, Independence Day, Joseph Plumb Martin, Politics