This stiffer action when handling data includes high costs for as good as encryption systems are, they also cost a lot of money. Most have the cash to spend as in Europe and most of the Developed world but what of the millions in the developing world, should they suffer just because they could not afford the high-tech solutions available to countries and economies that have the cash to spend? That may be the case but remember that the internet connects us all in one big network and any holes in one side, is a hole in the whole net.

The IT industry hailed the coming of the social network as the next step in the evolution of the internet, and it truly is. But as much as we spend more time on our computers in the office and even when we get home, we expose ourselves to more and more threats, more than we could handle. In Europe, the trend in crime has moved into the mainstream internet with many crime organizations shifting from risky manual labor to safer online communications and operations. The various security leaks that resulted in millions of personal records being either lost or stolen have mounted to immeasurable levels the British government had to enforce stiffer data management protocol.

FaceBook has again reaped the attention of a hacker who managed to find a workaround at new privacy measures installed on the social networking site. FaceBook has long advertised its commitment to utmost security for it’s users (which has been proven wrong several times over) which have been targeted by hackers ever since they went online. The use of social networking sites at work is a real threat to corporate security for it can cause the leakage of confidential corporate data to the internet through tunnels in the security net that hovers above you. FaceBook has initiated measures by which users can restrict the amount of information fellow users can see. The function also allows a select group for select facilities which was quickly found by working around that very security net giving him access to the latest pictures that have been uploaded into the site. This occurred while all the new security measures and sharing abilities were turned on. People have a tendency to display confidential information all over the place and it would only be time before all security can be breached and the information stolen. Imagine a worker at the Department of National Defense who accesses a social network form his desk at the Pentagon who is currently reviewing plans for the latest ship defense systems. Imagine that information getting out and into the hands of the enemy (this by the way is for visualization purposes only for the Pentagon would have tougher security, or we sure hope they do).

An Arizona man is facing charges of violations against the Computer Spyware Act and the Consumer Protection Act in Washington due to his offering of pop-up blocking software after first flooding his victims with tons of them. Call it creating your own market, the ploy however creative is one of the most damaging attacks in the It industry and is slated to be costing millions in lost dollars due to wasted resources. Spam and Pop-up’s, most of which are unsolicited can cause disruption to work in the office or home. Offering a tool for their removal, right after an intensive barrage that has your screen teeming with small windows is indeed the best time to offer such a product. As you install the removal/prevention tool, it bombards your pc with tons more of the same pop-up’s which just happened to be made by the accused man’s company itself.

LifeLock, a security firm which advertises itself as an identity theft prevention company is the subject of a lawsuit filed by an Arizona man who found out the way the company does its business. The problem stems for the firm’s actions in sending out warnings and bulletins out to credit bureaus when they are not even allowed to do so by law. A review of the fine print in their contract reveals the 1 million dollar guarantee that they offer if there was ever a breach of their protection methods as totally bogus and is rendered immediately ineffective according to the complainant. The services they claim to provide have nothing to do with the protection from identity theft for they take no measures to do so with respect to their clients. For a technology company to claim to be able to prevent identity theft is quite ludicrous for identity theft has a very complex and varied scope. It can happen anywhere at anytime without you even knowing about it. Experian, a credit bureau filed a lawsuit against the firm for deception and some other charges. This is the worst thing to do something like this and to give people a sense of peace they do not really have is totally criminal.

Apple Inc is under fire from industry experts for it’s actions in the delivery of their new web browser for Windows, Safari 3.1. Why all the fuss, they used the auto update functions of iTunes and QuickTime to install the software without the knowledge of users. This is criticized as a practice that borders on malware and should be avoided at all costs. Users must be informed of what and when updates are to be installed however the minimal effects it could have on a user’s computer system. Let’s call it full disclosure as this post in the IT Security Blog points out, software developers do this as a standard practice maybe because they’re ashamed to admit they have made such an elementary error for such a long standing and respected developer. The auto update feature of most software is placed there to facilitate the updating and patching of software without the need for user intervention which can be quite annoying if there were a lot of software products installed on your computer. The risk is highlighted by this incident which I’m sure is not the only incidence of such activities.

MySpace and FaceBook has again come under attack when hackers discovered a flaw in the uploading system for these mentioned social websites that resulted from buffer overflows which they use to obtain information. It is the simplicity of the design of these web sites that means they were designed to be so easy to use that one needs no special knowledge to gain access to them allowing ordinary people to use them. The hack is so elementary that analysts see attacks being done by not so expert hacker through a hacker root kit that can be downloaded over the internet from Chinese sites and it comes and several variants. The company who developed the upload system, Aurigma, has not provided proof of code auditing allowing such attacks to happen leaving many users vulnerable to attack.

The House of Representatives of the US have raised questions regarding possible danger scenario’s which could become problematic with the US Federal government’s plan to distance government networks from the rest of the internet. The move coined “The Cyber Initiative” would dramatically block out links to government sites in hopes of beefing up security as they are come of the most attacked sites on earth. This would come in the form of more data monitoring systems on government web sites aimed at preventing malicious cyber-attacks. The government has done so along with the implementation of full disclosure which re-defined the way and period information should be made available to them upon request. More on this matter, this is a move to beef up homeland security which is seen by many as restrictive but is argued to be an initiative that is essential for Homeland Security.