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Current News -
Information Technology
May 13th, 2008
Identify Theft Made Easy
(PC Magazine) Jocelyn S. Kirsch and Edward K.
Anderton made a splash when their story hit the papers. The young Philadelphia
couple lived high on the hog by stealing identities from their neighbors,
friends and co-workers and ripping them off. This was in addition to their work
in burglary and other more old-fashioned crimes, all of which bought them trips
to Europe, the Caribbean and elsewhere.
When they were first busted the police dubbed them
Bonnie and Clyde. The state charges were dropped and now the US Attorney wants
them to serve 5 year sentences for their crimes. A plea bargain appears to be in
the works.
While they used professional Internet tools to
facilitate some of these thefts, the bulk of their identity theft was low-tech:
Purse snatching, burglarizing apartments and mailboxes with stolen keys,
breaking into gym lockers, soliciting information over the telephone by false
pretenses, picking up documents while visiting. With what they obtained they ran
down others credit cards, established new ones in the victims names and ran
those down, created accounts with banks and spent from those. They transferred a
lot of money around to cover tracks.
The moral, other than that some people have no
morals, is that online identity theft isn't the only way you can get ripped off.
It may not even be the most likely way. Keep an eye on other vehicles, like
what's in your mailbox or purse.
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information
May 1st, 2008
Identity Thief Sent to Prison
(IDG News
Service) A New York man faces up to four years in prison after pleading
guilty last week to posting fake job ads for technology companies such as
Microsoft, Yahoo and PayPal.
The poorly written ads sounded too good to be true.
Microsoft Corporation is now seeking for [sic] bright jobseekers who think big
and dream big to fill out many open positions. Applicants could work flexible
hours from home and earn between $15 and $27.50 per hour working on
administrative, customer service and sales jobs.
Victims who responded were asked to send personal
information such as their date of birth and Social Security number. The scammer
would then use the information for ID theft or sell it to other criminals, said
a senior attorney with Microsofts Internet Safety Enforcement division. The man
even asked for detailed banking information, an unheard-of request in legitimate
job applications.
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April 25th, 2008
Social Security Numbers On Web Server Should be Encrypted
(IDG News Service)
Two weeks after discovering that its Web site had been used by hackers to flog
fancy wedding rings, Southern Connecticut State University is notifying 11,000
current and former students that their Social Security numbers may have been
compromised.
  
  
The personal data
was in a file on the university Web server, which was accessed by criminals who
were using the university site as part of a spam operation. The hackers were
using the University Web server as a host for their own Web site.
Pages on the
university site contained ads for diamond rings, Viagra and Cialis. After
noticing the ads, IT staff discovered the file containing the sensitive
information. When they were doing the security review after the hacker incident,
they saw this file there and it was not properly secured, so it could have been
targeted by someone.
The university
believes that the hackers came from outside the U.S., and it is working with the
Connecticut attorney general's office to investigate.
The file on the Web
server contained names, addresses and Social Security numbers of students who
had registered to graduate from the school, dating back to
2002.
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more
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April 22nd, 2008
Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Quick Action Steps Defined
The must do
things that your company must do to make sure the disaster recovery and business
continuity plan will work when they are need are:
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Distribute the disaster recovery and business continuity plan or a
HandiGuide® to all decision makers and key operating employees who
will need access to it when the event
occurs.
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Define the chain of command with single leader but do not limit the
people who would have to implement the disaster recovery business continuity
plan when the event occurs if that leader is
unavailable.
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Conduct frequent tests and address all areas where shortcomings are
found.
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Conduct the tests in an unannounced
mode
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Validated that mission critical data is at sites other than the primary
data center
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Establish a communication plan that can be implemented after the
disaster.
HandiGuide is a Janco Associates registered
trademark
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information
April 19th, 2008
CIO Job Description
What is the Chief Information Officer (CIO)?
The title Chief Information Officer (CIO) was first used inside the information
technology department and function to identify the person responsible for all
Information Technology functions within the enterprise. At many enterprises, the
term CIO is still used in this way.
 
IT leadership has always been important, but given
the challenges facing higher education, it is essential for not only
cost-effective operations but long-term strategic success. The CIO is the driver
for this.
The Chief Information Officer (CIO)
is accountable for directing the information and data integrity of the
enterprise and its groups and for all Information Technology functions of the
enterprise. This includes all data centers, technical service centers,
production scheduling functions, help desks, communication networks (voice and
data), computer program development, and computer systems operations. He
or she is responsible for maintaining the integrity of all electronic and
optical books and records of the enterprise.
The CIO reviews all computerized
and manual systems; information processing equipment and software for
acquisition, storage and retrieval; and definition of the strategic direction of
all information processing and communication systems and operations. He or
she provides overall management and definition of all computer and communication
activities within the enterprise including responsibility for providing a
leadership role in the data to day operations of the Information Technology
functions as well as providing direction as the enterprise grows through
internal growth and external acquisition.
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April 14th, 2008
Recession Costs 80,000 jobs in March
(AP)
WASHINGTON - It is no longer a question of recession or not. Now it
is how deep and how long.
Workers pink slips stacked ever
higher in March as jittery employers slashed 80,000 jobs, the most in five
years, and the national unemployment rate climbed to 5.1 percent. Job losses are
nearing the staggering level of a quarter-million this year in just three
months.
For the
third month in a row total U.S. employment rolls shrank, often a telltale sign
that the economy has jolted dangerously into reverse.
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April 2nd, 2008
Best Practices of Incident and Problem Management
How does your organization improve incident and
problem management for business-critical applications while improving service
levels, reducing support costs and lowering incident resolution times? IT
Operations Directors, Problem Managers, Service Desk Managers and many others
who are seeking to achieve such improvements have been looking to IT service
management (ITSM) best practices outlined by ITIL to improve IT service quality,
align business and IT, and achieve cost efficiency.
Three important, and closely-related, components of
ITIL are the problem and incident management processes and the service desk
function. The IT Service Management Template provices the policies and
procedures taht you need for service desk/incident management and problem
management. The template meets ITIL best
practices.
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information
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