1. Social networking redefining “privacy”.

Confidential user information is ending up online, in large part by the users themselves.  We’ve grown into a society that maintains a different attitude toward protecting and sharing information. We are now more likely to reveal personal data and unlikely to take steps to keep information restricted.  Within several years, privacy-conscious individuals will be in the minority.

2. Hackers will attack nontraditional targets.

To date, hackers’ goals have been mainly to steal money, obtain valuable data for resale, disrupt services and intimidate targets ranging from individuals to large corporations and governmental agencies.  The new hack attacks will now concentrate on network-connected systems, such as medical equipment, actively controlling devices from external locations by unauthorized users. (This may explain the decision to not enable online election voting  as within a networked system there is a 100% probability of its vulnerability to outside hacking attacks, which may include data interruption or manipulation.)

3. Smartphone and tablet platforms, especially Android, will suffer greater cybercriminal attacks.

As smartphone usage continues to grow worldwide, so will mobile platforms attacks. The Android platform, in particular, due to its open app distribution model, is and will continue to be, a favored cybercrminal’s target.

4. Virtual and cloud-based computing systems will encounter the same cybercriminal vulnerabilities as do physical systems.

The inevitable, using and or interacting with virtual and cloud-based computing systems, renders them just as vulnerable by conventional attack methods that hackers have used in the past.  They see no need to change their criminal methodology as virtual and cloud platforms are just as easy to attack as physical systems but more difficult to protect. The burden will thus fall on IT admins to secure their company’s critical data as they adopt these technologies.

5. Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) data breaches will dramatically increase.

The BYOD Era is here and, if anything, mobile device usage will only increase. As more and more corporate data is stored or accessed by mobile devices that are not fully controlled by IT administrators,  the likelihood of data loss incidents will rise.  The massive uptick expected in this area is directly attributable to improperly secured personal devices.

Just my thoughts:  In the past decade+, I’ve noticed the wide range of expertise among IT administrators.  Operating an entity’s internal information engine is one thing, securing it is an entirely different matter.  Given the cost that security breaches can and have caused, perhaps it is time to upgrade the post-certification requirements for IT admins.  Continuing education classes and annual re-certification may be viable solutions to the rapidly rising level of cybercriminality.

Our Operatives: Street smart; Tech savvy.

As always, stay safe.

Related articles

• Cyber criminals targeting mobile devices (premierlinedirect.co.uk)
• Cloud Computing: Predictions For 2012 (cloud-computing.learningtree.com)
• Social networking sites vulnerable to attacks in 2012 (thehindu.com)

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(Reprint of a Feb, 2011 article to which we had expected answers to the FOIL request we’d submitted to the TSA.   To date, we have not received a response so this article is being reposted to increase privacy awareness for travelers.)

Well, this is a new one on me but my cell phone was recently confiscated at an airport screening area, taken out of my sight and returned with all of my information wiped clean.  (I didn’t realize it until I had reached my destination.) Until then I did not know that customs has the right to a) copy your hard drives and scan them for security threats when traveling abroad and b) hold on to your electronic devices for days, even weeks.  This includes inspection and confiscation of any electronic device – cell phones, laptops, Ipads… 

I’m fairly certain that wiping my phone clean was an accident but the inspection was not. I wasn’t carrying anything out of the norm for any traveling businessperson. Laptop, phone and digital camera.  Additional screening selection is not unusual for me – I tend to have to arrange last-minute travels, usually within 48 hours of departure time, and that’s an automatic flagging. (A senior airline executive friend explained this to me upon my query as to the excessive second screenings I undergo.)

For the full article and commentary on the constitutionality of this very personal data inspection issue please read the NYT article.

My suggestion to those traveling with very sensitive information (call me paranoid but if I have proprietary data, client contracts, family pics, contact info… on my laptop, I certainly do object to this over the top intrusion), upload all of this private data (text docs, presos, pics, film…) into DropBox, an app that is the easiest way to store, sync, and even share files online.  (Later, you can retrieve your data easily from any computer, mobile,  info device… with your unique user name and password.)  Then wipe the data you’d like hidden, comfortable that your data is safe from prying eyes, securely stored and available to you at your convenience.

The need for intelligence gathering is understood but not the incessant invasion of privacy. We’ll keep you updated as this issue gathers more attention and perhaps a court challenge.

BNI Operatives: A step ahead.

As always, be safe.

As flippant and self-serving as that may appear, if you’ve tried the usual public search options and have come up negative, if might be time to hire a professional detective.   The information online appears to be uniform.  It’s not.  A good investigator will use multiple data sources to locate a subject.  The key to selecting the most valuable  and current data  available along the digital trail is  in

1.  knowing the information providers update schedules (every 30 days, quarterly, when an important change is collected?).

2. understanding  the sales configuration of their products v. one’s needs. (E.g. Is a local versus a national real property search required? Does the service  allow for varying levels of information depth?)

3. confirming their level of removal from the primary data source.  (Is the data provider obtaining the information directly from officially recorded materials or repurposing another provider’s data?)

Your investigator’s should be aware of and constantly renewing his/her baseline  ”Go To” information sources.

For a subject locate,( to more efficiently utilize an investigator’s services), prepare the following on the subject:

1. Full name (to include maiden, extensions, e.g. Jr.  or III)

2. Date of birth, if known (or approximate age)

3. Social Security Number, if known

4. Last known home, cell and work phone numbers

5. Last known address or employers’ address

6. Work information, career field

7. Prior military experience

8. Relatives, emergency contacts

Perhaps, having had all of the above information available on your subject, you think there is nothing new an investigator can uncover.  Quite often, a different approach and skill set will make all of the difference between a successful locate and having to settle a case for a fraction of its worth.

Investigator Tip:

Often it is necessary, for completely legitimate reasons, to approach a subject, carefully.  In that case, we suggest a temporary, untraceable, disposable  email tool:  Guerrilla Mail. 

BNI Operatives: Street smart: web savvy.

As always, stay safe.

Sell Your Old Cell:  I was gifted a new iPhone.  I sent in my old one and received $100 (and, they paid for the shipping). http://www.ibuyphones.com/

Upgrading Your Business Computer Equipment? Get Rid of the Old Stuff for $$:  This company has agents to assist you in just about any location in the U.S.  http://www.spintradeexchange.com/

Free Windows Data Wiping Tool:  Your IT person should be able to handle the office computers.  No reason for him/her to have access to your personal laptop or home pc.  This great free app is easy to use, effective and performs at Department of Defense standards. FreeEraser.

(Specific to NYC)  Time to update the cubicles:  OfficeFurnitureNYC generally buys in quantities of 50 cubicles or more but they do have a small business listing  (a worthy addition to CraigsList or other local posting boards).  In their own words, “This is a list of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania firms who have used office furniture and small NGO’s and Non-Profit organizations that are looking for furniture donations.  OfficeFurnitureNYC.

For the young lawyer (or journalist) -to- be in the family: One of the most interesting internships we’ve come across for those interested in the freedom of the press and media law.  Notice: Application deadline is 2/01/2010.  The Reporters Committe for Freedom of the Press.  Impressive steering committee, representing every major news source in America, from the NYT, WSJ, The Atlantic, HuffPo, Politico… Great free FOI and decision recaps in current  national major cases source, too.  Home Page for RCFP.

Divorce Attorneys: Lawyers.  (Of course there’s a disclaimer. Please also see our similar below.)

Marriage Counselors:  Therapy.   (Search for a certified counselor 1 – 100 miles from any zip code. Distance preference is not indicative of one’s marital commitment.)

Our disclaimer: We have nothing to do with any of the above suggested sites, organizations, entities… We’re not at all responsible for their services, recommendations or results.

BNI Operatives: Street smart: Web savvy; New year happy.

As always, stay safe.

Metadata (meta data, or sometimes metainformation) is “data about other data”, of any sort in any media. An item of metadata may describe an individual datum, or content item, or a collection of data including multiple content items and hierarchical levels, for example a database schema. In data processing, metadata is definitional data that provides information about or documentation of other data managed within an application or environment. The term should be used with caution as all data is about something, and is therefore metadata.

For example, metadata would document data about data elements or attributes, (name, size, data type, etc) and data about records or data structures (length, fields, columns, etc) and data about data (where it is located, how it is associated, ownership, etc.). Metadata may include descriptive information about the context, quality and condition, or characteristics of the data. It may be recorded with high or low granularity.

Please check the following sites for metadata control advice:

WordPerfect metadata info

Word metadata info

BNI Operatives: Street smart; web savvy.

As always, stay safe.