« July 2006 | Main | September 2006 »
The Home Office has admitted that the security of its ID and passport service database has been compromised several times, but denied that remote hackers were responsible. In a response to a parliamentary question at the end of last week, the Home Office said it had had five security breaches in five years, mostly caused by civil service staff.
Home Office admits to database breaches, ZDNet UK, August 31, 2006
Selling your old phone once you upgrade to a fancier model can be like handing over your diaries. All sorts of sensitive information pile up inside our cell phones, and deleting it may be more difficult than you think. A popular practice among sellers, resetting the phone, often means sensitive information appears to have been erased. But it can be resurrected using specialized yet inexpensive software found on the Internet.
AP Enterprise: Cell Phones Spill Secrets, Associated Press, August 30, 2006.
In the coming months, a wave of government initiatives could start making such high-tech methods of identification commonplace -- beginning with the replacement this fall of federal employee IDs. Similar cards are planned for transportation workers, first responders and visitors to the United States. Packed with biometric data such as fingerprints and containing a computer chip with room to expand the amount of information stored, the new IDs represent a potential boon to technology companies eyeing an estimated $8 billion in identity-related contracts.
Unlocking Fingerprints, Washington Post, August 28, 2006.
United States and European authorities, looking for more tools to detect terrorist plots, want to expand the screening of international airline passengers by digging deep into a vast repository of airline itineraries, personal information and payment data. A proposal by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff would allow the United States government not only to look for known terrorists on watch lists, but also to search broadly through the passenger itinerary data to identify people who may be linked to terrorists, he said in a recent interview.
Officials Seek Broader Access to Airline Data, New York Times, August 22, 2006.
Foreign visas and information on U.S. aircraft protection are vulnerable to unauthorized access because of shortcomings in the Homeland Security Department's use of technology, according to a report released yesterday by the department's inspector general. The report says the security issues involve the use of radio frequency identification chips (RFID) and databases at three Homeland Security agencies.
Radio chips leave visa data unsecured, Washington Times, August 22, 2006.
AOL announced the resignation of its chief technology officer yesterday, two weeks after the company came under intense criticism from privacy advocates for releasing hundreds of thousands of its customers� Web search queries. An AOL researcher who put the queries online and a manager overseeing the project were dismissed, according to an AOL employee who did not want to be identified because the company does not comment publicly on personnel matters.
AOL Moves to Increase Privacy on Search Queries, New York Times, August 22, 2006.
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it. U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy as well as the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution.
Judge Nixes Warrantless Surveillance, Washington Post, August 17, 2006.
Because British law enforcement officers don't have the authority to seize encryption keys, an increasing number of criminals are able to evade justice, a senior police officer said Monday. Earlier this summer, the British government announced that it plans to activate Part 3 of the Regulations of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Act, which will give the police the power, in some circumstances, to demand an encryption key from a suspect. Part 3 of the RIP Act has been heavily criticized in the past by security professionals and academics who believe that it is a dangerous and badly written piece of legislation that cannot be properly implemented.
British police: We need power to seize encryption keys, ZD Net UK, August 15, 2006.
New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn surprised and angered some of her constituents when she proposed last week that the city�s 250 nightclubs be required to install security cameras at their entrances and exits. These critics said the cameras would invade their privacy and pose a particular threat to those who are not open about their sexual orientation.
Plan for Cameras at New York Clubs Raises Privacy Concerns, New York Times, August 15, 2006.
A federal appeals court has upheld the constitutionality of random bag searches by police in America's busiest subway system to prevent terrorism. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday rejected a challenge to the searches by the New York Civil Liberties Union, saying that a lower court judge properly concluded that the program put in place in July 2005 was "reasonably effective." The searches began after deadly terrorist bombings in London's subway system. The NYCLU filed a lawsuit to stop them, saying they were an unprecedented intrusion on privacy and ineffective because they can be easily evaded.
Court upholds random NYC subway searches to prevent terrorism, Associated Press, August 11, 2006.
Four neighborhood surveillance cameras will be installed this week on D.C. streets as part of the city's crime emergency plan, which will bring as many as 48 cameras to some of Washington's more violent areas in the coming weeks. The first cameras will be installed in the Northeast, Southeast and Northwest quadrants, on blocks where robberies, drug dealing and assaults frequently occur, police said. All will be encased in bulletproof boxes.
First 4 D.C. Crime Cameras To Be Set Up This Week, Washington Post, August 10, 2006.
Another Department of Veterans Affairs computer is missing -- this one containing the personal information of as many as 38,000 patients at VA hospitals in Pennsylvania, the department said yesterday. The FBI and the VA inspector general are investigating the disappearance last week of a desktop computer from the Reston office of Unisys Corp., a subcontractor that assists in insurance collections for VA medical centers in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh
Second Veterans Affairs Computer Missing, Washington Post, August 8, 2006.
A German computer security consultant has shown that he can clone the electronic passports that the United States and other countries are beginning to distribute this year. The controversial e-passports contain radio frequency ID, or RFID, chips that the U.S. State Department and others say will help thwart document forgery. But Lukas Grunwald, a security consultant with DN-Systems in Germany and an RFID expert, says the data in the chips is easy to copy. Grunwald plans to demonstrate the cloning technique Thursday at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas.
Hackers Clone E-Passports, Wired News, August 3, 2006.
Disabled voters sued five Northern California counties and the secretary of state on Tuesday for their alleged failure to provide voting machines that enable blind and physically impaired voters to cast secret ballots without assistance. The suit charges that none of the voting systems approved by the secretary of state ensure the accessibility, privacy and independence required for all disabled voters by the 2002 Help America Vote Act.
Disabled voters sue over access, privacy, San Francisco Chronicle, August 2, 2006.
____________________
Defend Student Privacy.
Opt Out of Marketing:
http://www.opt-out-now.info/
____________________
