Stolen Laptop Contained Patient Data

A laptop was stolen from an employee who worked at a medical center in Florida. The laptop contained information on over 33,000 patients.

While some of the data was password protected, the majority of the information was not. Officials at the medical center do not believe that any identity theft has occurred but have informed patients of the breach. The theft of the laptop occurred in August and…

New Cyber Facility to be Built Near Salt Lake City by NSA

The National Security Agency will build a new $1.5 billion facility at a National Guard base outside Salt Lake City, according to an announcement by NSA’s Glenn Gaffney.

The building is part of the Comprehensive National Cyber Security Initiative that was started by the Bush administration.

CNCI remains classified and it is presently unclear what the exact purpose of the facility will be. The facility will serve as a data…

One Group Responsible for 25 Percent of Phishing Attacks

According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, one gang of cyber criminals is responsible for 25 percent of the phishing attacks in the first half of 2009. The gang, called Avalanche, attack online services, job listing pages and financial institutions.

Avalanche began operations late in 2008 and have consistently stepped up their attacks. The gang uses constantly shifting IP addresses, which voids the capability of investigators to…

Government Cyber Spending to Increase Drastically

According to research conducted by the analytic firm Input, government spending on cyber security will increase at a compound rate of 8.1 percent between 2009 and 2014. Funding for contracted work will increase $3.8 billion from 2009 to 2014.

Government spending on general IT products and services will also increase by 3.5 percent for the same time period. The estimates were calculated by looking at present contracts and…

Nigeria Cracks Down on Cyber Crime

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, reported 800 fraud emailers have been deactivated. Additionally, members of 18 cyber crime syndicates have been arrested.

EFCC has been working with Microsoft to help track down the cyber criminals. Police units have moved to a greater reliance on technology to catch fraudsters, replacing the practice of raiding cyber cafes. Many of the email scammers use Internet…

Vice Admiral McCullough to Head Fleet Cyber Command

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that Vice Admiral Bernard McCullough was reappointed Vice Admiral and will serve as commander of Fleet Cyber Command. Admiral McCullough will be stationed at Fort Meade, MD.

Admiral McCullough currently serves as the deputy chief of naval operations for integration capabilities and resources at the Pentagon. The Fleet Cyber Command is scheduled to be fully operational no later that October…

Federal Student Aid Data at Risk

According to a redacted report recently released by the Inspector General, Federal Student Aid, a section of the Department of Education, has placed applicant’s personal data at risk. The reported highlighted eight poor security practices at Federal Student Aid.

The report did not highlight any specific instances of data being breached. Instead, it highlighted the poor security protocols currently employed. Federal Student Aid manages approximately $69…

Bill to Increase DHS Funding for Cyber

Congress has approved a bill increasing the Department of Homeland Security’s budget by 6.6 percent for 2010. The bill includes an 27 percent increase for cyber security.

The bill has been sent to President Obama for his approval. The total bill, authorizing $42.8 billion, is slightly below Obama’s requested$43.1 billion. The larger provision of funds to cyber security is relatively consistent with the administration’s increased focus on the…

Administration’s Barrage of Cyber Info

The Obama administration is stepping up its efforts to effectively educate the American public regarding cyber security issues. Janet Napolitano and President Obama have both conducted video presentations on cyber security in the past week.

With October designated by Obama as National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), the administration has sought to aggressively promote cyber education. The key point of NCSAM is that cyber security is a “shared responsibility” in…

Government to Tap Brakes on IT Spending

According to a new report by TechAmerica, federal IT budgets will only grow 3.4% in the next 5 years. This is a significant drop from the 8.3% growth rate from 2005 to 2010.

The estimates for the decrease in growth rate are influenced by the percentage of the federal deficit through 2020. The Department of Justice, the Treasury and the Department of Health and Human Services are expected…