National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) Celebrates Data Privacy Day

National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) Celebrates Data Privacy Day & Launched Privacy Forum 

The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), a non-profit public-private partnership focused on cybersecurity awareness and education for all digital citizens and official coordinator of Data Privacy Day, will formally celebrate Data Privacy Day 2012 by hosting a privacy forum  at the George Washington University School of Law. Data Privacy Day is an annual awareness initiative that focuses on educating people about the importance of protecting the privacy of personal information and promotes individual control over private data. The awareness effort is celebrated in many places around the world.

Panelists include: David Hoffman, director of security policy and global privacy officer, Intel; Gerard Lewis, vice president, deputy general counsel and chief privacy officer, Comcast Cable; Ari Schwartz, 
senior Internet policy advisor, U.S. Department of Commerce; Rick Buck, head of privacy GSI, eBay Inc.; Erin Egan, chief privacy officer, policy, Facebook; JoAnn C. Stonier, 
global privacy & data protection officer, MasterCard Worldwide; 
and Bob Quinn, senior vice president-Federal Regulatory & chief privacy officer, AT&T.

The list of supporting organizations for Data Privacy Day 2012 includes the recent addition of AT&T and Facebook as official sponsorship partners along with Google, MasterCard Worldwide, Microsoft, Intuit, Comcast, and NQ Mobile (formerly NetQin Mobile). The current list of official sponsors includes Intel and eBay Inc. To Know Full information and resources surrounding Data Privacy Day Click Here.

-Source (sacbee & Stay Safe Online)

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FTC Warns Facebook -Users Personal Information Should Be Kept Private

FTC Warns Facebook -Users Personal Information Should Be Kept Private

From the very beginning the social network giant Facebook have gone through with several privacy issues, where FB has been blamed several times. There is a conspiracy that Facebook send their user's personal information to the US Govt and Federal Authorities. So finally Facebook fights back and skips the fine but faces 20 years of monitoring by the FTC for deceiving users about the privacy of their information. 

Facebook and the Federal Trade Commission have reached a resolution following charges that the company deceived its consumers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, while repeatedly allowing it to be publicly shared. The agreement requires Facebook to give its users “clear and prominent notice” and obtain their express consent before sharing personal information beyond the user’s agreed-to privacy settings.

Based on the terms of the settlement, Facebook must also conduct privacy audits from an independent third party every two years and maintain a comprehensive privacy program to protect user information. The commission noted Facebook will be subject to civil penalties of up to $16,000 for each violation of the order and that the company is subject to monitoring to ensure compliance with the order. “We are pleased that the settlement, which was announced last November, has received final approval," a spokesman for Facebook said. 

“The Order broadly prohibits Facebook from misrepresenting in any manner, expressly or by implication, the extent to which it maintains the privacy or security of any information it collects from or about consumers,” according to the FTC’s statement. “For a company whose entire business model rests on collecting, maintaining and sharing people’s information, this prohibition touches on virtually every aspect of Facebook’s operations.”

The Facebook agreement follows a highly publicized settlement between Google and the FTC, which saw the search engine giant slapped with a $22.5 million fine—the largest FTC fine ever—over charges that it bypassed Safari browser privacy settings that blocked cookies. The FTC said it took action after Google violated a previous settlement with the agency over the same issue. While consumer privacy groups lauded the FTC’s decision, the Competitive Enterprise Institute warned the decision sets “a dangerously overbroad precedent” and could adversely affect online startup and Web-based innovation.

-Source (eWeek)

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A New Privacy And Data Security Group Edelman

Edelman has launched a new unit to provide specialized communications support on matters related to privacy and information security. The group is launched at a time of mounting concern over data breaches, cyber-attacks and privacy issues among consumers, advocacy groups, government and business.

Edelman’s new data security and privacy group will help clients navigate the increasingly complex environment surrounding the collection, use and protection of corporate and personal data.

The group is co-led by two of Edelman’s global practice chairs, Pete Pedersen (technology) and Ben Boyd (corporate communications), and combines knowledge of the privacy and security landscape with expertise in corporate reputation, crisis communications, public affairs, social media and consumer marketing. Key geographic hubs will include Edelman’s Chicago, Washington, DC, New York, Silicon Valley, Seattle, Brussels, London and Beijing offices.

“Privacy and information security have moved from the back office to the boardroom,” said Pedersen. “These topics are brand and reputation drivers now, not just legal and IT considerations.”

A key focus of the group initially is providing communications counsel and support to help companies prevent, prepare for, and respond to data security incidents and breaches. Other specialized services include:

• Corporate privacy and security positioning and impact assessment
• Policy and issue landscape analysis, stakeholder mapping and engagement
• Competitive benchmarking
• Communications counsel for introduction of new products and services
• Measurement of evolving consumer behaviors, attitudes and expectations using primary research tools like 8095 Live, Edelman’s proprietary millennial insights program
• Employee education and awareness programs
• Thought leadership and stakeholder engagement platforms
• Incident and data breach communications planning and preparation
• Crisis communications engagement

-News Source (Holmes report)

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Anonymous Declared Operation Facebook on 5th November, 2011

 

It’s time again for us to hear from Anonymous, that rather well-known yet hacker group whose members remain largely, well, anonymous. The announcement made today makes clear that whichever member(s) of the hacktivist group have created said call to action are preparing to take down Facebook, one of the most popular and well-travelled social networks and indeed websites on the internet.
This newest attack is said to be directed at Facebook for at least two specific cases where  Facebook has been accused of wrongdoing:

1. ACLU objects to Facebook’s Privacy Settings
2. Facebook Stealing Numbers and Data from your iPhone
In short Facebook has became a spying machine, and Fb is giving all the private information of their users to the Govt. and violating privacy

According to Anonymous:-

Operation Facebook

DATE: November 5, 2011.

TARGET: https://facebook.com

Press:-

Twitter : https://twitter.com/OP_Facebook
http://piratepad.net/YCPcpwrl09
Irc.Anonops.Li #OpFaceBook

Anonymous Message about #Op-Facebook:-

"...Attention citizens of the world,
We wish to get your attention, hoping you heed the warnings as follows:
Your medium of communication you all so dearly adore will be destroyed. If you are a willing hacktivist or a guy who just wants to protect the freedom of information then join the cause and kill facebook for the sake of your own privacy.
Facebook has been selling information to government agencies and giving clandestine access to information security firms so that they can spy on people from all around the world. Some of these so-called whitehat infosec firms are working for authoritarian governments, such as those of Egypt and Syria.
Everything you do on Facebook stays on Facebook regardless of your “privacy” settings, and deleting your account is impossible, even if you “delete” your account, all your personal info stays on Facebook and can be recovered at any time. Changing the privacy settings to make your Facebook account more “private” is also a delusion. Facebook knows more about you than your family.

http://www.physorg.com/news170614271.html
http://itgrunts.com/2010/10/07/facebook-steals-numbers-and-data-from-your-iphone/

You cannot hide from the reality in which you, the people of the internet, live in. Facebook is the opposite of the Antisec cause. You are not safe from them nor from any government. One day you will look back on this and realise what we have done here is right, you will thank the rulers of the internet, we are not harming you but saving you.
The riots are underway. It is not a battle over the future of privacy and publicity. It is a battle for choice and informed consent. It’s unfolding because people are being raped, tickled, molested, and confused into doing things where they don’t understand the consequences. Facebook keeps saying that it gives users choices, but that is completely false. It gives users the illusion of and hides the details away from them “for their own good” while they then make millions off of you. When a service is “free,” it really means they’re making money off of you and your information.
Think for a while and prepare for a day that will go down in history. November 5 2011, #opfacebook . Engaged.
This is our world now. We exist without nationality, without religious bias. We have the right to not be surveilled, not be stalked, and not be used for profit. We have the right to not live as slaves.

We are anonymous
We are legion
We do not forgive
We do not forget
Expect us..."

Here is the Official Video of Anonymous on #OP-Facebook:- 

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Mozilla Stand Against CISPA, Saying The Bill Will Infringes on Our Privacy

Mozilla Stand Against CISPA, Saying The Bill Will Infringes on Our Privacy

 

When almost 99% of leading IT Industry, software giant like Microsoft, Facebook, AT&T, Intel, Verizon has been either silent or quietly supportive of the controversial bill HR 3523 Act dubbed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). But here we get one exception late Tuesday, Mozilla’s Privacy and Public Policy lead sent me the following statement:-
"While we wholeheartedly support a more secure Internet, CISPA has a broad and alarming reach that goes far beyond Internet security. The bill infringes on our privacy, includes vague definitions of cybersecurity, and grants immunities to companies and government that are too broad around information misuse. We hope the Senate takes the time to fully and openly consider these issues with stakeholder input before moving forward with this legislation."

CISPA’s official supporters include Facebook, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Oracle and Symantec among others–carriers including AT&T and Verizon have signed on, too. Despite reports that Microsoft had backed off its support for the bill citing privacy, a Microsoft spokesperson Monday told reporters that the company’s supportive position on CISPA remains “unchanged.”

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NSA Refused to Disclose Obama's Secret Cyber Security Directive

NSA Refused to Disclose Obama's Secret Cyber Security Directive

The cyber security directive of United States President Barack Obama has been twisted a little as the National Security Agency (NSA) has refused to release details of a secret presidential directive document that would establish a broader set of standards that would guide federal agencies in confronting Cyber threats. Several experts are presuming that the cyber security directive could allow the military and intelligence agencies to operate on the networks of private companies, such as Google and Facebook. According to the last week report by Washington Post, cited several U.S. officials saying that Obama signed off on the secret cyber security order, believed to widely expand NSA’s spying authorities, in mid-October. “The new directive is the most extensive White House effort to date to wrestle with what constitutes an “offensive” and a “defensive” action in the rapidly evolving world of cyber war and cyber terrorism,” the report states.  

The Electronic Privacy and Information Center (EPIC), filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to make the document public because it said the measure could expand NSA’s Cyber security authority. “Transparency is crucial to the public’s ability to monitor the government’s national security efforts and ensure that federal agencies respect privacy rights and comply with their obligations under the Privacy Act,” said EPIC’s request.
EPIC said that NSA denied the request on Nov. 21 arguing that it doesn’t have to release the document because it is a confidential presidential communication and contains information that is classified “Secret” and “Top Secret” by the agency. NSA said disclosure of the order could “reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security.” The agency said EPIC could file an appeal with the NSA/Central Security Service denial and EPIC said it plans to do so. The privacy group said it is litigating similar FOIA requests with NSA, including the release of NSPD 54, a 2008 presidential directive setting out the NSA’s cyber security authority. The group called NSA a “black hole for public information about cyber security” in an official statement to Congress earlier this year. National Security Agency whistle blower William Binney said in Mid July that the U.S. government is secretly gathering information “about virtually every U.S. citizen in the country”, in “a very dangerous process” that violates Americans’ privacy.
Former President George W. Bush signed a presidential order in 2002 allowing the National Security Agency (NSA) to monitor without a warrant the international (and sometimes domestic) telephone calls and e-mail messages of hundreds or thousands of citizens and legal residents inside the United States. The program eventually came to include some purely internal controls -- but no requirement that warrants be obtained from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court as the 4th Amendment to the Constitution and the foreign intelligence surveillance laws require.

-Source (GSN Magazine & Press TV)

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"Facebook Exploit" Violating Privacy Settings Found By London Computer Scientists

"Facebook Exploit" Violating Privacy Settings Found By London Computer Scientists

London computer scientists Shah Mahmood and Yvo Desmedt has found serious security flaws in the world's largest social network, Facebook. They have discovered that Facebook suffers from a crucial exploit that allows users to view full profiles they normally would not have access to. The news comes as the social networking site faces increasing scrutiny over its privacy procedures including a lawsuit over the misuse of users contact information by its mobile App. The exploit was discovered by London computer scientists Shah Mahmood and Yvo Desmedt. The analysts, working at University College London, used a couple of Facebook’s system properties to allow them to view profiles they otherwise may not have access to and stalk unwitting users.
The hack centers on two basic aspects of Facebook’s system. Users are allowed to deactivate and reactivate their accounts at will, and while accounts are deactivated the user has no control over their privacy settings in relation to that account. This means that if you are registered as a friend of another user who then deactivates their profile they will be able to reactivate their account for short periods of time in order to watch your profile. You cannot restrict the behavior of deactivated profiles. The ability to allow this kind of behavior has birthed worries of stalking. Personal relationships in real life can change but this change cannot be reflected in Facebook’s virtual privacy settings.

-Source (Value Walk)

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IU experts find flaws in US web protection plan

The White House proposed new cybersecurity legislation Thursday that aimed to protect the country against threats to the national infrastructure and the economy, but it was too small a step, according to IU cybersecurity experts.
Fred Cate, a professor in the Maurer School of Law and the director of the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, said cybersecurity attacks are a huge problem in today’s society.
“We live in a data-driven society — almost everything we do generates or uses digital data,” Cate said. “Yet as the president and most everyone else recognizes, those data and the systems that transmit and store them are not secure.”
The proposal focuses on the protection of American citizens, critical infrastructure, government systems and privacy and civil liberties. The legislation includes harsher penalties for cybercriminals and requires the Department of Homeland Security to work with companies in the private sector to identify and address vulnerabilities.
Von Welch, the deputy director of the CACR, thinks the new legislation was a positive step, but not a big enough one.
“My concern is that it isn’t keeping up with advances we’re seeing in cybercrime,” he said.
The administration’s cybersecurity efforts have been focused on new technologies, rather than on creating legal and economic incentives for the private sector to invest in better security, Cate said. This approach hasn’t worked, he said.
“During the past two years we have witnessed massive security breaches involving hundreds of millions of Americans, involving Sony PlayStation, the online marketing firm Epsilon, even the security powerhouse RSA,” Cate said. “According to one study, more than 2,500 companies were victims of one sophisticated cyberattack that exfiltrated proprietary corporate data, and there are thousands of other successful attacks against companies and agencies.”
Cate said that U.S. counterintelligence officials report that 140 foreign intelligence organizations are actively engaged in trying to hack into U.S. government and business networks.
“Without appropriate incentives, industry won’t invest sufficiently in good security,” he said. “It is that simple.”
Welch agrees. Much of what the legislation does is formalize practices already happening, he said.
“For example, federalizing breach notification laws have already been put in place by many states, and explicitly allowing collaboration and information exchange that is already taking place by cybersecurity practitioners.”
Cate and Welch agree that there are some positive parts to the plan. Its focus on critical infrastructure, by mandating core critical infrastructure operators, creates a plan for addressing threats. Having those plans evaluated by third parties is a good step given the importance of critical infrastructure to national security, Welch said.
What’s missing from the plan, Welch said, is a similar push for other parts of the Internet.
“As recent high-profile cases such as Sony and Epsilon have shown, and what seem to be constant problems with privacy on social networking sites, there are other companies operating on the Internet that while perhaps not critical to our national security, still impact millions of people,” he said. “There is nothing in the proposed legislation to really incentivize these companies to improve their cybersecurity and, in turn, our privacy as their users.”
Cate explained how the plan could be improved.
“The plan could include legal requirements for good information security, tax incentives, safe harbor provisions for businesses that try to enhance security even if they fail, liability provisions to allow injured consumers to recover from harms caused by bad security and new enforcement powers and resources for the Federal Trade Commission,” he said.
In addition to calling for new privacy protections, he said the President should appoint the members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which Congress created, but the administration has yet to fill.
Cate also said the administration’s plan includes no effort to curtail risky behaviors by businesses themselves.
“The recent discoveries that Google and Apple are both collecting location data on smart phone users and storing that data, unencrypted, in unsecured files suggests that some regulation may be appropriate to protect individuals as well as industry,” he said.
The bottom line? Technology is very important in security, but the administration’s focus on it is only one step towards enhancing information security.
“Technologies are like magic bullets for the government — no matter what the problem, we want to believe that technology can solve it,” Cate said. “Technology alone just isn’t enough — for security or anything else.”

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DuckDuckGo Trying To Beat Google With Simplicity & Strict Privacy Protections Features

DuckDuckGo Trying To Beat Google With Simplicity & Strict Privacy Protections Features 

Nowadays Google is facing massive criticism  for changes Google made in the way it displays search results, putting content from Google’s social network, Google Plus, up front and center, even when it doesn’t seem to make sense. Add to that concerns from users and regulators over Google’s new privacy policy, and Google search has had a difficult 2012 so far, to say the least. In contrast, the fortunes of a relatively unknown search engine focused on privacy, called DuckDuckGo, have never been better. DuckDuckGo, which promotes its simplicity and strict privacy protections over competitors, has experienced a record surge in traffic over the past three months, up 227 percent to nearly 1.5 million unique searches daily. DuckDuckGo’s founder Gabriel Weinberg said that he knew the tide was turning when his four-year-old search engine saw a million searches per day on February 14. In terms of U.S. search market, DuckDuckGo only accounts for an estimated 0.1 percent of all search traffic, according to results from tracking firm comScore. But it’s worth pointing out that fully half of DuckDuckGo’s traffic comes from overseas, mostly Europe, according to Weinberg. Another big change coming: DuckDuckGo plans to launch redesigned mobile apps for iOS (iPhone/iPad) and Android devices within the next 5 months. DuckDuckGo was launched in 2008, when Google’s stranglehold on the global search was reaching its current plateau.

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Supercookies Of MSN Has Been Disabled By Microsoft

Microsoft has eliminated controversial "supercookies" that were present on MSN.com, in response to research that detailed the user-tracking technique. Unlike regular cookies, or even newer Flash cookies, the latest generation of tracking technologies can't be disabled by browser users, even with privacy add-ons. That revelation surfaced late last month, in two separate research papers.
The first paper, "Tracking the Trackers: Microsoft Advertising (cache and ETag supercookies)," written by Stanford University graduate student Jonathan R. Mayer, highlighted new, persistent-cookie techniques being used by Microsoft on its MSN.com site.
In response to that paper, released in July, Microsoft on Thursday disclosed that it had immediately investigated Mayer's assertions, identified the code in question, and disabled it. 

"We determined that the cookie behavior he observed was occurring under certain circumstances as a result of older code that was used only on our own sites, and was already scheduled to be discontinued," said Mike Hintze, associate general counsel for regulatory affairs at Microsoft, in a blog post.
"We accelerated this process and quickly disabled this code. At no time did this functionality cause Microsoft cookie identifiers or data associated with those identifiers to be shared outside of Microsoft," he said. "We are committed to providing choice when it comes to the collection and use of customer information, and we have no plans to develop or deploy any such 'supercookie' mechanisms."

Interestingly, the use of ETag supercookies that Mayer discovered wasn't limited to Microsoft. In fact, a separate group of researchers found similar techniques at use in a wide range of websites, as detailed in their paper, "Flash Cookies and Privacy II: Now with HTML5 and ETag Respawning," released late last month.
That report's co-author, Ashkan Soltani, an independent privacy researcher, said in a blog post that the team discovered the new tracking techniques when recreating their 2009 study,  

"which found that websites were circumventing user choice by deliberately restoring previously deleted HTTP cookies using persistent storage outside of the control of the browser (a practice we dubbed 'respawning')." The technique is often used by online advertisers and their affiliates to track online behavior.
In the course of the new research, the team identified 5,600 HTTP cookies used on popular sites, 88% of them from third parties. Google-run cookies were present on 97 of the top 100 websites--including government websites--and Flash cookies were also present on 37 of the top 100 websites. In addition, 17 sites used HTML5, with seven also used "HTML5 local storage and HTTP cookies with matching values," said Soltani.
In addition,  

"we found two sites that were respawning cookies, including one site--hulu.com--where both Flash and cache cookies were employed to make identifiers more persistent," he said. "The cache cookie method used ETags, and is capable of unique tracking even where all cookies are blocked by the user and 'Private Browsing Mode' is enabled."
 

Exactly what are ETags? According to the report, "ETags are tokens presented by a user's browser to a remote webserver in order to determine whether a given resource (such as an image) has changed since the last time it was fetched. Rather than simply using it for version control, we found KISSmetrics returning ETag values that reliably matched the unique values in their 'km_ai' user cookies."

Wired first reported those findings, which led television streaming website Hulu.com to sever ties with one of the supercookie-using tracking firms detailed in the report, startup KISSmetrics. Spotify also suspended its relationship with the company, pending an investigation.
In a blog post, Hiten Shah, CEO of KISSmetrics, slammed the report for inaccuracies, arguing that it "significantly distorts our technology and business practices." Namely, he said, while his company employs a unique identifier for every person it tracks, even across websites, "internally, these identifiers are instantly translated into unique identifiers for each customer, and KISSmetrics has gone to extensive lengths to avoid linking any information from different customers, including segregating each customer's data in a completely separate database."
According to Shah, the same day the report was released, the first of two related lawsuits were filed against his company.
Hulu's move to sever ties over controversial marketing practices isn't surprising, considering it had been named in a previous class action lawsuit that resulted from Soltani's original respawning study, released in 2009. The result of that lawsuit was a $2.4 million settlement in December 2010, and a promise by Clearspring and Quantcast to discontinue using the technology.
Meanwhile, other defendants in the suit--ABC, ESPN, Hulu, JibJab Media, MTV Networks, NBC Universal, and Scribd--agreed to warn user if Flash was being used to track them, and to detail in their website privacy policies how to block the practice.
How can users stop supercookies? While do not track capabilities in browsers have attracted much attention lately as a way to block persistent tracking, supercookies can't currently be stopped from within the browser. Accordingly, blocking supercookies might require some type of privacy legislation that compels U.S. businesses to respect users' "do not track" intentions, as well as to disclose their tracking techniques. 

-News Source (Information Week)

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Facebook Law-Enforcement Tool

U.S. law-enforcement agencies are increasingly obtaining warrants to search Facebook, often gaining detailed access to users' accounts without their knowledge. A Reuters review of the Westlaw legal database shows that since 2008, federal judges have authorized at least two dozen warrants to search individuals' Facebook accounts. Many of the warrants requested a laundry list of personal data such as messages, status updates, links to videos and photographs, calendars of future and past events, "Wall postings" and "rejected Friend requests."
Federal agencies seeking the warrants include the FBI, DEA and ICE, and the investigations range from arson to rape to terrorism. The Facebook search warrants typically demand a user''s "Neoprint" and "Photoprint" -- terms that Facebook has used to describe a detailed package of profile and photo information that is not even available to users themselves. These terms appear in manuals for law enforcement agencies on how to request data from Facebook. The manuals, posted on various public-advocacy websites, appear to have been prepared by Facebook, although a spokesman for the company declined to confirm their authenticity.
The review of Westlaw data indicates that federal agencies were granted at least 11 warrants to search Facebook since the beginning of 2011, nearly double the number for all of 2010. The precise number of warrants served on Facebook is hard to determine, in part because some records are sealed, and warrant applications often involve unusual case names. (One example: "USA v. Facebook USER ID Associated with email address jimmie_white_trash@yahoo.com," a sealed case involving a drug sale.) In a telephone interview, Facebook's Chief Security Officer, Joe Sullivan, declined to say how many warrants had been served on the company. He said Facebook is sensitive to user privacy and that it regularly pushes back against law-enforcement "fishing expeditions."

NOT CHALLENGED:-

None of the warrants discovered in the review have been challenged on the grounds that it violated a person's Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful search and seizure, according to a review of the cases. Some constitutional-law experts said the Facebook searches may not have been challenged because the defendants - not to mention their "friends" or others whose pages might have been viewed as part of an investigation -- never knew about them.
By law, neither Facebook nor the government is obliged to inform a user when an account is subject to a search by law enforcement, though prosecutors are required to disclose material evidence to a defendant. Twitter and several other social-media sites have formally adopted a policy to notify users when law enforcement asks to search their profile. Last January, Twitter also successfully challenged a gag order imposed by a federal judge in Virginia that forbade the company from informing users that the government had demanded their data.
Twitter said in an email message that its policy was "to help users protect their rights." The Facebook spokesperson would not say whether the company had a similar policy to notify users or if it was considering adopting one.

THE CASE OF THE SATANISTS:-
In several recent cases, however, Facebook apparently did not inform account-holders or their lawyers about government snooping. Last year, several weeks after police apprehended four young Satanists who burned down a church in Pomeroy, Ohio, an FBI agent executed a search warrant on Facebook seeking data about two of the suspects. All four ultimately pleaded guilty and received sentences of eight to ten years in state prison (along with a message of forgiveness from a church official who called the sentence "God's time out," and presented them with a Bible). It is unclear if data obtained from the warrant was used in the investigation. Lawyers for the two defendants were unaware of the searches until they were contacted by Reuters.
In another case, the DEA searched the account of Nathan Kuemmerle, a Hollywood psychiatrist who pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court after a joint operation last year by the DEA and local police revealed he had run a "pill mill" for celebrity customers.
Westlaw records show that that the DEA executed a warrant to search Kuemmerle's Facebook account weeks after his arrest.
At Kuemmerle's bail hearing, a Redondo Beach police detective pointed to comments Kuemmerle made on Facebook and in the site's popular game "Mafia Wars" to argue that he should be denied bail.
According to Kuemmerle's lawyer, John Littrell, the detective testified on cross-examination that the information was from "an undercover source." Littrell told Reuters that neither he nor his client was ever informed about the warrant, and that he only learned of its existence from Reuters.
The detective said in an e-mail message that he did not recall being asked about how he obtained the Facebook information. The DEA did not reply to requests for comment.

POTENTIAL FOR NEW LEGAL CHALLENGES:-
The Facebook searches potentially open up new legal challenges in an area that at one time seemed relatively settled: How much protection an individual has against government searches of personal information held by third parties. In a 1976 case, United States v. Miller, a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a bank did not have to inform its customer when it turned over his financial records to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
In doing so, the Supreme Court held that the customer could not invoke Fourth Amendment rights against illegal search and seizure because the records were bank property in which he had no legitimate "expectation of privacy."
Under this reasoning, a person would have no more expectation of privacy in Facebook content than in bank records. A key difference, however, is the scale of information that resides on social networking sites. "It is something new," said Thomas Clancy, a constitutional-law professor at the University of Mississippi. "It''s the amount of information and data being provided as a matter of course by third parties."
Eben Moglen, a cyberlaw professor at Columbia Law School, says the Facebook searches show that courts are ill-equipped to safeguard privacy rights in an age of digital media. In his view, "the solutions aren't legal, they''re technical."
Clancy, the Mississippi professor, said that courts are divided over whether the unprecedented volume of digital records in the possession of third parties should give rise to special rules governing the search of electronic data.
He added that the Supreme Court had an opportunity to clarify the issue in a case called Ontario v. Quon, but that it decided to "punt."
The Quon case concerned a California policeman who claimed his employer violated his Fourth Amendment rights when it read sexually explicit messages that he had sent from a work pager.
The Court found that that the employer's search was not unreasonable, but declined to rule on the degree to which people have a privacy interest in electronic data controlled by others.
Explaining the court's caution, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, "The judiciary risks error by elaborating too fully on the Fourth Amendment implications of emerging technology before its role in society has become clear."

To download the Facebook Law Enforcement Guidance click Here

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NQ Mobile Security & Antivirus (Advanced Security Tool For Android)

NQ Mobile Security has released a security tool & Antivirus to remove malware, Spyware & Viruses. Award wining mobile security and privacy protection company NQ has claimed that NQ Mobile Security will protect your android phone and tablet from viruses, malware, spyware, trojans and phone hacking. Download NQ Mobile Security & Antivirus is a free Antivirus which will enhance your privacy protection, phone locator, data backup, safe browsing, traffic monitoring and safe apps recommendations for your Samsung Galaxy, HTC Desire, HTC Evo, LG Optimus, Motorola Droid, Milestone, Huawei etc.

Video Demonstration:-

Key Features:- 

ANTIVIRUS & SECURITY PROTECTION:-

• Antivirus: blocks viruses, malware, spyware and trojans, and uninstalls malicious apps to protect you from phone hacking
• Safe browsing: protects you from phishing, fraud sites and malware while browsing the Internet
• Safe download: scans apps in real-time during download
• FREE virus database update ensures you’re always protected from the latest threats

NETWORK MANAGER:-

• Traffic monitoring: provides real-time updates on data usage to ensure you don’t go over your plan’s limits
• Traffic usage trends and statistics over the past 30 days
• Traffic consumption ranking of the apps
• Monitors traffic usage details of your apps

PRIVACY PROTECTION:-

• Privacy protection: monitors apps that access your private data without your permission

SYSTEM OPTIMIZATION:-

• One-touch device optimization: ensures your Android phone is running at top speed by closing apps that run in the background without your knowledge
• Traffic monitoring: provides real-time updates on data usage to ensure you don’t go over your plan’s limits

BACKUP & RESTORE:-

• Backup & restore: allows you to easily backup and retrieve contacts and messages on mobile phones running on different operating systems, including iOS, Android, BlackBerry or Nokia phone and manages your backup data from web with a free account at NQ Space (i.nq.com)

FIND YOUR PHONE:- 

• Remotely locate your lost phone

NQ Mobile Security is freely available to download from Android Market. 

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Anonymous Targets Australian Govt Sites Over Internet Privacy Laws

Anonymous Targets Australian Govt Sites Over Changes in Internet Privacy Laws

The Australian Government has became the latest victim of international hacker collective group Anonymous. At least 10 of the country's government websites were sent offline in a series of attacks over proposed changes to Internet privacy laws. The first attacks were conducted in conjunction with Prime Minister Julia Gillard's online Q&A session this weekend, Anonymous. So far, the only targeted sites are run by the Queensland State Government. 

Site List:- 

sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au

regions.qld.gov.au

sd.qld.gov.au

dtrdi.qld.gov.au

science.qld.gov.au

createitmakeitliveit.qld.gov.au

smartawards.qld.gov.au

tourism.industry.qld.gov.au

workliveplay.qld.gov.au

lib.qld.gov.au

If an Australian online security bill gets passed into law, it could require ISPs to store user activity for a period of two years, allowing Web users' every online move to be watched by the government.

In response, the Australian arm of Anonymous threatened to continue its attacks on ".gov.au" sites until the bill is halted.

Anonymous said  the sites were specifically chosen because the group had “proof” that small to medium businesses, education departments, student and personal accounts had been tracked by the State Government. “The Australian Government is attempting to strip away its citizens’ internet rights by forcing them to surrender passwords and internet usage data,” Anonymous Australia said via email. “Unless the Government starts acting in the best interest of its people, it will continue to bring the noise.” The hackers said the attacks were in response to changes being discussed by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS). 

Not only Internet privacy but also Anonymous confirmed that its actions were also in response to recent denials of Australian-born WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's extradition. 

A Department of Defence spokesperson said the department was aware of the reports of Australian attacks but did not publicly comment or discuss details of cyber incidents. "Defence, through the Cyber Security Operations Centre, works with affected government agencies, as required, to help mitigate threats to information security," the spokesperson said. A spokesperson for Federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said it was critical Australia's national security capability could keep up with technology and global security. "We must always stay a step ahead of terrorists, cyber criminals and organised criminals who threaten our national security," the spokesperson said.

This is not the first time, earlier the world have seen several protest generated from all over the world against Internet censorship. In case of SOPA, PIPA & ACTA hackers from different part generated massive cyber attack. Even Wikipedia go dark for 24 hrs. 

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New Privacy & Security Updates of Adobe Flash Player 11

Adobe announced this week that it's putting the finishing touches on a new version of Flash Player that will provide new security and privacy enhancements on both the desktop and mobile versions of its application. Notably, Flash Player 11--set to debut in early October--adds desktop support for SSL socket connections, as well as a secure, random number generator, both of which should help developers to better secure users' information. "Flash Player previously provided a basic, random number generator through Math.random. This was good enough for games and other lighter-weight use cases, but it didn't meet the complete cryptographic standards for random number generation," said Adobe

New Security Features in Flash Player 11:-

On the security front, Adobe is introducing several new features that will allow developers to better protect customer data. The first major new feature being added by Adobe is support for SSL socket connections, which will make it easier for developers to protect the data they stream over the Flash Player raw socket connections.
Adobe is  also adding a secure random number generator. Flash Player previously provided a basic, random number generator through Math.random. This was good enough for games and other lighter-weight use cases, but it didn’t meet the complete cryptographic standards for random number generation. The new random number generator API hooks the cryptographic provider of the host device, such as the CryptGenRandom function in Microsoft CAPI on Windows, for generating the random number. The native OS cryptographic providers have better sources of entropy and have been peer reviewed by industry experts.

Lastly, the introduction of 64-bit support in Flash Player 11 brings with it some security side-benefits: If you are using a 64-bit browser that supports address space layout randomization (ASLR) in conjunction with the 64-bit version of Flash Player, you will be protected by 64-bit ASLR. Traditional 32-bit ASLR only has a small number of bits available in the memory address for randomizing locations. Memory addresses based on 64-bit registers have a wider range of free bits for randomization, increasing the effectiveness of ASLR.
Overall, Adobe security and privacy roadmap still has much more to come, and Adobe is already working on the next generation of features for upcoming releases. To take a look at the many new features in Flash Player 11—whether it be the advancements for gaming, media and data-driven applications, the security enhancements or the new mobile privacy features—check out the release candidate of Flash Player 11 for desktops now available on Adobe Labs or watch for an announcement once Flash Player 11 for desktops and Android devices becomes available in early October.

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Controversial Cyber Security Bill CISPA Passed Again By The US House

Controversial Cyber Security Bill CISPA Passed Again By The US House

Couple of months ago we reported that the White House is planning for an executive cyber security order, from some official sources it has also come to know that the U.S. President Mr. Barack Obama has a special plan to re-introduce the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). Today that deceleration get executed as the US House of Representatives has passed the controversial Cyber Information Sharing and Protection Act. This is the second time when CISPA have been passed by the White House, first it was rejected by the Senator while saying that the bill did not do enough to protect privacy. But yet again with the initiative of Obama and a substantial majority of politicians in the House backed the bill. Though there is a huge chance of getting rejected. According to some relevant sources it has been came to light that, this time also CISPA could fail again in the Senate after threats from President Obama to veto it over privacy concerns. Sources are saying that the main reason of re-introducing CISPA is the the President Barack Obama expressed concerns that it could pose a privacy risk. The White House wants amendments so more is done to ensure the minimum amount of data is handed over in investigations.  The law is passing through the US legislative system as American federal agencies warn that malicious hackers, motivated by money or acting on behalf of foreign governments, such as China, are one of the biggest threats facing the nation.  "If you want to take a shot across China's bow, this is the answer," said Mike Rogers, the Republican politician who co-wrote CISPA and chairs the House Intelligence Committee. 

On the other hand CISPA has also secured the backing of several technology firms, including the CTIA wireless industry group, as well as the TechNet computer industry lobby group, which has Google, Apple and Yahoo as members. By contrast, some other big names like Mozilla, Reddit has been vocal in its opposition to the bill. In the beginning the social networking giant Facebook supported CISPA but later they took back its support. The American Civil Liberties Union has also opposed CISPA, saying the bill was "fatally flawed". The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Reporters Without Borders and the American Library Association have all voiced similar worries.

-Source (BBC)

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NASSCOM-Data Security Council of India Announces Annual Information Security Summit 2012

NASSCOM-Data Security Council of India Announces Annual Information Security Summit 2012

NASSCOM-Data Security Council of India (DSCI) announced that the Annual Information Security Summit 2012 will be held on 11-12 December at Taj Lands End, Mumbai. The NASSCOM-DSCI Annual Information Security Summit this year will focus on the national cyber security elements- Framework, Machinery, Responsibility & Operations for all the critical information sectors like power, energy and finance where deliberation will take place on operating technologies like smart grid and industrial control system; the security and privacy imperatives of eCommerce, mCommerce and eGovernance application and platforms. The Summit will provide an opportunity to have focused discussions with government leaders along with global experts who will talk about the security ramifications at the global level. Special features such as celebrating the success of women leaders in the field of security, Workshop on IT Act and release of DSCI assessment frameworks will also be part of the annual summit. The addition of DSCIExcellence Awards 2012 to Corporate and LEAs this year along with Annual summit will truly make this as a platform where India Meets for Security. 

Who Should Attend:-

Organizations:

• User Organization – Banks, Finance, Telecom, Manufacturing, Energy
• Government & PSUs
• Technology & Service Providers
• Security Product/ Services Companies
• Academia

Individuals:

• Business Leaders
• IT Leadership
• Security & Privacy Leadership
• Security Professionals
• Security Implementer | Administrator | Officer

Participation benefits:

• Learn about new challenges, threats and vulnerabilities
• Gain Strategic direction & practical guidance
• Explore new approaches, practices, technologies and services
• Discover market developments and get a feel of technology products
• Discuss on public policies for cyber security and privacy
• Interact with national, government and global leadership

Agenda:- 

 

Tentative Agenda Topics for Annual Information Security Summit’12 : Day 1
Time	Session
0930 to 1015	Inaugural + Key Note
1015 to 1115	National Imperatives of Securing Operational Technologies … Smart Grids, Oil & Gas, & Public Utilities
1115 to 1140	Tea Break
1140 to 1200	Platinum Session 1 by Verizon
1200 to 1250	Protecting Key Economic Assets, Securing Financial Backbone …. Stock Exchange, Payment Infrastructures & Financial Switches
1250 to 1310	Platinum Session 2 by TCG
1310 to 1415	Lunch Break
1415 to 1430	Special feature
1430 to 1520	Architecting Security for New Age Banking … Business Models, Technology Transformations & Channel Revolutions in the midst of Organized, Focused, Advanced & Persistent Cyber Threats
1520 to 1540	Special feature by HP
1540 to 1640	Revolution named Clobile, Nightmare for Security? … Enterprise Mobility, Mobile Apps and Cloud Enablement Data driven Businesses
1640 to 1700	Tea Break
1700 to 1800	Data driven Businesses – Data reason for Empowerment and Concern … Big Data, Context Computing & Social Media Computing
1800 to 1900	Networking and Exhibition
1900 to 2030	DSCI Excellence Awards 2012 Corporate Law Enforcement
2030 Onwards	Cocktail Dinner
Day 2
Time	Session
0930 to 1030	Cyber Security, from National Responsibility to Global Accountability … Cyber diplomacy, converging national and international interests
1030 to 1100	Special Feature by CISCO
1100 to 1130	Tea Break
1130 to 1230	Securing Technology Transformation of Governance … eGovernance projects, Security Challenges & Solutions
1230 to 1315	Rendezvous with Women Security Leaders: Special Interaction …. Security, Challenges and Opportunities for Women
1315 to 1415	Lunch Break
1415 to 1515	Security Enablement of Growing Electronic & Mobile Commerce … Rising Volume & Growth of Commerce, Security as Enabler
1515 to 1600	Securing core, edge, access & connect: reappearance of network on agenda of security … Finding the role of network security: Infrastructure Core, Hyer-extensive organizations, Access complexities, Mobility & External exposures
1600 to 1630	Tea Break
1630 to 1730	Consumer Behaviors and Business Responsibilities In the Information Age … Responsible Behaviors, Fair Business Practices & Enabling Technologies

To Get Yourself Registrar For the Event Click Here

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