February 2006 – Page 3 – CyberSecurity Institute

Firms: Don’t expect federated IDs soon

Posted on February 17, 2006December 30, 2021 by admini

An E*TRADE Bank executive said that the company had more than $700 million in accounts protected by two-factor authentication and that customers that use a second factor have tripled the money in the accounts compared with a control group that only uses passwords.

Some security and e-commerce companies have touted a future where consumers can sign in once and use that federated authentication throughout the commercial Web.

In the past, Microsoft has tried to turn its Passport online identity system into the backend authentication system for e-commerce providers, but privacy experts worried that the move would give a single company too much power in managing consumer information.

http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/141

Leading mobile communications companies found initiative against mobile spam

Posted on February 17, 2006December 30, 2021 by admini

The carriers are optimistic that they can keep the level of spam on mobile communications networks below the level of fixed Internet. Among other things, they believe that it makes a difference that text messages and MMS cost money. In addition, mobile network operators claim that they can keep much better control of their networks than the public Internet. At the same time, mobile communications companies realize the need to work together across networks to put an end to international spammers. They plan to have anti-spam passages put into contracts signed with commercial senders of mass text messages. But the initiative’s call to have laws that “hamper” the fight against spam repealed seems more problematic. Among other things, the carrier would like to do away with the regulations on data protection, such as the privacy of telecommunications. (Craig Morris) / (jk/c’t)

http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/69684

Accountants reject email monitoring

Posted on February 17, 2006December 30, 2021 by admini

Many UK accounting organisations, however, have no current plans to watch over client-related emails sent from staff.

PKF IT director Jim Greenfield said the firm did not attempt to monitor or restrict emails in terms of client information, as it tried to ‘strike a balance’ to allow communication with clients. But he would not rule out the possibility that a similar type of system being implemented by Deutsche Bank could be used by accounting firms in the future.

A PricewaterhouseCooper’s spokeswoman added the firm’s staff undertook market abuse training and were aware that communications could be monitored. ‘It may seem to be another example of staff freedom being chopped, but better management is essential for professional firms,’ said Reynolds.

‘One problem is that email has grown exponentially from something that was “nice to have” to representing 80% of business communications.’Deutsche Bank head of compliance for Britain and Western Europe, Andrew Proctor, said that the bank was in discussion with software vendors about implementing a new system over the next two months. Although Proctor said the policy was not linked to any events at the bank, he highlighted an ongoing investigation by the Financial Services Authority into a Deutsche Bank official who was suspected of using email to give a misleading impression of how well a sale of shares had gone.

Information commissioner Richard Thomas has launched a code of practice setting out that employees must be made aware of any monitoring of their email and internet usage, apart from the most ‘exceptional circumstances’.

http://www.accountancyage.com/accountancyage/news/2150523/email-monitoring-rejected

U.S. Warns of Coming Online Threats

Posted on February 16, 2006December 30, 2021 by admini

Precautions should be taken to protect mobile devices, the organization said.

Although the threats detailed by the NCSA and the report’s coverage in the media likely will cause consumers to take more action to protect themselves against the highlighted risks, enterprises also should take note of the potential for attacks.

http://www.cio-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=100000BN8R9W

Mobile virus growth outpaces PC malware

Posted on February 16, 2006December 30, 2021 by admini

Carter also highlighted the similar evolution of mobile viruses, with a few skilled virus writers and a larger group of script kiddies who adapt the work of others.

McAfee has set up mobile virus research groups in its worldwide monitoring stations to track the problem and has released a mobile antivirus scanner. The scanner itself is fairly basic, as it relies totally on signature files and is reactive, but the company is hoping to add heuristics that block malware by its behaviour in future versions.

Several other security software companies have also released packages for mobile phones and corporate telephony departments. Ericsson has just signed up to sell Trend Micro’s mobile security software.

“As the capabilities of smartphones increase, it is ever more important for enterprises to protect themselves from the growing security threat these devices can pose,” said Katarina Löweberg, director of mobile applications at Ericsson Enterprise. “For the first time, mobile operators now have a way to offer their enterprise customers centrally managed protection for smartphones against malicious mobile code such as SMS spam and viruses.”

http://www.vnunet.com/2150470

Firms: Don’t expect federated IDs soon

Posted on February 16, 2006December 30, 2021 by admini

Some security and e-commerce companies have touted a future where consumers can sign in once and use that federated authentication throughout the commercial Web. In the past, Microsoft has tried to turn its Passport online identity system into the backend authentication system for e-commerce providers, but privacy experts worried that the move would give a single company too much power in managing consumer information.

http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/141?ref=rss