Chief Legal Officers and CIOs Must Work Together

in secureIn a survey by Gartner and ALM, Chief legal officers (CLOs) need to engage enterprise CIOs more.  Further, while CLOs voice consideration for CIOs as contributors to corporate strategy, they continue to lack fundimental understanding of how to use technology in the enterprise or how to interact with their IT departments.

Rinzai Zen - Fujaku, Fugu

fujaku fugu

Samsara is the same as nirvana, defilement the same as purity, and delusion the same as enlightenment.  The challenge to understanding is due to one's ignorance -- the ignorance in mistaking phenomena for ultimate reality. Great is Mind. Heaven's height is immeasurable, but Mind goes beyond heaven; the earth's depth is also unfathomable, but Mind reaches below the earth.

Hacking Governments With Hijacked Sites

hackerMalicious code planted within compromised Wed pages has become the latest method for attackers targeting government organizations, according to research from security firm Zscaler, V3.co.uk reported April 21. The firm discovered many government-affiliated Web sites with code that directs users to attack servers.

The most recent site to become infected was that of the French budget minister. It was found to contain obfuscated Javascript code that sends the user to a third party site and then attempts to exploit vulnerabilities and install malware on the targeted system. The attack is the latest in what Zscaler sees as a string of site hijackings aimed at government-controlled domains.

Social Engineers Target Utilities

uscert2The U.S. Cyber Emergency Response Team (US-CERT) recently warned that cyber criminals are attempting highly targeted social engineering attacks on operators of Industrial Control Systems (ICS).  ICS are very present in Utility firms. The attacks are in the form of phishing phone calls allegedly coming from "Microsoft Server Department" and warning of infected PCs. The attacker attempts to have the utilities turn on services which would allow unauthorized remote access

HINT: Microsoft is not going to call you unless you specifically requested to be called. (see also US Utilities Under Daily Cyber-attack)

Steam Cracker Steals User Credentials

keyloggerUsers of Valve’s Steam game sales and distribution platform are being targeted by malware peddlers; the lure is a "Steam Cracker." It is being offered on YouTube and on many gamer forums, and it supposedly gives the users access to all games for free.

The scammers offer instructions for installing the software: disable antivirus software and firewall, then replace the original steam.exe file with the downloaded, cracked one.

Wearable Firewall Stops Pacemaker Hacking

borg queenResearchers from Purdue and Princeton universities have developed a solution to what could be catastrophic problem for millions of people who use insulin pumps, pacemakers, and other personal medical devices that rely on wireless communication to function: MedMon — a signal-jamming personal firewall for medical devices that detects potentially malicious communications going into, or coming from, a wearable or implanted device.

Human Body Vulnerable to Cyberattack

bioengineeringThe next frontier of cybercrime could be the human body, a researcher at the Black Hat Security Conference demonstrated. In his presentation, "Hacking Medical Devices for Fun and Insulin: Breaking the Human SCADA System," Jay Radcliffe showed how a hacker could remotely hack two medical devices used to treat diabetes and trigger them to malfunction — with potentially disastrous results.

"Wireless communication with insulin pumps are not secure, they're not designed to be updated and there's no way of patching them," he told the audience. "It's not like a phone, where you can download a firmware update."

Former Intel Employee Pleads Guilty

corporate espionageA former Intel employee, Biswamohan Pani, pleaded guilty to five counts relating to the illegal download of confidential documents from Intel’s servers. From June 8 through June 11, he downloaded 13 “top secret” Intel design documents from the company’s servers in California, the indictment said.

He copied them from his Intel-issued laptop to an external drive so he could access the documents after he returned the laptop to Intel. He is said to have tried to access the servers again around June 13.

10-Minute Executive Brief

presentationSo you've been asked to provide a review or summary for the boss' boss or even higher up. Top, middle or bottom... your rank is moot! You have been chosen for a reason. That reason could be technical, social, or political. The most important thing for you to know is that -- IT IS A BRIEF.

Prime Directive: Simple, simple, simple.

"Today." Where are we now?
"Tomorrow." Where are we going?
"When in doubt - Leave it out."

US Utilities Under Daily Cyber-attack

spearfishingAmerica’s water and power utilities under daily cyber-attack. America’s utilities face constant cyber-espionage and denial-of-service attacks against industrial-control systems (ICS), according to the team of specialists from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) who are called to investigate the worst cyber-related incidents at these utilities.

DHS’s Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) assisted utilities in network and forensics analysis on seventeen (17) major cases in 2011. Seven (7) of the security incidents originated as spear-phishing attacks via e-mail against utility personnel.

Removing Personal Information from Google

online identityDo you know what kind of personal information about you can be found from Internet? Do you know how to remove your name, address, phone number, unwanted pictures, bad publicity, and negative comments from Google and other search results? Do you know how to delete your personal information from online people search database records and the deep web?

Like it or not, Google does not accept complaints for defamatory, inaccurate, or incorrect content in their Search Engine Results. Should you desire to scrub unwanted content from third party websites appearing in Google Web Search Results pages, you must contact the Business Owner of the respective website(s).

In Buddha's Footsteps

Embark on a spiritual journey and immerse yourself in the footsteps of the Buddha as you traverse the significant places that shaped his life and led him to enlightenment. This informative travel guide will take you on a pilgrimage to sacred sites where the Buddha walked, meditated, and shared his teachings. From the birthplace of Lumbini to the enlightening grounds of Bodhgaya, each destination carries deep spiritual significance, offering a profound opportunity for introspection and serenity.

You Can’t Read This Book

Censorship in the Age of Freedom...

Many of us live in an age of boundless freedom. As the digital winds whisper tales of liberation, it is tempting to believe that the shadows of censorship have been vanquished, relegated to the annals of history. Yet, dear readers, if we dare to look beneath the surface of this illusion, we will discover a truth that is as disconcerting as it is undeniable. For, as the brilliant mind of Nick Cohen reminds us, there exist countless books not written, volumes that shall forever remain enigmatically absent from our literary tapestry.

Reaction to Unfairness

unfairHow does one deal with unfair behaviors? Today, there is unique neurobiological evidence to account for individual differences of reaction to unfairness. This subject has long been investigated by various disciplines including philosophy, psychology, economics, and biology. However, our reactions to unfairness differ from one individual to another.

Experimental economics studies using the ultimatum game (UG), in which players must decide whether to accept or reject fair or unfair offers, have also shown that there are substantial individual differences in reaction to unfairness. We combined a molecular imaging technique, an economics game, and a personality inventory to elucidate the neurobiological mechanism of heterogeneous reactions to unfairness.

The Anti-Norquist Pledge

99percentThe Norquist Pledge has nothing to do with tax reform as understood by most American taxpayers. For example, the majority of Americans favor increasing -- rather than capping -- the marginal tax rates of the top 1%. (By the way, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) -- a tax-exempt institution -- pays no taxes on its annual revenues of about $5 million per year, according to ATR tax forms.)

Grover Norquist even emphasizes that the pledge has no exceptions for war, natural disaster, or other misfortunes. For example, a signer of the Norquist Pledge isn't permitted to vote to increase tax rates on America's 1% -- even if such changes would be revenue neutral, and/or are desperately needed for a national emergency. Mr. Norquist's real goal (explained in his other writings) is to substantially shrink the size of government.

Reduce Risk Factors in Children

badbehaviorDisruptive and aggressive behavior in classrooms as early as the first grade has repeatedly been identified as a risk factor for this spectrum of problems later in life (Kellam et al., 2008).

The Good Behavior Game (GBG), a universal (classroom) behavior management method, was tested in first- and second-grade classrooms in Baltimore beginning in the 1985–1986 school year. Followup at ages 19–21 found significantly lower rates of drug and alcohol use disorders, regular smoking, antisocial personality disorder, delinquency and incarceration for violent crimes, suicide ideation, and use of school-based services among students who had played the GBG.

Information

Pragmatic Journey is Richard (rich) Wermske's life of recovery; a spiritual journey inspired by Buddhism, a career in technology and management with linux, digital security, bpm, and paralegal stuff; augmented with gaming, literature, philosophy, art and music; and compassionate kinship with all things living -- especially cats; and people with whom I share no common language.