Broadband and mobile internet access is spreading to more Americans, making them more likely to access health information whenever and wherever they need it. The always-on, always-with-you internet enhances people's online experience and creates a positive feedback loop, reinforcing their interest in using the internet to gather and share information. And yet, those who are online have a trump card. They have each other. Pew Internet’s research finds that having a chronic disease increases the probability that an internet user will share what they know and learn from their peers. They unearth nuggets of information. They blog. They participate in online discussions. And they just keep going.

 

(Source: Pew Internet Research Center)

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Pew Internet Research Center

McDonald's is working with law enforcement authorities after malicious hackers broke into another company's databases and stole information about an undetermined number of the fast food chain's customers.

McDonald's has also alerted potentially affected customers via e-mail and through a message on its Web site. "We have been informed by one of our long-time business partners, Arc Worldwide, that limited customer information collected in connection with certain McDonald’s websites and promotions was obtained by an unauthorized third party," a McDonald's spokeswoman said via e-mail on Saturday. McDonald's hired Arc to develop and coordinate the distribution of promotional e-mail messages, and Arc in turn relied on an unidentified e-mail company to manage the customer information database. This e-mail company's systems were hacked into.

 

(Source: Computer World)

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Computer World

The British government says cyber crime is now one of the biggest risks to national security. A new cyber crime unit is to be set up which will both defend from and be able to attack other nations. As more of the world comes online, so the number and location of PCs available for hijacking is changing. Spencer Kelly investigates what the latest threats look like, and how they can be avoided. For the full story on "How to avoid the fake security tool scam", click here

 

(Source: BBC)

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BBC

Identity theft and misuse of data is of top concern to people around the world as well as in the United States. That's a challenge for our society, our political leadership and the IT industry. It's also a challenge to our customers. End users are sensitive to security technology and security safeguards used for Internet banking and online transactions. Our belief is that it's best to let people see that you have good security rather than making it invisible to people. It's the equivalent of showing people the vault in the back room in your great grandmother's generation.

What people want to see now is that their Internet banking and identity data is safe. We've seen this more than we did three or four years ago. Our customers want two-factor identification not to be invisible. If you log onto your bank through a kiosk device it acknowledges that you haven't used this device before and it puts you through an extra handshake.

 

(Source: Forbes)

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Forbes

The increased interest in e-waste recycling comes as Kenya enters a new regulatory regime, with guidelines that are meant to steer the formation of a new policy to support recyclers of obsolete mobiles, fridges, televisions, and computers, among other electronic items.

"Providing IT e-waste recycling is a logical extension of our current work in providing technology for schools across Kenya. Our engagement with HP will allow us to manage our own end of life equipment from schools and provide a local service where there is currently no provision for IT e-waste recycling, said Eoghan Crosby, the technical director at Camara. The plant is expected to handle 500 tonnes of e-waste in a year.

 

(Source: All Africa)

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All Africa

 

The European Commission is organizing a workshop on Understanding the role of ICT in the integration of Immigrant and Ethnic Minorities (IEM), on November 23rd, 2010, in Brussels that will encourage the sharing of good practices and research studies in the area of ICT-enabled or supported IEM participation in lifelong learning, improved employability and social integration.

Indeed, recent research has shown the importance of ICT (among which social computing applications seems to play a specifically important role) in the process of enabling the socio-economic integration of IEM people and fostering cultural diversity in our European knowledge societies. Different types of integration where ICT play a role can be distinguished, as top-down and mediated integration, which relies upon online welcoming and integration services provided by public or third sector social organisations which are increasingly taking advantage of ICT to facilitate the integration of IEM; or bottom-up integration, which relies on informal hospitality and is directly linked to social networking processes between migrants and members of the host society.

 

(Source: European Commission)

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European Commission

ZDNet reported recently that a Western Australian man was the victim of a new bizarre twist of identity theft. According to the report, Roger Mildenhall, was contacted by a neighbor saying he had seen one of his investment houses for sale. Mildenhall looked into it and found that it was for sale . He was also surprised to learn that he sold another property in June. In this economy, you might jump for joy. Roger was dumbfounded since he never intended to sell these properties - this was done unauthorized by him.

ALL transactions were made via email, telephone, and fax. No human interaction. The report indicates that alleged scammers hacked into Mildenhall's email account. From there they were able to get to his personal and property documents.

 

(Source: Infosec Island)

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Infosec Island

As technology advances, children are becoming quite adept at using smart phones, surfing the web, posting pictures, etc. So it may be important to sit your child down and teach them one quick lesson about the Internet:

What happens on the Internet, Stays on the Internet FOREVER

And as parents, before you hand over that phone to provide some extra entertainment when you get stuck in line at a restaurant, you may want to make sure all other applications are locked down, you have signed out of your email and other social networking sites, and that before anything can be sent a passwords must be entered.

 

(Source: Infosec Island)

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Infosec Island

Google Inc admitted for the first time its "Street View" cars around the world accidentally collected more personal data than previously disclosed -- including complete emails and passwords -- potentially breathing new life into probes in various countries. The disclosure comes just days after Canada's privacy watchdog said Google had collected complete emails and accused Google of violating the rights of thousands of Canadians. "If in fact laws were broken...then there's some serious question of culpability and Google may need to face significant fines," said Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington DC-based privacy advocacy group.

Regulators in France, Germany and Spain, among others, have opened investigations into the matter. A coalition of more than 30 state attorneys general in the United States also have launched a joint probe. It remains unclear how many people may have been affected by the privacy breach.

 

(Source: Reuters)

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Reuters