Schemer in “massive” identity theft fraud gets 4 years in slammer

Identity theft is a raging problem but at least some scammers are getting their comeuppance.The Department of Justice today touted that one scammer got four years in prison for his part in a $4.4 million fraudulent federal income tax return scheme that, according to court documents involved the filing of at least 12,000 fraudulent federal income tax returns that sought refunds of at least $42 million from the U.S. Treasury. +More on Network World: IRS: Top 10 2015 identity theft busts+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Schemer in “massive” identity theft fraud gets 4 years in slammer

Identity theft is a raging problem but at least some scammers are getting their comeuppance.The Department of Justice today touted that one scammer got four years in prison for his part in a $4.4 million fraudulent federal income tax return scheme that, according to court documents involved the filing of at least 12,000 fraudulent federal income tax returns that sought refunds of at least $42 million from the U.S. Treasury. +More on Network World: IRS: Top 10 2015 identity theft busts+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to perform a risk assessment

Without a complete and thorough risk assessment including all its component parts (discussed herein), you might as well open all your data assets to unbridled exfiltration via Port 80 without any security checks at all. In the end, attackers and criminal digital profiteers will get what they came for in either case. Defending risks without knowing what those risks are is like playing a round of paintball with your eyes closed — you’ll keep missing your opponent. A risk assessment gives the enterprise a specific, more finely narrowed field of targets for which to aim. In this fifth and final installment of a five-part presentation of information security risk defense via informed incident response, CSO regurgitates reliable resources and expert steps you should use on the way to protecting data assets and stores in your enterprise. (See also as part of this series: How to audit external service providers.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

How to perform a risk assessment

Without a complete and thorough risk assessment including all its component parts (discussed herein), you might as well open all your data assets to unbridled exfiltration via Port 80 without any security checks at all. In the end, attackers and criminal digital profiteers will get what they came for in either case.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

South Dakota law will be a test case for a US Internet sales tax

A new South Dakota law may end up determining whether most U.S. residents are required to pay sales taxes on their Internet purchases.The South Dakota law, passed by the Legislature there in March, requires many out-of-state online and catalog retailers to collect the state's sales tax from customers. The law is shaping up to be a legal test case challenging a 25-year-old U.S. Supreme Court ruling that prohibits states from levying sales taxes on remote purchases.+ PAST STORY: US residents oppose Internet sales tax +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Panama Papers leak explained: What you need to know about the Mossack Fonseca hack

You've doubtless heard about the Panama Papers, a leak of 2.6TB of documents from the one of the world's largest offshore law firms, Mossack Fonseca. The dump of over 11 million files containing detailed financial information on 214,000 companies illustrates how offshore tax havens are exploited.Whatever you may think of Mossack Fonseca's business dealings, there are lessons to be learned about what the company could have — and should have — done to ensure that its clients' data was protected.[ Related: What's the deal with the massive Panama Papers data leak? ]To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Panama Papers leak explained: What you need to know about the Mossack Fonseca hack

You've doubtless heard about the Panama Papers, a leak of 2.6TB of documents from the one of the world's largest offshore law firms, Mossack Fonseca. The dump of over 11 million files containing detailed financial information on 214,000 companies illustrates how offshore tax havens are exploited.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Worth Reading: NOMA

We are interested in undertaking and supporting activities that help maintain a healthy Internet. To that end, we are pleased to announce a new partnership. The Internet Society is working with Thinking Cat Enterprises on the Techark Network Operator Measurement Activity (NOMA) project to unlock more operator-based measurements that tell us something about the health of the Internet. The first target of NOMA is to develop an access network’s perspective on IPv6 performance as one indicator of the Internet’s health. -via the ISOC

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21% off LG Nexus 5X Unlocked Smartphone 32GB – Deal Alert

Averaging 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 480 people (read reviews), this LG Nexus 5X unlocked, multi-mode phone will work on all US carriers including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint, as well as MVNO's (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) and most international carriers. It features Android 6.0 Marshmallow, a fingerprint sensor, new USB Type-C charger, and a powerful camera. Under its 5.2-inch display is a hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor for world-class speed at an affordable price, which right now gets just a bit more affordable. With a list price of $429.99, you can save $80 now and buy it on Amazon for $349.99.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google Pits Dataflow Against Spark

It is almost without question that search engine giant Google has the most sophisticated and scalable data analytics platform on the planet. The company has been on the leading edge of analytics and the infrastructure that supports it for a decade and a half and through its various services it has an enormous amount of data on which to chew and draw inferences to drive its businesses.

In the wake of the launch of Amazon Web Services a decade ago, Google came to the conclusion that what end users really needed was services to store and process data, not access …

Google Pits Dataflow Against Spark was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

10 best-paying companies in tech

Best-paying companies in techImage by ThinkstockThe modern business world runs on technology, which means companies need people to manage it. Getting a job in STEM is a great way to not only ensure job security, but also earn a six figure salary. Glassdoor -- a website that offers reviews, salaries and benefits information provided by employees on companies from all industries -- collects salary data on the biggest tech companies in the U.S. to determine the 10 highest paying tech companies. Using their self-reported data, Glassdoor calculated the average total compensation and median base salary for companies across every industry. These are the top 10 technology companies that report the highest average salaries. Juniper NetworksImage by ThinkstockTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to identify, engage and nurture high-potential talent

In a tight talent market, succession planning should be a core part of any business's workforce management and development plan. Building a pipeline of talent ready to take on progressively greater responsibility and leadership in an organization is key to driving success, especially in the constantly evolving IT market.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

How to counter outsourcers’ cost of living adjustments

For years, most large outsourcing contracts have included standard provisions for annual pricing adjustments based on consumer price indices and other economic indicators. These cost of living adjustments are intended to normalize services fees with economic conditions over the life of long-term deals. The impact on pricing can be significant—in the millions of dollars for a large deal. A $50 million annual services contract with a 2.75 percent cost of living adjustment could mean a $1.375 million increase in annual fees.  In theory, cost of living adjustments help service providers reduce attrition by ensuring that employee salaries keep up with market trends. Staff retention benefits providers and allows clients to avoid the disruption of employee turnover.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Windows 10 on pace to reach 20% share by June

Windows 10 is on pace to power 20% of all Windows desktop systems by the end of June, or around the time Microsoft issues its next major upgrade, according to data published this week.Data from U.S.-based analytics vendor Net Applications pegged Windows 10's user share -- a proxy for the percentage of personal computers worldwide that ran the OS -- at 15.3% in April, a 1.2-percentage point increase from the month prior. Net Applications tallied unique visitors to clients' websites to come up with its measurements.The new operating system's growth last month was smaller than in January and March of this year, but larger than February's.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Quantum computers pose a huge threat to security, and the NIST wants your help

It's no secret that quantum computers could render many of today's encryption methods useless, and now the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology wants the public to help it head off that threat.The federal agency recently published a report focusing on cryptography in a quantum world that outlines a long-term approach for avoiding the problem before it happens."There has been a lot of research into quantum computers in recent years, and everyone from major computer companies to the government want their cryptographic algorithms to be what we call 'quantum resistant,'" said NIST mathematician Dustin Moody. "So if and when someone does build a large-scale quantum computer, we want to have algorithms in place that it can't crack."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Quantum computers pose a huge threat to security, and the NIST wants your help

It's no secret that quantum computers could render many of today's encryption methods useless, and now the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology wants the public to help it head off that threat.The federal agency recently published a report focusing on cryptography in a quantum world that outlines a long-term approach for avoiding the problem before it happens."There has been a lot of research into quantum computers in recent years, and everyone from major computer companies to the government want their cryptographic algorithms to be what we call 'quantum resistant,'" said NIST mathematician Dustin Moody. "So if and when someone does build a large-scale quantum computer, we want to have algorithms in place that it can't crack."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Security ‘net: Privacy and Cybercrime Edition

DDoS blackmail is an increasingly common form of cybercrime, it appears. The general pattern is something like this: the administrator of a large corporate site receives an email, threatening a large scale DDoS attack unless the company deposits some amount of bitcoin in an untraceable account. Sometimes, if the company doesn’t comply, the blackmail is followed up with a small “sample attack,” and a second contact or email asking for more bitcoin than the first time.

The best reaction to these types of things is either to work with your service provider to hunker down and block the attack, or to simply ignore the threat. For instance, there has been a spate of threats from someone called Armada Collective over the last several weeks that appear to be completely empty; while threats have been reported, no action appears to have been taken.

We heard from more than 100 existing and prospective CloudFlare customers who had received the Armada Collective’s emailed threats. We’ve also compared notes with other DDoS mitigation vendors with customers that had received similar threats. -via Cloudflare

The bottom line is this: you should never pay against these threats. It’s always better to contact your provider and work Continue reading

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