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Most Americans believe the world financial crisis has increased their risk of identity theft or related crimes, according to the latest Unisys Security Index. The biannual survey of consumers in nine countries found that more than two-thirds of Americans are "extremely or very concerned" about other people obtaining and using their credit or debit card details -- with 90 percent at least "somewhat concerned." In addition, computer security remains a major concern. More than 40 percent of Americans are extremely or very concerned about security in relation to viruses or unsolicited emails. Three-quarters of Americans believe that the world financial crisis will increase the risk that they will personally experience identity theft or related crimes. More than one-quarter believe that the risk will increase substantially. "Financial security for Americans has moved from third place to front and center, number one," Tim Kelleher, vice president of enterprise security at Unisys, provider of information technology consulting services, told SCMagazineUS.com Monday. "People feel they are much more financially at risk." This has major implications for banks and other financial institutions, as well as internet businesses, he said. "Banks and businesses need to understand that customers are more wary than ever about using services that may compromise their personal data," Kelleher said. "If economic concerns increase these fears, companies need new strategies to strengthen customer confidence through accountability and transparency, which also plays to part of the Obama administration's call to action for government and business." The U.S. Security Index is based on a random telephone survey of 1,004 persons ages 18 and over. The first wave of the study was conducted in August 2007.

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The global economic crisis has become the biggest near-term U.S. security concern, sowing instability in a quarter of the world's countries and threatening destructive trade wars, U.S. intelligence agencies reported on Thursday. The director of national intelligence's annual threat assessment also said al Qaeda's leadership had been weakened over the last year. But security in Afghanistan had deteriorated and Pakistan had to gain control over its border areas before the situation could improve. "The financial crisis and global recession are likely to produce a wave of economic crises in emerging market nations over the next year," said the report. A wave of "destructive protectionism" was possible as countries find they cannot export their way out of the slump. "Time is our greatest threat. The longer it takes for the recovery to begin, the greater the likelihood of serious damage to U.S. strategic interests," the report said. The report represents the findings of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies and serves as a leading security reference for policymakers and Congress. Besides reviewing adversaries, it also considered this year the security impact of issues including climate change and the economy. It said a quarter of countries have already experienced at least "low-level" instability, such as government changes, linked to the economy.

If practice makes perfect, it's no wonder commercial pilot Chesley B. (Sully) Sullenberger III was able to save the day last week, guiding a malfunctioning jetliner over New York City and landing it safely in the Hudson River. It turns out Sullenberger was well trained for the job and had been studying crisis management. The Associated Press' Amy Westfeldt says Sullenberger, 57, of Danville, California, is a former fighter pilot who runs a safety consulting firm in addition to flying commercial aircraft. Westfeldt says Sullenberger is president of Safety Reliability Methods, a California firm that uses "the ultra-safe world of commercial aviation" as a basis for safety consulting in other fields. "When a plane is getting ready to crash with a lot of people who trust you, it is a test," Civil engineer Robert Bea told Westfeldt. "Sully proved the end of the road for that test. He had studied it, he had rehearsed it, he had taken it to his heart." The pilot "did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river and then making sure that everybody got out," Mayor Michael Bloomberg told AP. "He walked the plane twice after everybody else was off, and tried to verify that there was nobody else on board, and he assures us there was not. He was the last one up the aisle and he made sure that there was nobody behind him."

"Bankers are playing with fire by increasing risk when taxpayer tolerance with financial bailouts has worn perilously thin, the International Monetary Fund warned. Managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn reckons bankers may be in the throes of a "Mardi Gras" party of renewed speculation ahead of a looming regulatory crackdown. Yet the return of their old habits is dangerous. If a new financial crisis occurred in a few years" time, the public would be unwilling to support another round of massive bailouts, he told the Confederation of British Industry. Democracy itself could be threatened if banks went back to taxpayers with their caps in their hands. "In an atmosphere of increasing optimism, we see signs of old habits coming back. Risk-taking is on the rise," said Strauss-Kahn. "Right now, regulatory uncertainty is throwing up some perverse incentives. For example, it might be encouraging a risk-taking culture -- a Mardi Gras effect whereby financial institutions party now in expectation of lean times to come. "Clearly, this is dangerous, not least for emerging markets. And we may run out of time -- if we wait too long to implement these reforms, it might be too late." A second wave of rescues may simply not get through national legislatures, he added: "The political reaction would be very strong, putting some democracies at risk." IMF figures show the aftershocks of the 2008 crisis are far from over, with firms recognising only half of their losses worldwide. Yet despite the fragility of the financial sector, there is mounting evidence that traders are making hay before tougher regulatory standards come into force. Investment banking profits have soared this year, as firms make the most of ultra-low interest rates, money-printing operations and huge government bond issuance programmes. Strauss-Kahn argued countries need to act quickly to remove "regulatory uncertainty" -- ensuring bankers do not make the most of the current confusion over future standards

Recommend watching this Frontline report on the secret life of credit cards. Interesting: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/view/ - Karl ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Millions of Americans have already seen their credit card limits shrink, and millions more face the same fate as lenders prepare for tougher U.S. consumer protection rules. Since the financial crisis deepened a year ago, credit card companies have been closing millions of inactive accounts, cutting credit limits and raising interest rates to cushion themselves from record loan losses. This is just the beginning of the biggest shake-up in the credit card industry in at least 20 years, analysts said. Credit Suisse analyst Moshe Orenbuch estimated available credit card lines will be cut by about 20 percent, or $1.2 trillion, in coming months, and warned that "further cuts could result from the provisions of the new credit card law."

Millions of Americans have already seen their credit card limits shrink, and millions more face the same fate as lenders prepare for tougher U.S. consumer protection rules. Since the financial crisis deepened a year ago, credit card companies have been closing millions of inactive accounts, cutting credit limits and raising interest rates to cushion themselves from record loan losses. This is just the beginning of the biggest shake-up in the credit card industry in at least 20 years, analysts said. Credit Suisse analyst Moshe Orenbuch estimated available credit card lines will be cut by about 20 percent, or $1.2 trillion, in coming months, and warned that "further cuts could result from the provisions of the new credit card law."

"The ubiquity of online advertising is a product of its importance to the internet economy, said a group of consumer advocates Wednesday during a debate on the future of online advertising. But the impact of new targeted advertising methods on consumer privacy and its potential to manipulate online experiences was the subject of heated argument at the event, sponsored by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Privacy does not mean the same thing to all consumers in all situations, said Progress and Freedom Foundation Senior Fellow Berin Szoka. Advertisements are attempts to capture user attention - the "great currency of the Internet" - and when successful support a wide range of valuable content, he said. But in online life, "consumers have many values," Szoka added. "Privacy is one of them," he said, but it is not an absolute. Consumers must sometimes trade privacy for content, he said. "There is no free lunch." As more information and entertainment migrates to the internet, Szoka said it is "critical…that we find a way to support this media." Targeted advertising can fit the bill, he suggested - especially if technology gives users more control over their own preferences. Most consumers don't understand that advertising is a necessity for today's internet, he said. New technologies like targeting need to be given a try, he said, so content providers can recoup the value of their advertising - down 25 percent since 2000, he noted. Center for Digital Democracy founder Jeff Chester said Szoka's ideas about advertising's future represented a "false dichotomy." The real debate should be over the rules that regulate advertiser content, he said. Chester warned of a "Targeting 2.0″ system in which neuroscience combined with massive databases not only serve ads, but target content to users. "It's about influencing our behavior without our consent," he said. Chester pointed to the subprime lending cr

"This presentation contains statements of a forward-looking nature which represent our management's beliefs and assumptions concerning future events. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions and are based on information currently available to us. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements due to many factors, including without limitation, the impact that the significantly unfavorable economic conditions confronting the United States may have on our business, the results and effects the security breach of our processing system may have on us, including the costs and damages we may incur in connection with the claims arising from such breach that have been made and may in the future be made against us, the extent of cardholder information compromised and the possibility that such security breach could cause us to lose customers or make it difficult for us to obtain new customers, the possibility that we may not be successful in developing and implementing an end to end encryption solution, the possibility that if we are successful in developing and implementing an end to end encryption solution it may not prevent future security breaches of our payment processing system, and additional factors that are contained in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to, the Company's annual report on Form 10- K for the year ended December 31, 2008. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this presentation. Topics / Agenda - The Future of Electronic Payments * What Is The Problem? The Cybercrimes Arms Race * Who Is Heartland Payment Systems? * What Happened and What Has/Will It Cost? * What Did We Do About It and What Are We Doing Now? * Massive Quantity/Quality of Breaches Call for Enhanced Solutions * Our New Solution Called E3 -

For most insurers, business intelligence means point solutions at best. But those carriers that weave analytics into the fabric of their organizations are equipped to drive more precision in pricing and greater profitability to the bottom line. For businesses that run on the analysis of information, insurers have proven notably reluctant to apply business intelligence (BI) and analytic technologies to risk management at both the corporate strategic level and in the front lines of underwriting. For a variety of reasons, enterprise risk management (ERM) solutions have been talked about far more than implemented, and BI and predictive analytics generally have been applied haphazardly or piecemeal, if at all. The financial crisis, however, has heightened interest in risk management technologies, owing to senior executives' fears of disastrous overexposure to risk. Their concerns are legitimate, but for insurance more than any other financial services sector, risk also is opportunity, and BI should be utilized more as a competitive weapon than a defensive shield. As insurance has become commoditized and investment returns have become less reliable, carriers' ability to more precisely analyze and underwrite risks can be a key source of competitive differentiation.

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More electronic records were exposed in 2008 than in the previous four years combined and most of those breaches -- nine out of 10 -- could have been easily avoided with basic preventative controls consistently applied. In its 2009 Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Business Data Breach Investigations Report, Verizon Business Security Solutions analyzed 90 confirmed breaches that occurred in 2008, affecting 285 million compromised records. The company's previous data breach report covered from 2004 through 2007, a period that saw 230 million compromised records. About a third of the breaches in Verizon Business' caseload have been publicly disclosed, and additional disclosures are expected before the end of the year. But many breaches will remain unreported because of the absence of any applicable disclosure requirement. Among the report's findings: 91% of all compromised records were linked to organized criminal groups; customized malware attacks doubled; and the most common attack vectors were default credentials and SQL injection. In a statement, Peter Tippett, VP of research and intelligence for Verizon Business Security Solutions, described the report as a wake-up call. Businesses need strong security and a proactive approach, he said, particularly because the economic crisis is likely to spur even greater criminal activity.

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Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The spies came from China, Russia and other countries, and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls, the newspaper said, citing current and former U.S. national security officials. The intruders have not sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure but officials said they could try during a crisis or war, the paper said in a report on its website. "The Chinese have attempted to map our infrastructure, such as the electrical grid," a senior intelligence official told the Journal. "So have the Russians." The espionage appeared pervasive across the United States and does not target a particular company or region, said a former Department of Homeland Security official. "There are intrusions, and they are growing," the former official told the paper, referring to electrical systems. "There were a lot last year." The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama was not immediately available for comment on the newspaper report. Authorities investigating the intrusions have found software tools left behind that could be used to destroy infrastructure components, the senior intelligence official said. He added, "If we go to war with them, they will try to turn them on." Officials said water, sewage and other infrastructure systems also were at risk.

Banks and financial firms are placing more emphasis on internal threats to cut the flow of data leakage as a result of employee mistakes or workers disgruntled with layoffs and downsizing during the economic crisis, according to a recent survey. The report, "Protecting What Matters: The Sixth Annual Global Security Survey," is based on a Deloitte survey of 250 CISOs in the financial-services industry. It found that 36% of respondents believe the internal threat represents the greatest risk to organizations, compared to 13% who said external threats are the biggest concern. Mark Steinhoff, head of Deloitte's financial services security and privacy practices, said an organization's biggest mistake would be to let its guard down. While the number of security breaches may have declined over the last year, cybercriminals are not rationing back their efforts. "The number of breaches that are occurring are really at the hands of insiders and organizations are understanding that there is a real threat of malicious attacks and exposure of personal information by insiders," Steinhoff said. The failing economy may be driving the increased concern over insider threats, Steinoff said. "The climate we're in today causes concerns about disgruntled employees," he said. "We are seeing the layoffs and other forms of downsizing. Frankly with limited budget and less than satisfied employees, it really raises the parameter on that threat." Human error is the leading cause of information systems failure, and is likely to be the main cause of security attacks in the near future, according to 86% of those surveyed. To protect against employee mistakes that lead to a breach, financial firms should focus on risk rather than compliance to protect themselves, Steinhoff said. "[Organizations] need to look at what they want to protect and look at various types of threats internally and evaluate who has access to the data and who has access to which system, and approach it from that persp

A leading technology advisor to President Obama said in a research note for his investment firm today that privacy and net neutrality will be among the biggest telecommunications issues facing the Federal Communications Commission and the administration going forward. Analyst Blair Levin, who was the co-lead of Obama's technology and innovation team along with nominated FCC Chair Julius Genachowski, wrote in a Stifel Nicolaus research note that the economic crisis and change of administration will shift the focus of telecom policy away from traditional phone companies to "Internet/edge" players. Indeed, Google and other Web video and voice companies like Skype have been increasingly active in recent years at the FCC, pushing particularly for net neutrality rules that would prevent carriers from blocking or charging more for certain content that travels over the Web. Levin said in a note that net neutrality will emerge again as an issue in the new administration for wireless networks. On the other hand, there won't likely be a push for new net neutrality rules for cable, DSL, and fiber network carriers at the FCC. "(There is a) consensus emerging that disputes about whether a wireline network management tool is 'reasonable' (or is actually blocking or degrading traffic) to be resolved on a case-by-case basis," Levin wrote in the note with analysts Rebecca Arbogast and David Kaut. It would be a tough climb to impose rules that force wireless carriers to open their networks. Apple and AT&T successfully argued to lawmakers and regulators to keep their exclusive iPhone contract. Skype's petition to the FCC to force carriers to allow any handset or software to operate on any network was shot down by former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. He said the biggest "sleeper" issue will be privacy. With a major overhaul of healthcare records to the Web, the rise in behavioral advertising and cloud computing, where information is stored in computers strung across many geographies

Jan 15, 2009 There may be only a handful of days left in the Bush administration, but the brouhaha over White House e-mail retention policies promises to continue right up to the last day. A federal court yesterday extended a preservation order to ensure that the outgoing administration does everything it can to recover any missing White House e-mails. The White House IT staff now has five days to scour workstations for missing e-mail before administration data records are archived on Jan. 20. The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy Jr., also orders staff of the Executive Office of the President (EOP) to relinquish any digital media that may contain e-mails from March 2003 and October 2005. The legal action is the latest resulting from a lawsuit filed in September 2007 by the National Security Archive against the EOP, seeking to preserve and restore White House e-mails it alleged were missing. "There is nothing like a deadline to clarify the issues," Tom Blanton, the National Security Archive's director, said in a statement. "The White House will complain about the last-minute challenge, but this is a records crisis of its own making." The Archive, an independent nongovernmental research institute based at George Washington University, is a repository of government records and does not receive U.S. government funding. The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a left-wing public advocacy group, also filed suit, but its legal action was subsequently consolidated with the Archive's legal action, which is taking place in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Last May, the White House's top tech staffer acknowledged that three months of data were missing from backup tapes. In earlier testimony before a congressional committee, White House technical staff said millions of e-mails from the past eight years could potentially have been erased. Also yesterday, Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola held an emergency status con

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Two years ago anyone uttering the words "state" and "regulation" in the same sentence would have been sneered at in high-powered banking circles gathered by the ski slopes of Davos. Now, more than 18 months into the biggest financial upheaval in the last eighty years, those bank executives that still have jobs are preparing to swallow large doses of regulatory medicine to help cure a crisis they are accused of causing. With bank lending still frozen, the world sliding into recession and more than 300,000 financial jobs already gone, policymakers are replacing bankers in the driving seat at this year's World Economic Forum (WEF) to discuss short- and long-term solutions to the sector's woes. "Two years ago nobody could see the problems and the risks," said Marc Weil, head of EMEA Financial Services at consultancy firm Oliver Wyman, which is publishing a report on the state of the global financial services industry this week. "It is clear now that the financial services industry is like no others and anyone that poses systemic risks needs tighter regulation."

What companies do you trust to guard your privacy? According to a Wednesday study from the Ponemon Institute and TRUSTe, eBay is the most trusted company for privacy, followed by Verizon and the U.S. Postal Service. Facebook, meanwhile, cracked the study's top ten for the first time. To reach its conclusions, Ponemon and TRUSTe first polled more than 6,000 adults on their "most trusted" brands. An expert review panel then compared those results against the companies' privacy statements, notices, to what levels they accessed account information, their cookie management, in- and out-of-network data sharing practices, and the availability of customer service staff. Of the top 10 companies, seven of them were technology-related. The entire list includes eBay, Verizon, the U.S. Postal Service, WebMD, IBM, Procter & Gamble, Nationwide, Intuit, Yahoo, and Facebook. "With the banking industry at the center of a national financial crisis, it's no surprise to see a loss of trust reflected in the rankings of even those top performers on this list," Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute, said in a statement. "Meanwhile, the continued strong showing of e-businesses such as eBay, WebMD, Yahoo, and Facebook seems to demonstrate consumers' growing comfort with doing business online."

Distrust of corporations remains high among American consumers three-plus years after the nation's financial crisis, with a majority (64 percent) saying it's harder for U.S. companies to gain their trust today than it was a few years ago.