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Heartland Payment Systems CEO discusses breach, previews speech Not a week had passed after the announcement of what some have described as the largest data breach ever, when the CEO of Heartland Payment Systems, Robert Carr, began calling for better industry cooperation and new efforts directed at preventing future breaches. Recently, Carr announced that trials will begin late this summer on an end end-to-end encryption system Heartland is developing with technology partners. It is expected to be the first system of its kind in the U.S. The company is also pushing for an end-to-end encryption standard. At the upcoming Practical Privacy Series in Silicon Valley, Carr will discuss the Heartland breach and the role industry, including privacy professionals, must play to prevent future breaches. Here's a preview: IAPP: Many companies have experienced breaches. What made yours different? Ours was different because we are a processor and had passed six years of PCI audits with no problems found. Yet, within days of the most recent audit, the damage had begun. IAPP: Did you have a chief privacy office or a privacy professional on staff before your breach? Do you now? Ironically, when we learned of the Hannaford's breach, we hired a Chief Security Officer who started just three weeks before the breach began. IAPP: In the era of mandatory breach reporting, what is the trajectory of consumer reaction? As a processor it is difficult to really know this. Our customers are merchants who accept card payments. IAPP: Do you think consumers will become numb to breach notices? I believe that many are numb to so many intrusion notices. IAPP: Are breach notices good public policy? Do the notices provide an incentive for companies to change or improve practices? I don't think so. Nobody wants to get breached and the damage caused by a breach is sufficient reason for most of us to do everything we can to prevent them. IAPP: What has Heartland done differentl

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Top House and Senate Democrats are working on legislation that would prevent online marketers from sharing Web-surfing information unless Internet users allowed them to. That's according to House Communications, Technology and the Internet Subcommittee chairman Rick Boucher (D.-Va.), who told Multichannel News that such a bill was in the works and was one of his top legislative priorities. The issue of online behavioral marketing has gained traction recently, spurred by privacy concerns and by media companies' need to find new ways for advertisers to reach aggregated audiences at a time of fragmented viewing and multiplying delivery platforms. Boucher's predecessor atop the committee, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), held a hearing last fall on the issue and helped quash a test by ad-tracking company NebuAd and cable operator Charter Communications. In an interview, Boucher said he was teaming with Reps. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), ranking member of his subcommittee, and Joe Barton (R-Texas), ranking full committee member, on a bill that would apply "across the board" to behavioral advertising and data collection by Web sites. "The goal would be to give the Internet user a sense that information about him that is collected by Web sites is well understood by the user, so he has an opportunity to know what is collected," Boucher said. "He would then have an opportunity to act in a way that prevents that Web site using that information to market him personally, and an even broader opportunity to prevent the transfer of that information about him to third parties." Boucher envisions a combination of opt-in and opt-out requirements. "Opt-in would apply where the information is conveyed to third parties," he said, while "opt out would apply where the Web site that collects the information is using that information directly to market the customers from whom it is collected." Center for Digital Democracy executive director Jeff Chester was please

With the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) promising to begin enforcing the "Red Flags Rules" on May 1, the FTC launched on Thursday a website aimed at helping entities adhere to the requirements. The rules, designed to reduce identity theft, requires that creditors and financial institutions create and implement an identity theft prevention program. The website describes the entities covered by the rule and provides information, articles and guidance to help entitles develop ID theft prevention programs, the FTC said in a news release. One of the resources on the site is a how-to guide that provides tips for identifying and stopping ID theft. The rules became effective Nov. 1 but will not be enforced by the FTC until May 1. Last October, the FTC extended the original Nov. 1 enforcement deadline because many companies were not prepared to meet the original requirements, the FTC said. Eduard Goodman, general counsel and chief privacy officer for vendor Identity Theft 911, told SCMagazineUS.com Friday that the FTC has been tight-lipped about how the rule is going to be enforced -- likely because they don't want companies looking for ways to get around it. Goodman said that based on his conversations with those in the industry, the FTC will likely enforce the rule on a case-by-case basis. The FTC maintains a database that tracks all identity theft cases reported to the agency. If they hear of instances of identity theft associated with a company, the FTC may ask for a copy of the company's identity theft prevention program, if any, Goodman said. If the entity has a program in place, the FTC will make a determination of whether it's adequate. The May 1 enforcement deadline extension applies to entities under the FTC's jurisdiction, which includes state-chartered credit unions. The extension did apply to the the majority of the estimated 11 million businesses that must comply with the requirements, Goodman has said

The loss of personally identifiable information, such as an individual's Social Security number, name, and date of birth can result in serious harm, including identity theft. Identity theft is a serious crime that impacts millions of individuals each year. Identity theft occurs when such information is used without authorization to commit fraud or other crimes. While progress has been made protecting personally identifiable information in the public and private sectors, challenges remain. GAO was asked to testify on how the loss of personally identifiable information contributes to identity theft. This testimony summarizes (1) the problem of identity theft; (2) steps taken at the federal, state, and local level to prevent potential identity theft; and (3) vulnerabilities that remain to protecting personally identifiable information, including in federal information systems. For this testimony, GAO relied primarily on information from prior reports and testimonies that address public and private sector use of personally identifiable information, as well as federal, state, and local efforts to protect the security of such information. GAO and agency inspectors general have made numerous recommendations to agencies to resolve prior significant information control deficiencies and information security program shortfalls. The effective implementation of these recommendations will continue to strengthen the security posture at these agencies. Identity theft is a serious problem because, among other things, it can take a long period of time before a victim becomes aware that the crime has taken place and thus can cause substantial harm to the victim's credit rating. Moreover, while some identity theft victims can resolve their problems quickly, others face substantial costs and inconvenience repairing damage to their credit records. Some individuals have lost job opportunities, been refused loans, or even been arrested for crimes they did not commit as a result of identit

The loss of personally identifiable information, such as an individual's Social Security number, name, and date of birth can result in serious harm, including identity theft. Identity theft is a serious crime that impacts millions of individuals each year. Identity theft occurs when such information is used without authorization to commit fraud or other crimes. While progress has been made protecting personally identifiable information in the public and private sectors, challenges remain. GAO was asked to testify on how the loss of personally identifiable information contributes to identity theft. This testimony summarizes (1) the problem of identity theft; (2) steps taken at the federal, state, and local level to prevent potential identity theft; and (3) vulnerabilities that remain to protecting personally identifiable information, including in federal information systems. For this testimony, GAO relied primarily on information from prior reports and testimonies that address public and private sector use of personally identifiable information, as well as federal, state, and local efforts to protect the security of such information. GAO and agency inspectors general have made numerous recommendations to agencies to resolve prior significant information control deficiencies and information security program shortfalls. The effective implementation of these recommendations will continue to strengthen the security posture at these agencies. Identity theft is a serious problem because, among other things, it can take a long period of time before a victim becomes aware that the crime has taken place and thus can cause substantial harm to the victim's credit rating. Moreover, while some identity theft victims can resolve their problems quickly, others face substantial costs and inconvenience repairing damage to their credit records. Some individuals have lost job opportunities, been refused loans, or even been arrested for crimes they did not commit as a result of identit

The recent U.S. stimulus bill includes $18 billion to catapult the health industry toward the world of electronic health records. This is sure to light a fire under every hungry security vendor to position itself as the essential product or service necessary to achieve HIPAA compliance. It should also motivate healthcare IT professionals to learn where their sensitive data is located and how it flows. To be sure, with federal money allocated through 2014 for the task of modernizing the healthcare industry there will be many consultant and vendor businesses that will thrive on stimulus money. Healthcare is unique in that storage of electronic health records is highly distributed between primary care physicians, specialist doctors, hospitals, and insurance/HMO organizations. Information has to be efficiently shared among these entities with great sensitivity towards patient privacy and legitimate claims processing. Patients want to prevent over zealous employers from performing unauthorized background checks on medical history; claim processors want to prevent paying fraudulent claims arising from targeted patient identity theft. The bill has two provisions which turn this into a tremendously challenging plan, and a daunting task for securing patient data: * Citizens will have the right to monitor and control use of their own health data. This implies a large centralized identity and access control service, or perhaps a federated network of patient registration directories. Authenticated users will be able to reach into the network of health databases audit use of their data and payment history. * Health organizations suffering loss of more than 500 patient records must publicly disclose the breach, starting with postings on the government's Health and Human Services website. This allows related organizations to trace the impact of the breach throughout the healthcare network, but care must be taken not to disclose vulnerabilities in the system to intruders

In May 2008, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) awarded an approximately $450,000 contract to Booz Allen Hamilton to assess and evaluate the scope of the medical identity theft problem in the U.S. Medical Identity Theft Medical identity theft is a specific type of identity theft which occurs when a person uses someone else's personal health identifiable information, such as insurance information, Social Security Number, health care file, or medical records, without the individual's knowledge or consent to obtain medical goods or services, or to submit false claims for medical services. There is limited information available about the scope, depth, and breadth of medical identity theft. Dr. Robert Kolodner, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, has noted that medical identity theft stories are being documented at an increasing rate, bringing to light serious financial, fraud, and patient care issues. ONC recognizes that health IT is an important tool to combat the threat of medical identity theft. We are seeking input from the public and other government agencies to better understand how health IT can be utilized to prevent and detect medical identity theft as well as build consumer trust in electronic health information exchange. ONC believes it is imperative to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of this issue from a variety of perspectives, and to create an open forum for dialogue to work proactively to address medical identity theft. Medical Identity Theft final report. The report summarizing health IT and medical identity theft issues raised at the town hall was completed January 15, 2009 and sets forth potential actions the Federal government and other stakeholders can undertake in working toward prevention, detection, and remediation of medical identify theft.

Six federal agencies issued a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) today to help financial institutions, creditors, users of consumer reports, and issuers of credit cards and debit cards comply with federal regulations on identity theft and discrepancies in changes of address. The "Red Flags and Address Discrepancy Rules," which implement sections of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act), were issued jointly on November 9, 2007, by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The rules require financial institutions and creditors to develop and implement written Identity Theft Prevention Programs and require issuers of credit cards and debit cards to assess the validity of notifications of changes of address. The rules also provide guidance for users of consumer reports regarding reasonable policies and procedures to employ when consumer reporting agencies send them notices of address discrepancy. The agencies' staff have jointly developed answers to these FAQs to provide guidance on numerous aspects of the rules, including which types of entities and accounts are covered; establishment and administration of an Identity Theft Prevention Program; address validation requirements applicable to card issuers; and the obligations of users of consumer reports upon receiving a notice of address discrepancy.

A new privacy law in Maine is facing a court challenge from media organizations as well as a coalition of online companies including AOL, News Corp. and Yahoo. The new law, officially titled "An Act To Prevent Predatory Marketing Practices against Minors," prohibits companies from knowingly collecting personal information or health-related information from minors under 18 without their parents' consent. The measure also bans companies from selling or transferring health information about minors that identifies them, regardless of how the data was collected. Wednesday, opponents asked the federal district court in Maine to issue an injunction against the measure, slated to take effect Sept. 12. In its court papers, the groups opposing the law say it has consequences far beyond limiting the marketing of health-care information. They contend the measure would "prevent common marketing practices used to serve teens information on colleges, test prep services, class rings, etc." The groups who are suing include the Maine Independent Colleges Association, Maine Press Association, Reed Elsevier and NetChoice -- a coalition of Web companies like AOL, eBay, Yahoo, IAC, News Corp. and Overstock.com.

"As the federal government readies the third iteration of Einstein, privacy concerns over the intrusion detection system were voiced at a Senate hearing on Tuesday. Philip Reitinger, Department of Homeland Security deputy undersecretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate, told the Senate Committee on the Judiciary's Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security that DHS envisions deploying Einstein 3 as an intrusion prevention system. Einstein 1 monitors network flow and Einstein 2 detects system intrusions. "This more robust version of Einstein would provide the federal government with an improved early warning and an enhanced situational awareness; the ability to automatically detect malicious activity; and the capability to prevent malicious intrusions before harm is done," Reitinger said. But Gregory Nojeim, senior counsel and director of Project Freedom, Security and Technology at the Center for Democracy and Technology, cited press accounts that Einstein 3 would rely on pre-defined signatures of malicious code that might contain personally identified information, and threaten the privacy of law-abiding citizens. "While Einstein 2 merely detected and reported malicious code, Einstein 3 is to have the capability of intercepting threatening Internet traffic before it reaches a government system, raising additional concerns," Nojeim testified. Einstein 3 reportedly could operate within the networks of private telecommunications companies, and Nojeim wondered if the technology could analyze private-to-private communications. "If Einstein were to analyze private-to-private communications, that would likely be an interception under the electronic surveillance laws, requiring a court order," he said. "

The reality of any new technology, security or otherwise, rarely lives up to its promise. Once you move past the bright sheen of the product brochures and top-level user interfaces, only the practicalities of implementing the product in the real world remain. This is especially true of newer technologies we have little prior experience with, where our product expectations are defined by marketing, the press, and the rare peer reference. It's only after these tools are tested in the real world, under full production conditions, that we really start learning how to either best implement them, or kick them back to the vendor for a little more polish (and a compelling business use). Data loss prevention (DLP) is one of the most promising, and least understood, security technologies to emerge during the last few years. It dangles promises of ubiquitous content protection before our eyes, with shadows of complexity and costs glooming over its shoulder. As with everything, the reality is somewhere in-between. We've interviewed dozens of DLP users (including our own contacts, random volunteers and vendor references) to find out how DLP works in the trenches of the real world. The result is a collection of lessons learned and use cases to help you avoid common pitfalls while deriving maximum value. Lesson 1: Users are confused by a confusing market Lesson 2: Full DLP solutions take more effort to deploy, but are more effective and easier to manage Lesson 3: Set the right expectations and workflow early Lesson 4: Poor identity management hinders good DLP Lesson 5: False positives are a manageable concern Lesson 6: Progressive deployments are most effective Lesson 7: Endpoint DLP is still more limited than network or discovery Lesson 8: Content discovery is hot

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More than 50 per cent of internet users say they would be more interested in advertisements if they were tailored to their own interests, according to a new report from Q Interactive. Furthermore, another 50 per cent of respondents said they would view an advertiser favourably if they received personalised ads. Despite a number of obstacles that prevent marketers from obtaining too much personal information, 53 per cent of internet users would rather have free online services and insider information in exchange for relevant targeting data. However, 32 per cent of the respondents said they would accept worse service in exchange for privacy, and 15 per cent would prefer to pay for premium service and view no advertising whatsoever. Last year, a survey from Dynamic Markets on behalf of Coremetrics, found that half of UK consumers were happy for marketers to use behavioural targeting to track their online behaviour.

Likely a bit of bias in the survey, but indicitive that targeted ads are not going away. Like most things digital, doing it safely is important for consumers. - Karl More than 50 per cent of internet users say they would be more interested in advertisements if they were tailored to their own interests, according to a new report from Q Interactive. Furthermore, another 50 per cent of respondents said they would view an advertiser favourably if they received personalised ads. Despite a number of obstacles that prevent marketers from obtaining too much personal information, 53 per cent of internet users would rather have free online services and insider information in exchange for relevant targeting data. However, 32 per cent of the respondents said they would accept worse service in exchange for privacy, and 15 per cent would prefer to pay for premium service and view no advertising whatsoever. Last year, a survey from Dynamic Markets on behalf of Coremetrics, found that half of UK consumers were happy for marketers to use behavioural targeting to track their online behaviour.

"A federal law designed to prevent employers and health insurers from discriminating against an individual based on their genetic predisposition to disease took effect late last month, signaling a new era where intermingling genetic advances and privacy concerns create new challenges in health care. But left out of the federal Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, commonly known as GINA, were privacy protections for individuals seeking long-term care, disability and life insurance coverage. Each of those areas was left up to the individual states. At least 10 states regulate the use of genetic information in long-term care insurance. But in California, privacy protections were left to expire by lawmakers in January 2008. Mark Billingsley, spokesman for state insurance commissioner Steve Poizner, said in an e-mail that there "appears to be a giant loophole" in California's insurance code regarding long-term care insurance and genetic privacy protections. He said he couldn't identify a single provision in the state code that would preclude a private insurer from requesting such a test for underwriting purposes. "

"It could be quite a manic Monday for digital advertisers. Privacy advocates are calling Dec. 7 "Pearl Harbor Day" for the Internet advertising industry as the Federal Trade Commission launches its public roundtables on consumer privacy issues. Certainly many members of the public as well as legislators are up in arms over practices such as behavioral tracking and targeting, but a great deal of this anxiety comes down to a lack of knowledge regarding practices. The Interactive Advertising Bureau has been applying preventative measures, including releasing "Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising". Its latest effort is the consumer education campaign "Privacy Matters," which will be featured on a broad array of media sites. It's a conciliatory recognition that the industry has released paranoia in the general populace by not clearly explaining the nuts and bolts of targeting and other advances."

"Google Inc. co-founder Sergey Brin Wednesday said the Internet giant "screwed up" by collecting personal data through wireless networks and promised new oversight as European officials pledged to open investigations of the data collection. Authorities in Germany, Spain and Italy said Wednesday they were investigating Google and its Street View service, which uses camera-equipped vehicles to take street images and mark the location of Wi-Fi networks. Mr. Brin, speaking the same day at Google's developer conference in San Francisco, said the company would put "more internal controls in place" to prevent such data captures in the future, including the hiring of outside help. "Trust is very important to us," Mr. Brin said. "We're going to do everything we can to preserve that trust.""

G apologizes. Again, better to ask forgiveness... If users remain silent & gvt doesn't prosecute, why comply?

"The number of fraudulent IRS websites taken down in 2008 soared to 3,030, up more than 240 percent from 2007, according to a GAO analysis of Internal Revenue Service data, suggesting a sharp increase by criminals to draw unassuming taxpayers to faux tax agency websites to steal identities and money. In a Government Accountability Office audit, made public Thursday, the GAO credited the IRS for implementing programs to prevent, detect and resolve identity theft, but said the tax agency needs to do a better job in assessing the effectiveness of its initiatives. And, as it relates to potential online abuse, the IRS should be more consistent in enforcing security controls. "

"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 -

The US government has now adopted a policy of fostering the adoption of electronic medical records (EMR). The policy is intended to increase the efficiency of the US healthcare system, thereby lowering costs and reducing the incidence of preventable errors. At the same time, through its The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy rules, the government has set minimum standards for the security of those records. These two goals-privacy and security of these records, along with their free interchange among medical providers-can easily wind up at odds with each other. A recent study that looked at the role of state privacy laws in EMR adoption suggests that the problem is very real, as state privacy laws seem to inhibit the use of EMR by hospitals located there. The authors, based at MIT and the University of Virginia, line up a variety of data that validate their suggestion that privacy and the use of EMR may require a careful balance. So, for example, they cite some highly publicized lapses when it comes to the maintenance of patient privacy: someone once offered the records of 200,000 patients for sale on Craigslist, while hospitals have seen their own employees attempt to get at the electronic files of famous patients. Perhaps more significantly, the authors suggest that the public, as represented by their legislators, has concerns about the privacy of EMR. They found that states that have passed their own privacy laws to supplement the HIPAA rules tend to have a higher percentage of their populace signed up for the Do Not Call Registry, indicating a corresponding individual-level interest in maintaining privacy. So, they looked at whether these laws had any impact on the adoption of EMR by hospitals located in each state.

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A data protection group has warned that opting out of Phorm will not prevent the technology from processing data that users enter through web site search portals. Companies such as Amazon, Wikipedia and LiveJournal have taken the decision to block the controversial advertising technology from scanning their sites because of the privacy implications. However, Open Rights Group executive director Jim Killock has since admitted that, even if web sites opt out of the programme, ISPs supporting Phorm will still be able to profile users visiting those sites. "This is because Phorm can scan search requests entered in those sites, even if it cannot detect the web site pages users are viewing," Killock said. "For example, even if Google opts out of Webwise, when a user types in a Google query and they are using BT, it will still go through Phorm before it reaches BT." Killock added that Phorm does not gain permission from either senders or receivers of the information before it processes the data. Phorm uses browsing information to serve accurately targeted advertisements, and is soon to be rolled out under the Webwise brand by internet service providers BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk. However, as the time for deployment nears, the controversy surrounding the technology only seems to be increasing.