Sony CEO Howard Stringer has taken to his companys blog for some additional damage control in light of the ongoing PlayStation Network data breach. Aside from the requisite were taking this very seriously rhetoric, Stringers letter contains a few details pertinent to PSN users.

For starters, U.S. PSN members are all getting a years worth of identity theft coverage that provides cyber monitoring, access to identity restoration specialists, and up to $1 million worth of identity theft insurance. Details will be sent out via e-mail over the next few days.

Full Article…

Its a pretty big deal when Congress calls you up to testify at a hearing especially when its regarding something bad you did.   Most companies drop everything they are doing, increase their lobbyists monthly retainers, craft talking points and prepare for the PR assault that is coming.  Oh and hope that the members of Congress are gentle on them.  Or, well, if you are Sony Corporation, you can simply decline the invitation.

This is precisely what will happen when Sony does not show up for a House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade hearing tomorrow about the threat of data breaches after hackers stole personal information from 77 million Sony PlayStation Network accounts.  Wait, so the hearing is actually about Sonyso this is essentially a party is being thrown and the guest of honor refuses to show up?  At least the folks at Sony were kind enough to provide answers written questions from the subcommittee on the data breach.

And, some members of Congress are a pretty miffed about Sony declining to testify. Ken J

Full Article…

It seems that major data breaches are happening on a daily basis these days.  Just recently we had the much covered Epsilon breach, as well as the recent attack on security provider Barracuda Networks – just to name a few.

Today we are speaking with Greg Reber, founder and CEO of AsTech Consulting. Si

Full Article…

Remember the 1970s classic TV show The Six Million Dollar Man? Back then, six million dollars seemed like a boatload of money and it was. Of course, we would not turn away a winning lottery ticket for $6 million, though this is chump change compared to what one cybercriminal netted throughout his time stealing identities and credit card numbers.

We are talking about Rogelio Hackett Jr., the notorious criminal who stole more than 676,000 credit card numbers that were tied to tens of thousands of fraudulent transactions, with a total of more than $36.6 million. Thankfully U.S. Secret Service busted Hackett in 2009 and he faces up to 10 years in prison on an access device charge and another two years on an dentity theft charge.

Full Article…

The Oklahoma State Department of Health recently notified nearly 133,000 individuals that their personal and health information may have been compromised.   The notification came after the theft of a department laptop.

The laptop and files contained personal and medical information including names, Social Security numbers and medical diagnoses.  The laptop containing the files was stolen from an employee’s car on April 6.

The computer contained access to a database related to the Oklahoma Birth Defects Registry, which tracks birth defects statewide. The laptop also was used to record data from hospital medical records. 

Health department officials said the information was password-protected and have offered to provide identity protection services to those who might have been affected by the theft.

The U.S. Justice Department said it disabled a “massive fraud scheme” that infected more than 2 million computers worldwide with malicious software.

The department filed a civil complaint, criminal seizure warrants and issued a temporary restraining order in coordinated action with Microsoft Corp., which issued a software patch April 12 to correct a vulnerability in its Windows operating system. The vulnerability allowed the software to spread from one computer to another creating a so-called botnet.

The action was aimed at software called Coreflood, which collects passwords and financial information that was used by criminals, the Justice Department said in a statement yesterday. The group of computers infected with Coreflood, known as the Coreflood botnet, is suspected by the U.S. of

Full Article…