Consumer Security | Branden R. Williams, Business Security Specialist

Hey Friends, I’m Over Here! standard

I recently gave a presentation to a graduate advertising class about social media with ideas on how it might be used as a part of an overall marketing and advertising strategy ((I’ll get this posted soon. I’ve just gotten my templates fixed (Thank you Angry Porcupine!) and will be able to move the material shortly.)). One of the things I covered was the concept of geo-tagging and how it relates to social media. There are tremendous privacy concerns related to geo-tagging, but also interesting market opportunities as well. We ignored the unintended geo-tagging that occurs when people use location services in their mobile phones, or use cameras that are location aware and focused on check-in applications. Some examples of these ...

22nd of June, 2010
In: Consumer Security, Enterprise Security
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Do Small Service Providers Scare You? standard

Take PCI off the table for a minute. Do you get nervous when dealing with a small service provider that performs some niche service for your company? It doesn’t have to be cardholder data related, but it definitely needs to be some kind of data that is either regulated or is classified as something other than public—data like PII, healthcare, or even intellectual property. Smaller providers can sometimes provide higher or better security than larger ones, and that may be beneficial long term—especially when doing the value proposition. But in some cases, smaller providers are providing a niche service to a larger customer, and are operating on a skeleton crew. Imagine if a company like Ford Motor Company selected Brando’s ...

More Advice when using Public WiFi standard

Scott Carmichael from the great travel blog Gadling published a post yesterday with tips on keeping your data safe when connecting to public wireless hotspots. There are some really good tips for everyone here, but I wanted to add to a few of the options. One of the recommendations is to get a 3G or 4G data card. In working for a Telco for a few weeks, I did learn a thing or two about these networks and how laptops of employees can be locked down almost to be unusable. This is definitely a fantastic recommendation but has two key drawbacks—cost and usability. While data cards can be obtained reasonably cheap, and depending on how you connect to the internet ...

The Social Security Office, an Identity Thief’s Heaven! standard

My wife is not into technology. Or security. Or UNIX. Basically she looks at her Macbook as a way to check email, buy shoes, organize photos and videos, and make checklists for the babysitter. So when she takes an interest in what I do, I REALLY perk up. She is very attentive to the things I do with our mail and sensitive information, only because she hears me talking about it all the time. She knows not to give out passwords or personally identifying information. She shreds expired cards and junk mail. She’s definitely more in tune to security than the average citizen. We recently noticed a reporting error from the Social Security Administration and the only way to clear ...

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