Senator Harkin has proposed an ATM cap fee of $0.50. This of course has upset banking industry insiders such as Gary Faulkner, an executive who has worked for Cardtronics and Diebold. Mr. Faulkner wrote an open letter to Senator Harkin that claims a cap on ATM fees would be unfair to his industry. I will … Continue reading SA 3812 and the Open Letter to Senator Harkin →

I wrote about undisclosed or silent patches earlier, with regard to Microsoft and Google. Another consulting firm now has made a public announcement about the same issue. Microsoft silently patched three vulnerabilities last month, two of them affecting enterprise mission-critical Exchange mail servers, without calling out the bugs in the accompanying advisories, a security expert … Continue reading Silent Patches →

Dark Reading has posted an interview with Ponemon regarding the latest Breach notification study. The study claims Costs Of Data Breaches Much Higher In U.S. Than In Other Countries “A big reason for [the high cost of churn in the U.S.] is that U.S. companies are required to notify customers of their breaches, even if … Continue reading Ponemon Breach Study Gets it Wrong →

Tax-time seems like an appropriate time to make note of the IRS Safeguards Program The Safeguards Program and staff are responsible for ensuring that federal, state and local agencies receiving federal tax information protect it as if the information remained in IRS’s hands. These agencies and their contractors receiving federal tax information must protect the … Continue reading IRS Safeguards Program →