data

Banks are being warned of trouble ahead after approximately 20 ATMs, mostly in Eastern Europe, were compromised. The ATMs running Microsoft's Windows XP operating system were infected with malware that captures magnetic strip data and PIN codes. ... According to a report from Trustwave's SpiderLabs, the malware uses the strip data and PIN codes to access the private memory space of transaction-processing applications. Advanced Management Functionality Built into the Malware Attackers gain control over the ATMs by inserting specialized controller cards into the ATM's card reader. (Source: tgdaily. ... (view more)

Microsoft plans to roll out its new search engine code-named " Kumo " that reportedly improves search results by suggesting more targeted searches capable of bringing users closer to the information they seek. The Kumo team's technology reportedly ... uses open-source software if it's available . (Source: cnet.com ) Kumo to Compete with Google's Storage Engine According to their blog , Kumo developer Powerset decided to turn to hadoop , a Lucene subproject that runs data-intensive applications on large clusters of commodity hardware. Unfortunately, there was no Hadoop equivalent to Google's ... (view more)

Facebook is about to make more user data available to outside websites. It's an attempt to promote third-party applications, but will inevitably bring attention back to the firm's privacy policies . The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) says speculates that ... the Facebook plans will be announced later today. The changes would mean companies could access and use data uploaded by users such as photographs, comments, blog-style note posts and videos. (Source: wsj.com ) Developers to Spawn External Sites from User Content Developers could then use the data to create an external website. For example, a ... (view more)

According to a recent study, there were more electronic records being exposed in 2008 than in the previous four years combined. The study suggests that most breaches could have been avoided had the proper precautions been put in place. An astounding ... 99% of breaches were done through servers and applications, rather than desktop computers, notebooks, mobile phones or portable media combined. Verizon Business Data Breach Investigations A 2009 Verizon Business Data Breach Investigations Report (PDF) analyzed 90 confirmed breaches from 2008 that affected 285 million records. A previous report ... (view more)

Despite the fact that the UK parliament network was vulnerable to the Conficker virus just last week, reports suggest that the UK Government is forging ahead with their dubious plans to harvest all the personal electronic data of every citizen and ... storing it for one year, opening the door to the Big Brother super database . Mobile phone calls, emails and Internet activities of every Briton will be stored for a year, placing legal duties on Internet companies to store everyone's private information, including email traffic and Internet browsing histories effective Monday, April 6, 2009. The ... (view more)

Google has released a new feature for their Google Health service that allows users to share their online health records with specified friends, doctors and family members. Google Health is a service that allows users to input their medical data ... into an online system. The system merges all separate records into one centralized account for the user. Since it uses the Internet to collect data, Google Health also gathers information on medical conditions and interactions between drugs and allergies. (Source: twine.com ) Google Health for Friends and Family Before the feature was introduced, only ... (view more)

Is it a 'good' thing that Britain, the United States, and several other countries are developing more sophisticated surveillance technology ? The premise that individuals have nothing to hide and nothing to fear in a 'big brother' society is nothing ... more than a myth riddled with false assumptions. A multitude of problems can arise from continuously gathering too much data. Trusting the government and private companies -- entities full of people, some of which will inevitably have an immoral few -- make it easier for data to be misused and error prone. That said, people who have nothing to ... (view more)

Internet radio site Last.fm has denied reports that it told the record industry which of its members had listened to a leaked U2 album. The site claims the entire story, published by Techcrunch, was made up. Last week the record industry became ... extremely concerned after U2's forthcoming album appeared on several torrent file sharing sites. While there is no way any users could have acquired the album through Last.fm, the site's statistics suggest that more than 8,000 users have played the unreleased album on their machines. Employees 'Up In Arms' Late on Friday night the tech blogging site ... (view more)

Google has reached a deal with IBM to enhance its medical data system, Google Health. IBM will provide technology to allow users to update their records in real-time through Internet-connected medical devices. The technology involves fitting WiFi ... radio connections to tools such as heart rate monitors or blood sugar measurement meters. The data will then sync with their computer and automatically update their records in the Google Health service. The scheme, announced in 2007 and formally launched in May last year, allows users to store their medical records online and import details from ... (view more)

As noted by the New York Times, new technologies have become so powerful that protecting individual privacy may no longer be the only issue. With the Internet, wireless sensors, and the capability to analyze an avalanche of data, a person's profile ... can be drawn without monitoring him or her directly. (Source: nytimes.com ) Every time you use your credit card to make a purchase, you give up your privacy. When you use your credit or debit card, a record of that transaction is logged into a database of information collected by your credit card issuer. (Source: creditcards.com ) Tracking systems ... (view more)