Short Takes
The Growing Impact of Security Breaches
The severity level of information security breaches experienced by organizations has shown a marked increase over the past year. Among organizations that reported a security breach in the past 12 months, the average severity level of the breach stood at 4.8 on a 0-10 scale, where 0 is not at all severe and 10 is very severe. The corresponding severity level ratings for the past two years were 2.3 and 2.6.
Source: Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) commissioned survey. www.comptia.org/sections/research.aspx
Intruders Attack Monster
More than 1.3 million Monster.com users became victims this year when intruders, since perhaps as early as February and definitely since May, harvested email addresses, phone numbers, and other personal information. In addition hackers posed as potential employers, offered job-finding services, as well as emailed tainted Web links that, when clicked upon, infected the users computer and incorporated it into a zombie network. The scheme became known in August. Monster has posted warnings about scam artists sending bogus job offers to try to obtain bank account information. The success of the attack has security experts expecting similar attacks at other employment Websites.
http://help.monster.com/besafe
Ferrari Cell Phone
To commemorate Ferrari's 60th anniversary, Vertu (the luxury unit of Nokia) has introduced the Ascent Ferrari 60 at stores in London, Paris, Hong Kong, and Singapore for 18,000 euros-roughly a 10th the price of a new Ferrari or about US$25,000. The stylish tri-band phone includes Bluetooth, multimedia, text messaging, voice dialing capabilities and of course the Ferrari logo.
AOL Instant Messenger Now SweetIM Capable
SweetIM, Inc., a self-described entertaining and self-expression media technology company, recently announced that its instant messaging application is now accessible to AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) users. AIM joins the recognized list of free SweetIM capable applications, including Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger and Internet Explorer. SweetIM creates conversation enhancements such as emoticons, video, winks, audibles, sound FX and display pictures that can be used on messenger chats, Web-based emails, social communities or blogs. While some reviewers on www.download.com noted traces of spyware, its Website Editor rated SweetIM four out of five stars, and notes that SweetIM tested spyware free, although once installed it can be difficult to remove. According to SweetIM, more than 100,000 SweetIM's are sent per hour and more than 3 million are sent daily from its more than 50 million users
AT&T Stops Itemizing iPhone Statements
As of September 28, iPhone customers that sign-up or change their service plans will automatically receive phone bill summaries, unless detailed bills are specifically requested. This comes as a response to early adopter complaints about receiving lengthy itemized bills from AT&T. Initially, iPhone customers received bills that listed every wireless transaction made, which resulted in voluminous statements recording every email, text message and Web page visit-which, in some instances, required several hundred pages to record!