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More data stolen in 2008
The data breaches came from a variety of mishaps, including theft of laptops, hacking, employees improperly handling data, accidental disclosure and problems with subcontractors.
BNY Mellon Shareowner Services, an investment bank based in New Jersey, reported the highest number of breached records: 12.5 million. A box of computer tapes containing names, as well as Social Security and account numbers, was lost in February 2008. A lock on the truck transporting the tapes was broken, and the truck had been left unattended, according to news reports. The tapes were not encrypted. (link)
Disable Lenovo laptops remotely
Lenovo today announced plans to bring customers a new security defense against unauthorized data access on Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks. The Lenovo Constant Secure Remote Disable feature lets users send a simple text message command via a cell phone to render their PC useless to unauthorized users when the notebook is lost or stolen. Lenovo worked with Phoenix Technologies (Nasdaq: PTEC), a leader in embedded technologies that improve the user experience, to develop this capability. Lenovo's Remote Disable feature will be available on select ThinkPad notebooks equipped with mobile broadband1 starting in 1Q 2009.
According to the 2008 CSI Computer Crime and Security Survey2, 42 percent of computer attacks and incidents among U.S. organizations in both private and public sectors occurred as a result of notebook PC theft. Lenovo's new Remote Disable dramatically enhances the security of a lost or stolen ThinkPad notebook PC by speeding up the time it takes to lock the PC, helping to prevent unauthorized access to the computer's data. (link)
Data Encryption turns to photos for security
Data security is a hard enough problem to solve on even a heavily regulated corporate network, but it becomes even more difficult when users are out in the wild with PDAs, cell phones and other portable communications devices. A recent PhD project at the University of Twente in the Netherlands has described a user-friendly solution to cryptography for ad-hoc network transfers, such as sending files over infrared or Bluetooth between two PDAs, and it's as easy as taking a picture. (link)
Google loses employee data ... indirectly
Records kept at Colt Express Outsourcing Services, an external company Google and other companies use to handle human resources functions, were stolen in a burglary on May 26. An undisclosed number of employees' details and those of dependents such as names, addresses, and Social Security numbers were on the stolen computers. It is understood that Colt did not employ encryption to protect the information.
It's still unclear how many more of Colt Express' clients were affected by the breach. CBS' CNET Networks, publisher of News.com, was also affected by the burglary, with about 6,500 employees' details stolen.
Although there is no evidence of misuse of the data to date, the information obtained could be used by identity thieves to create fake accounts and identities. (link)
Verizon: tips to prevent a corporate data breach
Align process with policy. In 59 percent of data breaches, the organization had security policies and procedures established for the system, but these measures were never implemented. Implement, implement, implement.
Create a data retention plan. With 66 percent of all breaches involving data that a company did not even know was on their system, it’s critical that an organization knows were data flows and where it resides. Identify data and prioritize its risk to the organization.
Control data with transaction zones. Investigators concluded that network segmentation can help prevent, or at least partially mitigate, an attack. In other words, wall off data when and where appropriate.
Monitor event logs. Evidence of events leading up to 82 percent of data breaches was available to the organization prior to actual compromise. Data logs should be continually and systemically monitored and responded to when events are discovered. (link)
AT&T gets the wrong kind of press for data theft
"This is to alert you to the recent theft of an AT&T employee's laptop computer that contained AT&T management compensation information, including employee names, Social Security numbers, and, in most cases, salary and bonus information. ... We deeply regret this incident. You will soon hear about additional steps we're taking to reinforce our policies to safeguard sensitive personal information and ensure strict compliance in order to avoid incidents like this in the future."
Regrets were not enough to allay the anger of this manager.
"It is pathetic that the largest telecom company in the world -- with more than 100 million customers -- doesn't encrypt basic personal information," he says. (link)
Hard drive tech out pacing recovery tech
Data recovery is difficult now, and is getting more difficult. The hyper-tuning that simultaneously enables higher data density and higher yields causes the data recovery industry’s traditional hardware repair method of part replacement to failing more drive models. While some drive models currentlyhave recovery success rates above 90%, and others are above 60%, an increasing number have practically no chance of recovery for most part replacements. For this reason drive-independent data recovery is needed and its capabilities must be enhanced. The current state-of-the-art research for system area refreshing focuses on developing algorithms that can quickly and adequately re-optimize all important channel, preamp, and servo system parameters without writing over data. This capability is needed both when the system area information is corrupted and when a headstack transplant is necessary. (link)
Saving Your Digital Life
Okay, so you have most of your digital life housed in that three kilogram clamshell known as your notebook computer. What can you do to keep it safe? The value of your notebook is held in two areas. The physical notebook itself and the commercial software applications you’ve purchased have a monetary value that can be established and insured. But then there’s the data it contains whose value is much harder to measure -- a digital photo, video production or half-finished novel may be priceless to you, but not even covered by insurance, for example. You need to look at protecting both.
Shopping with protection in mind
You can start this process even before buying a new notebook by thinking about how you use the computer, and then looking for products that have the features that will best serve your needs. Are you a rough and tumble kind of user? Some notebooks are ruggedized so that they are able to withstand a fair amount of physical abuse. One standard feature of a ruggedized computer -- and also available on many standard notebooks -- is built-in hard drive protection in the form of shock-absorbing gel mounts, or accelerometers that detect sudden motions and park the hard drive heads before they touch the platter surface, destroying the drive. All Panasonic’s ToughBooks are ruggedized but to greater or lesser degrees depending on the model, and some standard features include shock protected hard drives, magnesium alloy bodies and flexible membrane screens. Hub Canada
IDC study: data to hit 1.8 zettabytes by 2011
A white paper released today from IDC revised the research firm's earlier estimates to show that by 2011, the amount of electronic data created and stored will grow to 10 times the 180 exabytes that existed in 2006, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of almost 60%. By 2011, there will be 1,800 exabytes of electronic data in existence, or 1.8 zettabytes (an exabyte is equal to 1 billion gigabytes). In fact, the number of bits stored already exceeds the estimated number of stars in the universe, IDC stated. And because data is growing by a factor of 10 every five years, by 2023 the number of stored bits will surpass Avogadro's number, which is the number of carbon atoms in 12 grams, or 602,200,000,000,000,000,000,000 (6.022 x 10^23). ComputerWorld
RAID Data Recovery
RAID arrays and enterprise data storage systems represent more than just a few gigabytes of data capacity. They must be viewed as the entities guarding the lifeblood of your company, your most valuable asset. When you are unable to retrieve your data from these data storage systems for whatever reason, you need to rely on a company that understands the technology and can recover your data in a fast, cost-efficient and secure manner. RAID data recovery
Data Recovery - Wikipedia
Another excellent resource for information about data recovery is the Wikipedia. This document covers physical damage, logicial (software) corruption, recovery techniques, and tips for prevention. Definitely worth a bookmark.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_recovery
Hard Drive Failure Rates
Who better to do a study on hard drives than Google? Given the amount of free storage Google provides for the entire world failed hard drive must be a common place at the number #1 search engine company. Not surprisingly failure rates in the real world are much higher than the manufacturer's claim. Hard drive data recovery
Source: Google Study
http://209.85.163.132/papers/disk_failures.pdf
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Récupération de Données
Nous vous proposons nos services en récupération de données sur disques durs, ordinateurs portables, ordinateurs de bureau, serveurs de données, RAID, bandes et tous les supports de stockage de données existants. Les principaux fabricants de matériels informatiques recommandent nos services de récupération de données.